Three Days Left in the US

Natalie and I only have a few more days left here in the US. We have packed in so many activities in the last few weeks with family and friends that is doesn't feel like we are really going anywhere. It just feels like a HUGE vacation. Both Natalie and I miss Tom quite a bit now. We have been counting down the days. And it will be nice to give up the nomadic life and get into a home again.

Since we have been in Florida, we have gone to the beach only once, but Natalie has been able to swim almost every day. Unfortunately Angel's pool heater is not working and so it is chilly, but Nat doesn't seem to care! We also went to a "hands-on" museum, Great Explorations in St. Petersberg. We went to Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park up North of Tampa and watched the Manatees. We also went to Tampa Bay Downs and spent an afternoon watching the horses run and losing some money! It was the first time that Angel or Jennifer had been so it was fun to watch them bet. Friday and Saturday we just hung out at home. Natalie practically begged not to leave the house! So we let her just swim and relax. Angel gave her a Karaoke microphone so she has spent the last few days singing and performing for us outside by the pool. Quite the entertainer, though she really only has three songs in her repertoire so far: ABC's, Chantilly Lace, and Itsy Bitsy Spider. Yes, I said Chantilly Lace. Her Gammaw taught her that last week and she can sing the whole thing! She did make a new friend, Rheem (sp?), who lives in the house next door to Angel's. Natalie actually went over to their house and played with Rheem and her cousins. She was a little hesitant at first, but stuck it out and enjoyed it. I take that as a good sign for her acclimation in Shanghai.

Well, my mother leaves today for a 5 day cruise. It will be sad to say goodbye for the last time, but her friends are planning on helping her through it! I am sure that mudslides will be involved! We are heading to the Zoo this afternoon. Better get little Miss Sunshine ready for her shower this morning. Just three more days...

Happiness is found......

I have said in the past that I am only eating one meal a day. Maybe every other night I have a bowl of instant noodles but mainly it is only the lunch that is served at work. The Chinese people at work do not like the meals. I love them - at this stage of the game I could eat this stuff everyday for the next three years. They think I am crazy but the plainer the meal the more happy I am. On weekends, I usually go to a restaurant for my one meal. I try to get the same type of meal - rice, meat, and vegetable. But since these are restaurants that cater to Westerners, the prices are very high - definitely not worth the value.

Well this week, I found the place to eat. I have walked past it probably a hundred times in all my trips to China but never paid attention to it. Turns out this place is like a food mart that you would see in a shopping mall. Except all the food places are Chinese (not variety that you would find in a mall - Mexican, Italian, sandwiches, etc). Of course all descriptions are in Chinese because they do not cater to the Westerners - the westerners go to the higher prices restaurants. I walk around and find a dish that I would like. They have display samples of all their dishes. I look closely for any type of shellfish since I am allergic to shellfish. The only thing I can read is the price. I point at a dish and say "take Away". They tend to recognize "take away" more than "carry-out". You get a portion that is huge. Each time I have ordered I originally thought I could eat it in two settings but I managed to eat each one in one setting. The price is either 15 or 20 RMB. That is about $2.00 - $2.50. That is a great value.

Now, I could eat this everyday for the next 3 years but I bet my wife will put an end to that. Shelly will learn to like the place because they cook all the meals as you wait. She will be very interested in how they cook and prepare the meals. She will be duplicating these meals in her own kitchen in a heartbeat.

Britney Spears

Will someone contact Britney Spears and tell her that, although imitation is the greatest form of flattery, I am not buying it. She should have acted sooner in her attempt to woo me.

Someone over here told me in my first week that the thing that you will learn to appreciate being here is that you are not exposed to the tabloids. Tabloid news that is turning up on the evening news almost on a nightly basis in the U.S.

I can just imagine that the recent news has been hot with Anna Nicole Smith and Britney Spears.

Happy New Year

I am sitting in my office at home writing this entry. It is 8:30 p.m. and the New Year’s celebration doesn’t start until another 3 ½ hours (midnight). You couldn’t tell from what I am watching outside my window.

Simply put….China loves their fireworks.

Not taking away from our men and women serving in the armed forces across the world but this place sounds like a war zone. The noise is amazing. The fireworks explosions are amazing. All this and the celebration doesn’t start until midnight.

A couple of hours ago I was sitting at my desk and this brick of fireworks went off in from of my home. I thought it was odd that it was set off in front of my home and not my neighbors (who I suspicion was behind the firecrackers). This string of firecrackers went off for 3 minutes – I timed them. After they were complete I went outside to see the remains. I quickly found out why they were set off in from of my house; because the string of firecrackers was at least 60 feet in length. The string started in front of my house, extending through his property, and well into his other neighbors frontage. There was firecracker paper all over the place.

I went to the clubhouse bar after that and was able to watch some of the private fireworks displays from the balcony. Truly amazing. Fireworks in every direction. I survived happy hour and decided to head back to the house. In the center of our complex is a bell tower. Surrounding the bell tower is a nice open area. This is where the club property wanted everyone to light the fireworks. There were two families from Taiwan there with their fireworks. They were getting ready to ignite them as I was walking by the courtyard.

Let me describe what they where going to ignite. They had three wooden crates. Each crate was 3’ x 3’ x 3’. Once you pried off the lid, inside were 100 cylindrical tubes. They started the first one by igniting the fuse and the show began. Inside this crate were the biggest, loudest, and highest fireworks I have ever seen. They were comparable to a small town’s 4th of July fireworks display. What made it the biggest and loudest is that I was standing about 50 feet from the crate and they were blowing up directly over our heads. The show was amazing – I had chills watching this. The family’s children were dancing, clapping, and singing as there were going off.

The first crate was finished. As the two men went to work on the second and third crate and funny thing developed. An American family walked up with a small bag of fireworks. Sparklers and bottle rockets. They waited while the other two men started the 2nd and 3rd crate. With two crates going at the same time, the shock value was doubled the first crate – again, simply amazing. The American family watched the entire display which lasted about 15 minutes. When it was done, I looked at the American family and watched the father slowly look into his bag and announce to the kids that they were going back to the house. Sparklers and bottle rockets were not going to cut it in this celebration.

Well it is 9:15 – I’m a slow typist (but not as slow as my brother – I’ll tell that story later). I am going to head back out to the courtyard and see what is in store.

It is hard to describe this New Year’s celebration. It is beyond my wildest expectations. China only has three holidays per year. This is one of their most traditional holidays. I will write about the tradition behind it very soon. I’ll probably write more tonight because sleep will be impossible tonight – the noise is amazing. When I look out the window all I can see is a thick haze of smoke – incredible!

Left the Snow, Enjoying the Rain?

I have left the very cold and snowy north for the much warmer south Florida. Though most of the snowbirds (my family included!) think that it is too cold and rainy, I think they have forgotten that up North the weather is a lot worse. It was only 17 degrees when I got out of the car at the airport. I was so happy to get down here to see Natalie. She has been so good about all of the moving around the last few months. She did miss me a little more than she used to!

University Moving & Storage got everything packed up for us during the bad storm Tuesday. I was afraid they would not make it out the driveway with all of the sleet and snow. They had the garage and front doors propped open to ease the removal of boxes and furniture and as the temperature dropped outside, it got cold inside the house. By the time they left around 4:14, the house was a chilly 49 degrees inside! I had a few more hours of cleaning and sweeping and then left for Julie's around 6pm. It was sad to see the house empty after we had worked so hard to get it decorated the way the we liked it! It took me almost 40 minutes to get to Julie's house. There was sleet and snow coming down still and there was lots of snow still on the roads. My little rental did OK, though I was very glad I had grown up driving in snow as there was quite a bit of slipping and sliding. I finally got to Julie's and enjoyed a great meal of BBQ ribs that she had prepared. YUM! YUM!

On Wednesday, the flight left on time, thank goodness. I got to Florida around 3pm, and to my in-laws around 4:15. Thursday morning I drove down to Fort Myers to see my parents. It is a little rainy, but who cares? Natalie doesn't as you can see in the picture. And yes, we let her play in the puddles in the street. Also, last night we got to see Purdue beat IU at the Dockside Sports Pub over by the beach. YEAH! There were lots of IU fans there so it made it even better. My step-sister Donna and my Aunt Connie and Aunt Nancy were there too. So, it was quite the family reunion. I am really enjoying having this bit of time to relax. Oh, and today is Friday isn't it???

Today's safety message

When I returned tonight, a letter from the Villa management office was in my mailbox. Here was the message

Dear Sir
The management centre will be opened as per normal during the Chinese New Year Holidays.

During the Chinese New Year Period, if any of you want to play with firecrackers and fire works, please play at the clock tower area, and be safe.

Thanks and regards


I'm not sure if I want to play with with firecrackers and fire works. I rather light them and run like hell. I'd rather play with my friends and keep all my fingers.

And Down the Stretch They Come...

Well, it wasn't really that exciting! But several us did have a fantastic time at the Lebanon Raceway last night. For those of you who know me, you know that I enjoy the horse races. I can definitely thank my friend Art Leone for that. Years ago he started taking some of us down to the tracks in the area (Lebanon, Turfway, River Downs) and gave us some basic handicapping skills. At least enough to enjoy an occasional win. So last night, as a part of my last "Mommie's Night Out", we [me, Art Leone, Becky and Bob Berardi, Lauren Boscia] had some dinner at our favorite dive bar, Kickers, then headed down to harness races at Lebanon. It was only 7 degrees last night so we couldn't believe that they were really going to run those horses! But run them they did. And at every other harness track on the East Coast (Lebanon has simulcast racing too). Lauren had the hot picks at Lebanon picking several winners which resulted in decent money for her and the few of us that were smart enough to steal her picks! As a group bet, we started randomly picking numbers at the Meadowlands. Not so good until another guy who was leaving gave us his facing form so we could actually attempt to pick a winner based on the stats. Which we did! For some reason, I got hot picking that track and we ended up winning several decent ones. Usually bet an exacta box and horse to win. First big win was the 6th race when Alittlemore Action came in first. You can probably tell why we picked that name! We hit just the win but that paid around $63. Enough for a few more rounds of beer! Then in the 7th we hit with New Dice Please. Unfortunately our second pick, Brancaleone (get it, Bank Leone?) did not. Still, paid nicely at $68. In the 8th race, unfortunately Fingal Hanover (Final Hangover which we thought was appropriate for our last hurrah out together) did not come in! The big miss though was in the 9th race. I had picked the 7 and the 8 horse, with the 7 on top for the win, but we missed getting that bet in. And guess what the race finished? 7-8-1. The payout for the win and exacta would have been around another $100. Anyway, we all went home with basically the same money we came with! You don't do that very often!

Well, I guess this should not all be about me. Natalie is down in Florida and having lost of fun. She had a chance to visit her Papaw's sister, Pat, over in Sebring. They went to the Children's Museum of the Highlands and Pat played grocery store with her. She has gotten to the beach in Fort Myers, and even though it was chilly her and gammaw braved the cold water. And she got a chance to talk to her dad on Thursday morning. It made her kind of sad and this was the first time she even acted like she knew that Tom and I were gone! But I talked to her this morning and she is fine again. We only have three more weeks before the family is back together.

All of the sea and air shipment boxes are out of the house and waiting to leave the University Moving warehouse. Of course, I have already found things that I forgot to pack. Like all of our DVD's! They are here today packing the storage items. They will probably not be done until Monday. Then Tuesday will be the loading day.

Happy Birthday to Me...

I am down to the last week in Dayton. The first few days of this week have been busy with the final packing. Up until 9:00 am this morning (Wednesday the 7th) I thought it was the 8th and the movers were coming! It all started with losing Sunday to a hangover! Though yesterday was my birthday, so not sure why I thought today would be the 8th! As I told my friends, I guess two days out of work, and I have lost the ability to keep track of the days already! Geesh. Well, anyway, I worked my behind off yesterday to get ready for this morning. So, now I am ready!

Speaking of my birthday. We were supposed to go out (Julie, Kim, Diane, and Diana) but it started snowing yesterday afternoon and by 4pm we had quite a mess here in Dayton. It took folks hours to get home. So I had hotdogs and popcorn last night for dinner! How exciting!!! So we rescheduled for tonight. Unfortunately now Diana is sick and Diane still has bad roads and is going to play it safe. We are going to check out a new restaurant, the Café Istanbul at the Greene. I am sure it will be good. But now it is starting to hit home that I will be leaving soon...

The things I must do for my kids.....

Someone at work today told me that McDonald's kid's meals had the theme of the Monkey King. He told me that I should stop by and pick up the monk/mentor character that I played in the skit a couple weeks ago.

Well tonight I was leaving the office around 9:00 p.m. and I told my driver to go to McDonald's. I ran into the restaurant (which was funny - my driver pulled up on the sidewalk and dropped my about three feet away from the door - he may have went further if the steps weren't there). In order to get the toy, I ordered the kid's meal. Sure enough, the toy I received was the Monkey King. I will have to say that it is the cheapest toy I have ever seen. The toys that McDonald's put in the meals in the US must not come from China because tonight's toy was not impressive. It actually is a "weeble-wobble" - remember those?

The meal consisted of 4 chicken nuggets, orange drink, and a small cup of corn. Corn is a popular side dish instead of fries in China. The nuggets were good, I was surprised. I had some fries the other day at work and they are terrible. I was expecting the nuggets to be the same but they were not.

I can safely say that McDonald's in China will not be any fault of me ever crashing off of my diet. I'll stick to the rice.

The Long Goodbye

I am alone now in Dayton and getting all the final details done. I had another going away party this past Saturday. It was such a good time I didn't do much on Sunday. OK, I basically did nothing. Though I did get to watch the Colts win. It is pretty sad that I watched it here at the house (with my pajamas on) and Tom set his alarm and got up early to party at the Vizcaya clubhouse! Anyway, the party was at Bill & Jeannie VanCuren's house (THANKS GUYS!) and a lot of old friends showed up. Of course, I don't mean old in the age sense. Well, actually I do! Ha ha. Beside that party I feel like I have been out every day and night since Tom left. I don't think I have bought a meal for myself in the past two weeks. Everyone here has been so great about seeing me for one last drink or meal. It hasn't been too sad yet as I keep seeing someone every day.

Natalie's last day of school was 1/28. She had a great party at the Goddard school and then another one at Pump-it-Up. I think she had a good time though she chose not risk her life (ha ha) and go down any of the slides. That's ok. We never have to worry about her injuring herself, she is more cautious than Tom! Natalie is now down in Florida with her Grandma and Grandpa Johnson in Fort Myers They have to talk her into missing me when I call. Oh well. She did tell her Papaw that she had a dream about her daddy last night. She was too embarrassed to tell me what it was about though. Just a few more weeks until we both get to see him! Apparently he has lost weight, at least that what his blogs imply. I hope I recognize him at the airport!!!

Yes! The tide is turning

Colts win!

It was a great gathering at the clubhouse for the Superbowl. Definately at pro-Indy crowd. We watched it broadcast on the China satelite broadcast on ESPN. It was a direct feed. The announcers were not the normal announcers but they did speak English. The graphics were not the same as you probably witnessed on North American TV but were probably similiar. With a direct feed you get more coverage than normal. For instance, they showed the entire halftime show. Probably back home there were doing a studio segment or something. Unfortunately the commercials were local so we didn't get to watch the infamous commercials.

Looking back on things...this might be the first time in 25 years that my team won a Championship. I think the last time was the 1985 Bears. Odd, isn't it?

SuperBowl Monday.....

Well, Monday morning at 7:00 a.m. is the Superbowl here in China. Our clubhouse is having a Superbowl party. For RMB88.00 (approximately $11 USD) you get to watch the game, a buffet breakfast, and drinks. You had to make reservations. They had so many reservations that they had to move it from the bar to the ballroom. It sounds like it will be a great time. I have a couple of American co-workers that will be coming over as my guests to watch the game - the more the merrier.

The Superbowl is a big deal over here. I think it is because the Superbowl is "America". The sport is only played in the U.S. Many people outside of the U.S. do not even understand the game. In return, the Americans over here see it as "their day". I did my routine walk today and everywhere there were a group of foreigners you would hear conversations about where people were going to watch the game.

I am taking the day off so that I can watch. I could have went to work in the afternoon but I decided to take the entire day and relax around the house. It was a very busy week travelling within China. I have so many tales to tell - more to come.

Go Colts. Go Bears (I said Go Bears so I wouldn't jinx the Colts).

Short one....

Here is a cut-and-paste of an email that I sent some of my friends. I thought it was funny so I thought I would share with everyone. The subject is "Weight loss"

The secret is food is not easy to get around here. I have no breakfast just a glass of orange juice. I only eat the slop that they serve in the cafeteria at the office. It is a big pile of steamed rice, one meat, and one vegetable. At night I go for a walk and skip eating. I am never hungry. Since there are no pop machines so I no longer have my two bottles of Mountain Dew per day. There are no fast food restaurants with drive thru windows. Even if there were I could not use them since I no longer drive. In addition, since I can't speak to my driver I couldn't tell him to pull in anyway. There are no snack machines. The other day the girls in the office got excited because someone brought snacks. Heck, I got excited. I grabbed a little bag. The bag had 14 little seeds. They were watermelon seeds. I proceeded to eat the 14 seeds. Seems like it was just 1 month ago that I used to spit watermelon seeds on the ground - now it's a treat.

I will post more over the weekend. Keep in touch. My email is Tom@bramerspace.com