To Keep Me Company

My Mold

Instead of a first day of school, we had more of a first day week.  First the middle schoolers started...

Grade 7!

Grade 6!

I drove them on their first day in my super awesome tuk tuk.

Even though I walked them to their classrooms, I did not take a picture.  I think we've reached the "too old for that" phase.

The next day, the elementary kids had their first day.  It was actually a meet the teacher day, and a family picnic.  After lunch, Dare and Mads went to a couple hours of school.  G came home.  His first day was the Monday after.

Grade 2!

Kindergarten!

Grade 4!

I got a picture of all three of them.

I took them on the tuk tuk too.

Since Nate went too, he got a picture of all of us.

Can you just picture us cruising the streets of Beijing (not really, just our neighborhood) in our little electric car?  In our new Ray Bans?  I know, it's awesome.

Seriously though, that thing has been my biggest joy about living here.  I love it.

This was G's real first day.  I drove them that day too.  I thought they all looked cute walking together.

And now they are gone.  All of them.

Flippin Hades

So, a super awesome family moved to Beijing a month or so after us.  And they have already lived here once, so they know all kinds of places to go.  Which is great for us!  I love having cool people to hang out with, and not having to do the work to find fun adventures.

One night we decided to go into "the village" to get some noodles.  This was a real Chinese neighborhood, where real Chinese people eat.  

The people immediately gathered around to check us out.

That is my tuk tuk the S's are in.  We used one that I borrowed from a neighbor who went out of town.

Here's where we ate.  Right off the street.  A little out of my comfort zone, but it was fun.  I decided no meat because there was a meat market right next door, and it was less than appealing.  Who knows how long the meat was outside, not to mention all the flies.

It was a little hot that day too.  So we were eating hot noodles outside in about 90 degree weather.  We sweated.

Travis used wipes to clean the cups.  Just in case.

The food was delicious!

We had an audience.

By the way, that is been dubbed the "Beijing Bikini".  Men do it all the time.  If it is hot, you are guaranteed to see a dude with his shirt pulled up.  The men in Jakarta did it too, but I never got a picture as awesome as this one.

This night was extra special for us!  This is where we found our dog!

He was hanging out under the tables and chairs all night.  He was so cute, and I could tell he was just a puppy.  I really wanted to take him home.  We asked if he was anyone's dog, and they said no.  We decided it was meant to be. :)

Here we all are eating.

He was so dirty.  Bath straight away!

I took him to the vet a couple days later, and he is disease free!  A plus when you find your dog on the streets of Beijing.  Also, he said he was about 3 months old.

We've had him almost 4 weeks now.  Still no name.  Because we are lame.

We are to blame.  We feel the shame.  (I just added this because it rhymed.)