FIRST BIRTHDAY IN CHINA!!!

The season of birthdays has begun in the Allen house! Today was Kendall's 9th birthday, but she likes to say that she is now 10 in China. When you are born here, you are 1, so she gets credit for an extra year now. That makes her feel much older and wiser apparently. Today is Mid-Autumn Festival here, too, so folks are giving each other gifts of moon cakes and other fun things (we also received some roasted chestnuts - yum!) and tonight we have heard lots of firecrackers. This morning we went to our favorite bakery and watched them create this amazing cake for less than 4 U.S. dollars. It was very yummy - It had (notice I said HAD) a nice orange filling layer between two layers of yellow cake. We shared it with our friend Lily, a student here at the college, and two volunteer teachers from England, Adam and Tilly. Notice the pretty Barbie that Kendall received as a gift from Mom and Dad. She has red hair and hazel eyes just like Kendall does.

We were able to travel out of town for a few days during National Holiday Week here and go to the big city on the train. This is why you haven't heard from us in almost two weeks! While we were there, we ate at McDonald's, saw some folks we know, and bought some western goodies for the kitchen - including some peanut butter! We had a lot of fun relaxing and getting away from the never-ending renovation.

Speaking of that renovation, it keeps going and going like the Energizer bunny. I'm not sure if it will ever come to an end. Above you will see a sneak peak of what's been going on around here for almost a month now. We're weary of the changes going so slowly, but hopefully things will be worth the wait. We'll keep you posted, of course!