Back in China

A new announcement. We are having a baby! March 13th is the due date! Made in China, but a quality product mind you! We are very happy here in China.

Home Sweet Home
After much searching we moved into our spacious 60 square meter apartment on the 6th floor, (which is really the 5th floor due to the fact that the number 4 is unlucky and has been taken from the building). It is a close walk to the subway which is convenient for transportation. It is nice be closer to friends in the city. Most importantly the couch is comfortable, we have a western style toilet, and shower that is closed off apart from the sink and toilet. We feel at home. Now that we have a place you can come visit us any time! You'll know you are on the right floor when you get out of the elevator by the bright florescent green painted walls which really makes a statement. Right click the link and hit "Open link in new window" to see some pictures! (After you are done close that window and continue reading) Apartment!!

Bug Street
Hungry? Take a walk down Wang Fu Jing Street where you can buy your choice of kabobs from scorpion (still alive and squirming on the stick), heart, sea horse, star fish, squid, or fruit dipped in melted sugar. Its a happening place! Right click the link and hit "Open link in new window" to see some pictures! (After you are done close that window and continue reading) Bug Street

Bei Hai Park
Just North West of the Forbidden City is a lovely park where we spent the afternoon one day on our day off since there was a nation holiday. Our favorite past time is people watching. Everyone has a story.

Summer Palace
A beautiful lake surrounded by gardens built for the emperor to spend the summer. We walked around until our legs almost fell off. The place was packed because of the holiday but it really gives you a taste of how many people live in beijing. There really isn't a concept of personal space. This palace has been rebuilt after being destroyed twice by invaders. Right click the link and hit "Open link in new window" to see some pictures! (After you are done close that window and continue reading) Bei Hai Park and the Summer Palace

Great Wall Camp Out
Still getting over jet lag we joined a group of friends from church to go camp out on the great wall. Unfortunately, we ended up falling asleep in the courtyard after hiking and eating with everyone. Since we were still on a different sleeping schedule we woke up with plenty of time to walk around and take pictures before everyone else woke up. Everyone played games and danced around a huge bonfire and lit off fireworks that would have made any pyromaniac happy when the sun went down. Right click the link and hit "Open link in new window" to see some pictures! (After you are done close that window and continue reading) Great Wall Camp Out

Great Wall Meets the Sea
A day excursion with some friends took us several hours from home to the sea where the end of the Great wall is. It was fun to play on the beach. Lots of great sea food. Its a shame we can't read the menu. It's a pretty fun game to point to something on the menu and wait to find out what you have ordered. There a million and one places to explore here in China and we hope to see as many as possible. Click the link to see some pictures! Great Wall Meets the Sea

New way to see the pictures!

Hello all! We have made a decision on how we will upload photos to our blog. Because blogspot will only allow us to upload 5 pictures at a time, we have decided to use facebook which allows us to upload 60 at a time, but don't you worry all you non-facebook users, we can still share them with you! Below are the links you can use to take a look! We just want you to know that these pictures do no justice for pretty much everything we have seen, they are all about a thousand times better in real life! If any of you would like to see all 4000+ pictures you are welcome to do so when we return home. We love you all!

China Album 1
China Album 2
China Album 3
China Album 4

There are some repeat pictures in the first 2 albums or so, but the others are all new from our trip to "The Wild West of China" Yes that's right we traveled to the Yunnan Provence which is bordered by Vietnam, Myanmar (Burma), Laos, Tibet, and Sichuan (where the big earthquake was), we were also within about 50 miles of India. We got to see lots of different things in this non-exhaustive list.

Tibetan culture including people, religion, and of course food!

Many Chinese minority groups in all the villages, including the Naxi and Yi people!

We saw the famous Jade Dragon Snow Mountain at 18,044 Feet!

We hiked Tiger Leaping Gorge, which is the worlds deepest Gorge at 12,795 Feet deep!

We saw and hiked to a huge glacier in the shadow of Mt. Kawa Karpo at a staggaring 22,113 Feet!

We also were able to visit the cities of Lijiang, Shang-rila, Deqin, Feilai Si, Kunming, Dali, and rode bikes and drove through countless small villages and rice fields.

Over all we have to say it was a great trip! 12 days of adventure on overnight buses, hostels, villagers, old Chinese women trying to get us to smoke weed (the people in this area use marijuana seeds as a spice on their food), and about anything else you could imagine! Enjoy the pictures and there are some videos below for your entertainment!

Tamara's 25th Birthday Surprise party!

An alternate habit instead of smoking. We are trying to promote it here in China. They have great sunflower seeds.


A view of the sunset from our campus.
This is one of our favorite dishes here. They are fried peanuts, with some kind of dark vinegar, cilantro, and garlic. They are amazing.


Michael is a great husband for many reasons. Most recently he has won his wife's heart by planning a surprise party with all of our students. The cake was beautiful.



Date night for celebrating five month anniversary! We have been trying to utilize the nice facilities at the police academy. Such as the bowling alley. Someday Tamara may break 100 points.
Bowling at the Police Academy!
Flying some Chinese Kites.


Some ultimate!
We don't think that a piece of playground equipment such as this would be approved in the states, but we thought that one like it in someones yard would be cool! This is a picture of the Beijing 1st and 3rd Branches at the summer goodbye BBQ. Many of the Expats go back to the states for the summer.
If I wasn't white they might let me be in the real Beijing Police Force.

They will let Tamara in because she makes a dang good looking Police Officer!
Favorite Chinese past time: Karaoke!!! Funny thing is, we are the only two who don’t drink yet we have just as much fun and are just as crazy dancers as they are.
All you can eat pizza buffet exists in China!!!
For a change it was really a treat to eat pizza with our students. Yes, it was different than in the states but we still indulged on every bite of cheese consumed!

Michael is an even happier man now that a friend let us borrow their guitar. He was a big hit in this weeks English talent show for class. Tamara also has enjoyed the wooing by her handsome and very talented husband.

We have been asked to help out in the nursery.


This is our friend Jesse, who we have been staying with on the weekends!
We found these beauties while we were out shopping.

Michael is a great husband for many reasons. Most recently he has won his wife's heart by planning a surprise party with all of our students. The cake was beautiful.