"Seaworld" on christmas night

this is the seaworld ship called "Minghua". there's an expensive german restaurant on top.

pretty much what you see coming out of our building.

there's a mobile phone store (where we buy all our cards), a fast chinese food place, a massage place where i DO get a monthly $8 massage! then it's mcD's, KFC, Papa john's, circleK, 7-11, starbucks, & many other high-priced western restaurants (we eat 1x/wk if we earn it).

we've recently learned that our city (Shenzhen) is the richest in china-even more than beijing!

our apt. goes for $1000US/month-more than our house in CO! & it's way smaller!

ian decided to go take pics outside at "Seaworld"-the tourist spot only 2 buildings over. here he is getting excited to use the camera (our 2nd in china, as the 1st one was stolen, along w/ our bikes, my bag, ...) this one's not as good as the last one (pentax worlds better than samsung)

we Kathy's family over for christmas dinner. benny (dad) is a big-league watch salesman (has been for over 20 yrs) & can't count how many countries he's been to. he's taken us for a couple nice chinese meals, his wife's cooked traditional wonton soup for us w/ jao zi ("ja ode si", dumplings), & now we're sharing our american roast, grama groff's mashed potatoes w/ tons of butter, sour cream, cream cheese!!!!(can you tell what's my fav. part of the meal?) ...stuffing, cranberries (both kinds!), plenty of black olives, cheese (which is 3x the $ here), & aunty ethel's brocholli-corn casserole. i cooked ALL day, just like my mom used to do!

(but in a kitchen an 1/8 of the size, for sure!)


aren't they beautiful?

this is luke's chinese friend Kathy. she comes over every thursday from 6:30-8. she speaks some english (learns in school & a sat. am class)

the beloved ($10) cheese.

this toy is popular here. it's sand on sticky paper. very cool.

elliot picked out Bakugan toys for his main gift. he's into these now...

he looks just like his dad here, no?

this is santa's gift to luke: a domino set where the ball knocks them down-

like the "jollyball" at chicago's museum of science & industry. (the boys' fav)

same pic, just to see our apartment. it's quite festive w/ red couches! (which i love)

PART 2 of the santa letter. this is mainly for the grandparents! they're only young once!

elliot wanted to prove this year that santa's not real. luke had many questions he wanted answered, so ian told him he could write santa a letter. it's so priceless, i had to take pics. and did santa write back? you betcha! (on the back side)

i LOVE this picture.

a smaller-scale christmas than usual, but you can see it's quite homey!

this is elliot's invention to stay awake all night to see santa. it keeps his head up & eyes open.

okay-what does "invernational" mean???

you kiss me, i'll kiss you...

elliot did pretty darn good for a first time photographer!

"a baby tree!"

there were a few "theme" pools: tea, coffee, milk, medicine, liquor(!), floral, etc.
you actually soke in these things! the coffee was way too hot, but the liquor pool smelled super-good: not strong, just enough sweet smell to like it. boys liked the milk (coconut, which the island is known for) & herbal (chinese were suprised they liked the traditional smell)

oh so many words are humorously mis-spelled-it's such a kick seeing these things everyday.

you can see the luxurious 5* resort beyond the lake. "quite exceptional" (i guess)

ahhhh-this is the life..."could i get another bon-bon with that pina colada"

i thought this was an unusual sight-the strange, almost out-house looking thing on the right, then the "comfort house" in the middle of seeming jungle-nowhere. beyond it is melon fields.

some of these 58 pools were too hot for us.

anyone know what "immiting" water is?

this area is chuck full of Russians escaping the cold-that's russian.

there were a handful of pools w/ "fish therapy". the fish actually exfoliate your skin by kissing or sucking off the dead skin! i tried, & was the only person who kept shrieking (annoying many of the serious patrons) b/c it felt so strange! that's what sugar scub is for!

luke liked it! ian & elliot wouldn't even try.

"man writing chinese characters"

an even better italian restaurant. this owner's from Milan- oooh lala, & girlfriend is chinese.

i had the most awesome pesto/tomato combo pasta, & really good australian cabernet "on the house". he says business has been painfully slow w/ the economy. we let him give us quite a spread-ian's lasanga was amazing, even the boys' hot dogs were huge & heavenly:)

then i went & got him 6 more customers w/ my big mouth! (we liked them)

the waves were awesome for play. each wave got a title shouted, for ex. "grapefruit!" or "mango!" or the biggest "double watermelon!!!" we were, of course, the only ones yelling the names of foods in a foreign language at the top of our lungs:)