I thought I'd mention a couple of things that happened this week...
I went running in the rain. Everyone actually stopped whatever they were doing. Construction, walking, sweeping, etc. to see the crazy white lady who runs for no reason, in the rain. I also realized that I have been spoiled in my life thus far, not ever having seen a rat before moving here (except a white pet rat that a friend had and I thought disgusting). I ran by a pile of garbage with several rats rummaging through, and really no big deal for me. I've come a long way.
We finally discovered why our driver has a piece of wire dragging from the back of the car. We've been driving around for at least a week with a horrible sound coming from the back end. When we realized what it was, our driver told us why, but we couldn't understand. Today we learned that he put it there as a ground, because we were always getting shocked when we opened the car door. That was very considerate of him, and now, I'm sure everyone in Nanjing knows that crazy family with the five children is coming, miles before they see our huge Transit approach!
Mike came home late one night after a work meeting. It was 11:30. So he came to bed, but was hungry, and came downstairs for some food. He saw lights outside, and walked to the window to see one of the security guards checking out our bikes, or so Mike thought. Suddenly, he looked around, and jumped on a bike, and rode off. Mike thought this was very interesting, and sat in the dark for a while to see when he would come back. After half-an-hour Mike gave up and went to bed. The bike was back in its spot the next morning. We were wondering if he needs us to buy him a new bike.
On Saturday, I celebrated my 34th birthday. The family did a good job helping me to enjoy it. I slept in, and we all went to lunch. I ordered my own cake last week at the German Bakery. I told Mike to pick it up yesterday. I figured it would make everyone happy. We had our fun little family party, where I received cute home-made jewelry, and a beautiful jade necklace from Mike. Mike took me for a massage, Italian Food, and Hagen Das Ice-cream. I can barely walk today after eating so much!
So...We are all well on our way in this 2006. I heard Nicole say her goal was to be able use chopsticks at every meal. Rachel hopes to learn all of the words to the Sons of Provo song "Miss Me, But Don't Kiss Me", and I'm pretty sure that Jay's goal is to see how many times he can get his Mother to let him watch Star Wars. Eli wants to see how many times he can find his sisters' secret hiding spots. Caitlin has a lofty goal of sucking on her hard-tack candy without chewing it. My goal is to help Mike come up with a goal:-) We Wadley's really reach for the stars... But hey, at least there isn't a high probability of failure!
