the school trip to Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain)

Had to take the opportunity to travel again with our school. And now we know why! We always have so much stuff that we really need the other people going to help us carry our stuff!
These pictures are not in order, but probably nobody cares about that except me so I'll just comment on each as usual.

Here's Eli driving the boat we took on the last day. The boat stopped at two tourist attractions but we (our family) did not get off the boat to see the first one because it was raining too hard.

We thought we would just wait it out and enjoy the peace and quiet under the roof of the second floor of the boat. It wasn't long when Eli informed us that he had to pee. Since we were on the second floor we weren't willing to go downstairs (where the squattie was) because then we would have to get wet by the rain, so I just led Eli to the edge of the boat and told him to pee off the edge into the water below. Just as he was almost done, however, a man on the first floor stuck his head out directly below us and was emptying a bucket of something into the water. Eli quite accidentally peed on the man's head and back! I yelled "Xiao xin! (watch out!)" but it was too late and I just whisked Eli out of sight and pulled up his pants. I did not find out if the man realized what had happened or not! And I was thankful for the rain!

Some beautiful misty views as we cruised along the river.

We were very happy to have two other kids along for the school trip. This made it all the more enjoyable for Eli and Dana. Here Dana is getting picked up by her friend James. She didn't mind at all.

On the third day we went to a place with beautiful trees, streams, waterfalls and many suspension bridges. I think this may have been my favourite place because of its natural beauty. It was a good reminder that not all of China is concrete, crowded or polluted.

Scott couldn't resist taking off his socks and shoes and wading in the stream. Well, the stream used to not be polluted!

I thought my dad would enjoy this sign, there are so many signs like this: not quite right, but the meaning is clear.

This one was taken on the top of Yellow Mountain on the second day of our travels. We were so blessed to have good weather because 200 days of the year it is raining on Yellow Mountain. So we were able to have good views and not get too cold.

We borrowed another backpack so we could safely stash both kids while on the mountain. Some spots were just plain too dangerous to let little slugs run around.

Sometimes on our hike atop Yellow Mountain we would find ourselves in a cloud. It really gave a "crouching tiger, hidden dragon" kind of feel to our time. Definitely needed my brother Albert around to do some bamboo grove ninja-leaping moves to complete the effect.

Dana wasn't always impressed that she had to stay in the backpack, but she coped by eventuallly napping.

Where we were (Anhui Province), is known for its strange pine trees. Here's a picture of one.

Esther, Eli and James climbed their own little mountain in a park on our first day of travels. These three loved to chase each other and race around. Scott and I owe it to them the fact that Eli went to bed quickly and slept soundly each night.

These big signs were each dedicated to a different person for specific virtues. The highlight here for Eli? Eating fresh sugar cane. So much lore and history was lost on me because when travelling with young kids my attention span and interests by necessity just end up matching theirs. So I wish I could tell you more about this place, but I was probably busy talking to Eli, or changing Dana when the guide was talking.

At this village, there were old-style houses of the wealthy that we could tour. Quite intricate and well-preserved carvings!

All the people on the edge of the lake are artists, mostly doing watercolour paintings. Seems like an ideal place to practice.

Check out this man's artwork! It's too good to call it a "sketch" I think!

We really enjoyed our trip and afterwards got to go to Nanjing to visit our friends there for three days and two nights. I was really excited to use the serviced apartment's washer (and dryer!) because Eli was in serious need of clean clothes!

Unfortunately our camera's batteries were all used up so we don't have any pictures of our time there but Eli really enjoyed playing with our friend: "Let's play ball Mr. David!" he would say, over and over again!

And of course, it's always good to come home isn't it? We feel pretty satisfied with ourselves, having survived 3 overnight trips on the train with 2 kids under 4, not too shabby!

turning the big 30!

As of the end of September, I can report that I've officially survived my twenties! And Scott surprised me with wonderful birthday weekend plans to boot!

On Saturday, Scott organized a babysitter for the whole day, hired a driver to drive us to an unrestored section (Jiankou) of the Great Wall near Beijing. In our travel book it said that it was "for serious hikers only" and it lived up to that. Here are some pictures to give you some impressions of our time.

I really liked the symbolism of this shot, such contrast.

At the highest point of our hike there was a man selling firecrackers. A lot of people like to set them off in China, anytime, anywhere for many reasons. Why not at the highest point of a particular section of the Great Wall?

Here was one of the more precarious parts of our hike, if you look closely, you may be able to tell that the bottom of the ladder is no longer fixed to anything, so it was a bit shaky, but we knew it was sound because we had just passed someone hiking in the other direction.

It is a lot more exciting to hike the unrestored sections of the Great Wall. Sometimes you have to figure out how to get from A to B. Here we had to come down through an opening in the top of this tower ad then crawl through the space where Scott is crouching.

And it was nice and steep, good exercise, excellent weather, beautiful views, cleaner air. I really couldn't have asked for a more fun and full day.

This was at the start of the Great Wall portion of our hike, although we needed to hike about an hour and a half to reach this point. My brother Albert will have to critique my technique in this picture, I know something is definitely lacking!

This is on the way up towards the Wall. Apparently someone sleeps here sometimes!

Here is a praying mantis I almost stepped on. Quite a good size, about the length of my middle finger. Very camouflaged, except the green underside caught my eye against the rock background.

And just beyond this sign, quite a well-travelled trail to the Great Wall.

Where our driver dropped us off, the village had springs of water in which they farmed fish (red snappers I believe). Our driver said the eggs for these fish were imported which explained why they were going for quite a hefty price.

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We ended up at a restored section of the Wall called Mutianyu at about 1830, and then rested our jello legs during the drive into Beijing for something to eat. We went out for dinner at a Tex-Mex Restaurant with a real down home-like family atmosphere, complete with wandering toddlers and friendly servers. They served good-size portions and we were glad because we were ravenous! We got home at about 2300, but what an awesome day it was!

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On Sunday, we relaxed, played with the kids and later went over to a friend's place for what I thought was going to be a low-key dinner with friends. Well, it turned out to be a surprise party! Lots of people were there including my Chinese teachers and some neighbours! Scott really outdid himself, even organizing a big game of Pictionary, dividing the group into teams and using a massive whiteboard to draw on. You just have to have games and/or karaoke at a party like this. It was so much fun, I think I'll turn thirty more often!

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conversations with eli

For this next story, you need some background:

Every week or so, Scott meets with a professor at a local university to talk philosophy. It is mutually beneficial: language practice for Scott and editing help for the professor (he wants to do some post-doctoral studies abroad). Anyways, the professor's area of expertise is Confucius and one day as I was putting Eli and Dana to bed Eli asked me for the third or fourth time where daddy was...I was getting tired of answering him and I knew that he already knew the answer so I asked him: "You tell me where daddy went, Eli." I said.

Eli thought for a moment and then said with certainty, "He went to go meet with Confucius."

A week or so later, Eli, Dana and I were playing at the park and Eli wanted me to sit next to him on the steps of the slide. "Mommy, sit down, I made room for you, " he said.

"Okay," I replied and sat down, keeping an eye on Dana and extending my hand for her to hold as she toddled up to join us.



"It's like we are on a date," Eli said. (He has by this time gotten used to Scott and I going out once a week, just the two of us).

"Yes it is Eli, kind-of...do you know what people usually do on dates?" I asked him.

Eli, without much pause said, "Talk about Confucius." Then he sprung up from his seat and catapulted himself down the slide looking about as pleased with himself as I was of him. How is it that not one, but TWO cartoon characters live with Scott and I?! God I love those kids!

Alan, Donna and Jill come visit! Part 4: tired

Just in case you didn't believe me about our time together being fun-filled yet tiring, here are some photos that ought to convince you.

Sleeping on the couch:

Sleeping on the bus:

Sleeping at the train station:

Too tired to smile for the camera:

Sleeping at the park (I know I already have one of Alan, but I couldn't resist):

I must say that just because I am not in these pictures doesn't mean I was not also a victim to exhaustion and therefore sleep in public places. I just don't have one picture of sleeping me on my camera. Honest! I would post it if I did!

Alan, Donna, and Jill come visit! Part 3: Xi'An

Our week-long trip to Xi'An was quite a lot of fun. We were fortunate to be able to stay in a friend's house for the duration. The city (an ancient capital of China) has quite a long history. We went to see the drum tower and the bell tower and took in performances at each. Alan, Donna and Jill always had their cameras ready and aimed at the kids and whatever they were doing.

It was pleasant just to walk around the city, although most days it was quite hot (30+ degrees C) so we had to keep the fluids up, not unusual (and actually probably necessary) to drink 4 litres a day!

We walked on the old city wall and then decided to rent bikes. Scott and I in a two-person bike and Jill in a single biked the whole 13km perimeter while Alan and Donna watched the kids and fed them ice cream to try to keep them cool and amused. Here's a picture of Donna and I in the "bicycle built for two " (which she sang as we rode!) as well as Scott riding beside us.

A real highlight for me was getting to go climb Mt. Hua, one of the famous mountains in China, with Scott and Jill. Alan and Donna graciously agreed to watch Eli and Dana for the two days and one night that we were away. It was about a 6 hour climb and we stayed in a motel at the top. That way we got to see the sunset AND the sunrise. No, this is not your regular mountain climbing or hiking experience, there are stairs all the way up, a gondola if you want, as well as vendors selling you water, fruit or instant noodles. The prices went up the higher you went.

My favourite picture that Scott took is below. Look at the sunlight ribbons streaming through the clouds and the little traditional Chinese structure on the edge of the mountain. Gorgeous.

We also went to see the famous terracotta warriors and other museums as well as an infamous art gallery that had art (and not a lot of it) stapled on the walls. It was my idea to go there as it was a rainy day...the consolation was that Eli had a large circular area to run around on pushing the stroller and that we went out for pizza afterwards!

Alan, Donna and Jill come visit! Part 2: the olympics

Ahhh the Olympics, what a crazy time we had watching it. I had this love/hate for it by the third day. We just were too easily wrapped up in it all and even started watching events on TV that we had little to no interest in... We also were getting a little worried and disappointed when it took the Canadians so long to get their first medal, and how ironic that it was won for us by a Chinese who immigrated to Canada!

This next picture is a view that we had at one of our track and field events. We were pretty high up there!

I think in total there were 3 separate trips to Beijing to see the Olympics. Donna and I opted out of the last one as we were getting tired of all the commuting. We had tickets to see some soccer, track and field and volleyball. My favourite was watching the men's volleyball game. It was Poland versus Russia and we opted to root for the Poles because they border Czech Republic and their flag colours are red and white like Canada's. It was an exciting game to watch because the two teams were fairly evenly matched. Jill and I got some laughs and stares from the Chinese fans around us because we were cheering so loudly: "POLSKAAAAAAAAAA!"

Here's a good shot of Scott and his family on our way to Beijing. Each time we went, we also fit in some of the sights, like the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Tian'men Square, The Great Wall. It made for some very full and tiring days, but at least we were realistic in not inflicting those long days on the kids, they happily stayed home with the babysitter and we happily went without them.

This is the famous Bird's Nest where we watched the track and field. I especially enjoyed the pole vault and the high jump events. It's amazing to see those events live, you get a greater appreciation for what they can do when you are right there watching it all.

Here's a picture of the outside of the Bird's Nest. Impressive!

And one of me cheering away with flags in my hair! I especially enjoyed the pole vault and the high jump events. It's amazing to see those events live, you get a greater appreciation for what they can do when you are right there watching it all.

Alan, Donna and Jill come visit! Part 1: the zoo.

Well it's about time I wrote about our three week visit from Scott's parents and sister in August! We had wonderful (if busy) time together. The first week was spent getting over jet lag and touring around our city, the second week we went to Xi'An to travel and see the sights while the third week was dominated by Olympic activities (if we weren't travelling to Beijing to see some event, we were watching it at home on TV).

One of the first things we did was go to the zoo together, you may be sick of hearing about our zoo adventures but remember that a Chinese zoo is really not like a North American zoo. It's truly a cultural experience, so we had to take our guests there. Plus Eli is not sick of the zoo yet.
Naturally we rented the little car that Eli could drive and we all took turns driving with him. Alan got to be the first. Here we are on the way to see the birds.

The bird "sanctuary" is an area about the size of a soccer field with a little man-made creek running through with a pond and quite a few types of birds that would ordinarily definitely not be seen together. There are ducks, swans, storks and even a vulture to be seen there. There are a lot of cages as well as a huge net over top to prevent the birds from flying away.

Then we went to see the bears. The panda bear is considered a special treasure in China, though it is endangered. Here he is feeding in the background of this picture, looking more energetic than in previous visits.

After that we decided to go feed the crocodiles. You can pay about 50 cents to rent this stick with a chunk of meat (chicken they said it was) tied on to it, then off you go to taunt and tease the crocs from various platforms that are above their swimming area. Again, not your regular zoo experience. Here are the fearless crocodile "hunters":

They seem so sluggish, and even sleep with their mouths wide open, but don't be fooled, they are FAST! They can sure startle you when they suddenly snap for the meat they pretended to not be very interested in! And the snap of their jaws echoes in the whole building!

Eli's birthday and other adventures...

Catching up now on some things that happened in June and July. I had some trouble trying to upload pictures and I just don't think that blogging without pictures is worth it, but it finally worked today, hip hip hurray!
Here is a picture of Eli's birthday cake. I blogged a picture of Dana's earlier so I thought I would a put a picture of his in as well (plus I'm proud of it okay?). He had a bit of a fiasco on his birthday, we went to this park where we thought we could rent those little kiddie cars by the half-hour, but they were nowhere to be found, so we were trying to decide what to do instead when Eli fell and scratched his head. We put a diaper on his head to stop the bleeding and numerous Chinese people were telling us to take him to the hospital. But we didn't and we didn't need to, he was fine and the party continued at my friend's house which was nearby.
Here's Eli's buddy Caleb having some cake with Eli. They are good friends. I'm thankful that we all have found someone to click with over here, at least one friend for each of us. It's one of the things I asked for and really hoped for when we first came.
Had lots of rain in July, so we had some very fun and very dirty puddle-playtimes. I would ordinarily not stand for this but we were within 2 minutes of our house and therefore our bathtub, the use of which immediately followed this episode.
Living in a city of 10 or so million, we still play tourist a year after arriving. Here the kids are in the TV tower, some 400 metres high. That's Naomi, on the left, another good friend of Eli and Dana, who lives pretty close to us. We do a lot with her parents too, cool-cat Brits who live a 5 minute cycle away.