Going on a date in China.

Our lives have changed pretty dramatically since we have had Mr. Cuter than cute foster son.  My life in particular is much more circumscribed.  I am home  a lot.  When I was studying Chinese at the university last fall, we had a helper come in for part of the day.  That meant that I could go to class, run a few errands  and just get out a little.  However, I am not studying at the university this semester so we let our helper go.  So right now it's just me and the little guy at home most days.

But today, we asked a fellow foster mom to watch him so we could go out for dinner.  It was wonderful.  So this is how it went.

First we had to get our little guy in his big blue puffy suit and walk down six flights of stairs to get him to our friend's house.  He gets excited when he see the puffy suit because he knows he is going out.

Every door in our building has these dui lian over their doors. These are put up on Chinese New Year and stay up all year.  The meaning is this- the red scares off the monster Nian and the words are usually blessing. This one is hand painted.  The character in the middle is "fu."  It means something like "abundance."  If you turn the character upside down, it means something like "arrived. "  So abundance has arrived in the new year.

There is lots of alcohol consumed over the new year.

There was a little crying when we dropped our little guy off.  Apparently this went on most of the time we were gone.  But we left him in good hands.  He is very cute when he cries.

We took off on our bikes and stopped for a phone call with Hu Xian Sheng.  We are having lunch with him and his wife this week.  Yes, it is still winter in our city but look- the snow is melting.

We stopped off at the bank to get some cash.  This is a New Year decoration combining a rabbit (it's year of the rabbit), a fish (meaning abundance)  and the character "fu" which means riches and blessings.

These gold mannequin legs have been outside this store forever.  I finally got a picture.  I have no idea why they are there.

Chun Bing!  The best food in China is in small, hole in the wall places.  To those who worry about germs and food poisoning by eating in such place, I say you don't know what you are missing!  Cheap and really good food.

The peppers from the pork.

This is outside the restaurant.  Those are our  trusty bikes.  The sign says "Don't forget to eat Chun Bing for Chun Jie" or don't forget to eat Spring pancakes for Spring Festival.

Off we went to the big super market to buy some stuff.  I know, I know- we are the master's of the romantic date!

We rode our bikes up this road to go and look at this.

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90882/7279519.html

Big fire near our house because of fireworks.  It was amazing to see the destruction.  We can't believe no one was killed.

We rode our bikes back along the river.  There is still some ice on the river but it's definitely heading towards Spring.  It was fun to ride in the semi-darkness and see the lit up buildings on the other side of the river.

We got back to find our little guy in fine hands.  It was good to go out!

That's a date in China in a snap shot!