Drummer

Dear Friends,

I saw this man all over Detroit this weekend. He was everywhere we were.

Love,
H

The Girls

Dear Friends,

No summer would be complete without a weekend with these girls.  Friends since our days as Sigma Kappa's at CMU, we meet each summer to catch up on quality time. It is always one of my favorite weekends of the year!

Love,
H

Coney

Dear Friends,

Detroiters love their coney dogs. Apparently there is a great debate in town between which of the two of these is the best. Guess I'll never know!

Love,
H

Greektown

Dear Friends,

Girls' weekend this year was in Detroit.  Our first stop...Greektown for some Spanakopita and Saganaki.

Love,
H

Lake Huron

Dear Friends,

Blue skies and calm, cold Lake Huron never looked so good.

Love,
H

Fudge Stout

Dear Friends,

So glad to be home!

Love,
H

Again

 Dear Friends,

Yes, we are moving...AGAIN!  Last time for couple of years - I hope!

Love,
H

Good-bye Kindergarten...

Hello administration.

On to new adventures!

Coffee

Dear Friends,

The last two weeks of school, I have been spending a little too much time here.

Love,
H

Trust

Dear Friends,

I love these posts in the park. I think it is mostly because I love the idea that you can trust that your belongings will still be there when you return. Wouldn't try that at any park in the US.

Love,
H

Finally...

Dear Friends,

This was the third time my bike has been outside since it arrived in December.  This was the first good ride I had... at 4:30 am. There is not a lot of traffic at that hour!

Love,
H

Milk Man

Dear Friends,

The Milkman comes by our apartment complex every morning around 5:30.  I watched him load the milk in small glass bottles and yogurt into his little basket for delivery up the 18 floors of our building.

Love,
H

Doggie Do

Dear Friends,

I know I am not displaying fantastic photography skills here but I didn't want you to miss this interesting little dog.  Not sure why anyone would need to do this!

Love,
H

Vienna to Shanghai

Dear Friends,

Teaching overseas has taught me that you never know who you will see again. The three of us worked together in Vienna and now we are all in Shanghai. Love catching up with friends!

Love,
H

Moving Shanghai Style

 Dear Friends,

As I sat working on my reports last week, this is what distracted me from my work. I watched these guys pile all this on a bike to move it over one building.  

Love,

H

Art Auction

Dear Friends,

I guess I should rename the blog to "Weekly Postcard" as infrequently as I have been posting lately.  Will work on getting back to it.

Last night we had our ECE art auction. My kids made this fantastic (if I do say so myself) piece to be auctioned off. It is really a shame that not one of the parents from my class was there to bid on it.  Nonetheless, it sold for about $200 which will go to Kiki's Kindergarten.

Love,
H

Tub

Dear Friends,

If you are in the market for a gold shoe bathtub, you can find it in Hong Kong.

Love,
H

Neighborhood Butcher

Dear Friends,

My friend Jenna lives next to one of the local butchers in Hong Kong. She is delighted by the daily sights and smells.

Love,
H

Taxi Line

Dear Friends,

I was welcomed to Hong Kong last weekend by this ridiculously long taxi line.  By this time, there were only about ten people ahead of me. Traveling is SO glamorous!

Love,
H

Panda Claws

Dear Friends,

Everyone needs a pair of panda claws.  Don't you think?

Love,
H

Acting Restaurant

Dear Friends,

This is an accurate name for this restaurant (and I use that term loosely).  In a city of amazing restaurant choices, the airport is really lacking.

Love,
H

Flat Stanley

Dear Friends,

Flat Stanley has decided to visit us again. (Thanks Logan!) This time, he gets a trip to Hong Kong from Shanghai. We are headed out and about in Shanghai tomorrow for the Labor Day holiday.

Love,
H

Spring in Shanghai

Dear Friends,

Spring is here! As much as I miss the warm weather of the Middle East, I do LOVE spring and fall. Caught this shot at the end of my run the other day in the local park.

Love,
Heather

Convention

Dear Friends,

As I approached this building at 8 am on a Saturday morning, I was curious to see what the line up was all about. Guess everyone needed some new "adult toys". On a completely unrelated note...check out the guy on the left with the fuzzy duck backpack.  Interesting...

Love,
Heather

Yellow?

Dear Friends,

I'm pretty sure even my students could understand the problem here.

Love,
H

Details

Dear Friends,

I love how they use flowers to add such beautiful details all over Bali.

Love,
Heather

Day Care

Dear Friends,

I saw this when I was out jogging on the beach one morning. (It's hard to snap photos on the iPhone and jog.) Brad found several of these places on his own while I was working, NOT shopping.

Love,
H

Gili Trawangan

Dear Friends,

We had a couple of nights free so we packed up and headed out. An hour boat ride later, we were on the small island of Gili Trawangan. Not a bad place to spend a couple of nights.

Love,
H & B

Whitewater Rafting

Dear Friends,

After a couple of days of work, it was time for a little fun. The choices- rafting or cooking. While both sounded great, we wanted to get out in the sun and warm weather while we had our chance. So...rafting it was!  Yes, we're in there!

Love,

H & B

Black Rice Pudding

Dear Friends,

We had a lot of good food on this trip. This was one of our desserts...black rice pudding.  Pretty much everyone at our table agreed that it tasted like Coco Puffs.

Love,
H & B

Kuta Sunset

Dear Friends,

As we were enjoying our Bintang on the beach, this was the view.

Love,
H & B

Beach Bar

Dear Friends,

After a day in meetings, we headed out to Kuta beach to watch the surfers and the sunse.t This is one great "beach bar". We were here about three years ago and just had to come back.

Love,
H & B

Breakfast View

Dear Friends,

This was just one of many beautiful views from breakfast each morning. Love the Balinese gardens!

Love,
H & B

Bubble Tea

Dear Friends,

While there are many things we would like to try here, this tea is not one of them. Should people really be drinking things that are these colors?

Love,
H & B

Rabbit "Lantern"

Dear Friends,

This girl loved her rabbit.

Love,
H & B

Candy Apples

Dear Friends,

We often see these on the street and at any festival there is. Guess we will need to try them soon.

Love,
H & b

Couple

Dear Friends,

This couple was throughly enjoying themselves at the lantern festival.  Loved watching them checking out all the lanterns.

Love,
H & B

McDonalds

Dear Friends,

You just can't escape the "Golden Arches".

Love,
H & B

Balloon Animal?

Dear Friends,

We had never seen a balloon animal backpack quite like this before.

Love,
H & B

Utensils Sets

Dear Friends,

I just love these utensil sets for kids.  Not exactly what you would find in North America or Europe.

Love,
H

Oreos

Dear Friends,

We have not tried these green tea ice cream Oreos ...YET!

Love,
H & B

Barbie's Matchbox Car

Dear Friends,

We think Barbie left her Matchbox car in the Former French Concession. Would have LOVED to have seen the driver of this!

Love,
H & B

Lantern Festival

 Dear Friends,

We went to the last night of the lantern festival with a few thousand of our closest friends. So glad we saw it and so happy to never have to endure the crazy crowds again.

Love,
H & B

Chinese Sugar Zodiac

Dear Friends,

These are characters of the Chinese zodiac made out of sugar. He pours it on the marble template, puts a stick in it and waits for it to cool. Yummy, sugary works of art.

Love,
H & B

Saturday Run

Dear Friends,

While we do find many nice places to run, we often have to go through places like this to get to them. Sorry about the photo quality, it's not easy trying to snap a photo on a phone in the middle of a long run. Actually, I cannot do it, the credit for this goes to my running partner.

Love,
H

Local Band

Dear Friends,

On a sunny afternoon walk through one of the local parks there were numerous bands fighting for attention. Each had their own speaker to make sure you heard every note!

Love,
H & B

Candy Floss

Dear Friends,

The Chinese can set up ANYTHING on a bike...even a cotton candy machine.

Love,
H & B

Laundry Day

Dear Friends,

Just another sunny laundry day in Shanghai.

Love,

H & B

Door

Dear Friends,

While we cannot claim that every building has a door as beautiful as this, they do pop up  in the most unexpected places.

Love,
H & B

Dessert

Dear Friends,

After a lovely dinner, we were delighted by these chocolate ice cream bites. They were perfect with the wine and the view.

Love,
H & B