Crazy China!

So, I was randomly checking my email and such and all of the sudden I was able to get to my blog.  That is very mystery.  Well, I guess you all luck out and get an update.  We now have internet at home and figured out how to set up our own wifi with a Chinese router. 
Here we go.
The first of these picture are just pictures to go with the posts that I posted a month or so ago. 

Daddy and Jasmin on the beginning of our journey.  (Spokane to Seattle)

Kenya sleeping on the flight to Korea. 

 

This was the best surprise on our trip.  The bassinet where Jasmin slept on the way to Korea.  LOVE Korean Airlines for this!!!

These are little steamed buns that they made look like pigs at one of our first dinners here in Wuhan.  Our boss, MR Tian had taken us to lunch in the first we got here. 

Where we live there is a small playground outside near our building.  We all love it!  The next few pictures are of the girls playing there the first few days we got here. 

The girls playing.

More playing!

Really the Chinese children have 2 reactions to our girls.  They will ignore them completely or try to play with them.  Kenya is always trying to make friends with everyone she meets.  There have been a few times where she has been able to play tag or hide-and-go-seek with a couple of different kids.  Mostly it is just the parents awe stuck my our girls.  They talk about their hair and how cute and beautiful they are, they also talk about how smart and advanced they are.  With the way they raise their children here Jasmin is more advanced than their 18 month old children.  They really hover over their kids and don't let them do much until they are much older.  I guess it is just savoring the only baby they get to have.  I can honestly say I cannot believe that my baby is not longer a baby and is now a toddler.

Our apartment has 3 balconies.  Every apartment here has to have a baclcony of some sort because that is how they hang out their laundry.  We have 1 right out of the kitchen for laundry, 1 right off the living room and 1 off of Robert's and my bedroom.  Kenya loves to play in the water when it rains.  So in this picture she was in her rain boots playing outside in the water/puddles on the balcony.

Kenya on 1 of our 3 balconies.

 Kenya on the mini bus ride to get our residency visa.  What a gorgeous girl!  Sorry it is a little blurry.

Beautiful Kenya!

On the same mini bus ride we got to once again see the traffic in China.  If you look in the picture it is not uncommon for buses to get close.  REALLY close.  You can see the mirror of the other bus literally less than 2 inches from our bus window.  This was a close call, but not uncommon.  When we lived in China before we did not ride the bus at all.  The subway there was complete and amazingly efficient so that is what we used all of the time. Wuhan's subway is not complete and not yet open so we use the buses daily.  It is quite amazing to see how close the cars, scooter, bikes, trucks, buses and pedestrians all get to each other.  Their awareness of their vehicles is amazing!!! 

Traffic China style. 

The beginning of the second week we were teaching they have Teacher's Day.  The school celebrated by taking us to dinner and giving us a bonus.

Here is a display of a duck tongue.  They said it was a delicacy.  It is the red spikey looking things on the left of the picture. 

You bet, we tried it.  Robert trying duck tongue.

It was a little spicy.  Not bad, but not what we would choose to eat. 

On the left is our boss giving a toast.  On the right is the principle of the school toasting as well.  

At any dinner the Chinese love to give toasts.  They walk around from table to table toasting with each table.  There were 3 tables at this dinner and so we had many what in America we would think of as interruptions of our dinner.  We then went as Americans and interrupted their dinners.  They however did not find us as rude.  Really, it is kind of fun!

Statute outside of the restaurant where we had Teacher's Day dinner.

Water wheel with fish in it that kept the girls busy. 

This was a nice dinner and evening out with our fellow teachers.  The girls got to come and enjoy it with us.  They how ever did not think the long evening was very fun after the first hour or so.  

Jasmin Playing downstairs in our yard.

Playing on the slides. 

Part of our complex.

 Here are picture of our apartment.  We were still moving in and such so the house is messy, but you get the idea.  Ok, really the house is messy and looks like this probably at least 50% of the time.   The aparement came furnished and so basically everything that you see if not ours. 

Our bedroom.

The girls shelves. 

The rest of the girls bedroom.  Bed and dresser.   The dresser is how Kenya got to the window on the left and was playing with it by herself. 

Our shelves.

Dinning area. 

Living Room. 

Kitchen and balcony out to where we do our laundry. 

Kitchen.  2 burners and no oven. 

Sideways bathroom.  Only a shower here in China. 

 Well, this is already a long post.  Lets just hope that I can get back on another time to update you all.  We have so much to share.