The S-BOARD has taken our house by storm! It’s a miracle! now all the boys want to do is be outside and skate away…I’m thrilled! *coz it’s really loads of fun and I get to S-BOARD too when they let me.*

This Is Nick with Jason - his new friend from XIS who he’s been spending a lot if time with. Good kid!

Haiwan Park now has some additional attraction that are awesome for the kids, but bad for the parents wallets as well as ears…Roller coasters and bumper cars etc…there goes all the peace and quiet we used to enjoy while we were out there. But yes, loads of fun though - our personal little “Enchanted Kingdom” (amusement park in the Phils.) - Plus, it’s only a 15 minute walk from the house!

With last minute tickets, a random hotel booking via tripadvisor.com, and our Lonely Planet guide-book in hand, we left for Xi’an for the Labor Day holidays - and what a terrific surprise we were in for!!

Our hotel was great and we totally recommend doing what we did! We Stayed at the Grand Mercure on Renmin Square which is pretty much a compound for the hotels of the Accor Group. (Sofitel, Mercure, Grand Mercure) Basically, we stayed at the cheaper hotel, but enjoyed the restaurants of the Sofitel for breakfasts and dinner which we could still charge directly to our hotel. The Grand Mercure (we suspect) used to be old communist government building that they renovated into a hotel, but Dave and I thought they were so beautiful in their communist art deco style. Quite interesting, centrally located and actually very reasonable!

Homemade noodles…sooooo yummmyy! Matteo couldn’t get enough of this meal! I think we went back to eat here 3 times.

Little portable aquariums with either fish or salamanders…the kids naturally wanted to buy these but thankfully allowed themselves to be convinced otherwise.

These two ate their way through Xi’an from the moment they got there.

Beiyuanmen or Muslim Street: This is one of the main pedestrian streets of the muslim quarter and just totally fascinating. Yes, the crowds will run you over. Yes, the pedicabs will run you over…but DAMN going there and eating our way through all those food stalls makes all the chaos worth it! (Please note that I am NOT a foodie, so the food is really THAT good!) Plus of course there is shopping to be had, so I couldn’t have asked for more. Even the kids enjoyed this bustling street - Nicolas was right behind David in trying all this Muslim street food…while Matteo was fixated on buying everything else!

This man was “THE” farmer that dug the well and discovered the first warrior…

Visiting the Warriors or “bing ma yong” (Literally meaning “army horse figures”): Somehow, we miraculously managed to stick to our schedule of leaving the hotel at 8am to find the bus and make our way to this historic excavation site around 1 hour away from Xi’an. We weren’t expecting anything else in particular (except the warriors of course) so we were surprised to see that the museum grounds/gardens that surrounded the actual halls that covered the warriors were lovely and very well maintained…really well done, and simply walking from building to building was pleasant. (It was pure madness in the bathrooms though…never in my life have I seen buckets lined up against the wall in front of the bathroom stalls for people to pee in if you’re really desperate and your pee can’t wait! I saw many a woman pull her pants down and whizz in the buckets right beside me.) Back to the warriors…they were AMAZING!! We hired a guide to walk us through the halls and feed us with trivia which we really appreciated. We also got to see the actual farmer that discovered the very first warrior while digging in his field…he now works at the museum, and signs books. Very cool!

Big Goose Pagoda: Laziness almost got the better of us as we debated on whether or not to see this place, but we’re glad we went. The fountain show that they have infront of the pagoda was nice (but probably better at night) and the Baskin and Robbins there was refreshing as well…But back to the Pagoda…lovely, lovely, lovely! We spend a few hours leisurely walking around these 1000 year old grounds which felt almost more Shinto to me than Chinese…very relaxing! I definitely think it was worth the 30 minute tuk-tuk ride to get there, especially since we already boycotted climbing up the Bell and Drum tower.

Biking on the city wall: This was definitely cool and we recommend this if you feel like punishing your ass by biking for 14kms on this cobble-stoned wall with somewhat crappy bikes. It was strangely relaxing though (the peacefulness-NOT my numbing behind), plus you see Xi’an from a completely different perspective (unless you have Matteo riding behind you on your tandem bike complaining away…I eventually got so tired of listening to him that I traded him for Nicolas.)

For 9 months now we have wanted to build this thing to finally get our ogling neighbors off our backs when we hang out on the patio…but little did i imagine though that while we were building it, we would have spectators ga-lore! (The most EVER!) We imagine that they mist be thinking that these laowai (foreigners) are some straaange people! I really can’t imagine how fascinating they think our foreign ways are, but somehow there are glued. Either that or there was absolutely nothing on China TV yesterday afternoon.

Anyways…Dave was home by noon yesterday, so after lunch we went to B&Q, pantomimed for the materials we needed, and rushed home to get started on our first ever DIY project! We weren’t awesome, but weren’t crap either, so after breakfast today, we’ll be building a second one just like it! =)…oh and yes we used our new drill again!! Whoohoo! =))

Whee! The tree is up and anchored by lemons. Now, were just waiting to collect enough eggs to paint on the weekend. So far we’ve eaten omelette twice this week, and I predict that we’ll be having pancakes soon…

*Oh, and for those of you so inclined (like Mirs perhaps)…the tree is potted in a tin can that I covered with scrapbooking paper. Literally took 5 minutes.

This photo is just too precious not to share!

My neighbor Karin came in the day after St. Patricks days and noticed me in my green shirt and gloves (that we’re on my HANDS)…but we thought they would be more fashionable on my head.

…but not in China! Our Easter ritual unfortunately will be changing this year as Easter is not celebrated here, and will therefore be falling off the calendar. This is a huge shame especially since it offers a week long holiday, and a much awaited break for us Filipinos. Normally, it is our family tradition to head towards the beach, paint eggs, prepare our Easter tree, and organize the egg hunt that evolved into a treasure-hunt as the kids got older and hiding eggs was not enough! We’ll be missing out on all that beach activity this year, but we are trying to keep some aspects of it alive…so, i’m happy to announce that we have managed to prepare the tree so far…and eat lots of eggs!

I wish I could say that I made these cute little thingeys, but I actually bought them on Gulangyu!

Next weekend, we plan to get together with some friends for some egg painting, so I expect that my cheeks will be very painful by the end of the week from blowing out (and eating) all those eggs…so keep checking in as surely there will be lots more pictures of this to follow.

*sigh* …Allow me to reminisce for a bit…here are some pics from Easter ‘06

The cheapest strawberries EVERR:

1 kilo = RMB14 = P95.00 = USD2.00

We’ve just been stuffing ourselves silly with strawberries these last weeks that we can’t even see them anymore. (I never thought that such a day would EVER come considering how much we all love them.) Anyway…there are apparently strawberry picking fields somewhere here in Xiamen, but for some reason we never managed to make it there because it’s just so much easier to buy them off one of these trucks parked outside our building - hahaha - but certainly not as much fun!

1. I have to have fresh flowers in the house. They make me happy, and they strangely motivate me to do housework and keep everything looking pretty.

2. I don’t drink wine, and will only drink beer when it’s really hot. I’m a tanduay coke girl through and through.

3. I really hate my short hair now. When my hair is long I tell Dave to remind me never to cut it short, but somehow I’ll sneak off and do it, again and

again. It’s a nasty cycle. Have I mentioned yet that I’m also rather forgetful?

4. A dog bit a part of my upper lip off when I was 5, and I still carry the scars. It’s a great thing I have no hang-ups about it.

5. I’m a certified Stott pilates instructor that has yet to market herself properly here in Xiamen.

6. I want to have more children. (But am already struggling to get Dave to agree for a 3rd.) I really love it when my kids have all their friends over, and I see them all so happy together.

7. I have been with my husband for exactly HALF my life. Amazing!!

8. I like to think of myself as a creative person and am in my element when surrounded by paper, scissors and glue. One day I will learn how to sew. I

9. I talk too fast, and often too much!

10. After breastfeeding the boys, I have had serious thoughts about getting a boob-job. But instead, decided to love (or at least LIKE) myself just the way I am. After all, us girls are never really happy anyway…it if wasn’t the boobs it would be the thighs…or something else right? *sigh*

11. I HEART nutella!

12. I love the smell of coffee much more than the actual taste and would actually rather drink tea or hot chocolate.

13. I’m a REAL flake when it comes to going out at night. Getting me to go out is like pulling teeth, and I have no shame in using the LAMEST excuses to stay home.

14. I really don’t like making a big deal about my birthday.

15. My cooking isn’t all that bad – although it’s not my favorite thing to do. I also cook in my undies with the curtains wide open sometimes. This happens when I’m trying to get dressed/or bathe with something on the stove.

16. The wallpaper in our living room has giganormous pink polkadots on it! I wish I wasn’t dead serious about this, but I am. (let me clarify that we are RENTING this apartment and we had no choice in this matter.)

17. I complain about having a small home, but I honestly don’t think I’d have it any other way. (okay, so a few more sqm here and there wouldn’t be bad, but you get my drift!) Cozy is the name of my game!

18. I really enjoy my own company. Must be the result of being an only child. I also really like silence.

19. I never leave home without my sunglasses and camera.

20. I once seriously considered home-schooling my children Waldorf style here in China – until reality kicked in. I do have fantasies of living on and off the land though- but not in a granola-ish kind of way. I believe in sustainability and really think we should all do as much as we can to go GREEN!

21. I truly believe in alternative medicine, detoxification and eating VEG! I must admit though that I could use more discipline on the going PURE VEG part myself. I really really want to!

22. I can make cheese, yogurt, ice cream and bread.

23. Keeping surprises from David is one of the hardest things in the world for me and I have only successfully done it once – when the kids and I flew to China to visit Dave (we did the long distance thing from ‘07-’08) without his knowing. I was bursting from excitement for 3 months –but it was SO worth it.

24. I once slapped a waitress. (Needless to say, I was drunk off my ass!)

25. I don’t understand people that claim g-strings are the comfiest things ever.

26. I used to only decorate my home in monochromatic colors, (except my walls) but now I use crazy amounts of pattern and color. This happened after Mirs and I discovered the dingy alleys of Divisoria, and fell in love with fabric!

27. I enjoy listening to music only when I’m alone. When I’m with others I find it a real distraction, unless it’s really quiet.

Oops! I have more than 25…oh well!!…

28. I have chopped onions with swimming goggles.

Our patio provides me with constant entertainment here in China. I mean…please raise your hand if ANY of you out there have ANY of these: (Bet you don’t!)

1.    A neighbor with a myna bird that does the HAWK-A-LUGEE sound! Oh yes he does!! It’s Hilarious!
2.    Panty liners falling from the sky. (Which grossed me out SO much that I took it and THREW it into my other neighbors plants!)
3.    Clumps of hair falling from the sky.
4.    The remains of eaten watermelons falling from the sky and smashing into a gazillion mush pieces and covering everything including my laundry. Yum!
5.    My neighbor slaughtering a chicken on his patio (adjacent to ours.)
6.    My other neighbor having done the same thing but adding the extra attraction of flattening it out and hanging it to dry on his clothesline.
7.    Dave once found a dead chick skeleton. Apparently it escaped from one of the neighbors hid behind our washing machine…only to die eventually.=(
8.    But the piece de resistance that I have for you is that used condoms fall from the sky here in China too. Incredible! (And I thought the panty liner was disgusting…)

I have pictures of the condom…but do you REALLY want me to post it? What I CAN post is this though…I also occasionally have this on my patio too. *grin*

For those of you that don’t know what a lugee is, here is a definition c/o Urban Dictionary. Lugee: The wad of phlegm that comes up when one is coughing, or hocking.

Guaranteed endless fun with paper and a pair of scissors! Strangely therapeutic too!