Preparing for Winter

Today our Chinese friend, Amu, took us to the clothing stores and helped us bargain for some clothes.  She and Sue went off to find kids clothes while I went to the Men's section and tried my own hand at it!  I found a sweater I liked that had a marked price of $130 US.  After much bargaining, blood, sweat and tears, I managed to get it for $22 US.  Our Chinese friend said she could have gotten it for $15 US, but she said I did pretty well for having a white face.

We are now set up with long johns, warm coats, and plenty of sweaters as the temperature drops.  Today it was 59 degrees for a high outside, and since our apartment doesn't have any heat for awhile, it is only 62 degrees inside!

This morning, after our rush out the door to school, we went downstairs to find Peter's bicycle had been stolen!  My bicycle is starting to make all sorts of strange noises when I pedal, so I wish they had stolen mine instead.  However I think no one wants a bicycle with a purple child seat on the back!  So I guess it's back to the store to buy another bike!

Sue and I both had the day off from work so it was nice to go shopping, and out to lunch together with our friend Amu who lives in the building.  She is expecting to have a baby on April 8!  Her apartment is one room that she and her husband live in.  They keep it very nice and tidy. Their apartment is a little smaller than Peter and Jack's room back in the U.S. I can't imagine adding a baby into that!

We dropped her off and then went for a Thai style massage.  It's part massage, part stretching you into what feels like a pretzel.  Sue said she felt like a Gumby doll.  Her feet were put WAY behind her head.  My masseuse put me face down, stood on my thighs, had me lock my hands behind my head and picked me up by my elbows, bending me backwards.  It felt strange at the time but it sure feels good afterwards!

 

Next week, Jack has the entire week off from school since the rest of his classmates go for military training.  Even in school they are constantly doing running, sit-ups, pull-ups, push-ups, and more.  Peter and Jack get way more exercise here than at home, especially with our 6 flights of stairs and the bicycle commute to school!  At every level of school there are fitness tests, including the University where they have to run a distance 38 times per quarter and get a stamp for each time they do it.  Everyone here is so fit!

Tomorrow we go on a field trip to a local park with Sophie's class, so expect to see more pictures of Chinese little people!