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! ;-)

Rickshaw's at HouHai

Last week Shan Dian (Lightnin) and I took a short trip out to HouHai with a new friend (Noash) who was visiting from Brussels. We ate lunch at a Vietnamese resaurant named "Little Siagon", great food! As you can see by this first picture it was sunny, but extremely windy!

After lunch we took a quick tour of the Hutongs which is where we ran into the "Rickshaw Gauntlet". There were hundreds of these things and the drivers swarmed on our taxi like cockroaches trying to get us to come out and take a ride!

After seeing the frightned looks on the faces of the folks that decided to give them a try, we decided we were just fine in the taxi or on foot! ;-)

The Great Wall Revisited

About three weeks ago I got a visit from my director and he wanted to see some of the "real" China, not the standard tourist sites. So I thought it would be a good idea for us to visit The Wall.

We drove to JingShanLing and then climbed the wall to SiMaTai. This is the same 10K route that I took this past spring and it was nice to see how different it was at this time of year. It was also good to see it for a second time from a different perspective after living here for over 7 months.


The beginning of the trail (I think the banner says something to the effect of: "You are about to experience the ultimate "Stairmaster" workout!" ;-)

There are really no flat spots just a massive roller-coaster of stone




The view from here is breathtaking
This is the lake at the end of the trail

I will tell you that even though I had lost 15kg in body weight the wall was still every bit as difficult as it was the first time! We did however complete the route in nearly half the time that it took the first trip, 3hrs 20min compared to 6hrs!

Be Careful What You Ask For

Some of you have complained that you are tired of looking at the tree on that car. You know who you are! So here's a new blog minus photos...I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have wanted photos for this story!

Thunder and I just got back from the emergency room, and no it wasn't for me!!!! While Thunder was home a few weeks ago he had a cebascious cyst removed from his back. (Too much info so far?) Well he wasn't exactly the ideal patient. He was back on his motorcycle the very next day. So here we are three weeks later in Beijing and yep, he woke up this morning and knew he had to go to SOS the medical services for us here. No waiting lines, no forms to fill out and within an hour we had ten new stitches and were back on our way home! It was pretty interesting to have this new experience.

The other new thing that we tried was here in David's building. They have a complimentary breakfast that was really quite good. We had bacon, eggs, rice, some awesome pickles and peach juice. I added some sprite to this juice and David now thinks that a little rum was needed in it.

So I have to go take care of my patient now and trust me he is going to behave himself this time around! He will be working from home this week so that he doesn't have to carry his backpack and so we will have some extra time together. I'll let you know how that works for us later.

Thunder Gone = World Coming To An End?

Lightnin here-

Just thought I'd tell my side of the past 6 months without Thunder....(not that any of you asked),

here goes:

Blizzard:

Thunder left Cincinnati somewhere around the 3rd of March of this year. Within 5 days we had a blizzard!!! I now have to shovel snow myself (Hey I had to do this last year too, remember the surgery?!) and then try to find someone who will keep it shoveled. I'm a Princess and we don't do this type of thing, remember? Meanwhile, Thunder is posting the first of many sunset photos.

Flood:

Okay, first encounter with Mother Nature alone...not so bad. I can do this! Sure I can!....9 days later it starts raining and melting all that snow! Yep! You guessed it....Floods! I had to leave work to go home to get clothing, feed the cat and get outta there! Couldn't get back to my house that day! Thanks God for STEB and Taco's hospitality, I have a safe, dry and warm place to stay.

Earthquake:

By April we are all missing Thunder and following his blogs feeling sorry for him "searching for a cheeseburger in Beijing", I'm getting ready to make my first trip over, when "WTFH?" a 5.2 earthquake? In Cincinnati? Sure thing, the morning I leave.

Hurricane:

Well, for some time now I've worried about our land in Florida with all of the hurricanes. Yep, you guessed it! Ike entered my life on Sunday afternoon around 1:00 PM and I am still without power at this moment on Tuesday afternoon! This is a little too creepy for me. But I have also learned to be more prepared in the future! Again, STEB and Taco gave me a place to stay since their power came back on late Monday afternoon. There were over 900,000 homes in Cincinnati without power on Sunday and as of today there are still over 500,000 still in the dark. I'm not expecting power back until later this week. But everyone is working together to make this as painless as possible. I'm going to say a prayer and just hope that fire and tornadoes don't get us in the next 6 months!

That just about covers all of the natural disasters doesn't it? Thunder, you need to get back here if you expect things to ever be the same!!!

Here are a few pictures from Sunday.

Yes, a Sunset Post Again!

This one is a bit different though. I posted a week or two ago with sunset and night time photos, but this time I'm talking about the movement of the sun.

Summer is obviously over here because the sun is now rising later and setting earlier. If you notice the position of the sun ion these photos, compared to my last post on the subject, you'll notice that the sun has moved significantly southward (to the left in my photos) because it is no longer setting behind the building just to the right of the sun.

You'll likely see more of these posts as I track the sun this fall and winter to find out where it's southern most point is!





Vivid colors


























Zoomed in

Reflection on one of the surrounding buildings

























Almost gone


At this point you can actually see it move right before your eyes!















Hey this next Monday morning I may be able to capture the sun rise!

Holiday Coming Up On Monday

I mentioned that we have a holiday coming up on Monday, but I didn't tell you what it is.


Monday we celebrate the Mooncake or Mid-Autumn Festival. It actually falls on Sunday this year, but the company s giving us Monday off. Yippee!

I'm not just excited about getting a three day weekend, although that is reason enough to celebrate, but I'm also excited because it's a Monday off during football season! You see with the time difference we're 12 hours ahead of the US right now and so to see a Sunday afternoon game you have to watch it in the wee hours of Monday morning. So Monday morning at about 1:00AM I am going to be at the Goose and Duck watching Football at the same time you guy's will be tuning in! This Monday I'm not going to be watching just any game though because my beloved Chief's are playing the Oakland Raiders and I'm going to get to watch!

OK enough about that, let's get back to the holiday! To quote the information provided by my apartment's management team: The Mooncake Festival falls on the 14th day of the 8th month of the lunar calendar and according to Chinese tradition, the moon's fullness and brightness on this occasion is symbolic of an ideal time to celebrate the abundance of the summer harvest
(Hmmm, sounds a bit like Oktoberfest to me!)
To continue: There are many legends surrounding the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival, most of them revolve around the "Lady of the moon" whom the Chinese refer to as Chang Er.
One such legend tells of how she was married to her lover Hou Yi who shot nine out of ten suns that were causing havoc. For his deed the Queen Mother of the West gave him the elixir of life (isn't that tequila?), but Chang Er stole her husband's potion of immortality, drank it and found herself floating to the moon (yep sounds like tequila to me!). There she lives out her days in the lonely moon palace with her furry rabbit for a companion. Because of this legend it is common to see images of Chang Er and her rabbit stamped on Mooncake boxes.





The management team here also provided a nice little gift!

A box of Mooncakes

























Here's one of them, packaged to last for decades much like a Twinkie, but I'll have to wait until Sunday to eat one and tell you what they're like!











Happy Mooncake Festival everyone!