Brother in China!

So this is probably one of the last, if not the last post of this blog. I'm debating whether or not to start a new one, but I probably will. Too many things run through my head that I want to remember, so I'll most likely start a new one. However, it is sad to see how few posts I made this year. My life doesn't seem exciting enough to warrant all the writing I do about it. ;)

With that said, let me take the time to remember and record the excellent winter break we had.

December started without too much excitement, but ten days in, my brother arrived! He had a long travel over, spending the night in Beijing and arriving in Shenzhen in late afternoon. He was a trooper though, and I dragged him out to play soccer that night with the girls I play with every week. It was sort of laughable how much better he was than all of us, but we had a great time and I was happy to show my brother off.

The rest of the last week of school was uneventful, I brought Matt to class with me on Friday to help with some spaghetti towers, but Paul got sick at school, so we had to go home. It was nice to spend the day with him though. And while Paul was resting, I had time to help Amy prep for our Christmas party.



Donnie and I haven't hosted a party since moving to China. We used to host the best parties! (I know, I'm humble, but I always had a great time!) So I convinced Donnie one night to have a Christmas party. We invited mostly school peeps, but I extended the invite to my soccer girls too. We ordered a small keg of beer from the only craft brewery here in Shenzhen, Bionic Brew, and made nachos and hoped for the best! In my personal opinion, the party lived up to our expectations, and we had a great time. There were lots of people, filling our small apartment, and Paul was in pretty good spirits. We had a movie playing for kids, and everybody brought food! So we had an impressive international spread and yummy beer. How could it not be fun? A few of my soccer girls even came! We stayed up to the wee hours of the morning; it was a great way to kick off the winter break. We were supposed to go to another Christmas party the next evening, but we were too tired and not really in the mood.

Sometime during that weekend, Donnie and Matt made it out to Luohu to do some shopping. Matt had expressed the intention of getting a suit made, so after striking out in Old Shekou, they headed out there on a mission. They had success! And Matt was pleased with the experience. He had to go back several times for a fitting and to pick up the suit, but I think the end product was worth the effort.

Futuristic skyline that faces the Bund

On Monday, we headed out to the Shenzhen airport (our first time flying out of Shenzhen!) and took a two hour flight to Shanghai. We arrived relatively fresh and headed to happy hour in the hotel. Unfortunately, whatever had made Paul throw up at school was now in my system, and I had a horrible 6 hours that night. It made me wary the entire time we were in Shanghai. Fortunately, it didn't stop me from seeing a few things.

Matt and I geared up against the cold, blowing wind and headed out on Tuesday to see The Bund and the Yu Yuan Gardens. The skyline across from the Bund is so futuristic, it sort of looks like a painting. It contrasts The Bund in a very unusual way, we were lucky with a clear day, even if it was frigid. The gardens were overwhelming. They were so beautifully constructed, but a little bit crowded. Matt and I did some shopping. We stopped in a little cafe for him to try some dumplings and chicken feet. We headed home shortly after that.

We went back out for some food and yummy beer at Shanghai Brewery, but I turned in after that since I wasn't quite feeling 100%. The next day, Matt and I slept in, then ventured out to find an old city within Shanghai. It was cool, a little bit like the gardens, but more authentic feeling. We were so cold, but we jumped back on the subway and headed to the French Concession.

This area used to be where the expats lived in Shanghai and it's pretty much like walking through Europe. We arrived just as the sun was setting, so after strolling the streets for a while on a self-guided walking tour, we found ourselves in front of the Boxing Cat Brewery. It was actually amazing, because we had wanted to find this place anyway, and the fact that it appeared on our path was so advantageous. Matt and I split the most delicious burger and pitcher of helles beer. It was a really cozy place, and we would've stayed longer, but Donnie was under the weather and we wanted to get back to the hotel. We jumped in a cab for the long ride home and I was happy to see my guys were feeling better.

The last day in Shanghai was spent lounging around in the hotel for as long as possible until our late checkout time. From there, we went to the number one rated Sichuan restaurant in Shanghai. Donnie loves the numbness he gets from the Sichuan peppercorns, so he was most excited about this. We arrived right as it was opening, and ordered so much food. The guys dined on frogs, rabbit, duck and lots of rice and some veggies. It was spicy!

After our bellies were full, we wandered down Nanking road to view the skyline at night. It was worth the cold walk, but it was too chilly to hang around and we had a plane to catch. We hopped in a cab, grabbed our bags from the hotel, and then waited around in the airport for hours because our flight home was delayed. We finally made it home at 3am, and I gratefully crawled into my warm, comfy bed.

My dudes.

Matt tried chicken feet! Yuck!

The Yu Yuan Gardens. It was much colder than it looks.

An old city within Shanghai.

Ever so cool at Boxing Cat.

Our Sichuan spread. It was pretty fantastic.

Skyline at night.

That only left us with one more weekend with Matt. We were all too pooped to do anything on that Friday, so we laid low, but Matt did get his suit fitted. Saturday morning we decided to make a day trip to HK, so we caught a morning ferry over. We made our obligatory Marks and Spencers stop, and used their wifi to find a TX BBQ restaurant up in central. We hiked ourselves up the moving walkway and found it! It is a tiny place, but the BBQ is killer. We had some yummy craft brews, and finished our food, then went to find the Peak Tram. 

Tasted this at the Roundhouse!

Unfortunately, the tram's line was incredibly long, and I gave up trying to do anything else touristy because it was so crowded. So we made our way back down towards the ferry, stopping at HK Brew to pick up some more brewing supplies. 

We headed back to Shenzhen that evening, and then woke up on Sunday for Matt's last day. It was a pretty chill day. I honestly can't remember us doing anything too remarkable. We brewed some beer, and made the trip out to Luohu to pick up Matt's suit. It looked great!! Definitely worth the wait and the effort to get it.

Two good looking dudes.

It was so great to share our life with Matt. Only getting to see him once a year is a terrible shame and I love the moments I have with him. He's such a strong human, physically, mentally and emotionally and I'm lucky to have him as a brother. You're amazing, Matt. We love you.

I will post again about the rest of break...there's too much for this one post. :) Much love to all.