Annual Birthday-Bowling-Bash!!!
Not only did I (Jeremy) lose to everyone (except the 10 year-old girl), but I had the single worst night in my extensive once-a-year bowling career.
Question: Why do I choose to bowl on my birthday? I suck at it.
Answer: There's nothing better than lowering my self-esteem as I gain 1 more number to my age, and, yet again, lose the battle with the receding hairline.
Happy Birthday, Jacquelyn!!!
For Jacquelyn's birthday, we had a small get together (only 20 people) to celebrate.
Below are the pictures from the party.
Last week I kept getting a message all in Chinese as I would try to access web pages. Randomly this message would pop-up when I tried to get to google.com, yahoo, or whatever. It would automatically redirect to the Chinese message just for a few seconds before again redirecting to the desired website. The first few times I just ignored it and because it only flashed for a few seconds I really didn’t have time to do anything about it. I saw that it was from our web provider (Here in China there is only one company who can give web service, by the way.), so I wasn't really worried about it being a virus. I finally got the bright idea to quickly copy and paste the message the next time I saw it. Now, remember, there was seemingly no method to the pop-up randomness…so I brushed up on my shortcuts (ctrl+a = “Select All” & ctrl+c = “Copy”) and did my normal web surfing. Finally, the message popped up again.
Well, I was able to copy the message. I did my best to understand the message…it had a lot of words I’m not too familiar with like “modem”, “router”, and the such. After my choppy translating work I came to the conclusion that I was way off because what I thought it said couldn’t be true. So the next day I went to work and had a Chinese person translate it for me. It turns out I was right! The message said something to the effect that I was breaking the service agreement by plugging into a router and using multiple computers on my internet connection. Again, let me emphasize the “my” in that last sentence. The message continued by saying that if I continued to “violate” the service agreement they would shut it off completely. What??? I can’t use multiple computers on my own internet connection? What’s up with that?
This creates a serious problem for us. For one, we really love having wireless connection in our house. Secondly, we do have multiple computers – desktop, laptop, work-issued laptop and most importantly, our new Skype phone that we paid way too much for. (Yes, the Skype phone does count as a computer according to the Internet company.) Thirdly, it’s just the plain principle that someone is telling me how I can and can’t use my own internet service that I pay for monthly.
Wait…it gets worse.
I had the previously mentioned Chinese person call the company to get details about the “service agreement”. It turns out that we can pay more to allow use of the router – RMB 30 PER COMPUTER!!! That’s just ridiculous. By the time we paid for all the computers we would have doubled our monthly fee. I’m willing to pay a bit more…but double??? Again, I reiterate…that’s just ridiculous.
I’m not sure how this one is going to turn out. I’ll have to let you know. No matter how it turns out, though…this is just lame, lame, lame.
I put this on our other website not long after Anna was born, but thought it would be fun to post it here so people can comment on it.
Look Familiar??? Anna Mae  |
 |  |
The other day Jeremy & I wanted to go out for cheap Chinese food so we asked were a good "whole in the wall" restaurant was. Some friends told us and so we decided to walk there. It took us a little while to find the right street because we still don't know the area very well. After we found the right street and looked for the restaurant and thought we found it. We walked in and I said "Hey, this smells like Korean food." We sat down and looked at menu and Jeremy said "They have Korean food here." The waitress said, "Of course, this is a Korean restaurant."
We had never eaten Korean food before so we did not know what to order. The waitress helped us and we ended up with a great meal. It was pretty cheap and very good. Not exactly what we were going out for but we ended up liking it and got plenty full.
We have been trying to get around Qingdao and enjoy the sites while the weather is still nice. So on Saturday we went to the Underwater World. It was pretty neat. It started off with a museum (which we didn't learn too much since everything was in Chinese), then had a large part devoted to salt water life and ended with a small section for fresh water life.
Yup, this is where we live!! Aren't you jealous? I am and I already live here. For the first few weeks as we would be on a walk I would turn to Jeremy and say, "Can you believe we live by the beach, I mean we live right here on the ocean!!" Qingdao really is a beautiful city. We are waiting for you all to come and visit us.
Our first sightseeing in Qingdao was to Polar World. We were very excited to take Anna, I don't think she shared the same excitement. I really enjoyed taking her around to the different "cages" and pointing out the different animals. We would find the animal's eyes, nose, and mouth. She was a bit scared when the walruses swam by. Being a little kid you don't know that the glass will keep you safe. All she knows is that this huge animal is swimming right past her and could probably eat her up in one swallow.
We did not know when the dolphin shows were so we got to Polar World right after the last showing in the morning started. So we walked around the place first (a couple times) then eat lunch and then waited a little while longer for the first afternoon showing. Anna was getting a little bit cranky because it was about her nap time. But it was definitely worth the wait. Anna loved every minute of the show! Jeremy & I also thought the show was very good, the best we have seen here in China. The park itself was not that impressive. I thought it was a little bit over priced for what they had but the show was very good and worth seeing.
Anna is adjusting to the new city pretty well. She is making lots of friends and her mom is trying to make some connections too. It takes a little bit longer for me than her. The other day we spend almost the whole day with another little girl who is about 9 months older than Anna. We went to a play club where they have lots of toys.
Well, we've made it through our first two weeks of living in Qingdao! We apologize for taking so long to make a post about it, but it's been pretty crazy with the whole moving in-unpacking-starting a new job-working on my MBA-going shopping, and of course going to the beach like everyday!
Jacquelyn has loved her newfound freedom of being able to walk to the beach and major shopping places.
My new job is going great! For those of you who don't know, I am the admissions director for Qingdao MTI International School (QMIS). I have a lot to learn, but I think it is going to work out well. I've been working very closely with the previous admissions director for these past two weeks.
Check this out...I get to hire a secretary! Isn't that awesome? No more getting my own coffee! Obviously I'm just kidding about the coffee, but it is pretty exciting about getting a secretary. QMIS is in the midst of renovating a new campus and we're already busting at the seams. I'll be moving into my new office by the week's end.
