Madison's Chinese dentist experience

We had a fun time at the dentist :). Madison had a cavity on her back
teeth and te drilled it out this morning. They then filled it. The
dentist did not feel she needed anthesia (pain killer not sure I
spelled it right). She did great and it didn't hurt her. Way to go 6
year old.

Lots of shoes

We have a ton of shoes by our doorway. It is easy to see mine as they
are the boats by the door. This morning they were all in order and not
so many. Over the day the three sweet little girls I have took more
and more shoes out. I love my life.

funny things I've seen in China

Here is one of the things I've seen around China. I was going to McDonalds with the kids one day and as I pull up I see this guy going up the exit ramp of a parking deck. The parking deck exits on the second or third floor so he has a ways to back down and you can see the cars backed up behind him. Stupid driving things like this are a daily occurrence.

 

Smoking in china

Today as I drive the kids to school I once again realize that most
people here smoke. I had to turn on the recirculate air for the air
con as our car was filling up with cigarette smoke at the red lights.
It is crazy all the people smoking here. I have done this twice over
the past week. Have a wonderful smoke free day.

Old man walking in a square

Over the years I have been amazed by this old man who walks around this one patch of concrete every morning. I have seen him for the past four years, only in the morning though. He goes out around 6am and walks for one hour around this square patch of concrete. Usually one to two cars are parked in this spot. He will walk the longest route around the cars. If the cars are too close for him to get around he will just walk back and forth. This morning it reminded me of a movie where a man is in his jail cell and the only exercise he can get is to walk his 6x6 foot cell. Makes me wonder if this guy was in jail for a long time. I say this because he could walk in a circle around the driveway or even a larger circle around the complex we live.

Crazy dog and olympic fever

Check out the picture of this dog and the olympic beijing put into its back. It was a big poodle and the olympic stuff was raised off her back. I told the owner how cute. Sonya said take a picture if they always want to take pictures of my kids we can take a picture of the silly dog.

Sent from my Windows Mobile® phone.

Olympic Fun!

08-08-08! The Beijing Olympics are here. We had some friends over last night to watch the opening ceremony. It was really fun and festive! Madison has been bragging all day that she stayed up until 12 midnight last night...I guess she should be...it was the first time for that. She was insistent on seeing the Torch (since we hyped it up and she didn't get to see it when it came through here) so we let her stay up. A friend and I made an Olympic ring cake. I was inspired to make it because my good friend Ginger had an Olympic ring cake for her 8th birthday. I'm sure it doesn't compare to Ms. Marci's cake (Ginger's mom), but we gave it the good ole' college try.

No Torch for us!

We tried! We got up and out the door really early (for us), and off to see the Torch. From the minute we left our complex you could tell there was something special going on. People were in a bit of a festive mood wearing their "I Love China" T-shirts and waving their Olympic flags. I guess we all had the same idea. Once we got to the area where we thought the torch was to be, we started seeing police everywhere! They were literally everywhere! They had all the roads blocked to cars, bike, and pedestrians all around the area. I got out of the car twice with Madison to see if we could charm a cop...he just said, "There are too many people there. It's not safe for her. You should go home and watch it on TV." That is basically what the other officers said too. I don't think we ever got anywhere near the Torch....we were at least 2-3 miles from it at our closest. The security was unreal and only the people that were invited to attend were there. I guess if we had stayed home, we would have at least seen the Torch while it was in our city. Oh, well!

Olympic Torch is coming!

The Olympic Torch is making it's last stop before going to Beijing in our city! It's not because we live right next to Beijing. It is because the Chinese government wants to show their support to the earthquake region. Anyway, I've been doing my research on where is it going to be and when. They are trying to keep the details of the torch's whereabouts on the down low, but I'm intent on getting the scoop. We know it is going to come through her tomorrow, but just don't know exactly where and when. I'm planning to dress my kids in their "I Love China" shirts with Olympic flags in hand, and hope the guards will let the cute little foreign kids in to see the Olympic Torch. (For those of you who live here or have visited, you know that 1 little foreign kid is hard for anyone to resist...so 3 in "I Love China" T-shirts will be simply irresistible...or at least I hope so.)

Police at every bus stop.

Last week two bombs exploded at a bus stop. In a city about n hour flight from us. This week at every bus stop there are guards with electric bikes to watch over the stops. Put that into perspective of how many bus stops that is in a city of 10 million. My office is 3/4 of a mile from the house and there are 5 stops between them. That is a lot of new people to hire and mobilize. China is never at a loss for workers.