Venice of the East

We celebrated our three year wedding anniversary walking the 

streets of the so-called "Venice of China". Lucky for us our anciently 

restored hotel from the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) was at the heart of 

all the action on Pingjiang Street in Suzhou, China.

The weather was warmer than it's been in months but we 

stayed hydrated as we walked up and down the streets. 

When we got too hot we jumped on a bicycle rickshaw to 

bring us a few kilometers away. While perusing the streets we found 

 leather bracelets for a traditional 3 year anniversary gift of 

leather and discovered one of our new favorite foods, xiao long bao zi, 

a steamy soup dumpling with a tasty pork meatball in the center. 

This whole experience living, teaching, and traveling in China has

 been just one giant celebration of our life together and enjoying this 

time when it is just the two of us. I'm sure Andrew would agree that
this time away in China has only made our marriage stronger.

This experience will be something we can look back on and be grateful
that we took advantage of for many years to come.

Happy three year anniversary, Andrew. I love you.



 


First Day with Family

Andrew and Hannah's brother and sister, Isaac and Rebekah, arrived safely in 

Shanghai Friday night to come and join us traveling for two weeks across China. 

Our first day with everyone together in Shanghai we saw all the typical things in China and did some shopping. 

This is just going to be a quick post with photos. 

We took a plane yesterday to Yangshuo, China and it's our first morning here. 

We will be leaving soon to go out into the mountains. 

I'll try to continue to upload along our trip when I have time. Thanks!

The 4 siblings all together in China!

The streets are lined with Chinese New Year decorations.

We went to the top of the Shanghai World Financial Center which is the 2nd tallest building in the world and the tallest in mainland China. We were able to get the most amazing view of the city. It was scary at times walking up there because they had some tiles on the ground that you could see through all the way down to the road below. 

They had a Chinese New Year Bell you could ring for a small fee and hand your written wish around  it.
Wayne  decided it was worth it!

I found this little gem that someone wished for.
 "My friends will find the happiness of Eternal Families."

 SHOPPING AT THE YUYUAN BAZAAR

SNAKES WERE HUNG EVERYWHERE IN 

CELEBRATION OF THE UPCOMING 'YEAR OF THE SNAKE'

THIS PICTURE IS FOR YOU, MOMMA OLSON, THEY HAD A STORE NAMED AFTER YOU!

My Birthday Suit

I am now a quarter of a century years old. The big TWO.FIVE.

If you read my last post about all the early birthday surprises that I enjoyed then you know that I won a whopping $1000 RMB ($160 USD) at my employee dinner Friday night. Naturally, I decided to spend a little of that to treat myself to some birthday presents.

I told Andrew that all I wanted for my birthday was for him to go shopping with me, not complain, and let me talk to him about the things I was trying to decide on buying (every girls dream, right?). Just like any girl friend of mine would do with me back in the states. I also didn't want to have to choose where we ate because he always says he doesn't care where we eat and it defaults back to me. He delivered on both fronts and it was a fabulous birthday filled with cute clothes and yummy food at Papa John's Pizza (it's like a toned down Olive Garden here and much more tasty if you ask me).

We enjoyed a little of everything because it was my birthday and we decided to live it up! We ordered a supreme and parmesan chicken pizza, pesto pasta, and a slice of blueberry cheesecake. We ended up taking an entire pizza of leftovers home with us and I may or may not be going to eat a cold slice after this post.







I am a bargain shopper through and through. There is just something about finding a good deal that excites me! I'm sure there are quite a few ladies out there that can relate. Shopping in my city can be frustrating because everyone is really wealthy here and the prices are so high that I rarely give in and buy anything. I make most of my purchases online from the Chinese ebay. It's just not the same as looking through racks of clothes, getting to try things on, and letting something catch your eye from across the store. *sigh* I love shopping. Surprisingly enough I was able to find some great deals with some of my birthday money and thought you might be interested in seeing how much things cost in my neck of the woods. Even though the majority of these things were marked down it's how much they should cost when they aren't being overpriced because the general population is loaded. In other words, they're normal Chinese prices. I was able to find all the perfect pieces for a sassy new "birthday suit".

1. Royal blue purse- $12.86 USD

2. Two pairs of skinny jeans- $11.25 USD each

3. Cream wedges- $6.43 USD

4. Pair of earrings and necklace- $5.47 USD 

(this is the rich people price, no sale on jewelry)

5. Black sweater and inifinity scarf combo- $4.82 USD

6. Two royal blue hair bows- $1.29 USD total

7. Black blazer- $6.43 USD

TOTAL- $48.55 USD

Under fifty bucks, amazing! I love China!

HAPPY 25th BIRTHDAY TO ME! 

It was simply perfect and I will never forget turning 25 in China.