Highlights of what these 5 million people have been taught:

*Don’t match white socks with black shoes (one of my personal pet peeves!)

*It is bad taste to wear more than three colors.

*Only shake hands for less then three seconds.

*Don’t jump queues (lines we call them in America).

*No spitting.

*People were discouraged from visiting neighbors in pyjamas and slippers.

*Men were told to refrain from helping women carry their handbags. (This has definitely not filtered down to Shenzhen where everyday I still see a couple holding hands while they walk with the man having a purse slung around his shoulder or carrying down by his side. And I had just assumed it was his purse all this time!).

*Visits to new friends should not last longer then 10 minutes.

*Don’t swear.

*Women were told to stand with their feet slightly apart, in a V or Y shape, when wearing skirts.  Why is that??

*Males and females were cautioned against putting their faces too close to members of the opposite sex when talking in public. (Must have something to do with the rampant problem of halitosis).

I find it sad that so much effort has been made to try and change the face of Beijing for the tourists who will be visiting during the Olympics. Does anyone really care how others dress? Spitting, though disgusting, has more to do with the pollution problem rather then poor manners. Clean up the skies and I guarantee I will cease to have the need to spit in Shenzhen. Of course waiting patiently in line is an expectation that Americans have, though I have become quite accustomed to jumping queue and find it can be quite time saving even when driving. Though I have never carried a purse, I do always get a smile when I see some bloke carrying his girl’s purse and wonder why no mention was made of the man who carries one while walking solo. And what is with having women stand in a V shape?? Who cares how a woman stands, at least she isn’t squatting. Speaking of squatting, I have finally mastered the technique but hardly find it comfortable to rest that way in public let alone private. Wonder why no mention of not squatting when not in the bathroom?

On the other hand, any effort to have a city of well dressed citizens, smiling while they patiently wait in line keeping their swear words in their thoughts and spit in their mouth can only be a good thing. Wonder if these classes would work in say, New York?

Quick Summary of happenings since November:

We have been to the States together 3 times since November.

We have both been promoted!!

We aren’t going to any Olympic events.

Qiu Bi, our Pug, is getting fatter.

Andy is getting slimmer

Obviously poor bloggers but am going to try and update the photos and look of our site…

However, I got a huge surprise last night, it should be the best one ever, Andy called me at 5 pm yesterday afternoon when he was in Shanghai, he said, I am going to have dinner with my clients, and I will call you around 7 before dinner or at 10 after dinner, I said, well, you can just call me when you on your way to your hotel after dinner, he said ok. And he said he has to get up so early tomorrow morning, since he will see off his clients.

I didn’t feel like cooking last night, I went to one of the Chinese restaurant downstairs, dinner was good, ate a little too much, and back home read some emails, watch tv, and played games on line… I didn’t realize it was 10 until Andy send me message, his message said : I am on the way to hotel, have conference call at 11, I will call you in 10 or 15 minutes. I replied: oh, ok. 11? He replied: Yeah, 11, conferences call. I was reading while I sent message to Andy. About 10 minutes later, Qiu bi barked, and I thought our neighbor came back, and my door bell was ringing, I thought the management people came up, I got a little pissed because it was 10:20, and I looked from the people, it was Andy! I couldn’t believe my eyes, and I looked again, yes, it was Andy, and I opened the door with my mouth open, I couldn’t shut my mouth for about one minute, he was just like: what?….what? with satisfied facial expression….it was such an amazing surprise! The best one ever!

Now it’s very clear, he called me at five, actually he was going to leave the hotel, and he said he will call me before 7, because he is going to boarding, he said he will give me a call after 10, because he just landed Shenzhen, when he said he is on the way to his hotel, actually he was heading our home!!!

Surprise comes with sweet lie, I don’t mind, I love it. Thanks Andy, such an awesome surprise!

This year, his business trip has been reduced, he said he tired of traveling, however, I know he realized “home, where the heart is!” He has been trying to reduce his trip as less as he can, I really appreciate what he did!

I should give more support, because this is what partner do. Just take care when you outside! and the most important thing is “cover your belly”. Maybe Andy you should explain what does “cover your belly” mean! (:

We got up early on Saturday morning, it was cool outside, Andy suggested to go out with Qiu Bi. There is a place called red forest, on the east Shenzhen bay, you can see some Hongkong buildings from there,  I always wanted to go there,   we decided to go there, we drove to the red forest, Qiu Bi was more excited then we do, he jumped up and down in our car, and his hairs were all over us…….

Because we went there early, we only can see few people, nice breath, sunny, just felt so relax walking there, there has a funny thing, wherever we’ ve been to, Qiu Bi always like walking between us, Andy and I have no more comments about this, well, we love him, let it be.Bcause we are family~~~ lol.

I just feel lucky!

Our house is becoming home, where the heart is.

I still remember the first night in our new house, the A/C kept dropping waters, We have to turn off the A/C. it was in the middle of July, you can imagine how “comfortable” we were. We have been buying furniture to fill in our home, it turns perfect right now, Andy keeps saying, I love our home. Yes it is turning perfect, sofa just right, plants just right, everything goes with the wall color…

We don’t even go out stay up for a long time, because we feel comfortable to stay in, cook dinner by ourselves, see movies together. While Andy reading I can watch sports channel! Oh, yea, we like cooking at home, more healthy and more fun, I think you can cook dinner for the one that you love is the most happiness thing in the world, we both love cooking, most of the time we cook Chinese, on the one hand, Chinese food is much more easier to cook then western food, on the other hand, Andy wants to practice more and he wants to show off in front of his family and friends. Especially Tim and Alex, we were asked to make Chinese food for them when we were in US in May, but for some reasons, we didn’t do it, we are planning to cook Chinese for them during Christmas this year. Andy always amazed me, the day before yesterday, he cooked dinner for me, I think the dish was mushroom and chicken with some onion, wow~~ it was perfect, I saw him cooking otherwise I couldn’t believe he cooked all that, always amazed me! He is really good cook, his Chinese food is better then me, but my western food is better then him, at least my brownie is better then his…lol

I always falling sleep on him while we saw movies, he just likes a big pillow, and actually it just because the room was so dark, we turned all the lights off, dark always makes me sleepy. Andy always said I am lazy, but I want to say, next time when we see movie, please leave at least one light on.

Once we get all settled, or at least all moved, will post a few pictures of our new space.

I am starting to worry about my “face”, because I can’t drive,but now every guards in our garden knew we bought a new car, every guard noticed we back our garden with a car these days, what I am worrying about is Andy will go to Guangzhou next week, which means I can’t take drive anymore, I have to get up and walk on the street waiting for the f*** taxi again!!! Please!!! I am just tired of waiting and taking taxi… I want to drive!!!! I need to learn fast how to drive!

Pei Lin is off on a company retreat to Beijing for the weekend so I am going through everything making piles of stuff to keep and discard as we prepare to move into our new home. We are downsizing a bit so everything must be evaluated and determined whether or not to keep. But it will be worth it. I just came home from taking a look, and our place is about 95% complete and the floor and paint colors look better then I imagined they would.

Life is good but will be much better when Pei Lin gets home!!

Tonight we met some new friends and said goodbye to an old one. Our new friends are a group of Shenzhen bloggers who over the course of time have met one another and formed a social group which is exactly what we have been looking for. A great way to meet friends outside of the bar atmosphere. The friend we said goodbye to was really just an aquaintence who is moving to Singapore. We wished him good luck and headed home so I could work on our blog!