This week balanced between sluggish and warp-speed for us. Monday brought us a tropical storm warning that kept us inside and brought us sporadic rain. Looking for a little entertainment on Wednesday the girls and I ventured out to see the new Smurf movie at Marina city, a downtown shopping center in front with a marina in back large enough to hold ships for the Chinese Navy. We found the movie theater popcorn here is actually sweet, think of a thinly coated caramel corn and the girls didn't really take to it. I wish I had remembered my camera to snap a picture for you, but no dice. Maybe next time!
We continue to capture a good bit of attention when we are out and about, and a frequently have our photos taken. Some ask first and some don't. We hear "piao liang" often which translates to "beautiful, or pretty". For now the girls say they feel like celebrities and don't mind the attention. I however am not a huge fan of having my picture taken by ambush. I keep reminding myself that if I were to see a neon blue person strolling down the street in New York City there is a good chance I'd take a picture too....
Last summer I thought I was on top of the world when we had dinner in the Signature Room, on the 95th floor of the John Hancock Center for our 10th anniversary. On August 12th we celebrated our 11th anniversary and this time around it was less glamorous but no less amazing! It is no secret that I love hot pot, and for our anniversary we all went out to Doula, a hot pot restaurant located in Marina city. I had a very yummy curry broth, with cabbage, spinach, handmade noodles and shrimp balls. The girls were brave and tried bites here and there but were not as enthusiastic as I had hoped. Mia, who is the pickiest eater of us all merely enjoyed the experience of cooking in the hot pot, she ate very little but was beaming as she cooked us veggies and pasta and made her own special sauces for us.
We had a busy weekend with a trip to the Loashan Mountains, famous for their own Laohshan Tea. We did quite a bit of walking, there was a mixture of path and stairs, entirely paved in laid rocks of different shape and form, no bushwhacking needed. We indulged a bit by taking a cable car to the peak, to give the girls a break.
The top of the mountain was swarming with eateries and shops, very touristy! We were able to find a few scenic areas and snapped a few pictures. The mountains here are so different than our beloved Adirondacks of home. The architecture of the landscape is challenging to describe, so I'll allow pictures to do most of the talking. Some areas look as though numerous large stones had been stacked to make a mountain, leaving gaps for beautiful flowers and vegetation to take root and sprout, other areas are cliff like. Different? Yes, but truly beautiful and having a mountain in my back yard makes me feel at home! Below is a picture of the Laoshan tea being harvested right along the trail up the mountain....
Sunday we went to visit a local church for ex-pats and were able to make a few new friends.A lovely couple Josh and Allison, along with their precious 11 month old daughter, Evangeline invited us out for lunch at Lennon a local bar and restaurant popular among ex-pats. The food was good, but the company was amazing. It felt so good to swap stories, and learn from a couple who has been living in Qingdao for 5 years.I was also able to meet a "facebook" friend whose blog I have been following in my preparations to move here, she was just as sweet as I had imgined, you can check her out here- http://oldmaidinchina.blogspot.com/ .
I am so grateful for this adventure, and am still in awe of the life that has been given to me.....as always much love to those back in the States<3
PS- Sorry for the grainy pictures they were all taken with my ipod...
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