Sorry!

Hello Family...
Sorry for the silence. We have had lots going on here and for the past week haven't had internet at home. But at last I am sitting down to give you an update. We have been in Beijing for about a month now. We are settled in an apartment about a 10 minute bike ride from my school. I started school two weeks ago. I love it!! :) Billy is still jobless. Heehee... that is a matter that needs to be settled soon or I will see you all a bit sooner than I had hoped! He has a second interview with a US company next week... we will see. Here are some pictures to give you a little picture of our life...

We live on the 23rd floor of an apartment high rise. This is the view from our west-facing window. What you see is neither sea-air nor beautiful mist--- rather it is the SICKENING POLLUTION of Beijing... it is one of the most polluted cities in the world, and it is obvious from our window. Only 2 or 3 days of our month here have we been able to tell that there are actually mountains biking-distance away from our apartment... right behind the cloud of pollution you see. I believe that living here too long is bad for your health... and I wonder why in the world they are having the Summer Olympics here!! Poor atheletes!!

This is the parking lot in front of our apartment building.... and below are our wheels here in Beijing... mine are the ones on the right and Billy's are on the left......











This is a picture of a donkey in the bike lane. He is pulling some kind of building materials. Often when I see them, they are carrying a huge load of bricks. They share the bike lane with me on the way to school.


These three-wheeler bikes also share the road with me... they carry anything from fruit to furniture (huge peices!). The men in the background are playing Chinese chess. Whenever you see a group of men gathered around looking down, they are playing chess.... they do it all over and are VERY passionate about how they play!







This is us eating GoBuLi baozi (the meaning of the name is something like "No dog would care". It means that the dumplings are so stinky and yucky that even dogs wouldn't eat them!). I actually really liked them.


(aside: this is also Billy's bad Chinese haircut...)




These are scorpions at the night market that we went to last night... they were alive on the stick in this picture. When someone buys them, they fry them...............

Billy was too scared to try them.....














I DID IT!! :)

he he he he....







And these are skinned snakes and a baby shark... also prepared for human consumption....

I did NOT try these... :)











This past week has been a National Holiday in China. The government decided that it would be 7 days of holiday, beginning last Sunday and ending this Saturday night. That means that they announced that last Saturday and this Sunday will be normal work days... hard for the American brain to comprehend... yes... I went to school last Saturday and have school this Sunday... and EVERYONE had work last Saturday and has work this Sunday! It is crazy!! Anyways... on the holiday we went to Tianjin, the third largest city in China near the water. This is us on a street with lots of fun shops. We had a great stay there!


And this is for you Dad and Mom... this is the fruit that Billy and I were eating as we spoke with you on the phone... Fire Dragon Fruit... good stuff... it is the texture of a kiwi and tastes a little like an avocado and a kiwi mix....






OK... that's all for now... more later. Love you all lots... I really should just write more often, so that when I do I don't fill up the whole blog! :)

Much love to everyone!!
Tami (and Billy)