The top photo is of Will and Ben sitting in our apartment with our ayi ("eye-ee' "), named Ai Ping ("eye-peeng' "). Ayi means "auntie" and it is what the Chinese affectionately call anyone who helps in any way in the home.
Diminutive Ai Ping came and helped with laundry and house cleaning a few times a week (!), and sometimes with the grocery shopping. She also helped me with my Chinese! She spoke a tiny bit of English and taught me how to ask the clerks for things. She greatly disapproved of us for sometimes keeping our shoes on in the house, for not wearing slippers to keep warm, and she told me that I could lose weight by eating more vegetables and less meat. I am a size 6-8 and was considered large -- fat, almost ("da" they say when something is big) -- by some of the ladies in China, who aim for extreme tiny-ness!
The next picture is Sarah, and her own picture of her home...a tall tower!
The next two pictures are of the Pearl Tower, the emblem of Shanghai. We lived about 2 km from it. It is about 350 m high, and sits right across the HuangPu ("hwong-poo") River from The Bund (think Nixon and ping pong diplomacy). One picture we took from within the tower, its shadow stretched across the river.
The next picture is of Will and Sarah in Hong Kong. We went there for Christmas. What a beautiful island. More in the next blog.
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