Adventures in China

Rumor has it many of you are enjoying the blog...sorry I have been so slow with the updates. We have been keeping very busy with play groups, music class and Christmas shopping.

I was talking with somebody the other day about how some of the most mundane tasks can end up being adventures when you live in China. For example, buying diapers. The large supermarket near our house is closed for renovations and the smaller market nearby does not sell Pampers (our brand of choice). To get diapers (and other basic household items) we have to get a taxi to go out to a larger shopping area where there is Carrefour (similar to Walmart). Once you finally get through the check-out line (the place is always packed) you then have to get a taxi and try to explain how to get back to our house. We usually end up bringing address cards (similar to business cards) with us everywhere, but taxis don't usually know our building/address. At times I get very annoyed that I can't just hop in my car and drive to Target to pick up diapers.

Some other recent adventures include bowling and shopping (surprise surprise)...
Our friends, the Lisi's, called one Sunday morning and asked if we were interested in joining them for a little adventure. They were going bowling. Only in China would I declare going bowling an adventure. We took the subway to the bowling alley which was relatively easy to find once we were on the right street (the place was well marked with giant bowling pins on the sign). As usual, the babies got lots of attention from the staff. After bowling we went for lunch at 'New York Deli' and enjoyed some pretty good American food. On our way back to the subway we stopped by a Dunkin' Donuts and guess what...the glazed donuts taste just like those at home and they sell coffee by the bag!!! They even have the flavors!




It had been a while since we last visited the fake markets (located in a subway station under the Science & Technology Museum) so we picked a cold and rainy Saturday afternoon to go do some shopping. I was slow to get into the shopping, it is a little overwhelming because all of the shops want you to look at their stuff and offer "best price, best price". Then when they show you the price you have to name your price and/or walk away to get a lower price. We bought quite a few things, including a pair of Uggs, Seven jeans & and Paul Smith polo all for about $50USD (modeled in the attached photo).




I'm having a hard time getting photo's to upload tonight so I'm going to be lazy and just link to my Picasa album online (see below). There you can find a lot of our recent photo's as well as some pretty cute video of Ang.
Picasa - November 2009