page3

Thursday, April 2nd

Not been feeling so good the last few days. Can't seem to shake whatever it is that's got me feeling off-ish.
Managed to get out yesterday for an hour or so to find some fabric to have some capri pants made. Got some nice navy, black and dark green flecked linens. Now just have to find the best tailor to make them! I have a pair that I want them to copy - might start out with one piece of fabric and see how they turn out J

Had Chinese lessons today, on my own - Rory had a business meeting. It was actually quite fun, we chatted more - all relevant to Chinese though! She was pleased that I hadn't forgotten everything while on vacation.

Sydney caught Maxine with a good April Fools joke yesterday - she poured hot sauce over her ice-cream instead of caramel sauce! I think it was revenge for last years toothpaste inside the Oreo cookie!

Been thinking about our next vacation.....we have a long list of places we'd like to visit. Unfortunately, we have to use our holiday time in Dallas this December, as well as June next year. I'm sure we'll be able to squeeze in some long weekends though. So far on our list of destinations we have - Russia, Thailand, France, Greece, Holland, Italy, Scotland, and of course all the provinces in China, and all (well, most of) the states in America! Yup, I think I need a plan of action!

Saturday, April 4th, 2009

Yesterday I completed my second flower arranging class. We made a small rectangular arrangement with carnations. Our instructor is quite funny. She keeps on saying that our flowers must be "happy" like "good morning" - in other words, facing up, at an angle! One of the ladies in our group is Chinese so the instructor talks to her in Chinese. She doesn't know it, but I can pick up of quite a few things since I've started my Chinese lessons! One day I'll pluck up the courage to blurt something out in Chinese!

I got a new computer today - not screen - just the box. So, I'm hoping that it will be a lot faster - I only get it on Wednesday. It's the same as Rory's which zips along. Not that I think it's going to make much of a difference when we get to China and I start browsing the DIAL-UP internet! UUUUUUGH!
We're slowly whittling though our "to-do" list for China. We got a dry-erase board up on the wall with a list of about 40 things on it. Our biggest issue right now is figuring how to get the dogs to China, inexpensively, without loosing them en-route, and without having them in a long quarantine. Apparently, each province differs as to whether they must stay one week, one month, one month home-based quarantine, or no quartine at all. We think we've found a good importer to deal with all the hassles on that side, so now we just hav eto find uot what we need to do this side. We're probably going to take them as excess baggage, which is the bast and safest option. So, we'll be rolling up to the airport with suitcases and two huge dogs in their crates - can you say FUNNY FARM???? I can just see Buster breaking loose and heading off down the departures check-in hall, leash attached and Rory in persuit!

I was putting dishes away in the kitchen this evening and Rory came to me whispering that he thought Hammie was dead! So we rushed back to check and sure, he was very still and not responding to me calling his name like he normally does so I gave his cage a shake. Poor thing nearly leapt out of his skin - still hasn't stopped scurrying around a hour later - I think he's running on adrenalin!!!

Syd has a friend over tonight so they're sleeping in the very top room - not sure how much sleeping will take place. They spent the evening in the pool, with water balloons - I think someone's going to be swimming early tomorrow morning, fishing out pieces of balloon out the pool!

I've sold my car - it's gone! Now, with my luck, it will start raining 8-hours a day since I have to go outside to get a taxi whenever I want to go out!

Well, it's 10:30pm so I'm off to bed with my new book - went to the library today and picked up five books by authors I haven't read before.

Monday, April 6, 2009

Chinese lessons again this morning. I think I'm getting a sinus or ear infection and my ears are all blocked - I feel like I'm underwater and all sound is amplified! Anyway, we learned a lot about numbers today, and days of the week, weeks and months. We also learned about money and bargaining - something we'll definitely need in China!

Next week our tutor, Angela, is going to teach us some sentences about buying furniture - does this come in more colors - does this come is a smaller size - round, square, etc. etc. All in anticipation of our trip to buy the furniture for our house in two weeks!

Maxine went to Sentosa with some of her friends on Saturday and got sunburned to a crisp! Her back is bright red. I think she got caught unaware, playing soccer on the beach with her back to the water, as well as not putting on sun lotion often enough. She's feeling it this morning!! Poor thing - I know exactly how she's feeling!!!

I bought some hair color yesterday. Plucking up enough courage to color my own hair - not that I haven't done it before - I just haven't used any of their products in this country before. For the $350 dollar difference, I'm willing to take a chance! Maybe this afternoon I'll do it - then I've got till Thursday's beading class to fix it if anything goes wrong!!! I don't want to miss that class - we have a lady coming to talk to us about what to look for when buying jade.

Thursday, April 9th

This morning we went to the school for Student Lead Conferences, where the kids get to tell you about what they've done all year, etc. etc. It had to be an interactive presentation so Maxine had Rory doing archery, and both of us doing Chinese painting which is a lot harder than it looks! Sydney played some tunes on her flute - she has the sum total of all the music talent in our family!

After we were finished at the school Rory had a conference call and I went to beading group where we had a lady come talk to us about Jade. It was quite interesting and I had a better idea of what to be looking for when buying it now. The kids are on break now till Tuesday although we haven't got anything exciting planned. I think we're going to try and visit all the places to take pictures that we've missed while we're here in Singapore, before it gets too hectic with our move.

Sunday, April 12th

Rory had Thursday, for the most part, and Friday off work. On Friday we went to get a new camera for Sydney and Maxine at the Harvey Norman sale. We got a good deal with free rechargeable batteries and two chargers thrown in, as well as some memory cards and tri-pods. The rest of the day Rory set up my new computer. For the most part I'm back to the same, just faster!

Yesterday Rory and I went to Chinatown to take pictures for our scrapbook. we were there for 4 hours and did a lot of walking! Got some nice pictures too, and managed to find some cool places that we'd missed previously. We came home and got the kids all packed for their trips next week, although at this stage we're not sure if Maxine will still be going with the unrest in Thailand. Once we made a list of what they needed, we headed off the Mustafas in Little India to get everything. It seems that no matter what time of day or night, that place is mobbed with people!!! Anyway, we got most of what we needed and then took a short walk to the Banana Leaf Indian restaurant, named so because they serve the food on a big banana leaf, for a late supper. We had some samoosas and cheese naan to start with, and for our meal we all shared spicy mutton dish, a prawn marsala dish and prata bread. It was all so delicious. I finished off with some ginger tea - I don't know how I'm going to live without ginger tea!!! By the time we were done eating it must have been close on 10:30 and we headed back home by taxi. Little India is definitely a "taxi-ride" destination - not much parking, too many cars on the road, and too many pedestrians to avoid!!!

Today, we took it easy. Maxine made pancakes for breakfast. This afternoon Rory and I went to the Dragon Kiln pottery place, but didn't get anything. I'll think I'll have to sneak back on my own!!

I also got a bread machine today!!! So I'll be going to the baking store to buy bread flour and yeast after Chinese lessons tomorrow! I can't wait to see what it comes out like!

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

I made bread! In my bread maker! And it was soooooooo good!
It's so very easy to do as well. I bought a few different flours and add-in's so I can experiment. The bread I made yesterday was just the basic white - figured I'd better try something basic the first time! It was hardly out the machine before the whole family devoured it, slathered in butter! I think I'll make some cinnamon raisin break tonight for breakfast tomorrow. Then I'll have to move onto the wholewheat version, which was what I bought the machine for in the first place!

On Monday morning our Chinese tutor taught me a bunch of "household" words - like furniture, sizes, colors, shapes, etc. It's actually a whole lot easier than I thought it would be, although I haven't seen the characters yet! I should be ready to shop for furniture next week.
Our tutor thought my Chinese writing was very good and that I should look into doing a Chinese calligraphy class in Nanjing, learning how to write with an ink brush! Sounds exciting! Not sure if you actually have to know what you're writing about though!!! Could be a small problem!!

I'm waiting for the paint store to open - it's already 11:20 and there's no answer to my phonecalls - nothing new here in Singapore - most places only open around 11:30-12:00! Meanwhile I'm munching away on dried apricots trying to avoid the leftover bread! I want to go find some paint chips to take to China so I can actually show the painters what colors I want in each room, instead of having to get someone to translate and not be sure what color we'll end up with when we move in! Right now the walls are bright white with bright white trimwork. A little bit of color might go a long way! The landlady wasn't interested in painting since it had only been done a few months ago - I said she should have chosen a better color then! There was no choice - it WAS getting painted!

The girls went back to school today. We should hear today whether Maxine will still be going to Chiang Mai, Thailand. With all the unrest there, they might choose to cancel the trip. Although, the place they're going is miles and miles away from Bangkok, and they fly straight into Chiang Mai so they might not cancel it. Who knows????

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

Two months to the date till we leave Singapore! We've got so much to do, but we're working away at our list slowly. We seem to have milestones where once something is done, we can then move onto the next batch of things to do, if that makes any sense! Once we've been to China next week, we'll know what furniture we'll have bought and what we'll need to get in in either Singapore or Dallas. We can start changing addresses and forwarding mail, get utilities set up, etc.
we also need to start thinking about booking our trip back to Dallas in December already!

I've got some cinnamon cranberry bread in the bread machine and it smells sooo wonderful!!! I might have to stash it away till tomorrow morning! Or just eat the whole things and not tell anyone about it! He! he!

We learned a whole lot more words this morning in Chinese. The translation for "window blinds" is 100-leaf-window. I thought that was quite interesting. A lot of the Chinese words are so descriptive in their meaning that it actually makes it easy to remember them. We also started time, and revised money and bargaining. Buying furniture next week is going to be our big test!!! I'm quite excited about it now! I'm sure we're going to frustrate the heck out of the sales people, but hey, at least we're trying!

After Chinese lessons we dropped out tutor off at her bible study lessons, since it was raining, and then Rory dropped me off to get forms for a new passport for him. He's done so much traveling that he's almost used up his entire passport!

Thursday, April 16th, 2009

As I was checking my email this morning I heard a "fizzle" and the power went out! Uuuugh! I checked through the back door and saw that Madam Ong's refrigerator lights were still on, so it wasn't a neighborhood problem - double uuuuugh!
Luckily we had just bought Sydney and Maxine flashlights for the excursions next week so I was able to see under the stairs where the breaker box is hidden. The breaker for Air-con No.1 was flipped - how am I supposed to know which A/C is No.1???? Anyway, I left the switch flipped and tried to flip the main breaker - nothing! At this stage it was 7:50 - the school bus would be arriving in 10 minutes and the kids can't get out the electric gate! Oh boy! Our pool company and gardener have our gate keys so that wasn't even an option. So, we oofed Sydney over the gate, and threw their backpacks over, and Maxine followed. It wasn't but a few minutes before the bus came around the corner - I think Maxine would have been devastated if she'd been caught climbing over the gate in front of the bus! Rory was still en-route to work so he turned around since he had a key that he thought might fit the gate. Even if I called an electrician to come out I couldn't let him in the gate!!! Anyway, Rory came home to save us all - it turns out that there's another main breaker swtich outside the gate, by the meter. I would still have had to climb over the gate to get to it though! So, once again, one of our a/c units is on the fritz - funnily, our Chinese tutor was talking about how it was a very old model just yesterday! I hate it when things like this happen just before you go on vacation, or away from home.

That brings me to our China trip. We were supposed to leave on Sunday morning, but the "Expat & Immigration Specialist" forgot to include a vital piece of paper with Rory's visa application so he'll only get it back on Monday morning! Grrrr! Isn't this what they get paid to do???? This means that we have our change flights yet again. Since we can't get a direct flight into Nanjing because many of the airlines have cut back flights, we now have to fly to Shanghai and then drive 4 hours to Nanjing, getting in around midnight on Monday. As if this wasn't frustrating enough, we're having to co-ordinate all this with the people looking after Maxine and Sydney since they leave for their trips after we leave!

Oh boy. It's 12:40 - surely the pub is open! Either that or I'm going to be caught breaking-and-entering into someone's Easter stash! (Thanks Sharrie, seriously!)

As frustrating as my morning was, it pales in comparision to the stresses that one of my dear friends is going though - you know who you are - my thoughts and prayers are with you, as always. Take care and stay strong.

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Flower arranging was a lot of fun this morning - we learned how to do a cone-shaped arrangement. And I actually was able to converse a little, okay, very little, with my Chinese friend, Pam! We worked with gerbera daisies - one of my favorite flowers. I left mine with our hostess, Donna, since we'd be going to China next week, and I had to go shopping straight afterwards anyway.

They say things happen in threes - well, after the a/c went on the fritz, last night we noticed the water heater for Maxine's bathroom is now leaking water through the ceiling and dripping all over floor, and this afternoon the crown on my back molar fell off!! Luckily the dentist, who is only 5 minutes away could get me in right away, and luckily I hadn't swallowed the darned thing! And, the plumber is coming tomorrow morning to fix the water heat. I'm done now with things going wrong - it's someone else's turn!!!

I made a loaf of cranberry bread for toast tomorrow morning - yummy!

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

The cranberry loaf was wonderful toasted! Next on my baking list is a jalapeno loaf, maybe with some chopped sun-dried tomatoes in it too, maybe some cheese? I'm only do that when we get back from China next week though.

Heading off to the library this afternoon to get some books to read next week. I've been picking up some new authors, well, new to me. I can't say I've found anyone that is simply outstanding, but none of the books have been especially bad either. Since there a virtually no english books in Nanjing, I've been trying to gather a collection of authors whose books I can scrounge around for in Dallas. So, I've only been reading one of each author. It's been quite a challenge since I really enjoy getting into a character in a series. Some of the ones I've read I've simply picked off the shelves, others I researched the lists on Amazon Books for writers of mystery and detective stories. I have a feeling that, of my 500 pounds I'm allowed to ship from Dallas, about 450 of it will be books!! I;m planning on hitting garage sales first and then Half-Price books. Usually shopping at HPB is quite a saving, but you can still rack up quite a bit when buying books by the dozens! I can usually read about 2-3 books a week so I'm going to need to stock up!

It's incredibly hot here today. It's 98 today, with 66% humidity, although in our paved area where I hang out the laundry it's a heat trap and it must be over 110 out there! I've been getting the last of the laundry done before I pack, and it's dry within minutes of me hanging it out. I love the feeling of crispy sun-dried white bath towels. Geez, I've been baking bread, hanging out laundry, sorting out cupboards and flower arranging......I feel like I'm channeling Martha Stewart!

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

Well, one kid gone, one to go! Sydney left to go to Malaysia this evening, after spending last night at her friends for a pre-excursion get-together. I think there was 3 or 4 of them! Not sure how much sleep they got but they're on a sleeper train - ha ha! Like that's going to help! Maybe the rhythm will lull them to sleep.....

Maxine is staying at her friends house tomorrow night and then flies to Thailand very early Tuesday morning.

We leave lunchtime Monday, if all goes well and the courier gets Rory's passport here as cose to 9am as possible, otherwise, we'll be getting a later flight!
We've got all our paperwork and "wishlists" packed, as well as our Mandarin flashcards!
We should be back on early Saturday morning with lots of photo's to download and lots to tell.....

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Kids update....
Grade 8
All the students and staff returned to the Prem Centre yesterday afternoon.
The Hill Tribe group also had a very special experience staying with the people of the Northern Thailand Hill tribes and our students embraced this unique opportunity to meet, work and play with other young people in a wonderful way. As a part of the experiences for this day they also had to challenge themselves through rock climbing, repelling and zip lining. Ms O'Rourke was surprised that some students were in bed asleep by 8.00pm that night although it may have been an advantage, as the village roosters commence their chorus at 3.00am.
Ms O'Rourke mentioned that in her 4 years in Asia this is the most wonderful experience she has had and the students have been fantastic.
This morning when I spoke to Mr Voth he mentioned that last night they came together for combined Thai dinner and lakeside cultural experience and the launching of the lanterns they had made during the day. It was an opportunity to celebrate the wonderful time they have had with members of the local Thai community they had worked with.

Thursday, April 23rd, 2009

Kids update....
Grade 8
Yesterday the groups broke up to pursue their particular focus. Some of the students went into the outlying area where they spent the day and overnight with the Hill Tribe people of this region. They will return later today. Another group focused on the elephant rehabilitation programme and spent most of yesterday in the centre learning about the programme and assisting the keepers. My understanding is that it was not only the elephants that got extremely wet during the elephant washing and bathing time.
When telephoned this morning Mr Voth mentioned that they were all having a great time and when they all come back together tonight they are having a Thai dinner and a cultural show.
Grade 6
When I spoke with Ms Clark last evening she was in the midst of supplying donuts to some happy Grade 6 students. Yesterday they had an opportunity to 'shoot' the rapids as they headed up river for a visit with the Orang Asli people. These are the traditional people who have lived in this region for many years, and they shared their culture and way of life with the students. The students also had a visit and cultural exchange with a local school. On return to the camp they had a talent show and a surprise disco. They have an early start today on route to KL to catch their flight back to Changi.

Wednesday. April 22nd, 2009

Kids daily update....
Grade 8
Everyone arrived safely and have settled into the Prem Centre very well. Mr Voth mentioned they had a very good flight. When I spoke with them last evening they were in the midst of eating the coconut ice cream they had just made.
The biking group completed an18km ride yesterday that took them into the countryside, through forests as well as following dirt tracks. The horse trekking group also explored hills and valleys and completed an extensive ride. A very enthusiastic cooking group worked hard with their organic cooking and Mr Voth overheard one student commenting that she was now so appreciative of how her mother makes cooking look so easy. The evening concluded with a performance and a bonfire BBQ.
A common theme for all the groups is how well they are working together.

Grade 6
Yesterday the students completed what was described as a 'brilliant' hike. It was challenging and demanding in parts and everyone was feeling a real sense of accomplishment. The group also completed the canopy walk and had an opportunity to travel up the river by boat to explore the river bed. The day finished with cultural activities. Ms Clark mentioned that all are fit and healthy and having a great time.
This morning when I spoke with them Ms Clark mentioned that they had a really good night and were excited getting ready to head off for the day's activities.

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

I figured it would be easier to just copy and paste the updates that school will send us each day about the kids trips, so here's the first one....
Grade 8
The Grade 8 students flew out this morning to Chiang Mai. It was an early morning start and this was evident in some cases. Certainly though it didn't dampen or suppress the enthusiasm and excitement in the air. The check in and immigration went very smoothly.
Grade 6
The Grade 6 group arrived at Taman Negara at approximately 1.30pm. It was an easy bus trip, a river crossing and then to the Taman Negara base. Ms Wilton mentioned that the students settled into the camp very well; a great start. During the afternoon the students explored the camp and area surrounds, set plans for the days ahead and were involved in some art and cultural activities.
After a buffet meal the students watched a video on the rain forest as they were unable to go on the night walk due to rain. Everyone was fairly tired and in bed by 9.15am, with the vast majority sound asleep by 10.00pm.
Today started with what Ms Wilton said was a 'fantastic' breakfast. It is a very busy day ahead with a jungle hike, canopy walk, river exploration and finishing off with cultural activities in the evening. She also mentioned that the students were really great and maximizing all the new experiences.

Monday, April 20th, 2009

We're in China which means we got Rory's passport back in time to catch our flight. In fact we got to the airport early. After wandering through the bookstore, and past Gucci, Coach and all the other designer duty-free stores we headed up to the business lounge where we enjoyed some croissants and coffee.
I was glad that I took some beading items to work with on the flight - I managed to get half a necklace done. Coming in to Shanghai, the clouds below us were like cotton candy - really soft and fluffy looking.
Shanghai airport is much bigger than poor old Nanjing airport - and I mean that literally. Nanjing's airport looks like it's in a time warp - about 50 years old, run down and has only 2 luggage carousels, whereas Shanghai has about 30 carousels! The staff was a lot friendlier here too - not so militarian like!
We're in the car driving to Nanjing, at about 120km hour in this horrific traffic, which will still take us about 4 hours to get there - if we're still alive! Hooters and headlights, of the vehicular kind, are most definitely required for driving here. If a slower moving vehicle doesn't move out your way by hooting at them, then by all means flash them with you headlights till they move over, or drive off the road!

One of the best things about traveling business class is the free-flow liquor! Champagne as you take your seat and any cocktail, beer, wine, or mixed drink you want after that! I was very tempted to make full use of the opportunity. After all, we didn't have the kids with us, and we didn't have to drive. But, I behaved myself, just having the champagne and a glass of wine. I figured that if I drank too much I wouldn't be able to see straight to bead, which would make the trip that much longer. I know, pathetic isn't it!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

This morning I went to get my medical done for my residence permit. We had one of the ladies from Rory's office with us to help us complete the forms that were only in Chinese! After that I had to go through all the different stations getting blood drawn through the 'bank teller' window, to the ECG and vision and hearing test. The hearing test involved the nurse looking into your ear! I also had to have a sonogram done. Now each of the "stations" are in separate rooms off a central corridor and you have to line up outside each door waiting your turn. Normally I wouldn't have a problem with that, except in this instance the door stays open, during your sonogram! The guy in front of me had a really good look, leaning in through the door way, over the patient, to see what his innards looked like on the monitor! Nobody seemed to mind either! At the x-ray station at least you remain fully clothed - I'm not sure what an underwire bra looks like on an x-ray. The grumpy old dude didn't seem to care when I tried to tell him, but just shoved me up against the glass plate, smushing me as close as he could get me!

After a much needed cuppa ( I could have done with a shot of something in mine! ) we headed off to take a look at the house! Rory did really well - he chose a great house, and many of the rooms are bigger than I thought they were. We took some measurements and showed the agent our paint selections. She said she would try her best to match them but they may be slightly different - yikes!!! She's telling this to someone who spends hours searching through multiple fan-decks looking for the exact shade!

From there we went to get our pictures taken for our permits and to hand in our passports for them to be stamped, etc. It turns out that we need our marriage certificate which they didn't tell us. Hmmm, a bit of a problem there since there no-one in Singapore to look for the copy if we even have one there, and the original is in Dallas in a safe! It's a bit of a big problem since it takes a few days to process and I really don't want to have to come back again. Also, I need my residence permit to be able to get our dogs in - only one is allowed per passport….so we're stressing a little here! Sharrie might be hauling out her hatchet and climbing into our attic!

This afternoon we went to Red Star Furniture Mall to start our search for furniture. We found nothing! I'm not exaggerating when I say that all the furniture looks either like something out of the 70's, or is ultra-contemporary. Most of the stuff looks like what I spend my life throwing our of peoples houses! After roaming stores for over 3 hours we walked back to the hotel and had room service for supper which was so gross. There was enough salad dressing on the Caesar salad for an entire family.

We both feeling very sorry for ourselves tonight and hoping that tomorrow is a much better day……

Well, Sharrie saved the day! She went up into the attic and hauled down the safe, hacked it to death, and scanned and emailed our marriage certificate! This morning it was whisked off to the immigration department for urgent processing.

Today we walked around the big new Red Star (Hong Xing) furniture mall and Yue Xing furniture mall - and I mean big! We estimated about 2500 furniture manufacturer showrooms in all. We walked from 10am to 5pm with about an hour break for lunch! We eventually found some furniture after making some compromises. We had a lot of fun trying out our Chinese, asking for prices, different sizes, colors, etc. I think we did quite good! Although, once they hear you say one thing they seem to think you're fluent and no matter how often you tell them (in Chinese) that you can't speak Chinese, your just learning, they still rattle on endlessly! Often we would all end up in giggles trying to make ourselves understood to each other.

Both the Red Star and Yue Xing malls are brand new. In the YueXing mall the floor of the 5th storey is glass! I'm deathly afraid of heights, and I was so busy talking to Rory that I didn't realize I'd walked over onto the glass-floor section. He did, and just let me! When he did tell me, thinking it was very funny, and I looked down I thought I was going to pass out! My legs turned to jelly and I thought I was going to pee myself! It wasn't funny - I was almost in tears afterwards and had some serious shakes for a while! I don't know who in their right mind would make a glass floor on the 5th floor???? I did notice that no-one walked over it though!

We were so pooped by the time we got back to the room, my feet felt like they'd left my body! Rory held up surprisingly well considering we were looking at furniture the whole day, and we're still nowhere near being done!

I think we got almost all our furniture, just a few more things. Yesterday we walked back from the Red Star that is near the hotel, in the rain. We had borrewed an umbrealla from the hotel and it kept on closing on us. We'd be walking across the street and all of a sudden we'd be enclosed in the umbrella! I couldn't stop laughing - for some silly reason it just tickled me.
We went out for supper to one of the local "expat hangouts" - an Italian restaurant. The owner is a biiiig fat Italian guy who speaks fluent Chinese, which sounds and looks really out of place. The food was fantastic so I'm sure we'll be back. While we were dining there was a constant flow of people coming in who he recognized and was very friendly with, so it looks to be a very popular place!

Rory and I calculated that it is quite plausible that we walked something like 16 miles and visited 2700 stores in all the furniture malls, over 3 days! No kidding!!!! It's no wonder we're both sore and exhausted!