Being a tourist in Shanghai is lots of fun! Friday we traveled about 30 min outside of Shanghai to one of the ancient water villages – Zhujiajiao. This town dates back more than 1700 years, with over 36 beautiful wood, stone or marble bridges connecting the town across multiple streams. It China's version of the ‘Venice of Italy’… Maggie & Ms. Lynn were noticeably missing, so we didn’t really feel like we were in Italy again! It was very peaceful and beautiful with the willow trees hanging over the streams, riding in the river boat and seeing some of the authentic houses (which were nestled among the many tourist shops). We had a fabulous meal of fried rice, dumplings, tomato & scrambled egg, and noodles (can you tell we stick to the edible fare that we know!). We did order the countryside chicken – not sure what would show up on the table and just hoping it didn’t have its head still on! It came out as a whole chicken (minus the head thankfully) in a bowl of broth – they offered to cut it up so then we had a whole chicken all cut up (bones & all) in a bowl of broth! A little challenging to eat with chopsticks but Abigail especially loved it (oh and Betsy we are going to need some Tide Stain Stick when you come visit to get the greasy broth out of her shirt!!). The ride home was fun as one of the little ones had to go to the bathroom – urgently. Now if we were truly locals, we just would have pulled over, let her go to the bathroom on the side of the road (literally just on the road) as we have seen that many a times…however we finally got to an understanding with the driver that one of the ‘babies’ as he calls them needed to use the WC. At first this information just made him drive faster on the highway (not exactly the intended result) and then he gets off and pulls into the Porsche dealer. Now as a general rule, I feel bad using the bathroom at McDonalds without buying something, but that was clearly out of the question here! He convinced them it was an emergency and they graciously led us to the bathroom…lesson learned; always try before you get in the car!!!
On Saturday Andy & Kelly headed off to Suzhou (about 30 minute train ride) where they met with a University of Arkansas student’s family who are Christians. Many stories to tell which they will have to do since I wasn’t there! As for the rest of us, we headed out to the zoo. We saw lots of birds & monkeys and many humorous things (outside of the animals!). For starters, the signs about not feeding the animals are clearly just suggestions…lots of people were throwing food in the cages or trying to get the animals to eat from their hands (we opted out of that as I didn’t want to get any random germs from the zoo, I’m sure we’re getting enough other ones!). They also had a ‘bailing animal’ section aka: domestic pets. Glad we knew what this was called in advance as we totally avoided going to see dogs and cats in cages…not my idea of a zoo. We LOVED the giant panda…way cute. We then headed into downtown to buy some art supplies for Megan – except for her paints which they wouldn’t ship, everything is ITS (in the shipment - as we have come to identify many things). Fun experience, very local shop…successfully found canvases, brushes, paid for them and even used the bathroom there. So one tip on the bathroom – if you just use the one that says handicap, it will be the western style toilet versus the squatty potty. Handicap or no, I’m using it! We finished off our afternoon with a bike ride around Century Park (some one which Megan got out and pushed the bike – not sure if it was the peddlers or the bikes pedal system, but it wasn’t easy!), played some badminton and Frisbee and then went to the burger/shake shop of Johnny Moos.
A very fun and busy weekend to help us get to know our new surroundings better! Still missing home and some of the simplicities & routine of life there (oh and definitely the family and friends!!!)…as someone at church said, you can’t rush through the transitions as this is when the growing really happens. No pain, no gain??
Xi Jian Y’all…love ya!
The Shanghai Seven
On Saturday Andy & Kelly headed off to Suzhou (about 30 minute train ride) where they met with a University of Arkansas student’s family who are Christians. Many stories to tell which they will have to do since I wasn’t there! As for the rest of us, we headed out to the zoo. We saw lots of birds & monkeys and many humorous things (outside of the animals!). For starters, the signs about not feeding the animals are clearly just suggestions…lots of people were throwing food in the cages or trying to get the animals to eat from their hands (we opted out of that as I didn’t want to get any random germs from the zoo, I’m sure we’re getting enough other ones!). They also had a ‘bailing animal’ section aka: domestic pets. Glad we knew what this was called in advance as we totally avoided going to see dogs and cats in cages…not my idea of a zoo. We LOVED the giant panda…way cute. We then headed into downtown to buy some art supplies for Megan – except for her paints which they wouldn’t ship, everything is ITS (in the shipment - as we have come to identify many things). Fun experience, very local shop…successfully found canvases, brushes, paid for them and even used the bathroom there. So one tip on the bathroom – if you just use the one that says handicap, it will be the western style toilet versus the squatty potty. Handicap or no, I’m using it! We finished off our afternoon with a bike ride around Century Park (some one which Megan got out and pushed the bike – not sure if it was the peddlers or the bikes pedal system, but it wasn’t easy!), played some badminton and Frisbee and then went to the burger/shake shop of Johnny Moos.
A very fun and busy weekend to help us get to know our new surroundings better! Still missing home and some of the simplicities & routine of life there (oh and definitely the family and friends!!!)…as someone at church said, you can’t rush through the transitions as this is when the growing really happens. No pain, no gain??
Xi Jian Y’all…love ya!
The Shanghai Seven
Love it! Keep the news comin'! We all agreed at dinner tonight...WE MISS YOU!!! There's no way around it...but it sure helps to see pics and know you are doing so well and having such fun! Look forward to seeing the art Megan will be inspired to create there! LOVE YOU GUYS IMMENSELY!!!
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