The Eagle Has Taken Off

Gramma and Daddy Mac should now be on their way to see us.  The boys are buzzing with excitement over seeing them.  We have a full itinerary to keep.  We plan on seeing a range of things over the next 3 weeks that it took me almost year, over the course of several years, to explore.  Hopefully we can keep up with them!

Below were the boys on their way to school earlier this month:

Ads from the weekly circular

Chicken essence and wild duck, it's what's for dinner.

I'm frightened by this, much more so than the jelly fish.

What cut is that again?

Weekend update

We are finding that our weekends are chock full of events.  This weekend was no exception, rather than trying to explain with witticisms, I will tell the tale in pictures:

A typical start to the weekend - the boys huddled together around the soft glow of zombies killing aliens (or sometimes plants, or growing zombies on a farm).  The Ipad has been a joy and a curse!  Also, Reid made a self portrait recently where they took a picture of him, cut it in half and then he had to finish the other half.  He zombified his other half.  We have it proudly displayed in our foyer, where our neighbor from Norway was horrified.  We had to explain that it was due to the zombie video games and that he really is not already twisted at the tender age of eight...

We had an eventful cub scout meeting Saturday.  Here are the boys doing a modified Macarena.

Every Sunday after church there are at least 10 couples getting their wedding photos taken.  As most expats are used to getting stared at and asked for pictures, I convinced the girls below to turn the tables on them and ask to get their picture taken.  So there!

Monday (today) is "invader day" at school.  So the Denmark basket I bought last spring at the international day totally rescued us this morning!!!

Why Rowan always gets what he wants

He has been described as "quite lovely"...

An interesting stroll

I am now pretty used to being looked at whenever we take the entire family out on the town.  All of that was thrown out the window when I recently took a few colleagues out for a stroll in the historic area.  They are both large men, but the amazing thing to the locals is that one of them is black.  I know, pretty crazy, huh?!?!?

Below are a few highlight shots:

Say cheese for the nice strangers!

Note the red panties hanging in the background for all to see, very common.

On the building is a guy (blue shirt) crawling around (no fall protection) on bamboo scaffolding.

My apologies!

Sorry all, things have been busy here, of course!  Allow me to wallow in self-pity and unashamedly make excuses!  Last week I was in the U.S. for a corporate meeting and so my typical day was:
4am - wake up, thanks jet lag!
4am to 7am - catch up on emails, run to Walmart or other early opening store for Rebecca's list
7am - breakfast meeting(s)
8am to 5pm- scheduled agenda begins
5pm to 6:30pm - run to another store
6:30pm - 9pm - annual awards dinners followed by reception
9pm - fall into bed

Whew!  Actually, I'm still energized from sharing my experiences and excitement about what's happening in China.  I think I was running on adrenaline and diet coke all week.  Some of the highlights from the family last week were:

• Riley was the "Golden Child" for his class.  He was able to play "Hot Cross Buns" on the recorder with his eyes closed.
• Reid joined Riley's Taekwando class, Riley says that the favorite part of his day was having Reid there.
• Riley and I went to cub scouts Saturday (he is a tiger) - yes it's the actual Boy Scouts of "America" here.  Reid begins bear den meetings this weekend.
• Rowan remained cute.
• Rebecca and I went to a wine tasting last weekend and found a place to order Thanksgiving turkeys from (only $75 for a 15 pounder!!!).
• I started the work out program Insanity - I figure if I tell everyone, then I have to see it through!
• Reid signed me up for a field trip with his class to San Shan Island next week, which should be fun!

Moon Cake Madness

The Mid-Autumn Festival is upon us and the kids get Monday off from school.  I'll be golfing in the U.S. for a work related outting, so I will miss any of the local festivities.  That being said, the traditional food for the season is the moon cake.  The office is flooding with them from vendors, landlords, etc.  We typically put them out for everyone to share.  Below are some Wikipedia pictures of more traditional ones, although the pastry and filling options are endless as you can imagine.  They are getting mixed reviews at my house mainly due to the texture, rather than the taste.  You kind of get used to bean flavored desserts in Asia, but the dense texture of these would be hard to get through if you were to eat a whole one by yourself.

Also, the "What's on in Suzhou" newletter came out with the following explaination of the holiday and cakes origins:

Legend has it that Houyi an immortal and Chang'e his beautiful wife were banished from heaven because the other immortals were jealous of Houyi and slandered him before the Jade emperor. Houyi became a famous archer on earth and so when one day the then 10 suns of that time circled the earth together causing it to burn Emperor Yao of China told Houyi to shoot down all but one of the suns. When he did this he received a pill from the Emperor that granted eternal life. Emperor Yao told him he should prepare himself by praying and fasting for a year before taking the pill so he hid it at home. One day Chang'e his beautiful wife noticed it and swallowed it out of curiosity. When Houyi found out he got angry with his wife and she flew out the window to the moon. Houyi only made it half way to the moon before having to turn back because of strong winds. Chang'e realizing she was on her own got upset and commanded the hare living on the moon to make another pill based on the part of the one that she had coughed up when she arrived so that she could return to earth. The hare is still trying to make the pill. Houyi built a palace in the sun, representing "Yang" in contrast to Chang'e's home on the moon which represents "Yin". Once a year on the night of the mid-Autumn festival Houyi visits his wife and this is why the moon is so full and beautiful on this night.

According to folk tales the innocent looking moon cake is responsible for the overthrow of Mongol rule and the resulting establishment of the Ming Dynasty in 1368. Noting that the Mongols didn't eat moon cakes the Chinese rebels of the time put a piece of paper in the cakes to gather together and defeat the Mongols on the 15th day of the 8th month (at the time group gatherings were banned). They were successful and since that time moon cakes are eaten on this day.

The "Inja" Saga Continues

Rowan goes into Inja mode every time he puts on his pajamas (whether they are his Chinese jammies or not).  Riley also got in the act this week and crowned himself the King of the Ninjas.

Note how strong and tall the Ninja King is.

Coiled like a spring, beware his powerful strike.

Fury unleashed.  Sorry for the blurry photo, the speed at which this is occurring is such that even with my special blackberry lens, it is difficult to capture.  I'm amazed anything came out really.

Pig Pickin'

OK, so after the last blog I'm sure everyone is hungry! 

Well, this past weekend we had over friends from our church small group for a pulled pork BBQ extravaganza.  I finally got the smoker fired up (brought from the U.S.) fired up for the first time in China.  I was looking forward all week to going to Metro (previous blog where the boys are standing in front of the hanging pigs) and selecting my cut straight from the animal.  When I got there and walking into the refrigerated section, I found that they already had deboned shoulders ready to go.  I selected a 15 pounder!

Also, I picked up what I thought was a kielbasa that I was going to pop on the grill with a little sauce.  Turns out it was nasty (although some nice people said it was good).  I think once you've had kielbasa done right, it's hard to have anything different.  I also put a few chickens on the smoker for an alternative to the pork.

People brought home made corn dogs (I must get the recipe), coleslaw, baked beans, an array of side salads, and amazing desserts.  I had also brought back a few sauces from the U.S. (Pierce's, Sticky fingers, Trader Joe's - yes, like everything at TJ's it's actually pretty good), so there was something for everyone.  Overall, it was a great welcome back!

Sunday night I converted the leftover pork into tamales with some masa I brought back from the U.S.  They turned out pretty well, but it took a few hours...

Toilets

I know, I know I'm really bringing the blog down.  Thankfully, the amount off class Rebecca has is enough to outweigh my lack thereof (I know, nearly an impossible amount).  Anyway, I encountered a first for me while last in Thailand, so I thought I would share my bathroom photos over the years.  Yes, I take bathroom photos, they are fun for boys of all ages!

The "you flush it model".  There was no handle or water tank on the back.

The infamous squat toilet, common throughout China.  Considered more hygienic than western toilets because your rear end does not make contact.  You would face forward (towards the camera) and place your shoes on the porcelain treads on either side.  The waste basket is for the toilet paper.

Goal!!!!  This little beauty was found in Germany to ensure the pub goers hit the mark.  Not a bad idea, actually.