Thanksgiving in Shanghai

Shanghai is awesome! We had a great time and really look forward to going back. The city is busy and bustling although in many ways Paul and I agreed that is reminded us both of Houston in some ways. We arrived in Shanghai about 8:15 local time and had an hour taxi ride to the hotel in the city. The best part of the taxi ride was when the driver started the meter a little "ding, ding, ding" came on followed by a lady with a British accent saying, "Welcome to take my taxi." Too funny! The taxi drivers in Shanghai all sit behind a plexiglass wall deal. Not sure why as there does not seem to be a major need for it, but it did make paying, showing the map, and comunicating more difficult. The hotel where we stayed was really great too. It was located right in town and made walking places quite easy. It was like an little apartment with a living area, small kitchen space, and a bedroom with a bath. It was really cool. So here we were in a great hotel, in a bustling city that is located in communist China.....it was hard to believe. Our room was on the top floor of the hotel which made the view really nice. JoAnn and I rested while Paul and Tim went on an adventure to find food. Imagine that!

All four mornings we had breakfast at the hotel. It was good, but not great. This first day we just walked around most of the day looking around and taking in the city. Paul and I bought tickets to see the Chinese acrobats later that evening, but until then we just wandered. We walked through People's Square and then through a park. Here is where Paul got chatted up by some Chinese Nationals. It was wild. Then we found a Chinese restaurant for lunch. We ordered all sorts of dumplings. We had BBQ steamed pork buns, shrimp dumplings, shrimp and veg, sesame ones, some chicken spring rolls, and Paul and Tim tried some chicken feet. The dumplings were good. My favorite were the BBQ steamed pork buns. Tim and JoAnn were headed to a cooking class and Paul and I had lots of time before we had to make our way to the theater. We got an hour long foot massage at a little shop we found. It was awesome and ONLY cost $4 for each of us. Yes, that is correct $4 US for an hour foot massage. It was so great! After the massage Paul and I had dinner at a little Italian place we found that made home made pasta. YUM! It was the best Italian. Paul and I ordered carpaccio, gnocchi with spinach and ricotta, and some cheese ravioli. It was delicious! We wanted to order dessert too, but ran out of time. Off to the acrobats! The show was good. They are quite talented although I feel as if my standard has been set quite high after seeing two Cirque du Soleil shows. It was fun though and cultural too. Paul and I opted to walk the 16 blocks home to the hotel after the show. The weather was gorgeous there. Cool and comfortable.

Friday morning after breakfast we made our way to the Science and Technology Museum. We took the subway there and then went shopping. One of the parents in my classroom had told us about this market that is underneath the museum. We went for it and it was quite the experience to say the least. Loads of people saying, "Hello. Watch, Bag?" and pushing into you. Not much fun after a while. It got to the point that JoAnn was saying, "Watch, Bag?" right back at them which made us all laugh. We did make some purchases, but in China you must bargain. The initial price they offer is WAY too much to pay. You usually counter-offer with at least half or 75% less than the price they give you. If they say no you attempt to walk out of the store and they will beg and plead and then take your offer. It is quite the experience. Paul decided that he loved it, so I would let him do all the wheeling and dealing. I got a cashmere scarf, we each got North Face jackets and some video games. Wild stuff I tell you. If you go to China you must go shopping at least once if not more. It is fun and quite the ordeal. We took a break for coffee and steamed pork buns. Then we walked to the Bund area for afternoon tea. That was fun too. Free Flow tea and all the little snackey like food you can eat. I had many little bowls, plates, adn cups of little bits. After tea we hiked back to the hotel for a rest before dinner. JoAnn and Paul played video games while I rested with a little nap. Tim watched TV. We took Tim and JoAnn to the Italian restaurant from the night before. Yum Yum Yum! Paul and I ordered tiramisu for dessert this time. It was delicious.

Saturday we had a light snack for breakfast and made our way to the City Diner for breakfast. It was really cool. A 24 hour diner and the food is great and they also had free wifi. We came to the conclusion that if we lived in Shanghai this place would be one of Paul's regular hang outs for work. :) Paul and I meandered through a English book store after breakfast and then we all went to the City Shop grocery store. We all walked up and down each aisle checking out what they had, what we might need or want, and what we would want to bring back with us. Paul and I did not get much--Splenda and an Izzi for me. No Izzi in Korea. It was really great. We took a taxi back to the hotel and rested again. We all sat around and I even took another nap. After resting we headed for the Old Town and Yuyuan Garden. That was really interesting. This area is what I had expected to see in China---lots of people, small spaces, very old looking and traditionally Chinese stuff. Old Town is lots of shops and pushy people selling their goods that still say, "Hello. Watch, Bags, DVDs?" It is really interesting. We made our way through to the garden where Paul and I took tons of pictures. The place is beautiful and peaceful. After leaving the garden, Paul and I got a silk, embroidered picture of summer. It is traditionally Chinese but really cool. After that we got in a taxi to go back to the hotel. We had pork steamed buns at this little hole-in-the-wall kind of place called "Happy Together". It was really good and SUPER cheap. For all four of us, it was only $10 US. We went back to the hotel to hang out again before going to dinner at a Szechuan restaurant that Tim read about it. That was incredible! We had dumplings and three different dishes of food. I stayed with the dumplings, but Paul, Tim and JoAnn ate duck, scallops and beef. The restaurant was all white with blue lights. They had a big reflection like pool that had small fish bowls on the surface. The best part for me was dessert. Deep fried bananas in caramel sauce. When the lady brought them to the table they were hot and gooey then she would take small bits with chopsticks and dip the piece into cold water where the caramel would harden. It was yummy good.

Sunday we got up, had breakfast, and then packed up our stuff. The last event of the trip was to take the Magnetic Elevated Train to the airport. We took a taxi to the MagLev station and then boarded the train when it arrived. It works on magnets and at top speed travels at 431 km/h. It was crazy. It took only 7 minutes and 21 seconds to get from the station to the airport. It was not as smooth of a ride as I thought it would be, but I have been in a train that travels REALLY fast so that is what matters.

Check out all our pics from the trip to in the My Photos section. :)

sunday, sunday....

it is sunday...i have been sickly with sinuses for the last three days or so. i am feeling better, but still not 100%. life has been really busy here.

school is good. we had report cards due, then the 4th grade classes moved into new classrooms where we will stay for good, then parent conferences and overseas ordering. top that all off with the fact i have been battling allergy/sinus yuck and it makes a great combination for productivity. :) school is going well for the most part. just that time of year when you are still climbing up hill. with all the uncertainty of moving and such i have had to reteach some beginning of the year type lessons about behavior so that has been redundant but necessary. i am glad that we are done moving and can finally settle into a home. once this week is over things should move much more quickly as there will only be three weeks until the christmas break. my kids are great and i really enjoy going to work. we have our thanksgiving feast on wednesday and i am excited about that. this will be the only turkey and such that i get this year.

paul and i are enjoying being married and living in korea. just yesterday we were sitting in a coffee shop and thinking that life is pretty good. we both like living here and are in the process of making our apartment more homey feeling. just last night we were moving furniture around and making decisions about where stuff should go. we are thinking that we are going to have some wallpaper put up. it looks like raw concrete which is cool and artsy. i am hoping it helps make the place feel less institutional and more like ours. the office is better too. we moved the desk again and made some organizational changes which is helpful. at the moment our apartment looks like wreck, but this evening we are going to work on it some more.

the cats are happy as ever. they love their leopard print beds especially since the weather has cooled off significantly this week. today the high is 36 but currently is only 31. paul and i love the chilly weather. sam and india are definitely not at their skinniest but they seem to be happy which is important.

this week we have only a three day week for the thanksgiving holiday on thursday and friday. paul and i with another couple are headed to Shanghai, China Wednesday night for the long weekend. it should be fun and exciting. i have not been to the mainland of china yet, so i hope to take lots of pics while we are there. paul and i are both packing light so we can get some goodies when we are there. then three weeks after that we are headed down under for the christmas holiday. we are going to Melbourne, Australia for three weeks. we are doing a house swap with a couple that two adopted children from korea. they like to come back every 12-18 months for a visit, but find the most expensive part is the accomodations. so they have connections with the school and had the offer posted on the our community web site. so here we are..............having christmas in the summer! it should be loads of fun!

i am off to rest some more. i would love to hear from you all and hear what is going on with you in your life.

my hubby is on the web ....

and famous........check out this link on the site for the work of the people....so crazy!

http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/index.php?ct=store.details&pid=V00455

it's paul!

every morning at 6:00am....

so katie sent us this video which is totally our life.....good thing we don't own any sports gear. enjoy! we loved watching it and laughed the whole time. gosh we love our cats, sam and india!

dinner adventure...

on the way back to the coffee shop from the art market paul and i wandered up and down many little streets and looked at all sorts of shops, restaurants, and such as we went. paul found an italian restaurant that he had seen online while during his research. we ended up working most of the afternoon and early evening at the same coffee shop. i had another iced peppermint tea and a super duper yummy ceasar salad. it began to rain while we were there along with thunder and lightning too. at about 6pm when there was a break in the weather we decided to pack up and get some dinner. we went back to the little italian place that we had found. it is a really cute little place. it is almost like a house and reminded me a lot of the star pizza on shepherd. paul got pasta and i got margarita pizza. both were yummy and had great prices. today was a great day! paul and i had fun exploring the hongdae area and just hanging out. now we are at home and paul is watching "sunday night football" on the TV. we think it was last week's game, but who knows. the part that i like is that john madden is commentating which reminds me of home. silly, i know. the little things you don't realize that can remind you of home. hee hee!

the weekend....

it's sunday afternoon and paul and i have thoroughly enjoyed the weekend. yesterday we were homebodies all day. i don't think paul liked it as much as i did, but he obliged. we slept in and then just hung out at the apartment in our PJ's all day. it was fabulous! we watched many episodes of west wing and also stayed up late. it was a nice day.

this morning we slept in again, but decided to venture out for brunch and a working spot. paul did some online research for places to eat in hongdae. hongdae is the area in front of hongik university which is the cool art school in seoul that is near us. we took the subway here although it does not take that long to walk. paul found a neat little waffle/pancake place that was way cool to have brunch at. it is tucked away in an alley and we would have never found it had paul not done research. it was yummy though. i had a d'avant waffle that came with fresh fruit and syrup. paul had a waffle with egg, tomato, and bacon on it. both were really yummy and the atmosphere was cool too. i really love this part of town b/c it is ecclectic and artsy. reminds me of the montrose/museum area that we used to live in when in houston. after brunch we went to the hongdae art open air market in the park. it is small, but i am sure most of the folks there are students or just local artists. i love going. i can always find something nifty and the prices are good since they are students or "little people" (my tag name is local artists that are not the big time). i got some cool photo cards from this one girl who i loved her work and idea. all the cards i bought are photos from the bamboo forest i have been to in the southern part of korea. i want to frame the cards and use them to decorate with. i also got a card for a friend too. she has some great work! paul got a painted hat like i have from there, but his hat is grey with a red fish like design on it. very cool. i also did some christmas shopping there too.

now we are in this cool little coffe shop/cafe in hongdae working. i am updating blog, responding to emails, and doing other odds and ends. i also need to watch the most recent episode of private practice and grey's anatomy. paul is drinking a caffe latte and i am having an iced peppermint tea. so fun! the life we have in seoul............

turning over a new leaf.....

as of yesterday (monday) i am being more aware of how i treat my body........

i started journaling everything i eat and also started walking in the mornings. the alarm clock goes off at 5:45 am and i am on the field walking laps at 6:04ish. i started this week just walking 20 minutes. the hardest part is not the walking, but getting out of bed. ugh! it has been good though. the weather has cooled off too which can be a reason to stay under the warm covers, but i have not caved in yet even though paul is lying there all snuggly warm when i get up. that is so hard. the best part is even though the alarm goes off paul usually sleeps through hitting the snooze button. he really can sleep through almost anything. this morning he asked me if he had turned off the alarm, and i told him he had. too funny.

so far i have been mindful of the food intake. on sunday to help the cause i made the first loaf of whole wheat bread in our breadmaker. oh my it is absolutely yummy! i do think everyone should get one and make bread all the time. it is so easy----dump in the ingredients and hit the start button. approximately 4 hours or so later you have a yummy loaf of bread. gosh it is sooo good. i was really thrilled about eating my lunch today b/c of the bread.

i would ask for prayers to stay with the new leaf. i know it is hard and i get discouraged easily. paul has been a great support so far. he made fun of me today for eating my lovely sandwich while he ate thai at a restaurant. :)

highlights....

so this past week was an up and down. for the most part things were good. i was really tired most of the week which made everything else a little more sensitive. we did not do much during the week. we had pizza this week which is my favorite.....YUM! thursday evening joann and i played a mean game of scrabble. it was a lot of fun and i royally kicked her bum. my highest score ever--303! it was so fun! my great play got me 51 points....thank goodness for being able to add an "s" to the end and play off that word too. woo hoo! paul went out to dinner with the guys on thursday night and tried a mandu place in yonhi-dong. he loved it and had fun. friday night paul and i went on a date to itaewon for italian. that was nice. we felt like all our time lately had been busy and no QT with each other. we had fun even though the restaurant was just ok.

on saturday, leslie, jen, paul, and i went on the USO tour of the DMZ. this was really interesting. we had to wake up REALLY early since we had to be at the USO for 7am. ugh! we left our apartment at 6am. it was crazy early. it took about an hour to get to the area near the DMZ and then we went to the joint security area where the UN security command is. this is where the north and south meet face to face and share a space. we went to the "freedom house" and then into the MAC building which is where the "talks" are held. the building is half on the south side and half on the north side. the MDL (military demarcation line) runs through the middle of the building. the MDL is the actual line divinding the north and south. the DMZ is the area on both sides. it is wild. we only saw one north korean soldier who was standing outside their building on the other side. the tour here at the JSA was led by a US Army Sargeant. i will share more details in a blog just for the trip. i took loads of pics so i will upload those soon too.

in the afternoon paul and i rested after the long day of touring and history. today we slept late and went to lunch with friends for indian and then the boys went for coffee and the girls went to the store and home. when i got home i made a dessert---chocolate pecan pie bars---to take to buffie's for dinner. she was making a turkey dinner with all the fixings. it was sooo good. i brought the bars to make up for the pecan pie factor. :) i also made my first loaf of whoel wheat bread in the breadmaker. it smells really good, but i have yet to cut into it. i am waiting until tomorrow.

i have been watching grey's anatomy and private practice! it is such a great highlight of my week. paul and i are also watching episodes of west wing. west wing has joined my list of favorite TV shows. we are almost finished with season one. such great TV!

school is going well. the 4th grade is waiting to move into the newest part of the elemntary building. it is moving right along, but we are not sure of the final moving date. the last date we were told was oct. 20th, but i am not sure if that is still the case. last week was korea week so the week was pretty hectic and from the teacher's point of view not very productive. we did get things done just had many interruptions throughout due to activities planned. the kids saw traditional korean dance, made korean pottery, saw a tae kwon do demonstration, listened to story telling, dressed up in their hanboks, and enjoyed korean games and snacks. it was fun.

i think the highlight of the week was on tuesday when we had a visit from a blackhawk helicopter pilot, captain mcray. his wife is interning with the counselor in the ES and he had come up to school to visit with their daughter. i had mentioned before how cool it would be for him to come talk to the class. i mean how often do you get to meet a helicopter pilot? so tuesday he dropped by and he even brought a video from their mission to pakistan to help with the earthquake in 2005. it was incredible. after the video, he spent at least thirty minutes talking to my kids and answering their questions. it was awesome! he also signed autographs too. the kids were thrilled. i am not sure who was more excited the kids or me.

the update....

since my last blog on sept. 11th a lot has happened.....

paul came back from his two week trip to san francisco for work, we saw the movie bourne ultimatum, celebrated my 30th birthday out with friends for dinner at the wood and brick, had a week off for chu-sok break (korean thanksgiving), went to lotte world, ate a picnic lunch at gyeongbuk palace, watched the seasons premiere of grey's anatomy with friends and a celebratory brownie cake, watched the new private practice premiere, attended some really great techonology inservices at school, had an evaluation observation from my principal, ate indian food 4 times, ate dinner with friends, slept in, and spent the day with paul at seven monkeys coffee shop in edae reading my book while he worked.

i know that i have been out of touch, but i am trying to find a solution. please be patient with me and i am going to be better about posting blogs more regularly too.

me so happy......

i came home from school today and downloaded the new grey's anatomy soundtrack from season 3. OMG! it was released on sept. 11th. i have had it marked on the calendar and just have been waiting to download from itunes. woo hoo! grey's is the best and i am totally addicted. as i type i am listening to all three seasons of music in my grey's playlist on shuffle....life is good. on volume 2 there is an acoustic live version of the sno patrol song--chasing cars! so amazing!

just a plug in case you are not up on the grey's---season 4 begins on sept. 27th and then private practice (the spin off) begins sept. 26th. i am counting that down too. woo hoo......whole weekend of my favorite characters!

the morning routine....

each morning i get up around 6:30ish and the first i do is feed the kitties. otherwise they would get very upset with me. :) then i make breakfast for myself and come back to the desk to sit down in front of my computer. i check emails, read blogs, sometimes get in a phone call on skype, eat, and "check in" for the morning. usually about 7ish i get up to take a shower and get ready for school. i sometimes make a lunch, but it doesn't look it will happen today. then i am out the door for another day at school. my long 5 minute commute to my classroom is killer (just kidding!). another day at school commences.........

it's already sunday???

just where does the time go? i feel like the weekends keep getting shorter and shorter. i vote for three day weekends from now on....anyone with me?

saturday i took the day to rest. i slept in and proceeded to sleep intermittenly through out the entire day. i fed the cats at 6:45 am, went back to bed, ate breakfast at 10:30 am, then read my book and took a nap, 2:15ish i had leftover curry for lunch, then read some more and napped again, then was up at 4:30ish to make butterscotch bars and take a shower. what a day! it was good to rest. jen came over at 5:30ish to hang out and stay the night. we had frozen pizza for dinner and then went to a wine gathering at joann's at 7:30ish. came home at 10ish to play wizard (a card game) with buffie, leslie, jen, joann, and myself. then jen and i attempted to play scrabble which was not going well at all. we finally quit and went to bed about midnight. what a great day!

today jen and i got up at 10:15ish and had breakfast. we then watched some really silly TV and took showers. out and about we headed to go to seodaemun prison and independance park. it was good. a low key touristy kind of day with out lots of people or crowds. i have uploaded more pics from today and other randomness.

now i am resting at home trying to rehydrate myself. i feel like no matter how much water i drink it is never enough. gosh you gotta love the heat and humidity. :)

it's Friday....

this week has really moved slow. i am glad it's friday. it also means that i get to have indian tonight with friends. we have nicknamed ourselves the "curry crew". we go every friday to a great little place in hongdae (near the art school--hongik univ.). after dinner i get to visit the golden retriever dog that i love which has not been at the shop the last two times i have dropped by. i hope she is there tonight. :)

YEAH FOR INDIAN!!! :)

only......

169 more hours until i can hug my hubby............woo hoo!!!!

PHOTOS, PICS, PICTURES, SNAPSHOTS.....

whatever you call them I have posted some more......click on the link "My Photos" at right.......

Korean Marketing at its best.....

Leslie and I went on a mini-adventure today after school to the local grocery store, Sahruga. We had a coffee at a shop near there first, then made our way to the store for some groceries. The main purchase I had to make was cat food and litter. The cats were yelping from starvation when I got home from school. So pathetic they are sometimes. Anyhow, we were walking up and down each aisle as usual when we came upon this coffee that had this neat tall glass coffee mug attached. Leslie and I both were intrigued. We picked it up and checked it out. The mug even has measurements on the side and a cool plastic lid. What a deal. So yes, we bought it and got some coffee too. It's instant coffee so who knows if it will be good or not, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that we both now have cool glass coffee mugs to drink refreshing java from. :) I love the way they market to folks here.....so smart. Here is a photo of my purchase.....

sans hubby

on wednesday of this past week paul learned that he had to go to san francisco for work. thankfully it was a day that i had many specials and a long break time in the morning. i came home around 9:15 and at 10 it was verified that he was going. 10:15 a flight was booked and at 11:15 he walked down the hill to catch the bus to the airport to get on a 2:30 flight to san francisco. the highlight for him was that he got to fly business class at the company's expense....so fun! he thought it was great.....good food and seats. what more can i guy ask for??? although it was sad to learn that he was going to be gone for 2 weeks, it is also a good time for him to be away. the beginning of the year is always absolute chaos. while he is gone i am going to work like mad to get to a manageable point so that when he returns there will be less staying at work late. although disappointing at first, it is also a blessing. i do miss him terribly and found this weekend at the faculty retreat to be kind of lonely. i did have leslie to keep me company though which was fun! it rained all weekend though so the beach wasn't that much fun. i did some reading and resting which is always needed. so i have 11 more days of soloness before paul returns. a day which i am looking forward to..........

small joys.....

so last monday i was getting ready for school and preparing breakfast for myself. my default breakfast is a bowl of cereal with dried cherries sprinkled on top. each monday morning paul and i receive a milk delivery. we get 1.8 liters each monday morning. it is so fun to open the door and see new milk sitting on the porch waiting to come in. such a nice morning to get fresh milk for the week. one of the loves i have for korea.........milk delivery.

photos...

i just uploaded lots of pics from last year, this summer, and since returning to korea....check them out by clicking on the link to the right---"my photos"



hope you enjoy...........new post coming soon!

two weeks later.....

hi friends! i know it has been what seems like ages since i last made a post to my blog. things have been absolute madness since i last updated things in the blog world. the first week since has been a blur and looking back at the calendar cound not really recall anything super duper exciting to report. sad i know. week #2 brought me back to work as the full faculty orientation began on august 13th. pretty much since then it has been full on school. paul has been such great husband putting up with my overly tired, whiney self. he has made dinner on more than one occasion. he is really into experimenting in the kitchen. :) he makes me so proud.

i made it through the first two days of school which is a good sign. i do have to say that this year feels MUCH better than the beginning of last. what a difference a year can make. this time it did not feel like the blind leading the blind. i actually felt quite on top of things which was refreshing although even when you feel that way there is still a to do list a million miles long floating in the back of the mind. the life of a teacher. my class seems really sweet so far, but i am sure i have to yet to see their "true colors". i definitely have some unique personalities, but i think it will make for a good mix. we have spent the first two days getting to know each other and creating our community constitution. i am excited about this year and have many mini goals set for myself about how i would like to do things, handle things, and teach.

the nicest surprise on day one was the amount of my formerr students that really did come by to see me. many offered hugs, others offered smiles. it really warmed my heart and made my day. they all have seemed to grow a bit over the summer and look more like 5th graders than my sweeties from the 4th grade. so fun! i even had two of them come by after school to hang out for a little while. it was nice to see them. even today i have to make several stops in the hallway for hugs and conversation. gosh, i love kids!

miss foster, mrs. f, mrs. falgout----the many names that i hear all day long. i know that technically my name has changed, but i do think it may take a bit longer for the kids to adjust. i still hear miss foster in the hall often. then my new kids call me mrs. f or mrs. falgout......which is really unusual still. it was weird feeling at new students orientation to introduce myself as mandy falgout. i did hear that there was quite the buzz in the lobby because they wanted to know where miss foster had gone. many kids were confused and thought mrs. falgout was a new teacher. it all came clear when they saw me. so fun to be the talk of the halls!

i am glad it is friday and hope to get some rest. it has been a hard week and i am sure next week will be killer since it is the first full week with kiddos. pray that i can manage to not worry too much, not be anxious, and to relieve my frustrations and burdens to God. it definitely has been a time of blessing to be back at school. i have realized how blessed that paul and i are to have each other and to continue to share our lives together. i am thankful each morning that i am alive and healthy.