What's That? Wednesday: The View from My Window

Some days it seems that the constant in China is change.  The view from our apartment has been changing since the day we moved in.  We used to have a bit of a green space across the street with a small stream and lotus flowers.

We took this photo from our living room
window in August 2011.  See the bit of green
down there?

I took the next four photos in December 2012.  Green space be gone.  I counted at least 6 cranes working simultaneously.  A 74-story building built across the street.  It is supposed to represent the "Gate to the East", but instead it has been nicknamed Big Pants.  When it is completed Big Pants will be the largest gate-shaped structure in the world and a huge mall.

A whole lot of lot of concrete
and construction.

Now, looking out our dining room window, we can watch a large television screen.  It is at a major intersection and replays a video promoting the wonders of Suzhou, over and over.  At night, the screen lights up some of the apartments in our buildings.

And this is what it looks like when it snows!  Last winter we had no snow in Suzhou (maybe a morning of sleet), but it has snowed three times this winter.  Just enough to dust the ground, but no sledding for our family.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day from the McClintocks!  A few weeks ago I found out that Lilly's school doesn't celebrate Valentine's Day, so the girls and I decided to host a party at our house for some of their friends in our apartment compound and across the street.  It was hard to decide where to draw the line!

Jamie went back to the States in January and he brought back some Valentine's Day candy, balloons and other supplies.  We also received two care packages within the last week, one from each grandma, and we had enough crafts for all of our guests too.

LBean and a classmate getting ready to play
Valentine's Day Bingo.

On Saturday morning we had our own mini-United Nations Valentine's Day party; we had Mexico & Spain, Hong Kong & South Korea, England, China, and the US represented.  It was great having so many different people in our home.  We all live in the same apartment compound, but we were all connected in other ways too.  For half the group, the husbands all work at the same company, and another half attend the same school.  Over the last six months it has been great building friendships with those you see at the bus stop and on the playground.

EBean's Bingo card.

Enjoying a decorated rice krispy treat.

Finishing her card.

LBean & EBean's finished "thumb" creations

Two very special friends!

Wii competition!

A whole lot of kids = a whole lot of fun!

The kids played Valentine's Day bingo and covered their cards in conversation heart candy.  They made Valentines that said "thumb body loves you" using their thumb prints and colored cards.  We decorated heart-shaped rice krispy treats and munched on Mexican tacos and fresh strawberries.  The kids ended the day playing the Wii and playing with toys.  You know it's a good party when it goes on for an hour longer than planned!  I think we could have talked & played most of the day.

What's That? Wednesday: Feb. 1, 2012

This is an ode to the piece of furniture I never knew I needed...the shoe cabinet.  In fact, before I moved to here, I'm pretty sure I didn't even know they existed.  In China, you do not wear your shoes in your apartment or house.  If you saw some of the things we walked through, you wouldn't want to wear your shoes in the house either!

It really does make sense to leave the smelly, dirty shoes out in the hallway and step into the house with clean socks/feet.  Or, if you'd like be really Chinese, you can wear slippers inside.  We have such a collection of slippers...ones we purchased, several from the hotels we've stayed at, and gifts from people that I have a bucket by the front door full of slippers for ourselves and guests.  Any guesses to the color of Jamie's?  Bright Illini orange, of course!  The slippers are also helpful in the winter when it a tad bit chilly in the apartment.

Now, make sure your toe nails are painted pretty and your socks don't have holes in them and come on over for a visit.

What's That? Wednesday: Our Apartment

It dawned on me over Christmas that I haven't posted any pictures of our apartment yet.  I kept telling myself that I would take pictures after all the pictures had been hung and everything looked "Martha Stewart" ready.  Since that still hasn't occurred and probably won't, I'll just show you how it is.

We live on the 27th floor of our apartment building and each floor has two apartments, but they are accessed from separate elevators.  The apartment is about 280 square meters, which is about 3,000 square feet.  I really like the location of our apartment.  The wet market, a bread store, EBean's preschool, one of the international foods stores, the hair salon and a spa are all within a 15 minute walk.

One of two entrances to our apartment compound, complete
with guards that salute the cars that drive in.

LBean pushing the button to open the glass
to get to the elevator. 

Floor 27 please!

One side of the living room.  Our front door is on the right
and behind the wood-panelled archway is storage.
The Christmas tree and about 12 storage tubs fit back there!

Our living room light.  Even though it's a bit "blingy"
for me, I'm starting to like it.

The other half of the living room. 

Everything behind the curtains is glass that looks out
to Jijihu Lake.

Looking from the living room into our dining room.
I like the archway!

The archway and glass doors that open to our kitchen.
The bread machine is still in the box on the floor awaiting
me to decipher the Chinese operating manual.

One side of the kitchen.

The other side of our kitchen with our very small oven.
The Chinese don't bake much and I'm still trying to master
a convection oven.

Even though our oven is small, we do have a
full-size refrigerator.  You can see our water
dispenser peeking out from the left side.

The laundry room with our washer,
dryer (with up to 200 minutes of drying time,
not very efficient) and our mini dishwasher.

Our storage room with a few jars of Jif peanut
butter and other comforts of home.

Looking into the girls room.  It's a dark
picture, but it shows you the view from the window.

Same view with the curtains closed.

The girls' bathroom.

Looking out towards the hallway with a peek
of the guest bathroom and playroom.

The girls' bunk beds.  We let them put up the wall stickers, can you tell?

One of the wardrobes in the girls' room and
another view of the buildings outside.

Guest bathroom.

Another view of the guest bathroom.

The spare bedroom has been turned into
our playroom.  The couch is a fold-out and is
ready for visitors at any time!

Toys, toys and toys! 

Our office:  I love the archway, our double
doors, and the view out our window.

The other side of the office with
Jamie's Caterpillar Lego sets, our crazy
German board games and few crafts for me.

The last two unpacked boxes.  Pictures and artwork that
still need to be put up.  Maybe by the end of our first year here
I can get them unpacked!

The master bath and yes that's a
bidet...it remains unused.  Although,
LBean thought we could use it as a foot bath
like we see at all of the stores around here.

The large bathtub that pretty much remains
unused by me.  The girls take over the tub
almost every night.

The shower and my towel on the left
is hanging on the wall heater because
the bathrooms can be a bit chilly.  Please
disregard the Laura Ingalls bathrobe hanging
next to the shower.  That shall remain our little secret.

Looking down the hallway into the master suite.
My niece's artwork is hanging on the right.
Jamie's closet is to the left of the dresser.

Looking towards my closet and the master
bath.

Jamie's closet...I'd like to point out that it is much
larger than mine.  If Jamie were not traveling, I'm
sure that he would like for me to point out that just
before he left he moved some of his clothes so that
I could have just a bit more room. 

Looking into the master bedroom.

Can you see a few bright lights of the buildings outside our window?

This little control panel is in a six of our rooms and controls
the lights to the living room, kitchen, guest bath and all 3 bedrooms.
It's handy for a few reasons.  When I walk in the front door I'm
able to turn on the lights in most of the apartment and if the girls
need a light on in another room I can push a button in the room that
I am in and not walk down to where they are.  But, it's also a bit
confusing and can lead to some unnecessary "disco" lights if someone
starts pushing buttons.

Okay, now that I've showed you my house, it's time for you to post pictures of your house on the internet.  Ready, set, go!