the new additions

meet molly and leo. well, just for now they're still molly and leo. that may change. especially if the varkendaddy gets his way - then they're both named after beligian beer. and the varkenkidlets will have none of that.

so molly is the darker one in personality and in coloring. and also the one in charge.

leo is more playful. and the people person. is constantly surprised he has a tail. molly likes the quiet dark space - which is vast and unreachable by humans - under the kitchen cabinets. we think she's quite goth.

DAILY news

this is one of the things i find so crazy about china. we subscribe to one of very few english language SCRUBBED newspapers. here's the happy new year headline.

and then in the days after when i wasn't receiving any DAILY scrubbed news (yah, the kind where they just blatantly steal from the wires but never credit anyone)? i search inside the last one i received. and in teeny tiny print (i've made it bigger for y'all) i see this.

a DAILY NEWSPAPER?

this is sooooooo china

varkendaddy almost loses his fingers...

well, not really, but we were OH-so prepared, just in case it happened. not with medical supplies, mind you, but we just prepared ourselves - MENTALLY for what it would be like to have a father with no fingers.

i mean, when you see the size of the fireworks!!! the big one was quite the cannon. we set that baby off at midnite...

especially when they're all laid out in a row - a thousand in a brick. and he's still running w/ a lit match...

no fun colors, just white. and smokey. and noisy. but then, that's all part of the fun, inn't it.

surveying the damage. i'll have y'all know - that by 8am this morning, all the carnage was swept away. time for a repeat session tonite.

plastic pearl tower

that is soooo shanghai. it's a pretty city to look at from a visitors perspective. but one of its shining glories is the pearl tower (mr varken likes to take lots of pixtures from the ground up. varkenkidlets do NOT appreciate it). pink, plastic and futuristic. the E.T. hall was closed off during our most recent visit. but we did manage to head downstairs to the museums.

everyone is waiting w/ anticipation to go inside and up up up in the plastic pearl - especially sabina. can't you tell?

jack can almost always find the mawkish (can i say that?) in every display...

and this gem? well let's just say the chinese must not think too much of western women, cuz every female in any displaying westerners always seemed to be just short of lacking an adam's apple...

the first. gift. of christmas!!!!!

i know, i sound just like william hurt reaading the polar express, oh-so-many years ago (and it's so bad, it's our favorite recording!!)

there it is! waiting till we can open it. luckily, gramma and grampa said yes.
so we did.

open it, that is.

and lookie what we have here!! all the wonderful fun sorts of stuff we can't quite get here. 'cept it cost three billion times as much to send it as it's worth. but oh boy, were we happy. btw, there are chocolate chips stuck in there - the ghiradelli kind. plenty of chocolate in china - it's just the waxy, chemical flavored stuff. methinks we're making cookies soon!!!

and sabina is holding her precious tea bags. the ONLY kind we can't get in china.
tazo calmmmmmm

yu yuan (or: lady you want watch? bag?)

today, we went to the yu yuan garden temple. apparently this garden is VERRRRY old. 1537. yah. that's rather old. saw lots of dragons and coi fish. fish were well fed and quite alive. dragons were stone. tons of things to do here, besides look at an old temple garden, but we thought a little history might do them (ahem, us) well. plus the kidlets got to do a little craft/bazaar shopping when we were all done w/ the learning part.

since you haven't seen them in awhile, we'll feature them, instead of the learning part.

jack and sabina outside the great dragon wall. we were inside the garden area at this point. still a ton of tourists, but it costs money to get in, so there was less of a throng.

many different shaped and sized doorways. i think we took pictures in all of them.

see here? tons of coi fish. and boy, were they happy to see to see us. actually, they were happy to see just about anyone, because they recognise a free lunch when they see one.

let it snow...

it's a holly jolly xmas at the mausoleum this year. managed to hotwire the lights into the side lights. (well, no, not me, of course - but that "inexpensive" chinese labor that's also employed by the compoud - not manuel this time...).

and the abfab! local flower market (i really should take a camera in next time i walk there) was able to make garland and wreaths for me out of fresh xmas stock. even put pretty fake xmas flowers (called sheng dan jia - no - wait i forgot the word for flower... sheng dan jie is christmas - or big guy day - really - literally translated it means 'day of the great man' or something close). all this for less than 50 american buckaroos. take that, mom!

methinks we should go over the top and wrap the columns w/ lites and garland, too. heck, i'm not paying for the 'lectricity!! oh. and i am DEFINITELY buying santa hats for the lions out front. just don't want the neighborhood kidlets stealing them, so i'm gonna wait a week or so.

even though its still in the 50s (degrees fahrenheit), we're bringing in our own little xmas cheer, one chinese at a time...

manuel's new ladder

somebody please tell me why this is acceptable?

manuel has taken two pieces of *my* (read: NOT the landlord's) furniture, stacked them on top of one another, and put a bathmat rug thingie in between. then he climbs up on top in order to work on the fan in the ceiling (which he can't seem to fix the first, second, third... time). the motor burns out when we turn on the lights. and then the lights won't work.

he'll be back again this week to fix it a fourth time, i'm sure. next time, i'm hiding the furniture.


another TIC (this.is.china) moment made extra special - just for us...

ho ho ho?

found this little gem just down the street from us in our restaurant row area (called hong mei pedestrian street - although it's jammed packed w/ cars trying to park or turn around - nice pedestrian street, eh?).

since when did santa need a ladder to get on the roof?

and what exactically is he doing to that chimney?

the chinese are oh-so festive 'round here...

sabina's new roach motel

well, if i'm going to post a picture of captain raid, i may as well put one up of our newest acquiry. it came in several pieces (about as many as can be possible). and the whole team of our favorite yahoos scrubbed and polished and vacuumed and raided. then they put it together outside - in the road by our front door. and proceded to haul it upstairs.

no pulls to open doors to cabinets. captain raid stuck a piece of red string thru the old holes yesterday and called it fine (well, actually i got the thumbs up, which in china means "good enough for you, dumb laowei"). ayi set him straight.

manuel spent the better part of today installing new pulls.

sabina has too many clothes. they don't all fit.