Life in China

Lauren and I went out for a bike ride today to pick up a few things at the store and came across this man on the corner. This is so typical here in Shanghai but every time I see it, I'm still amazed. I think it might just be a new business opportunity for some of y'all in the US.


This particular gentleman had chickens, ducks, pigeons and Lauren said she saw baby chicks, but not sure about that one. The great thing is once you pay for it, he is even nice enough to slaughter it for you on the spot and then throw all the yucky stuff into the white bucket. What nice service! :) And, it should also be noted that this cage is attached to the back of his motorcycle so if business dries up in one area, he can just hop on and drive on down the road to sell to the next group of Chinese ladies that come out to greet him.

By the way, I'm not sure how he gets those chicken to stay so nicely on top of the cage. Every time (OK, the few times) I have been around chickens they scatter in every direction the moment you get close to them. I'm thinking that maybe their leg was roped to the cage...probably not what the PETA people want to hear but, alas, this is China!

Anyway, just wanted to share the fun picture. I'm certain there is a market for this type of fresh meat in the US for any of you entrepreneurs out there. Have a great week!

And PS: for those interested...we survived the typhoon with very little fanfare except a lot of rain and a bit of wind. It mainly hit way south of us but we certainly got quite a bit of rain from it.

Two peas in a pod

I just had to put this picture on the blog because it is just the
cutest picture I think. The girls asked me if they could sleep on the
floor tonight in their room and I said I didn't care. So when I go in
to check on them they were sound asleep but both on Lauren's pillow.
You can't really see it in the picture but Leah's pillow is right
there beside her but she is content to be snugged up next to her
sista...as we call them in our house.

I know that the closeness they have now might not last forever but I
just love that right now there is no one they would rather be with
more. I prayed when we were adopting Lauren that God would knit their
hearts together...I am certain He answered my prayer!!!

An archaeology dig...

Today the girls had a fun day so I thought I would share some picture of it. This year the girls and I are studying Ancient civilizations...you know, like Egyptians, Romans, etc. but before we dive into that I have been talking to the girls about archaeology and how we know some of the things we know about the past because of archaeology digs. Of course, we saw the Terracotta Warriors earlier this year so they had a bit of an idea of how it works. I found the coolest things at Toys R Us here that I bought to help explain the concept to them a bit more and they were a huge hit. Basically they each got to do their own little "dig". I didn't tell them what was in the block of "dirt" so they had the fun of discovering what they dug up.

It was so funny to watch the two girls dig out their treasure...so indicative of their personalities. Lauren was digging as fast and as furiously as one could imagine (as you can see by all the debris on her face and everywhere) with big chunks coming off and me saying over and over, "be careful, watch out, make sure you don't break the treasure."

And Leah sitting digging very carefully, patiently, overly cautious making sure that she didn't go too fast so as not to break anything or miss anything! She would dig for a minute then carefully brush away the debris...I had to keep reminding Lauren, don't forget to use the brush! :)

It just cracks me up how completely different they are and yet they really are the best playmates and absolutely love being together. I guess the "opposites attract" thing is true of sisters, too. In the end, both found their treasure...Lauren's Terracotta horse and Leah's Terracotta warrior.


After she finished, Leah said, "wow, archaeology is really cool!" Mission accomplished! :)