Back In The Swing...

Actually I'm back in Shanghai. Sabrina & the kids are still in the States. Just to prove it I'm adding a picture from my office in downtown Puxi (downtown area of Shanghai). You can barely see the Pearl Tower, a Shanghai icon, in the far right of the picture. Today is quite overcast so the view is a bit hazey. This is typical for January as it is a cold wet month...just above freezing and drizzle about every day. I'll take a clear -20 degree day in the midwest in a second compared to this.

I'll head back next week for our annual supplier conference and to bring the family back with me.

I arrived on Saturday night and got a call from a few friends / past co-workers. Jim lives in Shanghai now and Shawn was on business travels. I worked with them at Mercury Marine about 8 years ago. They are both "Wisconsites" and said that they were meeting at Big Bamboo to watch the Packer game (snow bowl). Big's is about the best place to watch a sporting event I am told. So at 6 AM Sunday morning I showered up and caught a taxi and had breakfast while watching the Packers play in a snow storm in Greenbay. All of this from a pub in Shanghai...

Now that we are back in the swing of things - count on blogs on a more routine basis. I apologize to the blog "addicts" out there. Yes, you voiced your opinion over the holidays and I'll be more deligent.

Cheers & a Happy Belated New Year!!

We'll Be Home For Christmas...

First of all - sorry for being delingquent in our blogging...

Sabrina had Christmas music playing the other day and the song"I'll Be Home For Christmas" came on. I listened to this song with a new meaning this time around as we'll be home for Christmas very soon. We leave for the US of A this Wednesday December 12th.

Last evening (Saturday) our housing complex - Bellewood Villas - put on a Christmas party. It was a good time. There are a lot of really nice families in this housing complex and just about all of them have kids - of all ages. Santa paid a visit. All the kids gathered around Santa as he opened his bag and the first present he pulled out was for Caden. This is Caden and Ava's first experience with Santa and Caden was not about to go up and get his present from Santa. Ava was next and was a little more open to receiving her gift. In addition to this there was a ham dinner, various other "fixin's", and deserts. The party was put on so early because most of the residents here in Bellewood will be heading home for an extended time for the holidays.

Anyway, we'll be home soon and hope to see you all while we are back.

Until next time - "Anyone who thinks a husband and wife are created equal, has never seen a husband wrap a gift." :)

Happy Birthday to my wonderful wife, Sabrina - Dec 6th:

Halloween in Shanghai

Today is Halloween in Shanghai and in our little housing development of Bellewood. This is Caden and Ava's first "real" Halloween. Caden is dressed as a giraffe and Ava is a toucan.

The Bellewood staff threw a small Halloween party for all of the kids and some adults. Somehow I don't think Caden and Ava really enjoyed the party as they were very "spooked" by all the people dressed in costumes as you can see by Caden's expression...

After the party the typical "Trick or Treat" started and we swear kids were coming out of the wood work because we ran out of candy just like we did back in our wonderful neighborhood of Copper Creek our first year. Oh well, we know better now...

Until next time...trick or treat!

Pawlenty - Dodgeball ??

Sabrina, I, and a few other ex-pat friends from Minnesota attended a reception for the Governor of Minnesota, Tim Pawlenty in downtown Shanghai this past Friday evening. This was a small reception with about 50 people or so. The Governor and his entourage were on a trade mission to China & India. The reception was held on the roof terrace of a restaurant called -"Element Fresh". The evening was a bit cool but all in all it was a nice event with a very relaxed informal feel. We were able to visit with the Governor on multiple occasions about various topics from the global world we live in to what it is like living and raising twins in China. Just having the opportunity to enjoy a glass of wine or a Tsing Tao (brand of Chinese beer) with the Governor was fun.


Shad, here is your picture.... :) {I think you should be able to click and save the picture if you want it.}

Not my best pose - but neither is it for Pawlenty. After the reception we met up with our new neighbors - the Sagans - at one of our favorite hangouts - Malone's. They just arrived in Shanghai and work for IKEA. They are originally from New Jersey but lived for 8 years in Sweden prior to moving to Shanghai.
And finally Halloween is just around the corner....most of you are familiar with Ben Stiller - correct? Here is a picture from one of his more memorable movies... "Dodgeball".

With a few days more growth...maybe I have a shot at winning the best Halloween contest. (Sabrina was not impressed when I grew this on the long holiday week we had here earlier this month - personally I think it looks kind of like a I should "saddle up" but Dad, I think I'll leave the mustache to you. Love you man!)

Until next time: "Enjoy life, real life..." Frank Sinatra

Port Tour - Korea

This is going to be one of them boring blogs for some of you...

The last thing that a "land locked" guy from North Dakota ever thinks about when he was growing up is a sea port and I did not have much exposure to it as well in the flat lands of the prairie. So when the opportunity presented itself to tour the world's 4th largest port in Busan, Korea I jumped at the chance. Though my job has nothing to do with balancing the trade deficit, my indirect responsibilities do have a bit to do with sending product out of these ports bound for the US of A.
Anyway this port is considered a "deep water" port. The water depth at the vessel "berth" is 16 meters or about 45 ft deep. This will accommodate the world's largest cargo going vessels. These vessels are capable of loading 50,000 tons. To put that in perspective each container (the size of a semi trailer) can weigh up to 40,000 lbs. So technically one cargo ship can haul about 2500 semi trailers.

To be considered an "ant" in this large area among these gigantic cranes & hoists is an understatement. The area of the this port was 647,000 sq meters or about 160 acres.

One other thing I found interesting is all of the cranes are operated on electric power.

These are the containers that I mentioned earlier - they come in 20 foot and 40 foot lengths. You see them all over the highway system in the US.Until next time:

"Victory belongs to the most persevering."
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Yuyuan Gardens

Sabrina and I took some time on Sunday to visit Yuyuan Gardens in Shanghai. This week was a long holiday week and we let Ayi watch the kids so that we could see some "sites", have lunch, and so on. Information about Yuyuan can be found at http://www.yugarden.com.cn/. This garden is located deep in the heart of Shanghai and it is very beautiful. It is centuries old and was built during the time of the Ming Dynasty. The area is quite "touristy" but still very beautiful and we enjoyed the casual time.

Also providing some pictures of the twins. Caden starts baseball next week and Ava has her first dance recital in November.

(just kidding - but they are growing fast.)

"It makes no difference how many peaks you reach if there was no pleasure in the climb." Oprah

What the heck is a "moon cake" anyway?

One of the traditional holidays in China is the Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Cake Festival. I have added a brief review of what this holiday is all about below if you have the time or are interested. Sabrina and I took part in this as we put the kids down to bed, grabbed our moon cake, and sat out on the front porch to eat our cake and watch the moon. We could see the moon off of our front porch big and bright in the sky as you can see in the picture below. The weather and temperature was perfect as well. In the busy and hectic world in which we live it really makes you think about the simpler more important things in life. So the next time you look at a full moon - think about the Moon Cake Festival...

The taste for a moon cake must be an acquired one because neither Sabrina or I were fond of it. The closest thing I can explain it tastes like is a very rich fruit cake. Not our favorite by any means...

Taken from a Google search of "Moon Cake Festival":

The Chinese Moon Festival is on the 15th of the 8th lunar month. It's also known as the Mid-autumn Festival. Chinese culture is deeply imbedded in traditional festivals. Just like Christmas and Thanksgiving in the West, the Moon Festival is one of the most important traditional events for the Chinese.
The Moon Festival is full of legendary stories. Legend says that Chang Er flew to the moon, where she has lived ever since. You might see her dancing on the moon during the Moon Festival. The Moon Festival is also an occasion for family reunions. When the full moon rises, families get together to watch the full moon, eat moon cakes, and sing moon poems. With the full moon, the legend, the family and the poems, you can't help thinking that this is really a perfect world. That is why the Chinese are so fond of the Moon Festival.
The Moon Festival is also a romantic one. A perfect night for the festival is if it is a quiet night without a silk of cloud and with a little mild breeze from the sea. Lovers spend such a romatic night together tasting the delicious moon cake with some wine while watching the full moon. Even for a couple who can't be together, they can still enjoy the night by watching the moon at the same time so it seems that they are together at that hour. A great number of poetry has been devoted to this romantic festival. Hope the Moon Festival will bring you happiness.
The moon cake is the food for the Moon Festival. The Chinese eat the moon cake at night with the full moon in the sky.