E-motion-less

Another fun Halloween Story takes me back about 6 years to when I was in college (uh oh, it was 6 years ago, man oh man I am old). I was up in Pittsburgh visiting my beautiful fiancee, now wife, Renee, and I was staying with a buddy of mine, let's call him Hamon Dall. Now Renee was actually working and I was up there on fall break, so I had absolutely nothing to do, so one day Hamon and I went to Target. As it was close to Halloween, the store had all its fine decorations out for all to see and buy, so we went looking through all the various pieces of junk that people could buy to make their house look "creepy." With Hamon's parents out of town we figured that we should buy some junk to make his house look scary, so we went down the aisle that had the lights and stumbled upon the "motion lights," such characters as a motion pumpkin and motion bat. These lights would show a pumpkin becoming scary or a bat flying, but what really caught our eye was the tag for a motion ghost, just think of the possibilities a ghost flying through the air, how much creepier can you get (note that in our minds the motion ghost looks nothing like the picture above, just thought I tried to scare anyone who is reading this with the not so common blow up ghost decoration).

Noticing that they were out of the motion ghosts (noting that they had a plentiful supply of the other motion lights) we asked if they had any more motion ghosts in the back, the worker went back and could not find any. Knowing that it was our destiny to find one of these things, we went to the next store only to find the same thing, plenty of motion bats, but no motion ghosts. We started to suspect that either they had to pull all motion ghosts or that they were actually trying to have motion goats, and made ghosts by mistake (why the whole motion goat thing would work for Halloween is, in itself, a spooky mystery). So we decided to spend the rest of our free time during my week up there looking for motion ghosts, we probably visited about 4 or 5 Targets and even called a couple, of which, they all mysteriously were out of theses ever elusive motion ghosts. We finally came to the conclusion that the motion ghosts probably too closely resembled a KKK member and Target decided that having a "motion racist" would not fly during Halloween.

What are you roasting?

I listen to the Relevant Magazine Podcast each week and it is by far one of the best podcasts out there. As Halloween approaches, it is only appropriate for me to give the relevant podcast people some credit for one of the best "alternatives to Halloween" ideas. One of the hosts of the podcast lived near a church that would put on the Holy Ghost Wiener Roast as an alternative to Halloween. The name is pure awesomeness, I really think that all churches should host a Holy Ghost Wiener Roast, I think it could be used a great evangelizing tool. So really, if you want to take the idea (as I did to write this post) go ahead.

Late Night Queen

During our honeymoon I was awoken one night at around midnight by the sound of crowd laughter coming from the television. Even though I had already been asleep for about 2 hours, my wife was still up watching something on the good ole television. It was at that time that I decided to request that we not have a television in our bedroom for the rest of our marriage (what can I say, I like my beauty sleep). This has played a huge part in me getting to bed and not being awoken by my wife giggling at the TV or having some loud advertisement scare me out of my sleep.

As you may or may not know, Sunday morning at 3am (China time) was the finals for the Rugby World Cup, I got up with my UK friend and we watched England lose 15-9, needless to say, I was quite tired on Sunday, but I didn't a nap, so I headed to bed a little bit before 8pm. My wife decided to watch some episodes of Grey's Anatomy (as we got the first 3 seasons on DVD from a friend that is moving back to the US). When I woke up at around 11pm, I noticed that Renee was not in bed yet, so I walked to the office to find her watching Grey's Anatomy, I warned her to come to bed cause she will be tired the next day, but my warning fell on deaf ears. I then awoke at 3am to find that the place next to me in bed was still empty. I fell right back to sleep and have no idea when she came to bed, but I do know that she had to get up around 7:15 this morning, so I can say with certainty that there was not much sleeping going on for my wife last night.

Oh what the kids'll say...

Maddie is at an age where she really is learning a lot and she is able to express in words some of the things that she learned. This morning while my wife was getting dressed, Maddie looked up at her and causally said, "Babies suck on boobs." While definitely true, my wife immediately looked at me and said, "why would you teach her that." In regards to any statements that are a little off color or that relate to random things (like nursing a baby), my wife immediately thinks that I taught our daughter the statement. Well, I didn't teach her this tidbit (not sure why it would even come up in a conversation between a dad and a 3 year old) and to prove it to my wife, I asked Maddie how she found out about this.

Turns out that in the nursery on this past Sunday there was a girl who is about 1 1/2 years old that started to cry and the mom took her and started to breast feed her. Regardless of the fact that the child being breast fed is a little old, (although I have heard of kids up until first grade getting breast fed, can you imagine this, the kids is playing soccer in the park and they just run up to their mom for a fill up, kind of creepy) I guess Maddie watched how the mom was able to sooth this child by having them suck on the breast and was able to decipher that women's breasts can be used, as she put it, "like a bottle." So a perfectly good explanation for how my daughter learned this act and she definitely got me off the hook.

Updates

We are now back down to a family of 4 as Renee's parents left the other day. This would mark the first time since the end of July that it was just the 4 of us in the house. We had a great time with all the guests, but it was good to have some silence last night as we ate dinner as a family of 4.

I feel bad because I never owned up to 2 things I mentioned regarding baseball way back at the beginning of the season:

1. I won the bet with my friend back in the States because the Orioles ended with an overall record that is 1 better then Pittsburgh Pirates, it was actually pretty cool because it came down to the last game of the season and the O's were able to pull it out for me.

2. On the same light of the Orioles, remember I made the whole prediction for how the Orioles were going to do. Just as a refresher I said they would finish 4th in the AL East (plus for me), with a record below .500 (another plus for me), but I did say they would have a record of 80-82, so a huge minus for me since they ended the season with only 69 wins, so yet another season down the toilet bowl.

Stick with baseball, I saw the Rockies play the Giants back in May and had no idea I was watching a team that would eventually make it into the World Series, I actually hope they win cause then I can say that the one game I made it to this season involved the new home run champ and the World Series Champions, although I do think the AL is much stronger then the NL so that may not happen (but take a note from above, my predicting skills are not that great.

World Cup

I got up at 2am this morning to go to an Irish Pub and watch the England v France Semi Final World Cup match. If you have been reading, you would know that I have really gotten into Rugby since getting hear, and going to watch an England game with a British friend is always fun, in fact the place was packed with Brits for the 3am start. To cut to the chase, England beat France 14-9, and for those of you not familiar with Rugby scoring, it is similar to American Football in that a try (touchdown in American Football) can result in up to 7 points. As you can see, there was not much scoring, but the game was really intense and a really fun game to watch (England came from down 1 with 6 minutes left to take the lead and win the match). Most of the people there were not expecting England to win (which I am learning appears to be the typical British expectation, that their team will fail, so if they win, they can be all the more excited), so they were very excited to see the result. My friend and I have already booked a table for next weekend's final match that will put England versus either South Africa (note they got beat down by South Africa already in the World Cup) or the surprise of the World Cup Argentina.

On a side note, much of the world thinks that we Americans are pretty simple minded people, although I have observed many things to make me believe that we are actually one of the better countries when it comes to racial tolerance (I know we still have many racial issues, but believe me, it is definitely not as bad as some other countries). I was stunned to hear during the broadcast that one of the black French Rugby players (I only noted 3 black players on France's team) had a nickname of the "Dark Destroyer." Does anyone else out there think there is anything wrong with this nickname???? Again, we have racial problems in the US, but I don't think it would ever fly if a black player of any sport was called the "dark" anything. I guess he is okay with the nickname, or maybe it is just that so many white people refer to him as this that he has just accepted, either way he should probably think about his nickname being shortened to the "destroyer" unless of course there is a "light destroyer" on the team, then I can see the name being justified...oh wait, no, that just makes it worse.

Splish Splash falling out of the bath...

Remember where I was on the parenting scale? Well, I can't remember climbing up on the parenting scale, so I must be around a 4....and continuing to fall. In an attempt to be a good family dad, I got out the video camrea to tape my kids having their nightly bath so we can look back on it and laugh about the "good ole days." Anyway, the kids were having fun and showing off for the camera when all of the suddent Jacob starts to climb out of the bath and then, of course, falls right out of the tub flat onto his face. Being a great dad, I made sure I got it on tape rather then trying to save my son. Jacob is okay and only cried for a minute (more stunned then anything) and it definitely was one of those videos that we will crack up at everytime we watch it, but I definitely fell a couple more spots on the parenting scale (is there anyway to go below 0?).

One more year...one more year...

So after months of discussions between Renee and I and our families, we have made a big decision in our life. Drum roll please…we decided that we would extend my contract here in Shanghai for one more year, so we are now contracted through April of 2009. We are working through the logistics of what apartment we are going to end up in (probably going to stay in our same apartment), but we are happy that the decision process is over and we are very happy with the decision that we made.

Just to note, we are definitely going to go home after the 3 years are up and will definitely be looking forward to home after the 3 years, but we will be enjoying the next year and a half here.

2 Back Teeth, Krosa, and stuck in the rain

I have finally caught up to recent times, sorry if you are confused by the whole delay between when an event happened and when I posted on this blog.

On Monday (of this week), Typhoon Krosa was passing through Shanghai. It actually put Typhoon Wipha to shame, so it was definitely nice and windy and rainy, it was actually pretty neat. Renee was scheduled to have some wisdom teeth removed on Tuesday, so we decided to have a date night the night before. We had some good German food at Paulaner Brauhaus and had some good conversation with Renee's parents watching the kids back at the apartment.

I knew that we would have a hard time getting cab, so we went to the Shangri La close by the restaurant in order to stay under cover away from the rain, but it took about 45 minutes for a cab to come by, so we had some more good conversation, but were definitely happy for a cab to finally come by.

On Tuesday, Renee had her 2 wisdom teeth removed, which I wouldn't know how painful it is, but others have told me more then enough times that it is very painful. Even after a couple of days, she has been a really good sport about the pain thus far, the procedure went well and she is doing good recovering. Maddie was a little upset when Renee couldn't talk for the first couple of hours, I actually didn't mind it too much (sorry for the cliché joke). Anyway, she still has some pain, but is doing well.

Beijing Day #3

It was raining the whole morning, so we decided to head out to this North Korean art studio, this place had a lot of funny things that included a book of Kim Jung Il (telling all his happy go lucky stories) and a book with the title "US Imperialists started the Korean War." Going there was definitely worth it just for the laughter.

We then went to a Sichuan restaurant, which was another great meal, so all in all, the food was great in Beijing, and the sites were also pretty cool.

Beijing Day #2

We started our day with going to Tiannemen Square and walking around there. We then went into a garden that was right next to the Forbidden City (one of my favourite places to visit) before heading into the Forbidden City. Being that this was my second time in the forbidden city, I guided Ray around and we basically spent the morning there.

After the Forbidden City, we went to one of the suggested duck restaurants, which was one of our best meals in Beijing, duck, while very fatty, is soooo soooo good.

We then headed to the Lama Temple, which had this huge Buddha statue that they claim was built from one tree trunk, this thing was huge, so it was almost impossible to think that they used one tree trunk, I mean this thing was huge.

Finally we headed to the Summer Palace, which was an absolutely huge park with pagodas and a lake, it started to rain so our time there was petty limited, but the place was still pretty neat.

We ended the night with a meal at a Tibetan restaurant, Makye Ame. The food was very good, although the homemade Barley Wine was the worst drink I have ever had in my life. The night was made right when a bunch of Tibetan singers and dancers came on stage to perform for about an hour. This was definitely one of the highlights of the whole trip. Some good food and a nice little Tibetan show, made for an all around good meal.

Beijing Day #1

Ray wanted to go up to Beijing during his time in China so we planned a 3 day trip up there. We arrived at the airport and headed right from airport to a portion of the Great Wall named Simatai. It took about 2 hours, but it was totally worth it. The Great Wall is one of the coolest places that I have been to in my life. This is one of those things that no matter how many pictures you have seen, the pictures do not do it justice, it was so great to be able to see it in person. We spent about 3 hours hiking up and down the wall, and were pretty tired when all was said and done, so we hoped back into our cab to head back to Beijing to check in.

All was going well when about 1 hour into the drive we got into a car accident. I saw it happening and new that the driver was not going to be able to stop, luckily neither Ray nor I were hurt in the accident, the only down fall was the fact that we had to wait about 2 ½ hours before we could leave the accident scene. This was a real big downer on how awesome the first part of the day went, so we hoped to redeem the day with a nice dinner. In regards to the food, we were totally dependent on the Lonely Planet guide book for places that we could go to eat, so we decided to try this place Xiao Wang's restaurant. We got there pretty late (thanks to the accident), so we were the only people in the restaurant. They didn't have rice, which was a huge strike, but they did have some good ribs and we got a really good vegetable. Their duck was not good at all, but the ribs made up for it, so the day was somewhat redeemed.

Shanghai Visit

The plans for the week were to spend Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday in Shanghai, with the rest of our time in Beijing. On Sunday morning we went for a bike ride to a little town outside of the city. This small town was a place that Ray could be exposed to China life outside of a big city. We rode through this town and to a small church that was still in use, but was clearly built a long time ago. We were able to convince one of the people watching the church to get inside of it and it was pretty neat to see how one of the small town churches works.

On Monday we did the Pudong Riverwalk, and then went to Yu Garden (typical itinerary for my guests). We then ended the day shopping at the fakes market.

On Tuesday we went to Suzhou to see the sites there. Our driver was not too familiar with the Suzhou so we had to pick up someone on the side of the road. As sketchy as this sounds, there are people that make their living off of standing on the side of the road and helping people navigate a town they are not familiar with. After one trial and error with a person, we then picked up this guy who we decided to call Chester. This guy not only got us into seeing some of the sights for free, he also negotiated for us to get on a boat ride with a tour group. He was an interesting character and it only costed us about 12 bucks for the day. All the sights in Suzhou were just as I remembered them, the boat ride was a nice addition to our last adventure. Thanks Chester for all your help.

The Invasion

So my wife's parents have been in town for about 3 weeks (although based on my blog, you can see that I was away for most of that that time), but the day after I arrived back from Singapore, my friend from the US, Ray, came for a visit. Now the house had my family, my in laws, and Ray, needless to say, our house was pretty full. We set up a nice schedule of touristy stuff to do while he was here in Shanghai, so our first night involved going to the famous pedestrian street, East Nanjing Road. It was a nice introduction to Shanghai in that the street has neon lights all over the place and he got a feel for what the crowds were going to be like during his visit (note that the first week of October is a weeklong holiday here in China).

Gotta love the flavor of breakfast....

Outside of our hotel there was this advertisement for some "Breakfast Flavoured Milk." Now I eat many things for breakfast, oatmeal, yogurt, eggs, cereal, so I am not sure what breakfast flavour tastes like, but this really could not be good. As you can see you have Malt flavored and Walnut Flavored milk, I have never had walnuts for breakfast so that would not be a breakfast flavour that I would be familiar with, but maybe they should next invent Eggs Benedict, Oatmeal or Toast and Jelly…..yummm toast and jelly flavored milk.

Final Thoughts on Singapore

Friends of mine here in Shanghai always says that Singapore was so much better then Shanghai and that everything "just works" there. Not really knowing what that meant before I left, I know now what that means. Singapore is such an easy place for someone who is just visiting to get around, to see things, the people are great, the transportation is great, and everything does just work. We had no issues our whole time while we were there. Singapore is quite an anomaly in all of Asia in that it is a really easy place for a Westerner to go without having to worry about anything, and it is a great tropical island. The one story that I can use to sum up how awesome Singapore was; my colleague lost his camera in a taxi cab, the cab driver not only came back to the hotel to find my colleague, but gave it to the lost and found at the hotel. There is not one other country in all of Asia that I can think that a taxi driver would do this, most other countries, the driver would keep it for themselves or find someway to deny it was there and sell it off. Now this might not have happened with every taxi driver in Singapore, but based on my short time there, it probably would have happened with at least 9 out of 10 of those, and that is how Singapore "just works."

By the way, we stayed at The Regent Hotel and it was the best hotel that I have ever stayed in, so this definitely helped with the experience.

The Final Days of Singapore

We got a lot of what we wanted to accomplish in Singapore over the weekend and with us working during the day, we kind of took it easy for the rest of our time in Singapore.

One of the last things I wanted to do was go to the "Long Bar" in the Raffles Hotel to get a Singapore Sling, supposedly the place where the Singapore Sling was invented. Well we arrived and from the start I was not impressed, the bar wasn't nearly as "neat" as most of the travel books set it out to be, and the Singapore Sling at the Long Bar was not good at all. This was a very disappointing adventure and my advice to anyone heading to Singapore, skip out on this excursion. The Raffles Hotel is a neat place, but the Long Bar is clearly a touristy trap, you can get a better Singapore Sling and be in a better bar in many other places.

We walked around after the Long Bar and the night was redeemed when we passed by the "largest fountain in the world," the Fountain of Wealth. Actually this thing was a pretty neat fountain (or at least neat as fountains can get) and had a show and some dance music playing with it, which made it all the more fun to sit and watch water being sprayed out of a tube.

Singapore Day #4

We started the day with a traditional Singaporean breakfast of Kaya Toast, runny eggs, and coffee with condensed milk. The kaya toast is a type of bread with a coconut jam type of spread on it and runny eggs are what they sound like, eggs that have only been partially cooked (hence the runniness). This was a very very good breakfast, a great way to start the day of touring, although I wouldn't suggest eating this breakfast on a regular basis.

When we left we noticed that it was pouring outside, so we took the subway and rode the bus to our next destination, the Bukit Timah Nature Reserve. By the time we got there, the rain had subsided and was mostly a mist or a light rain. Luckily the nature reserve had lots of…well…nature that protected us from the light rain. We hiked up the "mountain" (it is a mountain for Singapore, but it is more like a small hill for the rest of the world) and got some nice pictures of…nature. They had some signs saying that there would be a fine if you fed the monkeys, but my theory is that they just put those signs there to get people excited to see monkeys when in fact, there are no monkeys, just my theory. By the time we were leaving the nature reserve the rain had pretty much subsided, so we decided to continue our adventure and head to Chinatown.

Now I live in Shanghai, so there are not many Chinatown's that impress me, as I live in the biggest Chinatown in the world. Singapore's was okay, not too much going on there, just a bunch of stalls selling junk, the same junk that I can get in Shanghai for much cheaper (actually most of those vendors buy their stuff in China and then bring it back to Singapore to sell to tourists for an ungodly amount.

We moved onto to the other cultural center of Singapore, Little India. Here we walked around a bit and got the notion that gold is a really big thing in India as there were hundreds of stalls and stores selling gold stuff. We eventually made our way to an area that had a bunch of restaurants and found a nice Indian restaurant. The service was great and they had some really good food. The chicken tikka masala (a staple for me) was just okay, but the rest of the food was great, so it kind of balanced itself out into a really good meal.

We took a short break in the afternoon and then headed to the Night Safari. This is basically a safari/zoo that is only open at night. We saw the Creatures of the Night Show and that was pretty neat (nothing too great, but fun), and then we went on the tram ride through the park. There were some parts were the animals roamed free (mostly just small harmless dear), and most of the dangerous animals were in areas that were protected by moats. The best part of the night safari was going into the flying fox cage. When you go in, you go in through a bunch of gates that make it so that the flying fox could not get out and when you enter the flying foxes are jumping all over the place, to the point where they are jumping right over your head and it almost feels like they are about to hit you. Anyway, the Night Safari is definitely worth a visit. After the Night Safari (around 11:30pm), we just went back to the hotel to retire for the night. A long day, but a very good day.