Off To Singapore

We went to breakfast at 8:00 and then went back to the room. Cameron and I messed on his Kindle while Todd did some work and watched some of the basketball games.

Around 10 we decided to go walk around Ladies Walking Street which is just a little ways from our hotel. There were a lot of food places.  We went inside which was a big market area. We walked around there seeing what they had to offer. I bought a pair of sunglasses. Back outside to walk around the other side of the street. Nothing much to see so we went back to the hotel.

Our plane was suppose to leave at 3:30 but Todd got an email that said it was 4:30. We asked if we could stay in our room a little later and the hotel people agreed. We went back to looking at stuff on the Kindle and Todd went back to working and watching basketball.

About 12:30 we checked out and got a cab to the airport. Checked in and went to Burger King. We all had double bacon cheeseburgers with BBQ sauce. DELICIOUS. We forgot how yummy BK was. We then hit the lounge to wait for the flight.

The plane was delayed again until 5:10. We were at the gate and finally started boarding. Again it was fun watching the Chinese put their things away and try to find their seats. We didn't get in the air until 6:15 p.m. Pretty uneventful flight. We did some word searches on the IPad and slept. Cameron was sleeping on me and it was so hot. He was sweating all over me. He got in a couple hours though and that was worth a little sweat. We were on the ground in Singapore at 12:15 a.m. We got through passport control and found an ATM to get some money. Grabbed a cab and went to the hotel. It was about a 20 minute drive. It was very obvious that Singapore was a nice, clean Country/city. Up to our room. 2 twin beds again. Cameron called his own and Todd and I were in the other. By this point we were so tired no one cared. Off to bed.

Here we go.

Entertaining himself while he waits.

Starting Vacation

Up and got ready to leave for Beijing. We were out the door at 8. We took the first load down to the van. I had to get our stuff we keep in the van out since it was going to be sitting for a week and we didn't want to leave it. I went to take the stuff to the apartment and realized I didn't bring my keys down so we couldn't get back in. We were in the parking garage. Cameron had to run all the way around and then ring Carrasco's bell so they could let him in. Cameron made it back to the garage to let me in. Mr. Xue and Leo were laughing at me...again!

Back upstairs to drop the stuff off and to put out Cameron's Easter basket that I made. He is going to love it. Back to the van and off for Beijing. We made it to the airport and waited for Todd. He grabbed McDonald's before getting in the van. He got the double sausage, double hamburger sandwich for us to try. It is served on McDonald's attempt at a pretzel roll. Cameron and I thought it was ok. Neither of us liked the sausage but I choked it down and Cameron gave his to Todd. We won't be getting that again and Todd doesn't think they will ever make it to the States.

We went to the hotel to check in and drop our stuff off. We then jumped back in the van and went to see if Sunny Gold Market was open yet. They have been remodeling for months. It was open. It's very nice inside. Nothing really we would buy except purses. We were wondering if my purse lady came back and sure enough we spotted her at the same time she spotted me. She thinks we are best friends. Of course I bought 2 purses and a wallet. Her purses were a little more expensive than they use to be but according to her they are "better quality".

Todd found his store.

We next went to Pearl Market. We walked around there for awhile. We bought phone cases that also charge our phones. Pretty cool and pretty cheap. I got a lime green one so I can easily find it in my purse. We also got some small umbrellas to take with us. The ones I brought may have been too big to take on a plane. Better to be safe than have them taken away. Next stop was the Toy Market. Checked a few things out but nothing we couldn't live without.

Back to the hotel. We sent Mr. Xue back to TEDA and we hung out in the room for awhile. We watched National Treasure and then walked to Home Plate for dinner. We haven't eaten there in awhile and boy was it good. After dinner we walked back to the hotel.

Those are some big ribs.

We hit the lounge for awhile and then went to the room to Skype with Grandma and Grandpa Wallace. We then watched a little more tv and went to bed.

Easter Party

Before I get into the details of our awesome day I feel the need to update on the air conditioning saga that just keeps dragging on.  The workers were back at 8:50 this morning.  They walked out at 10:45 with shaking of the hand and head meaning "no it doesn't work".  Seriously?  One of the guys called Linda (actually it was her husband) and she told me they needed to replace another pipe.  I think this is pipe number 6.  They would be back between 1 and 1:30.  Luckily my ayi was going to be here because I had a party to be at.  I arrived home from the party at 3:30 and they were still working away.  They finally left at 4:15.  I had more head and hand shaking.  You have GOT to be kidding me.  I'm pretty sure my dad could have completely built a new air conditioning unit from scratch in the time these jokers have tried to repair this one.  The Warner guy had to come back to do the final adjustments and then it was suppose to work.  Well, guess what?  After another half hour...IT DIDN'T WORK.  They left.  I talked to Linda and she said the after sale guy was coming back in 20 minutes.  6:00 two guys who were here earlier appeared.  At 7:05 we finally had success!  The air conditioning worked in every room.  It was like a Christmas miracle.  Until I went to do laundry tonight.  I had no water to the washing machine.  The workers shut the washer line off while working on the air conditioning but didn't turn it back on.  I had no clue until I tried to wash the clothes.  I tried everything.  Talked to Todd and he told me to try the spicket but whatever I did didn't work.  Sent a note to our agent...no answer.  Sent a text to Ileana asking if Fredy knew how to fix it.  They came right up (it was 9:20).  We were talking about the dishwasher smell and Fredy happened to turn the spicket I was working on and all of a sudden I had water in my washer.  Fredy didn't even realize he fixed what I needed him to fix.  He's the man.  It took about 30 seconds and it would have taken my Chinese repairmen 3 days probably.  Thank God for GREAT neighbors. 

Sure, go ahead and sit on my refrigerator.

Rachel and I, with some help from Ileana, organized an Easter Party today.  Rachel bought everything needed and baked the cupcakes.  We had 45 kids along with a parent for each.  It was a beautiful day...57 degrees by the end, sunshine, and pretty low (in comparison) pollution levels.  I went out about 11:15 because we needed to make sure things were set up and we needed to hide eggs.  Cecilia had the tables set up which were provided by Warner and covered them with table cloths.  Rachel arrived and Me, Wesley, Tatum, Charlotte, Manuel, and Cameron hid the plastic eggs.  There were 503 to "hide".  With no grass yet the eggs kind of stuck out.  We put them in bushes, trees, on ledges, and in holes.  503 eggs makes it pretty hard to have them not be seen.  We did the best we could and the hiding spot actually looked pretty cute with all the colored eggs all over.  The Warner guards thought we were crazy but oh well. 

At 12:00 everyone started arriving.  A picnic lunch was first on the agenda.  At 12:25 we gathered all the kids so Rachel could tell them the rules of the egg hunt.  The big kids were pretty disappointed when Rachel said we were starting with 4 years and under kids.  We took them to the spot and turned the little ones loose.  They were so cute finding their 10 eggs.  Once they were done we turned the big kids loose.  CRAZY!  Some kids had 30 eggs and some had none.  We aren't sure what part of 10 eggs they didn't understand.  We worked it all out though. Of course, Cameron was one of the kids with 2 eggs because there were no more.  He didn't really care but he ended up with 10 once we had the others put some back.  Overall the egg hunt went great and the kids all seemed really happy.

People were beginning to arrive.

The kids were getting the instructions.

I think Cameron was thinking "Seriously, do we need
this many instructions?"

The big kids waiting their turn.

Cameron got a crazy mushy ball thing with yolks in the middle.

Everyone went back to the party spot where they could color eggs, make Danish wishes, decorate cupcakes, or play.  They all did a great job of waiting their turns at things and rotating through what they wanted to do.  From about 1:30 on they just ran around and played.  It was a GREAT day. 



Nice decorating job.  Right after this shot the
coat came off.

The boys came in and were telling me about a first grade Chinese boy that was outside.  The mom asked if he could play with our kids.  They said yes.  He had a pellet gun.  He was aiming it at girls   and Ryley hit the end of the gun so he missed.  They the kid started shooting at our boys.  They told him to quit and then found Ileana and told her.  Ileana went and talked to the mom and boy.  They boys then said the kid was shooting it at his mom.  As they were telling me I immediately was up to go talk to the kid until they told me Ileana already did. 

The boys had a NERF war again.  The workers were looking at them like they were crazy. 

The gang looking tough...Cameron, Manuel, Ryley, Tobias, and Alfredo.

Happy Birthday Todd

Today Todd turned 44.  This may not seem too bad to all of our American friends and family but in China the number 4 means death.  So for Todd it means death, death.  We are hoping that is not true.  His day did start off a little rough.  His friend, Matt, forgot to pick him up at the hotel to go to the factory (he is in Harbin).  I sent him a text at midnight wishing him a Happy Birthday.  I'm guessing his phone was off so it didn't wake him up like I had hoped.  Oh well, it was the thought that counted.

I had to go meet with Cameron's teacher for his conference at 10:15.  It was a waste of time.  Of course he didn't have anything to tell me and basically just asked if I had questions.  We are just in finish mode so I had no questions.  We chatted about him returning to Canada and us returning to the States.  Why I had to have a conference for that is beyond me.  I think the second conference should be optional.  Cameron received another shining report card.  He has been talking a little in class.  I wonder where he gets that from?  My guess is he is bored that he has nothing else to do.  He completes all work plus works ahead in his workbooks and reads all day. That is bound to get boring. I reminded him to watch his talking and he apologized.  Mr. Singer said it isn't a big deal and it is just once in awhile.

After the conference I ran home instead of having Mr. Xue pick me up.  It started out fine until I turned a corner and got blasted by the wind.  Brrr.  The rest of the way home was warm, cold, warm, cold...depending on where I was and which direction I was going.  By the time I got to the apartment my ears were killing me from all the wind blowing through them.  Grabbed a drink, took a short sit down, and then had to go back to school at noon to get Cameron.  They only had a half a day and now are off until April 8th.

The kids played outside all afternoon.  The 5 boys came in to have a NERF war for awhile (an hour) until I couldn't take it anymore.  They were having a blast but they were running around all over and loud.  I finally had them clean up and they went back outside.  We also had workers here AGAIN trying to fix the air conditioning.  They were here for two hours.  When they left I understood that it was still broken.  Serena, our agent, called and asked me to please understand but since we didn't have our heat on all winter the pipes all broke.  As they were putting it back together they discovered another broken pipe.  That means they have to come back tomorrow.  My goodness this has been a long process.  Thank goodness we started it before it gets really hot in the apartment.  At one point I smelled smoke.  They were smoking out on the patio but had the doors open so it was coming in the apartment.  I shut the door which helped a little.  Then when they left they were only in the apartment about 5 minutes but it smelled like them which was not a pleasant smell.  I had to open the patio door to let "fresh" air in.  I sprayed some spray and did some laundry to make it smell better.

We talked to Todd.  He was waiting for his birthday pizza to arrive from room service.  A little while later he sent me an email.  He said after they delivered his pizza there was another knock at the door.  When he opened it they handed him a tray with a piece of cake and a card.  How nice was that?  They even gave him a candle and matches.  I'm pretty sure he didn't sing to himself. 

So nice of the Shengri La to remember Todd's birthday.

Hopefully his birthday wasn't too bad.  We have a vacation coming up so we can celebrate then.  Cameron and I watched the 3rd Harry Potter movie and then went to bed.  Cameron slept on the new couch again.  I think he likes it.

Todd's Birthday Celebration

We left our hotel in Tianjin at 8:00 a.m.  We didn't have anything we needed to do so we all just wanted to get back to TEDA.  For the rest of the day I did laundry and packed for Singapore.  Todd packed for Harbin and Singapore, went to the store, and ran some other errands.  Cameron played with the boys all day.  They were outside for awhile, in our apartment, back outside, and finally back in our apartment until I kicked them out at 4:30.  I needed to give Cameron and Todd hair cuts before we went down to Carrasco's for dinner.

Ileana asked me what she could get Todd for his birthday.  I said nothing.  But she knew Todd wanted spring rolls or enchiladas so she said she would have us for dinner.  She sent me a message asking which one Todd wanted.  When I asked Todd his response was both "Both".  Then he said he wanted a sampling of all of her best dishes.  He went on to say maybe we should eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner at their place.  I sent her a text with all the information Todd said but then said he just wanted spring rolls.  Around 12:00 Ileana came up with her cute little apron on.  She looked just like the Chinese ladies (they wear them all the time, everywhere).  She brought Todd spring rolls for his appetizer.  She also brought him a little keg of beer.  He was pretty excited.  He immediately started in on the spring rolls.  He said they were delicious. 

Todd enjoying his spring rolls.

At 6:00 we went down for dinner.  Ileana made her special rice with ingredients from Mexico, potatoes, and enchiladas.  It was all delicious.  Todd, again, was a happy boy.  I made a Boston Cream Pie for dessert.  I was really worried about it because it didn't cook right in the oven.  Then I had to cut it in half to put the pudding in and I didn't do such a good job cutting it.  The pudding was from the little individual tubs because that is all they have in China.  I made it on Friday thinking I would take it to Tianjin but that was too much trouble.  So I left it in the refrigerator until Sunday.  Frosted it today.  It smelled good but I was still worried. 

We sang to Todd in English and Spanish.  Then I cut the cake.  It looked alright, smelled alright, and everyone said it tasted alright.  Another great night with great friends.  A HUGE thank you to the Carrasco's for helping us celebrate Todd's birthday, for all the great food, and for being great people.

Getting ready for dinner.

Todd is 44 so he got 4 pink and 4 blue candles.

Singing Happy Birthday.

 

Tianjin Trip

The Wallace's and the Carrasco's set out for Panshan Mountain at 9:00 in the morning.  We arrived around 10:30.  We thought we had been to Panshan before but neither Todd nor I thought anything looked familiar.  We realized we hadn't been there yet. It looked pretty cool.  Some of us decided to eat some of our lunch.  We finally were ready to head up the mountain by 11:00.  We all hit the bathroom.  When we came out of the bathroom Fredy said he forgot the passports.  Seriously?  We have to have passports in order to check into hotels in Asia.  I even sent Ileana a text last night telling her not to forget the passports.  She said she told Fredy to get them.  Oops...that didn't work.  We decided we would figure that problem out later.

We bought our tickets and walked to the cable car to take it to the top.  We had to buy different tickets to ride.  It took the lady forever to figure out how much we owed.  She measured the kids and then would get confused as to how many Fredy was paying for and how many Todd was paying for.  We even had our families separated to make it obvious. 

Alejandro, Alfredo, and Cameron waiting for their tickets.

We finally got the ticket issues worked out and were waiting to get on the cable car.  Cars kept passing by but they wouldn't let us get in any of them for some reason.  After about 5 minutes we were finally making our way up the mountain.  We could only go up the first section.  The cable car to the clear top was not running.  It might have been because it was still pretty cold and there was still a little snow on the ground.  We unloaded and started walking.

Still waiting to get on the cable car.

Finally making our way to the top.

It would be much prettier once everything blooms and
turns green.

We were counting on Fredy and Ileana to be our guides but they couldn't quite remember how to start making our way down the mountain.  We found a path and went with it.  It was correct.  The walk down was pretty cool.  There were all kinds of funky statues to look at.  The walk was steep in spots with all different size steps.  The 3 big kids hiked everywhere but the path.  They were having fun.  Along the way we passed some ladies trying to sell souvenirs.  There was nothing any of us needed.

Of course the kids headed right to the snow.

Cameron looks the same size as the pagoda.

Cameron looking guilty about something.

Pretty cool.

The Carrasco's and the Wallace's enyoing a day hiking.

Cameron banged on the drum.

Cameron and Alfredo tried to ring the bell but the pole was
locked up.

From far away this looked like a chess game.

This shows where the kids hiked instead of the path.

Taking a break for another picture.

This guy was kind of creepy looking.

Buddha looks comfy.

This angel was freaky looking.

Taking a break.

We were all hoping we didn't slide off this rock because
it was a big drop.

It was pretty chilly.

This was the last picture ever taken with Fredy's tripod.



Cameron fits in well.

Neat doorway.

We took all kinds of pictures during our hike.  Fredy had his tripod so several different times we took group shots.  Then the boys decided to hit the bathroom.  We continued our way to the bottom.  We were at the last 5 steps or so when all of a sudden Fredy said "Where is the tripod?"  Ileana just shook her head.  Fredy has a habit of losing things.  He remembered he sat it down when he was in the bathroom and then didn't grab it again.  Oh man, what a bummer.  Fredy didn't seem to mind too much.  He said he didn't really like it and was going to get a new one anyway.  Silly Fredy.

We hung out at the van eating our lunches and having some drinks.  It was a pretty chilly day.  Around 2:00 we decided to head to our hotel in Tianjin.  It was about an hour and half drive.  When we pulled into the driveway at the hotel there were a HUGE amount of fireworks on the ground in the shape of hearts.  There were Chinese people standing around.  When we got out of our vans they began staring at us.  Finally one of the hotel workers told our drivers we needed to get out of the way because the wedding couple was on their way and they were going to light the fireworks.  Our vans were moved and we stood around waiting for the show.  Todd ran in to check in. 

Todd, Me, Cameron, Alfredo, and Marcela were right in front waiting for the fireworks.  The camera man took a picture of us.  We are pretty sure that picture will be in the wedding album with all the rest with a caption "Can you spot who doesn't belong?"  The couple arrived and they lit the fireworks.  OH MY GOODNESS.  It was so loud and smokey.  We were being hit with pieces from the fireworks.  It only lasted about a minute but the mess afterwards was huge.  It was incredible. 

How sweet.  Fireworks in the shape of hearts.

And the lighting begins.

The boys couldn't take the sound.  About 10 seconds later
we were smoked out too.

The poor ayis' had a gigantic mess to clean up.  We ran up to the rooms to check them out.  We weren't sure if they would be big enough for us to stay.  The rooms were free so it didn't matter one way or the other.  We walked in and saw 2 twin beds.  We all kind of laughed.  Carrasco's said it would be ok and we figured if they can fit with 5 we could fit with 3.  Back down to the vans to unload our stuff.  I showed our drivers the text with our dinner restaurants name.  Leo gave each of us a word to remember because the whole name was too hard for all of us (except Todd of course).  Leo thought he was really funny giving each of us our word. 

Look at the mess.

Most of the people had these poppers too.

We hung out in Carrasco's room.  The kids played hide and seek with Cameron's hat.  Who knew they could have so much fun and occupy a couple of hours playing that.  They would take little breaks to stare at the tv every once in awhile.  Karate Kid was on.

6:10 we walked across the street to dinner.  In the  building and up to the 4th floor.  We found the restaurant.  The girl took us to our private room.  It was the kind of room that had one big table with the spinning table on top. I had Febe, our Chinese instructor, make the reservations for us.  We sat down and started looking at the menu.  Thank goodness there were pictures or we would have never been able to order.  It was hard enough trying to figure out what the picture was.  And obviously our Chinese wasn't good enough because our server had no clue what we were asking most of the time.  We ordered several different things.    Surprisingly, we all found food we would eat.  Todd made Alejandro's whole night by ordering cucumbers.  He saw those being put on the table and his eye lit up like it was Christmas.  The Kung Pow Chicken was good and the Chinese green beans were really good.  We also had a shrimp dish, peanut dish, lamb dish, veggie dish, and a tortilla pizza sort of thing.  Overall, it was a good dinner.  Ileana and I were nervous because neither of us like to eat real Chinese food.

The boys enjoyed dinner.

Our round table dinner.

Leaving the Chinese Restaurant.

We started walking back to the hotel but stopped in McDonald's to get all the kids an ice cream treat.  The Carrasco's had a coffee treat too.  Some guy from California started talking to us.  He was with a Chinese couple and they made Cameron talk to them in Chinese.  It was a very short conversation but it was funny.  Cameron was a trooper.  He hates doing things like that. 

The boys might have enjoyed their McFlurry's and shakes better.

Back to the hotel.  We said goodnight and went to our own rooms.  We watched a couple shows on the Ipad.  At 8:58 there were fireworks again right outside our windows.  We were assuming that meant the wedding was over.  Off to sleep in the tiny bed.

More fireworks.

It was kind of funny to spend the night in Tianjin but it was free.  We were so glad Carrasco's made this trip with us.  We had a lot of laughs as usual.