Party for the ex-pats in China....

So they called it a New Years party but I think it was suppose to be a Holiday Party. Now do we have pictures of this? Yes most definitely. Doug put them up on flickr...once you read some of the captions and read this blog I think you might laugh your ass off.

Now how did it start. Well every once in awhile..maybe once or twice a month the school gets invited to random free things...such as dinner, and free trip, a boat ride, whatever you can imagine. Now it has the word free in it so Doug and I usually go. (this is where my sister would roll her eyes) I understand this is the first time we are a two income household but...we still like the word free. At first I was thinking lame...but Doug said we should do it...well I am so glad we did.

First there was about 20 of us. Yup 20 of us who liked the word free...little did we know that included beverages, and entertainment!
We get in a school van and go to this hotel that I did not know existed in Beliun and it was pretty nice. They put us in this ballroom type of room with cameras on us...mics, piano, and tons of other stuff...there were a lot of EX-PATS.
There is already a bottle of wine on the table for us. There was also a huge buffet out...already...(no worries I will get to the ice cream later....)

We take our seats...and they tell us there will be a show...by the way there is one dude there dressed as Santa Claus...he was on your team.

Well we had singers from the Poly-tech College...I didn't understand it but they were good. Then we had a magician and he had a little crush on me...yup I got chosen to be his helper...and he made me touch him...he was about 500 years old....I was bright red and my wonderful husband good not stop laughing and saying that's my girl.

Next we had a sword swallower...three swords...I got chosen again to touch the swords...they were real. Little scary...kind of gross but really really cool.

Then there was a man who did this face changing dance it was really neat...he had these masks that would roll up with changing of his facial features.
AND HE ALSO ATE AND BREATHED FIRE!!!!! Way cool.

Then Santa and some people sang. Finally it was time for the white people to do something stupid and have a beer drinking contest...I went right up there with my principal so I wasn't the only idiot. No worries a German won, and he got a present.
Then we had two gentleman serenade us with a violin and piano...and our music teacher played the piano...she's good. Last but not least people got up to do speeches...painful but if you do like the Chinese and ignore what ever is going on and talk and don't pay attention to the act then you are fine.
The food was pretty good they even had fruit pizza...yup tons of fruit on the pizza and then you ate it. Hey it was good.
We spent the whole night laughing and having a good time. There are days that laughing is all you can do but I will tell you what this wouldn't have been half as fun with out the people I was with...including Doug.

Can't wait for break just a few more days away...promise to write more....soon...please take a look at the pictures Doug did an awesome job.

Here's some pictures of the party Friday!

This some of the food we had for the feast on Friday...what more could you ask for...good food...food people and good drinks!

Here is a picture of Doug and I on Santa's (our Principal's) lap. We did this because Meg and I every year get our picture taken at the mall with Santa...so here is one with a new Meghan...DOUG! It was fun!

Here are some friends...Robbie, Beth and the guy in the back is Kelly! Shortest to tallest! (Kelly just got engaged and will be married in December in Thailand!)

Yup...I know we are cute!

Yup here we are are again ending with food!

Hope you had a great Holiday..we were thinking of you!

Yi Wu...pronounced..EEEEEE WOOOOO

Two weeks ago Doug and I went to a town, a city...yup a city with 8 million people. This town...the main function is to be the middle man between companies. And yes I mean the whole town. The stores function as the place you walk into and look at the samples and then decide how many you want...1 thousand, 2 thousand or do you want them delivered on a monthly basis. The main place that we went to was a huge...size of ten Denver airports put together...they sold everything. Umbrellas, bags of all sort, tools, flashlights, stuff animals, key chains, things you can buy at pier one, candle, picture frames, crystals, pearls, jewelry, pretty much anything you can buy at Kohls, JC Penny, gas stations, anything. The stalls of stores went on forever. I honestly do not know how to describe it. But this is where you could buy anything.
Doug got a great carry on bag for nothing, I got a bag, we got a few Christmas gifts, but it was just amazing to walk.
You could buy anything there and for a really reasonable price...well you couldn't just buy one thing at many of the stalls...they wanted you to buy 3000. For like nothing...5 cents or less..it was very different.
The cool thing was...there were tons of other people...and yes I do know that sounds rude but there was a diverse amount of people. We ate Lebanese food two times and Pakistan food. Great to have a variety.
We also stayed in pretty decent hotel for the most part...cheap but pretty clean. Smoke everywhere though...the room didn't smell like it until later that night but it was strong. I think two things we will never get use to...the bathrooms and the smoke everywhere...maybe the pollution too but that just comes and goes.
I guess that is all for now.
New adventures coming soon.

Thanksgiving in the Thompson Apartment

So last Thursday was Thanksgiving and yet when I asked the students if they knew what day it was they said...ummm..."I think the 27th". Obviously we don't celebrate it here. Nor did we have the day off.
So what did Doug and I do...well we got home from school...did some errands and then decided what we were going to eat for dinner.
We got to eat whatever we wanted. So we called Hemmy's (the local pizza joint) ordered 2 pizzas, french fries, and two salads. Did we eat all the food? No I don't think so. We drank a rather wonderful bottle of wine and spoke to our families. Stayed up until about 11 or so and then fell fast asleep.
We had a great time.

Friday was when we really celebrated Thanksgiving. Our director had the whole staff come over for dinner...I mean a feast...a huge feat we had two large turkeys, fajitas, Chinese noodles, rolls, mashed potatoes, stuffing, yams, and of course dessert. Just so you know I did make apple crisp...and it WON.
We had a blast. Hung out with all our friends and then went home...it was great.

Then on Saturday Doug and I hitched a ride into Ningbo to do some Christmas shopping...finally finding our stores at the last three or four hours.
And then for dinner was Mexican...now it wasn't the best Mexican food we had ever had but man it sure tasted like it, and Doug got to have a draft beer which is not a common thing. It tasted amazing. We got home around 8 and only have to pick up a few more things. And then we are done.
Most important thing I guess is we HAVE TWO MORE WEEKS TILL MALAYSIA!!!

A MUST HAVE IN CHINA.

Toilet Paper at all times.

Hand Sanitizer

Water Bottle

Handy Wipes

Cash ONLY

Snacks

Directions written in Chinese

Calculator

Cell Phone with Chinese dictionary

A friend that is Chinese

Patience

TUMS

Pants you can roll up

A menu written in Chinese and translated in English

Eyes in the back of your head

Learn to hold your ground

Umbrella

Hangzhou Basketball

Ok so two weekends ago..at least I think two weekends ago...Coach Doug Thompson took his 9 boy basketball players for a tournament in Hangzhou about two hours north of Ningbo. These games were at the Hangzhou International School. And at the next door Chinese school who also had a gym.
He left at 9 AM in the morning on Friday to play two games.
And they won....BOTH.
He called and you could hear the boys in the background so happy. I think Coach was ecstatic also.
Well I had already decided to go up on Saturday morning to watch the rest of the basketball games they had three more.
Trent and I decided that the best way to get up there was by bus and then stay in the Sheraton that was a few minutes down the road. (Trent's wife Shawn was the girls basketball coach)
Well the bus was not as bad as I thought it was going to be and I definitely drank no water so I wouldn't have to go to the bathroom...in the bus station.....there wasn't any bathroom on the bus...but I am pretty sure it would have been a hole going out to the road.
Anyway the bus ride was about two hours long and then we had to get in a taxi to get to the Sheraton.
Trent and I were on the top floor...awesome views. A little bit more pollution, tons more people, lots more foreigners, people way nicer to foreigners.
We made it to Hangzhou in good time and to the basketball games in good time.
We watched the boys win two games in a row...so they were now four for four.
They played great...I mean they had only been practicing for two weeks...and they were sweeping the floor. I honestly think it was because of the coaching! He did a super job and those boys responded to him so well. It was good to see where he belonged again.
Anyway Trent I watched the girls play and that was almost like magnet ball. UMMMM...not much to say....for Shawn's first time coaching she did a good job.
The whole gang were exited about the final game.
The boys played well but they were exhausted and it was there fifth game in 2 days.
They came back from a ten point deficit to miss the large plastic trophy by three points.
I was so proud of Doug.
Well after those amazing four games Trent and I took off...
We went and ate Thai Food and then went to a winery. It was so great. It was great to eat a different type of food. And buy some wine and drink and hang out.
I really liked Hangzhou and can't wait to go back in few weeks.
There are pictures of the game and stuff on FLICKR please go look at them!
Thanks for tuning in!

Shao Xing pictures continued.....

These photos are out of order...but still pretty cool...
A street in old Shao Xing where we went shopping...my favorite store was the chopstick store...can you believe it? A store just for chopsticks. So cool. This was our favorite part of the trip.

Doug and I at Karaoke. Yup we did sing and had a great time. Seriously the Chines take Karaoke so seriously they have building that have rooms just for this lounging around and singing. Touch screens for songs...lights that best speakers money can buy and the cheesiest videos you could ever imagine!

Food...Shao Xing is also known for their tofu...and this place was famous for their food and tofu. When fresh tofu is cooking it doesn't smell so hot and well some of the taste goes with that smell...but for 9 of us we spent 219 RMB and that was pretty good. Something new everyday. We also were surrounded by people while we ate...no problem you just ignores the stares and laughter and keep going.

Doug and I took our first ride in a carriage pulled by a bicycle. He had calves the size of my head!

On the street we went shopping you could also go on a boat ride...we didn't because it was raining and if that water got on us I knew we would grow a second arm. But beautiful picture none the less.