As most of you know Michael has a hobby of photography. He is often seen taking interesting pictures of happenings around our apartment, neighborhood, and sometimes even pics of himself. Here’s a recent one which has become my favorite. I can’t believe he will graduate from high school in a little less than 4 months! My little boy all grown up!
Megan’s preschool class has been learning about different types of transportation. To give the students a “hand-on” experience, the teachers arranged for a day trip on the fast train to Beijing. In a car the trip usually takes about 2 hours. But on the fast train, at 250 kilometers per hour, one can get from Tianjin to Beijing in 20 minutes! Interestingly though, it took us almost an hour to get from our school to the train station, with morning rush hour traffic. After arriving at the Beijing station, we went to eat lunch at Mc Donald’s, a treat for all the kids, then explored the station, then took the fast train back to Tianjin. The following pictures are of Megan’s class in the station, a church building in the distance (would love to know the history of this building), Megan with her Polish friend in front of the fast train and signage.
My sisters and I are complete tea fanatics, yes, even Megan adores tea (as long as there is a substantial amount of milk followed by a heaping teaspoon of sugar)! Anyway, this Christmas to our delight we received a darling little glass tea pot. If my name was Cinderella and I was invited to a royal tea part at the castle, you would never find me leaving this “glass” pot behind. Our Malaysian friends, the Chins, bought this delightful present for us after we admired theirs, when celebrating the Moon Cake Festival with them.
As you can see in the pictures, there is a stand on which the tea pot lightly perches. What no one expects, is the convenient tea light candle hidden within. You see, after we put tea into the glass pot, we have no fear that the tea will eventually cool to the despised “lukewarm state.” Thanks to our wonderful friends, we can enjoy hot tea during our countless tea parties, in a most magical tea pot.
The girls and I have recently been working on a scrap book together. It has been a great way to spend time with each other and I enjoy it so much. Although we are only on the second page I'm sure we'll be able to finish the job to perfection.
Isn't it refreshing and uplifting when on a hot summer day you walk into a convenient store and get your favorite mint chocolate chip ice cream bar? Or maybe if you run into a bakery on a cold windy day to buy a chocolate filled pastry and coffee. It brings a warm fuzzy feeling, or a refreshing cool sensation. Now imagine if you bought that mint chocolate chip ice cream bar, bit into it and realized it was a green tea ice cream bar with red bean?! Or if you took a big bite into that fluffy pastry to find out it is red bean filled, not chocolate! This is a very common experience in China and we make sure it never happens twice. Chinese people are not big fans of very sweet treats so a red bean substitute for chocolate, or green tea instead of mint are delicious alternatives… for them. Here are a few pictures of common snacks you can find here.
Last summer when we were home, Megan’s Aunt Jill gave her a big stuffed Woody, after taking her to see the Toy Story 3 movie. Megan loves to play stick horse with Woody, except she doesn’t have a true horse. So she got creative and rides our rod which we use to hang our clothes. You see, the clothes bars are hung too high to reach, so most Chinese have an extension rod which has groves for clothes hangers. See the two grooves at the top of Megan’s stick “horse”. Another little tidbit about our daily life. See Sean in the background washing dishes. Notice the counters only come to the top of his thigh. Most Chinese counters are installed much lower than their American counterparts. Sort of makes of a sore back after washing a sink full of dishes!
There she goes!!
On Christmas Break our family went to Hong Kong for a vacation we left our first day of break and came back the 23rd so we could celebrate Christmas at home in Tianjin. We stayed the nights in a small hostel named “Embassy Hotel.” When I say small, I mean really small. Dad rented three rooms with two twin beds in each. There was barely enough room to step in, set down your suitcase and get on the bed. We were always out from dawn to dusk, so really all we did in our room was sleep. The first day in Hong Kong we went to a beautiful park. Everything was so nice and clean I enjoyed it so much! Lots of the other days we got to go shopping for Christmas presents. One of my favorite times was almost every night when we would go sit down outside on stools at this nearby vendors shop and get a snack of Coconut Bubble Tea and waffles. It was so yummy I loved every part of Hong Kong and hope one day I can return to have more fun and enjoy Gods creation.
This winter break we went to Hong Kong for a few days before Christmas. It was a warm relief from the frosty Tianjin. Not only was it warm, green, and lush the shopping in Hong Kong was great! While we were there we spent half a day at a mall in Kowloon, shopping for Christmas presents for each other. The mall that we went to had these adorable Santa statues that all had differently patterned outfits. There was about twenty of these cute fat little Santa Clauses; here are a few:
On New Year’s Eve we were invited to a gathering of fellow believers, to celebrate HIS goodness in 2010. Spending time in singing and testimony was a great way to end 2010, reflecting on the Lord’s goodness to us in so many ways. At the end our host friends from Malaysia, had a cake with significant meaning. 2011 to represent the new year. Three tiers to represent, Father, Son and Spirit. Topped with fruit to represent the Fruit of the Spirit. A cross to represent Jesus.
I have to say, while in Hong Kong, one of my favorite parts of the day was our midnight snack time 🙂 Every night Dad took us kids to an outdoor eating area lined with street food, bubble tea, and delicious waffles. You might imagine the waffles as square-holed “Eggo” waffles, however this was not the case in Hong Kong. Instead, they were made in circular waffle irons, where the hot waffles looked like bubble wrap when finished. Anyway, ordering waffle after waffle, we happily ate and powwowed every night, resting from the long day. On the last night, Mom and Megan joined us (the nights before, they were too tired to come).>> If there is one thing that I love the best about Hong Kong is the feeling that the city never sleeps. Like us, the food streets were filled with people eating and relaxing at midnight! With delicious snacks and drinks from the nearby “McCafe,” surrounded by my wonderful family, I was completely content.>
