Around Changzhou...

I'm back again with an uneventful week for the most part, I have been hanging around the city for the past week and had a few little adventures.  I have also been cooking and baking some new recipes I found on Pinterest, so I have updated the links to the far right of my Blog under recipes if you want to try something new for dinner.  I only post the ones that turn out well :)

Blake and I went to the Safari Park in our city, technically the park is in the south part of the city which used to be its own city, to my knowledge, called Wujin.  Now it is referred to more as a district that a completely different city.  We met up with our French friends there, the boys are only one month apart so they really enjoy each other's company and seem to communicate well between the mix of Chinese, English, French and gibberish they speak among them!  The Safari Park is more of a wild animal zoo but very different than the zoo's at home, there is even a route you can take by personal car to drive through the larger animals facilities, or you can go by tram.  First into the park there is a route to follow which allows you to see some animals in enclosures, for the most part they seem to be well cared for and happy, but what animal wants to be confined to a small space.  We saw alligators, small hippos, a tiger, a white tiger, black panther, crazy monkeys, a cheetah, a hyena and a Lion in this area.  It was really neat to see a white tiger and since he was pacing back and forth in his cage the boys really enjoyed that he was up moving around. There was a nice space with two large elephants, and they were eating so moving around quite a bit and the boys enjoyed watching them as well.

As we continued on to the tram ride they informed us we had about 30 minutes until the next one left, so we walked across the way to a kiddie ride area.  There were some flying planes that look similar to the dumbo ride in Disneyland, however these had all their electrical cords hanging out, after one look at that both mom's decided on the safer Merry-Go-Round.  The boys really like the ride and music playing during it.  It was strange to see that they had build a parking lot right next to the kiddie rides, if you have a little one on a busy day it could be very unsafe, hard to catch them from not running in front of a car driving right by the ride they are waiting for.

But now it was time for the tram ride, we loaded into the train look-a-like tram and after a few minutes of only one family showing up besides us we were loaded into a large golf cart for our tour.  I have to say the golf cart was easier for an 8 month pregnant mommy to get into and out of at each stop :)  Along this trail there were lots of animals and you are still a good distance away so they can roam the habitat.  We saw giraffes, bears, lions, a tiger, some wolves, "wild" horses, camels and maybe some antelope or reindeer I am unsure (I need my friend Tanner to tell me since i can't read the sign in Chinese or Latin).  As you moved along in the tram there were some goofy signs in English, I think one says the Beasts of Burden and I have no idea what they were really trying to say here.  Along the route you can stop, get off the tram/golf cart and feed the animals.  The signs read, "Feed with Love" don't feed the animals outside food....however you can buy an entire live chicken for 50 rmb ($9usd) and feed it to the animals and at some animals you could buy cut fruit or vegetables for 5 rmb ($1usd).  Seriously, they had live chickens in a cage you could apparently just purchase and throw over to watch the bear or wolves attack.  You would never see this at home.  Luckily there was no one around us who wanted to do this so we didn't have to witness or close our eyes.  The other family with us did feed the bears some apples and it was sort of cute, they sat up and clapped asking for the apples, but after the apples were all gone you felt bad for the animals still performing for fruit, hopefully that is habit and not a sign they aren't getting fed enough.  We did let the boys buy carrots and feed the deer  for 5rmb, which walk right up to the side of the tram and Blake giggled every time the deer took a carrot, they were very gentle and it was fun.

All in all it was a fun trip, the boys loved chasing each other around the park, seeing the animals and snacking on pretzels and apples!  Once we got home though we found a lasting surprise from the park, mosquito bites!  Blake has 5 on one leg and i have about 20 between my two legs!!!  Can you say itchy!!!  So my friend told me afterwards i have the wrong mosquito spray, i had to go buy the Chinese green mosquito spray to protect myself.  ugh.  Then i went to the pharmacy, the calamine lotion from home isn't cutting it after a night awake itching, and asked for something, playing charades and typing in my phone to tell them what i needed was entertaining, then they didn't want to sell me anything because they noticed my ever growing belly....hello yes i have a baby in there, not a large lunch!  I ended up just telling them i needed hydrocortizone cream and it was ok in American for baby so just give it to me!  I can't stand it when the Chinese people inform me on what is good or bad for me and my baby, give me the cream!  I know what i am doing, I am stopping the crazy itch, so they looked at me like I was crazy, sold me the cream and on my way i went!  The last time i was there they didn't want to sell me Tylenol Cold without my passport, seriously people what am I going to do with Tylenol Cold, it barely helps a cold as it is but is all i can take while pregnant!

Some other random things from this week, saw this photo on WeChat which is a little like texting and a little like facebook but i thought it was funny to share. 10 yuan = $1.50, 100 yuan = $15.00

Blake is gearing up for Dinosaur week at school next week, they will do all sorts of learning and projects around dinosaurs and then on Friday take a field trip to the dinosaur amusement park!  Should be a lot of fun!!!

I am now almost 33 weeks pregnant with the most active baby ever.  I am not sleeping well due to all the movement and the mosquito bites did not help!  Baby is healthy and we are still accepting guesses as to the details of the baby's birth, weight, etc. http://www.babyhunch.com

Brian is doing well, getting through production at work and its keeping him busy!  He does work some late nights but luckily we get him on the weekends!  Blake and I made a lunch trip today to see him at work and brought some food.  Everyone there is so friendly and loves to see Blake, he was going around to the table of HR ladies and they were all giving him their bananas, i think he collected 8 bananas and they were clapping for him as he showed off :)  What a ham! On a rainy day he used his cape to cover his head :)

Some photos from gymnastics class last Sunday, he really enjoys it!