Guest Blog #2 - Mark's Parents

We survived another day and are enjoying it all. Last night we sat at one of Mark and Tina's favorite bars, enjoyed a drink and watched the sun set.


Then we headed over to Temptations for dinner. The owners know Mark and Tina very well and prepared a special meal for us. Mark and Tina put in their request for certain foods and it was excellent. Mark said it was to be our last "Western style meal". The dessert was fruit we had picked up at the market earlier in the day. There were some funny looking ones that even Mark/Tina didn't know what they were, but they were delicious. They also prepared a wonderful lemon tart which is most unusual in China as the Chinese like sweet tastes, not sour.

This afternoon we went to the Xiamen University and then the Nanputuo Temple. Tina has been there with each visitor and they all have climbed to the top of the rocks behind the temple. Mark has always been at work so this was his first visit. Guess what??? We didn't make it to the top. Too tired! It is a very ornate temple and there are inscriptions on the rocks as you climb up. Very beautiful scenery.

Some of the Chinese people giggle and say Hello. They want to take their picture with you, the foreigner. Charlie was happy to pose with them.

This picture was taken as we walked back home from the Temple. The picture will be appreciated by Charlie's Dad and brother. The cross bars say "Caution" "Fire Car" (literal translation for train).



It was night when we got back to Mark & Tina's neighborhood. People were out in the streets and the neon lights made us think about NYC's Time Square or Las Vegas.



Dinner was definitely Chinese and Charlie did not eat much. I think he may get use to it in time. We hope so or he will be stopping at McDonald's a lot. We are finding using chop sticks to be easier then at home, if only because at home you give up and ask for forks. Here if you want to eat, you quickly learn how to manage them.

Guest Blog #1 - Mark's Parents

Well, we arrived, tired but happy to see Mark and Tina's smiling faces at the airport. It was a long day with an hour and a half delay with the final flight. We were so tired that even the guest room bed with the hard mattress was wonderful.

This morning we had a "western breakfast" at one of the local spots but even with the English menu Charlie and Mark did not get what they ordered. We were too hungry to care. . . it was better than the airplane food.

We just returned from walking around the market with its fresh meat, vegetables, fruit, DVDs. Charlie got a haircut and the guys got their shoes shined. They had to barter the price on the shoe shine. The senses really wake up in the marketplace; not all are necessarily pleasant but Mark and Tina say the fruits all taste great. We bought some to try later.

China Earthquake Relief

With all of the news of the earthquake and the daily updates that the devestation is much worse then everone originally thought and hoped for, we have now added a link on the side for those of you that wish to provide some help.

Seeing as we can't get into our site from within China, becasue we use blogger which is blocked here, we aren't sure if the link is loaded up properly; let us know if it doesn't work well. The side link will take you to another site that list options for donating, the link for the Red Cross Society of China, is often too busy to connect straight through. That's one thing that is really nice to see, the outpouring of help and support from everyone, within China and from the rest of the world.

We also appreciate all of the calls and e-mails of concern that we received from all of you. As we wrote on the base of our one post we didn't feel anything, but since then we have talked to some people here that were in high rises here in Xiamen and they did notice the buildings swaying....

Birthday Weekend....

Ah, so one of the reasons that we were babysitting Siew's kids on Saturday was so that she could prepare to have a birthday for Daniel on Sunday. When we took the kids back to Temptations on Saturday evening Siew was working on finishing up his birthday cake.

She had a cake made and was making animals to decorate it, so that it would be some sort of barnyard or zoo theme...

Little pig.

So, of course Tina and I sat there to keep her company, and once we got into the wine I decided that I too could help and make some animals for the cake.

The final cake

I helped by adding the crocodile, giraffe, snake, and the monkey hanging on the side to the cake. I think that helped to round out the pigs, bears, and elephants quite nicely.

So then on Sunday morning, since construction gets us up bright and early anyway, we had a nice relaxing breakfast before heading over to the fun of a four year-olds birthday party. We got there shortly after 11:00 and it was already in full swing with lots of screaming kids playing and running all around.

The lone surviving pig, he didn't last too long after this photo...

It sure seemed like all the kids had a good time, there were snacks, the cake and even a pinata. And for us, the real reason that we came, Siew made us some more of the lemon tart that she had made when we had Tina's birthday party. It was once again excellent...

A sound I would rather not hear..

On Saturday while we were entertaining Ben and Daniel at lunch, we heard this noise that sounded like the old air raid siren used to hear when we were children. Mark and I both had this puzzled look on our faces while the kids stopped eating and covered their ears.

Now, we knew we weren't going to war or so we believed, but for the life of us couldn't figure out why the Chinese were trying to make us deaf. Is it practice? Was someone invading? Where we suppose to go to the shelters? Are the Chinese practicing for future engagement? If this was a warning, the Chinese didn't seem to care so we figure we didn't need to worry either. Everyone would occasionally look out to see if they could determine why this was happening, but most pedestrians kept walking without a care.


I remember as a child we would periodically hear this and we were told to hide under our desks when we heard this sound. Now that I look back, it doesn't appear to be the best advice I have ever received.


It was loud enough that I could barely hear Ben asking questions sitting next to me.


We heard later it was to commemorate 70 years since the Japanese invasion of Xiamen. The Japanese actually occupied Xiamen from 1938 until the end of WWII in 1945.