Differences

-In Singapore you could speak English and almost always be understood.  Here you speak English and everyone speaks back to you in rapid fire Chinese.  No one understands--or occasionally you find a young college student willing to try out his English!
-There are no hawkers.  We were told that the city was "cleaned up" for the Olympics.  This removed many of the street vendors.  Oh what I wouldn't do for a plate of chicken rice or bowl of fish ball noodles!
-In Singapore we were surrounded by water and rarely saw it.  Here we're seeing, walking by, and smelling the ocean every day.
-In Singapore I got hot/sweaty almost every day.  It's a rare thing here and a nice change!  I can mop the floors without needing to take a shower!
-In Singapore the bus stops are relatively close together.  Get off early here and you'll  be walking a block or two to the next bust stop!  There is a subway being built-I'm looking forward to that!
-So I knew China was the land of the firework/firecracker, but I had no idea how frequently they use them!  We've seen a couple of fourth of July shows already and firecrackers were used hourly during the hungry ghost festival.  Yesterday was the first day of autumn (on the lunar calendar) and there were lion dances/firecrackers galore.  Singapore had all these things in moderation :)
-Because of where we live, the nights are much quieter.  We have no traffic noise, no Hindu temple, and no drunks breaking beer bottles underneath us!
-We stand out here much more than in Singapore.  Singapore has so much diversity.  Plus with three kids of different races, we are considered a "wonder."
-Singapore was often much more convenient.  I remember whining about walking to the store.  What I wouldn't give for my mall next door!  Here it is a 16 minute walk to the closest grocery.
-Singapore had 12 hours of day and night the whole year.  Here in the summer the sun rose at 4:30 am.  Now it is rising around 6 and getting later everyday.  This has helped my kids sleep later!
-Here our school is almost 80% Korean.  In Singapore it was around 25%.
-In Singapore (on staff) the school had three stay at home moms.  Here there are around 20!  It makes for a really nice family oriented environment. 

To sum it up there are things (and PEOPLE) that we desperately miss from Singapore, BUT we are enjoying some of the wonderful, new things here!

To add to this random post... Here's a picture of the golf course by the ocean (on a rainy day) for all you Eilers that want to come golf!

 

 

The joys of an Ayi that can cook!

After we first got here I didn't really feel like we needed an Ayi.  Matt talked me into one day a week.  The Ayi we have has lots of experience cooking for Western families and she is a HARD worker.  She does a lot of different things in one day!

 

 Fresh tortillas anyone?  Notice how perfectly round they are!

 Ana loves to cook and the Ayi is teaching her lots of Chinese.  Here they are making dumplings from scratch!

 It's not uncommon for them to make 100 at a time!

 Ana's job was to fill them and pinch them closed.  She was pretty good by the end!

Here's some finished ones.  You stick them in the freezer and then they can be pulled out and easily used.  They were yummy!!

Our Little Beach

We have a small rocky beach near us.  It's actually pretty interesting just to go and look at the rocks.  There are always people down there catching crabs as well!

On one of Ana's days off she wanted to go "swim."  She had lots of fun playing as the waves are very small and there are lots of things to "collect" like shells, rocks, and seaweed.

I know I put this in the newsletter, but it is just too funny not to post again.  The Chinese people like there kids to play with Ana so they will speak English.  She is never short of a person to converse with!  At least she didn't get sunburned :) 

Views

 This is our slice of the ocean.  This picture is actually showing an algae bloom and the boats out trying to clean it up.  The water in the bay is usually very calm more like a lake than ocean!  We see every kind of boat from tiny sailboats, to amazing yachts, container ships, to fishing boats.  The city has maintained the harbor and the boardwalk very well since the olympics.  It's a very busy place. 

 My favorite sign posted on the boardwalk.  But seriously during the typhoons there were some huge waves that carried away pieces of the boardwalk  We could see people out there watching.

This is the back of our apartment building.  We're on the fifth floor and have an enclosed porch which is great for drying clothes!

 

Here is a view from the top of a nearby hill.

 

I think we are FINALLY going to be able to post again!  Hope to have some pictures up soon.  Today, however, we are going to the beach in a neighboring city with other adoptive families.  It's a little too chilly for my taste, but the kids can still play in the sand!  VAL

So Sorry!

I won't be able to post for a while. I'll try to get caught up later! We are out of our apartment and staying in a friend's place. (It's been really nice because there isn't a lot of dirt AND there's a lovely pool!) We'll literally be getting our visas only a couple of days before leaving due to some misinformation. You can be praying for my stress levels!! Appreciate your prayers!!

What We've Been Doing!

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