Crocodiles, Iguanas, and Snakes... oh my!

I have some catching up to do, I guess... and I always think of good stuff to say as I'm walking about, but let me see if I can remember half of it now that I'm at the computer.

The past few weeks have been busy for a number of reasons. We are going to a soccer tournament at our old stomping ground next weekend! Kind of crazy that it's there... and I'm a bit surprised that the school is even able to host it again. Rex and Ian ended up being coaches, so Yvonne and I are tagging along to see old students and the two teachers who are left. It should be a good, yet short, reunion.

The fall weather has arrived! We stepped off the plane in Xiamen the day we returned from the Philippines expecting steamy, hot weather. To our amazement it was cool and breezy! We haven't turned our AC on in 3 weeks! Beautiful, clear skies with stars and a moon at night, too... I absolutely love it!

View from our living room couch overlooking the Xiamen harbor.

Halloween was a pretty big celebration at school this past week! Student council did a "spirit week" kind of thing and had different dress up days. This was good for me because I could slip in wearing some jeans and justify it by "having school spirit". Friday was costume day and those little ones ate it up!

Rex dressed up as "Ian" for Halloween... can you guess whom is who?

They did a parade of costumes and the middle school created a haunted house (which was, of course, not very scary, but what can you say? They tried!) We were home-bodies and skipped all the community halloween parties. Instead, we met some friends at the Mexican restaurant and then watched some scary movies that Rex had downloaded. No trick-or-treaters in our apartment complex... or at least not that we were present for!

Cali was a monkey for Halloween... she recently learned how to make this face and would do it for us every time we asked!

Cutie pie!

China is jumping on the bandwagon of western holidays! There were Halloween decorations up all over the place, and there was even a big store set up in one of the malls that sold all kinds of masks, costumes, and paraphernalia! We TRIED to browse through this store, but much like everything popular in China, it was like a blood sport trying to move from one side to the other. Too many people... but always room for one more Chinese!

I pride myself on doing well at figuring out the bus system! So far I know of at least one bus that goes to all major areas we frequent. My goal is to learn the characters of the stops so that I can figure out if other buses go there as well. The more you know, the less time you wait... the more money you save on transportation!

We've started doing a lot of sports on Saturdays. A few times I practiced with the school volleyball teams, which was nice to get back into the swing of volleyball. I discovered that my right shoulder isn't what it used to be and if I try to serve without warming it up for a long time then it feels like I am tearing my shoulder off. Not good... getting too old. We got a group together to play basketball last weekend at the sports complex in town. That was pretty fun and we'll probably make it more of a weekend ritual soon.

This weekend, Rex and Ian hosted a Saturday soccer practice for their boys' team. I went to "play" along with several other teachers and discovered that in order to be anywhere good at soccer I will need to learn some basic ground rules... such as how many people go on the field at once! I am hopeless for anything but a warm body on the field. Fun, nonetheless.

A few people I work with have organized a Saturday baseball practice for anyone who wants to come out... whether they are affiliated with the school or not. They practice each Saturday, but we've only been out once to help. There is a good showing of kids with all levels of skill (mostly basic "what are the names of the positions" kind of skills, but at least they're trying!)

We lost a couple of discus fish from our tank last weekend. I'm sure that part of the risk of buying cheaply in China is that you get what you pay for in more ways than one. Our fish are probably crawling with parasites (discus fish are commonly difficult to keep healthy) and were not super healthy when we got them home. It's been a battle keeping off the ick (fungus) and getting them to be semi-healthy.

Rex has been prepping a tank at school for over a month in hopes of getting a turtle. His dream came true this past week, when we brought Donatello into the family. Donatello is a red-eared slider, so nothing too unique (except that he's now our pet!) As we browsed the pet store where we purchased him, we saw some crazy "only in China" kinds of pets... including a baby crocodile, who wasn't too happy at us for staring at him! There were many tanks of beautiful freshwater stingrays, iguanas, and the most beautiful little yellow tree snakes! I was about to bring home a snake, but the price they quoted me was out of this world... "1500 kwai... hao ma?" said the guy at the register. This translates roughly into "$225 USD... sound good?" It didn't sound so good to me and I told him as much. Did he forget what country we're in? I should have my Chinese friend call and ask about the snake and see if they get quoted something so outrageous! Sheesh! Plus, who knows if it was something venomous or not...

Oh, yeah... for Chinese New Year, I think India has won the vote! We haven't booked yet, but found tickets for $320 per person roundtrip from Guangzhou! This is nothing compared with our friends who cashed in on the Air Asia "free" tickets last year... they bought round trip tickets to BOTH Bali, Indonesia, AND India for a grand total of $400! We'll be pouncing on that special when it comes back around this year... that's for sure!

Did I mention that the small-town-Texas chain restaurant of Dairy Queen has gone international? Look what we found when we went shopping today...

Dairy Queen!!! Bring on the blizzards!

Another good laugh... KFC delivers!