Bad Jan!

I know, I know.  I've been negligent.  Friday there wasn't really enough to write about and last night there was too much.  Of course, the fact that we didn't get home until 2am didn't help. 

Friday Ryan had a cold so he and I stayed home while Nanny and Nick went out to do a little shopping.  The went to the pedestrian shopping street and got a birthday present for Ryan from Nick then they went to the fabric market where Mom got a pair of pants for $6 and socks for $.60.  When she got home it was time for our massages which were fantastic as usual.  Mom's back was quite sore from biking so much but after Lena was finished doing some reflexology on her she felt great.  No more back pain!

When my massage was done I took Nick in the wagon and we went to Carrefour for groceries.  Tim met up with us on his way home from work and the three of us had a lovely walk home.  The weather was beautiful, cool air and clear skies.  Nick and I had a few bites of sushi then went out for another evening bike ride.  Since we couldn't find a proper light at Carrefour I taped an LED flashlight onto his bike and it worked great.  We were out for a nice long ride and were good and tired by the time we came in.  I ended up staying up until 1am writing emails and enjoying the quiet.

While we were at Carrefour Mom decided it was a good time to start cleaning the light fixture in our living room.  What a difference!  It's even more beautiful now.  There were about 160 of those little crystal balls though.  A lot of work!

Saturday morning Mom and I headed out for a busy day.  First we went to the lighting mall and since it was China's National Day there was a stage set up outside with performers.  These two girls were incredible!  What a treat!

They are hanging on with their teeth!

Now on to the lights!  I have included a lot more photos just because they are so cool.  It was an amazing place to roam around and we actually bought something this time.

Mom actually carved a stump similar to this one several years ago.

Holy peacock!

There was a peacock tissue holder, picture frame, book ends, toilet paper holder and more!

Peacock Chair!

Mom said this one reminds her of herself!  She told me to write that...

This one reminds me of the circulatory system.

The shade was covered in fur.

Negotiating for Andy's lights...

got the price I wanted!

Rope or Magic lighting.  Mom wanted a bunch so we did more negotiating.  Got an excellent price again!

Broken Light Bulb - Too cool!

This is a real frog, not a light.  He looks like he could use a little sun though.

We discovered one store that was almost all lighting for children.  It was so much fun and my favorite store.  Very unique lighting!

Notice the karate kick lamp!

We managed to get through the lighting mall fairly quickly.  We had more stuff we wanted to do, including finding those kites Mom has been searching for.  After some lunch we found a small park where one kite seller said he had some lights.  He walked over to his scooter and I thought was going to get them out of his basket.  Nope.  Instead he jumped on it and took off out of the park.  His wife (I think) and two boys who were helping out asked us to wait for a few minutes.  While we were waiting we started picking out some kites and reels to buy.  It was chaotic for a few minutes but by the time the man returned we had chosen four kites and three reels.  The man pulled out a set of lights that clip onto the kite and showed us how they worked with a little battery pack.  Great!  We had finally found what we were looking for.  Only problem, he only had one set!  Crap.  The man, woman and two boys were all talking at me, trying to tell me something about the lights but I didn't know what.  In the meantime, we worked out a very good price for all that we were buying.  Another problem, I had no money left!  I thought I would have to go to a bank but then thought about Tian Ye.  I hate to borrow money from our driver but it was the easiest way and I knew I could pay him back as soon as we found a bank.  I pulled on one of the boys' shirts to get him to come with me to the van and both of them ended up coming.  When we got there I explained to Tian Ye that they were trying to tell me something about the lights and got him to interpret from the boys.  It turns out they will have more lights, but not for a few days.  Perfect!  I told them that we would come back.  I asked Tian Ye if I could borrow some money and when I told him how much I needed he hesitated and asked the boys a question.  I think he was afraid we were getting ripped off until we told him how much we were getting for the price, then he was fine with it.  Nice to know he's looking out for us.  The boys and I returned to where the kites were and found Mom flying one.  She liked it, I didn't.  Luckily it was more than we wanted to spend on a kite.

The Helpful Boys

With our kite purchases in hand, a business card, and the promise that we would return in one week for the lights, we made our way to NanHu Park, the one we went to in the evening last week.  We saw lots of interesting sites and people having fun on their country's birthday.

I have no idea what this was about.

Not a wedding but more engagement pictures.

These poor little animals were part of a game.  If you could throw a ring around the cage, you got to have the animal.  They were healthy and clean but it didn't seem like a good game to me or anyone else there.  No one was playing it. 

Mom found a new friend.

When we got home from the park we decided to go try out the kites.  We had a great time with a lot of laughs.  The kites got tangled and I had a really hard time getting the lion one to fly.  Tian Ye joined us and, as it turned out, was flying a kite for the first time.  I guess you should never assume that everyone has done something just because of where they live or what nationality they are.  He really enjoyed it in the end and I imagine he will come with us again or get a kite of his own.

When the kite flying was done Tim and I got ready to go to a house party at Gary and Dawn's.  They live at Wobo Palace and are pretty high up so the view was wonderful.

A lot of people here have aquariums in their apartments so when an expat moves in, he or she gets the duty of looking after the tank.  We seem to be one of the few families that doesn't have one (not a bad thing!).  This is Gary and Dawn's aquarium:

Dawn and I

We had a wonderful time at the party.  We had some drinks and pizza, bowled on the Wii and sat around chatting.  Around midnight we made the silly decision to go to a night club with some of the younger expats.  It was so incredibly loud and smoky that I didn't stay in the bar very long.  I ended up in the lobby area watching people come and go.  It was much more interesting.  To get into the bar we had to go through a metal detector but every person that went in set it off.  I'm not sure what the purpose of it was but it reminded me of a Simpsons episode where Homer and Marge go to an NRA meeting.  Anyone that went through the metal detector and didn't set it off had to go pick a gun out of a bin then go through again.

When we arrived at the bar we had told Tian Ye to go home since he had a wedding to go to early this morning.  Luckily for us he didn't listen and was waiting outside when we decided it was time to go.  The fresh air was incredibly wonderful!  As soon as we got home I threw my clothes in the laundry room and took a shower to wash the stink of smoke out of my hair.  It was about three o'clock by the time we got to bed and I was exhausted.  It was a great evening though, we had fun and the bar was great for reminding us why we don't do that anymore!

Today Mom and I had plans to visit the underground shopping area but since Tian Ye was pretty tired after the wedding we will only have time to get some groceries at Ole and/or YooHoo.  Ryan and I have been inside all day, Tim and Nick went out only to play a little badminton, and Mom got as far as Carrefour.  Outside the malls there were people selling things and she ended up buying a sweater/jacket.  It's very pretty and she got it for a good price and since she was buying it herself had to do some charades to communicate.  She said that by the time she was done there were about thirty people standing around watching, some trying to help.  Welcome to China!  When she got home she tried the sweater on and it fit but she noticed something strange about it.  The zipper on the front went all the to the top of the hood.  Very odd but incredibly cute!