Thanksgiving Dinner in Beijing

Tonight we celebrated Thanksgiving with some of our other expatriated friends. It was a real feast with everyone chipping in with at least one dish that reminded them of home, and or a bottle of their favorite wine(or beer). ;-)
If you read Lightnin's post from the other day then you know what we brought with us!

The preperation


The spread


The people




It was a fun evening full of fun conversation, good people, good food and drink! It wasn't home, but it was as good as you can get without being there!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We just wanted to take a minute to thank all of you who read this blog from time to time!

We hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Much love,
Thunder and Lightnin


PS we'll be celegrating about 13 hours before most of you will!
Na na na na, Na na! ;-)

Preparing for Thanksgiving in the "Jing"

Yes we are celebrating Thanksgiving in Beijing, even though "the Pilgrams and the Indians, got nothin' to do with the Chinese". We are spending Thanksgiving with 19 of our new friends or "expats" as they are called here. We are having Turkey, mac-n-cheese, mashed potatoes, roast beef stuffed with dressing and who knows what else? Our contribution is calico beans with smoked sausage, corn bread, and Thunders famous sweet potato pie. Herein lies the problem. #1) We buy already made pie crust at Kroger's, #2) we don't have our recipe with us, #3) no ground Ginger and #4) What's sweet Potato pie with out Cool Whip! Good Luck!!! So a friend came over today and she and I went shopping to get what we could! Oh what fun! Hey, I did find what I think is similar to Reddi-whip! We'll know on Thursday. Got on my trusty computer and found a recipe for pie crust! I am so sure my poor deceased Grandma was watching and saying "What is that girl doing? That will never turn into a pie crust".


Oh, I failed to mention that we also couldn't find pie plates....Trusty Expat friends had just what I needed! So, we made pie crust and Thunder made sweet potato pie. Will let you know how this turns out. It smells good and looks like ours! So enjoy a few pictures of our amazing Thanksgiving experience here in the Jing!

Mission Accomplished!!!

Just a quick note for those of you that have been following....Thunder came through, with the help of his new friends, he completed the mission! He got the mother load tonight! STEB, I hope you are as stoked as we are!?!

Kobe, Japan From 30 Floors Up , and at Ground Level

As Lightnin let you know this week we're in Kobe, Japan because I'm on a business trip here, but I thought I'd at least share some photos that I was able to take while I was on a break and also after work!

This first set is from the meeting room, we're on the 30th floor of the Kobe Technical Center. What an awesome view! I don't think I'd get much work done if this was my office! ;-)





Lightnin wasn't feeling good after being exposed to some paint fumes during a shopping excursion earlier in the day, and I think also feeling a bit more culture shocked after just getting used to Beijing, China and then I drag her off to Japan. So I headed out to dinner on my own (It's my fault and I'll try to make it up to her)!

This next set of photos is of an awesome car that I saw on my way to dinner tonight(yes it's a Lotus). The owner was nice enough to let me grab a few shots before he headed home after a long day at work. Unfortunately I wasn't able to get his name, but he knew about my car and we had a good quick discussion on the comparison of the two vehicles(It's a guy thing!).




I went to dinner at a Spanish restaurant (yep, that's right) and then spotted a local place that I decided to stop at for a Sake and a beer. With the help of a few friendly locals (me being linguistically challenged) I think I figured out how to pay Lightnin back (of course I don't know how I'll ever be able to pay my new friends back, and being an idiot I didn't even get their names either, but they know who they are and hopefully they'll respond to this blog!) Doumo Origato!!!! (I hope I spelled that correctly!)

That's all I've got for now.

Kobe, Japan

Lightnin here....well we made it and it was an awesome trip! The airline we flew had a "dash cam" of sorts! Ever wondered what it looks like from the cockpit on a 767 during takeoff or landing? Well, we know now! All of the drop down TV screens played both the takeoff and the landing! It was really cool.

We landed in a place calle Kansai. Which to Thunder and I must surely translate in Japanese to "We're not in Kansas anymore". We took a shuttle ride, loooong shuttle ride to Rukko Island in Kobe. It was about a 55 minute ride on what we think must be the worlds longest bridge/overpass! When we finely arrived there was a sharp curve and the wall looked like it had been hit more times than the walls of Talledaga!

I went out for awhile to look for the best Bourbon in the world, but without success. I hope to have Thunder go with me one afternoon after he is finished with his classes, but so far it looks like I'll have to buy it here at the hotel. I will keep you posted for this has been my mission for two years. This particular bourbon is brewed in Kentucky but you can only purchase it here in Japan, as it is owned by a Japanese company. Wish me luck!

Time Out

For those of you who keep checking in to see if there are any new post, I'm going to try! We leave tomorrow for Kobe, Japan for a week.

Not making any promises, but I will try to post and maybe with some good luck even some pictures. If this doesn't work Thunder will have to catch ya'll up later next week.

Sayonara,
Lightnin

A Day At The Great Wall With The Boys

Friday we headed out about 9:30 am for the almost 2 hour ride to the Great Wall. We dropped the boys off at the beginning and we headed to the end.

Lightnin and I had a bit of lunch before we made our way up to the ending point. We figured it would take the kids about three hours since the last time I made the trek it took 3 hours and 20 minutes. Lightnin looked up and said "no way is my titanium leg gonna make this!" But I urged her on and we made it. It was now that I allowed myself one of the cold Tiger beers that I had packed.


Having walked the wall from Jinshanling to Simatai (10 K) twice, I felt it was okay to sit and wait for the kids this time.




To our amazement they showed up after a mere 2 hours and 15 minutes! As a reward for their efforts they took the zip line down instead of walking.

How Lay-Back is Your Boss?

These past 8 months I've had the pleasure of having one of the most laid-back bosses in my career! Despite her youth, she has been a constant source of insight, inspiration, and knowledge, but she also knows when the work day is over.

Several of our friends went to lunch with us and then to a place called the Pavillion. Outdoor seating on couches, margritas, beers and snacks. A great afternoon in Beijing amongst friends.


A few days later I went to her place to teach her how to ride her new electric bike! Too much fun....and we wish her luck going to Kroger on it once she gets back to Cincinnati!


All I can say is that my new boss has some big shoes to fill! ;-)