#127 Shan Tang Jie

We did a little more Suzhou sightseeing today with a visit to Shan Tang Jie, a charming walking street along the canals in old Suzhou. The kids' friend, Ali, joined us for the excursion that started with church, then lunch, then Shan Tang street.

Lunch was a traditional Suzhou style restaurant with sweet and sour squirrel fish, dumplings, delicious vegetables, and lots of rice to satisfy the kids. We all enjoyed the food and ate more than necessary. The highlight of the meal came when Marco realized that the loose tooth he had been nursing for a month was missing. This was Marco's first lost tooth - and it was truly lost. We searched the floor and his plate but were not able to locate the tooth.

After lunch we had a walk along Shan Tang Jie which has quite a nice collection of shops selling embroidery, furniture, Mao memorabilia, painting, knick-knacks, and sculptures.

Halfway along Shan Tang, we bought tickets for a boat ride and proceeded to explore the canals between Shan Tang Jie and Tiger Hill. I really liked the canal ride because of the glimpses you get into traditional life in old Suzhou. People rinse their mops and wash their clothes and do a lot of fishing in the canals. The bridges are very beautiful and the architecture of the Suzhou houses is full of character.

Unfortunately, for most of the adventure, my camera battery had expired, so the best pictures are only in my head.

#126 Cat Party

This week was another one of our intensive project planning and process planning weeks for the new Cat factory. We had visitors in from the Decatur, Aurora, Peoria, Brazil, Xuzhou, Qingdao, and other far flung locales. On Thursday night, Kathleen was gracious enough to host a party at our house for my colleagues.

The turnout was quite good - over thirty people - and we had a good time cooking out and enjoying some great food. Pictured above me and Joseph at the grill and then a few of the guests. We have Riadh from Xuzhou, Jiubo from Qingdao, and Kathleen. Then Sergio and Marcio from Brazil followed by Paul and one of his twin son's - could be Aidan or Edward.

#124 Rocky & McCain

Rocky, one of our project management consultants from the U.S., is a Marine and a personal friend of U.S. Presidential Candidate John McCain. Rocky worked some years ago in Washington, D.C. as a member of McCain's staff and thinks the world of John McCain. Rocky was in Suzhou this week teaching a class on Project Success and brought with him a few McCain bumper stickers to share with the expat Americans. Above you can see our driver, Michael, showing off the new accoutrement on the bumper of the blue Buick.

I hope I don't turn-off the bleeding hearts among my readers (father-in-law excepted), but you have to enjoy the irony in advertising the Republican U.S. candidate on the back of a Buick in communist China.

The next couple of pictures show Rocky doing what he does best - teching project management and disciplining the troops.

#123 Blog Fans

We had a fun experience tonight at the Dulwich College reception. A couple came up to Kathleen and I and asked if I was the author of the Cazzato Family Blog. Shown above, their names are Robert and Julie and they moved to Suzhou two weeks ago from Michigan. He works for a U.S. car component company with an operation in Wuxi. They found the blog by Googling Suzhou and praised it as a wonderful introduction to living in Suzhou. They gave some very enthusiastic feedback, saying that it helped them prepare for their move to China.

Robert and Julie are not the first people we have met this fall who recognize us from the blog. It is a minor bit of celebrity, but moreso, it is nice to know that people are reading and enjoying it. Soon I will have to start signing autographs. One downside I have noticed from the blog is that I everyone has already heard all of my best stories !

#122 Lordy Who's 40

All of sudden, with little warning, my 40th birthday is here !

In the early morning of September 10th, 1968, my dear mother gave birth to yours truly. I am told I was born at over eight pounds, with a full head of black hair, and with squinty eyes that made me look Asian. Today, I am well over eight pounds, still have a full head of black hair, and living in Asia.

We threw a little birthday cake and beer party at the house and invited some Caterpillar colleagues and friends from the neighborhood. Our guest for dinner was John, a friend who works with the Motor Grader group in Decatur. Kathleen made a delicious carrot cake but forgot to buy candles, so I was spared the 40 candle conflagration.

Finally, Kathleen gave me a fantastic Sony digital SLR camera as a gift. This came up after I complained that my pictures of the Olympics were unacceptable with the tiny shirt-pocket sized camera. She is a good listener and brought home this fantastic, fancy camera with a 250 mm telephoto lens. My blog pictures are about to take a big step up !

#121 Weekend Activity

We kicked off the weekend with our first poker game of the new school year. There were some new neighbors who showed up thanks to an email from our Jin Shui Wan ambassador - Thanks Anisa. It is always good for me to have some people to lose my money to.

On Saturday morning, our Chinese housekeeper was on duty, so Kathleen and escaped for a little canoeing adventure. We paddled out to "Island #A" and discovered a small cove on the south side that I had not noticed before.

Later that same day, Juliana came along with me for my Body For Life cardio workout - a run to Li Gong Di. Along we way we had fun watching a couple folk flying their radio controlled model airplanes and helicopters.

#120 Back to School

Today was the start of school. All four children are going to one school this year - Dulwich College. We split them up last year because the cost at Dulwich was a bit too high when we had to pay for Marco and Maria ourselves. This year they are covered by the company and our life will be simpler with one school, one calendar, and one bus stop time.

Dulwich, as you can see, requires uniforms and it was quite a project (so I am told) to get all four kids outfitted to meet the specific requirements of their gender and grade level. There are four different uniform styles and unfortunately, Marco is already the same size as Joseph so he did not fit into Joseph's uniforms from last year.

Maria and Marco are pictured with their teachers, Miss Stark and Miss Horrold, respectively. Miss Stark was Joseph's teacher last year we expect that she will be interested to experience the contrast between the two Cazzato boys. Joseph helped her earn her pay last year and Marco is destined to be the teacher's pet.

As you can see, the kids all look happy, but it was Kathleen who was singing "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year." After a long summer and four weeks of single parenting in Peoria, she is more than eager to get them back in school and into a routine. Kathleen had the additional accomplishment today of getting our October vacation to Malaysia booked and paid for. Kids in school and another beach vacation on the books a month from now. Life is good.

#119 Marco's Sunday

Marco and Joseph paid another visit to the hair stylist to get themselves coiffed for the first day of school next week. This is the salon that has the curious practice of shampooing your hair while you sit in the barber's chair. You can see Marco and Joseph getting the royal treatment. Joseph was a little upset that they cut his hair so short. Marco's was left a little longer. My limited Chinese language skills do not yet allow me to specify what we want from a haircut. This leaves us all subject to the whims of the stylist and the luck of the draw.

Later on Sunday, the kids had a swimming lesson. Someone in our neighborhood found this swimming coach who comes to the clubhouse pool and give lessons. All four of our kids are taking lessons and the teacher, Michael, is doing excellent work. Marco has quickly grown from doggie paddling with floaties on his arms to being able to swim across the pool and back. The kids are developing a professional looking crawl stroke as well. I think they are all motivated to swim better after experiencing all of the excitement of watching Michael Phelps win eight gold medals during the Olympics.

#118 Teambldg Day

Saturday was the Caterpillar Suzhou Outdoor Teambuilding Event (拓展训练）at the Wanghua Training Base near Taihu Lake. This was one of those classic work-together, trust each other, corporate boot camp experiences that helps people get to know each other and value their colleagues. Of course this one had a distinctly Chinese flavor to it and was particularly interesting, as the entire experience was conducted in Chinese. We had quite a large and enthusiastic group of about 80 people which was most of the office employees.

The instructors divided us into six teams and we spent a couple of hours each on a big ladder climb, water balloon catapult construction, and trust falling. In between each activity, we had a discussion session where we each shared what we learned - again mostly in Chinese. Finally, the whole group got together and we had to help each other scale a 15 foot wall by climbing on our colleagues shoulders and being pulled up from the top.

Kathleen had a good time laughing about the poor Chinese employees who had to catch Tony, the 100 kg American, on the trust fall. Most of the people on my team weigh less than I did when I was eight years old.

The experience gave us a chance to spend some time with the many new colleagues that we have hired this year and I can tell you that the employees loved it. The smiles on peoples faces and the excitement during the activities was really quite something.