It

Merry Christmas

From the Emperor and Empress

For

Wait

Tis the Season to make others happy.

Like we have made so many Chinese people happy.  One million smiles served.  999,000,000 more to go.

Real China

Sometimes when you are walking down the street, you see things like this.  And it is cool.

Life

China

 So you buy your meals with this lady...

 And then you might have to go to the toilet here...

And afterwards, you stand in this line...

which makes you feel like this.

 However, when you go home and look at your husband's Ipod and see photos like this one, and remember that the man served you free tee.

 And you aslo remember that you saw this cool dude walking down the street.

So you do this, thanking him for the cool adventure that not many other people can have. (And no, I did not give him the black eye--it was an eye infection-which he had cleared up for 5 bucks).

Grab the bull by the horns

The view from atop a yak...not bad.

Lone yakboy

Do you call a person who herds yaks a yakboy, or is he still considered a cowboy?  I'm not sure, but what I am sure of is this photo and how much I love it.  Taken with Ed's Ipod.  Snow Mountain, Lijian, Yunnan Provience.

Happy Anniversary!

To us!! Seven wonderful years.  Three different countries.  Countless adventures!!

And yes, I thought you would need to see the glamour shots again!

The random one...

Shot from the hip

Technology is cool.  These next few days I want to dedicate the blog to my altime favorite photos, taken by Ed of course, from the Ipod.  Yes, there will be a few extra photos in here, but to start it off, "Girl Leaving the Cab".

The best food so far.

Is this.  I know you're thinking, Jen it's just a spring roll.  And that is where you are wrong.  While yes, technically it falls into the spring roll category, I've never had one quite like this.  It is a fresh, not greasy, yummy filled spring roll.  It is filled with veggies, lao ja (chili pepper paste), cilantro, a tiny bit of seaweed, some magic powder stuff, and a few clams.  Believe me it is amazing.   So amazing that I wish I could smuggle a few on the plane to take home to you all.  But I can't because of FDA regulations and the mere fact that it won't make it to your house because I will eat it before the plane even takes off.  So you will just have to enjoy the picture.

What do you do with a small grass hill?

 Slide down it of course!  Ed, our friend Michelle, and I went to a small city just north of Xiamen called Tong'an.  There we found a grass hill.  With this option...

 Of course, we made it more fun than it probably was.  After all, it was a very small hill.  We were the only ones screaming and pretending to have fun, except for the three year olds; they really were screaming and having fun.  At least now I can say that I have gone sledding down a grass hill.  Bucket list item 24, check!

And Ed paid too!

The things I do in China...

Scavenger Hunt, May 2011. Goal: to get as many pictures of crazy things possible. Here are some of the best. Ed eating a mini squid. Me (with bangs) with a guy (with ridiculous orange hair). Turtles, chicken feet, and more--oh la la!  We were partnered up with our friends Anne and Orcun and had a blast!

(and yes I did have to wear that skirt/pant leg thingy as part of the night--it is not in my normal attire)

What's that light?

Xiamen 2011 Lantern festival...celebrating the year of the Rabbit.

Yup...she wore that.

And had no idea what it meant.

So are you gonna pay??

Just Breathe

These were taken with Ed's I-pod up in Shangri-la.  Due to the wicked high altitudes, people were encouraged to buy oxygen canisters to survive.  We were only at 8,000 feet above sea level.  You don't need oxygen canisters to survive.  Ed and I decided to get one to see if we could get high on oxygen.  You also don't get high on oxygen with an oxygen canister.

It was fun to try though!
ps: notice how my nose does not fit the face mask!

Hmmm what to do now?

For the past two days, I've been trying to upload a picture, but it just ain't happening.  But fortunately for you all, I was able to upload a picture of my pet, Peanut (or Xena). This isn't the picture you were supposed to get, but it is one nevertheless.

So this post goes out to some country and it's stupid Internet. Read between the lines.

Hopefully, I'll get the one your supposed to get tomorrow.  Until then, enjoy the cuteness.

Something is wrong here...but I'm not sure what it is?

can you find it??

No pushing please.

This is what the bus is like.  Every day.  It is fun.  Don't you want to come and try it??  And no, just because you are white and a foreigner and a guest in the country does not get you first entry on the bus.  Even old ladies and moms with babies are in that pack.  Or rather, at the bottom of it.

And the parents of the year award goes to...

These guys.  I. Love. This. Picture.  It screams China.  You know, the place where you go "Huh?  Did I just see that?  Did that really happen?  Oh yeah, I guess it did."

ps: just a reminder that the parents thoughtfully tied her onto the stick. 

And one last animal post for ya...

Er Hai Lake, Yunnan Province

What do you do when you see a horse?

Hop on and ride it of course!

For some reason, China has this thing with buying animals and charging people to either ride them or hold them.  Wouldn't you know it that Ed loves to do this.  As evident above, we can now no longer pass one of these "Ride/Hold my animal, that I'm not feeding and probably abusing, for 5RMB" with out Ed riding or holding the animal.  Even though I'm giving him crap about it now, I have to admit that it is kind of fun to see what he will do. 

Please note, that the pig was free.  And we couldn't ride or hold her.  Ed just wanted a picture with a wild parking lot pig.