Ancient Culture Street, Take Two

Hmmm….perhaps it's time to update you on what our life is like in China.  It's been a while, hasn't it?????

 

Well, for some frustrating reasons we decided to let go of our original driver.  We gave him several chances but in the end we decided to let him go and move on.  So far I couldn't be happier with our decision!!!!  Our new driver is …….calmer.  No more white knuckles or nervous twitches for me!!!! Woo hoo!!!!! 

 

We decided to go on a trial run with our new driver on Saturday.  We went back to Ancient Culture Street!  There were many nice things about this visit, including the fact that it was MUCH WARMER than the last time we were here!!!

 

Check out that puppy!  He has purple paws and an orange tail.  What the heck???!? 

The girls checking out toys- they're a little too life-like for my tastes.  *ahem* I wonder what the fur is made of. (maybe I don't want to know!)

 Hey!  It's bacon rock!!!!!

Can you tell what that guy is selling???  Those are giant plant pods with HUGE seeds inside.  I have absolutely NO CLUE what you would or could use a giant pod for.  Definitely interesting to look at! 

 

 Check out the mooncake molds!  

 Annika has been carefully saving her money and she finally got a chance to buy a carefully selected item….a silk scarf.  She paid 50RMB for this black and white silk scarf.  

 Ah yes, random strangers posing with Annika.  Oh, and check out the fluffy balls of cotton candy!  Mmmmm!!!!!!

 And here's the snack I chose….I have absolutely no clue what this is BUT it was amusing watching  her work the wood bowls and her steamer.  I had originally thought she stuffed the bowls with rice but I was wrong.  Even after eating them I still don't know what they are made of.  She made several of these edible white bowls…

 and then she covered each of the "bowls" with a sweet sauce.  See that "tray" the "bowls" are sitting on?  That's edible too!!!!  I think I'll list this snack under the category of Amusing & Edible Food (but I don't need to try again)…

 

 

And MORE random strangers…. 

 Oh my!  Check out the soles on the blue shoes!?!  She's wearing elevator shoes!!! Not sure if you can tell but the soles are at least one or two inches thick.  LOL!  I guess that's one way to make yourself taller.

Here's a famous Tianjin landmark: the Century Clock.  It has to be special since Starbucks put it on their Tianjin mug.  ;-)

 

Other news….we STILL haven't gotten our shipment. Can you believe that??!???  The movers came and packed up our house in the first week of January and we haven't seen our stuff since then.  Now do you understand why we chose to haul thirteen pieces of luggage to China???  Apparently someone in the USA entered some number on a wrong line of sheet 129,983 of our shipping paperwork and now the Chinese government won't look at it until the shipping paperwork has been resubmitted.  And then it gets to go through something called "anti-smuggling" in Chinese customs.  GREEEEAT….. Can you feel my blood pressure going through the roof???  I knew to expect the shipment to take forever but I assumed that it wouldn't take this long.  Who the heck knows IF and WHEN we'll see our stuff.  If we see it.  Yes, I'm ranting.  And upset.  So….this is what life in China is like.  Uh huh.  Nice, huh????

 

How about I leave you with this funny thing we saw on the menu we ate at on Saturday evening…..

 

A favorite quote I've heard from other expat moms…."It's not you; it's China!"  Pretty much sums it up for me!!!!

🙂