on christmas eve we went to our friend eva and jaruns house for dinner. we all cooked food. the boys worked hard on making the chicken and prawns. i did not try either but from what everyone said it was really good. eva's landlord made us homemade chapatis. we chopped up veggies and made veggie wraps. the chapatis were so good. it was such a nice night!!!!!!

the boys hard at work making the prawns and chicken. i didn't try either one but it seemed like everyone enjoyed it. the chicken they made at dinner had been alive probably a few hours before they cooked it. they went to the market and picked it out. gross!!!!

waiting to eat all the good food

the marriott cake comes everywhere with us

devouring the marriott cake

theresa and i after we ate loads of food. i will miss her she is leaving me in two weeks. so sad

christmas day was really fun. allan came with me to the mango house (children walking tall) to help out at the christmas party we had for the children. i was happy he was finally able to meet the kids i have been talking about for the past five months ( i know i can't believe we have been here for five months)

santa claus came in the morning. the children were given their gifts. after the gifts we had dancing, games and lunch. in the afternoon the volunteers put on a performance of cinderella. it was really funny to watch (they planned it when i was on vacation so i did not have to be in it!!!!). allan video taped it so i will give a copy to all the volunteers. the children loved it!!!!

so that was our christmas day with the children!!!!!

oh all the volunteers (the girls) wore saris. it was fun!!

santa claus arrived at children walking tall-christmas day

the children dancing and popping balloons at the christmas party. i think allan is also trying to pop the balloons

on christmas day all the volunteers dressed in saris. the next pictures is better

on christmas day all the volunteers dressed in saris. it was so fun

opening up presents on christmas day

opening up presents on christmas day

opening up gifts at the christmas party

the outfits in these pictures were made by a staff person and children walking tall. she gave each of the girls an outfit for christmas. the kids were so happy

the volunteers put on a performance of cinderella for the children on christmas day. these are the ugly step sisters

on christmas day the volunteers put on a cinderella performance. the volunteers were so talented

allan came with me to children walking tall on christmas day to help out. the children loved him

theresa and i on christmas day at children walking tall party

during the christmas season children walking tall receive so many donations; toys,dolls,cars, soap, toothpaste etc... what we do not use for our children we pass out to the other slum areas of goa. it is really fun. ali (the houseparent) and one of the volunteers dressed up as santa (crazy considering it was at least 100 degrees) packed up the car with gifts and drove around passing out the presents to the children.



it was really neat to see the reactions on all of their faces when we got to their homes. they were given all sorts of things. soap, toothpaste, toy cars, art projects,cricket paddles,jump ropes etc.... what was so nice is that when they would open up the gift with toothpaste and soap they would run up to you and show you what they got. i have never seen a child so happy to get a bar of soap. it makes it nice to hand out gifts because you know they will appreciate whatever it is that they get.



it was quite a hectic few days of going to all the different slums but it was well worth it. the children were so happy!!!

on our way to drop off christmas gifts to all the slums in goa.

waiting in line to get their gift

being silly

i think she is looking for her gift

passing out more gifts

passing out gifts to all the kids

passing out gifts to the families in the slums

i suppose she is wasting time while waiting for her presents

she is so happy she got a gift.

waiting by their homes so they can get their christmas presents

so cute

children and their families patiently waiting for the christmas gifts

how cute is he???? this is at the bhagwan mahavir wildlife sanctuary in goa. allan and i came here to ride the elephants with his coworkers. this was the weekend i came back from chicago

al feeding the elephant

feeding the elephants

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bhagwan mahavir wildlife sanctuary in goa

chicago trip

it was so good to be back in chicago. the best part was being with all of our friends and family and the second best part was being able to go to walgreens and the grocery store.

we were able to do so many things in such a short period of time:
we were able to see all of our friends and family.
went to brunch at betty's house.
stayed at the sofietel.
went out to dinner with the bridge group.
went to all the restaurants that we have been craving-potbellys, chipolta, country kitchen, once upon bagel, max and bennys oh and how could i forget barnabys.
went shopping (without having to bargain!!!!).
went to see jersey boys with my mom.
had a great thanksgiving with our family.
and..... we met our new niece and nephew-addison and joshua

so that is pretty much what we did when we were home. we will look forward to coming home again in april or may!!!!!!

bridge group dinner 2008

so fun to see all the bridge group people!!!!!

bridge group dinner

bridge group dinner

bridge group dinner

bridge group dinner

it was so fun to come home and see all the babies!!!!

it was so fun to see joshua when we came home!!!!!

out with the girls in chicago. it was so nice to be with them.

china trip was amazing!!!!

oh my god our china trip was great. i loved it. we went to two cities. first we went to shanghai. it is such a huge city. it was bigger than any city i have ever been to. allan and i had the weekend to spend there before our next trip to suzhou. we covered all of the tourist attractions. we went to bund street which is kind of like the lake shore drive area of chicago, we saw the pearl tower, went to museums, ate at good restaurants and went shopping.

after our trip in shanghai we flew to suzhou where allan was going for work. he was able to take a couple of days off and show me around. this is the city where allan use to go when we were living in chicago and he was traveling. it was really fun for me to see where he was spending so much of his time.

when allan went to work i keep myself very busy. there was no reason for allan to be worrying about me. i met some other expats and they showed where all the good shops where. these same people took me to the pearl market which was pretty amazing. it was in this huge warehouse and millions of people where selling all different types of pearls (for very cheap). the people i went with knew the good shops to go to so i just followed them.

at night time i would usually go with allan to dinners that he had for work. it was fun to meet his coworkers from all over the world. everybody was so nice.

so the exciting trip of china came to an end but we had more to look forward to because we knew we were going home to see our friends and family

interested in a pig? one of the markets we went into in shanghai.

nanjing street in shanghai.

nanjing street in shanghai. popular shopping area.

bund street in shanghai.

nanjing road.

a popular street in shanghai. click on the link below to read more about it. http://www.travelchinaguide.com/attraction/shanghai/nanjing_road.htm