#76 Lion Grove Garden

Sunday has become our day to run errands or do a little sightseeing. Last Sunday was errands - shoe shopping. This Sunday we checked out the Lion Grove Garden in the northeast corner of downtown Suzhou. This garden was recommended to us by a family at church who said their kids loved it. Our kids loved it too.

The garden, like most Suzhou gardens, has water, some buildings with nice furniture, and a number of craggy rocks from nearby Taihu Lake. But the Lion Grove Garden is unique with the number of rocks and rock paths that wind throughout the property. The rock pathways through the garden wind around, over, and under each other offering wonderful views and lots of opportunity to bloody the top of one's head on a rock. The kids loved it because it was a riot of rock climbling, jumping, spelunking, and all with a high likelihood of falling onto a sharp rock or into the water.

Luckily, we had no such disaster - just a few abrasions on the coral-like rocks. A few more photos are posted at snapfish.com. We bribed the kids with ice cream to get the final picture above.

#75 Pool is Open

The pool at Jin Shui Wan is open again for the season. Juliana and Joseph spent a couple of hours swimming in the very cold water on Saturday afternoon. Marco came along and sat at the edge of the pool with his feet in the water. He has one more week before the arm cast comes off.

#74 Kinder Field Trip

Kathleen served as a chaperone for the Newton Kindergarten field trip this week. The went to a placed called Feng Sheng Mountain (or something like that) - a hilly area just outside of Suzhou with a Buddist Temple and hilltop pagoda. Pictured above with Marco and Maria are their friends and classmates Gabriella and Isaiah as well as Isaiah's mom, Mary. Gabriella is the daughter of a Caterpillar colleague. Isaiah is a buddy of Marco who earlier this year broek a bone, thus shares a common bond with Marco.

Maria has taken to wearing this curious cloth heart around her neck. It reminds me of the lion character in The Wizard of Oz. The one without a heart.

I wish Kathleen would write a blog to tell us about this day. Without her, I can only pick a few pictures and comment on the characters.

#73 Shop for Shoes

Today's assignment after church was shoe shopping for the children. Maria has been refusing to put shoes on for school because they are too tight. Joseph uses his shoes as bicycle and scooter brakes - so his are worn out well before their time.

Maria really enjoyed shoe shopping declaring "this is fun". She picked out some dashing numbers in pink. I am not sure if the boxes Marco is carrying are shoes for him or for the mini-Imelda. The good natured Marco does not let his broken arm stop him from being helpful. Joseph, as usual was hard to please, and Kathleen, as always, is happy to smile for a photo.

The final shot shows some of the other few million people who were out shopping on Guan Qian Jie in Suzhou this Sunday afternoon.

#72 Neighborhood Ctr

I had a lunch with some Caterpillar colleagues today (Saturday) then wandered to Red Point for a haircut. After that I walked to the Neighborhood Center on Xin Dai Da Dao and did some window shopping. I snapped a few pictures above of the bakery, pharmacy, tea shop, and Starbucks. This is a nice place where you can stroll to stores without having to drive to a strip mall or a Walmart supercenter. China definitely delivers better walkability than the U.S. Of course the Chinese also aspire to own cars and develop traffic sprawl like America. No doubt they will get there.

#71 Spring in Peoria

Some interesting news from Peoria this week care of our friend Margaret. The picture above of our front yard was in the newspaper yesterday with a caption about springtime. Every spring, these magnolia trees in our front yard bloom with beautiful and fragrant white blossoms. It is a harbinger of spring for us and the whole neighborhood and to see it from China makes us feel a little homesick.

Another interesting event was a 5.4 richter earthquake in southern Illinois. Margaret said she and her son Edward were awoken in the early morning by the shaking. According to CNN, the tremors were felt in five states but no damage or injuries were reported. Kathleen and I lived in California for five years and only every experienced a single tiny tremor. And now we missed the big one in Peoria !

#70 Maria Open House

This is third in a series of breaking kid news. On Friday, while Kathleen was on the road to the Shanghai hospital with Marco, I was assigned to attend Maria's preschool open house. At first I was reluctant to miss my morning line-up of work meetings to attend the open house. Kathleen told me that Maria was looking forward all week to her open house and convinced me to not miss this opportunity. I was very glad I went for both Maria's sake and for mine.

When I arrived, I could hear Maria's piercing voice from outside the classroom yelling "where's my Daddy?". She was so happy to see me, which was a rare treat because she typically prefers Mom. As you can see above, we listened to her teacher Ms. May read a book and we did an art project together. Not pictured is the round of the hokey-pokey that we danced together. I was pleased to meet Maria's teachers and get a nice report that Maria is getting along well with her classmates and is learning a lot of Chinese language.

Upon my departure, Maria burst into tears. Not a pleasant scene, but it did make me feel wanted.

#69 Viola Recital

We mentioned in an earlier blog that Juliana is taking viola lessons at school. This week she had her first recital as part of an afternoon music assembly. She gave a solo performance of Jingle Bells (Christmas in April I guess.) Juliana and her classmates showed a lot of poise and confidence. Each of them stood on the stage alone and performed a musical number of their choosing. Juliana practiced a lot for her performance and did great.

We are very impressed with the students and the teachers at Dulwich. The school offers exceptional opportunities to develop and pursue interests in music, performance, and many other extracurriculars.

Bravo Juliana !

#68 Marco Breaks Arm

Poor Marco had a wagon riding accident this week and broke his elbow during the fall. Apparently Marco was being pulled down a grass slope in the park near our house and took a spill. Details of the accident remain sketchy as five-year-olds make unreliable eyewitnesses.

I received a call during my Chinese lesson that Marco was injured and needed to go to the hospital. It was a weeknight, so Kathleen opted to take him to the local Suzhou hospital called Kowloon. Kowloon has a VIP clinic with an English-speaking staff, however the VIP room is open only 9 to 5. Unfortunately, Marco broke his bone during non-business hours.

Kathleen took Marco to the Kowloon emergency room for an evaluation. Michael, our driver, helped her navigate the process and speak with the doctors. They X-ray'd the arm and noted a small fracture. They splinted and bandaged the arm and gave him a sling.

Probably the most interesting part of the Kowloon experience was that you must pay in cash before receiving any service. You pay as you go from department to department, though it is remarkably inexpensive. It was $5 for the x-ray and $20 for the consultation with the doctors. Great prices but questionable quality.

Kathleen took the boy to Shanghai United Family Hospital the next morning and got him checked out by an orthepedist. The doctor did some realignment of the arm and put him in a half-cast. He will wear the cast for three weeks then get another x-ray. After the weekend he was back to school and seeming to enjoy the novelty of having a cast.

#67 Tomb Sweep Day

Today was tomb-sweeping day in China - a newly recognized national holiday which afforded us a day off from work at Caterpillar, China. Known in Chinese as "Qing Ming Jie", it falls two weeks after the winter solstice and is a day to visit and honor dead ancestors.

We celebrated by taking a bike ride to a nearby park that I will call Pennisula Park. The park is about a mile away in a residential area that I am told has been built to house government employees and party cadres. At present, it seems pretty void of residents, but has some beautifully landscaped paths and park space along the lake and adjacent canals.

The kids enjoyed the unique playground equipment and we parents enjoyed getting them out of the house where the day off was putting them on each others nerves.

We had a nice conversation in broken Mandarin with three security guards who were looking after the playground. We mused about why an empty playground needs three security guards on duty, but this whole park seems to always have more security guards than visitors.

The final picture is of an interesting and huge sculpture that is being erected a block from the entrance to our subdivision. Though it reminds me of a treble clef, I cannot actually say what it will signify or symbolize. Probably something to do with progress and harmony!

#65 Trip to U.S.

I had a enjoyable and productive visit to Illinois. I spent a weekend in Peoria (first picture), a week in Decatur, then another weekend in Peoria. The week in Decatur was interesting if you are a Cat motor grader enthusiast - but since most of you readers are not, I will write about my weekends in Peoria.

Our housesitter, Jace, warmly welcomed me to stay with him at the Parkside manor. Though recently broken up with his girlfriend, he seemed to be happy and heathly and enjoying the Uplands digs. He was very busy, working multiple remodeling projects, tending bar, and putting his tax return together.

I enjoyed several dinners with our neighbors, Greg and Margaret (above), and their children. I almost didn't recognize Ellen when I first saw her - she looked so different with thick hair and a short haircut. I appreciated the vegetarian chili and warm hospitality. It was great to see all of them.

On the second Friday in Peoria, I attended the St. Mark's Smoker which is a Las Vegas Night hosted by the Men's Club. It was a great time and I was pleased and surprised to see three of my Mossville co-workers, Ron, Bob, and Jim, seated and playing poker. I joined their table and had a good time catching up with them. Meanwhile, Greg was cleaning up at the other table. Greg ended up on top in the first Hold 'Em tournament and winning a tidy sum. I won the second Hold 'Em tournament and broke even for my earlier losses. It was a good night for Greg and Tony.

On Saturday night, our friends and neighbors, Brad and Mary, hosted a St. Patrick's day party. The gathering was great fun and a nice opportunity for me to visit with many friends from the neighborhood.

I also had the chance to run a few times with my old jogging partners Jason and Mary. We ran on three different mornings during the week I was home. They have moved on to running marathons and were charitable enough to slow it down for a run with this old dog. Runs with these two are always enjoyable, particularly with Jason's stories of teaching school, remodeling houses, playing poker, monitoring the neighborhood, and discussing current events.

On Monday I had a meeting at my old office in Mossville and visited with colleagues in the Cat Engine Division. I saw many friends and had lunch with two of my favorite Cat guys - Dave and Josh. They both have baby girls that were born in the past year and the guys remain busy designing engine components for the next generation of low emissions construction equipment.

I had a bit of stress on Tuesday morning when I overslept and missed my predawn flight from Peoria to Chicago. Luckily, I was scheduled for a very long layover in Chicago and upon waking, left immediately to drive to O'Hare. I made it with enough time to spare and was ultimately grateful I skipped the PIA flight because Peoria probably would have troubled me for the large amount of excess baggage I was checking.

After seven months in China, I really enjoyed seeing all of these great people. I loved my meals at Panera and having the freedom to get in a car and go places without planning ahead. People wanted to quiz me about what was going on in Tibet, which of course I know almost nothing about because you don't get much news of Tibet when living in China. Pollution in Beijing was another popular conversation item. I was surprised by the high cost of gas ($3.50/gal) and perhaps not so surprised that a number of new title loan and cash stores had opened up in Peoria. All in all, it was great to be back in the U.S., but after 10 days away, it was also nice to return home to China. (Really, Kathleen, it's true).