A Thorn Among Roses

Here's a pic of HK Central from Kowloon District across the Harbour:

Here's a useful thing to note when in China: The exit symbol. (Since we're guessing there's no such thing as a fire code here...although the building we are in does have a sprinkler system...not that the controls for it are hooked up.) The symbol can be explained in this way: A dude or with his hands up in the air (or on fire) running and looking for the hole to jump out through. It's also a nice commentary on my feeling after being over here for almost 4 days. We got to experience Asia in all its crowded joyfulness today when we ventured about five blocks from the "western area" we've been safely containing ourselves in. It was straight out of a market scene in "Good Morning Vietnam". Picture a crowded screet, under a canopy of trees, with fresh fruit vendors, cigarette vendors, people shooting hoops (almost got you with the 'shooting' word didn't I?), people on bicycles, clothes hanging on clothes lines across apartment windows...

Just when you think things are going a little more normal...you look at your work computer and see that some one, who shall remain nameless, who is under 2 years old, decided that she was hungry (shocker for those of you that have seen her eat). Instead of looking for some cookies or graham crackers, sure, feast on your favorite number and favorite letter. 3 and Z...I presume that this will be her fav's when she's older. For now, I'll wait to see if they "pass" through...how gross is that? Thought you all may get a laugh out of my pathetic evening...and pray I find the keys...not in the poo either!!! D

Since my hunka hubby gets to post all kinds of interesting things, I thought I would give you a little view of what's gone on this week from home with Ryan in China...It's all very interesting and I"m sure you will be jealous: This is one of many piles of laundry I have done...this is the last of them to fold. The little ones are doing a fine job of helping out by unfolding, but at least they are helping. Paige is trying to learn laundry skills...but there seems to always be something going on when things need done. Hmmmm...teenager approaching! Well...this is me...sad and missing my hubby! And when it comes to disciplining solo, along with everything else, this is all too often what I have looked like at the end of the day. Actually, now that I look at it, it scares me! Okay...this is not very exciting to the normal person, but to those of my anal rententive comrades, this will be nice. I completely reorganized the pantry...and it looks so nice. Once the kids get ah...

Well...I've been in China for over a day now, and last night was definately the crash that everyone predicted. There's no way to get around the fact that you are exactly 12 hours out of whack with what your body expects. But it's nothing that 9 hours of sleep won't cure. So...these are some pics from yesterday. This is the view from outside our office window. This isn't by any means the main part of Shenzhen, and there are plenty of large buildings everywhere. Shenzhen is a thriving city with lots of construction still going on everywhere. The main roads all have a bike road on both sides. There is definately a lot of biking that goes on. Although the bikes all look like they are from 1950. And, there is no trumpet playing along the roads either. There is a large expatriate place nearby where everybody goes to eat. It's called Sea World, (no, not that Sea World). It had a McDonalds, of course, and a Starbucks that looked inside just like it came out of ...

9/26/2006 12:30 (am in China, pm in Indy) Greetings from China! My trip here was uneventful (thankfully). I wasn't going to blog about it, since it's a business trip, but I figure I'll take lots of pics; so I'll post those here instead of emailing them around everywhere, and you can look when you want to... I started (of course) with a good old American meal made by D the night before...steak and corn and zuccinni and a toast of wine (which I suppose sounds kind of French). I say "of course", but it was D's idea to cook that meal for me, and it was good. Unfortunately, my fingers got caught up in the toast. Very painful. We rode on a 747 (huge). The meals were acceptable. There was Starbucks coffee onboard, which makes the food rating go way higher. For proof, I included a picture, cause I know you Starbucks drinkers won't believe me. My girls would have been excited, because there was good fruit. The bread was rye, which everybody hates, I don...