Gratitude

I've left Moli home alone for a couple of hours, a couple of times now and she seems very, very good. I broke her into it by walking in and out of doors to bedrooms and shutting them behind me or her and in and out the front door for short periods of time, she doesn't seem to notice I've actually gone anywhere, so hopefully things will continue that way. Moli weighs in at a massive ;-) 0.6 kg, today... 0.7, YAY ...I think her poodle bloodlines must be "toy", although her brother was in the pet shop with her and he was nearly double her size.
I left her home this morning and headed into the city for a bit of shopping and some lunch. The weather is glorious and I had one of those moments coming home when you suddenly realise how much you have to be grateful for. 1) I actually got a seat on the bus 2)It was near a window 3) the window opened 4) The sun was shining 5) There was a beautiful cool breeze blowing through the window as we travelled along 6) I shut my eyes and relaxed and knew when we were crossing the Yangtze river on the Yiling bridge because the air gets fresher and even cooler 7) I opened my eyes to look downstream and realised once more "I'm in China, living near the Yangtze" It looked and felt beautiful. 8) I was heading home to a wonderful little puppy who I knew was probably chilled out asleep in her basket not worried about me being out hardly at all.
I guess it's all to easy to get so used to things that you can take them for granted, but I often think how lucky I am...and today I really feel very grateful!

Mo Li Hua 茉莉花

This is my third year here in Yichang. I love life here but I obviously  miss some things from Australia like Mum and Dad, Sunshine, clear sky, beach, fresh air etc. Also all of my life I have been lucky enough to grow up with dogs. I think being responsible for dogs can teach you many life lessons and give you a cool companion to share life with. Since losing Bronson and moving to China I have thought about the idea of getting a dog on and off, but with settling in to a new life, thought I had better wait.

I thought long and hard and decided that now is the time.

Enter...Mo Li Hua...
This beautiful little girl melted my heart. She is a “GuiBin”  which is a cross between a Poodle and a Bichon (Poochon). This breed is very popular here in Yichang,but you mostly see brown ones, not so many white.

We called her "Mo Li Hua" This of course is Chinese and means "Jasmine Flower". When you pronounce "Mo Li" it actually sounds almost identical to the English name "Molly". She is totally adorable, seems very clever and has a massive appetite.

The other really great thing is that the place we bought her from is a vet/shop/groomers, with a great reputation and all her needs (including boarding if we all  have to go away) is catered for there. The Vets husband speaks English and worked in Australia for a few years, and their daughter lives there now!
It was obviously all meant to be :-)

Shanghai Shines

World Expo in Shanghai. It's not everyday you get to see a world expo and it was an amazing feeling just standing amongst the elaborate buildings and the hundreds of thousands of people. The weather was stinking hot but Shanghai tried their best to keep peoples cool by installing sprinklers and shade all over the expo grounds and above the long queues.  We didn't see many of the so called "BIG" named pavilions as none of us are that way inclined, to stand in 4 hour queues was not why we were there. We just wanted to soak up the atmosphere and see whatever opened up for us. We did however see Australia Pavilion blasting through the queue (at dinner time) in an amazing 20 minutes maximum.

 Made me proud, they did a wonderful job. Funny to see everyone aghast when they found out about our low population. We also had an aussie dinner there, tasty! Another night saw us fine dining in Luxembourg pavilion, a refined experience in China :-)
We explored Expo for three days in total and around those days we explored the rest of Shanghai!





The Bund at night was even busier than Expo but is a sight to behold.

Lingering around the alleyways of TianziFang....always a treat!

Shopping, eating out, Starbucks Coffee...Ahhh it's all too good.

I love Shanghai to visit and I can see why many expats decide to make Shanghai their home....There are many of the comforts from our homelands to be found there,but, I think I couldn't live the life...Always great to come back to Yichang.

transition

Time really does fly now days. 5 weeks back in Australia went very quickly. I had a great time catching up with family and friends. Some great times meeting and getting to know my new niece Mathilda and spending time with my Brother and family, visiting the Perth Zoo, shopping and hanging with Mum, golf with Jude, Supa Golf with Anthony, Kings Park, Family get together, just relaxing at home with Mum, Dad and the dogs....the list goes on.
After I arrived back in China I only had 3 days to re acclimatise and I was off to Shanghai for the World Expo.13 days in Shanghai, 24 hour train journey each way, 3 days in total at World Expo and the rest of the time wondering around the amazing city of Shanghai with Nettie, Carol and Netties sister Helen.
I didn't take my laptop with me so I'm just catching up now that I'm back home in Yichang.