世博在上海World Expo in Shanghai

The whole China is advertising its big event, the World Expo in Shanghai.  We living in Suzhou are surrounded by ( also fed up with) the ads everywhere.  

It seems to me many friends are talking about and are interested in this event.  I am not, but Richy is.  I think we will eventually visit Shanghai for the Expo, since it is not very far from Suzhou.  If we will visit the Expo, I plan to have an easy and relaxing trip to Shanghai, maybe in September when the weather is pleasant and the crowd becomes smaller.

 

最近世博闹得沸沸扬扬的，这里的人把它当国家大事，重视程度，和奥运差不多。

各地媒体当然也不遑多让，大家都觉得不走一趟会终身遗憾。

确实，走到哪儿，都看到世博标志，和广告电视墙充斥（烦），像闭眼掩耳掠过都不可能，连电脑上也出现海宝卡通，Winston变成海宝迷了，搞得我也有点心动了，而且，在重视面子的大国里，这种事一定办得很风光，很盛大。

上周去了上海和老同学见面，才发现，号称与上海40分钟距离苏州，我却是花了二个半小时的时间才能到达所要去的目的地。 那天我花了五个小时通车，只和远从美国来的朋友以及驻上海的同学聊上2.5小时。

Friends' reunion in Shanghai, 4/23/2010

时间计算是这样的：搭计程车去火车站20分钟、排队10分钟、坐火车40+10分钟（通常会误点10分钟）、出站转地铁途中10-15分（含买票）、坐上地铁10-25分钟、出站再稍微走一丁点的路到目的地10-20分，如果再加上一点点等侯时间，根本就超过2.5小时，原来苏州号称40分钟到上海都是房地产商的口号。

所以为了要好好逛世博（当然其实我是可以不去的啦，但我们家的Richy不可能不去朝拜如此“世界”大事的，尤其是住得这么“近” 。），不过因为我在交通上的新发现，他本以为可以当日往返上海的计划，可能要变动了，世博门票有单日票，或多日票，不论何种，都要给他一次逛得够，当日往返上海势必浪费时间和门票。所以，我可以开始规划世博的上海旅馆了。

哈哈！我是一个爱闲逛的人，不爱赶场，Richy早就建议我多去上海走走，我觉得交通太累而拒绝（事实证明我是对的），现在终于可以假世博之名，住在上海慢漫游了，还可以顺便找朋友出来玩，一举二得，不过还得看Richy是否拨得出假期，至于时间，我一点也不急，9月天凉点吧！等一票人去玩过了之后，网路上自然会有很多人会推荐旅馆、路线，到时候再说喽。

很喜欢苏州的既古又今的融合，虽然很多人也很喜欢上海，虽然苏州没有上海的热闹，我宁可偶尔舟车上海，也不愿落户繁华之都；当然很多人和我相反，看尽繁华偶也想返璞归真。难怪，世博还没开始，苏州也忙起来了，上海周边很多小镇都被炒热起来了。当然，因为到了苏州和古镇，比较能看到真中国（的蛛丝马迹啦！）。

Play with Beads 玩珠珠

These days, I indulged myself playing with beads.  I love stones, jades, crystals, and pearls.  I enjoy shopping around those stores. I can not deny that I love diamonds too.  But they are far beyond my budget, so I'd tried not to look at or even think of them.

Last month, I ordered 2 books teaching how to chain beads and make ornaments from beads, crystals and stones.  Then I started studying them.  They seemed very difficult for me to understand, but I was determined to make something out of it. So I ordered some precious materials and made pendants and a ring.  It took me much time to go over the steps, tear things apart and and redo them.  I am glad that I finally learned how to read and follow the steps.  Last time I was so worried about my knitting because the instructions in the books seemed so hard to understand.  But I tried anyway and made some clothes wearable. So I knew very much this time that I just need to try. On the process, it was like solving a puzzle, difficult but fun.

Here are my finished works~

A ball-Shaped pendants

The Ring

 

A smaller ball-shaped pendant

Pendant can be tied to a cell Phone or a Bag

The Puzzle

Grab the Tail of Spring 抓住春尾巴!

去年我苦等春天，結果感覺春天才剛到，夏天就來了。

今年我終於明白，這就是江南之春： 狂風、細雨、霧濛濛， 時常酷寒、偶爾溫暖。如果以為冬天還沒走 ，春天還沒來，就錯了。害怕錯過一年之春，我們把握少見的春陽，踏青去!

The Spring in Suzhou is mixed with rain, fog, wind, coldness and warmth. According to my observation from last year to this year, in one typical spring week, we have only 2 days good weather (with sun shine) and 5 days bad (rain, fog, dark clouds, coldness)  on average. That means we can only enjoy fewer than 30 nice days, then Summer will soon arrive.  Last week we had temperature drop from 20 to 3 degree Centigrade. We experienced ice rain on Wednesday. Knowing it is spring, I mentally felt OK in this terribly mixed weather.

Last year, I made some plans for spring.  But the weather was so unexpectable.  My plans were always re-planed or cancelled. This spring, I do not make any plan. We grab every chance to go out whenever the sun comes out.

 

Saturday (4/17) Winston and I rode out bikes to take pictures of the statues around Gold Chicken Lake.  I also took some pictures of the flowers and maple leaves in our neighborhood.

Ancient Man watching the modern girl using a computer

                    Ancient Vs. Modern     Men Vs. Women

Sunday (4/18) morning we accidentally found a tulip field and rape flower field on the way to Lotus Island.  We were very surprised at the big field of flowers. We walked around the fields and ran out of time. So we canceled our visit to the place nearby-- the lotus Island. Maybe save it for next time.

 

 

Picture taken by Winston

At noon time, we went back to our neighborhood and took a walk at a newly constructed area --the Moon Light Deck & Port. Few minutes later, it started to rain, and we ate in an Indian (Hindu) Food Restaurant.  We enjoyed the Indian decoration inside and the food which was rich with Hindu herbs flavor.

 

The Door handle --Winston found it and took a picture of it.

The bronze faucet outside the rest rooms---Picture taken by Winston

Checking what we got for the morning.

In the evening, we went swimming and had supper in a Germany Food Restaurant. We called it a great Spring Sunday.

Spring comes and goes in a glimpse. The rains stop many people from outing.  The one-day sun or half-day sun comes sometimes unexpectedly, and people easily miss the chance to go out. The good thing about living in Suzhou is that we can reach many nice places in 20 minutes. So we are not fooled by the weather. We live and play with it.

~Enjoy~

Naievte

Winston's Stuffed  Pals

We all possess the naivety from childhood, but some hide it and some don't.

I am very much a naive person. Sometimes I don't like to be surrounded by people who consider themselves more mature and more right. There is nothing wrong about being naive.

As a mom, I want my child to grow mature but I treasure the moments while he was a child and naive.

Winston is quite naive , maybe a bit more naive than his peers at this age.
He likes to preach to his pals, teach them English and Math.  It is cute to watch him punish the pals.

When we two are alone, we are both very naive.  Many times I pretend to be a student and he is the teacher.  He likes to be a wizard and turns me into a lady frog. Sometimes, when I was angry, he used his magic wand to change me into a dumb mom.

We read stories in turn, talk and act like we were in the stories.   Kids and Moms together, they know how to please each other. I guess it is because of "Naivete".

I feel guilty that I take advantage of his naivety to let him play piano and violin to the big audience---his pals and me ( I really enjoy his music).  I also pretend to be a silly violin and piano student of his.

After the pretending game, he already gets his music homework done and, the fun. Then he moves on playing his Wii and I am the housekeepking mom again.

So is it this time.  Winston asked me to knit a Rabbit for him.  I told him that I would knit more if he would practice music more.

So this week, without my pushing or yelling, he went to the piano and got the violin on his own. I knitted the rabbit by his side. 

He checked my progress once a while and happily went on his work.

I want to knit some pals for him while he still talks to them. Winston needs the patience to practice his piano and violin.

I call this a win-win game.

After creating this rabbit pal, Winston asked me: what is the sound a rabbit make? 

I saw rabbits, but I did not remember they even make any sound.  

Now we have to think of one cute little sound for Rabbit to make. 

Because when teacher Winston asks questions in his pals' class, rabbit has to make sound to answer.
 

New Pal-Rabbit