We had a fun week celebrating all kinds of exciting things! Kevin's best friend from baseball had his birthday this week, so he came over to celebrate with us on Thursday evening. We had balloons, a bday banner, and even birthday cake! The best part was our dear friend's new interest in talking about things of significance on a deeper level.
Friday morning we took off to a HUGE greenhouse that has acres and acres of plants for sale. We purchased two large ones for our apartment (which is supposed to really help with air quality in your home as far as fighting off the bad elements due to pollution), and was once again amazed and thankful for China prices. It was also fun to see how far we've come in adjusting to life here. About 9 months ago, we went to the same plant place to make some purchases, and the trip was honestly pretty overwhelming! Trying to communicate, bargain, understand how the system works, acquire transportation to get the plants home, and maneuver through a crowd of Chinese people fascinated by our little blondies totally wore us out. But this time, we were able not only to figure out how to get home with our purchases, but were also able to find out if the plants we were getting needed a lot of sun or a little, etc. Kevin and I both agreed that it was nice to have a point of comparison and see that we are moving forward in our transitional phase, albeit slow on some days!
The kids had a blast, in spite of the heat and humidity, because we also discovered a pet area. Let me tell you, there is definitely not an active animal rights group here in Tianjin! The conditions were really pitiful, but the kids had a ball anyway getting to see so many dogs, in particular (with fish, rabbits, cats, and even a turtle thrown in the mix!).
And then Kevin and I had our friend Jennifer babysit on Friday night for us to have a date. For the first time in over 10 months I got to go to a movie theater and watch a real movie (even in English!!)! We had such a fun evening out, and so much of it felt totally "normal!" Now, we did crack up as we walked into the theater and were confronted by several ticket scalpers. After trying to figure out why they were selling us tickets to the movie at a cheaper rate, and being a little skeptical that they were actually selling us what we were wanting to buy, the scalper walked in with us! He then proceeded to usher us to the front of the ticket line and help us purchase our tickets there at the counter! Kevin and I still aren't sure what the relationship is exactly between the scalpers and the box office, but there was definitely an exchange of money going on that everyone was aware of, and we ended up with a cheaper ticket price?!! Oh, and a correction to my earlier entry about the kids going to the movie with Kevin and getting "normal" popcorn. Not so much. It is still one of the sweeter varieties typical of China! But we just thought of it as kettle corn :)
This morning (Saturday) we went to Trash Mountain with a picnic lunch. We hiked around for some time and then found a green hill to race down. The funniest part was Noah, who kept getting totally frustrated and falling down. I realized how infrequently he has gotten to walk in grass, and as a result he had a really hard time keeping his balance! He had no problem letting us know about his displeasure with the whole situation (his lungs I think could set some records. . .).
In about an hour, one of our Chinese friends is meeting us to ride in our three wheeler to a local restaurant and then go to the Tianjin Lions baseball game! Kevin won't be pitching, but we're going to support Lief and the other guys on the team anyway (plus we all just miss good ole' baseball!)! And would you believe that we've FINALLY gotten the team's schedule, but only because Lief wrote it down and passed it on to us? When I asked him about how people were supposed to know if the information wasn't published anywhere (on-line or in print), he seemed a little surprised at my question! He explained that the players would tell their families and then their families would just spread the word! Now keep in mind, we are in a city of approximately 9 million people, so there are a lot more people here than just the team's family members! It reminded Kevin and me of some of our cross-cultural training that dealt with how information is spread. Our western mindset is one way, but we see that the rest of the world does not necessarily follow those rules! So my big question is. . . how many fans will be at the game tonight? Until the next posting. . . :)
