The Burtons

The Burtons

Thursday, February 6, 2014

Super Bowl Monday!

One of the advantages to living in Asia if you are LDS and trying to keep the sabbath day holy is that the Super Bowl is on Monday morning.  This year it was The Seahawks vs. Broncos.  The Seahawks destroyed Denver.

Stan was in the USA, but I invited a few friends over to watch.  Stan being the techy guru he is had all the proper set up to view.  Lots of people have to find sports bars and pubs in order to see.

I whipped up a yummy breakfast and the others brought sushi and mexican dip.







Sam's Club

We have a Sam's Club in Shenzhen.  Unlike the Costco in Taiwan that is very similar to USA as far as the product line, our Sam's club is more of a bulk store for here, but they do have good quality fruits, veggies, meats and fresh OJ.  After a preview trip with a friend I decided the 150 RMB (~$25) yearly.

I ventured out to get the membership using the information I could gather after Google translator did their best to interpret the webpage. I knew I needed my passport and wasn't taking the boys so i thought it'd be fairly easy.

I got into the membership line with about 3 people ahead of me.  From what I could see it was pretty standard - fill out an application, smile for a picture and wait for your card.  When I got to my turn at the desk the lady looked at me nervously and gave me an application. I stepped aside so she could continue to help people and filled it out. When I was done, I gave it back to her and she motioned that I needed to go into the next line.  I figured that guy probably speaks more english so he should be the one to help me.  I was ok with that.  That line had two people ahead of me, but I now had a completed application in hand. 

I did a rookie move and did not properly block out with my elbows so that the person in line behind me couldn't cut.  I had my hands on my hips, but left a hole under my armpit where the woman behind me stuck her arm through and pushed her form into the man's hand first.  I looked at him like "seriously?!". He smiled at me and took her application. I thought to myself - maybe she just had a quick question so he's helping her first... Nope - she had the same steps to go through.  I was now pissed.  When she finished I gave him a look that indicated he best help me next.  Well he then turns to some other coworker and gets her to come over to help me.  (You mean he wasn't the right person to help me?!).  The other lady eventually wandered over and I gave her my info.  She proceeded to try to type in my application info, but was making lots of errors.  At this point I was over it and just smiled and nodded. Was it going to matter if the wrong mobile phone got a text for "Cjerie" in mandarin characters about a sale? - um no.

Needless to say I did get my membership card - 45 minutes for what should have taken 10 min.  This was the best I could muster for a smile when they took my picture:





When Thomas Attacks...

Kenney got some Thomas the Train toys for Christmas that are battery operated.  He loves letting them run all around the house without the tracks. Well he recently discovered it was neat to feel the wheels turn against his head  until... Until it wraps around your curly hair.  Luckily nothing a pair of scissors and some kisses from mom couldn't repair.






Chinese New Year at the Apartment

"Red Envelopes"  for giving money gifts at CNY


When we lived in China before, we lived in a compound that was located outside of the main city of Guangzhou.  The night before the new year they did a nice fireworks show over the lake that lasted probably 45 minutes.  I had anticipated something similar here... I was wrong.  We live in the heart of the city and along the waterfront so we got the full experience this time.

Our apartment did a nice job of decorating and we even did a little inside our place too.





Year of the horse!
I was told the celebration would last a little over a week with lots of fireworks and firecrackers.  This was not an exaggeration.  The first night there were fireworks all around us for six hours straight!  The boys loved running from balcony to screaming - over here!  One side of our 27th floor apartment faces the water, while the other side the city so the views were tremendous.













The first three hours were fine, but then it was time for the boys to sleep and Kenney was scared.  Fortunately they stopped at 1am.  Fun memories!

The aftermath

The Flower Market at CNY





The day before Chinese New Year's eve I got to visit one of the local flower markets.  A group of eight of us met for lunch at a Mexican restaurant in the Sea World entertainment zone and then five of us went on to the market.


My friend Joyce, who is Hong Kong Chinese, said that it is traditional to have and give flowers at the new year.  The most traditional plant you see around at the new year is an orange tree.  The oranges are small and abundant.  They represent good luck.






It was abundantly clear when we neared the market in Joyce's car - there were cars everywhere!  We ended up parking on the off ramp of the freeway that was connecting to another freeway.  This is China so you do what you have to do.  We then proceeded to walk the wrong way on the freeway to get back to the flower market - no one was hurt or killed thank goodness.



The market was called Dutch Flower Town and set up to look like you were in the Netherlands...














My friend Jane

Jane and Victoria









Sugar cane juice


 






The spirit of the horse is recognized to be the Chinese people's ethos – making unremitting efforts to improve themselves. It is energetic, bright, warm-hearted, intelligent and able. Ancient people liked to designate an able person as 'Qianli Ma', a horse that covers a thousand li a day (one li equals 500 meters).
- See more at: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/horse.htm#sthash.8uYZ7Ul1.dpuf
The spirit of the horse is recognized to be the Chinese people's ethos – making unremitting efforts to improve themselves. It is energetic, bright, warm-hearted, intelligent and able. Ancient people liked to designate an able person as 'Qianli Ma', a horse that covers a thousand li a day (one li equals 500 meters).
- See more at: http://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/horse.htm#sthash.8uYZ7Ul1.dpuf