Recent

Marriage
Who do you want to marry when you grow up?
> I don't know.
Auntie M asked A and A said she wants to marry you.
> OK OK!!! *nodding vigorously* I marry her!
*Hahhahaa*
Why not QQ?
> Too many.
What do you mean by "too many?"
> She has twins already!!!

Exhausted
Do you want to drink Milo?
> No.
What do you want to drink?
> Milo.
*I raise my eyebrows... the Big one started wheezing from trying to contain his explosive laughter.... the exhausted boy slowly realized what happened.... and laughed tears.

Entertainment
On the road, he plays the games we downloaded on the iPhone, Uno, blackjack and 4 different types of hand games.

Hand Game 1: Players stick out 1 finger on each hand. You start swiping your opponents fingers. 1st one to add up to 10 wins. Player with 2 on one hand and 8 on another can placed the 8 (shaped like a gun) on the 2 (shaped like a V and looks like a stand) to shoot your opponent down.

Hand Game 2: (2 players) Scissors paper stone - winner gets to swipe a finger on the loser's head... loser makes a guess which finger was used. If loser guessed right on the 1st try, loser gets to pull the other party's ear. If the guess is wrong, the other party gets to pull. ( 3 players)... Determine who is the loser by playing "black or white"... Odd one out is the loser. Remaining 2 player plays scissors paper stone... winner gets to play with the loser.

Hand Game 3: "Chee-koo-pak" (variation of scissors paper stone). Players show their chosen scissors, paper or stone sign(s) on both hands. On the players call, he/she gets to shout out the sign(s). The idea is to switch your signs such that it is not the one(s) being called out. Otherwise, the hand 'dies'.

Hand Game 4: Clapping sequence... determine and agree on a pattern  from the start. Start from 1 and increase the cycle to 2, 3, 4X etc. For example, if the pattern is
Clap both hands, clap right hands, clap front & back.
Then 2X will be clap both hands twice, clap right hands twice,  clap front & back twice... and so forth.

We were on a train for 18 hours at a stretch on one leg of our recent trip...these games, especially the hand games, helped us passed time joyfully.

Laundry
Been doing laundry non stop for 2 days now. We wore every single piece of clothing we brought along plus more that we bought along the way during out recent trip and wore them all for 5 days straight. The boy's record was wearing 8 layers on top, 5 pairs of pants, 3 pairs of socks, heat pads, hat under his multiple hoods, mask, scarf, 2 pairs of gloves and woolly boots.

Trip
We travelled from Shanghai - Harbin - 长白山(ChangBai  Mountain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baekdu_Mountain) - Shenyang  - and back to Shanghai.

Wouldn't recommend anyone make this crazy trip. It was sooo cold! The temperature at the mountain peak was minus 40 degrees Celsius...and the winds was so strong, I felt like I was being lifted every time I took one feet off the ground. The cold was so bad, my head hurt madly from skull-freeze. I think the boy could easily have been blown away had he not thankfully refused to wake up - he stayed in the car while we attempted to make the short climb to the lookout - to see the caldera. I didn't make it... Hah!

Unesco
The old imperial palace in Shenyang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mukden_Palace is the 4th Unesco World Heritage Site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_List the boy has visited - after Halong Bay (Vietnam), Angkor (Cambodia) & Kakadu National Park (Australia).

Bad
Too bad we were only given an hour at the site before being rushed to shop ( guide gets 5% commission - a very maddening culture!)

Good
The meal specification on the tour is 8 dishes and 1 soup- a great way to learn how to dish up a 9-course Chinese meal!

Finally
2010 is coming to an end. It's been quite a journey!