Beijing

Back in March, we had our first visitor that wasn't stopping in because of work related purposes!  Dad arrived for a busy 2 week visit:)  We were all excited to see him.  He arrived on a Wednesday and on that following Friday we were flying to Beijing to begin an eleven day tour.  It was the first time for all of us to be in Beijing except Jason.  He had been there earlier in the year.

On our first day, we began at Tiananmen Square.  It was a chilly day but nice.  We actually saw blue sky because of the wind.

The square is huge.  There were lots of people and quite a bit of military.  In the following picture, we have the "Forbidden City" entrance behind us.  I should also mention that it was Lily's first time to join us on a family vacation.

Standing with one of the many Lion Guards

I don't think you can get the feel of exactly how big it is until you actually visit it yourself!  It is the biggest palace complex in the world.

Jason captured a nice picture of my dad and I.  I think I resemble him quite a bit!

Late morning, we rode on a rickshaw around the Hutong Area.  It was so cold that Jason did some bargaining for a few pairs of winter gloves.

Jason and Katelyn.  There were rickshaws lined up around the block.

They took us to a small house.  I think they have been remodeled for the sole purpose of making tourists think that they are actually eating in an authentic Chinese home.

Our table was covered with food dishes in about 10 minutes.  I have to say it was one of my favorite meals while on the trip.



The Cook



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch, we headed to the Summer Palace.  The statues are always just as interesting as the buildings.  

The Qilin - mythical creature of stag, lion, dragon.

The Summer Palace sits on a big lake.  I believe those are guard towers up on the hill.

Lucas, who hates to have his picture taken, was always being asked by someone.  Jason was able to finally capture how happy they get:)  I should mention that they don't always ask.  All of a sudden you notice that someone is standing close to you and you see someone in the distance snapping a quick picture.  It is quite funny sometimes.

We were walking fast around the palace.  We could have taken a boat ride.  The air coming off the lake was quite chilly.  We opted to walk fast to try to keep warm.  Lily was able to fall asleep. 

The artwork/painting in this covered walkway was beautiful.  I think if it was a warmer day, it would have been nice to really look at the pictures.

A Marble boat that has never set sail - I think that is what the tour guide said????

We all had a good day and were ready to head back to the hotel.

Kate - Osteomyelitis

Well, it's been so long since I've been on to blog that blogger has made changes.  The page to publish posts looks different and the way to add pictures......  I have another thing to get use to!!!!

Anyway, it's been a while since I posted to say the least:)  This past winter was very rainy in Shanghai.  I don't think we saw the sun for 2 months.  It wasn't very pretty and not much to blog about.

The end of February came around and we had some "excitement".  Kate came down with a fever but everyone was having fevers around us.  Just figured she had a virus because she didn't have any other symptoms.  2 days after she started the fever, she fell and started complaining that her arm hurt.  So I took her to the ER and the X-ray didn't show anything.  We thought it was just a bad sprain.  Went back to the hospital 2 days later with her in terrible pain and still fever.  Xray showed nothing but no one could even get close to her arm without her screaming.  Blood tests were abnormal but could reflect a virus.  We were sent home but scheduled to go back the next day for more blood work and follow up.  She felt much better the next day but still had fever and swelling in arm.  She was sitting at the table working on homework and I was seriously considering canceling the appointment because she seemed so much better.    

 I looked down at her arm and noticed the red spot.  I took a picture with my phone and we headed back to the hospital.

 They did a MRI and showed she had osteomyelitis in her arm.  Crazy!!  We weren't expecting that one.  I don't know what it is but Kate likes to test out the health systems in the country we are living:)  She was admitted to the hospital and they immediately began the IV antibiotics.  The good thing is she responded very well to the antibiotic and showed great improvements within 2 days.  The hospital, doctors and nurses were all wonderful.  In China there is no home health care so we had to stay in the hospital.  The hospital would never want to send you home with a line for fear of infection.  We still aren't sure how she got this infection.

After 10 days, she was sent home with oral antibiotics and didn't have to spend her "11" Birthday in the hospital.  That was the best present she got.  Happy Birthday Katelyn!!!

A Day in Suzhou

Happy Chinese New Year! We decided to welcome the Year of the Dragon by spending the day in Suzhou. Jason works there everyday but we have never gone to do some sightseeing. It's a good hour away but an easy drive. Suzhou is a very old city - founded around 600 BC. It was a prosperous trading area and the silk industry boomed. It is known as "Venice of the East".

Our first stop was "Lion Grove".

It was busy but a very nice day.

The rooms were quite pretty. I don't think I would want to sit very long on that couch.

Wow - blue sky. I don't remember seeing it so blue that day:)

Outside the garden, there were some vendors. One was selling popcorn and popped rice.

It seemed a bit expensive - a little bit over $2 / bag. Rice is cheap here. It was definitely a healthy snack - no additonal toppings were added. FYI - the bags of popcorn were filled directly from the cage, not the sidewalk:) I was surprised, the popped rice was the favorite amongst everyone.

Suzhou is also known for its embroidery.

We then headed to Tiger Hill Park. The 1,000 year old Yunyan Pagoda sits on top of a hill. There are quite a few steps to get up there so we decided to admire it from afar. The tower has been leaning since before the Qing Dynasty and has become one of the symbols of Suzhou.

There were also quite a few people visiting that day.

The water canals were quiet.

The streets were busy.There is quite a bit to see in Suzhou. We decided to save it for another day - when it is warmer like the Spring time. We had a delicious dinner at our friend's Carlos & Bethe. They prepared a couple of their favorite Peruvian dishes. It was a fun night.

We finished the day with a light show that takes place every night on the lake.

Team Work!

I received an email from Katelyn's teacher this past week that I want to share with you. It brought a smile to my face. Katelyn has made some wonderful friends like she always does and has been fortunate to be in such caring school environments.

"We had an interesting one today. The lift broke and Katelyn was in an activity on the 5th floor. As I went up to get her I found six of her friends helping her down the stairs and carrying her chair for her. Love it that they all helped each other, worked together and took initiative to solve the problem themselves. Was a moment !"

Yum, Yum - Chicken Soup!

Last weekend, Jason received a text from a co-worker who has a farm near Suzhou. Her family is going away for the Chinese New Year Holiday and she had tons of food to give away! Everything always tates delicious from her place. We are always well stocked with eggs and vegetables.

We had a surprise this time. She asked Jason if we wanted some chickens - dead or alive? Jason and I got a kick out of that because we could just imagine the scenario if she arrived with "live" chickens!

Fortunately for us and the chickens, they arrived dead. I'm sure they had a much quicker death than if we were to do it:)

Let me add a head shot.
Needless to say, I had no idea what to do with them. So I called Jin Di (ayi) to come to the rescue:) I'm sure she and her family are getting some good laughs from the Marchiondo's! She told me that I didn't have the right knife and all my knives were too good to use for cutting up the chickens. So she took them home to her husband and she brought back the breasts and thighs in Ziploc bags:) We definitely were not going to have pickled feet! I can definitely say that Jin Di has made our lives in China so much easier - we will definitely miss her when the time comes for us to move on.
Homemade Chicken Soup was the first recipe.

It tasted pretty good for that rainy day but I was missing a spice. I'm not exactly sure which one that should be. I had fresh celery, carrots and onion in there but I think I should have added some parsley maybe? I need to do some research. It sure was a fun experience.

New Year Walk thru town

Happy New Year - 2012!

It's funny, we have lived here for over a year and have never walked thru this little town that isn't much more than a mile away from where we live. If you look real close, in the haze in the center you can see the buildings that are being built right beside us. It was a holiday and very busy but it was fun to finally walk the area. The only thing we bought were some good strawberries!