VENTING . . .

Okay, this has been bothering me since we got back to Shanghai, and it's not going away, so I figured I'd blog about it and get it out of my system.  So here's the story.  We had a 1 1/2 hour flight from Louisville to Detroit.  Then from Detroit, we had a 15 hour flight to Shanghai.  LOTS of time on the plane.  And the Shanghai flight was completely packed.  They had to move some of the carry-on luggage below to the luggage compartment, because there simply wasn't enough room for everyone's carry-ons.  So you get the picture, the plane was packed.  And there are 5 of us.  Cramped into our small seats, just waiting for the time to be over.  (The upside - I got to drink Diet Coke the whole ride over.  NOT worth the 15 hour flight mind you, but at least it was a positive)!

So anyway, we get off the plane, go through Immigration and then go to get our bags so that we can go through Customs.  All 8 of them.  That's right, I said 8.  But that's another story I'll tell you later.  Anyway, we're standing there waiting for our luggage, and this lady is standing next to me, griping because she is "priority" and Shanghai airport just can't get it straight that her luggage was supposed to come off the plane first.  Over and over I kept hearing that people needed to get their bags off the luggage belt or the other bags weren't going to come off.  Now mind you, there were A LOT of people still waiting to go through Immigration.  It's a little difficult to get your bags off the beltway, IF YOU AREN'T THERE TO SEE THEM!!!!  I mean really.  Use some common sense.  WE were actually pretty lucky because since we had Sarah in her stroller, they put us through a "special" lane, which meant we didn't have to stand in line quite as long as everyone else.  And for that, I am VERY thankful.  But still, there were LOTS of people on our plane, and I know we weren't the only plane arriving at that time, so the line for Immigration was very long.  She just kept complaining and complaining that she was PRIORITY and her bags should have come off first.  After listening to her gripe for about 10 minutes, Jason finally asked me what Priority meant.  I wanted to tell him it meant someone who thinks she's hot sh*t when she really isn't.  But instead, I told him it meant that they, (or most likely their company), paid for Business Class instead of Economy.  I told him it's what Daddy is when he's flying by himself for work.  What I wanted to tell HER was that she just spent 15 hours on a plane, probably sleeping, LYING DOWN, ALL BY HERSELF!  I, on the other hand, was dealing with a 10 year old, 7 year old and 2 year old, and DID NOT get to lie down the whole way! If she thought I wanted to sit there and listen to how special she was, she was WAY off base!

It's funny, because one thing you learn after being here for awhile, is that the locals here can be VERY rude.  But what's really sad is when those of us that aren't from here, start acting like the people that are.  That's when you know you've been here too long.  And that maybe it's time for you to go back home.  Just my two cents!

CHECKING IN . . .

I know it's been awhile since I've posted.  And I'm sure you've missed me terribly!  ;-)  Actually, it's probably only Mom and Dad that have noticed, but that's okay too.  Just for the record, we will be home in 18 days, not that I'm counting!  We are actually pulling the kids out of school on their last day.  They only have a half day that day, and lots of people miss in that last week, so we figured we might as well come home a day early.  And I'm all for that!  So we leave about 10 AM on the 18th, Shanghai time, and we land about 2 PM on the 18th Louisville time.  Too bad it'll take us about 16 hours, instead of only 4!

I'm *really* not looking forward to the flight home.  14 hours on a plane with 3 kids, is not my idea of a good time!  Plus, we'll have to pull everything off in Detroit and go through Customs.  With 3 kids.  Then we'll have to put it all back on and board the plane for our flight home.  With 3 kids.  But it'll definitely be worth it.

I can't wait to see everyone when we come home.  I plan on being very busy during those 2 weeks seeing as many people as possible!

CHINA DIFFERENCES . . . .

If you remember awhile back, I was talking about some of the differences between here and home.  This last week, they've really been prominent!  We, of course, have 3 kids.  Which means there are 5 of us total.  We are planning on going to Hong Kong for Thanksgiving. We already have our plane tickets.  We booked them thinking they were such a good price and we wouldn't have any problems finding a hotel room.  WRONG!!!  

Again, remember there are 5 of us.  And we are in a country that only allows you to have 1 child, unless you own a farm, then you're allowed to have 2.  Well guess what, we have 3!  Finding a place that would let us stay more than 3 in a room was a JOKE!  I literally spent HOURS on the computer trying to find a place for us.  Everyone kept telling me to get used to it, that we would have to get 2 rooms.  REALLY??  I don't even want to pay for 1 room, much less 2.  Not to mention, unless you can get adjoining rooms, that would mean Ryan would be in 1 room with a kid or 2, and I would be in the other with the remaining brood.  Not much of a family vacation if we're all split up! 

After not having any luck, I finally starting e-mailing hotels that had suites.  Even though it kept telling me online that it was too many people, I was hoping someone would let us get a suite for all 5 of us.  We thought about not telling them how many kids we have, but we've been told that Hong Kong is pretty strict on that, so we didn't want to lie and then have it come back to bite us later.  So we told the truth.  Finally, we found a place.  The Ramada Inn Hong Kong has Harbor View Suites, which is what we wanted.  We are staying right on Victoria Harbor, so we wanted a place facing the water.  And it's not a bad price either.  So I guess my hours of research finally paid off!

I was actually thinking about sending Ryan and the kids and just staying home by myself. Now *that's* my idea of a vacation!

MORE PICTURES . . .

Another picture of the wall.

I can't explain it, but I just LOVE this picture.

I'm really not sure who he's posing for!!

I love this picture of Sarah and her Daddy!

This was taken from the ski lift.

Aren't they handsome?!

He's getting so big!

Nanny's Sunshine!

One of the many buildings.  They were actually used as lookouts when the wall was originally built.

My motley crew!

Another family shot.  We didn't have to pay for this one!

 Another part of the wall.  The view was absolutely amazing from up there.

 Now if only we could get everyone to look at the camera at the same time!

 We're getting closer.

 Guess this is the best we're going to get!

THE GREAT WALL . . .

We got up early on Saturday to take a trip to The Great Wall.  The view was breathtaking.  We got all of the kids a t-shirt that said I Climbed The Great Wall.  We had a tour guide for part of the trip.  We took a ski left up to the top.  From there, we got out and walk.  The worst part of the trip?  We lost Sarah's blankie somewhere up there.  I was really worried about how she would handle it, but she seems to be doing okay.  Every once in awhile she asks for it, but for the most part, she's okay with her Dora blankie.

Anyway, we went up the mountain, and then we walked the Great Wall.  The weather was absolutely gorgeous.  A little bit of history: 
The Great Wall of China is known as one of the Greatest Wonders of the World.  It stretches approximately 5500 miles from east to west China.  It was originally built for protection and actually consists of many different parts built during different time periods.  Some parts of it are over 2000 years old and some sections are in ruins or have disappeared.  The main part of The Great Wall that still exists now was built during the Ming Dynasty.  At it's highest point it is almost 1000 meters above sea level.

Here is a picture of the Wall.

Ryan and Jason on the ski lift on the way up the mountain.

Another picture.

This is the ride that Jason, Andrew and Ryan came down the mountain on.

Jason standing on part of the wall.

 

I usually try to be the one TAKING the picture.  Not sure how I didn't get away with it this time!

We found someone that offered to take a picture of all of us.  Of course then we had to buy some water from them!  But that's okay.  We needed it.

BEIJING . . .

The kids and I are leaving for Beijing tonight.  We're flying up to spend the weekend with Ryan.  Then we'll fly home on Sunday, and he has to fly somewhere else, and he'll be back on Monday.  I'm looking forward to going there.  We plan on seeing the Great Wall and the Forbidden City.  Our hotel is right by where they held the Olympics, so that will be cool to see as well.  I'll take lots of pictures and post them when we get back.  I hope you all have a great weekend.  I'll try to update you while we're gone, but if I can't you'll know it's because we're just too busy!