The LaValles in China

Concordia Auction 2011

2011-03-19T22:30:00.001-07:00

Last night we went to Concordia's Gala and auction. It was themed A Parade of Nations. We bought some tickets to parties including a mad scientist party for Callie and breakfast with the elementary school administration. Mark and I also bought tickets to An Arabian Knights Party where a private chef will come and cook for 10 of us Mediterrian food. Everyone looked stunning and we danced for a long time with lots of friends. More pictures to come later.

Character Parade

2011-03-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

This week the elementary school kids at Concordia celebrated book week with many activities. They read 354,000 minutes and got to spend a week with David Biedrzycki author of many children books including Ace Lacewing books. He taught them to write and illustrate. The week ended up with a book parade. Callie dressed up as Glinda the Glitter Fairy.

Plantation Bay, Cebu, Philippines

2011-02-01T05:00:00.000-08:00

Day two of clouds and rain. . . unfortunately, today is more rain than clouds. . . so some tattoos and a night Brazalian show.

Pictures from Alexa's mini-play last night, written by the school teachers

2011-01-27T17:24:00.001-08:00

Year of the Rabbit

2011-01-27T00:00:00.001-08:00

So we are ushering in the old Chinese year of the Tiger and welcoming in the year of the Rabbit. Next Wednesday is the first day of Chinese New Year where all the expats flee China to either ski in Japan or lay on a beach some where. We leave Sunday for Cebu Philipines and cannot wait for warm weather. Today was the school's celebration as they will be out of school next week and kids were encouraged to dress in traditional chinese clothes. Here is Callie in her outfit.

On the way to school

2011-01-24T18:36:00.000-08:00

This is the snow we had last Thursday. It was so pretty and melted on the street so did not cause traffic issues. The extra child is our neighbor Peter who walked with us to the bus.

New Beds for the Girls

2011-01-24T00:36:00.000-08:00

So the girls have never had new beds. They always slept in used beds. We decided to have beds made here in China for them since it is much cheaper. Each girl chose their own design. Each can be adapted so when the get older they can still use them. Callie's did not come with the canopy just the curtains but one of her friends gave her a canopy for her birthday and she was thrilled. Here are some pictures.

Wacky Day and class Party

2011-01-24T00:25:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago Callie had wacky day at school. Alexa has it this Wednesday. Also I am posting a few pictures from Callie's class "party." She asked me to make pumpkin pie. Many kids has never tried it before but everyone tried it and they all said they liked it. Very little was left behind.

Callie's 7th Birthday Party

2011-01-22T19:11:00.000-08:00

Once again Callie wanted to have her birthday at the spa. Callie invited all the girls in her class plus a few old friends. We had 12 girls plus Callie and Alexa getting pedicures or manicures, hot stone massages, hair braiding with color and tattoos. Fun was had by all and Mark and Alexa did a great job taking pictures.

I am stuggling to get pictures posted. They will come when Mark teaches me to shrink his pix. Some are posted on facebook.

Feeling like at home

2011-01-21T01:25:00.000-08:00

So after nearly four years of being in Shanghai and the possibility of a fifth I feel the need to experience "home" as often as I can. One of the perks post Expo in Shanghai is the opening of the Mercedes Benz Arena across from the China Paviliion (about 25 minutes from my house). Callie and I went today to see the BBC's Walking with the Dinosaurs show. On a side note if this traveling show has not finished touring in the US I highly recommend it. It walks you through the history of dinosaurs with life size robotic and human propelled dinosaurs. We arrive in the arena and it looks like a state of the art American concert arena. This is huge for China. Now with such a great venue, Shanghai is attracting more English talent. March 9 Mark and I are going to see The Eagles and four days later Usher will be in town. I am soaking up as much American culture as possible. Although we also have gotten a Gap (thumbs up from expats) and a Sam's Club (big disappoint says expats) in the last few months I have not visitied either. Guess I do not need either of them to feel at home. Keep praying that Mark's job finds a position in the US that would be good for Mark or we will probably be here one more year and away from all of you.

Learning about Lincoln

2011-01-16T23:04:00.000-08:00

My brother Mike and my sister-in-law Tally, my dad, Mark and I and the girls went to Springfield IL to the Lincoln museum. It was a very impressive museum and we all had a good time and learned a lot.

Fun in the Snow in Champaign

2011-01-16T22:25:00.001-08:00

The girls loved playing with their uncle Mike and aunt Tally in the snow.

The King and I

2011-01-16T18:21:00.001-08:00

Callie has been taking a theater class and it culminated in a production of the King and I. She played one of the princesses. She seemed to enjoy it but did not have the passion Alexa does on stage. She did a great job.

Sledding in Minnesota

2010-12-29T16:32:00.001-08:00

We took advantage of the snow today and a newly designed sledding hill in Waconia. Alexa, Callie, cousin Maddy, mom, dad, and grandma did some sledding.

Brother David's family

2010-12-25T09:01:00.001-08:00

One of the favorite reasons to visit Minnesota - anytime - for the girls is to get them all together. The cousins get along great and are currently planning sleepovers for the next 5 days. That is a lot of cousin time!

Christmas in MN

2010-12-25T08:58:00.001-08:00

A few more - this time with more family pictures.

Chrismas in MN

2010-12-25T08:41:00.000-08:00

Chrismas in Minnesota - only half the family here this year due to the long travel distances. (Normally is it us that are not present, so we are lucky this year).

Snow in MN

2010-12-25T08:36:00.000-08:00

We arrived in MN to the snowiest December on record. More shots to come I am sure, but this is from the back of the house.

Snow lovers in Champaign

2010-12-18T06:28:00.000-08:00

Callie and Alexa enjoyed playing in the snow yesterday.

Most snow we have seen in Shanghai since year 1

2010-12-15T04:33:00.000-08:00

Snowball fight

2010-12-15T04:31:00.000-08:00

Snow in shanghai

2010-12-15T04:28:00.000-08:00

Shanghai Expat Gingerbread Party

2010-12-13T02:32:00.001-08:00

This was our third time at this great event. The kids make their own gingerbread houses, Santa comes and brings presents, there are crafts tables and a food buffet and there are Chinese acrobats. A good time was had by all. We sat with the our neighbors so the other two kids are Ally and Olivia.

Coca Cola Field Trip

2010-12-13T01:37:00.000-08:00

I accompanied Callie and her class to visit the Coca Cola factory. I learned a lot. We could not take pictures in the factory so these are from the museum.

Callie Concordia Christmas Concert

2010-12-07T04:59:00.001-08:00

This was a quick one - a 20 minute production start to finish. Six songs, some dialogue. Great job to all. Everyone left happy. A few pictures from the event.

International Fair

2010-11-13T01:55:00.000-08:00

callie's diverse class

Our American Girls

USA bracelet

The US/Canada booth

Friday Concordia had their first ever International Fair. It was a great way for the kids to learn about all the countries that the various students from Concordia come from. I was very impressed. Here are some pictures. The school ordered flag bracelets. Our kids chose to get US, China, Peru and Alexa got Phillipines and Callie United Kingdom. You can see their are kids from many different countries in Callie's class because each one is dressed to represent their country.

Biking with Callie today - snack time, Pudong Sundial, Lisa DVD, racing home

2010-11-13T01:25:00.000-08:00

Callie at Julie's having a milkshake

At the sun dial. For those of you not familiar with Shanghai this 15 minutes by car from our house.

One of our favorite DVD stores far from home. Because Callie impressed them with her Chinese, they gave her the movie Beezus and Ramona for free. She was very proud.

Alexa Birthday Party

2010-10-31T17:07:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Alexa’s 12^th birthday a couple of days early to coincide with the neighborhood trick or treating on Saturday Oct. 30^th. See prior post on the weather and trick or treating. The birthday theme was “hobo” and all the girls needed to eat with their hands. Not bad with chicken and chips. . . harder with macaroni. Callie tried to continue the requirement the next day with macaroni leftovers but we shot that one down pretty quickly.

Halloween pictures

2010-10-31T17:07:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from neighborhood trick or treating. Fall weather in Shanghai changes on a dime. Two weeks ago it was shorts and T-shirt weather. In one day, it dropped and won’t warm up again. This was a “blue sky’ day, but with the Expo winding down, the air quality is going down as well. Burning of farm fields (common way to clear them as most farms are less than one acre in size) is putting a slightly burnt autumn smell in the air and hazing it up quite a bit. Next, the construction starts. Another RMB100,000,000,000 planned. . .

Halloween Preview

2010-10-26T22:27:00.001-07:00

Since this year Trick or Treating and Alexa's birthday party is the same day, Alexa decided it was a good idea to try out their costumes to get it just right. Here is a sneak peek.

museum

2010-10-26T22:10:00.000-07:00

Last Friday the kids were off school so we went to check out the newest museum in Shanghai the Animation and Comic museum. It was very well done and the kids had a blast posing for the photographer my dad. You may notice two extra kids. Leia and Alise stayed with us for a few days so their parents could cheer on the Concordia volleyball team who was playing in a tournament in Hong Kong.

Callie learns to ride a bike

2010-10-16T17:53:00.001-07:00

A couple of dedicated sessions of trying to get her balance figure out, get the starting, stopping, and breaking worked on, and a few minor falls resulted in Callie successfully spending about an hour biking around the neighborhood. We started out running next to her but she quickly built up enough confidence to require me to ride a bike next to her. Here is a video of the event.

More pictures

2010-10-10T05:49:00.000-07:00

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Pictures from Japan

2010-10-10T05:47:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the pictures from the Japan trip. Will try to add more captions later. This update being posted from email.

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Today is the kid's day - Universal Studios

2010-10-03T23:22:00.000-07:00

Coffee (cold) by the can - "Georgia Gold"

2010-10-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

Callie at Gora park, Gora Japan

2010-10-02T18:31:00.000-07:00

Mt. Fuji

2010-10-02T01:04:00.000-07:00

Hakone ropeway - headed back to gora.

****************************************************************************

Lake ashi, near mt fuji

2010-10-02T00:37:00.000-07:00

Yes, a pirate ship. Florida does not have a monopoly on tacky.

Construction in Xi'an

2010-08-29T18:36:00.001-07:00

A few pictures taken the first day. Representative of most of the trip. Construction everywhere. It was not unusual to be able to count 20-30 tower cranes from one location. Incredible investment.

Flying in China

2010-08-29T17:52:00.001-07:00

More posts to come soon (assuming this posts), but a couple of observations: First, the USA airport security measures - specifically the "patdown" are crazy. Here, everyone gets patted down, it takes 20 seconds, and all patdowns are done by women. Predictable, quick and not offensive. Security lines are no longer than five minutes. EVER This needs to be fixed in the US.

Second, never trust the flight status boards. We are leaving Xi'an for Shanghai. 8pm flight. Boarded, with doors shut at 7:50pm. MEAL and DRINKS served at 8:10pm. Still on the ground. Hell, still at the gate. Just had my Sprite glass (clear plastic for cold drinks) refilled with coffee. Only in China. At least they still serve meals!

Callie with Her New Teacher

2010-08-19T02:39:00.000-07:00

Here is Callie will her new teacher Mrs. Shepherd at orientation. She was very happy with her first day of school.

First day of school pictures

2010-08-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

19 August 2010 – First day of school. First day for Callie at Concordia. Beautiful morning to start the school year.

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more hot photos

2010-08-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

Hottest Day in 30 years

2010-08-18T17:58:00.000-07:00

Sunday we had scheduled to go to a water village with our friends the Duckworths visiting from London. It ended up being the hottest day in like 30 years 103 degrees. I thought we were going to die. Needless to say it took us 3 hours round trip to get there and we were there less than 3 hours. As you can see from the pictures, the heat did not deter the Chinese was coming out.

The rest of the cruise

2010-08-08T10:32:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from the Disney cruise - everyone had a great time. Making several posts due to the number of pictures.

Disney cruise - Day two

2010-08-05T05:56:00.000-07:00

Here are a few shots from the Key West snorkelling trip. They actually got me in a picture. . . we try to avoid that.

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Day one - Disney Cruise

2010-08-05T05:53:00.000-07:00

A few pictures from the first day on the cruise. Started out with a risk. Our flight was cancelled and we were re-routed on a Delta direct. Nice. But. . . the luggage didn’t make the trip. A few hours at the airport once the family was sleeping was successful. The bags came in on the 11pm flight from Dallas. All set for the first day of the cruise the next morning.

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More pictures from Minnesota

2010-08-02T16:58:00.000-07:00

Cousins doing some tree climbing in Edina.

Callie graduation video

2010-08-01T07:39:00.001-07:00

Finally found the right software to upload these things. This is Callie's dance from her graduation in June 2010.

Callie and Mom on their own

2010-07-06T20:40:00.000-07:00

Callie and I are on our own this week. We have been having special days. It is great to be able to spend quality time one on one with her. We have seen Toy Story 3and Giggle Giggle Quack (a play). We have had shopping sprees and play dates. Here is a picture of her outside the mall (her choice) and one at the Rosewood Theater.

Summer in Dallas

2010-07-06T20:17:00.000-07:00

We were visited by our good friends the Gedeons last week and then on Sunday Alexa drove home to Kansas City with them. She will fly home Saturday by herself. It will be her first unaccompanied minor trip. She is so excited. I am including photos from the week. The first two pictures are of Alexa and Iberty's hands after they got henna tatoos. The next one is Gabby's feet. Last is the whole gang including Luna the dog.

KaiPing tour

2010-06-27T18:51:00.001-07:00

Took a brief weekend trip to Kai Ping, China. About 2 hours west of Guangzhou. It is a UNESCO heritage site (see here http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1112) , known for its Diaolous - multistory defensive village houses. They were constructed by local Chinese who made their fortunes overseas (USA, Canada, Australia) and returned home briefly before the wars broke out. They were designed to protect against "bandits", a word I heard frequently on the short tour. The tour was cut short by extensive rains in the afternoon, so the best village I was unable to visit.

A few thoughts from the tour -

Lunch - Was able to eat what the guide said was "peace bird" - (dove).

Lunch - I ordered three dishes at a small restaurant. The guide and driver joined me. That was plenty of food. But, the restaurant also brings free food for the guide and driver. A gallon of soup, half a goose, and some greens. We ate well.

Breakfast - "Would you like smoking or non-smoking". . . "Non-smoking". . . "Sorry, that is full. Sit here.". Thanks for asking.

Diaolous - Beautiful, but run down. The West is clearly at the forefront of preservation. Most of these were vacant and rusting. The villages were largely empty. I would guess most of the young people are in the cities. So, a bit depressing to see the cities without key elements of the population.

A few pictures attached.

British pavilion at the Expo

2010-06-21T18:22:00.001-07:00

The attached pictures are of the British pavilion at the Expo. Other than a sign at the entrance, you would not know this is the British pavilion. No national marketing at all. Good or bad, it just is. The pavilion contains 60,000 acrylic rods. Each containing seed samples. Absolutely incredible. The rods are probably 6-8 feet long and go through the membrane of the building so they appear on the inside and outside. At night, the light from the interior flows through the rods to the exterior.

Also included two exterior pictures of the Saudi Arabia exhibit. Probably the largest and most expensive. As a result, the local Chinese will wait in line up to 9 hours for the 15 minute experience. We walked over to it at 10:00pm and they still had security guards indicating that the last entry was at 18:45 (6:45), and people were getting quite upset. More to come on why people will wait 9 hours, which is essentially the entire day. At a ticket price of 150RMB (22USD), that is a huge investment for the locals. (Think of spending about USD100 for the wait).

more graduation pictures

2010-06-11T18:03:00.001-07:00

Callie's Graduation

2010-06-11T17:56:00.000-07:00

After three years in full immersion Chinese classroom with the same great teacher Ms. Sharon, Callie graduated yesterday. She will be going to Concordia with Alexa next year and will be in first grade.

Pro pictures 2

2010-06-08T03:28:00.000-07:00

The pictures would not load when I tried to put in five so here are a few more.

Professional Pictures

2010-06-08T03:18:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time since we had professional pictures taken so we went and had some done. Here are a few of my favorites.

Alexa's Growth

2010-06-02T17:02:00.000-07:00

Alexa just got her results for her spring fitness test. SHe improved in everything but push ups. What is amazing is from September 7 until May 10 she grew four inches and gained 11 pounds. She is now 5 foot 2 and wears the same size shoe as me. No wonder she has no clothes that fit.

Megan and Karen visit

2010-06-01T20:56:00.000-07:00

My cousins Megan and Karen came to visit us for a few weeks in May. They even went with us to Beijing when Mark ran the wall. It was fun to have them here. I have been so busy with end of school year obligations I have not had time to post pictures. Megan has great photos from her trip on her facebook page but thought I should post some here. The first one is from a going away party. We danced the night away and the other two are from Yu Gardens and Bazaar

Alexa plays basketball

2010-06-01T20:51:00.000-07:00

Alexa completed her first season of basketball. 5th grade is a year to learn and she only played about three other teams besides her school. They play 5/6th grade teams and her school had three teams. They definitely improved over the year.

Patty and her cousins visit

2010-05-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

A few more pictures from Patty and her cousin's visit. These are from Nanjing Dong Lu and the Bund.

Shanghai at night

2010-05-27T16:23:00.001-07:00

A few shots from the Bund area and down towards the Bund and Pudong from the Vue Bar at the Hyatt. A perfect visibility night.

Expo 2010

2010-05-27T05:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my first experience with the Expo. The weather was perfect about 80 degrees and a little overcast. I wanted to share a few things I learned yesterday.

1)Although they provide free distilled water at water stations, it tastes horrible so just know you will spend 3 RMB for a bottle of water (40 cents).
2)There are plenty of bathrooms and they are clean. They also have toilet paper and soap and paper towels which is huge. Interesting fact the toilet paper is made from recycled egg cartons.
3)Wear good walking shoes. The expo covers a HUGE amount of space and you will walk a lot. Take the free bus if you are going from Asia to Europe or vice versa.
4)Look for food before you are starving. Some sections have lots of food and some have very little. The large building dedicated to only food serve a lot of cheap Chinese food but it looked like airplane food which is a very bad thing. Best choices probably are in the country pavilions.
5)Country pavilions have lines as little as a few minutes to four hours. Some with long lines for differing reasons are Japan, US, China, Thailand, Switzerland.
6)If you never went into a building you would still have an amazing experience because the architecture alone will blow your mind. There are also parades etc that do not require going inside.
7)Take the subway to the venue 4 RMB. The taxi line was insane.
8)If you are bringing kids, buy an expo passport that they can get stamped at each pavilion. It keeps them interested. They are difficult to find so buy them immediately when you get to the site. They cost 30 RMB ($4.5)
9)You will get bumped, pushed, stepped on etc. I even had someone put their camera on my head at the Sri Lanka show so they could get a better photo.
10)When you have thoughts of killing the next person who bumps into you, IT IS TIME TO GO HOME.

Views of/from the US Pavilion

2010-05-23T23:25:00.001-07:00

I was able to attend the USA Pavilion today at the Shanghai Expo. Spent most of the time in the VIP "centre", which is essentially a conference center with full bar. Given it is a temporary facility, much like all of them are required to be, it was nicely done. The exterior of the paviliion is non-descript. Withouth the "USA" on it, the pavilion would not stand out. The interior is a series of videos. As Adam Minter posted on his blog "Shanghai Scrap", the production budget was about $23 million. Not sure what was all included in that, but I don't think it is in the movies. Movies were USA value-focused and a little goofy. Some got some claps at the end.

Based on discussions with my secretary (just now) - the Shanghainese view is the US pavailion 'is not very good'. Anyhow, if you have a chance, see for yourself.

The pictures attached here are of the VIP center (not a good shot) and some of the views from the VIP balcony. The umbrellas were out in force today as the sun finally made an appearance.

Another note - VIP in China is not nearly as exclusive as suggested. Virtually everything and everywhere has a VIP section.

Great Wall Half Marathon

2010-05-15T22:15:00.001-07:00

Completed the Great Wall Half Marathon in 2:41. Not as good as I wanted after looking at the results, but dead tired afterwards. The structure of the race is essentially the following:

5km - Uphill on pavement - probably the most difficult part.

5km - On the Great Wall - 2,600 steps in about 7-9 climbs. Not as hard as we expected, but going down hill was a bear.

11km - Reasonably flat road/trail run.

After the first 13km, felt pretty good, but got to the village, which was running alleys with rocks, uneven finish, just killed me. Heat also started to pick up. In any event, truly a great experience. With more practice, could probably cut of about 15 minutes.

Here are some pictures from the event. Group photos to come.

Callie and her friend

2010-05-09T03:15:00.001-07:00

We started Mother's Day today with a snail. Callie loves all critters, and she found this one today. Her goal was to get it all the way up her arm.

US Pavilion Issues - Shanghai Expo

2010-05-05T07:06:00.001-07:00

I am a big fan of Adam Minter's blog - www.shanghaiscrap.com. Adam has been pushing for clarity on the project bidding/funding/operation of the US pavailion for the Expo. I believe those of us here appreciate the efforts. The most recent article sheds more light on the funding - which has been extraordinarly expensive by pavailion standards - at least as discussed in the press. Also, The Shanghai Daily, which has a daily section dedicated to the Expo has had minimal discussion of the pavilion. It is focusing on the pavillions that are interesting and/or getting a great deal of foot traffic. Anyhow, read on. Thanks Adam!

How did the US manage to spend $61 million on an Expo 2010 pavilion? IRS filings offer some insights.

Filed under:Expo 2010 - US Pavilion — posted by Adam on May 3, 2010 @ 1:00 pm

As regular readers know, for more than a year I've asked the USA pavilion at Expo 2010 (World's Fair) and the State Department to provide me with a precise accounting of how they're spending the US$61 million that they've raised from private corporations in the name of the United States of America. And, for more than a year, I've been met with either a) silence, or b) "we can't do anything unless the pavilion's board of directors approves it." Even if the latter answer is sincere (and I'm pretty sure it's not), the fact that several of the board members refuse to return my calls doesn't bode well for my request. . . [follow link for more]

Entertainment on the Bund

2010-05-04T02:30:00.000-07:00

For those who have been here, at some point people will want to take your picture. It happens more in 2^nd tier cities then here. But, I found a group of expats who decided to have some fun with it. They dressed up as a vintage airline crew and walked around the Bund. They were followed by dozens of people taking pictures. It was a true spectacle.

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Callie's photos

2010-05-02T00:48:00.000-07:00

Callie is really into taking pictures right now. Here are some pictures she took of Jade the dog and bambi, Stitch and Garden the turtles.

Even More Bintan Pictures

2010-05-02T00:40:00.000-07:00

Callie was in the kid's show at Club Med and we have a video and I will try and post a bit if I can figure out how. Until then a few last pictures

More Bintan Pictures

2010-05-02T00:32:00.000-07:00

Night Safari in Singapore and beach shots

Circus staff

2010-05-02T00:29:00.000-07:00

The Circus staff was amazing. They were so patient and kind with the kids. The kids adored them.

Trapeze School Bintan Club Med

2010-05-02T00:16:00.000-07:00

The girls and I just returned from holiday with our friends the Younkins to Bintan Island, Indonesia. We were are club med and all the kids but Alexa went to trapeze school. They had a blast. Ellen, Ron and I also tried. I thought it was painful on my hands but I was not scared of the height (which is why Callie would not go). Here are some pictures of Alexa. She was the only kid who was old enough to be caught.

Pudong and the Bund

2010-05-01T02:42:00.001-07:00

Here are a few shots from 30 April. During the prep for the opening of the Shanghai Expo. A perfect day - one of the top 5 for the year. The Expo was going to have 10 barges of fireworks. That and several international presidents led to extraordinary security measures. They shut down the river traffic, which I can't ever recall happening. And, there are helicopters in town (CCTV). Also a rare occurance.

Here are some pictures capturing the view.

Luxury advertising in China

2010-05-01T02:36:00.001-07:00

The following displays went up on Plaza 66, a major luxury shopping center in our office complex. No idea which brand purse is lit up in the box, but it followed the LV scaffolding wrap by about two weeks.

Third Culture Kids

2010-03-16T05:12:00.000-07:00

Melanie and Kay two of the great counselors at Concordia dealing with TKC. Ruth is the one in the middle.
For those of you who are not familiar with this term it is a term to describe children who are from one culture (american) growing up in another culture (chinese) who are really a part of a third (expat living in China). Children soak up the new culture and sometimes feel more connected to the new culture or at minimum do not feel like they still belong to the original culture because of their different experiences. I read many books on third culture kids (TCK) before moving to China with the girls. One of the gurus of this topic is Ruth Van Reken who grew up herself as an expat in Nigeria for 13 years, spent time with her husband and children as an expat and now resides in Indianapolis. I was very fortunate to hear her speak to a group of counselors who work with TCKs. Tomorrow I am lucky enough to be going to dinner with Ruth and two other counselors. Although I have read her book, listening to her today reminds me how much I need to help my girls (espeically Callie who will have lived longer outside the US than in by the time we return)retransition home when we return in June 2011. She also inspires me to want to do work with TCK when I return to the States. She talked today about how many kids who have never lived abroad as an expat are TCK(e.g. adopted international kids). They are in US school systems and their needs are not being met. If you would like to read more about Ruth you can visit her at www.crossculturalkids.org

Final Bali pictures

2010-02-21T16:13:00.000-08:00

The unique thing about Balinese coffee as many of you know is that they have cats digest the coffee bean whole and then they poop it out and roast the coffee bean. THis is Mark trying the coffee among other kinds.

More Bali pictures

2010-02-21T15:28:00.001-08:00

Bali

2010-02-21T15:17:00.000-08:00

We had a very relaxing trip to Bali during Chinese New Year. We spent a lot of time at the beach the pool with the slide. One day we did spent 14 hours exploring Bali. We saw a volcano, traditional show, craftsman work, coffee plantation, monkeys etc. Another day the older kids minus Callie and Molly and the dads went white water rafting. The little ones went to the kids club. We were traveling with the Younkins and Aikens both are repatriating this summer so it was good to have time together. I am including some representative photos.

Cast Party Pix

2010-01-30T19:36:00.001-08:00

Last night was the last show and then a cast party with food, signing posters so everyone receives a poster with all the cast names, karoke and gym games. It lasted until 11:30 although I made Callie go home at 10:30. They all had a blast. Callie was given one of the flamingo croquets used in the queen's croquet games as a thanks for being in the play.

More Alice pictures

2010-01-29T19:26:00.000-08:00

Here is a picture of Callie and Alexa on stage together and of Callie during curtain call.

Alice in Wonderland

2010-01-29T18:36:00.000-08:00

Two days down and one more to go. Here are a few photos

6th Birthday at school

2010-01-24T20:44:00.000-08:00

This is Callie's third and last birthday at her current school. She will graduate from Montesorri Children's World in June. The school makes a big deal about birthdays. The entire party is all spoken in Chinese so I do not understand much that I cannot figure out by nonverbal clues. THis year they added a component where Callie had to walk around a candle carrying the world 6 times to represent each year she has been on the earth.

Even more birthday pictures

2010-01-24T16:16:00.001-08:00

The last picture is of Jean the owner of the salon.

More Birthday pictures

2010-01-24T16:09:00.001-08:00

Callie turns 6

2010-01-24T15:35:00.000-08:00

Callie wanted to have a spa birthday party. I talked to my friend who owns the spa I go to for my nails and foot massages and we agreed she would provide foot pedicures, hot stone foot massages, goody bags and pizza. When we got to the party she suprised us and told me that I was her friend and she just wanted Callie and girls to be happy so they also got manicures and their hair done up and then sprayed with crazy colors for no extra charge. The girls had a blast thanks to Jean (owner of No. 7Beauty Studio in Pudong if you are ever in China). I am including the best 15 pictures of the afternoon.

Upcoming smoking ban

2010-01-19T17:46:00.001-08:00

This will be welcome news if enforced better than traffic laws. For a little side humor, not sure I understand why the editors decided to through the last sentence on this story –

Have to admire the precision of their numbers – 11,213??? – on a personal note, I don’t think I have seen one yet. I will start looking for them.

The Shanghai Daily

City gears up for no-smoking law

Created: 2010-1-20

Author:Christine Cai

THE Shanghai Patriotic Health Campaign Commission will carry out checks on premises after the local anti-smoking law comes into force on March 1, it said yesterday.

And a campaign to install anti-smoking signs will be carried out next month in places where smoking is to be banned, it said.

By November last year, 11,213 facilities had put up 150,000 no-smoking signs.

In early March, the commission will cooperate with other government departments to supervise the anti-smoking measures and distribute no-smoking signs.

Facilities where smoking is banned must post no-smoking signs, remove ashtrays and persuade smokers to stop. Those failing to do so will face fines of up to 30,000 yuan (US$4,392).

Meanwhile, the commission is also to issue waist measuring tapes this year in a bid to improve city residents' health.

Shanghai - A beautiful Sunday

2010-01-17T16:57:00.000-08:00

What a difference a day makes. Another perfectly clear day and a much better view from the office. Air pollution much lighter yesterday.

Also, the Christmas/CNY display has gone from gold to red. This is mid-process. It was complete by this morning. The last photo of the display was posted was taken a week prior.

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A beautiful sunny day in Shanghai

2010-01-15T18:57:00.001-08:00

Perfectly clear (no clouds) day in Shanghai. . . still amazes me. The Expo is 105 days away. . . A little distortion in this picture due to reflections from the glass. Haven’t been able to take a shot out my window for a long time – too much silt on it. They did wash them yesterday, so was able to produce this shot.

I believe there is a blog post from last year sometime showing our building halfway through a window washing. The difference is literally black and white.

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JinMao Grand Hyatt Lobby

2010-01-15T18:53:00.001-08:00

One of the most photographed lobbies in the world has to be this one. This is shot from the 56^th floor (camera phone, so not perfect) looking straight up. Goes up to floor 85 or 89. It is difficult for a camera to catch the impressive geometry of the atrium. Taken last night after dinner at Kabachi.

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Mark LaValle
Seconded Partner, Audit

KPMG Huazhen
50th Floor, Plaza 66
1266 Nanjing West Road
Shanghai 200040, China

Tel     +86 (21) 2212 2888
Direct +86 (21) 2212 2130
Fax     +86 (21) 6288 1889
Mobile +86 158 0033 8702

mark.lavalle@kpmg.com.cn

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KPMG Huazhen is the Accounting Advisory Services
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Scenes from the train stations

2010-01-15T18:50:00.000-08:00

A couple of shots from a recent train trip. The first shot is in the Shanghai train station. While this may not be believable, I am slightly disappointed with the picture as it isn’t nearly as crowded as it was 10 minutes prior. Maybe next time.

The second shot is in the Nanjing train station. A little glassed in “smoking room”. There was another one that was one floor up with about 5 people inside smoking and 10 people outside smoking. No surprises there. Unlike some smoking rooms in the States that may have some air system to push the air outside, this one is just attached to some cement walls. No ventilation.

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Christmas/New Year Display at the office

2010-01-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

The picture below is of the Christmas/New Year/Chinese New Year display outside Plaza 66 – my office building. The entire building is surrounded by various gold decorations. These are the most gaudy of them all. The flower is constructed over what is normally a fountain. This display took about 10 days to construct and will likely remain up until the end of February.

The reaction has been generally negative. Too gaudy. Memories are short however. I have no recollection of last year’s display. Only that it wasn’t gold like this.

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Tarango Zoo

2010-01-03T05:16:00.001-08:00

Mark had to go home a day earlier because we could not get four frequent flyer tickets for Jan 2 so I took the girls to the zoo in Sydney. It sits overlooking Darling Harbour. Alexa was chosen to be in the seal show. We had a nice time despite a few rain showers. We also were fortunate to pet a wallabee.

More Australia pictures

2010-01-03T05:09:00.001-08:00

The top two pictures are of the crowds for the fireworks on New Year's Eve in Sydney. There were fireworks at 9 and then a boat parade and then the grand finale at 12. The crowd was full of drunk teenagers and it was getting out of hand so we left after the boat show. We were lucky to see the 12 o'clock show from our hotel room. The bottom left picture is at a Mexican restaraunt in Sydney and the right is at a park in Melbourne.

Great Ocean Road

2009-12-27T05:42:00.000-08:00

Here are some pictures from the Great Ocean Road trip today. A long day, but worth it. The girls were able to spot about 20 wild koalas in the various parks. Callie saw (and Patty confirmed) one walking across the road near her. Originally we thought there were pigs under the brush based on the sounds. We soon realized that the heavy grunting was the Koalas.

Australia Trip - Port Douglas and the Reef

2009-12-27T05:32:00.000-08:00

More words to come, but we are finally able to post a few pictures. The pictures here were taken heading to the Great Barrier Reef, overlooking the Coral Sea, and in the rain forest (Daintree).

This was the first three days of the trip.

More photos from Gingerbread Party

2009-12-16T21:50:00.000-08:00

Gingerbread Party

2009-12-16T17:39:00.001-08:00

We went to the Shanghai Expat kids Christmas party. They made gingerbread houses, ate, got gifts from Santa, did crafts and saw the Chinese acrobats. Here are some photos.

Beijing Airport Vending Machines

2009-12-15T05:29:00.000-08:00

I noticed this on a previous trip but did not get a picture. This is a shot of a Beijing airport vending machine – 10RMB ($1.40) for a Beijing beer. . . from a vending machine.

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