A Whirlwind

Well I haven't posted in a while because I had hoped to learn how to Post a picture:(  haven't done that so here we go anyway.

I am sure that was not the fastest trip anyone has ever taken to China but it sure was a quickie!  We landed in China at about 4:00 pm on Monday (that is 4:00 am here in SC) We left about 5:00 pm on Thursday.  That is approximately thirty six hours in country.  Woosh!  All business.
We were on our own on Monday evening, found a mall near our hotel with many floors and tons of restaurants.  We decided to have Thai.  I ordered a bottle of water, they brought a cup of hot water:)  They had forks!  Have to learn how to say bottle of water!

On Tuesday morning we were picked up at 8:30 by real estate agent Monica and her driver to go look at houses.  We saw so many houses, none of which will probably still be available when Mike can actually put an offer in to a landlord.  It gave me a good feel for what is out there.  We also saw a couple apartments....not for me.  The houses are located Northeast of the downtown area in neighborhoods called compounds.  The compounds all have security guys and are gated. They also have club houses with pools and exercise areas, some have stores and others have restaurants.  It is to one of these restaurants we went for lunch....they gave me chopsticks!  Now some of you are saying so???  well, I have never been able to master chopsticks, I managed to eat my lunch, yahoo for me! Certainly cuts down on consumption as the length of time to eat gives you (me) time to feel full:)
Dinner on our own that night was fun, went back to the same mall (not like our malls) and had some dumplings and a chicken dish, very delicious.  Have you ever tried to eat a slippery large sized dumpling with chopsticks, for my second chopstick meal, I did OK.

Wednesday morning we were picked up at 9:30 by Fei and the same driver to have an orientation day. We went to so many places....Olivia's school to meet the guidance counselor and for me to have a tour (Mike already saw the school last fall), The bank to open an account...I now posses a Chinese ATM card, Wahoo! We went to grocery stores..several that are mostly used by expats and one that is used mostly by native Chinese, it was five stories and huge, we didn't make it to the top floor. We went to the hospital, a smaller clinic, a pet supply store and some other shopping place. Probably some other places I am not remembering right now.  For dinner we met Mike's new boss, his wife and one of the staff Mike will have working for him at a  Western style restaurant.  I was feeling a bit carsick as we went in a taxi (that is another story) and I do not do well in the back seat........

Thursday found us packing up then going to  shopping area that is directed mostly towards tourists.  You have to bargain...never pay the price they first quote you....did not like the process, let Mike do it all.  I am not sure I will ever like that process:(
We went back to the hotel got our stuff and were picked up by another woman who is working for Mike and she took us to lunch then the airport....woosh.  Left there at about 5:00 Beijing time and got to SC at 1:00 AM SC time Friday morning.  I have a hard time actually figuring out how long we were in transit,suffice it to say it was a long time!
Zàijiàn