SURPRISE!

I'm home in Utah for a short visit! I had to keep it a secret from a bunch of people - the whole shock value thing, which was awesome, by the way. I spent time in the mountains of Wyoming with some family. I have been spending time with my family and a few friends. I went and saw Winnie the Pooh with my mom and sister and we went to lunch at Sonora Grill - Oh. My. Gosh. I missed that place. It was a good day.

I'm having a good time seeing everyone and being in the same time zone as most of my readers. Here a few pictures from my adventures from my first week in town.

 Beautiful clouds.

 Our view on our paddle up the river.

 The mosquitoes we had to put up with.

Sunset.

 The view up river.

The wild flowers.

It was beautiful, except for the bugs. But it was a good trip.

This week I'll be hanging with theses guys:

and their new baby brother. So glad I get to spend time with my favorite people!

Something..

Nothing here has been very exciting. Except things like America First wouldn't let us book our hotel in Cambodia because they are paranoid. We told them that we would be living in China for a while. We don't usually use our AF debit card and we did the other day for cash and then we tried to book our hotel in Cambodia and they froze our transactions and called my mother-in-law. We signed a lot of forms so that they would let us transact in Asia! So frustrated. Then we have the time difference thing to deal with. So we have a small window in which to call them. Grr.

We took a walk the other day and besides covering approximately 3 miles, we walked down a small street that does not allow cars. It was the epitome of China. The markets where the locals shop, the crowded street, seafood sold fresh, chickens being cut up and butchered on the street, etc. It was pretty surreal. I didn't have my camera with me, but I will try to take it next time.

On a personal note, my family has had a few more struggles than normal. My father suffered a small stroke on Tuesday the 2nd. He's doing fine. The symptoms will get better with therapy and over time. The cause has been discovered and they are working to fix it and soon he will be as good as new. But living in China while all this is going on has been pretty frustrating. I've been calling home every morning and every night to get updates and talk to family. I have talked with my dad a few times and he sounds good. All we are hearing now is encouraging.

It just makes me especially grateful for modern technology that allows me to communicate regularly with my family.

Well that's all for today. It will be about a week or so before I post again. But by then I will have had a couple more adventures to post about.

Pictures from Daniel's birthday party

The people that came over for Daniel's party cooked up a storm!

 This is the cake the they brought for him. My favorite part was the chocolate curls. The cook with a sweet flour over here that is too much for me. I can't eat stuff baked with it.

 Making "Jiaozi" - Chinese dumplings.

 Everyone helped.

 There are 8 Chinese girls in our kitchen cooking and preparing!

Cooking the jiaozi - you boil them. They were pretty tasty.

 Enjoying the first part of the meal.

 This is a cucumber salad that Daniel just loves.

 This is sweet and sour pork. Selena said she ruined it, but it tasted pretty good to me.

 I can't tall you what seasoning was on this meat, but it was really yummy. I think it may have been Chinese 5 spice.

 This is pork, tomatoes and potatoes that were soaked in Balsamic vinegar. It was really yummy.

 Shrimp - here in China they cook it with the head and skin on. They say it tastes better cooked that way. I can't taste a difference.

 This was spicy chicken.

 Enjoying the yummy food. Bella, on the far left, has the same birthday as Daniel. So that party was for her too.

 So much food.

 The whole party - minus Ray who was taking the picture and Mike who had to leave earlier to help a friend.

Playing snorta. All in all it was a good time.

Daniel's 30th Birthday

Although his birthday is really today, Happy Birthday Daniel!, we did most of our celebrating on Saturday. His day began with presents his parents and siblings sent over. He got an Xbox headset (that works marvelously) and a bunch of food stuffs that are hard or impossible to find over here. We'll be savoring those puppies! Thanks guys!

He played games with his buddies at home on Xbox live for a few hours. I gave him a set of small carved dragons for his desk. Then we headed out to get his big surprise. We went over to Gulangyu where I had gotten something for him at Yogi's. I had Yogi add Happy Birthday to it and stretch it. He really likes it and was very surprised.

It's of Guilin, a place we hope to see while we live here.

On our way home I told Daniel that I had one more little surprise for him at home. When we got home he heard giggling and thought the neighbors were being loud. He tried to open the door and couldn't. So he tried a second time and as he opened it he saw someone rush into our office where they locked the door. Daniel's friends from work had come (I left my keys in the mail box) to give him a surprise party. I didn't have my phone so it kind of got muddled. But the best part was that they couldn't get the lock undone! We were laughing. The keys were in the office with them so they had to push the keys under the door one at a time until we got the one that would open it. Then they had cake and the stayed and cooked a bunch of traditional Chinese food. It was a great party. Then we played Snorta with them. If you have never played Snorta, then you are missing out. It's a hilarious game.

My favorite place...

is the fabric market in Xiamen. Oh. My. Gosh. Wow.

 Upholstery fabric.

 Velour and stretchy lace.

 Vibrant colors.

 Ribbons.

 Tule.

 Lace.

 Brocade ribbon.

 Ruffles.

 Thread.

 Beads.

 String.

 Bolts and bolts.

 Tailor shops that will custom make clothes, for cheap.

 Beautiful fabrics.

 Velvets.

 Meters upon meters.

 Silk brocades.

 Tempting patterns.

 Costume fabric.

 Vibrant blue temptations.

 Silks.

And softness that calls to you. 

Wanna come to China yet? I see as my Achilles heal, a proverbial personal Pandora's box of Xiamen. 
I could live here. Wait, I do.

My new little friend

After the death  march and mystery lunch we caught taxis (that took forever) and went over to Gulangyu. Our taxi got there first by about 10 minutes. While we waited I noticed this little girl who was playing around and sitting on the steps. She was so cute. But she worried me.

 I couldn't see her family anywhere. She wandered off around the staircase, then came back. Then had some drink and wandered off again. Then her grandma came.

 She called for her, but couldn't find her. I told her that the little girl went around the staircase and she went off to find her. They both came back shortly after and the grandmother gave us 2 wax apples. They are pretty good, but no, I did not eat them. I did not have a way to wash them.

  She was such a little cutie. Her little hair just sticks straight out in every direction. I caught this last photo of her as we left. She was there playing around on Wednesday when I went back.

Her parents must work all day and so grandma takes care of her while collecting plastic bottles for recycling. Many of the old people do this for subsistence. They must get a fair amount for it to be worth it. I now call her "Little Orphan Annie." When I saw her Wednesday afternoon she was sound asleep on her grandma's shoulder. I wish there was something I could do for her. She just breaks my heart!