Our First Hot Pot Dinner

Tonight we went to dinner with some fellow Intel Expats as well as some of their coworkers who are from Dalian. I had never had hot pot before and was not quite sure what it was but was excited to give it a shot. When deciding to come to China I said that I would not be too scared or too picky to try new things. I almost chickened out on that decision tonight but pushed myself to be more adventurous.


Hot pot is pretty cool. Basically they put a pot with oil bubbling away in the center of the table and bring you veggies, meat, and seafood raw for you to cook in it. You plop in what you want to eat and let it cook then scoop it out and dip it in your dipping sauce of choice. At our table Argon and Annie (who we knew from when they were Inpats in AZ) ordered for us and taught us what to do. The first thing that went into the hot pot were very thin slices of mutton. Yummy. Then Annie put a plate in my face and told me to try it. It was goose feet. Now I told myself that I would be open and try things but now I was facing raw goose feet. It was pickled and spiced and I was not supposed to cook it I was just supposed to eat it. I slowly grabbed one and then looked at it for a minute not wanting to insult Annie as she had just eaten one before offering it to me and kept saying it was good. Ken was sitting next to me and saw my hesitation so he grabbed one and ate it first to encourage me. So I did what I said I would do I ate it. It was chewy, a little spicy and like I said had a pickle taste to it. Not yummy but not gross either. =-) The next thing that went into the hot pot and on my plate was a brown tube looking thing. I asked what it was and was told it was seafood and they didn't know how it was said in English. I like seafood so I gave it a shot as well. It did not taste like much but was very, very chewy. Later I asked someone else what it was and found out it was a sea worm. Lovely. The last new thing I tried was oyster. I have never tried it before and now was a good a time as any. It was not bad, fishy but I would try it again. After trying all that new stuff I filled myself up on more mutton, some duck and some very yummy veggies.

The hot pot cooking up some mutton. The flowers etc floating on top were for seasoning.

Mikayla and Declan had not slept so they were not as fun loving as usual. Mikayla ate rice, veggies, mutton and some duck. She didn't feel like trying much new and her favorite part was the ice cream bar they gave us at the end. Declan on the other hand was not in the mood to be anywhere other then bed. He threw a fit for about the first hour of dinner. I was so embarrassed. I know moms say this all the time but I really mean it...he has NEVER acted this bad in public before. Actually I don't know that he has acted that bad at home either. I knew he was tired so finally I took him out to the car and had the driver drive us around the block. He fell asleep within minutes and napped in the car with the driver while we finished eating. I am hoping he still sleeps through the night since it was only like 7 when he went to bed and he had not eaten yet but we shall see.

All in all once Declan went to sleep and I could stop stressing it was a very fun night. I look forward to trying hot pot again but maybe with some more "safe" foods. =-)

Ken and Argon

Ni Hao from China!

I keep waiting to blog until I have time to talk about packing, moving and the flight but lately it seems like I will never have that time!! So I will just start from today and work backwards when I can. =-)

As you can see we got here! Yay! It was a very long day of traveling with two crazy kids and some delays but all in all it really was not that bad. We only had one casualty which was in the form of one 50 pound black bag of luggage. Out of all 20 checked bags it was the most valuable bag so of course it did not arrive in Dalian with us! Inside was a years worth of meds for the family both prescription and over the counter as well as all of our books on China and how to communicate here. Right now it is Friday AM here and we arrived on Tuesday night. We just got the call minutes ago that the bag was located so I am SO happy! I have about two days of meds left so it could not have been found at a more perfect time. The bag had lost its tag so it went to the lost and found of Mexicana air and has been sitting there in San Fransisco this whole time.

Other then the scramble to find the lost bag we have been doing a lot of running around. The first night we were put up in the Shangri-La hotel and were supposed to move to a housing community about 45 minutes away until our house is ready. As we were getting ready to be picked up for the move we got notified that the place we were supposed to move into was still occupied so we could not move. Instead we were moved to the residence part of the Shangri-La hotel. We will be here until the 20th or so until our house is completed and ready for us to move in. Ken went yesterday to get all his visa papers filled out and taken care of. Now that he is official our air and sea shipments can leave the US. Yay!

We have also ventured out to do some shopping here and there. We went to Metro for food and some basic necessities we needed and then went to Ikea to get some home stuff. Mikayla is not adjusting well to a twin bed so we checked out the toddler beds and hope to get one for her new room in the new house. Right now she either sleeps with us or on her mattress on the floor in our room. She has also not adjusted to the time difference well at all. The rest of us are all on China time now so she has us quite tired with her 3 am wake up calls! Tonight I think I will benadryl her up after not allowing a nap all day in hopes that she will finally switch over. She thinks its awesome to live at a Tel (hotel) and is thriving off all the attention she gets here. We can not go shopping without the kids being admired and stared at. The first day we did running around I had both kids strapped into the double stroller (which is too wide for most doors here =-( ) so people would just crowd and look at them. People also loved to touch Declan's hair and their hands. I really am going to have to get Declan to stop sucking his fingers because of that! Yesterday at Ikea we let Declan ride in the cart and had Mikayla walk to keep her awake so she would sleep at night (not!). Kind of a big mistake on our part. People here have no problem just picking her up and walking toward their friends with her. Everyone who knows Mikayla knows that that is NOT a problem with her. She just smiles and says Ni Hao. LOL. Me on the other hand almost had a panic attack the first time it happened. After a day I am already used to it though and just follow along and tell her to say goodbye and then she wiggles to get down. It is so funny how different the culture is regarding other peoples kids! In the US if anyone tried to pick up my kid and walk away I would probably slug them!

We are getting ready to go out again today. More shopping of course. =-) Today we are checking out Mykal, Carafore, and New Mart to see what they have and get the lay of the land. Then it is back for a very short nap for the kids and then off to Dinner with some of Ken's work friends. We will be trying Hot Pot for the first time tonight and I am looking forward to it.

Bailey Suzanne Bell

Bailey,


I just wanted you to know how much I love you! I am heartbroken that we had to give you up but so happy that you found a new family to love you. Losing you is the one thing that has made this China adventure less then perfect. Thank you for all the love you have given me over the last five years. You nursed me through a back injury, watched me get married, moved states with me, cuddled with me through two pregnancys worth of morning sickness, met then fell in love with my Mikayla and Declan, and even learned to love the annoying puppy I brought into your home. You have been with me as I created my own family and will always be remembered in it.


I miss you already!


Love you Bailey, Bailey Suzanne, Baily Anne, Ballerina, Baywee (What Declan calls you) and hope you are happy with your new family.

Whoops looks like I forgot to post a few blogs that I had written.

Is time speeding up or is it just me?? Last time I posted I had 38 days until my move. Now there are only 21! We have new details regarding our move as well. =-)

The moving company came and checked out our home and what we are storing/taking with us. We will be taking a total of 16 bags/boxes on our flights with us, and about 37 by sea. It sounds like a lot but I bet once we pack it up I will be wishing for more! The company will be coming from the 5th of January through the 7th to pack us all up. That means that we have to unplug the fridge and washer and dryer by the 3rd. The 3rd!!! Like in two weeks! Crazy! After the 5th we will no longer be staying in the house. We will be staying in a hotel in Chandler near the mall. Great local for the last minute winter clothes shopping we need to do. =-)

We have stayed pretty busy the last week with Doctor, Dentist, and Eye appointments. Mikayla had her first eye exam and was so awesome! She totally cooperated with the Dr. and could name off all the colors and pictures she was being shown.

The entire Bell family have been going in for Vaccination after Vaccination. The kids are up to date with their regular vaccines but have also had or started the series for Rabies, Japanese Encephalitis, and Typhoid. Ken has had the same as them but I was behind on a few so also had to add in Hepatitis A+B, Polio and Chicken pox (I have never had CP!). Our arms had some pretty painful days! We each still need to go in one more time before we move and then get one more in China about a week after we land and then we should be good. After every shot the kids are made happy with a lollipop. That always leaves me wondering where my lollipop is since my arm hurts too! Maybe next time I should ask. =P

The countown has officially begun!!!

I can't believe our move is almost here! Our flights got booked yesterday and I feel like the clock is ticking away quickly to our move. I just did a countdown clock and here is what it came up with:

Time until Monday, January 11, 2010 at 8:45:00 AM (Phoenix time)
38 days
924 hours
55485 minutes
3329124 seconds

Alternative version
It is 38 days, 12 hours, 45 minutes and 24 seconds until Monday, January 11, 2010 at 8:45:00 AM (Phoenix time)

Current time is
2009-12-03 19:59:36 MST(local time in Phoenix)

Is it just me or is that CRAZY? I leave the US in 38 days!!! We have so much to do during that time including finding a home for Bailey, Selling my car, figuring out what to pack for the air shipment, sea shipment, and in long term storage, getting all our dental, eye and doctor appointments over with, etc. Trust me the list goes ON AND ON AND ON! Also during the 38 days we will be going to Georgia for a quick trip, celebrating Christmas, Ken's Birthday, New Years, Mikayla's Birthday (as well as all her January 2007 friends bdays too!), and I want to try to fit in a fast trip to CA to say goodbye to friends and family there. Anyone out there with good organization and extra time on your hands you are more then welcome to come whip me into shape! I am overwhelmed just typing all of that. =P

I am really going to try to use this blog to update everyone about our move and plans as things develop. It will also be where I blog about our adventures while traveling and once we arrive in China. I hope this helps everyone stay involved in our lives and feel like we are still here. =-)

Here are our flight dates and times. There may be enough time in SFO for a quick meet up in the airport but I am not sure yet.

Monday January 11th-Depart PHX at 8:45 am, Arrive SFO at 9:56am
Depart SFO at 12:45pm, Arrive Incheon at 6:40pm on Tuesday January 12th (12hr55m flight and major time change)
Depart Incheon at 9pm, Arrive Dalian at 9pm (1h flight with time change)

Family day at the AZ State Fair 10-21-09

I LOVE the fair! The yummy food, rides, games, petting zoos, crowds of people to watch, cover bands, you name it. I counted down for about two weeks before it finally came to town! It was finally our day to go and so we packed up the kids and went to spend the day. We had the best time! We filled our bellies and tried to make sure we saw and tried everything we could. Afterall this is probably our last fair for the next two years so we had to make it a good one.

Since I know if I wait until I can write about the fair I may never update the blog I will just show you our day in pictures. Enjoy!

Uhmmmm...Can someone tell me how to resize my pics? They are too big for the page and I have like 100 of them! Help!

Whoops! Time to update!

Okay let's give this blogging thing another go! I can't believe it has been almost a year since I last posted!

I guess I should start off with a quick update on us. Our move to Dalian is getting closer, and closer every day. We will be moving mid January 2010. Ken and I went on our house hunting trip a month ago and found a great home for our family. We also found a school for Mikayla and will be sending her full time when we move. We are very excited for her because the school speaks both English and Chinese equally during the day. We are really crossing our fingers that both kids pick up Chinese while we are there so I think this will help her out.

The kids are getting so big so quickly. Mikayla will be 3 in January and is one active little girl. Since we wanted to get her used to the idea of school before going to a new school in a new country where everyone is speaking a different language we enrolled her in preschool part time. She goes 3x a week and loves it! She is also in ballet, gymnastics, and goes to an imagination workshop. She is so in love with all of her activities. She loves to come home and show off what she learned every day. She is also in love with her two favorite shows Ni Hao Kai-Lan and Yo Gabba Gabba. The whole household knows the songs and dances to both shows very well.

Declan just turned 18 months and is still my little chubbers. He is in the 9oth % for both height and weight and is just a big boy! He is much more wiggly and active then his sister was at this age so he keeps me on my toes. His vocabulary has been exploding lately. He seems to learn new words every day and is a little parrot. He loves to follow and copy his sister at just about everything she does. They spend a lot of time getting into trouble with each other. I am excited for Declan because he is starting to show an interest in the different activities that Mikayla does so we are going to put him in Gymboree when we are in China. Then he will get to run, tumble, dance, and color.

Our move felt so far away that we kept thinking of everything we had to do as things that we had to do LATER. Well later is here now so we have been very busy. We have all become pin cushions and have been working on getting our international shots. The little ones also just applied for their passports. I didn't have a passport until I was an adult so it cracks me up that they are going to have them already. The other big thing we need to start doing is sorting our stuff! We have to figure out what to send to China, what to send to storage and what to sell, donate or toss. I know it is going to feel fantastic once it is done but the mere thought kind of spooks me. Wish me luck!