Update from Shanghai

This blog update is from Abbey (with a bit of help from Curt - kids are nowhere to be found)...

We are having a great time in Shanghai, trying to stay warm. In the last three days we have toured the city as well as several incredible historic sites a few hours outside of town. One water village was built over 900 years ago and was completely intact and original as it had not been destroyed by the Japanese occupation or by the cultural revolution. We took a boat ride on a gondola style boat thru the narrowed canals that weaved thru the village. Our woman who oared our boat, sang us a few ancient Chinese songs while we absorbed the culture and scenery. Curt tried to request songs by Rolling Stones or Depeche Mode. Fortunately, she spoke no English.

We also visited a silk mill and watched the silk worm life cycle and saw the silk making process. Sam was sad to see the worms die at the end of the process. But, then was glad to find out that they do eat the silk worm after it has served it's silk making duties. We are told they taste like peanuts. Neither Sam not Aly wanted to taste one. Curt asked if we could get cashews instead. We did make a few purchases at the silk mill and of course found the exact same merchandise for 1/2 the price the next day in the market in Shanghai. I guess we had "sucker" stamped on our foreheads. I was shopping for jade elephants in the Yu Garden jade market. The salesperson asked "do you worship elephants?". I just answered that I like elephants. Since the Chinese think we worship Santa Claus, I guess his question was not that unusual.

Sam and Aly have become very proficient at hailing taxi cabs, negotiating with street vendors and saying "Boo Yah" (translation - don't want) to the aggressive vendors in some locations we have visited. Although Sam almost ended up with a Rolex watch late this afternoon outside the Peace Hotel in Shanghai. Although we certainly are not big shoppers, we have had to buy another piece of luggage to get our purchases back to the U.S. It has been fun to haggle and we are enjoying the "deals".

Curt's mission is to visit as many Starbucks in these areas that actually have Starbucks. In fact, Shanghai and Hong Kong have had multiple locations. The coffee really is bad in China (Curt is not exaggerating). I have reverted to drinking tea, unless we are at a Starbucks. The tea is very good.

We took a spontaneous Curt's guided walking tour of Shanghai our first evening here. We stumbled upon more temples in the heart of the city. Very unusual since normally we have traveled to the outskirts of the cities we have been visiting to see the multiple temples, parks and incredible scenery. 3 1/2 hours later, we were almost forced to hail a cab when Curt actually stopped to ask for directions. We made it back to the hotel safe and sound.

We just booked another spontaneous Curt's tour this time to Beijing. I decided that since we already bought winter coats in China for our trip to Shanghai, we might as well get good use out of them. Plus, I just couldn't fathom leaving China without seeing the Great Wall. Not to mention, Curt doesn't have to be back to work until after the New Year. We leave tomorrow morning for Beijing and will be back to South China New Year's Eve. As it will potentially be snowing in Beijing, we have had to supplement our winter coats with more winter apparel (hats, scarfs and gloves). Sam is still in search of ear muffins (I don't have the heart to tell him that they are actually ear muffs - he sounds so cute saying ear muffins). We may need yet another piece of luggage to transport our winter gear back to Florida.

Booking domestic travel in China is not an easy feat. It was nearly impossible to communicate our travel itinerary with the airline representatives. After over an hour and a half of telephone calls, faxes and attempted emails, I finally had nearly booked the trip from Shanghai to Beijing and then back to South China. It was at that point that the airline rep told me they would deliver the tickets to our hotel the next morning and then would collect my cash. I could not believe that she would not accept my credit card. We are just so accustomed to using credit in the US. So, the next morning I felt like I was buying drugs in the hotel lobby as I exchanged my wad of cash for our 8 plane tickets. Very odd experience.

So, we are off to the cold country early tomorrow morning. We'll check back in with you before the New Year!

Happy Holidays from China

Happy Holidays from China,
This entry is a joint effort-

It is often said that you never really appreciate the good times without your share of challenging times. It has been that type of year for the Redden's . Some of you might not be aware that we lost our home and two dogs, Zach and Anna to a house fire this past spring. This type event reminds you how most things are just "stuff", and the truly important things are the things you cannot buy. To remind of this, we had incredible support from our family, friends, neighbors, work, Sam and Aly's school, and many others. While we have not adequately thanked all of you for your support, know that we appreciate your thoughts and help more than we can possibly express. With that said, this holiday we want to share our family update, and wish you all the best this holiday season..

As most of you know, Curt is in China for work, and the family has joined him for the holiday. So far we have traveled to Guangzhou, Hong Kong and the outer islands, Shenzhen, and will be visiting Shanghai next week. The attached picture is from the peak in Hong Kong overlooking the city. We are having a fantastic time and you can gain more insight from entries in this blog.

Curt is still enjoying UPS, and is now working to share training and sales "best practices" with the local UPS China team. He is expanding his topics to include an international flavor such as "how to look sophisticated while slinging rice with chopsticks", and avoiding international incidents while starting a session with a communist or government joke... While Curt insists he is now able to catch a fly with his chopsticks, miraculously no one has yet to witness it. Abbey warned him before he left that China was a very difficult culture and that they would probably not appreciate his warped sense of humor.
Curt also sadly reports on the destruction of the "Redden Tiki Bar" in association with the above mentioned house fire. He wants to assure that if you had existing reservations, they should be honored no later than the completion of our new house, which at current pace should be before Spring 2014.

Abbey hasn't done much work this year. She took 2 months off this summer to try to get the Redden's lives back in order after losing everything in the house fire. It's amazing what it takes to get things back on track. While we're not there yet, we're making good progress and taking it one step at a time. Abbey did make partner with her CPA firm in January of this year. Of course that was before she took 2 months off over the summer and then took another 5 weeks off to travel to China. Billable hours are down this year (to say the least). She also had to deal with the ongoing investigation into the house. Although a man was seen running from the roof with a propane torch as he was screaming fire, fire!!!, the roofing company we had hired has other theories. The latest involves Martians from Area 57 who were using laser beams to rid the world of the Redden Tiki Bar-

Aly (do I look cute?) Redden is also enjoying 2nd Grade. Aly continues to be involved in Gymnastics after school. She does cartwheels everywhere, and is absolutely destined for Olympic glory. She enjoys singing, dancing, school, and playing with one of her 1,023 babies (post fire count).

Sam continues to develop into a budding veterinarian. As they are now in 2nd grade, Sam is enjoying working with animals and bugs even more. They have also enjoyed there hiatus from school, even though they came with substantial homework and assignments Sam still seems to have a borderline obsessive compulsive interest growing concerning animals. We plan to continue encouraging this until he forces us to adopt a Chinese Monkey.

Our two new additions this year include Spidey and Angelica, two hermit crabs. They are very social and certainly not typical hermits. The Heise's have been taking good care of our hermit crabs during our Far East travels. Earlier this fall, Spidey gave Sam a painful pinch from Aunt Judi's 10th floor office suite. We had a hard time releasing Spidey from Sam's finger. For a few moments, we thought we might have to spray Spidey with Judi's WD40 to make him release. However, we decided that losing two pets this year for Sam would be too traumatic. So, we were patient, and eventually Spidey released his grip, but took a few layers of skin with him.

Despite the fire, we still went on a Disney cruise that we had planned (and paid for ) before the fire. Although Abbey had a hard time convincing Curt that a Disney cruise was something that we should do as a family with all that was going on at the time. This past year, we also visited Seattle and Vancouver CA, Ohio, and old friends from Charleston & St. Augustine.

Finally, we are sad to report that we also lost Curt's Grandmother Marion this year. She was truly an "Unforgettable" woman who will be missed by all, but she lives on in us.

From our family to yours. Best wishes and Happy Holidays from The Reddens.
Curt, Abbey, Sam and Aly

Update from Hong Kong

This blog update is from Abbey...

We have certainly been busy. We visited Liuhua Park in Dongguan, China with Curt's driver "Ben" while Curt was hard at work. As we climbed up a hill towards a temple, we were surprised to see a camel up ahead. Anything goes here... "Ben" guided us to a small local animal shelter in Liuhua Park (they called it a "zoo", but it was simply some sad animals in dingy cages). Sam and Aly enjoyed feeding the malnourished animals. Sam held out some seeds for a very aggressive and clearly very hungry monkey who quickly grabbed Sam's hand and peeled the seeds out of his hand. Fortunately, the monkey's long fingernails didn't draw any blood. I reminded Sam that he didn't want to have to suffer thru a series of rabies shots during our travels. After that incident, Sam and Aly were both careful to keep a safe distance from the the cages of angry alligators and porcupines. The husband and wife that lived in the zoo (in quarters similar to the animals' sad and dingy cages) prodded each of the animals with a long stick to arouse them as we walked from cage to cage. Very dismal existence for the animals and the "zookeepers".

The next day Curt joined us on our adventure to Xinxian Mountain Villa in Changpin, China. We saw many amazing and truly beautiful buddhist temples. Sam and Aly were able to participate in praying to Buddha with some of the local monks and with our driver "Ben". In a somewhat surreal experience, "Ben" negotiated for us to receive a guided tour on a 6-seated golf cart thru the mountain's park. As we approached, barricades were removed and we were taken to parts of the parks that were obviously closed to all of the other visitors. In addition to the girl driving the golf cart, there was a man who followed us from location to location turning on rides for Sam and Aly. While several of the coasters were quite rusty and dilapidated, that did not dampen Sam and Aly's enthusiasum for riding them. I couldn't watch. At that point, I was praying to Buddha for safely for Curt and the kids as they enjoyed the rickety rides. We also saw a circus where full sized Bengal tigers were kept in cages beside caged poodles. Oddly enought, a baby lion was caged in with several poodle dogs. Sam was very concerned about a bear that was caged in such a small compartment that he couldn't even turn around. The bear's forehead was flat from banging it continuously up against the cage.

Don't get me wrong, the animal conditions were bleak, but the park's scenery and temples were truly amazing with the intricate details. Hand carved and painted ceilings in temples and landscapes were meticulously manicured. We were also taken to another closed section atop the mountain where we were able to have our own personal photo shoot with a giant Buddha. The Buddha was multiple stories tall and was hand carved from white stone and marble.

Since we have had many other daily adventures, I have been derelict in my blog updating duties. We left Dongguan, China several days ago and have visited Guanzhou, Shenzhen and are now in Hong Kong. Just an overwhelming number of gorgeous parks in all cities. Most parks are free or admission is minimal (i.e. $1.20 entrance for the entire Redden family). The Hong Kong Island park we visited yesterday was free and included a huge kids play area as well as an enormous bird aviary that housed nearly 1,000 bird species. We also took the peak tram to the peak of Hong Kong as well as a walking tour of business and shopping districts in Hong Kong. More shopping opportunities than we can even appreciate (since I am not much of a shopper). Sam and Aly did enjoy haggling with street venders at the Temple Street Market last night. Incredible experiences.

Today we are headed to Hong Kong's outer islands. Will update you later. This year due to our travels, we will be emailing our Redden holiday update letter and posting it to this blog. Curt asked that I add this comment because he knows that at least some of you wait with breathless anticipation for the holiday neswletter each year, and he did not want to be the cause of depression during the holdiay season. Best wishes to you all.

Curt is not exaggerating!

This blog entry is from Abbey...

One of my duties while I am here in China is to update Curt’s blog. Obviously, I have been slacking. Actually, we have been very busy. Today was the first day that Sam and Aly and I did not leave the hotel grounds. The kids had fallen behind on their homework and their daily journals. I was behind on some of my personal bills, paperwork and of course behind on my blog updating responsibilities. We have caught up on most of our work, but we had some fun today also. I hope you all enjoy my perspective on life in China. I’ll share Sam and Aly’s perspective with you as well.

As most of you all know, Curt tends to exaggerate. Well, after being in China for nearly 10 days, I will tell you that Curt has not been exaggerating (much) in his blog updates. It is truly a different world here in the Far East.

My first experience in China was rushing frantically thru the Guangzhou, China airport, after a 15 hour international flight, in search of a restroom. I rushed into the bathroom and pushed open the stall door to find…yes, a stinky hole in the floor. Other than reading Curt's blog entry about his hovering over the "hole" experience, Curt did not properly warn me about the holes. He could have politely reminded me before we deplaned that I should use the aircraft toilet. Little did I know that the cramped and somewhat smelly airplane toilet would have been a pleasure to use in comparison to the horrendously smelly hole in the ground. After looking down at the hole and exclaiming something similar to “you have got to be fricking kidding me!” (As you can see, Curt has requested that I refrain from using profanity on his blog). Aly barged into my stall to see what all the clamor was about. She proceeded to laugh uncontrollably as she saw me attempting to use the hole. I am glad she was amused. I was not. I was tired and anxious after 20 hours of international travel. I was certainly not expecting to find this. Fortunately this restroom had toilet paper, soap and paper towels. At the time, I did not realize that it is unusual to have all of the above available in a Chinese wash room (as best I can figure, that is how restroom in English translates in Chinese). I have learned to always carry hand sanitizer, tissue and antibacterial wipes with us whenever we leave the hotels. I am proud to report that I did not fall in. It took Aly about a week before she finally gave in and used a hole. We were an hour from our hotel and I refused to have our driver take us back to the hotel so that Aly could use the hotel toilet. We have left several parks and museums to head to the hotel toilet for Aly’s benefit. She will no longer receive preferential treatment now that I know she has conquered the “hole”. Aly & I are now both official members of the “Squatters Club”.

Yesterday, the kids and I went grocery shopping. We were already pressed for time before we walked into the store, because we spent 20 minutes looking at Christmas decorations at a local stand outside Ole’ (Chinese grocery store chain). Curt’s driver dropped us off in front of the store and would return one hour later to pick us up. Since he speaks no English and I speak no Chinese, I had no way to notify him that we may need more time. After Sam contemplated which Christmas decorations would be perfect for our hotel room (and also, would fit into our luggage for our trip home), we had only 40 minutes to shop for our very short grocery list. Side note…I am happy to report that we now have a small Christmas tree on our dining room table and a large Merry Christmas sign with a large Santa taped to our balcony sliding door. We also have some homemade snowflakes, candy canes and gingerbread men (part of what we spent our homework breaks working on this afternoon). Sam and Aly’s Christmas elves arrived in China just a few days ago as well. So, we are feeling surrounded by the holiday spirit in our new home for the next 4 weeks. Back to the grocery store….we walk into the store and look for anything familiar that is on our list. No luck. We wander aimlessly for 10 minutes up and down the aisles. Cart is still empty. I notice Sam holding himself. Of course, he has to use the restroom. I pull out my handy dandy Chinese/English dictionary. I look up the word restroom. Nothing. I look up the word bathroom. I find a grocery employee and point to the Chinese word for bathroom. He points and directs us. We walk in that direction looking for a door or a sign. We find ourselves heading toward the toiletries aisle. I realize he thinks we are searching for toilet paper. I find another grocery employee who walks us to the toiletries aisle and points to toilet paper. I instruct Sam to hold himself again (which of course he refuses to do now that someone is looking at him – but he had no problem holding himself as he hopped thru the store). Then I point to Sam and say very slowly “my son, he has to go to the toilet”. I give up on that employee and find another. Can you guess? We end up in the toilet paper aisle again. Now I am frustrated. Sam is about to pee his pants. And, we have no groceries. The driver will arrive to pick us up in 7 minutes. Finally, I run to any employee I can find and point to my dictionary. Finally, I found a young woman who pointed us to the “toilet” sign. In the 5 minutes we had left, we found a few things on our grocery list. Then we rushed back to find the driver patiently waiting for us out front. I was ready to head back to the hotel and pop one of the Chinese beers I had stumbled upon in the grocery. That was just one of the frustrating Chinese translation issues we had yesterday. Another reason we decided not to venture outside the hotel today.

So, now do you understand why Curt, in his initial blog updates, was infatuated with bodily functions? I know that I now have a better understanding.

Actually, we are having an incredible time. It is just fascinating experiencing this culture. The Chinese have been truly hospitable. As Curt has mentioned, there are always 3 or 4 restaurant servers just watching our table at any given time in the event that we need something. Last night, Sam dropped his fork at the dinner table in the hotel restaurant. Before Sam or Curt had time to pick up the fork, one of the 4 wait staff assigned to our table rushed over, picked up Sam’s fork, and replaced it in less than half a minute. Amazing! It was a bit uncomfortable at first being “watched” so closely, but now we are use to it. Not to mention, tips are not accepted. That makes it even more uncomfortable. One of the restaurants we visited specifically noted on the menu that tips will not be accepted. Again, a bit uncomfortable at first, by now I am use to it.

Sorry to ramble on, more to come tomorrow. Miss you all. Wish you could be here to share in our experiences. Truly an experience of a lifetime! Abbey

p.s. photo from first weekend of sightseeing of Curt and kids at temple in Keyuan Garden - many beautiful parks, gardens and temples

Can I take your picture???-Ming Bai???

Hello to all,

I have received some fairly harsh e-mails from a few of you chastising me for not updating the blog upon my return to China. Well this one may be brief, but I did want to let you know all is well and still having fun in the far east.

We have been here for a week, and the family has joined me. Abbey, and the children Sam, and Aly will be staying though the Christmas holiday. While I have been back at work, the family has been doing the touristy things, and enjoying the sights in southern China. We did get the opportunity to visit several parks, and did some shopping last weekend. Sam and Aly haven't quite gotten used to the number of people who approach and want pictures taken with them.

I had actually gotten used a little used to it. I now have a better understanding of what movie stars must go though with many people staring, pointing, and asking to have pictures taken. At one mall we were at last weekend, we were stopped at least 10 times by different groups wanting photos. While the "Paparazzi" was following, we would occasionally duck into different shop to escape the masses. This mall was very different as well, with multiple rides, and a roller coaster that ran through the center. Sam and Aly had a ball riding rides while Abbey and I posed for pictures...

They are especially enjoying the taxi rides, as Abbey cowers in the back seat and questions how there are not more accidents.

The next couple of updates will be from the family. I have challenged them to provide their perspective as many of you have shared that mine is tainted and warped anyway.

My best to you all.