Wu Flung Poo…

Yes folks, this phrase was something that my brother, Nic, and I used to say to each other growing up.  Unfortunately, everything here so far has sounded like a weird combination of this phrase and the word “zhege, zhege, zhege.”

So, thanks for prepping me for China all those years, but I guess I should really start working on my Mandarin now.

;)

Aside from having absolutely no idea about what people are saying, we quite like it here.  Don’t get me wrong, we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in Brazil…and don’t tell any of our Brasileiro friends this...but I think I’ve convinced myself I like this place a little better. Here’s why:       

• Here we have our own apartment (Roomies, we had our fun times…but there   are definite reasons why married couples don’t usually live with others. haha)
• We have 2 rooms in said apartment…this means we can have guests! Please ignore the above complaint about roomies, because guests= Not Awkward. :)
• Each room in our little apartment has bay windows with breathtaking views of the city.  I don’t think I’d trade our apartment for one twice as big if it meant I had to give up my sparkly views!

This is how a sunrise looks from our bedroom window.

• We are surrounded by 14 (no joke) malls and a plethora of gorgeous parks.  There is also a huge river, lots of tree-lined walk-ways and an Italian district all within a 5 minute walk of us.    
• Campinas, Brazil was the second most expensive place to live in on an expatriate site I found.  Tianjin, China was the very last.  I think I’ll enjoy that financial freedom a little more.
• It seems to be a lot safer here.  Laws are extremely strict here against criminals all the time, but especially when somebody messes with a foreigner.
• Chinese Nationals seem to love Americans.  In some parts, you may be the first foreigner many have seen, so they treat you like rock stars.  This can get old if you’re in a hurry, but so far we’ve enjoyed it and it’s been a great marketing tool for the company.
• Because of the things mentioned above, I feel like we have a lot more freedom…which is pretty ironic, considering that we live in a country ruled by communism. 

 

Here’s a quick picture recap of a Sunday evening stroll down the river:

A couple of views from the river in our He Ping District.

Jordan in front of the Italian District.  When we get tired of the weird spices, we’ll have to go there.

Jordan had me pose here so we could secretly capture the guy in the back practicing Kung-Fu.  He was awesome!

A native making decorative lollipops by hand.  He free-handed this in about 2 minutes.  If it weren’t Sunday, we would have gone home licking a dragon one ourselves…

A crazy “Rudolph” catfish we found at the port.

Jordan in front of one of the cool palaces close to our house.

Following a tradition for their Autumn Holiday, we got to write our wishes on a hot air balloon and release them over the river.  It was so pretty to watch our wishes float up and away over the city.  It kind of reminded me of a Mary Poppins scene, except more romantic after the initial scare that a truck would run it over when ours first decided to float down instead of up!  It got over that obstacle and is now somewhere waiting to get our wishes processed! ;) Next time we’ll wait for enough hot air!

I’m sure we’ll find things we don’t like so much (such as unfavorable food and foul smells), but why not bask in the glory of China’s honeymoon phase?!

So, for the time being, I’ll try to keep you updated on all of the good…and interesting things that we find here.  But really, you ought to come and hear the “Wu Flung Poo, zhege, zhege” for yourself!