{Today wasn't a date}

" What's your definition of a date, then? "
" A planned event where one person asked the other in advance and pays for the whole thing. "
" Fine. Tonight, I'm taking you to dinner. You're going to wear a nice shirt and pants, and afterwards we're going for a walk. I'll pick you up at  7. Be ready."

He had never been picked up for a date before. They had Chinese food in a candlelit restaurant. She ordered for the both of them. Walking along the path in the Arboretum afterward she hopped onto a park bench to meet his height. He went for a kiss, and missed. She blushed, and kept walking.

{ Bobby Come Back!}

So, it’s been about 9 months that we have been in China. We are lucky to have found ourselves in a town that has a lot of ex-pats and there is a lot of western food here that is close but not the same. We have made some good friends and when they left China we got their spices and left over this and that, so for the most part we have been luck to have a  little bit of the western flavor when we want it.  But there are still things we miss. With that said, we also know some of the most amazing people. We have a friend who comes to China for work. This time around he came out of his way to spend the weekend here in Suzhou with us. Another one of our friends from home, Jason along with Ashley's dad put together a bag full of things we missed from home. It made my weekend to have a friend here with similar interests, and to have some one to run around town with and just have an all around fun weekend.

I am sad to say it didn’t start off good. I picked up Bobby from the airport at 6:30pm, with the intent on hopping onto the metro, taking a 30 minute train to Suzhou, and be in home in time for dinner. Excited and distracted to have Bobby here, I took us the long way to the train station on the Shanghai metro and we just missed the last train home, so we had to run to the other side of town to a different train station to get a train ride home. Buying the ticket for the last train at 11:05 pm, we assumed it was for a high speed train until we stopped to look at it more closely. It was a slow "K" train that takes 1 1/2 hours as opposed to the high speed 30 minutes. CRAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Each car holds 100 people and they pack on 150-200 per car and it was the last one.  We got home after midnight. It sucked.

In spite of that, Bobby was here and we had a great weekend. We walked around Suzhou and I got to show him the town. We played games(til 2am)  and had some great food, with a side of Chinese redbull. It was nice to have someone that spoke Chinese, this way I knew what people were saying.  you got to love Bobby as he would just tell me that they were just asking about me and was doing his best not to tell me that they were calling me fat. I just kept reminding him that I have been fat most of my life and I’m ok with it. Bobby was here Thursday through Sunday when I took him to the train station and sent him on his way. It was sad and hard to see him go as this was with out a doubt the best weekend I have had in china.

Anyone else up for a visit? 

-Jeff 

{ The Post Where Jeff Decides His Limit on Future Children}

OK. So, one or two kids... Maybe.

I had the chance to watch the kids of the branch president here is Suzhou. They have 8 kids but only left the older 7 with us, ages 13-2.  For those of you who know me well, I love kids and have worked with kids in the past (daycare,summer camp),  so I felt pretty sure that I was ready for this. Though perhaps not as much as I thought. On the first night I got tested by the 5 year old who was hell bent on not taking a bath. I tried the nice guy, the jerk, and then finally started "helping" him with his clothes, but nothing seemed to stop him from screaming for dear life.  It got to the point that night that I resorted to calling their dad. I felt like a failure  at this point, but after talking the father(OT) and Ashley I decided that I  just needed to start making the kids work for me, and set them to work with regimented tasks for each child.   It worked!  I made the older kids take care of the little ones and I cooked and made them clean...it was great.

I love cooking, but cooking for that many people is "fun". You never know how much 7 kids can or are willing to eat. On the first night I made dinner we ran out and I had to make more, then the next night I made way too much (which  was ok as I just used it for lunch). One day we went to the movies and I made popcorn at home and got some soda to take with us so I had two kids with backpacks  full of food.  We had popcorn, oranges,soda. The kids liked it ( Probably because they weren't allowed to have soda, thinking back on it), and I didn’t have to spend that much money.   All and all it was a great week and I really had a good time. We took Jack with us and at first the kids wanted nothing to do with him. After a day or two it was the other way around. They ran jack hard and his favorite spot in the house was over the air vent where he would lay on it as long as the kids would let him.  So now the kids want a dog.  Sorry OT.   So now I think I may just want a kid or two after dealing with all the crazy that is the Benson house hold.  But what great kids,  sorry it took me so long to get this up, and I will try to write more.

-Jeff

Jack eating up the attention!

Both Jeff and Jack exhausted. Nap time anyone?

{Observations by Jeff}

Scene: Lazy day outside enjoying the sites of Suzhou together

Jeff: So, I've decided that this would be the worst possible place to survive a zombie appoclypse.
 
Ashley: Why? Because there are no guns, and it's a densely populated city and country?

Jeff: Well, yeah, all of that. But mostly because you wouldn't be able to tell the zombies from the old people! They walk and sound like zombies! I'd be running through the street popping off zombies and would acidentally kill grandma over there! I would feel terrible about myself!

Ashley: ...