Noodle And The Goose

Florida frolics

We've been staying with my sister and brother-in-law in Florida and having a great time. Nieces from the North were able to be here for Thanksgiving and a few days following. What have we been doing?

Preparing and eating Thanksgiving dinner~

Baba, being one of the few carnivores in the house, was assigned turkey duty~

 Surely it was supposed to fall apart like this before we ate it~

There has been much playing~

 

Crafting~

String tricks learned~

Several trips to the park (and one to the beach that I missed - send photos!)

 

Eating and reading like crazy~

 
 Baba organized a yard sale~

And much cash was secured~

We went mini-golfing with the gators~

Team "Not-Cool Kids"~

Team "Cool Kids"~

And then, sadly, Mimi and Bex had to go back home ~

More to come!

Birthday O' the Noodle

Noodle turned 8. Having her birthday in Florida with her cousins, aunt and uncle was her fondest wish. Happy Birthday sweet, silly Noodle! May all your fondest wishes always come true. 

 
  
  

27 Months

That is how long we've been away from the US. And back for a week. We're almost all on the proper day/night schedule - Baba is still waking up really early. I've been underwear shopping at Target and yarn shopping - Oh. My. Goddess. The. Yarn. We've been soaking in the presence of family. Hearing the girls lost in giggles with their cousins was worth all the stress of getting here. It is all pretty surreal. Being here. And here are a few of my early observations about America.

1. Americans are big. Not necessarily fat - though that too - just BIG. Tall. Wide. Robust. I no longer feel like the Incredible Hulk lumbering about, knocking things off store shelves, crashing into people. I'm just normal sized here. 

2. Americans are so white. Yeah, I know there are many people of many colors here too, but the white people? They are freaking everywhere. Yesterday we were eating out and I flashed back to being the only white person at McDonalds a few months ago. This time it was my girls who were 'the only'. And I remembered anew why living in Asia is a good thing for them. 

3. The consumer choices at an average airport news shop are immoblizing and dazzling. Whole Foods nearly did me in. Though I had to chuckle at the $3.79 single serving container of coconut water for sale. $3.79. For the water found inside a green coconut. Oh America!

4. Do you Americans realize how incredibly lucky you are? You can drink the water that comes out of your taps. You have free public parks with playground equipment on soft, safe surfaces. You have orderly traffic. You have breathable air. You have freedom of speech. Which is used for lots of complaining. And I know there are issues and problems. Health care, for example. But really. We are so lucky.

Beijing Photos 3

Humanness is slowly returning to the jet-lagged travelers. Meanwhile, the rest of Beijing. 

Pre-Breakfast game of "Chest".

Off to the Great Wall. The steps begin. 

And go on.

And on.

But the view is nice.

Finally at the "top".

Playing on the Great Wall.

Yeah, I climbed the Wall in my Crocs and Socks. Totally uncool. Totally unfashionable. But the other shoes I found to fit me in Jogja? Totally uncomfortable. So be it. 

Awesome.

To go down the steps or down the chute? That is the question.

And the answer is obvious.
 

Flying down the mountain behind the Panda.

Back to the Hostel, through the blanket door.

Views of the Hostel, a place I'd highly recommend if you're looking for interesting and inexpensive digs in the city.

Heading for the Lama Temple. 

 Lama Temple. Tibetan Buddhism 

Throwing a coin for good luck. She later suggested that the good luck she scored was being the only person in our family with a confirmed flight from Seattle to Tampa. "Maybe," she counseled, "if you had gotten a coin in the fountain, you would have had a reservation too."

Lunching on Sichuanese foods.


It looks innocuous enough, but the pepper ash in this Kung Pao Chicken numbed the lips and was too hot even for Baba. Wow.

Much safer to stick to the Jiaozi. In large quantities. 
 

Back to the Hostel to pack up for leaving. 

Good-bye to Beijing. 

Hope to be back soon.

Beijing Photos 2

After an unplanned stay in Seattle, we've finally made it to my sister's house in Florida. SO glad to be here but in the teeth of major jet lag. What day is it? What time is it? Who knows, just pass the bacon. 

More Beijing photos. Day 2. The Forbidden City, the day after Obama visited.

Ready to go. Peace signs don't work so well with (Mama-made) mittens.

Pre-breakfast pool game.

Can't get enough of these puffy girls.

More new hats. Two Beijing Guards and a Panda. 

All I actually saw of the Emperor's Throne. 

Goose checks the Lonely Planet for close by Dumpling Shops.

Those are some good Jiaozi!

At the Acrobatic Show. 

They woke up for this. Pretty cool stuff. 

More to come!

Beijing Photos 1

Being photos of famous and not so famous places with us in them.

TianJin Airport, putting on the layers.

Bussing it to Beijing - next time, take the Bullet Train.

Checking out and checking into our hostel.

 

Snow in the courtyard!

Warmth and games in the common room.

Off to the subway.

Tien'amen decked out for our visit (or maybe for someone else's? Hard to say!)

Looking for the painting of 'The Father', who Goose will tell you is "dead but not a ghost"

Yeah, we were freezing, but how much colder must this happy couple have been? 

Across the road is Tien'amen Square.

And here we are in the Square.

New hats for everyone. 

My beautiful daughters.

My crazy family.

Dining at the traditional Chinese Burger King. Hey, we don't have them in Indonesia. 

The onion rings were exquisite.

And look what we found in our hostel room when we returned!

We called her Xiao Stella and may have fed her just a little bit.

Baba disappears beneath the down comforters. 

More to come....

So the great wall was, well, GREAT. We visited a section that is 'less touristy' i.e. not the section featured on Big Bird in China. The steps? Oh, there were many,many,many steps. And the wall itself? Steep and stumbly. But the day was sunny - I'd forgotten how beautiful the winter sun is - and out of the wind, really lovely. We hiked up and down the wall and then, slid down to the parking area on a toboggan chute. Fun, fun, fun.



Our evening with the MCC folks was also fun. There were kids for our kids to play with, good food and excellent conversations. Plans for future visits and,perhaps, stays in this country were discussed. Maybe, maybe,maybe.



We're attempting to sneak in one more temple visit (oh the girls are SO jazzed to see another temple!) before heading to the Airport for our late afternoon flight to Seattle. Then we have hop, skips and jumps to Florida, where we're hoping it will be warmer than here, but cooler than Jogja. Plus my sister has promised bagels and cream cheese. THAT will keep me going through the next 24, as we make our way "here".

We made it to the Forbidden City yesterday but between managing meltdowns, fending off people fawning over the girls and simply the hugeness of the place, that's all we did. But wow! Its a very impressive place. Great for playing hide and seek, we think. And not nearly as crowded as we had worried.



Our girls seem to be the tourist attraction of the day. No simple blending in for the beautiful short ones with the white big ones. Noodle *really* dislikes this - people stopping to pinch her cheeks and speak in Chinese to her. We finally bought her a hat to cover her face, but still the crowds gathered. Goose, after some initial terror about the people, has begun to eat up the attention. She will be featured prominently in many a vacationer's photos.



I *really* wish I or Baba remembered more Mandarin to negotiate life here. Whatever we knew has been replaced by Indonesian. And yup, we're speaking Indonesian and English almost equally as often. Not terribly helpful!



We were able - with much pointing and trying to match characters from our Lonely Planet book to the signs on stores, to find a great dumpling place for lunch. Many many dumplings were consumed.



Last evening we went to a Chinese Acrobat Show. Pretty awesome. Got us out into another section of Beijing for one. Also. We thought the Indonesians were talented when they put 4 people on a bicycle. Heh. Twelve women on one bicycle riding in fast circles around a stage. Goose turned to me at that point and said, "Mama this is AMAZING!!".



It continues to be frigidly cold here. Nonetheless we're off to the Great Wall today.



I'm feeling sad that our time here is so short - because of the airlines canceling our flight on Monday we have to leave tomorrow. BUT on the other hand this might be a good introduction to China for the girls, especially Noodle who is fiercely ambivalent right now about all things Chinese and all things adoption.



Tonight we have dinner with the folks from our NGO here and float ideas about our coming to live here in the next few years. We'll be back. Perhaps even when it is a bit warmer.

Um. Seems I can post but can't read.

Can anyone else? Email me. Gmail isn't blocked.

Facebook is.

We're freezing our tooshies off in Beijing. Minus 5 C on landing. We've already worn all our clothing. Noodle hasn't been so layered since the day we met her. Yesterday Tian'amen Square, decked out in Chinese and American flags just for us (or maybe for that other visiting dignitary, hard to say). Fun, fun, fun, but cold, cold, cold. Our hostel is back in a traditional Hutang - neighborhood - in a Ming dynasty courtyard house. Very funky and very cool. But authentic. You know. Without heat. We slept under 3 down comforters each. Today, the Forbidden City and Temple of Heaven and maybe the Lama Temple, if we can make it. Girls are being troopers. Gotta go, my BACON has arrived for breakfast.



We are SO not in Indonesia anymore.