The price of rice in China

Not that this has anything to do with anything but we thought you might be wondering. The price of rice in China is 1.19 yuan (Chinese currency) per 500 grams. Almost 15 cents for half a kilogram (that's a good size scoop for those of you who are metric clueless like me). Subject to much fluxuation depending on store, brand, color, aisle, time of year, time of day and the dow. Now you know.

Happy Birthday!!

In the interest of global celebration we wanted to introduce you to our friend John. His birthday was Saturday, October 14th. Thought you might want to celebrate with him. Happy birthday John!












Rachel showing John that you can't really have a birthday without covering your face in chocolate icing!

Peacocks, Hula-hoops and Bears, Oh My!

Jerry and Rachel regularly take a day out together that has fondly become "Daddy Daughter Date Day" when, I think in reality it should be called "Mommy- gets- a- break- and- some- quiet- at- home- by- herself Day" But the prior sounds so much nicer, and they always seem to find some great thing to do that makes these days a much anticipated day for all of us, and this week was no exception and possibly the best find so far!





They headed to the park for a little picnic lunch in hopes of finding an actual play area at the park and lo and behold what did they find but a Russian Circus! Here are just a few pictures of their unexpected adventure!

A few more pictures for your pleasure . . .

Here's a link to a web-album with a hundred or so of the zillion pictures taken of the birthday festivities for those longing grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and other Rachel fans. Enjoy!

http://picasaweb.google.com/jonesesinchina/RachelSBirthday

The Big Birthday Weekend

Several years ago, being the "love language of gifts" person that I am, I declared that one day to celebrate a birthday was simply ridiculous . . . so in this family we often celebrate on the "eve" and "post" birthday days . . . So, the adventures began with family night on Friday night: pizza, popcorn and a birthday surprise . . . homemade ice cream in a ziploc bag!



And Saturday was the BIG DAY . . . when she woke up, Rachel found her very own Disney Princess bike waiting for her in the kitchen. She was thrilled and we could barely get her off of it to eat her birthday breakfast blueberry muffins (that would totally sound better if they were blueberry buffins)! Since it was rainy out, she rode and rode that bicycle around the six foot open space in our kitchen/dining area for hours! (until we got smart and took her out into the hallway! Oh, yeah, that's right, look out einstein the Joneses are in the house!)

We spent the rest of the day playing and relaxing and getting ready for the much anticipated visit from the Nuk Fairy . . . we have been talking about this day for months . . . the day when Rachel turns three and we wrap up all her nuk's nice and pretty and she leaves them for the Nuk Fairy to come and get them in the night so that the Nuk Fairy can take them and give them to little babies who don't have Nuk's of their own . . . And of course, for the sadness of the parting, the gracious Nuk Fairy leaves a wonderful gift for the charitable Nuk giver . . . Ahh.... I love it when a plan comes together!

And then Sunday . . . the party!!!!

We played "Pin Backpack on Dora" which was a first for everyone, especially for our Chinese friends . . . but they loved the silliness of being blindfolded and spun around...




. . . balloons who had the best intentions of becoming grand images of animals of all varieties quickly became swords for waging "balloon war" and beautiful accessories to graceful dance moves . . .






The menu was as follows: Boot's Bouncy Banana Bread, Fiesta Fruit Kabobs, Boot's Banana and Apple Dip, Dora's Sassy Chips and Salsa . . . And Rachel's most anticipated and exciting part of the day . . . BIRTHDAY CAKE!!! For this she danced and jumped up and down ... and with a giddy voice sang her very own "Birthday cake song" . . . and after blowing out the candles she, taking no chances someone else might ask first and she may be asked to share, quickly apprehended the two much sought after cherries from atop the cake. Oh the craftiness of a three year old's reasoning!

. . . and then, finally, after three long weeks of helping, explaining and waiting and waiting, explaining and helping, the time finally came to bust open the candy and prize-filled pinata!!! Again, a new experience for all the girls, but once they got the hang of it (and found out that they could hit this thing with a stick and not get in trouble) they had a blast!

. . . and as the day came to a very tiring end, with all children properly sugared and wound, everyone departed to their own homes . . . and the sun set quite beautifully on the post-birthday day of one very happy, very tired, three-year-old.

Comforts of Home: Priceless

12 cup Coffee Pot: 480 rmb (approximately $60 US)

8.8 oz Illy Coffee: 98 rmb (approximately $12 US)

6 cute random black and white coffee mugs: 12 rmb (approximately $1.50 US)

The calming effect of coffee every morning: PRICELESS

SCHOOL DAYS, SCHOOL DAYS

Class has begun. My students are wonderful and seem to be more eager to learn English than I ever remember being eager to learn anything. My class is Cross-Cultural Communication and is geared towards students who are likely to be traveling abroad at some time in the future. The topics always bring up some interesting conversations and I usually walk away having learned more than I have taught. We also have three conversation groups through the week (a chance for students to practice their English in a less formal setting). Today was our first one and we covered a broad range of topics from favorite foods (which included noodles, pizza and snake) to mountain climbing (which one of my students is doing over this coming holiday week) and sights of interest in China.

Here are some pictures of my students . . .

The BIG three four!

For six months of every year I can gleefully and honestly boast that my wife is much older than I am. On March 12th she turned 34 years old (which is not nearly as old as it used to be) and this past Thursday I joined her. Even following six months of youthful boasting she treated me to an amazing, wonderful birthday filled with Chinese delights.

She arranged for Rachel to be taken care of during luch which was our first time "alone" in at least two months. We began at the Brazillian restaurant on the first floor of a five star hotel. Two words . . . meat, good. My love for protein was fulfilled as one by one meat was brought to our table and sliced onto our plates. Seriously, this was the best idea since steak. Roast beef, prime rib, chicken, pork, little bacon wrap things all without even getting up. Incredible meal, nice atmosphere and the total bill was about $14 US.

Then we went looking around the hotel just for fun. Thought we might get a massage at the hotel salon but evidently they don't cater to men. So we stumbled into the rec room, filled with ping pong tables and two enormous pool tables (snooker). We said we just wanted to look around but evidently that mean we want to play snooker. The girl at the desk got out the snooker balls and set up the table for us. Problem number one: We have no idea how to play snooker. Problem number two: People were watching us play. So we pretended we knew how to play snooker, had a coke and when no one was looking we threw some balls in the pockets because the game was taking a really long time. The we went to another hotel and got a massage.

We then came back to the rec room to meet our teammates and our daughter for her first game of bowling ever. She's a natural . . . 36 on her first game! We had a blast with our new friends. Just a contrast between bowling in China and bowling in America for you bowling enthusiasts. We had a constant wait staff bringing us drinks and watching us bowl (they even joined in "Happy Birthday"), they brought me an amazing fruit plate with little fruit animals and they cleaned every shoe when we were done. When's the last time you got that kind of service at an American bowling alley.

Then we crossed the street and ate at Happy Tom's pizza buffet which is just below what used to be the world's second largest ferris wheel (I think it's number three now). Leave it to my wonderful wife, who is for the next six months the same age as I, to make growing old a blast. Great day!

Things you don't see every day: Episode One

Got passed by a tiger on the way to the store yesterday. Taxi driver slowed down so we could take a picture.

A quick Rachel fix

Here are some pictures for those of you needing a quick Rachel fix (grandparents, friends, random blogsurfers etc.).














New friends Jadlyn and Ellie


















Playing on the playground type thing.




















Rachel and Mom on "Walking Street," Rachel's random new friend (never talk to strangers unless they offer to splash your feet in the water, Kung Fu Rachel and McD's playland.

Stay tuned for more of the cutest little girl in at least two countries.

Signed - a totally unbiased father