Some new photo's from our latest adventures...

Phil and I just got back from a trip to Guizhou. We spent 4 days in the province visiting the Miao ethnic minority people and some of their villages. This was my second visit to the region, but only the first for Phil. I traveled there for the Sister's Festival in May and this time we returned to attend the Lusheng Festival. Lusheng is the name of the long reed pipe, a traditional instrument of the Miao, and you can see it in some of the photo's in our new album titled "Guizhou Lusheng Festival".

Hope you enjoy!

-Phil and Jen

I know I promised the next blog entry would be from my mom, but alas- she needs more time. She claims she doesn't have the "gift" I do. What she means by "gift", is actually the ability to use a computer to type out her thoughts. Sorry mom... I had to tell. And perhaps through this little jab, the arrival of promised "review of Shanghai" has been ensured.

I dropped my mother off at the airport yesterday morning and returned home to my couch. I am fighting off the same cold half of Shanghai has right now.

On a more interesting note, Phil and I leave tomorrow for a weekend trip to Guizhou. Some of you may remember reading about my trip to this region in May of this year. I went as part of a tour group to see the Miao ethnic minority Sister's Festival. I was so struck by the beauty of it all and I really wanted Phil to have the same experience, so now we will return to see another famous festival of the same minority group.

I hope to have a lot of pictures from this trip and will post them when we return.

Have a great weekend!

-Phil and Jen

A Tourist in My Own City

What a week it has been! My mother arrived in Shanghai on Friday the 10th of October, and we haven't stopped going since! We have been adventuring about Shanghai for the last week, and it has been great. I have seen parts of the city that I had never seen before, explored neighborhoods and areas completely new to me, and learned a great deal more about how amazing this city really is.

Phil and I have been living here for over a year and a half, and we have been waiting to do a lot of things until we had guests. The thought of doing the same tour 5 times wasn't all that appealing, so I had been making a list of all the things to do- and waiting until we actually had someone come visit... enter my mother.

As soon as she arrived, we began making plans and focusing on the things she really wanted to see. We had an educational afternoon of Chinese tea tasting. We had a tour of Shanghai's disappearing Shikumen housing with the famous Shanghainese photographer, Gang Feng Wang. We have sipped beer while getting Chinese foot massages. We have shopped and visited the historical Yu Gardens and sipped tea in it's old tea house. We have stuffed ourselves on Indian buffet. Yesterday we went on an amazing historical tour of the Jewish Ghetto's with the Israeli journalist, Dvir Bar-Gal. Today we will go for Chinese foot and body massages, wander around the French Concession, and go to a favorite Irish pub for Guinness and fish-n-chips. All in all- it's been great.

I am going to have my mom blog later tonight. We will post some photos and get her "visitors perspective". Should be interesting to see how Shanghai rates in her book. More to come...

If I don't take this moment to blog- I may never get around to it. Phil and I got back from a beautiful trip to the Maldives late last week. The Maldives, a little known place among Americans, is a group of over 1192 islets spread across the Indian Ocean. One fine day, we happened to find ourselves on one of the only 250 inhabited islands, in our very own private ocean villa. It was breathtaking and wonderful! When we weren't eating, we were snorkeling. When we weren't snorkeling, we were eating. Food and snorkeling. Rough life I know.

Now we are back in Shanghai and preparing for a visitor- my mother. It will be the first of our family to come and visit us, and we are looking forward to showing her around this crazy city. Before she comes though, I have a lot to do. It's funny how house guests will motivate you to unpack those last few boxes you have been meaning to unpack for months.

Phil and I are also in the last stages of gathering documents for our dossier. For those of you who don't know, Phil and I have decided to pursue adoption here in China. We are very excited, but the journey has just begun. Once we get all of the paperwork done and off to necessary government entities- we will start a special adoption related blog. Until then, we have approximately 3 months of waiting ahead of us. Then we will find out if we get approved for the adoption. Needless to say, it has been very busy and stressful around here!

We hope you all are doing well. Feel free to email Phil or myself and we'll be more than happy to get back to you more specifically.

-Phil and Jen

OK- so my shins were sweating the other day...

With temperatures well into the 80's and humidity so high your shins sweat- I am seriously looking forward to the autumn weather here in Shanghai. So back to the part about shins sweating- I'm not kidding. Phil and I were out and about in the city the other day and I couldn't stand it anymore. Every part of my body felt smothered in heat. I realized that my shins were sweating and wasn't sure if I ever really felt that before. I decided to add that to the list of "you know it's hot when...".

That aside, hints of autumn are in the air. Skies are a little more bluish, the air is a little less stifling, and people are out and about in greater numbers. This is the time of year when you remember there really are 22 million people in this city.

Phil and I find ourselves at the 18 month mark in this adventure and I'm not sure how I feel about it. The time has really flown by. Here we are realizing that we're halfway through our assignment, and there is still so much we want to see and do. We have many travel hopes and plans as well as some personal goals we would like to see realized before we move on from Shanghai.

We are getting ready to take a much needed vacation- our first of this year in fact. I have been able to travel a bit on my own, but between our home leaves and his new job- we haven't had any time to travel together on our own. I can't wait!

I really hope to be able to blog more often and post more photos- it's just so busy here and when I sit down to write, I realize it's been a month since I last wrote (one of those personal goals I previously mentioned).

Well- off to do some work. More later...

It's peach season here in Shanghai, and compliments of my friend Anne- I just finished eating one of these famous peaches. I have to say, it was the closest thing to chocolate I could eat and enjoy on such a level without actually eating chocolate. Thanks Anne! Now let's see if I can avoid the bag of peanut M&Ms shoved up in the spare bedroom closet... I think I hear them calling to me now.

Why the craving you wonder? Well, thanks to our newly Olympic-inspired fitness kick, Phil and I have started playing squash. (If Phil had his way, it would be synchronized swimming- but that's another story altogether.) We are in the midst of week two of our exercise-followed-by-a- game-of-squash routine, and the old metabolism has kicked into high gear; thus, making me want to eat everything in sight. Recognizing that I am no Michael Phelps (I heard that the man eats 12,000 calories a day!)- I am trying to resist such cravings.

Perhaps you have noticed my unusual number of references to the Olympics by now? It is my small way of acknowledging that the OLYMPICS ARE FINALLY OVER AND THE KINNEY HOUSEHOLD CAN RETURN TO NORMAL! I swear- if I hear another commentator, splash of a diver, whistle, jia you (Chinese "go-go), or anything else remotely related to the Olympics here- I will scream! OK- I feel better now.

Seriously though, I did enjoy the Olympics for the first week (admittedly, I loved the men's basketball the entire time). But after the first 7-10 days, I grew weary. I had what is commonly know as "Olympic Fatigue". One true sign of this "fatigue" is: twitching at the sound of water splashing or whistles blowing. Jokes aside- deep breath; it's all over.

I wonder what China will be like now that the Olympics are done in Beijing? I have often thought of this whole process leading up to the Olympic games like a bride who has focused so much on preparing for her wedding- that she never thinks of what will happen after the big day. Coming down from all the preparation, she finds herself depressed, unprepared, and feeling lost. Could this nation face a similar crash after the high?

I certainly hope not.

A sure sign that it's hot in the city...

I've been back for 2 weeks now. It's particularly strange to me how time has passed in the last two weeks. You know how people talk about time flying by while standing still? There have been points in my life where I felt this way, but I can say that I really truly feel this way right now. It almost feels like I have been stuck in an episode from the twilight zone. On one hand, it's like I just got back; on another, it's like I've been back for months.

My first week back was spent on the couch (thanks to the flu). My second week was spent making up for the month I was gone (and the week I was on the couch). I have successfully shoved a months worth of activities into one week. Needless to say, it's been tiring. Good, but tiring.

Being gone for the month of July was a nice break from Shanghai's summer heat. Until yesterday, I actually thought I might have avoided most of the suffocating heat. But alas, it has weighed it's ugly mass over the city. Just when you think it can't get hotter or more miserable- it does. One sure sign of this heat: men in nothing but their whitey tighties hanging it all out there for passersby to marvel at. And who can blame them really? 100 + degrees with equalling humidity, no air conditioning in their cramped little homes... I just might be coming out to the street in my undies looking for a little relief as well. OK, maybe not. Just trying to relate here.

Either way- it makes for interesting sightseeing and photos.

As soon as the heat lifts, I look forward to getting out and taking photos. I finally got a small camera to carry around at all times. I realize how many pictures I have missed because I didn't want to lug around the behemoth (which I love and appreciate greatly by the way). So as soon as I get the little camera back from a friend who has borrowed it, I will get back to taking pictures.

Until then...