Kai fa qu sightseeing

We did a little sightseeing around town today. The highlight definitely was ringing the bell....this is going to give us harmony within the family and good luck in the new year!














These lanterns are on the drive to our neighborhood, we have driven by so many times, I finally had to get a photo!














Random photos....

Chinese New Year Xinghai Square

The Chinese really know how to put on a firework display! We loved it, and really enjoyed spending time with our driver and his 11 year old daughter.

Official welcome for Nicole and Trejan!

Dalian American International School has what is called Community time every other Friday. This is an all school assembly where different classes practice public speaking and share what they have been learning. This week's Community time focused on the New Year Celebration, and welcoming new students. Nicole is standing up here when they announced her name.

Nicole's second grade class is in the second row. The first row is the pre-K class. Nicole is wearing her Brandon Roy jersey.














Trejan's kindergarten class is in the front row (ten students), and the first graders are behind them. This is Trejan with Jon Krumtinger, his 6'9" Kindergarten teacher!










This is what I wore today picking up the kids in 17 f, with 22mph winds.

Dalian American International School, a five minute walk from our Condo. If you look closely you can see Trejan hiding to the right of the bike rack.

Bu Hao

Bu Hao = NOT good
The past couple of days have been Bu Hao, and I was having a good attitude for the most part. Today, I have some housing problems that are getting me down.....electric circuit shorts out and the refrigerator turns off (at least it is cold outside so our food hasn't spoiled), the hot water heater still doesn't work right (sometimes its OK, sometimes not-I have a a couple of hot showers), water leaking from the bathroom ceiling (pipe broke), heat can not be turned on any higher (but good news, we are getting space heaters soon!)
Besides that.....I'll tell more later!

Mailing address

Flennaugh Family
c-2 Unit #202
2 Dianchi Road
Golden Pebble Beach
Dalian Development Area 116650
People's Republic of CHINA

First few days....

The first night I was going to cook here in our new home.....I went to get the frying pan and realized we didn't have one! No pot either! Couldn't even make mac and cheese from the boxes I had brought, or spaghetti. The kitchen list had pots and pans, and I didn't notice that they were missing when we did the walk through. (I did notice that the plates, bowls and glasses are much nicer than I was expecting.) The next morning we had microwave popcorn and CheezIts for breakfast, I was planning on making pancakes and eggs. But that is tough without a frying pan! The first morning we DID have a frying pan I made pancakes from scratch without measuring spoons and measuring cups (they were at least edible). They are packed in our "shipment" which is due in 4-6 weeks. I turned the pancakes with a spoon that morning, and we found a spatula today:) I still have yet to cook a real dinner, but I think tomorrow I am ready!

We have had a few maintenance issues, the sliding glass doors in the bedrooms don't exactly fit. Today the were "fixed" with tape to seal the gap. (When it is warmer they will really fix it.) At least there won't be such a breeze. When the temperature is around 20F then that wind is cold! My first shower started in one and finished in another, the drain wasn't working and the seal around the shower wasn't done properly, so water was all over the bathroom floor, around the toilet, I was driping wet.....what a mess. We asked if we could get the water temperature turned up since I like hot showers as opposed to warm showers. Ever since they came to fix that, the hot water has been unpredictable. Sometime nonexistent! The heat is on, but they keep telling us that they are working on turning it up of us.

The kids are getting really good at playing Wii. I don't take pride in that. They are liking China so far because they have NEVER had so many free hours of video game playing. Actually I think they are adjusting pretty well. Nicole has gotten plenty of comments on her hair. We took her braids out and I think she gets even more attention with it down than with it in braids. Trejan gets a lot of "oh, he is so cute!" comments, although they are in Mandarin we can figure out what people are saying. He has gotten more than his share of head rubs and cheek rubs, although he is being a good sport. His big eyes look even bigger when he is shying away and then he looks up with only his eyes. I think a popular word that people learn in English is "beautiful" because we have heard that a few times. My favorite comment was "your children are so beautiful I can not keep my eyes off of them". Trejan has picked up on the phrase "I'm feeling stressed out", very funny coming from at six year old. He would rather stay at home all day than venture out (although this doesn't really differ from how he is when we are in Portland). Our gym across the way has three ping pong tables. The kids have been having fun learning and chasing the balls all around. That is the most exercise we have gotten but Damon and I are promising we will do better.

Our driver, Pong, has been working out great because (most importantly) he is safe and he is friendly. He boosts Trejan out of the car if there is a big step and he is very eager to help us. He doesn't speak much English, but he is learning and we are learning (very slowly) Mandarin from him. It is so weird to have someone waiting when you get out of a store, or at your front door. I suppose it will become normal at some point.

Once the boxes are finished getting unpacked I'll post some photos!

We made it to Dalian

We are in the beautiful Shangri La Hotel in sunny, freezing Dalian. The kids are playing wii and Damon and I are exhausted.....but we are here! I hear it is snowing AGAIN in Portland, and I am glad we got out when we did.



Everything at LAX was smooth and Auntie Nori met us there to entertain Nicole and Tre.




This picture is in Seoul where the airport is pristine (and thankfully very empty)!



We got to Dalian a few hours ago and were greeted with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and five people to help us. We feel so blessed that everything went well. Nicole and Trejan were troopers in the 23 hours of travel time.


Here we are at PDX with 11 boxes, two suitcases and two car seats plus carry on luggage.











Some other funny packing pictures.....weighing the luggage so the $350 excess weight fee is not charged to our extra pieces.









This is what our shipment to China looked like packed (minus the couch, which I would have loved to have added, but it wouldn't fit in the crate)Over the counter meds....