Everyday Life

I can't help it...I must be a super blogger nerd. Here I am for the third time in one week. I just like to ramble I guess. Some people have been writing and asking what we do everyday. Well, I must admit...up until today, we have pretty much been on vacation. Sight seeing, shopping, eating out, exploring the city, meeting people, etc. Travis had been interviewing with companies, but didn't actually start his internship until today. Soooo, I guess real life begins...well, as real as it could be living all the way across the world in a strange land. So, what's "everday life" for us like here?

Let's start off with Trav's internship. Fitting, since that's the whole reason we came here! He interviewed with three companies and accepted a position with a consulting company that deals with IPO's (I'm not going to pretend to know what that means) and venture capital. He will obviously have to give you details later, since I seem to be mental when it comes to business talk. Anyway, he liked his first day. Of course he did...they gave him a nice, big office overlooking the city, ordered him lunch (which seems to happen everyday there), and let him just settle in. Hmmmm, doesn't sound too bad.

What do the boys and I do everyday? Well, like I said, this was the first day away from Travis. We don't have a routine yet, but here are some of the things we have done. We walk around a lot. We love to explore the many types of markets and we try to find parks and anywhere the boys can run and play. Before we came, I thought I would be freaked out and never leave the apartment. But, I feel totally safe here and will go anywhere I know how to get to. I even dare to ride the buses, taxis, and subways by myself. It sounds nerdy, but I want to see you try to go somewhere where no one understands you and you have to tell them to go to a certain destination or read bus and subway signs. I'm still baffled that ANYONE can make sense of their characters.

Here are some pictures of a park that we were SO lucky to live right across the street from. I call it "my little piece of heaven in a big, dirty city." It is a beautiful, little park that also has a playard with cars, tramp, swings, playground in it for a small fee. I mention this park because we spend a lot of time there. I LOVE going there with my camera and capturing all of the small things that I never want to forget about China. Couples dancing to music at night, old ladies playing hackeysack, old men flying kites, ladies doing synchronized dances, and people doing Tai Chi in the mornings are all very common things that I never tire watching. I love these things because there are many other things that are not so pleasant.

These fountains are at the park across from our apartments

The boys love the "mushroom fountains" at the park

You can't really see very well, but this is the "exercise equipment" in the park that you will see all over China. Very different ideas about getting into shape...

This is a picture of some men doing Tai Chi in the morning at the park

I HAD to add this. I was shocked for weeks when I found this out...the children don't wear diapers here. Yep, your eyes to not deceive you, that is a slit in his pants to just squat and let loose wherever and whenever. All of the tiny kids wear slit pants. I've seen way too many mini one eyed snakes here. I'm still in shock...

This picture is Kaleb and Barrett (obviously) in their new Chinese jammies that I just couldn't resist. It was a good purchase, however, because they seriously want to wear them every night and they call them "karate jammies." Yep, they pretty much think they are invincible when they have them on. You can see their sweet kung fu moves in the next pictures.

I will make you a promise. I have so much to say and ramble about right now, but I swear all of my blogs will not be this long. If I make Travis do the next one, you may only get a few sarcastic one liners...