Holiday Decoration?

Dear Friends,

A few of us tried to figure out the meaning of this particular holiday decoration. We have NO idea.

Love,
H & B

Our Tree

Dear Friends,

It is a little Charlie Brownish but we like it anyway.

Love,
H & B

Christmas Trees

Dear Friends,

Which would you prefer?  The lime sherbet tree or the purple/pink combo tree?

Love,
H & B

Drummers

Dear Friends,

These drummers were encouraging runners near the marathon finish line. I can still hear the beat in my head.

Love,
H

Shanghai Marathon

Dear Friends,

I went out to cheer on friends for the run. Thought this was one of the more interesting runners I saw.

Love,
H

P. S. Next year, I will be running NOT watching! (I hope!)

Blue Roses

Dear Friends,

We are not sure what occasion would call for these glitter tipped blue roses. Any ideas?

Love,
H & B

Fall

Dear Friends,

It has been nice to see the change of seasons again.

Love,
H & B

Chips

Dear Friends,

Many of you ask if we can find familiar food here.  As you can see we are not in need of tortilla chips.  Of course, we haven't actually purchased any of these as they are $10 a bag.  Think we can wait until summer to enjoy these treats!

Love,
H & B

Thanksgiving

 Dear Kent and Hanrich,

Thank you for the fantastic Thanksgiving gathering. The food was amazing but the company was even better!

Love,
H & B

Bikes with Carts

Dear Friends,

Guess the carts and bikes with carts are not allowed in the bike lane. They must slow down the bikers and scooters.

Love,
H & B

Transportation

Dear Friends,

My bike is finally in action. I LOVE it! We have great bike lanes here.  Just a quick 20 minutes and I am at work. I am hoping the double locks will keep it safe.

Love,
H

Chicken

Dear Friends,

You can buy this yummy chicken leg at 7-11 any time of day or night.

Love,
H & B

Improvements

Dear Friends,

My classroom is finally starting to feel like a kindergarten classroom should. A big improvement from the beginning of the year.

Love,

H

Moving Day!

Dear Friends,

It's HERE!!!! Finally, the paperwork is complete and our things made it to our apartment.  We have a LOT of work to do!

Love,
H & B

Veggie Dumplings

Dear Friends,

After years of being "forced" to eat La Choy, Chinese food has never been my favorite.  However, I did find one thing I really like...these lovely steamed veggie dumplings.  YUM!

Love,
H

Green Giant

Dear Friends,

I happened to mention to a friend that I was anxious for our bikes to come in our shipment. This kind gal, I'd known for about two weeks offered up her bike. The Green Giant made my commute to work and running errands much more enjoyable. Thanks a million Sarah!

Love,
H

Blue Chairs

Dear Friends,

I have absolutely no idea what these miniature blue chairs were doing outside the nice wine bar but, I liked them anyway.

Love,
H

October Break

Dear Jenna,

Thanks for not giving up on your trip to see us. We are both so glad to have had you visit for a few days.

Love,
H & B

Memorabilia

Dear Friends,

If the figurines aren't enough...there are wall hangings.

Love,
H & B

Sweet Potato Chips

Dear Friends,

We had to try these.  They were delicious!

Love,
H & B

More Lanterns

Dear Friends,

There are tons of fun lanterns around town. I am resisting the urge to buy some.

Love,
H

Mao

Dear Friends,

Found these all over the market. No, I did not buy one! : )

Love,
H

Playing Cards

Dear Friends,

The market had a wide variety of playing cards. I am sure we'd own several sets if Brad had been with me.

Love,
H

Antique Market

Dear Friends,

There were all sorts of interesting items at the "antique" market. Fun way to spend a morning.

Love,
H

Pajamas

Dear Friends,

Wearing your pajamas out on the street is perfectly acceptable here.  Not sure why.

Love,
H & B

Calligraphy

Dear Friends,

The man at this street stall was willing to write anything for you in calligraphy. I just liked the brushes and the porcelain brush holders.

Love,
H

East Nanjing

Dear Friends,

Went shopping down on East Nanjing Road during the holiday.  Just us and a few thousand other people.

Love,
H & B

Superman

Dear Friends,

We never saw these at the Calvin Klein store in the US.

Love,
H & B

Lanterns

Dear Friends,

The Chinese love red.  Lanterns, wall hangings, envelopes, you name it.  It does make the market feel festive.

Love,
H

Bust Roller

Dear Friends,

Even after reading the back of the package I'm not exactly sure what the "Bust Roller" is supposed to do.

Love,
H

Cover

Dear Friends,

Surprisingly enough, we did not purchase the fuzzy toilet seat cover.  Yuck!

Love,
H & B

Bird Cages

Dear Friends,

We walked through the park wondering what all the older gentleman had under the cloths.  One look to the trees solved the mystery. There were dozens of birds in cages all through the park.

Love,
H & B

Liquor Grenade

Dear Friends,

Saw these liquor bottles at the bus stop.  Can only imagine how tasty the liquor is.

Love,
H & B

Chips

Dear Friends,

There is quite a variety of chip flavors here. Have not tried these  yet but will before we leave.

Love,
H & B

Shanghai Skyline

Dear Friends,

The skyline is beautiful.

Love,
H & B

4th Floor?

Dear Friends,

Good thing we were not looking for the fourth floor.  Guess it is an unlucky number here similar to the 13 at "home".

Love,
H & B

Shook

Dear Friends,

We went out to celebrate a friend's birthday on Tuesday. We had dinner at a fabulous place right on the Bund.  The upstairs patio had an amazing view of the Shanghai skyline.

Love,
H & B

Bamboo Forest

Dear Friends,

The walk through the bamboo forest was a great ending to a fun day!

Love,
H & B

Countryside

Dear Friends,

It was so great to get out of the city and see a little more of China. We had a beautiful walk back to our bus from the raft trip.

Love,
H & B

Huh?

Dear friends,

This is typical of signs that are "translated" into English.  We think this was actually a changing room at the end of our raft trip.

Love,
H & B

Chinese Smores

Dear Friends,

Our colleagues who organized the raft trip and BBQ even brought along smore ingredients.  Of course, they were the Chinese version of smores... graham cracker-like crackers, chocolate pieces and pink & white stick marshmallows.  Our new friend Darby shows off her carefully crafted creation.

Love,
H & B

Ah! Got ya!

Dear Friends,

This group of locals just got off the rafts and were having a great time blasting each other with the Super Soakers.  Love the gals on the left.

Love,
H & B

Rain Ponchos

Dear Friends,

Last weekend we went on a rafting trip down a river about 3 1/2 hours outside of Shanghai.  We didn't take our camera on the actual raft because we were told we would get wet. (You might notice the woman in the middle of the boat filling up her supersoaker.) And...we did!  It was funny to see the differences between the Western and Asian attire. We were all in bathing suits, the Asians all in rain ponchos, pants and even booties.

Love,
H & B

Mooncakes

Dear Friends,

A kind parent gave us some mooncakes to celebrate our first Mid-Autumn festival in China.  They are definitely an acquired taste.

Love,
H & B

Scooter

Dear Friends,

We have seen many interesting bike/scooter contraptions around town. This was one of the more interesting. No one is getting wet on this ride!

Love,
H & B

Chicken Delivery

Dear Friends,

These guys just gone done unloading these two crates of live chickens from the back of a truck stacked with other cages.  They were making their delivery rounds.

Love,
H & B

Motorcycle

Dear Friends,

We have seen many of these motorcycles with the sidecars around town. This was by far the most well kept.

Love,
H & B

Florist

Dear Friends,

As you can see, some florists come to you.

Love,
H & B