Well y’all… we’ve reached the point where it truly feels like we are living in China and no longer just visiting.  Routines are slowly being established (in large part because the girls are in school, which is great for them, and taking them in the morning and then collecting them in the afternoon will be a big part of my day), the apartment is coming together (today I hope to buy a toaster, and duct tape to hold together our couch which is really three low waiting room chairs pushed together), bills are being paid (online), laundry is getting done, and I am feeling the need for a break.  Art is so much better than I at being “out there” and “on” day after day, but I am in need of a solitude fix, and this afternoon is it.  In the absence of solitude, one thing that’s been helping me to stay sane is the amount of walking we do every day in Beijing: just getting to the metro or local stores is a nice little workout…

And so… 5 days after returning from Kunming, I am still trying to post those pictures.  I suppose this is just how things will get done here: a slower pace, things out of order, and with interruptions that I can’t control.  The internet began acting up on Sunday, and for several days was really unpredictable.  Maybe this was a result of so many students returning to campus after the big holiday break (this used to happen at Redlands in the fall) or maybe the government really was blocking access to sites outside of China.  There were rumors that a protest similar to those in the middle east was being planned in China, and that authorities were blocking news and non-China sites.  When an IT help desk guy arrived here in our apartment on Monday, he appeared dumbfounded.  He couldn’t get to CNN or gmail for me, but could get right to the local pizza delivery online site.  So he shrugged his shoulders and left telling us something like: “see, it works…”

In any event, we now appear to be back in action (for the moment) and I am seizing the opportunity.  In addition to internet service, and a working VPN, our neighbor Jack hooked up a wireless router for us (Art, Cece and I had been haggling over our single internet port for several weeks…) so technologically, we are (fingers crossed) up and running…

A word about neighbors: we are living in an 18 story building, in which the residents of the first 16 floors are all Chinese women graduate students.  The 17th and 18th floors are all foreigners, and mostly families.  Jack and Cherie are upstairs.  She’s a funny, vibrant 30-something woman from Philadelphia married to Jack, a witty, handsome Chinese guy.  They’ve been exceptionally helpful to us, and are really delightful people.  Cherie was a nurse who first came to China on a 3-week trip to assist an American surgeon… now she teaches English (specifically speaking English) at Renmin.  Their beautiful sons Jonah and Luke are 6 and 4.  Americans Sue and Dave are immediately next door to us.  They have been mostly living in China, and teaching at different universities since 1984.  They raised their daughter in China and seem to have no intention of leaving.  Very nice people, though we rarely see them.  Americans Aminta and Chris (from Washington state, both teaching here at Renmin) and their three children (Katherine 9, Grace 8, and Andrew 6) are just down the hall.  Katherine and Andrew are bio kids, Grace was adopted in China when she was a baby (just months before or after we adopted Cece).  They’ve been living in China for four or five years, and all three kids go to a local Chinese school.  Also on our floor are Anna: a mysterious Russian woman who teaches (duh) Russian, and Sebastian, a French guy who teaches French.  We never see either of them.  Upstairs too are Michael (American) and Gracelin (Chinese) and their kids Sarah (7-ish) and Josiah (4-ish).  All nice folks…

And just yesterday I met Americans Dustin and Marcia (I think… many names to remember…) who live immediately above us in the best apartment in the building.  They are here for at least three years and scored one of the “renovated” apartments.  Same floor plan as ours, but whereas ours is a sort of “bachelor pad meets Motel 6” their place looks like something out of a Pottery Barn catalog.  What makes the most striking difference is that they have actual paint on their walls, and in such a lovely warm shade of wicker.  Our walls have this sort of dirty, chalky whitewash applied around the time Nixon visited China.  They also have real furniture (likely from IKEA, but still, it’s not falling apart and mismatched), beautiful fabrics (our curtains are harvest gold polyester), and no bizarre telephone cords strung and dangling haphazardly from wall to wall.  Anyway.  I digress.  I sure didn’t come here for posh quarters and don’t plan to spend all my days in the apartment… (nonetheless, I will do a full apartment tour post with pictures soon for those of you who love these kinds of details).

So here is part of the Kunming wrap up.  I will try to jump back on later… (also note: on the day we took a side trip to an old ski lift, I forgot my camera, so unfortunately, I have no shots of that fun afternoon, or me hanging on to the chair bar…)

One of a number of fabulous variations of steamed pumpkin that was plentiful in Kunming...

This spicy mushroom dish was divine... though I still cannot get Art to partake in fungi...

Posting because I don't want to forget this delicious warm corn juice...

Spent a morning at the Golden Temple in Kunming, so named for the bronze work that abounds, these doors (and much of the temple) are carved bronze...

Golden Temple tree art...

Unlike the Yuantong Temple (the largest Buddhist temple in Kunming), the Golden Temple is Taoist, and its collective buildings much smaller. It sits, however, inside of an enormous, beautifully landscaped park...

Blooming at the Golden Temple. Spring was in the air this day...

Cece and Nina (a sweetheart of a girl, from Louisville, KY)...

This man insisted on helping the girls with their incense...

Who wouldn't want to help such beautiful girls...

Pretty lines...

And sunshine...

Within the same park as the Golden Temple sits this impressive bell tower...

We all climbed to the top of the tower for views of Kunming...

From one side of the tower is this view of Kunming. A bit overcast but if you click on the picture (enlarge it), you can begin to see how expansive this city is...

From the other side is this glorious view...

Big fish clapper in the bell tower...

Elle had a go at it...

That was fun...

Then the requisite incense lighting...

And umbrella purchasing (because you know, we just haven't acquired enough of these from Chinatown in LA)...

Beware the dragon turtle...