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.