New Life

Whenever us Lohses decide to return from our Asian adventure,  one thing has been confirmed.  We will be coming back heavy one little Lohse. That's right...another Lohse baby is growing and getting ready to join us around October 1st in this crazy place we call home!

We just told the kids last week and they had some interesting comments.  Showing them the ultrasound picture, Sophia was convinced it was a frog.  Once we told them it was a baby, they then started listing off all of the fun facts about babies.  According to Eric, our thinker, babies don't have teeth, they can't talk, and they cry alot, especially when they are scared.  Sophia, completely in line with her more aggressive nature, said that babies cry when you hit them in the face.  Yeah, this should be fun. ;O)

But we are all very excited.  Eric wants a brother, Sophia wants a sister.  Unfortunately, one of them is going to be disappointed.  Upon recommendation from my mom, I am going to document this pregnancy through the eyes of my children.  Their perspective and comments are hilarious and worth remembering.

So now we are off to exploring the medical system here in China.  So far we have been pleasantly surprised with the facilities, doctors, and nursing staff and are planning on having the baby here in China. 

But we are just taking it one day at a time, enjoying life and thanking God for all of the wonderful things we have been blessed with.

Friends in Far Away Places

A broken foot and a free pass for a 4-day weekend.  What's a girl to do?  Go to New Zealand, what else?

Doug gave me "permission" 7 months ago to plan a weekend trip to New Zealand to visit one of my very good friends, Les.  She has been living there for 2 years working as a large-animal vet in Culverden (near Christ Church).  I have a hard time letting such a good opportunity to see a part of the world I have never been to pass me by, so when the flights went on sale in September, I was booked.

Fast-forward 7 months and here I stood a few days before my much anticipated trip with a broken foot.  As Doug puts it, he knew I really never debated whether I should go or not.  Nor did I ask permission.  After getting the blessing from the doctor, I packed my backpack, padded my crutches, and headed off to the airport for my 10,000+ mile weekend journey. 

And let me tell you...it was worth it.

I only saw a small part of it and much of it from the car or from seaside benches enjoying my ice cream, but one thing is for certain.  It is a stunning country, absolutely fabulous.  And to be honest, I don't know why kiwis ever leave.  I know I didn't want to.

New Zealand has made my Top 5 Places in the World and I am already trying to figure out how to make it back.  Hopefully next time, it will be on my own two feet.

Click on the above picture to view more!

 Enjoy the pictures!

To Squat or Not to Squat

Potty training with Sophia has not been fun.  She is two months shy of 3 and is pretty insistent that diapers work just fine for her. We have bought all of the special underwear, used stickers, chocolate, lollipops, anything we can think of to bribe her to walk to the bathroom and just sit on that toilet.  But she’s not having it.  Some may describe her as stubborn and independent, having decided she will take those diapers off when she is good and ready.  Her teachers tell me, “Just be patient.  She will do it on her own time.”  

  

Admittedly, part of me is getting a bit worried that she is going to be 5, wearing diapers and sucking her thumb.  But then another part of me is thankful, as I am fully aware of what is to come.

Yep, squat toilets.  And it isn’t the actual toilet that worries me, it is navigating it with a little girl that has little balance and coordination and a mommy that unfortunately is lacking the same traits. 

For those of you that have never experienced a squat toilet, let me tell you.  It requires leg strength, balance, and lots of luck.  The logistics are overwhelming really.  Where to put your coat so that it doesn’t dip into the toilet.  How to balance your purse on your lap while you dig through it looking for that one piece of Kleenex that is buried in there somewhere (yep, you guessed it, toilet paper is not supplied!) How far back do you stand so that you make it in, but don’t fall in.  And don’t even get me started on the sanitation concerns.  Let’s just say, it is complicated.

So, you can see why I am not looking forward to leaving the house in the midst of potty training.  Boys are easy.  They can walk in, do their business standing up, and walk out literally without touching a thing.  But girls…different story.

Now, I am left contemplating a few different things.  How bad is it really that Sophia may still wearing diapers at 5?  Do kids really need water to survive?  Or maybe I shouldn’t have judged all those Chinese moms who put their kids in split pants as babies and let them squat in the streets.  At least they are out of diapers by the age of 1 and they haven’t had to try to hover their 35 pound child over the hole in the floor. 

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

2.1.12

I have never been a date person.  Don't get me wrong, I remember all of the important ones, birthdays, wedding anniversaries, and such.  But I have never been one to make a big fuss over other "anniversaries".  Right or wrong, I guess I am just more focused on the present than I am on the past.

So in typical "me" fashion, I let a pretty important date just go by with very little acknowledgement.  February 1st marked our 1-year anniversary of our move to China.  To be honest, I only remembered because someone new I had met that morning asked me how long I had lived here.  Doing the math in my head, I realized it was no longer almost a year.  We had indeed hit that milestone.  But that was it, the day came and went just like any other day.

However, last week, Eric brought this home from school.  Yep, you guessed it, they are Chinese characters, properly written Chinese characters.  And there are pages upon pages more that our prolific little writer keeps producing.  It was only after I stood at the kitchen table, beaming with pride watching Eric write these mini pieces of art with such determination and skill, that I realized how important our 1-year milestone was to acknowledge.

Standing there, all I kept thinking of was "wow, look how far we have come!"  We tackled this adventure from the start as a family, a team.  And while we have had our challenges and worked our butts off, we, our little family, has truly thrived in the past year together.  Each of us in our own ways. 

We live, I mean really live in China!!!  Yes, it's Shanghai, arguably one of the easiest cities in China for a foreigner to live, but it's still China.  We speak enough of the language to go a whole day out and about without relying on English (though it may not be pretty!)  Our kids are happy, really happy, love their school, and beg everyday to play with their international community of friends.  Doug's job is going really well, although it continues to be challenging and stressful. 

What I realized is that in the last year, our family has established a home in a country so foreign that sometimes it feels like we are on another planet.  But we did it, together.  And that deserves to be acknowleged.

Unexpected Goodbyes

When you decide to get a dog, you consider a number of things.  What temperament best fits your family, how big they will grow, how easily they can be trained, how good they are with children, and face it, how cute you think they are.  And when you bring home that perfect little puppy, you can’t help but be consumed by the little bundle of fur, the pouting eyes, the puppy breath, the softness of their ears, and their pure love for life as they slip and slide down the hallway, still not completely in control of their limbs.  They become your everything and you never, ever look back.  

But what you forget to consider, what you knew but quickly dismissed, is that their lives, their life with you, is short.  Too short.  Incredibly short. 

We only got 7 short years with our girly-girl.  But what she gave us in those 7 years is astounding.  She loved us unconditionally.  She loved our children unconditionally (even though with each of their births she got a little lower on the totem pole).   She made us laugh every time she tucked her butt and ran through the snow.  She made us furious every time she snuck a piece of who knows what off the ground and ate it.  She snuggled into bed with us as we slept in our freezer of a bedroom in Charlestown.  She loved her new family after we moved to China.  And she smiled that Pokey smile until the very end.

She wasn’t just our dog, she was our family.  

 And she will always be our one and only girly-girl.

Xi'an - Our new favorite place in China

Click here to see more pictures from our trip!

Last weekend we took a quick trip with the Lohses up to Xi'an to see the famous terracotta warriors (bingmayong).  Xi'an is northwest from Shanghai, between here and Beijing.  We hired a tour guide for the weekend, which turned out to be a great investment.  Raphael quickly made friends with the kids with his gifts of chocolate and muslin sweet cakes.  He took us to incredible local restaurants, where we ate the best food we have had in China thus far.  And of course he took us around the city to see the city walls, temples, and the famous terracotta warriors.

The warriors are amazing.  They literally take your breath away when you first see them.  To think that they built this tomb over 2000 years ago with these life size, individually unique warriors was amazing.  But when we learned that they have only unearthed about 5% of the actual tomb, we were just in awe.  An emperor with a vision, no doubt.

This small city in China, with only 11 million people, was so different from Shanghai and other places we have been.  It felt small and real.  It might have been because we were some of the only tourists there, as opposed to the peak months where there are over 80,000 visitors a day.  Either way, we had a blast exploring the Muslim quarter, trying the street food (only the safe stuff of course) and shopping in the back alleys.  And because it was the weekend before Chinese New Year, the whole city was decorated with red lanterns and dragons.  It truly was beautiful.

A highlight of our time in China, no doubt.  My vote to add this back on to the list of the 7 wonders of the world!!

Now it's back to the drawing board planning our next adventure...

Off Again

 

 

The Lohses have been in town for the last month and we have spent a great deal of the time traveling around Asia.  After spending Christmas day celebrating, we headed off for Siem Reap, Cambodia and then went to Ho Chi Mihn City (Saigon).

Angkor Wat

Cambodia was simply amazing, one of my top 5 places.  We spent 4 days there and toured the famous temples, spent a day on ATVs, and really tried to get to know the people and local culture.  It was truly fantastic.  Click on the picture above to see more pictures from our trip.

We then headed next store to Vietnam, where Darwin returned to Saigon after his first visit during the war 42 years ago.  We spent 3 days touring the city, the museums, and went to the tunnels used by the North Vietnamese during the American/Vietnam war.  We saw saw some very graphic pictures, read some very unfair recollections of the war, but also spent some time reflecting on our history as a country. I can only imagine how impactful the experience was for a returning veteran.  Click on the picture above to see more pictures from our trip.

Overall, it was a very memorable vacation and another successful Asian adventure for the Lohses!  

Up next...Xi'an and the Terracotta Warriors!