Bad Day

I picked Cameron up at school at 11:45.  We were going to ride the train to Beijing for the weekend and were camping on the Great Wall Saturday night.  We were on our way to Subway to get sandwiches for our train ride and I decided to check my e-mail in the van.  I had a message from Back Country Beijing.  They were sorry to do this at the last minute but they cancelled our trip due to weather.  They sent me a text Thursday to check the weather.  I did and replied with we have no reason to cancel our trip.  The other group cancelled.  So now I'm reading they decided to cancel it anyway.  I called Todd.  He had me call them back and explain we were already on our way and we still wanted to go.  Even though I was mad I was still pretty nice to the people.  They said safety first.  I agree but it still made me mad.

We still got Subway and still rode the train to Beijing.  Mr. Xue dropped us off and walked us in to make sure we knew what we were doing.  It's pretty easy but that was nice of him.  On the train, eating Subway with a man behind me bouncing my seat.  Irritating.  He finally stopped. 

In Beijing train station looking for the taxi line.  One whole section was closed so we had to find another.  It was no problem and we jumped right in line.  I had to use my American size to throw a couple blocks so people couldn't get around us.  Finally in a taxi and on our way.  We made it to the highway when all of a sudden a taxi pulls up next to us, honks, and points to our tire.  I said "Cameron, something is wrong".  Our taxi driver continued on and people continued to look at our tire as they drove by.  The taxi driver started testing by letting go of the steering wheel and the car veered right.  Again he tested.  And again.  FINALLY he pulled over onto a side street.  He got out and looked.  He opened my door and I said "flat?"  He motioned us out of the car.

We looked and sure enough it was flatter than a pancake.  Seriously?  What more could go wrong?  He told us 15 minutes and we would be on our way again.  It was only about 10.  He was fast.  When he put everything back in the trunk he grabbed a big jug of water and handed it to me.  He then motioned for me to pour while he washed his hands.  No problem.  Then he had me fill up his hands so he could wash his face.  GROSS!  They still weren't clean.  Oh well.  He was happy.  Back in the taxi and we continued on our way to the hotel.  Cameron decided to work ahead in his math book.  We talked about his handwriting and how he needs to work on it.  He looked up at me and said "Hey, Look at Grandpa Casey.  He has terrible handwriting and look how good he turned out."  I agreed but told him to work on his handwriting.  45 minutes later we had arrived.  Todd was standing outside on a call waiting for us.  He flew in from Harbin and beat us there.

Cameron assessing the tire situation.

Yep, it's flat.

Cabbie did a fine job of changing the tire.

Waiting for Cabbie to finish up.

Always working.

Checked in and up to our room.  Cameron and I got comfy and watched Johnny English Reborn.  Super dumb movie but it is funny.  Todd was finally done with his call.  We went to the lounge for a few drinks and snacks.  We then went to dinner.  We walked over to Home Plate BBQ.  It is a guy from Texas and it is delicious.  We had pulled pork quesadillas for an appetizer.  Cameron had ribs which were huge.  Todd and I had a salad and a basket of brisket and pulled pork.  Yummy. 

The ribs are awesome.

Funny sign Cameron saw in the bathroom.

Back to the hotel and the lounge again. We played I Spy out of the windows. This is much harder for me because my eyes aren't near as good as Todd and Cameron's. We then started drawing Chinese characters on a napkin for the others to find. This was funny. Blind and not good at drawing characters made it hard for Todd and Cameron to find what I was drawing. What I thought the character looked like didn't look like it at all since I left parts out. I tried.

The people from Back Country Beijing came to our hotel at 8:30 to drop off our deposit.  She had a guy with her.  I think she thought she was going to get yelled at.  I again showed them the weather and told them we didn't understand why they cancelled.  She said she understood our frustration but they didn't want to take any chances.  It probably was a good thing I went down and not Todd.

Up to our room to watch Men In Black 2 then off to bed.

Nice Boys

Today I received an e-mail from Carrie.  She was telling me about something else but at the end of it she wrote the following: 

On a totally unrelated note....... it came up in conversation today that you and Cameron would only be here for another 10 months. Ryley immediately blurted out, "Can Cameron stay?". Tobias immediately followed with, "Yeah, he can stay with us during the day and go home to Todd at night." They've got it all figured out! I guess he'll have to stay.

They are the sweetest boys.  It is really going to be difficult to leave these friends we have made here.  I'm really not looking forward to that part of leaving.  Brings tears to my eyes already.


I went with Ileana to see George the Tailor.  We need to have outfits for an 80's party we are going to on the 22nd of Sept.  We both are getting the same kind of outfit...think Flashdance.  She picked out some pink material and mine is a bright lime green.  We met with George to discuss what we needed.  He was pretty confused.  He took a picture of what we want it to look like and made Ileana draw it.  First he measured tiny little Ileana.  When it was my turn he said "How tall are you?"  I said "5'9."  He didn't know what that meant and I didn't know what it was in cm.  I got out my phone to use my converter.  As I was looking it up he started trying to use a too short tape measure to measure me.  I finally said "179 cm".  He looked up at me with a look of 'are you serious' and repeated it.  He looked me up and down and said "You are tall".  No duh.  Especially since he isn't much taller than Ileana.  I said "I'm a giant."  He laughed.  He took my measurements and then told us they would be done on the 10th.  I can't wait to see how they turn out.  Our next mission is to find accessories. 

Sharla is back in town.  Woo Hoo.  We met at 12:45 out front of our apartment to walk over to Ashanti for lunch.  There was another group of girls there so we chatted with them for awhile.  Finally ordered lunch.  I had the best BBQ beef quesadillas.  Anthony of course fed us drinks and didn't make us pay for them.  Mr. Xue picked me up there at 2:45 to go to school.  Sharla stayed chatting with Anthony.

I got to school and I went to pick Alejandro up from his teacher because he was going home with us.  It was one of the Chinese aides.  I told her I was there for Ale and she said "Oh, are you his grandmother?"  I said "Excuse me?"  She repeated it and I said no.  The other aide came out and said dad didn't say who was picking Ale up today so I said I was.  The first aide again asked if I was his grandmother.  I said "NO, I am his neighbor and he is going with me".  They said ok.  I now know Ileana needs to send an email if I am picking him up again.  I really wanted to answer "Yes, I am Alejandro's 42 year old WHITE grandmother."  Funny.

Grabbed Cameron and we all headed home.  Alejandro got to play with Cameron for a little bit so he was excited.  Ale went home and Cameron played with the other boys.  Dinner, read, watched FRED on Nick, then off to bed.

Ouch

Everyday we will have a classroom at the school to do some sort of exercise...step, kickboxing, Biggest Loser videos, Insanity, etc.  Today started Yoga.  Every Wednesday we have a Yoga teacher come.  I have done Yoga once in my life and I just remember it being weird and kind of a waste of time.  I was a little skeptical about signing up but I did it because all my friends were doing it (Yep, I'm a follower sometimes).  The teacher is just a tiny, little thing, of course.  We set up our mats and started by sitting with our eyes closed and listening to our teacher sing some kind of song.  In my head I was thinking 'what in the world?'  Then she kicked in the stretches and made sure we were all working to our full potential and doing things correctly.

After the first 15 minutes I was sweating.  During each pose I felt like I was either in an earthquake or having convulsions.  My entire body was shaking so bad.  I am not a flexible person so these poses are tough to hold.  At one point she made us put our heels against a wall then back up all the way and make our legs flat against the wall.  OUCH!  Try it at home.  It hurts.

After 40 minutes we were done with the hard part.  Next was the relaxation part.  We all put out a blanket on our mat for our heads and she made us close our eyes.  She talked softly telling us to relax each body part.  At first I could feel my eyes going back and forth.  Finally I was pretty relaxed.  There was a time when there was no talking and I felt like it was forever.  Again thoughts entered my brain.  I was pretty sure this was a ploy to make me look like a dork and while I was laying there everyone else got up and walked out.  I finally had to open one eye and make sure everyone was still there.  They were.  I guess this really was what was suppose to happen. 

I'm hoping next week will be more relaxing and not hurt so much.

The Carrasco kids came up around 5:00 and stayed for about an hour.  The kids decided they wanted to play a game.   We all decided to play UNO Attack.  I helped Alejandro so he knew what to do.  But actually he caught on quickly so I really didn't have to do much.  He won the first game.  They played the second time and Alejandro won again.  He was a very lucky boy.  They all played Wii next for a little bit and then it was time for them to go back home.  They are such great kids.  Love when they all come up to our place.

So serious.

Oh no...Alfredo had a lot of cards shooting out. 

Tianjin Road Trip

I took Cameron to school and met the other girls.  Stine, Trine, Heidi, Anna, Cecilia, Ileana, and I were going on a road trip to Tianjin to check out the fabric market.  We loaded up my van and Stine's and headed out.  We got to the market and went inside.  There was only a few places open.  We finally found someone to tell us they open at 10:00.  It was 9:15.  We found our drivers and had them take us to a Starbucks.  All the other girls needed coffee.

Waiting for our vans.

We drove past one Starbucks but it must not have been the right one.  We continued driving until we found another one.  Once inside we all got a drink and a treat.  I was the only one drinking water in a coffee shop.  We hung out there until 10:15 then headed back to the market.

The bathroom by Starbucks.

Back inside and now everything was open.  There were so many fabrics shoved into little spaces.  Two floors full.  But every so often there would be a booth with dishes or hair accessories.  Kind of funny.  The other girls all got fabric except Cecilia, Ileana, and I.  We went just for something to do. 

So much fabric.

We left the market at 12:00 and went to lunch.  It was a Spanish restaurant.  I had croquettes and Tapas.  It was very tasty.  Definitely a place I will need to take Todd and Cameron.  Also the section that the restaurant is in looked cool so I want to go back to explore that area. 

Stop The Madness

Everyone knows I hate cooking/baking.  I have set a record this week.  4 days straight of cooking/baking.  I am SICK of being in the kitchen and cleaning up afterwards.  Today was oatmeal cookies, blue berry muffins, and a huge batch of salsa.  Tomorrow I am not doing anything in the kitchen.  That's it...I quit!

Cameron had lots of Dad/Son time today which was great.  Before Todd got home the boys were over playing.  They played one of the Lego games.  They were laughing and having fun.  Once he got home Todd went out and played basketball with Cameron, Alfredo, and Manuel.  They played HORSE but used the Mexican spelling for horse.  CABALLO.  We then hit the cold food warehouse for some food.

Lego game.

Todd playing with the boys.

Back home Todd and Cameron went out to the big field in front of Warner to play baseball with the Hindman's.  They were out there for almost 2 hours.  They said they had fun.  Cameron helped Todd cook a bunch of food for dinner.  Great day.

That's a lot of food on the grill.

Cameron was suppose to be reading but he fell asleep.  So tired.

School Picnic

Up too early making cupcakes for the school picnic bake sale.  Baked, decorated, and walked out of the apartment at 10:45.  We rode with Carrasco's to the school.  We found a spot on the lawn to put the blanket and we sat with a bunch of our friends.  We were in the shade and there was a nice breeze so it wasn't bad.  The kids played. 

Alfredo and Cameron before they got bored.

Our section.

Around 12:30 or so Rachel, Ileana, and I started doing face, arm, hand, leg painting.  Rachel did some awesome Spider man and Pirate faces.  She is very creative and just really good at crafty things.  Ileana did a great job too.  Mine, well, they were mediocre at best.  Luckily the kids didn't seem to mind. 

This guy had no interest in playing with his kids. 
It's a picnic not nap fest. 

Joseph looks awesome as Spider man.

Marcela's butterfly face.  She looked at this picture after I took it.
She screamed and ran to the bathroom to wash it off.  Silly girl.

At 1:45 we loaded up and left school.  We stopped at the fruit/veggie market to get some veggies for dinner and then we went home.  Alejandro came up to play Wii with Cameron for a little bit while Ileana ran Alfredo to a birthday party and picked Fredy up from work.  Ale was so excited to have Cameron all to himself.

The ride home.  Alejandro's pirate face is a little smeared.

Todd got home and he had lots of surprises for Cameron.  He warned me ahead of time that I wasn't getting any.  That is fine with me.  I would much rather have Cameron get things than me.  Todd brought a Harley shirt with the Marina Bay Sands Hotel on the back (Where I want to stay if/when we go), Lego Bride/Groom cake topper looking thing...Cameron thought that was funny, Lego Monster Fighter, Lego Lord of the Rings, Lego Architecture building that we went to in Korea, Lego Jabba's Palace, and a 3D DS game.  It was like Christmas.  Cameron was excited.

We had Jacky's delivered for dinner, watched Men In Black 2 again, and then off to bed. 

Side note:

The following article was in an Asia Newspaper.  Todd travels on this bridge all the time.  Thank God he wasn't on it when this happened.  Yikes.

I couldn't get the picture to turn the right way.

School

Cameron has 2 full weeks of school under his belt already.  Today I had a conversation with his teacher after school.  TIS has the Accelerated Reader program now like Cameron had at Seton.  They took the level test that shows what level books each student should be reading at.  Mr. Singer told me today that Cameron tested out at 10.  I said "Excuse me?"  He had a big smile on his face and again said 10.  That means Sophomore in High School level.  Mr. Singer went on to say that although Cameron tested out at that level he would like him to stay with books below 7.5 grade level because high school books get into a whole different level of topics.  You think?  He's only 9.

Cameron and I talked about it on the way home.  I told him that it was awesome he tested that high and I told him how proud I am of him.  I went on to tell him I want him to find books that interest him and that will keep him reading not just books because of their levels.  He doesn't usually have a problem finding books but I just had to give him the mommy speech.

At home we were going through Cameron's back pack and there was a note.  It talked about what they did this week and then talked about their math book. It said that the math workbook they bring home has the answers in the back in case we wanted to tear them out.  WHAT? I always check the work even though I really don't need to.  But for two weeks I have been wracking my brain trying to correct Cameron's problems when the answers were in the back?  Darn it.  Obviously some of it was easy but others not so much.  Problems like...57,312  ________  61,328   63,336    ______.  Figure out what the missing numbers are.  Huh?  And why?  Cameron doesn't have a problem figuring these out so why do I have such a problem?   Maybe I should go back to 4th grade.

Cameron seems very adjusted again and back in the swing of things.  He loves school and is very happy everyday.  That makes this Mom very happy as well.

Fight/Baby Shower

No, those two things in the title of this post do not go together.

We started the day like any other.  Got ready and took Cameron to school.  Since I ruined the lettuce and tomatoes yesterday I had to go to the veggie market to rebuy those items.  I wasn't even sure if it was open at 7:50 but decided to try.  We pulled in the parking lot and it was pretty empty.  I got out of the van and walked behind the building to go inside.  There were tons of people back there buying breakfast from all the little vendors.  The market was hopping too.  I found my veggie lady and bought lettuce and tomatoes.  My fruit lady wasn't there yet so I had to go to another to buy 2 peaches that we were short for the favors for the baby shower.  These 2 peaches cost me way more than yesterday from my lady.  Oh well.  We needed them. 

I got back in the van and we headed back to the apartment.  We got to the corner of Nanhi Lu...VERY busy street.  I saw a bike lying on the ground that was hit by a cab.  I then saw 2 older gentlemen fighting.  There was a lot of yelling.  Both men were holding onto each others shirts pushing and shoving each other across 4 lanes of traffic.  Everyone drove around them like they weren't even there, including my driver.  Mr. Xue just laughed and continued on.  I kept looking back watching the 2 guys.  They then started throwing punches.  Mr. Xue was laughing at me because I was making noises in disgust.  The worst part was there was a "police officer" standing there looking like he was oblivious to anything going on.  Incredible.

I spent all morning making little taco boats for the baby shower for Yvonne today.  What a gigantic pain in the rear.  I can tell you that Chef Ramsey from Hells' Kitchen would have kicked me out of his kitchen in the first 5 minutes.  I burned the first 3 taco shells.  Then I burnt the top of my hand.  My kitchen looked like a tornado went through it.  This project took 5 times longer than it should have.  I am just not an organized person by any means of the word in the kitchen.  I was kicking myself for choosing to make these.  I wished I had just ordered something from Jacky's and had it delivered.  The final project was a success so I guess I should be proud of that.  AND everyone seemed to think they were really tasty too.   I hope no one is expecting me to make 20 of those again anytime soon. 

They look good.

Fancy. 

I had to rush to get ready, get the kitchen cleaned up, and be at Ileana's by 12:00.  I made it but just in time.  The shower started at 12:30.  Last minute preparations and then guests started to arrive.  Yvonne and Alejandro are having their second baby in just 3 weeks.  Samantha, their daughter, is 2 1/2.  Yvonne was very thankful and happy that we had this shower.  It was a pot luck so there were many wonderful dishes to choose from.  Heather made one of her delicious cakes.  Yvonne received some very awesome presents too.  All in all it was a great afternoon with some great girls.  We all had to leave in a rush to go to school to get our kids.  Thank God for ayi's to clean up.

Some of the ladies enjoying lunch.

Yvonne and alll her gifts.

The cute, yummy cake.

All the girls.
Ileana, Luz, Carrie, Rachel, Cecilia, Heather, Jovi, Nadia, Rosemary, Anna, Becky.
Megan (Mason), Susan (Lars), Me, Yvonne, Marina (Maya), and Andrea.

At 6:00 we headed over to the new Jacky's.  It isn't so new anymore but that is still what everyone calls it.  A bunch of us decided to have dinner there and just hang out.  There is a huge area where the kids could run and play without fear of cars or anything.  They played with balls, jump ropes, chalk, hopscotch, etc.  They had a lot of fun.  The adults sat together and enjoyed drinks and food.  It was a beautiful night to be outside.  Jacky, the owner, was happy to see us all.  He got crazy and bought all of us a shot of Tequila.  Yuck.  We decided to get another shot for everyone but it was Kaluha and Baileys with whip cream.  I showed them all how to drink it with no hands.  The Danish people thought that was hilarious.  Of course everyone tried it that way.  There was a lot of laughter.  Around 10:45 Carrasco's and us jumped in a cab and headed home.  When the cab was in front of our apartment Ileana told him to stop in Chinese.  For some reason this made him mad and he started yelling at us.  No idea why he snapped but at least we were home.  Off to bed.

Cameron and Alejandro are buddies.

Michelle and Owen (on the right) are the newest family.

Marcela and Ileana got stuck together.  Anders helped get them apart.

Chinese Valentine's Day

Today is Chinese Valentine's Day.  I ran to the grocery store and then stopped at Nick's Mart.  I picked up a few waters and snacks there.  Todd, Dan, and Bill were headed to Beijing together so I wanted to have a gift bag of snacks in the van for their trip there.  Dan and Bill were headed back to America and Todd was headed to Singapore.

I ran up to get the gift bag out of the apartment, stuffed it with waters, chips, peanuts, Starbursts, and Gummi Bears.  Ran back down to the van and sat it on Todd's seat.  Mr. Xue picked the boys up and I received a phone call.  Todd said "So, you remembered it was Chinese Valentine's Day huh?"  Yes, I did.  "Well, I remembered when I got to work and I was hoping you wouldn't remember".  Nice.  He then asked why I had 3 of everything.  I told him I didn't want Bill and Dan to feel left out.  He said "So, you want Dan and Bill to be your Valentine's too huh?"  Ummmm, no.  I think one man is enough to deal with.  I was just being nice.

I can't be upset that Todd forgot.  He sent me flowers last year and I didn't even know about Chinese Valentine's Day.  And if I am going to be totally honest...the only reason I knew about it was because it was in an article I read in Beijing Kids magazine yesterday.  Plus, we aren't Chinese so it isn't like it truly counts as a "holiday".  I still love Todd even if he forgot Chinese Valentine's Day!

So I decided to be nice to our neighbors and friends on this special day.  I made strawberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting.  Cameron delivered them to Carrasco's, Hindman's and Cuevas'.  They are the lucky recipients to my Betty Crocker moment. 

Ileana and I went to Tanggu this afternoon.  We hit the fabric market and then went looking for chandeliers.  Fredy hates all the ones they have in their apartment.  After what we saw today we are pretty sure he is just going to have to live with it.  There are some HUGE, gaudy chandeliers that are WAY over priced in the home store.  I can't believe someone would look at these and say "Wow, I need that in my house."

That is a whole lot of shine.

Too many crystals.

This chandelier is bigger than Ileana if it was on the ground.

We hit the cold food warehouse next.  Picked out what we needed pretty quickly.  However, the two girls working were slower than snails..  It was so hot in the store too that we almost died.  We finally had all our stuff and headed to the veggie market.  We bought some fruit for gift baskets for the baby shower tomorrow.  I bought some lettuce for the first time living in China.  Ileana says she buys it all the time and it is fine.  Off to school to get our kids.

Back home.  Cameron received his Valentine's present and then he delivered cupcakes to all his friends.  I cleaned the lettuce.  I first broke it all apart, rinsed it, and then washed.  I then rinsed it with bottle water and left it out to dry.  I then cleaned the cherry tomatoes.  As I was cleaning up I realized I made a horrible mistake.  Instead of using fruit/veggie cleaner I used Febreez (the Chinese version).  I couldn't figure out why the cleaner smelled so different.  Luckily I figured out my mistake and threw it all away before anyone ate it.  No wonder the kitchen is not my favorite place.  Oh my.  Back to the store.

Don't ask why his pants are down.

Plate full of cupcakes and a Wii game.

One of the trays of cupcakes for our friends.

Cameron and I decided to spend Valentine's Day together at Ashanti for dinner.  We walked over there and went in.  It was pretty crowded.  After all, it was Valentine's Day.  We saw Michelle and Owen and their girls so Anthony (the manager) sat us next to them.  It was such a nice dinner chatting with them.  Cameron handed me a red rose.  Aww, Anthony had them to give to all the ladies.  How sweet.  After a great dinner Cameron paid.  What a great guy.  Oh wait, he used my credit card.  It was the thought that counted.  We walked backed home, showered, read, and watched some tv.  Off to bed.

Weird

Ileana and I were at Jusco and I saw the weirdest thing.  Keep in mind that Jusco is like Walmart in the US.  They sell a little bit of everything.  However, today they had little kiddie pools set up with water in them.  In the water...goldfish.  Kids had little nets and were scooping up the fish, putting them in buckets, then dumping them back in.  One little boy had fish in his net and he was flinging the net all over the place.  Those poor fish.  They were just being abused by these kids.  I thought it was pretty mean.  And I couldn't figure out the point of it all.

One of the pools with fish.



Poor fish in the net.

 

On Tuesday's Cameron has bowling for his after school activity. When he walked in the apartment door I asked how bowling went. He said "Can I quit?" I asked why. He said it was mass chaos. He also said one kid went over to his lane 3 times and threw a ball down the lane when it was Cameron's turn. He said no adults did anything. Alfredo came up so I asked him how bowling went. He told me the same story Cameron told me. I asked them both if they wanted me to go with from now on. They both said yes. So, it looks like I will be hanging out at the bowling alley every Tuesday afternoon.

Come to find out there are 12 kids bowling. They have all of them squished on 3 lanes right next to each other. All the other lanes are open. Why don't they spread them out and put an adult on each lane? Why are all the kids up on the lane when others are bowling? They obviously need an American teacher to go show them how to run a program. Bring on next Tuesday.

Pro Bowling Association better watch out.

 

Hairdresser--I Am NOT

I was sitting around this morning not really feeling very well.  Just a really bad headache.  I was watching Sweet November and decided to color my hair.  According to Lynette, my real hairdresser, I should have done it on Friday but I did not have time.

Lynette sent me all the dying stuff I needed with specific instructions on how to mix it.  That was the easy part my friends.  The hard part was getting it on my roots.  My arms were tired from being over my head.  I felt like I was in a Chinese beauty parlor because it took what seemed like forever getting it on my hair.  I did it.  Now I had to sit and wait for 25 minutes.  I was worried.  I had no clue what it was going to turn out like.  Lynette told me the worse case scenario would be that I would not have any highlights left.  So it can't be too bad.  I can deal with healthy, one color hair until December.  The dye they put on my hair here destroyed it.  So I sat and waited.

At 12:15 I was going to jump in the shower to wash my hair.  However, when I began my process of doing that I realized I had a t-shirt on.  How on Earth was I going to get that over my head without getting dye all over it?  Impossible.  So, I got in the shower and luckily we have the kind of head that you can hold onto.  I washed my hair and then I was able to take a real shower.  Yes, my shirt got a little wet but it was better than the alternative.

My hair felt good.  It looked good wet but I still needed to dry it to see what it would look like.  After drying I checked out my hair.  No gray...well, at least the place I could see didn't have gray.  I still have highlights.  Overall I feel like it was a success.  But, the problem I realized was that I had kind of a lot of dye left and I wasn't suppose to.  Maybe next month I will do better.  Live and learn.  Next month should go smoother.  Now if only Lynette taught me how to cut my hair.

At 12:40 the Warner Repairman came over.  The sink in my bathroom would not even drain anymore.  I tried to fix it myself but whatever was clogged was way down in the pipes.  The repairman came in and he was pretty rude.  He was giving me dirty looks because I couldn't understand what he was saying.  Hello...American.  I also think he was mad because he had to fix the sink and shower.  I called Serena.  It took me 3 times to explain to her what I needed.  She finally understood and told the man.  He went to work.  I had taken some of the stuff out from underneath the sink when I was working on the drain but I should have taken it all out.  The man had water everywhere.  Oh well, my ayi was on her way over.  And for the record I cleaned up the cupboard part and part of the floor.  I did not leave it all for her because I thought that would be rude.

Working on my sink.

Working on the shower.

The repairman busted out his snake and cleaned the drains.  I was certainly wishing my cousin, Tim the Turd Herder was here.  He would have had this problem fixed in 5 minutes not 20.  No problem, the drains work and that is all that matters.  Xiao Li showed up and cleaned it all up for me.  What a girl.

Today was Cameron's first after school activities day.  He has soccer on Monday's.  He was a little worried because he thought he would be the worst kid because it is only 4th and 5th grade now.  Last year it was 3, 4, 5.  He was hoping to have some younger kids.  I picked him up and he said it was good.  Boy was he red and hot.  Come to find out he has gym the last period of the day and then goes right to soccer.  He took 2 drinks with him but he is going to need 3.  He will sleep good tonight. 

One hot kid.

We ordered Jacky's for dinner last night.  Cameron got all excited about getting a tuna sandwich.  I asked if he was sure that was what he wanted.  He said "Yes, I love them".  When our food came and Cameron started eating he said "Wait a minute...Alfredo is the one who loves tuna sandwiches, not me".  He ate 2 bites and all the french fries and then got sausages out of the refrigerator.  He took the tuna sandwiches down to Alfredo.  Alfredo was very happy about Cameron's mistake.



Beijing Sunday

Up at 6:30 and I got ready. Cameron and Alfredo were already up watching tv. Todd ran down and ate breakfast. We had one free buffet. When he came back up the two boys and Marcela were on the couch. Todd started making breakfast. Pancakes were on the menu. He poured the first batter into the pan. It was a disaster. It was sticking to the pan. Todd wasn't use to having something not turn out so he was getting irritated. The second one was a little better. He got them all made but they weren't pretty but luckily everyone said they tasted good. We had all the kids fed when Ileana and Fredy came out. It was their 12th anniversary today. They had breakfast and the kids played with balloons again.

Waiting for breakfast.

We packed up and headed down to the vans at 9:00. Todd for a message from Mr. Xue saying tire problems. Leo wasn't there either so we thought they went back to TEDA and were just late. At 9:20 they both pulled in. Come to find out the donut was on the van and the real tire was in back so something did happen. We loaded up. When Mr. Xue was talking to Leo I jumped and turned the switch on the controls to see what the mileage said. I had written it down when we left Longqing and then again when we got to the hotel last night because we were all curious as to how many km it was. When I checked it today there were only 21km difference. At least we knew they didn't go back to TEDA. Not that we care as long as they are where they need to be.

The boys were checking out the car we have to have fixed.

We look like a bunch of tourists.
Just waiting for our vans to show up.

We all (except Todd) went to Pearl Market. We had Cameron's remote control car fixed again. We all walked to the secret knock, knock market but it wasn't open. Everyone goes to this place but we had never been. I was excited to see what it was all about. I was so bummed when it wasn't open.

Back to Pearl Market. We split up and shopped for about 30 minutes. Cameron got a Chinese Chess set from his buddy. The guy threw in a free kite too. That was nice of him. We met back up and decided to go to Tom's DVD shop. Back in the vans and headed to the store. When we got there Todd went to April Gourmet while the rest of us went to Tom's. Problem was when we got to the doors they were chained shut. Cameron looked in and he said it was empty except for a few DVDs scattered on the floor. We talked about how there must be a crack down on illegal sales going on since two stores were closed today. Bummer.

We all went into April Gourmet. I found an awesome American Flag phone cover for $5 and Ileana was excited about the turkey sandwich meat. We also bought cheese and a bag of chips.

Back in the vans and off to The Kro for lunch. Dan and Bill were there waiting for us. Since there were 10 of us we finally got to sit in the nest. It was cool. We ordered, chatted, ate, hit the bathroom, and then left.

In the nest...Bill, Cameron, Alfredo, Marcela, Alejandro, Ileana, Fredy, Me, Todd, and Dan.

The kids enjoyed their shakes and smoothies.

The food has arrived.  YUM!

This is a new sign in the bathroom.

Well, before we left I had to have a picture of Ileana in the middle of Bill and Dan. It was so cute.

And Ileana thought I was tall.

Carrasco's went to another store, Todd, Dan, and Bill walked to the hotel to catch a cab to the airport, and Cameron and I thought we were headed back to TEDA. Wrong! We were driving down a road and I could tell Mr. Xue was looking for something. He was on the phone and still looking. He finally pulled into an area that was all kinds of different tire and car shops. I was mad because this was not in the plan. Todd had asked him specifically if he was going to get the tire fixed in Beijing or Tianjin. His answer was Tianjin. Obviously he changed his mind without telling anyone. I was also mad because we just spent almost 2 hours at lunch so why didn't he have it fixed then? It was very close to our restaurant.  Anyway, the car was jacked up with us sitting in it. The donut was taken off and placed back under the van. Then we sat there. I talked to Todd and of course he wanted me to say some stuff to Mr. Xue but I didn't...he knew I wouldn't. Another 15 minutes went by and our tire was fixed and put on the van. We were off again for home. About 40 minutes which wasn't too bad but it was unnecessary. Oh well. Better to be safe than sorry.

Our little donut is getting taken off.

I'm not sure what Mr. Xue was talking to them about.

At least we got a Good Year tire.

Mr. Xue was making sure the tire got the right amount of air.

Finally on the interstate and cruised to TEDA.  Once home Cameron went out and played with Ryley and Tobias for awhile.  Dinner, talked to Todd, skyped with Grandma and Grandpa, then off to bed. 

Cameron was up at 4:30.  He came into my room and said he had a nightmare about being bit by a spider.  He jumped in bed with me and fell right back to sleep.