A quick glance on some of the things we're up to right now….
5 February…new dishwasher installation! We had an agreement with the landlord that he would purchase a new dishwasher and refrigerator for the house (the existing ones are really poor quality and don't function properly). We ordered the dishwasher on Saturday and it was installed the following Wednesday! Talk about SUPER FAST service!
My ayi is watching the landlord's maintainer and the dishwasher installation work in progress:
The existing oven got moved into the wet kitchen (they took out what I think is a sanitizing unit we obviously never used and put the oven in its place). The new Bosch (yay!) dishwasher was moved into the oven's former space. The old dishwasher is still in place. It's absolutely amazing how different the new dishwasher is compared to the old one- it actually cleans the dishes and it's so quiet! The new dishwasher is not a full-size one so with both dishwashers we have the equivalent of one full-size dishwasher. The installation took less than two hours to complete. Talk about FAST! I don't think I've ever seen any installation happen that quickly. I used the oven just a short while later to roast up a turkey. Yes, it works in its new location.
Isn't our new dishwasher so pretty??????
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Check out this absolutely wonderful Christmas/birthday gift I received from Beth and my in-laws:
Can you tell what it is? It's a hydroponic growing station complete with plant lights and it's growing HERBS!!!! I've got two kinds of basil, dill, cilantro, chives, parsley, and mint growing …and they're growing up fast! I'm so excited! This photo was taken a few weeks back- all of the pods have now germinated and some of the seedlings are going crazy and growing tall. It's such a wonderful, happy thing to look at every day. Thank you!!!!!!!
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On the same day as the Third Grade Assembly, Smervyn made an appearance in Ava's classroom (with Mark in tow). Many of the kids had already seen him (Mark showed Ava's first grade class) but it seemed different this time around. Mark was asked many excellent questions about how he designed and built Smervyn. It also got Ava's teacher thinking about the possibility of having the kids build something in their classes. GREAT IDEA!!!!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!!!
6 February 2015…IST's Winter Formal for all secondary students was held at the Ritz Carlton hotel (it's a super, duper, fancy, schmancy hotel). Where did our little girl go??? Annika is all dressed up (in one of my dresses) and ready for her first dance (which includes dinner beforehand).
Hmmm…I didn't get a photo of Mimi and Annika before the crawled into the back of the hired van but here's a photo of Mimi's beautiful older sister, Ngufan, and her friend. Looking gorgeous for the formal! I am so grateful that our friend (Frances) helped us hire a van for the evening to safely transport the girls (+ one boy) as Mark was at a business dinner.
Oh, and have I mentioned to you the weirdness regarding license plates here in Tianjin and Beijing? There is one day out of the week where our car is not allowed inside Tianjin between certain hours (I think it's from 8am until 8pm but I could be wrong). Our car is not allowed into Tianjin on Fridays…and naturally the formal is held on a Friday evening. That means needing to make alternative transportation arrangements. I think many of the older secondary students end up taking a taxi but I'm not comfortable with Annika doing that without adult supervision. (I'm sure it's safe; I'm just not ready to take that leap of faith.)
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7 February 2015 –
David, Lynn, and a much older Mumu came over to hang out with us and eat dinner with us. RIBS!!!! Andy, Lachlan, and Anna also came over to hang out with us as Jen was on a Beijing shopping excursion. This is the first time that Mumu interacted with us where she wasn't immediately terrified of us! LOL! She also knows that Ava is her Older Sister and Annika is Big Older Sister. I think Mumu really liked playing on our trampoline.
Here Mumu, Anna, and Annika are busy painting:
with Lynn closely watching Mumu:
Thank you to everyone that stopped by the house (we had other friends stop by for a quick visit). It was a wonderful day!!!
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8 February 2015-
Hmmmm….some of you might be aware of Mark's schnapps production. For those of you that aren't: Mark is learning how to make fruit schnapps (what you get when you ferment fruit and then distill it). He's having Still 2.0 built – it's going to be made of stainless steel and copper and will more closely resemble the still our friend, Gerhard, uses in Austria. Mark has learned a lot from Gerhard. Okay, on with the story regarding the below photo….Mark needed to make a small copper overflow cup. As I watching him pound away on the piece of copper I figured I could try making something as well. And, well….here is my first attempt at hammered copper:
Don't ask what it is….it's tiny.
Next up? A bowl? I'd like to figure out how to hammer the piece to a thinner thickness.
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More randomness: Check out this funny car-shaped cutting board I found at the Aeon mall. Do you see what it states it can be used for?
"For pick nick…"
When you've got a nick to pick…using this!
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Heading over to one of the new indoor malls in downtown Tianjin (there are so many of them! How can they all co-exist??? It seems very likely that we'll see mall closures while we're living here.) This particular mall is called Riverside 66 (I'm curious if 66 means anything to anybody or what). We saw this funny Shaun the Sheep installation….I think maybe for Chinese New Year?
I am very curious if this is an authorized use of Shaun the Sheep or just fantastic look-alikes. Hmmmm….
Meanwhile in the basement of this beautiful mall is this bakery:
It's the Itchy Bakery (okay, it's not spelled exactly like itchy but it's close and I bet it's pronounced the same too). This is where they bake itches. Now you know.
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Chinese New Year is coming up fast….