Christmas Trip to USA ~ December 19

We were so excited to head home to see the family and to just be on American soil.  Donn hadn't been home since June so he was especially looking forward to being back.  We had a busy three weeks planned.  We were going to spend Christmas with our children, then head to St. George to see my folks then off to Provo to see Donn's dad, then back to St. George for another short stay with my parents while Donn headed back to Vegas to go to work.

Christmas Eve at Stucki's Home

Christmas Morning--Still at Stuckis

Good Food and Decorations

December 8 ~ Week 26

Unbelievable!!  We have been in China for six months (well at least Donn has been here for six months.  Me ~ only 4 1/2 months.)

700 years ago, Marco Polo wrote down that Suzhou was so beautiful that it was very similar to his hometown, Venice.  Suzhou thus got the honorable name, "Venice of the East".  The Trip on the Grand Canal was definitely on our To Do List.  The trip was one hour in length and passed 20 different styles of bridges and 10 ancient city gates.  Saturday had warmed up a bit and since I was worried about freezing during the ride, we decided it was now or never.  We hopped on Bus 47 for a 45-minute bus trip down to the canals.  Our bus was packed the entire way.  It was standing room only, but for some reason, we had a large amount of space around us.  I guess we intimated the bus riders.  We arrived 1 1/2 hours early, so just enjoyed walking around the area.  I was happy to find out that the boat was enclosed so it was very warm as well.

 

One afternoon while sitting on the couch I heard many, many sirens.  I looked out my apartment windows only to see a huge ring of smoke.   I decided to walk around to see what I could find out.  It was a major attraction for all the Chinese Nationals as well.  The streets were packed with probably 20 firetrucks and emergency vehicles.  Weirdly, I was able to walk around the entire building without anyone stopping me.  I saw no fire anywhere, so apparently it was only burning on an upper level.  (This pic is taken from my apartment window on the 19th floor.)

In anticipation of heading back to see family and friends, I decided to go and get a weave in by hair.  I had heard from many people, that the stylist here are excellent with hair weaving.  (They lied.)  I have had many high/low light weaves before so when the man started putting dye all over my hair, I knew I was headed for trouble.  Before long I had four guys working on my hair.  What I ended up with is orange hair with a few blackish/grey streaks in it.  I returned again to have them fix it up, but they still didn't seem to get what I wanted.  I even had a translator telling them what they needed to do.  They wouldn't listen so now I will get my hair fixed when I come home.  It is a very sad day for me, because now you will really be able to see my dark roots as that hair was all bleached to orange.  The hair behind is what I wanted, not what I got.

Donn has been having some trouble with his shoulder, so we decided that he would try acupuncture while I did the massage.  It looks painful, but he said he didn't feel much.  After they stuck needs in his neck and back, they put some type of heat lamp.  The needles draw the heat into the muscles. 

I also helped a friend decorate his Christmas tree.  I dubbed it the Charlie Brown tree because it turned out interesting.  We also visited a favorite local's restaurant named Lim's.  Our chicken actually came it a head.  Yikes.  Too visual for me.

Update on My Children:

Eric and Eliza are awaiting the birth of their baby girl due on January 10, 2013.  Baby Nimmer has decided that she is tired of her mommy's tummy and Eliza has started having contractions.  She is now on bed rest until after she finishes her finals.  They are decorating Christmas trees and gingerbread houses.

Brittany is also getting ready for Christmas.  She had a naughty elf move in on December 1.  He toilet papered the Christmas tree.  The twins were enthralled with the paper and lights.  Carter is getting in the spirit with his Santa hat.

Carter (left) and Crew (right)

I would post a picture of Adam's and Shannara's Christmas tree, but it is still in the garage waiting for decorations.  Hummm maybe not this Christmas.  Scrooges!!!

November ~ Weeks 20 - 24

My weekly visits to the Wuzhong Orphanage continue.  My favorite orphan, Wu Ren, was adopted.  Apparently his adoptive parents lost their baby so they were able to take him home.  It was a bittersweet day.  So happy for him and his new family, so sad for me that I would never see him again.  (This is not the best picture of either of us as I personally took it on my cell phone, but it is the only one I have as we are not supposed to take pictures.  My son, Adam, taught me how to do it.)  The Wu in Ren's name is there because he came from the Wuzhong Orphanage.   You can see some of the other orphans on the back wall.  There are about 20 of them. 

Weekly visit to hold orphans.

One day when Johnnie was visiting, he treated us to a foot massage.  You caught me smiling here, but a lot of times I am grimacing as they massage too hard.  Donn is trying to teach me how to say softer, but I am not sure that helps.  They always make fun of my ugly toenails.  Thanks dad for passing that one to me.

Massage Therapist are known by their number, we had #6, #8, and #137.  My guy was #8.  He was good.

Our Thanksgiving here was fairly low-key.  Donn worked and I shopped with Effie to purchase some items for the dinner.  Effie was hosting 30 people at their home in Golden Lough.  I was making funeral potatoes, gravy, and marshmallow yams.  My yams were interesting though, because half of them were the bright orange and the rest were light yellow.  I purchased them at a vegetable market from the exact same spot.  Transporting the food proved it be quite a task.  We were going to have to ride the bus ~ 20 minutes.  She finally sent her driver and that worked much better.  She and Kevin had baked a ham, homemade rolls and pies, veggie and fruit trays, etc.  Everything was delicious. Afterwards we played some games, including Tricks and Pinocle.

Kat Nimmer, Effie Okeson, and Cheri Poland (@ Okeson's in Golden Lough)

Meanwhile back in the U.S.A.

Adam, Shannara and Miles head to the emergency room for Miles' first set of stitches.  It looks like he was a trouper.  But I am so sad when I see the big bump/bruise/gap!!   The pictures brought back many memories of taking my own two sons to get stitches.  There were many.  They were quite the tomboys!!

The Rest of October 2012

I cannot believe how quickly time is passing by as I celebrated another birthday.  Donn planned a very special day for me.  (I actually celebrated my birthday for two days--October 31 in China and October 31 in US ~  thanks all for remembering me.)  Anyway Donn and I went for a 90-minute body massage.  He slept through most of his, but since I wanted to enjoy every second, I forced myself to stay awake.  We have since bought a package of 40 massages.  They amount to only $10 USD.  Amazing and fabulous.  How will I ever survive without them when we move back to the US???  Anyway after the massages, we went to Time Square (in Suzhou) and walked around.  We saw a most amazing sunset.  I took pics, but they don't do it justice.  Then off to a fabulous buffet at the Intercontinental Hotel.  The food is incredible.  Of course, we both ate too much.  Just as we were finishing up dessert our friends Jenny and Lim sent a birthday cake to our table.  So then we ate more.  Back to Metro for a short ride home to our apartment.  It was an incredible day thanks to my amazing husband.

Meanwhile back in the U.S.:

Miles turns one year old.  Can't believe he is walking and more importantly that I am missing out on seeing him getting around.  Thanks Adam for sending the videos to keep us updated.

Brittany is also dressing up her darling children for their Halloween celebration.  Mario and Luigi won "Best Costume" prize.  Aren't they darling??

Top:  Chloe ~ Bottom:  L to R Emma (8), Chloe (4), and Alyvia (6)

Crew is Luigi (blue) and Carter is Mario (red).  Picture:  Crew (red) and Carter (blue). 

Emma Madison

Malaysia Trip (Oct. 2 ~ 6)

I have gotten so far behind on my weekly blogs, that I decided to catch up by lumping all of October into a couple of posts.  So here goes . . .

I arrived back in China on October 1--just in time to head off to Tioman Island/Malaysia for a short vacation with Donn, Jenny and Lim.  We did some great snorkeling and then some terrible deep-sea fishing.

There were several types of travel to actually get to the island.  Our Suzhou driver, Mr. Chung, drove us to Shanghai.  From there, we hoped on an airplane and flew into Kuala Lumpur Airport in Malaysia.  We stayed the night at the Holiday Inn and then off to the airport for an early flight on Berjaya Air.   Once we landed on Tioman Island, we had to take a shuttle to get to the resort.  It was an awesome resort.

We had some amazing food there at a street vendor. 

The resort.  Saw lots of monkeys and lizards.  Not to mention beautiful sandy beaches and gorgeous sunsets.

We had monkeys right outside in our courtyard.  In fact, there was a warning on the door to make sure you closed your door and windows at night or you might have a monkey visit you.  They were a little scarey.  Especially the couple that tried to chase me when I ran out of food to feed them.

And now for the story about our deep-sea fishing trip . . .

Donn and Lim wanted to do a deep-sea fishing expedition in hopes that they could catch something spectacular.  I decided that I would tag along for the fun.  The boat was late and when it finally showed up it was a small little motorboat.  Totally different from the last time we went deep-sea fishing.  In fact, if we had caught anything bigger than a pound, we would have been pulled right off the boat.

Anyway, the guide took us out a ways and we started fishing.  We fished for about an half and hour and we didn't even get a bite.  So the guide took us further out into the ocean.  We traveled about an hour.  We fished a little more and the guide and Lim each caught a small fish.   The guide decided that would head back, but he said he was feeling a little sick, so needed to stop on another island.  He parked the boat and off he went into the woods.  We figured he'd be gone for just a few minutes.  Over an hour and half later he came back.  I think he had meant up with someone and they went off and did some drugs cuz he was really strange when he came back.  He kept singing to himself and waving his arms around like he was leading music.

He started the boat up and started adding gasoline through a hose and a gas can.  Big waves started washing over the back of the boat and knocked the gas can down and the gas spilled all over the boat.  The guide tried to start the boat, but water must have got in the engine because it wouldn't start.  He pulled everything apart and he finally got the engine going again.  So off we went towards the island.  He decided to stop again and try again.  After about an hour, we decided it was time to head home.  This time the guide couldn't get the boat started so here we are out in the middle of the ocean with a guide wasted on drugs and a boat that didn't work.  I was very scared.  Lim asked the guide if he had a cell phone.  He said no.  When we asked him how we were going to get rescued, he told us that eventually someone would come looking for us.  Fortunately for us, Lim had a cell phone and the guide called someone to come and rescue us.  It was a very long day, and I may never go deep-sea fishing again.  Even though this was a bad experience, it makes a great story.  Especially once we got back safely.

We also had a chance to visit a little bit of Kuala Lumpur.  Famous there are the Petronas Towers from the Mission Impossible movie.  We also shopped at a very high end mall.  I felt like I was on Rodeo Drive in California.

Petronas Towers and a picture of our hotel at the Ascott.

While shopping in one of the black markets, we found a great spa ~ they are fish that are breed in Japan and trained to eat the dead skin off of your feet.  It felt so weird at first, ticklish, but annoying at the same time.  At the end, it actually felt really good.  I am totally looking for a place like that in Suzhou.

Trip to U.S.A. ~ Aug 14 - Sept 29

My wonderful husband allowed me to take a trip back to visit my family.  I know it has been very lonesome for him without me (I have missed him as well), but I appreciate him letting me return to finish projects at work that I started last spring and wasn't able to finish.  

It was quite an accomplishment on my part to even arrive in Las Vegas as planned.  First I had to get to the train station.  Mr. Chen (and Donn) picked me up.  With Donn's help I knew the words for purchasing a train ticket to Shanghai.  I'm not sure if the teller understood what I said, but I did get the ticket I asked for and off I went to wait for my train.  Getting on the train with a couple of large suitcases was a little difficult, but with the help of some Chinese Nationals, I was on and ready for the 23 minute train ride.  We had traveled to Shanghai by train at least three other times, so I was pretty sure I would be okay.  Unfortunately, my train made an extra stop in Shanghai.  I was so confused because not enough time had past, but I knew we were stopping and the announcer did say "Shanghai".  Luckily the passenger sitting next to me was able to understand what I was asking and he told me to wait one more stop.  I was so happy I hadn't made the mistake of getting off.  

My instructions upon arriving at the train station was to go to the South Exit.  Two weeks ago we had spent over an half and hour trying to get to the South Exit, so in my mind it was going to be very difficult.  Luckily I headed left and within two minutes I had found the Shanghai driver, Carlos.  Off we headed to the Pudong Airport.  I made it through Customs and got on the airplane with plenty of time to spare.  My trip to Los Angeles was uneventful (thankfully).  The only hard part was that the couple in front of me had a baby that cried for three hours straight.  I was so happy when she fell asleep even though it only lasted for half of the night.  It was a very long flight and I mostly watched TV.  United Airlines had several movies that I hadn't seen so that was a bonus.

I arrived on Tuesday night.  Brittany picked me up from the airport.  We had planned a road trip to visit Wyoming Grandma and Grandpa and were leaving the next morning as soon as we had fed the babies.  Our trip to Provo (our stopping point for the night) was not the normal 5 1/2 trip from Vegas to Provo, but rather an 8-hour trip.  We were exhausted by the time we got there.  We also visited Lori and Dean.  Once we arrived at Grandpa Nimmer's house we visited with Lynn and Steve, Summer, Josh and their family, as well as Jessica Rivers. The next morning as we got ready to leave Brittany couldn't find her car keys.  Two years ago on this same road trip she lost her keys as well.  We tried calling everyone because the last place either she or I had seen them was in the cup holder on Steve's camp chair.  It was, of course, Lynn's first day at work so she wasn't answering her cell phone and Steve was inside and his wasn't ringing through.  Needless to say he went home and they were still sitting in the camp chair.  He brought them over and after a quick trip to Kneaders for breakfast, we headed off to Etna, Wyoming.  The four-hour trip was another long one, but we finally arrived.  Grandma G (g = great) was so excited to see her twin great-grandsons.  (She has her own twin daughters.)  It was so funny, though, because she couldn't remember the twin's names.  I guess that is what happens as we get older.  

While home in Henderson, I also got to spend a Sunday afternoon with Adam, Shannara, and Miles.  They had cooked a delicious dinner of Mexican corn, tenderloin with vegetables, and for deseret ~ peanut butter cookie topped with ice cream and Milky Way chocolate.

Miles is so adorable.  He is such a happy baby, but he is getting so wiggly I am afraid that he is going to pop right out of my arms.

Once back in Nevada, we had to go try out the new Rita's Italian Ice.  I had Swedish fish.  It was so delicious.  Today date (Sept. 10) I have visited three times.  So much for losing that ten pounds I've gained since moving to China.

I have had a great visit with my children.  They are totally spoiling me.  I spend the weekdays with Eric and Eliza and then I spend the weekends with Brittany.  I even babysat all five kids while they went out for their anniversary.  It is quite a task to feed and burp both babies at the same time.  I am not quite sure how Brittany and/or Tom manage this on a regular basis.

Carter and Crew

This is the latest picture of the twins.  As you can see, they totally look different if their eyes are opened.  If they are sleeping, it is a little harder.

Day 58 ~ Week ending August 11

After church on Sunday and after the weather had cooled down a little, we decided we needed to go for an exploratory bike ride.  We feel like we are kind of just going to places that we know.  We had heard that Suzhou is the Venice of China so we figured there must be some pretty cool places on the waterfront. This is one of the neat buildings.  Very oriental.

Jinji Lake

Ben is a friend we made through church.  We traveled with he and Jace on some of our shopping trips to Shanghai.  He was also a player in our Catan game at the Preston's home.  Donn was the winner, of course.

Funny, but with Suzhou home to over 6 million people we saw him twice on our hour bike ride.

Taken from our apartment window.

Just to be on the safe side, I had registered with the US Embassy.  On Tuesday I received the following e-mail from them:  This Emergency Message is being issued to alert U.S. citizens residing or traveling in the Shanghai Consular District, which includes Shanghai, Anhui province, Jiangsu province, and Zhejiang province, that the Shanghai Meteorological Bureau is tracking Typhoon HAIKUI across the East China Sea.  At this time the storm is expected to make landfall along the southeastern coast of mainland China and is expected to bring heavy rain and strong winds across Shanghai and coastal areas of Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces from August 7 to August 10, 2012.  We will continue to monitor Typhoon HAIKUI and will issue updated messages as needed.

Rain water on floor in family room.

The weather was so bad for three days, that I didn't go out.  We found that our apartment is NOT rain proof but having leaks in the following locations:  family room, hallway , dining room, and patio roof.  The water just drips out of the air vents onto the wood floor.  My guess is that they will never figure out how to fix it.  Hopefully we will not have too many typhoons while we are here.  The saddest part was all the damage to the trees along the roadways.  I also saw several road signs blown down on my way to the market.



On Saturday we headed to the Metro for a trip to the Silk Factory.  This is a huge tourist attraction for most visitors to Suzhou.  You can buy all kinds of duvets, scarves, and clothing.  Since we were in a hurry, we just browsed through quickly.  Most things here are very cheap.  Silk items are very expensive.  Here are just a couple of pics.

We were a little late for our badminton date.   We tried to get a taxi, but they were all busy so we jumped on a bus.  We were in good shape until the bus turned right.  We quickly got off at the next stop and backtracked to the main road.  Finally we jumped in a tuck tuck not realizing that we were only 3 blocks away from where we needed to be.  

Saturday evening we went to an excellent Korean restaurant named Pankoo.  It is so cool because you have a charcoal pit at  your table and you cook your own meant and veggies.  Everything was delicious.  This is Lim's family (Lim, Brendan, Christopher, Jenny, and me.)  Lim and Jenny's children really enjoyed cooking all the meats.



We also found out this week that there was an engineering error on the Pants building and they have to demolish the entire building and start over.  We've heard that they have around $14 billion into it.  Some heads are rolling at the government offices and lots of businesses are in huge trouble.  It really is heart-breaking.