- Okay, guess, what animal do you not see in US zoos? Give up? See the bottom of the post for the answer.
- Furniture!!!!! I went to Suzhou (50 minutes west of Shanghai by car), a city known for its silk and furniture, and shopped for furniture. Picture your local Art Van store. Now feed it Vitamin S (steroids) for about a bazillion years. You will find that store in Suzhou. There is a whole district dedicated to nothing but furniture. One complex I was in was 1 mile long and 2 stories tall. Across the street from it, there were two more just like it. Needless to say, I was overloaded visually, but had a great chance to practice my Mandarin. It was very frustrating, but helped me realize how difficult communication can be and that it is more non-verbal than verbal!
- Remember how I said McDonald's is the same as back home...I was wrong. They have a wonderful delicacy called a red bean pie. NOT!!! It tasted like a cross between red pinto beans and under ripe blueberries. My friend Ron and I each choked one down. The only saving grace was the huge pocket of grease inside that helped them slide out of our mouths and into our stomachs.
- Shanghai does have a blue sky. It decided to peek at me today. The weather is about 55F and sunny. It made it warm in church and nice to walk outside afterwards.
- If you take a taxi to the airport from the hotel, it costs $22.50 US, and takes about 45 minutes time. To take the Maglev (magnetic elevated train), subway, and walk for 5 minutes, it will cost $6.75 US, and takes the same amount of time.
- Fireworks. As China nears its New Year, the city is beginning to fill with people and there are fireworks displays at all hours of the day. I have yet to figure out why they light them off at 1:00 PM, but they do.
- MIND YOUR HAIR! These are signs that hang on the escalators in Suzhou. Apparently they don't want your hair getting caught in the escalator going up to the next floor as you travel to yours. In Shanghai, the signs are MIND YOUR HEAD!
- If you want Western food, all you have to do is eat at Blue Frog or The Flying Fox.
- We have found a place to live. It is on the 6th floor of a complex that has 6 other Dow Corning families. It is within walking distance to church, school, shopping, and a park. You also can see Natalie's favorite restaurant from our balcony, and there are non-pushy DVD sales outside, so we can get a movie whenever we want.
Now for the Midland update:
- Elise's Pom squad made it to the State competition. The finals will be held at Eastern Michigan University on Sunday, February 11.
- Jacob has grown a lot. Natalie had to take him out to buy new clothes. I believe the phrase the forced the new purchases was, "My boxers are busting my nuts!". Imagine that coming from Jacob.
- Levi's and Noah's basketball team continues to improve. They have won three tournaments in the past month.
- Natalie has been very busy with me still in Shanghai. Aside from being a single parent, about the only thing she has managed to accomplish in the past week is to list our house for sale and get it sold (we have an offer and a backup offer)! GOD IS GOOD!!!, and continues to open up the doors allowing us to pursue the move. We will be moving to the Hampton Inn in Midland towards the end of February as our stuff gets packed and we are out of the house.
That's all for now! God bless, Mark
The answer to the first question is dogs. There are about 45 different breeds on display (yes, they have Golden's and standard poodles). Most of them are just in cement runs and it is said. However, there is a fine breeding area that looks like a mini-Alpine village. They have miniature people beds, sofas, and lamps!
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