Life as we are coming to know it and the technology that is keeping us sane

Hello to all,
It is so fun reading all of the blog comments from our little community of friends and family. No, Aunt Vicki I haven't received my book yet. Betsy, I see that everyone is introducing themselves, that is good. Karen, your house sounds a little itchy right now. Are you going batty?!? Mom and Christi, I will try and send pictures soon, but I am photography impaired. Beth, yes, I am trying to stay upbeat by keeping very busy. There have been a few days of tears but all in all not too many. Angie, stick with the cake mixes they taste way better. Aunt Carol, aren't you glad you don't have to do any more suprise homework projects?!? Deb, we could never forget you and yes I can believe you are getting an A in Algebra.
Ok, life as we are coming to know it.
We are adjusting to continually warmer weather, horns blowing, sky scrapers and the conveniences of big city life.
The kids love it hear and are loving all of the freedom that they have. A few days this week, I had Elise and Jacob walk to the grocery store to get milk and bread. Last night I sent the boys with the driver to buy milk at the grocery store. The boys walk to school or another soccer field and play soccer. All of the kids walk around the corner to their favorite movie lady and buy movies. I went to dinner with a new lady in town the other night (when Mark was up at the plant) and the kids walked to coffee beanery for dinner. I know some of you are freaking out right now, but it is so safe here.
I have started to adjust to cooking again. I have missed it, but it feels almost a little like cooking in my travel trailer. Grocery shopping will never be an easy chore (and to think I was just figuring out the new Meijer). The kids were all very appreciative of my meals this week and they scarfed everything down.
For the record, the kids at school loved the seder cake. It was all gone and Elise said some kids were talking about how good it was. Aunt Carol, I hope the kids appreciated your meringues! Another girl was supposed to help Elise make the cake and she didn't so she just paid Elise for the cost of the ingredients. That was nice of her.
Yesterday, was a day I won't soon forget. Three of my friends and myself went to Suzhou (a small town of about 4 million an hour and a half west of Shanghai). We went to the embroidery section. It was dirty store after dirty store of some very gaudy embroidered pieces. We were told that these people would be willing to bargain and that we could get stuff for about half of what they were asking. That however, was not so. There was a neat picture in a wooden stand that wasn't very big at all that I wanted. So I asked the lady, "Duo shao qian "(how much) and she types into a calculator (the first piece of technology that helps us communicate) 10020. My friends and I had to pick our chins up off of the ground. I know she was thinking stupid touristy americans. It is a big deal for us to tell them that we live here. So I type back into the calculator 120 and ask her if that's what she meant. At that time I thought she agreed to my price and I was feeling pretty good about it, but I thought I would keep shopping. I didn't see anything that I liked better, so I went back. She was very excited to see me back and I told her that I would take it. So she dusted it all off and put it in this nice case, and I got my 120 yuan out. She got this horrified look on her face and went running for the calculator and furiously typed in 10020 again. She wanted almost $1300 for this chinsey piece of work. I told her, "tai gui le" (too expensive) and walked out the store. My friends and I decided that they weren't hungry enough because their stuff was very over priced. So, I bought nothing. Only one lady did and we all like to shop. We had a fun day though, so I guess that's all that matters.
Ok, now to the technology that we use on a daily basis and love.
Our cell phones- we text all of the time. There is no such thing as voice mail in China.
Guanxi-is a service that you text. You text them the name of a store or restaurant and they text you back an address so that you can show your driver. You can also ask for it in chinese if they can't read english.
Babblefish.com-a website that will translate english to chinese and I type out instructions for Hong and then print them in chinese for her. Lots of times we just play good ole charades though.
Skype phones-for a mere $40 investment you can get a skype phone and the account is free and we can talk to each other on a regular basis for FREE! Yes, free! Otherwise it costs us about 2-3 cents a minute to call someone who doesn't have a skype phone. I know, I know it's quite costly on our part!!!!:)
Email-I am so grateful to all of you who write me and respond to the blog. There are many days where I wake up and say, "am I really in China" because it often doesn't feel like it. But then I look around and see masses of people and smog in the sky, hear horns honking unnecessarily, smell the odor of the water, touch my waxey feeling hair (that won't ever feel the same again, but at least I have more than one strand !!!) and taste all of the food that is supposed to be American but really isn't and I know that yes, I am really in China. A beautiful country that I am starting to love!