We had a holiday on May 1st. Most of China had Monday – Wednesday off, but the kids school had Wednesday – Friday off. So the children had vacation when most didn’t. We used to time to go bowling, eat Korean food, and see Iron Man 3.
May 082013
Apr 302013
Kenaz’s formar teacher visited us from Czech. We all went to see her husband launching motorbike trip from China to Czech (!!). 
They are all riding a Chinese brand ChangJiang motorcycle with sidecar.
I hope they drive safe and enjoy across China and Europe!
Apr 262013
Apr 042013
Apr 032013
School is out for spring break. Akiva, Kenaz and I visited a Suzhou famous garden, the Lion Forest Garden.
Mar 262013
“As you can see, there are parts called ‘Leader’ and parts called ‘participant.’”
Friends Jason and Tavon, who have not seen each other in two years, arrived at Passover. They proceeded to drink too much wine. Which at times let to miss-understandings about the meaning of the word “Leadership”.
The Sedar Plate, after the Roasted Egg has been put into egg-salad. Shankbone is not pictured, but it was present. Charoses recipe: 2 apple, 1 mango, Xinjiang greeen raisins, Chinese dates, half a large back of crushed, chopped walnuts, cheap wine, a little lemon, a little chopped parsely, some honey (but not so much… 3 seconds squeeze). Just right.
“With Matzoh and Moror shall they eat it.”
Salad & gifilte fish preparation station. The canned gifilte fish is really good.
Haga made great beef brisket (we used the rice-cooker to slow-cook… Haga thinks we should skim more fat off next time). Salmon (with lemon, soy-sauce , sugar coating), and Apple-Sweet-potatoe dish (next year must let Haga buy the sweet-potatoes because I bought wrong type… but still really good). Matzoh ball soup was good, but balls were sinkers, not floaters. Should have added more water too mix and cook a little less. Accidentally over-cooked broccolli. Chocolate covered matzoh for desert.
“Four times, in the course of this Service, we shall partake of the wine, symbol of joy and thanksgiving…”
Mar 262013
Mar 202013
Feb 112013
Jan 262013
Akiva had a birthday party at indoor water park. The party was a blast!! Akiva told us this was the best birthday part every. All his friends agreed and told him this was the best part they have ever attended.
[Jesse] For me, I’m very happy Akiva had a great birthday party. However, it was not easy directing the activities of 6 seven/eight year old boys… getting them through the locker room, making sure they don’t drown, coaching one of them to use a squat-toilet to go poo-poo, etc.
[Jesse] They had a wave-pool, which created surf-conditions for about 15 minutes every hour. The kids thought that was very fun.
There was a Doctor Fish pound. The fish come to eat dead skin out of your feet. It is hard to describe the feeling when the fish nibble on your feet, I had to grab on to something hard otherwise I would jump up and scare the fish. I had to bite my lips hard too otherwise I would scream.
[Jesse] It was about 2C outside (maybe around 38-40F), but the outdoor “hot spring” pools were very hot. The hot-spring pools all had tea-bags or milk or wine or something to give it a color and smell. Supposedly our skin is supposed to receive many benefits from the different types of pools. Of course I like the Japanese natural springs better (with the strong sulfer smell), but this was a still a fun activity for Suzhou in the winter-time. Haga mentioned that it would also be nice if we could come back…just us… and we were drinking wine. If it snows again this year we also need to go to the hot springs again.
