Our First Visitor

As many of you know, two of our three kids live in Tokyo. People have commented that we moved to China to be closer to our children. Not true. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever live in Asia. Our third child, Courtney, lives in Toronto and she  says she is going to put herself up for adoption citing sibling and parental abandonment. If you are interested in adopting her, please take a number and get in line. I have it on good authority that Uncle Steve is busy preparing his application.

It was a stroke of good luck that our oldest daughter Holly was in Hong Kong for meetings last week so she took the ferry over to Shenzhen to join us for the weekend. Holly is well versed in all things Asian having lived in Japan for almost eight years, so we let her take over. Holly’s fascination with Japan began when she was eight years old and my friend Bernie Hartman gave her an authentic Japanese fan for her birthday. Bernie had taught English in Japan for a bit and was the French teacher at our school in Lloydminster. We also share the same birthday.

We took a taxi to one of the malls and had a delicious lunch at Yunnancuisine. Dave and I had wanted to try this restaurant before but were concerned that there was no English. The sign above the door should have been our first clue plus we should be braver. It turns out there was a colourful menu with lots of pictures that had descriptions in English. Holly could read a little of the menu so that was helpful too.

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The next day we hopped on the Metro and went to the OCT Loft Complex. OCT is short for ‘Overseas Chinese Town’. OCT used to be an industrial area and the low warehouses started life as home to a Chinese TV manufacturer. It now houses a variety of art galleries, coffee shops, some live music and trendy restaurants. On the first and third weekend of every month there are a variety of artisans and crafters selling their one of a kind articles or vintage items. Score! We will definitely be back.

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We also had lunch at a restaurant called The Magpie, one of top trendy places in Shenzhen to eat because you know, that’s our style! This was a happy accident and was by no means planned 0n our part. The atmosphere was cool and the food was great…if only it had a bathroom.

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Sadly we had to sad goodbye to Holly but luckily for us Cameron is coming this weekend!