Visitors

This weekend we had our first visitors to China! Marty's mom, dad, and good family friend came to visit so Evs could have some family here for her birthday (and of course, we were glad to have them here, too!) On Friday night, we went out for Chinese BBQ. It's not like the BBQ you think of back home (pork and beef, slathered with sauce). It pretty much just means that everything is on a stick and cooked over an open flame. It's all spicy and all delicious. We had everything from scallops and chicken to corn and bread. Yes, bread on a stick. We took the subway there, and we got a kick out of Evs planting her little feet on the feet stickers, indicating where people should exit and enter the train. 

           

Today we had a nice little Starbucks breakfast, and then took everyone on a tour of our school. We also stopped by Everleigh's classroom. She'll start nursery school on Tuesday! After the tour, we ladies went to the dish warehouse to see if we could find some good deals. It's incredible! Holiday plates for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, mugs, bowls, platters, ceramic figurines - everything! All intended for export to places like Pier One, HomeGoods, Crate & Barrel, etc. but were in some way defected. We looked pretty closely at our purchases and they all seemed okay so I got a good deal on some serving plates, coffee mugs, and a little bowl to keep our spare change. I'll probably have to head back closer to the holidays. : )

 After shopping, we decided to check out a dim sum place that was recommended to Marty by the Chinese staff at our school. After initially being told the wait was half an hour, a different hostess was able to get us seated right away. Eventually, we got ahold of a menu with pictures and were able to communicate our order. And boy, did we order! The picture doesn't do it justice - I think we had 30 different dishes. Luckily they let us take leftovers home!

After lunch, more shopping for the girls. We stopped by Wal-Mart (ugh) to see if we could find more presents for Evs. We did find a couple of things, as well as some great photo ops. (I've stopped worrying about looking like a tourist. These things are just too good to not take pictures of!) I can't help but be fascinated, and wonder where do these parts end up back home??

pig trotters

pig snouts

pig ears

We ended our day with noodles for dinner and a mini birthday party for Everleigh. The cake selection here is limited, so we opted for a mini tiramisu, although she really just wanted ice cream. One of my coworkers has offered to make her a proper cake for her actual birthday, so we'll have a little more celebrating and a few more presents on Tuesday.