Anniversary in China...Again

People and city living, I think I like the country a bit better, but for and occasional two weeks I can love the city.

I really wonder how many people he was planning to feed with all that rice.

No, I didn't bargain with him to get a few plates full.

Guangzhou--Shamain Island

Shekinah posing in the middle of  the Chen clan family academy.

Discussing some of the architect...or maybe politics with our guide.

I love when God pulls strings and we get the same guide three different times in Guangzhou.

We used different agencies and different reasons to be in this city in 2010, 2012, and 2019, but we had the same guide for this city each time.

He doesn't look any older!

Not sure how he does it.

Even though the White Swan is totally renovated they saved one red sofa for 

memory's sake. We almost didn't fit on one anymore....did they shrink the sofas?

With Mid-Autumn festival and National Day approaching, the 

cities are well decorated.

Happy 33rd Anniversary dear! 

Maybe next year we'll go somewhere alone.

Nine years ago, we were in this country celebrating our anniversary 

and the addition of a son.

Mr Chun came to our hotel today and painted some scrolls

for us, he does hand /finger painting and brush painting.

The fingerpainting he does isn't anything like they teach in kindergarten.

Shekinah is thinking longingly of chicken corn noodle soup and hot dogs.

I got a compliment today from Faith, my dumplings are better than the ones we had here.

Hope is probably the only one that isn't thinking longingly of the food at home....I declare that girl has a hollow leg.

I'm sort of ready to get back into a larger house, but there is something about this minimalistic lifestyle that I like...or maybe the idea of not cooking and having a maid come in to take out a portion of the washing every day...and swiffing around with the mop or vacuum....

yeah that part is pretty nice.

We do miss some little people from home pretty bad and Shekinah and Faith miss the dog too.

Heritage Trip?

We are by far not expert travelers, but  we have traveled en mass a few times and maybe I can pass on a few tips.
When we started planning for this trip. The idea of traveling with seven people  by plane and train and fourteen suitcases sounded a bit daunting. Then I posed the possibility of traveling carry-on-only. Could we?  When I mentioned it to others, some opened their eyes wide and laughed, other said it was the only way to go.
We did it...at least to get here.  We will most likely need to buy a suitcase to bring home the treasures that have been heaped upon us. Shekinah was gifted one of those gourd flutes from her orphanage and I can't see it fitting in our current bags. We also ended up with two bags of moon cakes for Mid-Autumn Festival.
Anyway, back to the packing thing....Travel knit!!  If you notice on posted photos we are mostly in black or gray dresses. I bought travel knit from Hobby Lobby, I don't know if it is a certain brand for only their store,but it is a totally comfortable knit...and this from a "cotton-only" girl. It washes in the sink and hangs to dry almost overnight...if you really need it in the morning, only the bottom few inches will be wet and the hair dryer takes care of that.  The new synthetic undies don't do bad with sink washing and bathroom-line drying. The best thing is that you can squoosh them up in a very small package. We added easy dry t-shirts to go over our "sack dresses". The only complaint I have about knit dresses is that pockets don't work well with this fabric.

The other thing I like that I did on the last few trips is to make a travel binder. I printed out our itinerary, all our hotels reservations- with the addresses, copies of our passports and the kids' certificates of citizenship.

The thing we are learning this time with visiting the orphanages is that none of them do things the same, even tho they supposedly receive the same orders from above. One did not allow us to take photos of some of the paperwork, one did not allow us to even see her file, another walked out of the room and left us and our guide look at every scrap.   Be flexible and remember that you are a guest.

Practice using chopsticks!  :)  So far we've not resorted to forks, but I will say that I've lifted the dish to my mouth and shoveled it in like I see some of the locals do...for those last bits of "yumminess" on the plate.
Use Duolingo and learn some Mandarin!  I'm glad for every bit that I can remember.  Also download the offline version of Google Translate.  Don't count on your VPN always working or the internet at the hotels being all that prompt.  Everyone here uses their phones for everything, but we got Google Fi for using on our phones and it works so-so.  It has worked when we needed it, so I guess that's all that mattered.

The Things You See

OK, this one should be at the bottom.This is arrival in our next major city.

The things Zeke will pick up...some of the bystanders were a little amazed when he told them it wasn't poisonous.

They made it here too!

If you just want a decorative English book.

Cool table knives that sit like that when you lay them down.

What I really wish is that I could take pics of all the English t-shirts..the one third from left on the bottom row really took the cake.

All The Landmarks

Well I don't actually have many pictures on the computer right now for a post. Our guide is very good at telling us all about Chinese history it is really an educational trip. We learned all about the Ming and Qing dynasty   14 emperors that lived in the Forbidden City from the Ming Dynasty and 10 from the Qing.  The Qing  Dynasty had the longest living emperor, an interesting lady who was "the Power behind the Throne" and spent lots of the empire's money on things like fresh fruit brought in each day so she could simply smell it. 

Learned today about the Alter of Heaven, otherwise known as the Temple of Heaven  actually had sacrifices and rituals that seem like some Biblical influence.  Also learned that there is a "Big Celebration" brewing in Tiananmen Square for the country's 70th birthday party. We couldn't walk around in the square like other visits. The prep was impressive. The PD was out in force and very much on edge.  Did you know that there is an old dead guy in a crystal sarcophagas in one of those buildings? He only receives visitors in the morning and then needs to go back in the fridge. Don't mean to be disrespectful, but that is just a bit creepy.

The thing the girls will probably remember the most about the last 2 days is that it was HOT. I'm hoping the south isn't too much warmer. Shekinah was a trooper and kept up with all of us, but she is pretty tired by afternoon and all of us were more prickly than necessary.

Lunch with the guide continues to be a highlight of the day...well maybe breakfast...just can't beat the food we've been getting.

Oh and we did visit an orphanage yesterday, it held memories for me. I was glad we went but the things we learned were hard to hear.

One more day in this bustling city where we figured out the best place for breakfast and found the nearest Wumart (yes that is spelled correctly). Tomorrow we move on to another city ...by high-speed train.  140 mph our guide Kai informs us. Six hours should be a breeze---right?

Land of Hard Beds and Chopsticks

Hopefully I can do this post with the internet that we have. We are still figuring out the new things  like using Google Fi for phone service. It works sometimes and then other times What'sApp actually works.

We arrived in Beijing safely. The flight was a bit shorter than I had been led to believe. We needed to wait on our guide, then on our driver because of it. 

Since breakfast was not included with our rooms we set out this morning looking for breakfast. After a couple of false leads we found a local restaurant chain called Mr Lee. We were served steamed buns and dumplings. Then decided to order beef noodle soup and won ton soup since the neigboring table's food looked so tasty.

This first day is an empty day so we can sleep and grouch to our heart's content.We did a quick shopping trip to the WuMart--If you think SharpShopper is crazy on a Friday....

Actually most of us are in a decent mood, the last long flight tested Shekinah's endurance. Hopefully I gave her some tools to be able to handle the longer coming-home flight.

Book of Records

I had a crazy idea....we renovated the bathroom and took out the old mirrored cabinet, but

then what were we going to do with all the stuff that thing held?

I saw this neat thing on Pinterest....(how many sentences start like that?)

but they used big hose clamps for their holder and I couldn't find them at a reasonable price.

I do however have leather...

So this is what happened...each of us has our own toothbrush holder with removable cup.

Monarch nursery... for the first time we had a few that did not hatch well. 

Some leather clutches ready for the Arts and Crafts Bazaar in September.

Not sure why Shekinah needed to dissect her gummy worm and reattach the segments...but there you have it.

This led to the girls deciding that they should start a Mennonite Book of World Records. "One with none of those weird things in it." decided Shekinah
"So what should we put in?" I asked.
This is the list we compiled:
Most dishes served at a  church fellowship meal.
Most dresses made by a busy mother the week before school starts.
Most jars of Baby Gold peaches canned in one day.
Longest gummy worm needs to be on there...I guess
Most dishes needing hand-washed in a day.

Any more?

This book along with the how-to You tube videos the girls make should keep them busy till school starts.... Oh that's right, school starts this week!!!
(no, the videos aren't actually on You tube.)

June and Things Breaking

How time flies, June brings two birthdays

Terribly composed selfies.

Little girls playing hide and seek. We're babysitting a little guy on Mondays, some days they play well. Other days they see each other as competition for all the good things in life.

"I love trauma"--said no one ever.

Son # 3 is trying on a beard and ordered a beard trimmer...we were slightly concerned when we read the box.  Let's just say it didn't work too well on bread.

Even with trying to keep everyone headed in the correct direction this summer, we take a few hours here and there to hang out at a friend's pool. How do you keep tablet screens clean?

Faith, one of my artistic children. I need to make sure she has art supplies.

This little guy loves his "Fafe".  Grandma is running at the back of the pack on his favorite person's list. He even prefers Fafe over mommy some days.

When we were doing paperwork for our adoptions, we always blamed all the household mishaps on "well we're going to China, of course the stove will give out"

We are going to China again, not to adopt, but to allow our children to visit their birth country. It's a project that is constantly "running in the background" of my mind.

The tickets are bought.

I refuse to compare prices anymore.

The passports are all here and current.

The visa applications are all carefully filled out  x 7.

We still need to buy a few carry on suitcases- we want to try carry-on only...

I need a stock of leather bags, wallets etc for a craft/charity show at the end of September. 

So I'm busy designing and stitching.

And things are breaking.

Two -three weeks ago it was the wheeled washline.

On Saturday night it was the big fan that we use to cool down the house/upstairs at night time.

On Tuesday night it was the sink drain...well it had been leaking for awhile but I hated to tell DH...It wasn't leaking much.

We, mostly he, redid the line, his new ladder came in handy.

 No he doesn't have red hair, that is his red hankie he tied there to keep the sweat out of his eyes.

Shekinah brought her daddy water so that he doesn't dehydrate in this heat.

The new/used  fan motor is ordered from Ebay and should come on Monday.

The sink drain was repaired tonight.

Graduations

We attended three graduations this year

An 8th grade one.

Congratulations Faith!

A high school one

Hopefully our student will finish this summer.

And another high school one!

Congratulations Hope!

She was also awarded Salutatorian.

If I thought I was getting a break from packing lunches and being a taxi driver..

I was wrong.

There are four  people packing lunches and working mostly full time.

There is one that is waiting for his registration to be re-instated so that he can drive again...so I'm driving him back and forth to work.

Shelter from the Storm

The other Sunday evening a storm (EF-1 rating I'm told) hopped through our area. PA doesn't normally have tornadoes but this spring we started taking "tornado watches" a bit more seriously. I think we've had more tornado type damage (locally) in May than I ever remember.

These were some of our "giants" in our woods.

The Make-A-Wish Mother's Day parade was rained out, but thankfully our local newspaper set up a live stream. Shekinah figured out when our ambulance and when Specialty Rigging's truck went through and she replayed those sections over and over. --better than the real thing I guess.

When it's too rainy to roast marshmallows, you just put them in the microwave.

So Hope designed --with my help-- a purse/backpack made from leather.

I have another one cut, but things like VBS and Father's Day wallets came first.

There have been some "green tinged" questions like "why does Hope get to have all the new stuff?

Yeah anyway?

You should always take time for baby holding. I love that part of being a grandma...

Well actually the little boys that yell "grandma!" and come up and give me a hug are pretty special too!

QOTD: " Don't you dare put that in your quote-of-the-day!"

Bummer!