You will have good luck and overcome many hardships.

We left Doha far behind us when we arrived in the far East...FAR EAST! I love how far I felt from this Doha upon arrival.

We begin our China experience here -

First, we encountered all of these horrid restrictions!

(leave your spam and white bracelets behind because they are forbidden!)

(don't bring your salt, sugar or oregano either because they might be mistaken for something else!)

Below, Terah demonstrates how to use the little water stations that are sprinkled throughout the Beijing airport. Free water? Unheard of in Doha. Cute little paper cups made of envelopes...only in China!

Next we had to figure out how to actually leave the airport. We lined up in the taxi queue. This is the taxi and driver we got. See me leaning on the taxi? Yeah...well, we discovered it rolled free of charge. After the driver finally figured out where we were going, we were on our way to our hotel!

We stayed at the Jade Garden Hotel. It was simple, nice, safe and inexpensive. PERFECT! We made reservations for a show and decided to freshen up. Terah wanted to change to some more comfortable shoes...

woops! She packed 2 different sandles...one didn't even belong to her. After deeply considering wearing them, she decided to go with a more traditional pair of matching shoes.

Flagging down a taxi to get us to the theatre was an entirely new ballgame...one where we weren't aware of the rules, nor could we figure them out. After changing sides of roads multiple times I finally got bold and stepped out into the Beijing traffic...hey! A girls gotta do what a girls gotta do!

and I waved...

and waved...

and time passed...and it was getting dangerously close to the start of the show.

PHEW! A taxi finally took us on!

This is the teahouse where the Chinese Opera was presented. Lovely atmosphere. Strange tea. We chose the herbal Jasmine and had it specially prepared.

Mmmmm...between the coke (to perk us up!) and the Jasmine tea (to relax) I'm pretty sure they cancelled each other out.

Though we had our hardships upon arrival (I mean, who knew that spam I packed was illegal!) the evening ended on a high note. Literally. The first chinese girl could hit some pretty high ones while still maintaining a vocal timbre that sounded a lot like a baby voice.

The Beijing Opera or Peking Opera is a very traditional form of entertainment which reached its height of popularity during the Qing Dynasty. It combines voice, mime, dance and acrobatics to create a story. One of the more distinct attributes that I notice is similar to the performances in Bali and Thailand is that the focal point is the actual actor. The set is sparse and so are the props. The actors are ornate and visually a feast from their clothes to their makeup. The movements and dance patterns are timed perfectly with the percussive movement of the music that is played by live musicians. The timing was impeccable. I really love watching the theatre of the world because it is always interesting to see the emphasis put on subtle movement and expression. A finger or a mouth twitch or an eye flick can indicate a great amount of emotion or action. While the performance seemed long at some points, it was mostly mesmerizing.

After the performance we repeated the above taxi scene, just at night. Again, it took us awhile to secure a ride. I think we were getting wiser about the whole thing, but our bellies sure were rumbling at this point! So, we went to Wangfujing Street. Why the heck not? It was right near our hotel, and those booths of food were calling our names just begging us to sample the fragrant delicacies.

yummo!

We haggled on prices for a bit. Yes, you even haggle on icky weird food in China. And then we heard these beautiful english voices, and found these beautiful people attached to them. We started conversing and found that they were from Singapore and Malaysia. They were very friendly and fun and if we weren't so tired I'm sure we would have invited them to do something with us.

They bought a starfish, that fell apart. They made it dance and allowed me to video the experience. Then they shared.

It tasted like seaweed dipped in sand. Pretty gross.

Our last food haggle of the evening was for sugar coated fruit. We finally (after walking away about 5 times!) got them down to the price we wanted and then they tried to pull the old bait and switch...so, we didn't get our fruit. Unfortunately the place started closing and all we had in our stomaches was a nibble of starfish. Terah was devastated that she would be unable to go back and try the testicles as we planned. I was disappointed as well as filming that would prove to be eventful. I'm pretty sure if they hadn't shut down so quick that we might have been able to get a set of testicles half price due to Terah's beauty and the men's curiosity to see her eat them...oh well. Another bargain lost. It wouldn't be our last on this trip.

We were faced once again with another challenge. Finding food. No big deal we thought...there is food everywhere. We found an open restaurant, were seated and started perusing the menu we were given. We began placing our order when a lady walked over and said "NO"...I think it was the only english word she knew. She said it again..."NO"...clearly this meant something. It took us a few minutes to figure it out. We would not be allowed to order. We tried another place and it was shut down. Seemed like everything was shut down. We decided that we were defeated and would end up eating the bowl of ramen noodles from our minibar for dinner. As we approached our hotel we saw lights...and smelled...food? Was this a chinese mirage? Or were we seeing the truth?

ahhhh...yes we were. We would get our first taste of chinese food in China. We ordered some chicken and snow peas and fried rice. In truth, the chicken was pretty bland and the rice was decent. The snow peas rocked and there was an abundance of them. To us it was like Mana sent from Heaven! We were so starved at this point.

(I don't mind the chinese woman walking across our picture...it adds to the memory!)

Thus concludes our first day in Beijing. I don't think we could have possibly packed more in that short half day. We couldn't wait to get to sleep because the next day we were scheduled to be hot motorcycle mamas!!!!!!

Beijing, China

Terah and I had a non-stop blast in Beijing. We want to go back already...in fact, the only reason we wanted to leave was to see our families. Since Facebook and blogger were blocked, I'm a little far behind with the blog. So, keep your eyes peeled. We were fortunate enough to experience Beijing in an incredible way. We did a lot of things right, a few things wrong and we certainly have lots of tips, tricks and advice to share...and pictures!

So stay tuned!

of late...

Soooooo...what has the Lanning family been up to lately?

Our top 10 most exciting things:

10) The mad dash for the end. School is almost out and that means we are having to do all of the obligatory "writer's cafe's" and "class parties" and "soccer parties" and "friend parties" and....well...you name it and there is some kind of assembly for it. I think every parent can commiserate with my disgruntled feelings on all of this. I mean...just end it already! We keep stringing things out...why!?!?!?! Let us start our summer break. I think in America that last week of school is always blown off to parties...over here...it is like the last 2 months. Why are we paying for one giant 2 month party? Frustrating to me.

9) Figuring out ways to entertain ourselves at home. My outside playing kids have turned into inside playing kids. "It's too hot Mommy!" If I knew we were staying in Doha I would invest in a trampoline and put it upstairs...I'm that desperate at this point. If they are in the house then they watch TV. I'm going to have to start putting restrictions on that. In their defense it DID get up to 40 C a few days ago which is 104 Fahrenheit. In may. I feel bad for whoever is staying in Doha for the summer...

which brings us to the next one....

8) Plotting our exit. This hasn't been easy. We don't know if we are leaving or staying to live in Doha. The percentages either way keep shifting on a daily basis. I really wanted to hang up my vinyl lettering that says "For we WALK BY FAITH not by sight - 2 Corinthians 5:7" but all I can do is tape it to the wall. I can't actually bring myself to rub it on. I know as soon as I do we will move. This has definitely become our family motto as of late as all of our planning has had to just kind of wait or be leapt into blindly with the hopes of a positive outcome.

7) Summer vacation plans? Huh...well, will we be moving? Will we be staying? Will David be going to a conference in Atlanta? Will we get cast in a production if we audition? Will we leave school early to get to said auditions? Soooo....many questions...so many options. So, I leapt on the summer planning thing. We have a 2 bedroom rental condo in Beaumont for 6 weeks with an option to extend. It is my friends condo and is super cute. I'll be immediately moving things onto shelves when we get there. Since it is in Beaumont it is half way between my parents house and where the show might go on.

6) The show. There needs to be a show this summer. Again, there are multiple options here. Earlier, one of the local theatres were going to do Beauty and the Beast. When I told the girls we might get a chance to see it...they started boohooing...not because they wanted to see it, but because they wanted to BE in it. With me. My heart was so touched I gave in. Honestly, it was easy to give in as I have been constantly on the cusp of losing my mind due to the unavailability of any real theatre here. So...I agreed. And then the show got rejected...but now it is being filled in with the Sound of Music. So...I suppose we will audition for that. I would love it if both of the girls could be in the Von Trapp group...BUT...with them being SO DANG CLOSE IN HEIGHT...well...one of them will just have to practice wearing heels :) Madelyn or Angelina? I'm taking votes and input on this one. NOW...if the sound of music doesn't work out...there is a plan B. I will have to do my best to produce a small production on my own and send the girls to a small theatre camp where they still get to be in a show. If they are lovin' it...I can't deny them. Here's hoping that this leap of faith pays off in the end.

This picture was taken the day after I told them about Beauty and the Beast....they came down wearing their Music Man shirts to help "convince me"...their efforts have been rewarded.

5) Preschool is still in full swing. Due to circumstances such as heat and friendship...there is a lot of preschool love going around. The kids LOVE playing with each other and they are so adorable. I get them again this week. Last time I had X. I forgot to take pictures, but the time before that I had the letter T. We played with trains and made trees out of brownies and celery. The kids (all but Parker) LOVED making trees.

4) Planning another girlcation. Yep....1/2 of our team from last time can't go. Which is a TOTAl shame, because we make such a good group. Between all of us we know everything. Terah is hanging in there though and between the 2 of us we are going to make it to Beijing, China and have an incredible time. We can't wait to hit the trail and conquer the great wall of china.

3) Maids. So, between friends not having maids and some friends having more...we have coined the last month 'musical maids'...my friend Terah blogged about: She wrote:

3. Maid drama has been happening in my circle of friends as of late. First, I have been connecting my friends with a few Nepalis for work. Nepali women maids are rare in Doha. It seems that they only accept Filipino and Indian, but the desire for Nepali women to work here is great. I have at least 7 different friends looking for maids right now. Finding maids in Doha is tough, not like in Dubai where they are everywhere. I felt like hooking up my friends with Nepalis was a win/win situation. In the process, we have been looking for a second maid. Just after we received approval for our second maid, the following obstacles have taken place for my friends:

a. One friend could not receive approval for a Nepali. Filipino, Indonesian, or Indian-yes. Nepali-no.

b. One friend was sponsoring a Filipino maid from the Philippines and she was denied entry because her maid had medical problems.

c. Another friend had to get rid of her maid because she was illegal.

d. One friend's maid ended up leaving on vacation for 5 weeks with very little warning.

How could I be excited when my second maid arrived when at least 4 of my other friends were without a maid? It really explains to you how Doha can be so unfair. One time it may work, and the next? Forget it. Slowly but surely these issues are being resolved, but there was a lot of chatting and discussing going on between friends on how we could optimize our maid situation. For now, my second maid is working part time for my friend. It works out well for me because it smoothly transitions Sarita with our new Nepali maid, Kamala. Currently, these issues are working out and in about a month, everyone will have their maid and happy day for everyone! Such situations could only happen overseas.

For the record, I was friend letter C. I sent my current maid to be with friend B. Terah sent her second maid to friend A...and a whole lot of other confusing swapping happened from there as well.

NOW - Mylene, our first maid is legal again. She was involved in one of those terrible rackets where she paid to come over here and then they kept taking more and more of her money...it was awful and cruel. In the interim, we started the process to get our second maid, Meena here. She is finally here...somehow...we now have 2 maids. I'm not entirely sure how that happened only that it did and it was quite the struggle to make it happen. Meena is from Nepal and our application kept saying she was from Sri Lanka in the computer...so she couldn't come until Doha got that straightened out. That took awhile. Then she had to get here which is an entirely other awful experience as she got stuck in Delhi because the airline Jet Airways refused to board her. But, finally she is here! YAY! Just in time for us to go away for the summer. Figures. The real issue has been that Mylene can't stay with us. Because she is sponsored by someone else, if we move or go on vacation - she can never come with us. We love Mylene. She is kind, efficient, hard working, honest and caring. She has been the foremost in my mind with trying to find her a new working situation in case we leave. Of course, if we stay in Doha, I will probably be homeschooling and will need 2 maids. One to do the normal cleaning, and one to help keep Parker occupied while I teach. So, I hesitate to just get rid of her until I know what is happening....sigh...

Anyway, this account doesn't even touch on the subject to the degree to which it could be...let's just say that the way things have worked out for these two maids has been difficult and eye opening. I cannot believe the way people treat other people. The world can be a very bad place at times.

2) Parker is 4. Again, he doesn't know it yet...but I do. I can't stop having little moments of complete heart aching. Tears come up...I mourn the loss of babyhood in my life. Seriously, I need to get a dog I can baby.

1) Stress. Ok...if you haven't already figured it out...we don't know where we are going to be living for sure...this causes stress. Especially since the boss told David not to reenroll the kids in school since we weren't going to be here...then to find out we might. Grrrrrr. Curse! Criminy! Their places are gone.

Combine the top 10, add in a dash of the regular mundane things like dust and crazy driving and allergies and that is our life right now.

Mother's Day/Parker's Day/Paper Day

So...Last week we celebrated Earth Week and this week we undid all of the good by celebrating Mother's Day.

For Mother's Day I was presented with card after card of love and banners and posters and treasure hunts...even a paper cupholder with a paper straw and a paper card attached.

I figure it all evens out in the end :)

Parker's Birthday is today. He turns 4. I killed some more trees for his birthday by ordering this baby. Yes, it is totally a knock off of Thomas the Train, but the company selling is nice enough to include an official Thomas the Train with it.

Of course, this set will be packed in a HUGE cardboard box, and will be paid for by paper money...

Just when you THINK the balance is tipped, I get all conscious and find the PERFECT balance in the form of THIS:

an eco-friendly watch.

• Bamboo dial, mercury free battery, quartz movement
• Vegetable dyed organic cotton strap
• Eco-friendly watches with a corn resin case and buckle
• Pink strap with light green contrast stitching that has some eco features that are too numerous to mention....from the company SPROUT.

Yes, we found this little diddy when David and I took our oh, so ROMANTIC trip to Dubai. Madelyn and Angelina both requested watches and we found one that is perfect for our more Earth conscious child, Madelyn.

Angelina got a black/rhinestoned Hello, Kitty! watch - which was perfect for her.

All in all...I think this is quite the balance! I think it is even.

PS - Parker's presents haven't arrived yet...so we are keeping the birthday on the downlow until they do! So...SSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH. Although, apparently he informed all of primary that he would be turning 10...and then 16. And he was singing "happy burfday to Pahkah!" a few minutes ago...I don't know how long I can hold off on the celebration. Hopefully the presents will get here soon!