The DeSmet girls singing Radioactive

Although it may look like it......I did not have them at gunpoint to do this.  It was a quiet night here at the DeSmet house and the girls started playing and singing.  I didn't even know they sounded this good.  I was pretty impressed, so unbeknown to them......I'm sharing this video.  Julia had a Ukulele class at school and she has gotten pretty good.  Have a listen.
Double click link below!

http://youtu.be/UxfCfr-yArg

Shengri kuaile Kelly!

It is Kelly's Birthday and we haven't seen him all week.  He has been traveling China this week and working hard.  His coworkers didn't let the day go by unnoticed though.  I received this picture and just had to share.  I see he has pijiu (beer) and dangao (cake) so he at least got to celebrate.  Hurry home honey.  We miss you and love you!

Beijing State of Mind

This video is really amazing and sums up the whole Beijing experience pretty well!  It's good take a look!

Modern Toilet Restaurant????? Say what??????

Why????  Why is this sometimes the most nutty place......ever???  And who thought that this restaurant would be a good idea??? 
My tutor brought me a menu for "The Modern Toilet Restaurant" here in Beijing.  It is decorated in all "restroom" décor and the food is served in "toilet bowls".  I am not making this up, at all.  Some of the bowls resemble our western style of toilets (normal toilets), some of the food is served in bowls that resemble urinals and then there is the traditional style Chinese squat pot.  I looked at the menu and couldn't help but think what a crappy idea (no pun intended).  I couldn't quit shaking my head when I got to the desert section and they had chocolate soft serve ice cream being served in a squatty potty. Now that looks appetizing! 
Something tells me that the whole concept for this restaurant went straight down the crapper! (pun definitely intended)  And I can't get over this feeling of needing to go check this joint out for myself.  What is wrong with me???  My tutor told me it is always busy with young girls chatting with their friends and having fun.....well duh, being of the female species and having 2 daughters myself, I know a thing or 2 about large groups of girls hanging out in restrooms chatting and having fun.  It still doesn't mean you should eat in there....ever..... or out of toilet bowls.

Please note the toilet "bowls".  The yellow one looks like a traditional Chinese squatter.

The blue bowl is supposed to look like a urinal, and my personal fave is the chocolate soft serve in the pink squatty potty. The picture in the top right hand corner is the inside of the restaurant.  It appears to be decorated in all white tiles with different colored toilets all over the joint!  Good stuff!

First Middle School dance of the year!

I don't have much to tell about this, because as you know, most middle schooled age kids really don't give you much input or details on these matters.  So, I will just share a picture that was taken at the dance and put in the school newsletter.

Julia and her friends.  They are the nicest group of girls.  Love them all!

AC Cesena Italian soccer camp

The girls did a week long football camp with some coaches from AC Cesena Italian professional club.  Out of the 50 kids, only 4 of them were girls.  My daughters, and some friends that happen to be sisters from Boston.  They had a great time and it was amazing how you can learn and take direction from coaches that only speak Italian.
The coaches were so good to the girls and very impressed with their skills and tenacity.  Coach Davide Cicognani was the fitness coach for the Italian Olympic team. Coach Fabrizio Zoffoli was the coach of the 2000AC Cesena team, and Ivo Ferrari is a goalkeepers coach.  He trained the Japanese woman's goalkeeper the year they beat the US women for the World Cup.  They all have an outstanding résumé and I feel so lucky that my girls were able to be trained by them for a week.

Ella clowning around with the help of Coach Davide.

Ella taking instruction from Coach Davide.

                                               

Coach Ivo (goalkeepers coach) He is in his late 70's and is totally amazing!

I'm not sure about this but why does it look like Ella is screwing around in every picture????

This man's son is the reason for this camp.  He lives here in Beijing, but his oldest son is the goalie on the U16 men's Italian National team.....coached by Ivo.  Amazing to watch him.  He was here training with his younger brother and the rest of the kids.

Caterpillar Dinner

Yep that is what the title says "caterpillar dinner".  Kelly was traveling through China and it is custom for that area to have at least one of the ontrees be caterpillar...AKA "silk worm".  He sent me this picture and I about gagged.  I asked him if he actually ate it.  He told me that he tried 2 of them. (He didn't want to be rude). He said that they were mushy and left a really bad after taste.  He is way braver than I could ever be!

Captain Kelly

After we were home for a week and a half, Kelly had to return back to the US for some business meetings.  He was in Dubuque, Iowa and had a dinner cruise one night.  Apparently he got to captain the ship and even got a certificate that he has so proudly put on the refrigerator.  He was so excited about it that he sent us this picture for proof that he got to be the Captain of the ship.  If his career here doesn't pan out maybe this can be useful.

Captain Kelly

Jet lag at its finest!

I had forgotten about this picture until I came a crossed it while I was snooping on Kelly's phone.  This was our third day back in Beijing and we were invited over to our friends house for dinner.  Afterwards, we played a game with the kids that didn't last very long because by 7:45 PM this was how we found our children........

Face down, drooling on the table!  It's hard to explain the feeling of jet lag.  You can barely keep your eyes open by 7:00 PM and then your wide awake at 3:30 AM.  You just feel haggard and tired.  By the end of a week though things start to come around and your going to bed by 8:30 and popping up at 5:30.  Now, after a month or so I am dragging myself out of bed at 6:30AM.  Ugggg!