Qingdao = QingWOW

Good morning- Ni hao!

While you are waking up on July 4th surrounded by patriotism, bbq, fireworks, I am sipping on green tea in a city of 8 million- where abt 5 ppl total speak broken Chinglish- staring across the table at my beloved wondering........what the heck are we in for this summer. Toto- we're not in Kansas/ Nantucket anymore........ 

However, I am not asking for a pity party- so far we have been livin large in this beautiful, resort town city- its very clean, there is a brand new galleria with shops like Zara, Hermes, LV, Ferragamo, etc etc and I found a starbucks.

Life is good- but our little adventure did not start out as swell. After a 5 hr delay due to major floods and storms, we touched down in Qingdao at 3 am.  Before getting in a cab, I went to use the restroom- only to realize that you had to stand over a hole to perform the deed.  Shocked, I decided that I would forego the call of nature and risk a major bladder infection before I was going to start urinating in any public holes- life is too short, right?

We get to the hotel where the room we're to spend the next 2 months is abt the size of my freshman dorm room and the sheets feel like sandpaper- only to realize the AC is broken. Lovely.  We sleep a few hrs and wake up with sore throats and colds. I told Harrison he should start taking bets on how long I would last in this country....

However, little did I know our luck was abt to change in the form a slight girl named SaiSai- aka Ashley's Asian Angel.  Sai Sai is a girl from Qingdao who is currently a junior at American University, but working in Beijing this summer- Harrison's aunt sponsored her to come to America for high school and college.  Since they are the only ppl we knew to email in this city, we set up a time to meet for lunch.  Sai Sai and her parents came to pick us up- the parents dont speak a word of English, so Sai Sai served as a translator.  The mom was rocking an adorable dress and some Chanel flats and SaiSai is adorable.  We headed off to a restarant where you walk around and point to different kinds of raw fish and meat- we had never seen the likes of any of these so we told them to choose for us. We then headed up to a private room with a big lazy susan and the food began to flow.  No less than 15 different dishes hit the table- we washed it down with the local Tsingdao beer.  There were multiple toasts by the parents- translated by sai sai- thanking us for sponsoring their daughter in America (we personally had nothing to do with any of the sponsorship, but we were happy to take credit in the form of dishes upon dishes on things I had never seen before- yummy nonethless).  I think we will be the only ppl who manage to gain weight in China- which is impressive bc I have yet to see an obese person so far.

Following lunch the toured us around the city- when we pulled up to the hotel after a long day of sightseeing- they told us to go get our bags bc they did not want us to stay in the hotel- the mom said it smelled funny and that the food would make us ill.  I had no problem following her instructions- they whisked us off to a beautiful new hotel where they get a discounted business rate-now, this place is LEGIT- kinda like a smaller scale Peninsula hotel overlooking the ocean.  Not too shabby. The family is in the real estate business- they own Chinese version of WalMart- so they are great ppl to know- this relationship is totally separate from the doctors and hospital H will be working at this summer.  We're not sure if we will be living in this place for the rest of the stay- H has to talk to his bosses- but we are enjoying the room courtesy of SaiSai's parents in the meantime.  

They noticed I had a cold, so they had a friend drop off some suspicious looking Chinese herbs- I mixed them with hot water- H refused to partake- but I guzzled it down- gagging a few times- and I think it helped a lot. After another huge dinner at a dumpling place- where they ordered every single item on the menu- we headed to our new hotel home, but not before they left us with a parting gift- new iPhones so we can call them if we ever need anything- so very generous. 

Today, they sent their driver and another young Asian girl who speaks English to show us around the town.  Although the some parts of the city look very Westernized- NO ONE here speaks any English so it makes doing anything very very difficult.  We havent seen any other Americans or Europeans so far, and we're not holding our breath. 

Harrison doesnt start work until Friday, so his boss told him to spend the week getting to know the city. Not really sure what the rest of the summer has in store- but I will be sure to keep you updated with extremely long emails. Pictures to come....

Miss you and Happy 4th!

Zaijian (goodbye).