Holy Crap!

This thing still works!  Not only does it work, but it is WAY fancier than it was 3 years ago.  Go figure.  Sooooo, I live in the US now!  Me and the fam have moved to Texas and are trying to get settled.  I don't promise to post here again, but it is nice to know that I can.

Hey! Hey! Hey!

I am in the U.S. now! Not for good, this is just a visit and I might not be in your state right now, but I am here and am trying to make time to see all of my friends while also meeting family demands so please be patient and if you live in AZ I will try to call you in the next week or so to see when we can meet up!

Day 4: Gall stones suck!

For many reasons. The first being that they have sent me to the emergency room twice in the last month! Have I mentioned how much I hate Chinese hospitals? And second, unless I want to make more visits, I have to make drastic dietary changes. I know I was working on my sugar intake, but now I have to focus on fats. Lame.

Day 3: I broke the law

This photo is not that exciting, but its content is. Basically I broke the law by not applying for a visa for my baby here in China in the first 30 days of his birth. I did not realize that you could apply for a visa with out a passport (you can and you should!) so we applied for his visa 34 days after we should have. So I had a child living illegally in China for more than 30 days and was punished accordingly with SEVERAL visits to their offices an hour away and a 1,000 RMB fine. I got off lucky because the police officer who interviewed me decided that my negligence was completely accidental and not malicious. If he has decided otherwise then he could have sent me and the baby to Hong Kong to wait for a Z-visa to be issued from the U.S. A much more time consuming and costly affair!

Day 2: Stacie's Birthday

This isn't exactly China-specific, but it is a little hard to do birthday's in the typical American fashion here. Notice the tiny cake? This is because I have to cook in a tiny oven. Notice the lack of candles? That is because birthday candles is not a tradition they have here so they are impossible to find. It was still a great night though with lemon cake and western food, compliments of an Irish pub in the city. Happy Birthday Stace. (And Elizabeth and Melissa!)

Day 1: Hangin' with the Peng's

I admit that this is a cheater photo because it is from our visit back in February. I took my camera today with every intention of taking photos, and then forgot. Anyway, we love the Peng's. The first one we met was Axin. You have probably heard me mention her before because she is Avery's second-best friend in the world. When Axin's parents learned that Joe and I had babies they decided they needed to invite us over for dinner. Axin is their oldest and is not real close to marriage and kids so they wanted a baby fix. In exchange for letting them hold my babies all night ;) they fed us dinner! That was back in Feb., and this last week Axin informed us that her mother missed us very much and wanted us to come back for a visit. Well, alright, you pulled my arm. What is so sad is that we have no pictures of Axin's parents! They do the cooking, the cleaning, and the babysitting, and we just show up and eat and they managed to escape all photos! With Axin's guidance the food has been exceptional each time. We were afraid at first of what they might serve, but Axin made it pretty clear what was and was not to be served to us. So we ended up with some awesome eggplant and pork, beef and bell peppers, cucumber salad, and yummy soup. We love the Peng's.

Why stop a good thing?

I liked this 30 day challenge. I feel like it has kept me more involved with people at home. So I have decided that I am going to issue a new challenge to myself. I am calling it "30 Days in China." Every day I am going to post about something I did in the day, or comment on a cultural aspect of China that I find particularly...interesting. There is no real specific topic for each day, it is simply anecdotes on living in a VERY foreign land.

Day 30: Someone You Miss

I miss Dave. I've never actually met him, but I miss him all the same. I miss the warm, yummy smells that always permeate his place. I miss the completely satisfied feeling I have whenever I leave. Every time my friend's and I discuss things we miss about home I always think of Dave. I wonder if he misses me too?

No offense intended to my brother, Dave, whom I also miss.