Moving this blog - Take note

Living where we do, we often encounter websites that are blocked. Although we usually figure out ways around it, it makes communication difficult. When we first arrived over 6 years ago, blogspot (and other google apps) were working just fine. Blogspot was the first to be blocked, then youtube, and docs. Our fingers are crossed that gmail will not be blocked.

Anyway, in an attempt to be out from under the blockage, I have moved this blog to a new location. All of this blog’s posts have been exported to our new blog.

If you are following via RSS feed, be sure to update the information.

The new address is: http://blog.jalopyhead.com

Happy Birthday, A-Mae

Anna Mae is now 4 years old! What an exciting time in all of our lives. Anna is so full of life and happiness. She's also developing in her memory and emotions. The other day she saved a cookie from school for mommy to eat (a feat in itself to get it home in one piece). Mommy didn't immediately eat the cookie, and the next day Anna reminded mommy of it by asking, "Did you eat the cookie yet?" When mommy said no, Anna said as she visibly became emotional about it, "But I saved it for you!"

Anna got to have 3 birthday parties!

Her Chinese school threw her a birthday party.



She celebrated alone with mom and dad.



And then we threw her a party with her friends at the house.


Oh, and Jacquelyn made a cake that was simply out of control!

Sea Apple

We recently bought what we thought was a coral for our salt water fish tank. However, it turns out it is not only not a coral, but that it is a poisonous sea cucumber called a Sea Apple. The fish store owner apparently didn't know too much about what she was selling. I asked her before I bought if it needed any special care, or if it could co-habit a tank with fish. She said no special care was needed and that being with fish was no problem. Right...

Video of the Sea Apple eating.
(Anna is jumping around in the background.)


When we got home we plopped it in the tank, got on the computer and started googling this awesome colorful "coral". That was when we discovered it's true poisonous nature. In addition, only experts are supposed to attempt raising these things. I am not an expert.

Nonetheless, it is the coolest thing that we've seen so far in the saltwater world and I wanted to share some pictures and video.

Closed

Opening up

Mouth is open

Insert food here

*Don't worry, it's only poisonous to the fish in the tank.

Don’t buy this, okay?

I was reminded of the…um…“quality” of certain things about China. B&Q was my first shopping experience since coming back from a 2 month holiday in the States. For those of you that don’t know, B&Q is an English DIY store that has things like storage boxes, wood for building. It’s very similar to a Home Depot or Lowes. However, as most things in China, the stuff they sell is basically dog crap molded into sellable items. But everyone knows that no matter how many times you wash crap it still stinks. (I’m a bit frustrated because our crap - that has been molded into cabinets – keeps falling apart.)

The out of stock display items didn’t bother me too much. Nor did the broken down storage containers bother me. The motivation for this post comes from the last part of our frustrating experience at B&Q – the cash register. We headed to the front at 8:25 – 5 minutes before closing. One of the things we wished to purchase didn’t have a price tag on it, so the cashier says, “Do you still want this? Don’t buy this, okay?” When we politely said yes, she shouted for a price check. As the price checker was walking back, she said, “Hurry up, I want to go home!”
I don’t know much, but I do know you’re not supposed to do that in front of a customer.

Safe on an Airplane

I no longer feel safe on a airplane. I accidentally carried on board an international flight a 10" Cutco knife. Jacquelyn came to and asked, "Have you seen the cutco knife that we packed?"Since we had a delayed and damaged suit case, I immediately assumed it had fallen out of that bag. But then she said, I had put it in your computer case. I said, "Well, there's no way it's in there. Otherwise we would have security questioning us on why we were trying to bring a 10" knife on board". Plus, I have been using my case all week with no inclination that there was a knife in the bag. So, we took out all the stuff and low and behold, there it was, wedged at the very bottom of a side pocket. Hmmm....

Tea Time

This past birthday & Christmas I got a new camera! I am so excited to learn how to use it. In the past 4 days I have taken almost 700 photos trying to get a good picture. This picture is not going to win any photography awards but I thought it was adorable. We are sitting enjoying a tea party here at Grandma Nainai's house.

Some Observations about the Party Scene

For JK’s birthday I thought I’d take her out on the town. There was a band in town called Immaculate Machine. (I forgot the name, though, and kept telling people we were going to see the Immaculate Conception.) The band was from Canada. What they were doing in China, I have no idea. Their music was quite good. I always wonder what motivation rock bands have to go out on tour. This band didn’t seem to be in it for the party scene, or money, or hookin’ up. They seemed genuinely interested in the music…which is nice. Overall it was a good night. We had a fun time together.

While talking together, we made the following observations:
-Neither one of us have really experienced the party scene before
-Neither one of us particularly like it
-Both of us think it is quite smoky
-We both enjoyed the music
-We’re usually in bed by the time the headline band hits the stage
-I think we’ll do it again, sometime

Immaculate Machine's website:
www.immaculatemachine.com

What I Want for Christmas - An Anna Mae Deluxe...

Things are winding down for us here in Qingdao. In just a couple of weeks we’ll be headed back to the States to spend our first Christmas with the Carman family since we were married. Although we’ve enjoyed the last 5 Christmases in China with our friends, we’re really looking forward to being able to spend it with family this time

Recently we were able to get a remote control car! (Awesomely named, "Land Despot" or "Overlord") But, as with most toys that 3 year-olds get, Anna enjoys playing with the box much more than with the car itself.