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Bella is now Sukey (sue - key). I was never totally happy with the name Bella but there was never a name that I liked a lot better. Until last night. Maddie has a DVD series with kids songs. One of them is the children's rhyme that says, "Polly put the kettle on...Sukey take it off again...". Phil likes the song and we both like the name. We spent awhile talking about it last night and decided to make the change. We asked Maddie what she thought and she was able to say, "Sukey" so we deiced that was a good sign. Sukey never responded to Bella anyway so that's not an issue. But it is hard for us to remember the change when we call her. This afternoon Phil and I are going with our neighbors to a soccer game. The local team. Phil's been to several already but this will be my first.

In Phoenxiville I had Wawa coffee or My Favorite Muffin coffee so if there had been a Starbucks in town I would have probably rarely gone so that I could support local business (I consider Wawa, local for those of you who are fortunate enough to have experienced one). But here in my town Starbucks and Village Cafe (a local shop) are the sole distributors of a good cup of coffee. I say all this to say that Phil bought me a Starbucks insulated cup yesterday. It's a great gift for me. The first time I went to a Starbucks was in Wheaton, IL in 1997. I remember it so well because it was the summer after my freshman year of college and I toured with the Indian Children's Choir. I was hanging out with one of the founders of the choir and she was a Starbucks fan. I can totally picture the shop and having no idea what anything was. Like, what the heck is a frappuccino? One of my favorite places on earth - because of the memories and feelings I associate with that place - is a Sta...

Well Sunday's bbq didn't go quite as planned. Jason (Tompkins - new arrivals) and Phil spent awhile trying to get the charcoal to light with no success. Then Jason spent awhile by himself trying. The idea of making our own lighter fluid started being discussed. Wine? Rubbing Alcohol? Cooking oil? So I headed to a nearby store to buy BaiJiu, which is a strong drink that is commonly drunk when men want to play drinking games and get smashed. Phil was inside leading a discussion with the rest of the folks while Jason, Maddie, and I (Maddie not so much) threw BaiJiu on the charcoals and then lit it. Wow! What a burst of flames. But to no avail. After many attempts and even adding a whole pail of shredded paper the thing would never catch. So we cooked in the kitchen. It turned out well and was really fun. Bella and I are hanging out on the couch right now as the rest of the family sleeps. Bella just smelled my coffee and went a bit crazy. Oh, the power of good coffee...

I headed out this morning around 10am for METRO. Metro is a German founded store that is similar to a COSTCO in the size and set-up of the store but it doesn't focus on bulk items. It has a good import section and METRO brand items are good quality. We buy imported milk (New Zealand) from METRO and diapers on a regular basis. Today I had a fairly long list of sauces and other staples. I enjoyed being out and not needing to rush through the store. My favorite part was picking out plastic containers. Isn't that weird? But I love looking at Tupperware catalogs or looking at all the shapes and sizes at the store. I know everyone isn't so easily entertained so I won't tell you about the ones I bought. Our house smells like poop, and that's putting it nicely. It's not Bella or Madeleine's fault. I know who's fault it is but I don't want my site shut down so you figure it out. Sewer gases come up through the drains in our bathrooms and at times...

Normally I'm just waiting for Friday to roll around but this week I can't believe how fast it's gone by. Must be the added responsibility and work of having Bella. We're all adjusting pretty well to having a puppy. Wednesday morning has been the worst so far. She pooped in her kennel and Phil had the privilege of cleaning it while I kept an eye on her. It all happened about 30 minutes before we needed to be leaving for school and when Phil was just about to get in the shower. We were late for school and frazzled. The rest of the week has been better and we're doing better at getting her outside in time. Madeleine is doing really, really well with Bella. Maddie likes to play with her ears and give her little kisses on her back when she's sleeping. Bella prefers to jump up on Maddie and nip at her clothes but Maddie takes it all in stride. Maddie especially likes to hold the lease when we're on a walk. It's so cute. Yesterday afternoon our bright...

Well, we are now a family of four. Bella, a 6 week old Whippet puppy, is snoozing on my lap as I write. She's mostly white but has gray spots on her face and back. Her name is Italian for beautiful and it fits her well. Since we had been looking for an Italian greyhound we had decided on 2 Italian names - one for a boy and one for a girl. We like the name Bella a lot even though she's not Italian. We've had her for less than 24 hours but she's already very attached to us. Affection is a personality trait of greyhounds and one reason we were interested in them as a pet. Bella had a rough night in her carrier. I had never known why people used carriers other than for travel until doing puppy research myself. It seems that domesticated dogs still have that instinct that their forefathers had to live in dens. So the cages and carriers meet this need. They feel cozy and safe. The problem for a puppy that's taken from it's siblings and mom is that it misse...

Yesterday afternoon we went with 2 other families (Tompkins - new family and Koks- our neighbors) to an indoor playground. Madeleine and YaLi have been there before but Phil and I hadn't. It was so much fun. The place has a ball pit, slides, tubes to crawl through, a swing, see-saws, a trampoline, and other fun stuff. All together there were 7 foreign kids and 5 adults. There were a hand full of other kids playing there too but not very crowded at all. Afterwards we all went to KFC for dinner and then played in a fountain. It's the type of fountain that's set to music and easily played in. Madeleine was the first of the kids to venture into it. She was so cute and even though she slid down twice she couldn't get enough of it. She did get a bit cold and it always brought a laugh from the masses when she had a big shiver. When we arrived at the fountain there were lots of people watching it but when we all left it was packed. Every kid was soaked and I was pre...

I can't stop sneezing and blowing my nose. I just feel crummy. I wanted to run this morning but when I started getting ready I felt so bad that I figured I shouldn't. I'll be kinda glad to be back in a routine next week with school and getting up at the same time each day. It really helps me to run on a regular basis. Maddie seems better today. She was mad at me this morning because I wouldn't let her watch a dvd. I've let her get in a bad habit of watching music videos (for kids) or a movie when she gets up. I don't like how as soon as she sees the tv she wants to watch something. So, I've decided to work on breaking the habit. She cried and at first refused to do anything else. Eventually she got over it but she was pretty fussy. Natasha and I got an oven for them yesterday. It was just the 2 of us shopping which was good because we went to a huge market and I know that Phil would have been ready to go long before we were. I got a dish-drying ...

Natasha T. and I spent about 5 hours yesterday picking out material, figuring out measurements, and waiting for curtains and sheets to be made. Natasha's family just moved here last week. Since we have the week off we wanted to help them out and thought it would be good for our Chinese. Before we went to the fabric market I wrote out a cheat sheet of vocabulary I thought I'd need to get stuff done. At the market there are rows and rows and rows of fabric to choose from. The bolts are all different sizes and blends. Down one central isle ladies sit lined up with their sewing machines. They work quickly and usually do a great job. So everything can be done in one day. It's really convenient and a unique experience for us foreigners. Thankfully, Natasha had some ideas for what she wanted and that helped a lot because with so many fabrics, colors, and patterns it can be very overwhelming. We also picked a great seamstress who was patient with my Chinese and even walke...

Again, trying blogger and keeping my fingers crossed that this will work better than xanga's been these days. A week off from school this week. Once a year the teacher's at school have a week long training and the students have no school. Yeah, no school! There's a new family in town that we'll be busy helping this week. They need furniture and all the other stuff that comes with having a new home and only so much luggage allowance. Last week we had a ton of fun hanging out with a young couple that were visiting various areas of China and stayed in Xi'an for a week. Really an unexpected treat from our Father. On Saturday Phil was listening to music and one song had the word "Hallelujah" over and over. Madeleine now says "How-ew-uh" in a really cute singing voice. I thought Phil was going to burst from pride when he heard her. This week is potty training intensive here in Xi'an. I imagine some good stories will come out of it.

This is only a test.