Birthday Blog!

Hi, this is Cayanna.  I'm going to blog about my birthday party, but here's the problem.  I won't have had it by the time you're reading this.  So, you will have to read it on the weekend.  You can see a picture of my cake though.  It has tons of fruit on it.  Check out how huge it is!  Zai Jian for now!

See that white fruit that kind of looks like kiwis?  It's called dragon fruit.  We saw a rickshaw full of them in the spice market the other day.  Check out what they look like before they're peeled.  Cool, huh!

 

Asa Stories

Hi, this is Annika.  Today I'm going to tell you stories about Asa.  My brother is a funny and loud boy.  Sometimes he's stubborn, and he can be a pain too.  He screams like crazy when he's tired.  Here is a picture of him when he was feeling upset.  When he is upset, he acts pouty like he doesn't want anything, and he throws whatever is in his hands on the ground.  Sometimes he throws himself on the ground.

  Most of the time, Asa is funny and cheerful.  Yesterday we went to a doctor's appointment, and Asa had to get a shot.  We were riding in a van back to the hotel and Asa and another boy named Benjamin were laughing and giggling and screaming a little too loud, so our guide told them to be more quiet.  Asa had a little pencil that he was pretending to give himself shots with.  He stood up and said, "Who speaks next gets ONE SHOT!"  I thought that was really funny.  Our guide named Kathy started to laugh when he said that.

 Last night, we were at a restaurant called Lucy's for Cayanna's birthday dinner.  We were sitting at a table outside.  We took Asa to the bathroom.  After he was done, he pulled his pants halfway up and took off running through the courtyard speedy quick!  He was holding his pants up with one hand and running and laughing.  We couldn't catch him, and he ran through all the outside tables.  Cayanna finally caught up with him and pulled his pants up.  Mom laughed a lot at that.

I love my brother a real lot.  I'm glad he's part of our family.  That's all the stories I'm going to tell right now.  Zai Jian for now!
"

 

Strange Vehicles Carrying Strange Things

Hi, this is Annika reporting from the other half of the world.  China has a lot of  different vehicles that you won't see in Escalante.  I know probably most of you ride bikes in Escalante and Boulder.  In China not everyone has cars so they ride bikes a lot too.  They latch on a lot of stuff to carry from place to place.  I have seen bikes carrying big water jugs, boards, boxes and huge sacks full of stuff.  Some of the stuff they carry towers over the person riding the bike.

 There are also three-wheeled bikes called rickshaws.  People use them a lot the same way we use pickup trucks at home.  People carry big loads of stuff if they can't fit it onto a regular bike.  Once we saw a huge load of sand in the back of a rickshaw.  We figured out that the sand would weigh several hundred pounds!  Can you imagine pedaling a rickshaw that heavy?

I passed a rickshaw with a man sleeping in the back.  I think he was tired of pulling heavy loads!

The last picture is of a mystery vehicle.  I don't know what it is.  I want you guys to see if you can figure out what it's supposed to be and what it's supposed to do.
 

Zai jian  for now I miss you. 

Foods in China

Hi, Class, this is Cayanna!  First, I'll answer some of your questions.  I like solid sugar cane better than the juice.  Chris, it's a little tough, but I like it because it's chewy, and you can squeeze the sweet juice out with your teeth.  On a scale of one to ten, it would be a ten.  I really enjoy your comments!

Some of the food we've eaten on this trip is just like we have at home.  There are normal things like corn, soda, gum, and french fries.  But, there are also lots of different foods here.  Then, some things are just prepared differently, like the meat.  Have you ever eaten a shrimp with its head still on?  I haven't either, but I could have!  The other night, we went to a restaurant called Lucy's, and my grandma ordered seafood.  When it came, her food was looking at her!

She had a whole shrimp!  I do not like the eyes.  How about you?  Another thing my grandma had on her seafood plate were squids.  They are rubbery.  Here's a picture of some squids on a stick.

  They are the purple wavy things in the middle of the picture.  I think they could wiggle off the stick.

Shrimp isn't the only food that is cooked whole.  We were walking by a nice restaurant.  They had signs that had pictures a whole pig and whole ducks with the heads on and everything!  I don't think that makes people want to rush in.

What do you think?  You might enjoy it.

The market by our hotel has a lot of spices.  There are some things that are familiar and things you've never heard of.  You've probably heard of saffron, cinnamon and ginger.  There are plenty of unusual things too.  At home, we get our spices in bottles and jars.  At the spice market, they come in big sacks.  You tell the shop keeper how much you want, and he will put that much in a sack for you.  The thing that I was interested in a lot was dried sea horses.  There were giant bags of them.

 
Here are some more pictures of the spice market.  Can you tell what is what?

 China is a busy, interesting, different place.  It's fun doing new adventures every day!  Here's one last picture.  It's a dessert that I had for my birthday.  Even the labels were chocolate.

Zai Jian for now!

Growing a Treat!

Hi, this is Cayanna.  Everybody likes treats, but I'll bet lots of you don't know that you can grow a treat.  Sugar cane is one plant we get sugar from.  Sugar cane can be eaten or juiced.  When you take a piece of sugar cane, you don't exactly eat the whole thing.  You chew it until all the sweetness is gone and then spit out the pulp.  It looks sort of like bamboo.

  You can see in these pictures what it looks like.

If you don't want to eat it, you can drink it.  One day we thought we would buy some pieces to chew on, but they had a machine that juiced the pieces.  They put the canes through a tube in a machine, and it smashed it so the juice came out one side and the dry pulp came out the other side.







Here is the dried, smashed pulp.  The drink looked sort of like lemonade but not as dark in color.  It tasted sweet and divine.













When you want to buy sugar cane to chew on it, the person who's selling it peels off the outer part of it.  Then he wraps one end of it in plastic because it's sticky like most sugar.

It's delicious!





















Hi, Classmates!  We are having a great time in China.  No, Asa didn't get sick from eating all the candy, but he WAS pretty wild for awhile!  When we saw Asa's pictures, he looked really sad, but he is the opposite of sad.  He is all hyper and happy.  Thanks for the comments.  They make me feel like I'm both at home and in China! 

Zai Jian!

Things on Roofs

Hi, this is Annika.  I am glad you like our blog.  We are having a good time, and we like sharing it with you.  Our family has a wonderful view of things on roofs out our hotel window.  Here's a view of the city.  The city is very crammed, and the rooftops look dull.  Mostly we don't get on our roofs in Escalante and Boulder unless we're fixing leaks or something.  In China, people get on their roofs every morning and exercise.  They do Tai Chi.  There is a man in yellow pants that has a garden on his roof.  The garden is really the thing that keeps the world from being too dull.  It is beautiful.

Every morning the man exercises in his garden.  Today when I saw the man in the yellow pants, he was coming out to exercise.  When he started to exercise, I did what he did.  It was like he was my teacher, but he didn't know he was teaching me to exercise.  This picture is the view of his garden.  The flat place right in the middle of the picture is where he exercises, and you can kind of see plants (the green things) that make up his garden on the roof. 

Here is another view of the city from our window.   You can see the air is not clear like it is at home.  It is smoggy.

  Another thing that people do on their roofs is hang clothes out.  Some of you might have clothes lines, but maybe they're not on your roof.  Can you see the lady in blue hanging out quilts to dry?  People also hang their clothes out their windows to dry.  They must be very talented, because what if it was a windy day?  They would have to make sure their clothes didn't blow away!

Can you see the clothes in the window in the middle of this picture? 

Now I will answer some of your questions about our trip.  Yes, we both used the squatty potty.  Mom wanted us to do it just to have an experience.  I was good with it, and Cayanna thought it was a nightmare.  But our brother, Asa, wants to use the squatty potty every time he goes to the bathroom!  He freaks out about the other kind.  Keep sending us emails!  We love to hear from you!

Annika   

A New Beginning

Cayanna and I were so excited on the day we got Asa that we could barely wait, but we had to.  We waited until 3:30 and then it was finally time to go to the Civil Affairs office.  I was excited when we entered the door. Cayanna  and I knew right off which one was Asa, because  he had a familiar  backpack, and it was the backpack our mom sent him.  Asa was calm except shy at the first, but he got used to us very quickly.  He knew how to use a magnetic drawing board.

My mom asked a girl what his favorite food is, and she said candy, and I believe that because he got into my sack of treats at the hotel room and didn't want to let go.  We got him a flashlight with candy in it, and he already ate half of it at the Civil Affairs office.  Also at the hotel, he saw some chocolate eggs and we tried to get them back from them.  He said, "I want some chocolate!" in Chinese.

Today we finished the adoption papers and he is a member of our family.

I like all the notes that you guys sent us.  I'll answer more of your questions when we come back.  We're going shopping on Shamian Island right now.