Kill a Chicken to Scare the Monkeys

So the title has nothing to do with the theme of the blog entry, but was a saying I heard in my management meeting today. It is apparently a very famous Chinese saying, and has something to do with giving a strong message to the employees, but it just made me giggle.

Anyway, the real theme of this entry is two of our favorite things, visitors and vacation!

We had the pleasure of hosting Adam and Lilly for a weekend at the end of last month. They are friends from San Fran, and were visiting China and stopped in Shanghai to visit us. It was great to see them, and Lilly, who's originally from China, put Zach and I to shame with her bargaining skills. We were impressed!

At the beginning of the month, we headed back to the States for a week at the Tomaszewski cottage on Stone Lake. The cottage is in a town that is pretty much the complete opposite of Shanghai, it's small, very green, and not crowded at all. Located in La Porte, Indiana, our trip was highlighted by trips to Dairy Queen and Steak n' Shake, and finding out that the local movie theater prices have actually gone down (!) since our last visit. When was the last time you saw that?? Evening shows are $1.50, and matinees are $1. Our friends Kim and Elizabeth also joined us at the cottage and we spent one morning out blueberry picking. It was fun, but we only lasted about 20 minutes in the summer heat before we called it quits. We will never again take blueberry pickers for granted!

We also spent some time in Flossmoor with my grandparents and they are doing great, and splitting their time between Flossmoor and Florida in the winter. My grandfather just turned 89, can you believe it?

After a week of stuffing ourselves with all our favorite American foods it was time for me to return to Shanghai. Zach spent another week out in California visiting friends and family and ate lots of burritos and his other favorite Californian foods! He also got to spend time with family members, and even walked the Golden Gate Bridge with his grandmother. He could barely keep up!

So now we're settling back into our China lives, and happy to finally be over jet lag. Next weekend is a trip out to Hangzhou with my company. They mentioned something about a water park? I'm sure we will have some interesting pictures and stories to share about that!