What we love about Shanghai

There is so much to love about Shanghai. Eric and I have thoroughly enjoyed living here the past couple of months. Here are just a few fun pictures- many of these could really actually be taken anywhere in China.

Why we love Shanghai:

1. Dancing in the park



2. Singing and impromptu erhu concerts in the park



3. Free outdoor gyms



4. The ability to cram cranes and construction everywhere! Ok, we don't really love this... How many cranes can you see? I counted nine.


5. The Chinese seem to find beauty in anything. What is this beautiful plant in the flower pot? Any guesses? Cabbage. Or some sort of lettuce...


6. Uneven door handles. We just like this picture- not all doors look like this. Though that would be awesome if they did!


7. Finding a 'Chinatown' in China.

San Diego, here we come!

The decision is made, and we are going to San Diego!

I'll spare you the recap of every small factor that went into the decision, but somewhere along the way of saving over $25,000 and getting a just as good if not better education, we decided UC San Diego was the place to be. This, of course, was not without sadness that we will be missing out on all the wonders of DC and the east coast (sorry Blake and Lindsay! and oh so many friends!). So yes, it is off to UCSD to attend their School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (affectionately known as IR/PS).

It feels great to have one decision made, and now we can move onto others. First up: what are we doing this summer? (invitations, pre-paid plane tickets, and hotel reservations and even job offers are all very welcome)

Let's go fly a kite!

Kite flying is definitely big here in China. We see people flying kites everywhere. Well, not everywhere- the government bans it in a lots of areas- but where it is allowed, those kites really come out! Eric has been really wanting to get a kite so a couple days ago, we bought one!


We had a great time flying our kite. I told Eric before we bought it that I have always had a significant increase in stress levels when flying a kite. I have always been so afraid it would get caught in a tree or break off the string- so that I almost don't enjoy it. He quickly dismissed our fears. A half an hour later after trying to navigate our kite through the very crowded airway and after our kite's string being cut two times as a result of becoming tangled and then subsequently crashing to the ground, he understood what I meant. But we still had a great time! And our kite is still in one piece. A great accomplishment, in my opinion.

Look how happy he is to finally have his kite!



Can you pick out our kite? Hint: it's the prettiest one up there! :)

Happy Easter!

We had a great Easter weekend. A big thanks to Eric's mom for sending us a surprise Easter package with tons of yummy goodies inside. I had been wondering what we could do for Easter in addition to reading and listening to talks about Easter and reading the accounts of the Savior's resurrection in the Bible. I figured that was all we would be able to do (and its much more important, of course!) since I wasn't seeing any egg-dying kits around. :) Leave to Eric's mom to think to send us some! So of course, we invited some friends over- Courtney and Aaron, along with our new friends Carissa and Jeff- to paint eggs and to eat lots of Eastery snacks.


Me using the nifty little Easter egg dye Q-tips that we got in our package. They are great! So much easier that the regular egg-dying kits!


At the last minute, while out shopping with a lady from our branch, I found some plastic Easter eggs and some shredded crepe paper that could pass for Easter grass. I was so excited and so even though they weren't as cheap as they are in America (sorry Eric!) I had to get them. Here is our cute Easter basket when I I found what the Easter bunny had left for us on Easter morning. Ignore the bad hair and no make up.

It will be so much fun when we actually have kids to do all this for- we already have enough fun doing it for ourselves!

And the decision did not get any easier...

Eric and I have been waiting to find out if I was accepted into a dietetic internship for this next year, with the hopes that it would help make our decision between Johns Hopkins and UCSD a little easier. This morning at 7am we were able to find out if I was matched to an internship. Unfortunately, we saw the 'We regret to inform you...' screen instead of an acceptance. Besides our intense dislike of the inefficiency of the dietetic internship matching process (a whole other story)we were definitely very disappointed. All of those weeks of work, preparation, and stress- for nothing. I may have a chance to contact programs that were not matched with enough interns starting Thursday, but I am not too hopeful that there will be any that will work for us.

Now its back to deciding between DC and San Diego. We go back and forth so much- both programs are great, both locations are great (except of course for the fact that both are incredibly expensive places to live)... We have to decide by April 15th, though, so we will at least know by then!