Mothers' Day Week

Here are a few pictures from the past weekend, which included mothers' day. First is a picture of Etain during a recent dinner. We had black rice, which turns purple when it is cooked. We also had chicken breasts, on which we decided to put boysenberry jam, which also turned purple. I guess Etain thought it was so colorful that she decided to wear most of it instead of eating it.

On mothers' day we went to lunch and then hung out at a small park-like area near our old house. Here are Dan and Etain hanging out in the shade.

Here are Evelyn and I playing soccer in the sun. The park is in the middle of the animation district, where there are a handful of schools and shops designated solely to cartoon making.

Here (for some reason sideways) is a shot of the mothers' day brunch that we went to. We decided to go to a restaurant that we had not been to in a long time. It was just Jane and I and the kids, and the food kept coming and coming; we received much more than we were expecting. The meal included cucumbers with dipping sauce, pork with green peppers and onions, chicken and peanut with mixed vegetables, eggplant, a very tasty Chinese spinach, rice and watermelon for dessert. We were completely stuffed; the meal cost about $14.

Here is Evelyn sniffing Jane's mothers' day flowers...

On Thursday we went out with a couple of guys that we met a few weeks prior. They are from Wales, and they are a lot of fun. We went out for all you can eat sushi, and then to a few bars to follow. Here is a very late night picture of a late night sidewalk eatery, where people grill noodles and stir-fry rice on rolling carts. They are only there from 10:00 p.m. - 4:00 a.m. In the morning the place is cleaned up and empty. It is a nice and cheap meal after any late nights out.

Here are Andrew and Ryan, the two guys from Wales, at all you can eat sushi. They are in China for 6 months, and they live in a hotel (we met them at the hotel bar one night). They told us that basically all they do is go to work, go to the hotel, eat and drink and go to bed. They are fun to hang around with, so we took it upon ourselves to show them some of the non-hotel/touristy places, which they appreciate.

Well, there you have it from the past week. I think tomorrow we are going to plan an impromptu trip to Suzhou, so we will be sure to take plenty of pictures. We look forward to seeing most of you in about 6-7 weeks. Zaijian.

Mothers' Day

Happy Mothers' Day to all of the O'Tooles in China mother-readers...

With a trip back to the States just two months away, we are starting to have cravings for some food that you can not get in China. One such type that is not available to us is Mexican food. When we get home, the first thing I want to do is go to Sams and buy a 1 gallon jar of nacho cheese, eating it with a spoon during the rest of the ride home. That truly sounds amazing to me right now.

In a completely unrelated note, here are the three kids petting a neighboring dog that they love so much.

The Past Weekend

Here are some pictures from the past weekend. Last Thursday, Jane and I went to dinner (with the kids) to her friend Shuying's house. It was a very nice meal that consisted of about 15 dishes. When the kids started to get restless, we headed home but realized that we still wanted to go out. We therefore called Jiu Jie, called Shuying back up, and we went out with her and her husband. First we went to an outdoor bar, which is pictured below. It basically consists of about 12 tables in a park, with a small stand that sells large bottles of beer. They also grill food, though we did not partake that night.

After the outdoor bar, we headed across the street to a dance club called the MT Bar. It is the very popular bar to go to right now in Changzhou. Above is a shot of Jane (and Shuying) hanging out with a group of people that we met (as usual, they invited us to their table where they gave us plenty of drinks, and we ended up not having to pay for it, which is a good thing, since the drinks are quite expensive). At this bar, everyone smokes. You are constantly offered cigarettes. You can tell this by the fogginess of the picture. Here is another shot of the bar. This, believe it or not, was a slower night, as opposed to a Friday or Saturday.

On Saturday, we headed over to the park near our house, which is called Central Park. We wanted to let the kids do something fun, so we let the girls run around the large playground for as long as they liked (despite the fact that it was quite crowded). Dan also wanted to do the inflatable spinning tube on the lake, which he really enjoyed (and was quite good at). The part that Dan really enjoyed, though, was when Jane got in it with him. She could get up enough speed to really get it moving and send him flying. Here they are spinning around...

And here is a picture of the crowd that was created to see the two faguoren [pronounced FAH-gwo-ren] (foreigners).

Here is picture of Jane and the kids admiring the flowers at Central Park. The flowers and landscaping are actually really nice, and this picture does not do it justice. This picture also has an interesting point that I did not know about until after it was taken. If you look way in the background, there is a person sitting on the ledge of the building (just above Jane). As we headed in that direction, we discovered that it was a distraught woman, who assumedly was thinking about jumping off of the four story building. We got close enough to see that she was crying very hard, but we did not stick around long enough to see any more (we certainly didn't want the kids to see if it ended badly). However, plenty of others hung around, and it was a day as usual in the park. We did see a group of firefighters watching her from the sidewalk, but they did not do anything special to keep people out from under her or away from her on the ledge. {When we walked back around the park to go home about an hour later, I did not see the woman on the ledge, and there did not appear to have been any problems, so I will assume that she came off of the ledge and was OK}.

Here is a shot of the kids and I flying a kite on the boardwalk in the park (you can see the raised boardwalk in the picture above, as well). The odd looking building just above my right shoulder is a Starbucks. Our apartment complex is across the street from that Starbucks, about two blocks up.

The kids are getting quite good at using kuidza [kwaid-zuh] (chopsticks). Here is Evelyn digging out a large piece of tofu from her bowl (Jiu Jie makes tofu at least twice a week. The kids love it; I cannot stand it). Here is Dan using his chopsticks as well. Etain actually understands what chopsticks are for, but she much prefers to throw them instead of eating with them.

Sunday's weather was very nice as well. We went for a long walk to the store when we woke up, and we headed down for a family nap after lunch. When we woke up, we played right outside our apartment building in the grassy area that they have there (this may or may not be allowed; no one else ever does it). Here are some shots of the kids playing ball there.

Etain is inheriting Evelyn's shoe fancy, and they are constantly fighting with each other as to who get to wear which pair.

Dan and I kicking around the ball. There is a group of Thai students that used to challenge the teachers in a weekly soccer match, though it has yet to take place. It would be fun to play a bit while I am here.

I showed this picture last week to show how much we needed a second 'bathtub' for the girls. As a result, here is how they bathed beforehand...

...and afterwards.