The Last Post

So sorry for the large gap in posting to this blog, it's been a very busy season. But now we're back in Shenzhen so I think I can update with what we did. I won't go into total detail because I think that would make this post ridiculously long and a lot of the people that read it were there to experience it. But I'll do my best.

Matt arrived and we filled up his days with a visit to the Marienplatz to taste our first gluhwein. After that, the days sort of blur together. We did take a visit to the Allianz Arena where FC Bayern plays. Donnie and I are cursed in a way that whenever we are in Munich, there are no soccer games. The closest we could get is to take a tour of the stadium. It was impressive, but I think FC Barcelona has them out-done. From there we went to Weihenstephaner, a favorite of ours in Freising. The last time we were there, I was pregnant and we were with Kell, it was fun thinking back on those times, and nothing there has changed (it's Germany's oldest brewery). On another day, we took a drive to Andech's. This was a gorgeous church where the monks brew beer, so there is a beer hall on the grounds. It was a perfect balance for Donnie and his parents. Paul even lasted about halfway through the German service before joining the boys. A different day was spent driving to Garmisch, then taking the train up to the Zugspitze. Donnie, Ron and Angie and I had been there in 2009 on our trip to Dublin and side trip to Munich, but it was in the middle of a snow storm so you couldn't see much. This was the exact opposite. It was remarkably clear and so stunning. Donnie and Paul did some sledding and Matt decided to come back the next day to go snow boarding. It was a long day, but memorable.

Mom arrived on Christmas eve, and it was so wonderful having her there. Her spirit lifts my spirit and it feels like Christmas when your mom is there. :) We had a low-key day, and went to bed with our gifts wrapped! A first for us. :) Andie came the next morning, a perfect Christmas present. I get teary-eyed thinking about how wonderful it was to see her walking towards us and how happy I was that she'd finally arrived. I really didn't need any other Christmas presents. The day went as usual, we took forever to open presents, but that's half the fun. :) Then everybody dispersed to their rooms to rest, or play with new gifts. We gathered together again for Christmas curry, a tradition 4 years running. :)

PAAARTY!!

Matt left early the next day, and we all had another low key day. Andie and I tried to go shopping, but Munich was shut down still for the holiday. It was nice to walk around with her though. The next day was Paul's 3rd birthday, and he was so excited! We made a failed attempt to go ice-skating, then played at home the rest of the day. He was so happy to dig into his requested chocolate cake and open presents. I still can't believe he's 3! Time really does fly. He had a great day with his family, but I wish he could have had a party with his friend too. Maybe next year.

The days start to get blurry again after that, we spent a day shopping. I wandered around with Andie and Mom. We had a blast trying on dirndls, and Mom was generous enough to buy them for us. (We will make time to wear them together, ladies!) I got some new clothes at H&M and Andie got some killer boots. It was a pretty great day because after that we met up with Donnie and Paul and his parents at the Hofbrauhaus. Good food, good fun and great company. It was a splendid day.

Sugar overload

Lovin' Chocolate

Mom's last day was spent driving back down to Garmisch seeking more snow, but there was no snow in sight except for high up on the mountain. So we walked around the alpine wonderland, had another yummy meal, then drove home. Too soon, it was time for Mom to go. I am so thankful she came to spend that week with us, I love her so much, and I love that we were able to make those memories together. I know that Paul is thankful for his Nana too.

The day she left was also New Year's Eve, so Andie and I donned our dirndls and we all went out to a beer hall that we spent a lot of time at the summer we lived there. We had a 4 course dinner, which was spectacular, then headed upstairs for the party. Unfortunately, the party was full of older people and the music was a little silly, so when the fireworks were done at midnight, we headed home. It was still fun dancing with Donnie and Andie though. :) So glad to ring in 2014 with those two.

Cake overload <3

New Year's Day was lazy, and Andie had to leave the next day, so I clung to those moments before she left. Andie's transformation this year is incredible, I am honored to call her sister and I am inspired by her will. We spent time running and working out together over the days she was there, and she is so dedicated. I admire her in every way.

After saying goodbye to Andie, there wasn't much else to do except soak up Munich for the last day. We all shopped downtown for a few hours, hit the Augustiner, then went out to celebrate Donnie's birthday with Ron and Angie. It was a pleasant evening, but thoughts of travel the next day made the celebration bittersweet. Ron and Angie were so wonderful during the trip as well, they are invaluable to us and cherished by Paul especially. We miss them, and he misses them on a daily basis. It was nice to have such a long time with them.

Our departure from Munich had minimal stress, besides having to clean and get ready to go before we left. It was an easier travel home, and after 20 hours of travel, we were back in our spotless apartment. It felt like home, but it still feels a little bit like new. But I was thankful for a bed, and even though we've been struggling through jet-lag, I was thankful to be back.

Getting back to work this week has been a struggle, not because work is hard, but because the jet-lag and the Munich-withdraw have been tricky. Hopefully, the worst is over.

One last pretzel

I know I've missed moments that I should have written about, I know I've left out stories, but if you want more details, call me. :) I had an amazing time just like I knew I would in Munich, and I know we'll be back there sooner than later. I am truly grateful to all of the family that came to see us there. It was a perfect way to spend the holidays, surrounded in love and Munich. :)

In other news, I'm closing this blog. I started it in Feb of 2013, and labeled it New Beginnings. I think we're out of the beginnings, and it is past 2013 now. So onward we go. 2013 was an amazing year, I think back to the beginning and I couldn't imagine this is where I would be sitting. And I'm in awe of all that has happened. It's crazy to think how much has changed. 2014 will hold more than I can imagine, and I'm excited to see what's in store for us.

Thank you for reading. It means the world to me when people tell me they read my blog. I hope you tune into the adventures of the Hales in 2014. :) Love to all!

If you didn't see it on FB, here's the link to our video of more pics: 

http://animoto.com/play/tBZ9jRkKTPo3619IGQLaGA

Munich Love

 So I have a whole other blog dedicated to the summer we spent here in Munich, and it's the first time we've been back since that summer. I always carry fond memories of Munich and we've had so many good times here, but the feeling of being here is unlike any other. Even with the cold, short days, Munich is one of my favorite places on the planet.

Waiting in the airport

We set off from Shenzhen on Saturday after a long day of packing and waiting. Our ferry was at 3:30 pm, and our flight wasn't until 8pm, so we had some time to eat and wander the airport. We settled into a pizza restaurant for at least an hour, but Paul was cranky due to no nap and I was anxious about traveling so it wasn't too relaxing for me.

First Christmas Market!

We made it to the gate, and our plane was late to Beijing, and Paul had finally fallen asleep. After waiting for an hour and a half we were finally on our way. Unfortunately we were flying Air China, which is no Luftansa. The seats were cramped, the food was bad, and the flight attendants were less than friendly. Things got worse on the next flight where Paul couldn't stretch out between seats, and there were so few entertainment options that Paul was bored very easily. It was ten hours of uncomfortable, sleepless travel. I was thankful to arrive at 5am on Sunday.

We breezed through customs, and Ron and Angie were waiting for us just beyond that wall. Paul was so happy to see them and I think they were equally happy. :) We had some time to kill before checking into our house, so we sat and had coffee at the airport then rented a car and set off.

We finally checked in and had some bakery goods. We were all exhausted from our travel, but determined to stay awake, so we showered, unpacked and tried to find an open grocery store. But since nothing is open on Sundays, we decided to go back to the airport to use the Edeka that was open there. The airport actually isn't a bad place to hang out, it has lots of good restaurants and this time of year it has a Christmas market in the big plaza in the middle. It was actually kind of fun wandering around. :) Funny to come to Europe and find everything so much cheaper. Western goods in China come at a high price, so we're happy to spend a euro or two on cheese, and even less on beer.

As we were driving home, we saw a neighborhood Christmas market, so we walked over to check it out. It was a community one, so it was held in the gymnasium of a community center. It was cool! Lots of homemade stuff, Donnie and I picked out some original ornaments to put on our tree here, and Ron and Angie did the same. We ended the trip with big bowls of goulasch and wine. It was perfect. I smile just remembering how nice it was to have warm hot food, that was soooo delicious.

After that we crashed early, tired from travel and settling in. I think Donnie and I went to bed at 6pm and Ron, Angie and Paul made it to 8pm.

I woke up at 3 am, and I could've laid in bed much longer, but I was starving so we got up and figured out to make coffee followed by breakfast. Donnie had the idea to drive out to see snow since it was a clear day, and there's no snow here in Munich proper. So we piled in the car and set off for the mountains. It took about an hour and a half, but eventually we found a field of powdery snow for Paul to play in.

We'd been talking about snow for the past month, so he was excited to play in his first snow. We geared him up, and he had a blast walking around, falling down, making snow angels, kicking the snow and sinking in the deep parts. We only played for a short time, but I know there will be more snow in our future. :)

From there we took care of our grocery shopping needs, relishing in the ease of understanding what you were buying. And how yummy everything looks. We got home and Donnie would not rest until he got a Christmas tree. He and Ron went to get it while Angie and I made dinner. They brought home a cute, fresh tree which we decorated with lights and the few ornaments we have so far. It makes the place seem so much homier. :)

Today Matt arrives and I'm so excited for him and more family to get here. We're going to plan some fun things to do in the coming days so he doesn't get restless. He wore me out in Hawaii, I'm sure he'll do the same here. But I love it, and he hasn't been back to Germany since he was 16, so I don't blame him. I just want him to be here already!! :)

Love to all and I wish you were here.

Countdown to Munich

 So begins the hourly countdown to our flight to Munich, just 35 hours until we are on a plane to a fun-filled family Christmas break. Luckily, this week has gone a little bit faster even than last week, so I've not had time to sit and wait or even pack!

Last weekend was an active one, and we did quite a bit of exploring around Shenzhen Bay Park. On Saturday we relaxed for a while before walking down to All City Mall. We'd seen some billboards with Thomas the Train on them, so we thought it would be fun to go check it out. Maybe Paul could see or play with Thomas. Thomas was there, but only in a static display that we couldn't even touch. It was frustrating, especially for Paul because all he wanted to do was climb up on Thomas. So after wandering the mall for a while, we headed home early.

Sunday was another slow start, but we did pull ourselves together to make an Ikea/Metro run. It's always fun to have breakfast and then browse Ikea before the crowds get too intense. Paul napped through most of it, so when we got home, he was ready to go play. So we geared up to go back to the park, this time planning a different route to find an easier way in.  We found a different way in, and ended up walking through the park for 4 hours. We were looking for easier access, but we never ended up finding it. I think I've got it figured out now, but it was a long day.


This week at school has been breezy, and I'm wrapping up my fourth unit today. We did take a field trip on Thursday all day to a theme park called Window of the World. I went with the other 12 year old teachers and 71 students. It was a really fun day! I ended up wandering around with Grant and Zack and we had a great time pretending to be giants, taking goofy pictures and of course monitoring kids. The park is made up of all kinds of monuments from around the world. They are all shrunk down in some way, on different scales. So we wandered through Venice on a scale 5 times smaller than usual. We went to Ankor Wat on a mini-version. We saw Manhattan, the White House, the Capital, all in the span of 5 minutes. They had a section indoors called the Alps. It had a huge ice skating rink, and a skiing hill! It was more fun than I thought to see all of the places I'd visited around the world in one place. :) Grant and I were competing to see who had been to more of the monuments, so I counted them. I'd been to 18 of them, and since Grant hasn't spent much time in Europe, I won. Hehe.

Then last night was quiz night, and we've been on a bit of a streak. I think we've placed either 1st, 2nd or 3rd for the past month, which is nice because you win a prize that you can use to buy food or drink at the next quiz night. It doesn't really matter to me if we win or not. I enjoy the socializing with Zack and Honey and seeing everybody relax outside of work. It is pretty competitive though, and can get kind of intense. I think we'll host one in the new year.

Today is a short day, and we're planning on going to buy ferry tickets, then getting haircuts and lunch before we head home to Paul to pack and prepare for our trip. I know time goes by at a constant rate, but if I could just speed it up a bit...:) We'll see Ron and Angie on Sunday, and Matt on Tuesday and then Mom and Andie soon after that on Christmas. :) My heart soars when I think of it.

This blog will be closing soon, I'll start another for 2014, but there are still some adventures to be had in 2013. So stay tuned and love to all.

Some US landmarks

Indoor skiing?!!

Manhattan, Rio, Mexico, Nazca Lines, Easter Island: All in one shot!

Giant Jessica !

Finally December!

Merry Christmas, baby!

I feel like I've been staring at my desk calendar, willing the days to go faster, and now it's finally December! Hooray! That means a week from today I will be home packing for a flight to Munich to join family in a celebration that is sure to be one of the best ever. I think that's why time is going so slowly. Last week was dreadfully slow, this week, a little less so, but still NOT FAST ENOUGH!! :)

Yay, food!

I posted last week about thanks, but I didn't talk about how we celebrated our first Thanksgiving in China. I was feeling pretty glum about the whole thing, and we didn't even really have any plans to fix dinner. Our cooking abilities are limited because of our lack of an oven. So we picked up some deli meat turkey, sliced thickly, some broccoli, potatoes and bread and headed home to make our own meal. It actually turned out pretty well. A simple meal, but we all talked about what we were thankful for and enjoyed it as a family. Easiest clean up afterwards ever for a Thanksgiving dinner. Then we settled in to watch a movie and relax together. Nothing too extravagant, but it made me feel better, and I was glad to carry on the tradition for Paul. Also, it meant we had leftover turkey to eat for a few days, just like always. :)

LCC

Luohu border crossing

Usually we will avoid shopping the weekend after Thanksgiving for obvious reasons, but since going to the store always feels like a Black Friday rush, we decided to get a jump on Christmas shopping the Saturday following Thanksgiving. We started with a quick trip to Dafen (it took 1.5 hrs to get there, and I think we only stayed 45 min). Then took the metro down to the last stop at Luohu.

He was relaxed, not us.

Luohu is a border crossing into HK, so it's were all the HKers come to shop in Shenzhen since it's cheaper than in HK. Kinda like the Canadians crossing to the US, or a Mexican-US border crossing. Right when you cross into Shenzhen, there is a huge shopping center called the LCC (Luohu Commercial Center). It's crazy. It houses five floors of booths that sell anything from clothing to toys to electronics. Pretty much everything is knockoffs, but some of them are so good you can't tell the difference! (Don't worry family, I won't scam you with a fake ;))  The madness begins right as you walk in, people start yelling at you to buy whatever they are selling. Then when you finally decide to enter a shop and purchase something, you have to embark on an epic bargaining venture. I read that they will start their bartering at 4 times the actual worth of the object, so it takes a pretty solid will to fight it down to a price you're willing to pay. We got better at it as the day progressed. We ate at a delish international restaurant, then headed back home. It was an exhausting day, but felt good to try something new. And we had finished a lot of our shopping.

Pretty awesome

Sunday we got up and decided we were going to find the elusive Shenzhen Bay. We'd seen it from the ferry, and everybody talks about this wonderful running/biking path and park along the water. It's supposed to stretch for 10k, and be super nice. With limited map help, we set out to walk there and found it was only 2.5k from our door. So we went for an easy jog along the water, stopped to play and have a snack, then Donnie wanted to go back to Luohu. We managed to flag a cab down and spent the afternoon in Luohu again! Not my first choice of Sunday activities, but we managed to finish the rest of our Chinese-bought presents.

Gotta catch up with them!

Silly guys, ;)

The rest of this week has been uneventful, except for two things. One, we won again at quiz night! So now we have a stack of prizes to use next week at the quiz. And two, Paul had his Winter Concert at school today. Our director let us leave to go watch it, which I was nervous about because Paul has been a little moody this week. I was afraid he would cry straight through it. When he went up for the 3's concert, he was spunky and funny with his friend Connor, but he lost it in the group finale. He cried the entire song. I felt bad for him and when it was over comforted him, but I knew he wouldn't last the rest of the day at school. So luckily our ayi, Amy came to pick him up and took him home for a nap. Hopefully he's in better spirits when I get home today.

Paul and Connor

Other than that, I hope this week goes by super fast and I will try to post before we leave, but if not, the next post might be from Germany! :)

Love to all.

Giving Thanks

So although these past few weeks I've been struggling through culture shock, I took the time this week to write down the things I am thankful for in my life right now. Thanksgiving is not celebrated here, so we did not have the days off to do our own full-blown celebration. However there is much in life to appreciate, so here they are:

1. Donnie and Paul. These guys are the greatest. Together they are my family and they make me smile and laugh everyday. I feel so lucky to be a part of this family as mom and wife.
2. Friends and family (you know who you are). These people are my rocks when I lose my way, they are love and I am so blessed to have such love in my life. I've learned so many life lessons and shared so many memories from them. Some of them are thousands of miles away, but are closer to my heart than ever. There is never a moment that passes when they are not on my mind. I wish we were physically closer, but I couldn't ask for a better family with friends included.
3. My job. Everyday I look forward to coming to work. It is such a refreshing change to the last few years. Our school organization supports us and is giving both Donnie and I opportunities to grow our craft, both in teaching and technology.
4. Travel. I am so lucky to be in a situation where travel is easy and encouraged. We have the means to go places I never dreamed of seeing, and places I know I love. Munich is on the horizon, and the Philippines after that. I look forward to our continued adventures as a family.
5. New experiences, including living in this crazy city. Before I left I was craving city life. I wanted walking access to everything I need. I have that here, even if at times it seems extreme and difficult. I know I will look back on this time and remember it fondly. New foods, new friends, new places to see, new language, new viewpoints. It's all new and I struggle now, but I know it takes time.
6. Cooler weather. Everything is easier to manage when it's a little cooler. ;)

So I am seriously missing everybody back home, big turkey dinners with stuffing, and warm kitchens on cold days. But I know my life is good. I know I am loved and safe and healthy, and the same can be said for those I love. Happy Thanksgiving and love to all in the world. <3

An Adventure in Dafen

I can't remember the date of my last post, maybe Tuesday or Wednesday after we got back from Disneyland. Like I said last time I was exhausted, and I think it finally overtook me on Friday when I felt absolutely the most homesick I have since we left SA. Luckily there was a distraction coming Saturday morning in the form of an adventure.

Dafen

Not crowded, yay!

A week or two prior, our friends Zack and Honey had invited us to join them to go out to an artist village called Dafen. (That also happens to be the metro stop.) So we decided to go for it, and early Saturday morning we met them at the Metro to take the trip out there. It's not a short ride, a little over an hour, and it gets crowded the closer you get. It takes about as long to get there as it does to get to central HK by ferry. But anyway, it was early, clear and almost cool, and we were ready to explore. Paul was in good spirits, too!

Any art you can imagine

As we entered the village, which is more like an area like Incheon in Seoul than a village, there is art everywhere!! It is where art is mass produced for most of the world, so it's pretty cheap, and all hand made. You can find high-end original art, or cheap knockoffs of famous prints, but they are all made by hand in that village. Honey and Zack were on their third visit to Dafen, this time to collect a painting they had commissioned. Yes, commissioned. You can bring any photograph or picture of art or calendar page, or even just an idea in your head, and they will make it for you. It's not expensive, and the product is beautiful. So if anybody needs a canvas of a favorite piece, let me know! I can get it depending on the size for less than $100 USD.

Paul and I watched this guy for a while.

We spent the day wandering through alleys of art and mulling over what to buy. We took a break at a nearby McDonald's, which was surprisingly the only restaurant we could find, and discussed the options we had to buy. I had seen this gorgeous skyline oil painting of HK, and it looked like it would be perfect for over our couch. So I talked Donnie into it. 

After lunch, Paul fell asleep in his stroller, and the bargaining began. It is a pretty long process, which included calling the artist, but eventually we were able to come to an agreement and purchased the painting for 1600RMB (about 220 USD), Donnie really liked one of the other pieces, so we bargained for that and got them both. It was a success. So much so that Donnie wanted to look at another more expensive gallery at a painting that had caught our eyes. It was a massive, green abstract of a mountain with little specs that look like trees and people climbing up the winding path. It was more expensive, and much larger than we had wanted to get, but we felt like it will be a piece that will be with us for the rest of our lives.

Now, thus far it has been a pleasant day shopping for art. Zack and Honey have some pieces, we have a sleeping child in a stroller, and have just procured three sizable paintings. Looking back, we should have just asked the galleries to deliver us, or arrange a ride for us home, but our language is not that great and hindsight is 20/20. 

Instead, we hauled our paintings up to the subway, then on the subway including a switch and then, when we returned to Shekou, we got on a bus and finally carried them home from there. It must have been hilarious. Three of us struggling with paintings in and out of trains and buses and Zack pushing a sleeping Paul around the metro stations. Luckily, he slept for the whole ride. We couldn't have done it with out them, and I will be forever grateful.

When we arrived home, Donnie rushed off to the store to purchase hanging devices, and returned ready to make our apartment a gallery. He hung all three paintings beautifully. Then, one by one, the fell. We had been trying to be conscientious of our landlord and using stick on hooks, but apparently they were not strong enough. It was a horrible disaster, and to top it all off, one of them fell and broke the internet cable. *sigh* We went from super pleased, to mostly annoyed and frustrated. After having dinner and drinks with Zack and Honey to thank them for their unending assistance, we went to bed with our lovely art sitting on the floor.

On the metro home

We woke up Sunday with spirits still sunk, but pulled ourselves together enough to go out to Ikea/Metro/B&Q to get some supplies for the week and to hang our art once and for all. Luckily, it was a success, and the internet repairman told us it was just the cable, so all was back to normal. In fact, better than normal. It was beautiful. 

So worth it.

But, just so you know if you come visit. Firstly, bring a picture of art you'd like to have, it's a really cool thing to get done. Secondly, only buy what you can carry. I'm not as nice as Zack or Honey. ;)

Yay Art!