{The McLemores go to China}

{Back to Blogger}

Hello everyone! I've really been meaning to do this for a while. When I originally started the second blog on Type Pad it was because I was worried about being able to access our first blog in China. We eventually got a VPN that allows us unrestriced access to the internet, though, and I never got around to merging things back to where they belonged. The Type Pad blog will stay up just in case something happens, and to prevent any glitches from importing one to the other, but updates will continue from here on out at  http://ashleyandjeffmclemore.blogspot.com (You'll also find it retrofitted with all the old posts as well).

Thank you for sticking in there with us, reading about our miscellanious adventures, and being the tremendous support to us that you are. We love and miss you!

-Ashley

{ Look at That Booty}

We know the best sorts of people.

Look at that suitcase full of goodies! A special thanks to Jason, Bobby, and my Dad for making this "supply drop" a rousing success!

 

-Ashley

{A Pinch of Nostalgia}

 Sometimes it's just nice to have a good memory on standby on rainy days. This seems like a good one for today. 

 

Graduation trip to Germany c. 2009

 

 

Love you, Mom.

-Ashley

{Let it Rain}

Perhaps I've made it a little too clear at work how much the summer weather is getting to me. The last two days have been cool in the 60's with rain and wind mixed in because of the typhoons, and I've been in heaven. I walked into work today and one of the sweet girls asked me if I was happier with the weather today. I smiled and nodded and told her the only thing I was missing was rain boots. She smiled back and sighed. " I have bad news for you then. It is going to get hotter in a couple of days. I hope you enjoy it while it lasts."

 

I intend to.

 

-Ashley

{ Om Nom Nom}

Blueberry Pancakes + Cream Cheese Icing = Blueberry Cheesecake Pancakes. Yum!

Happy Thursday!

-Ashley

{Autumnal Angst}

According to the girls I work with, Autumn apparently has already begun in China. The Mid-Autumn Festival, or, Moon Festival is in a couple of weeks, and decorations and special content is being prepared at our center. This, in conjunction with the fact that it's been the mid to high 90's with humidity making it feel like the 100's, and a news snippet from home about the cornmaze Jeff and I have made a tradition of visiting each year, I've been thinking about the upcoming festivities that we'll be missing while in China.

I adore fall. It's my favorite season. While I appreciate all the others, none seem to hold a candle in my mind to the autumn weather, flavors, and activities. I love  walks in the crisp but not yet frigid air. I love the change of leaves from greens to vibrant yellows, oranges, and reds. I love visiting the orchards and getting a fresh slice of pie and a frozen apple-cider slushy. I love hay rides, corn mazes, and farm animals. I love the overwhelming scents of the spiced baked goods in the ovens, and I love the particular tastes of the seasonal food. I love apples, pecans, and pumpkins.  I like putting on old jazz or swing music and reading a book next to the window . And I love the time spent with family before people go into the mad rush of the winter season.

I think this is the first time since we've been in China that I've been sincerely homesick, and while I'm sure it has a lot to do with the unrelentless summer temperatures and humidity right now in Suzhou, and it will eventually pass, right now I'm a little wistful for fall in Kentucky. Make sure to have a slice of pie and a frozen apple-cider slushy for me.

Oh how I miss blue skies.

-Ashley

{ I Love Cupcakes}

and my husband.

Have a sweet day!

-Ashley

{25 -or- The Day I Stopped Counting}

What a week! With the way my workweek runs, I have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off, and work every other day. On Tuesday Jeff turned to me and asked me what I wanted to do for my Birthday. Not having put much thought into it I gave a shrug of my shoulders. By that afternoon he had talked me into getting a manicure and pedicure before having dinner with friends. Agreeing to go only on the condition that he'd do it too was probably the best turning point in the celebration of my birthday. It was comedy watching Jeff transition from disinterest to apprehension and then to euphoria. Suddenly all my past pedicure trips with girlfriends were condoned and approved for in the future ( as long as he comes too). I picked out the most festive polish I could find and had to explain to the girl working on my feet that it was my birthday so I wanted birthday toes. She still seemed to think it wasn't a very age appropriate polish. Half way through our manicures ( Jeff purring), we were offered free foot massages. After an hour in massage heaven Jeff ( and his baby deer legs) and I sauntered slowly back into the sunlight to meet friends for all you can eat taco Tuesday, brownies a la mode, and good company. A perfectly low key, relaxing, and content birthday celebration as far as I was concerned.

 

I'm not a fan of my feet, or feet in general for that matter- but I did want to show off my birthday toes!

 

Sunday started off bright and early with Jeff mumbling and shoving me off my pillow to go walk Jack. Church carried on as normal and I trudged to work in the unacceptably hot and humid weather of Suzhou in my bright and cheerfully yellow ( and now sweaty) dress. I started my lesson planning for the day, got materials prepared for the days classes, carried out conversations with coworkers, and braced myself for one of my lesser favorite days of the workweek. Jeff brought me lunch, and my fabulous assistant trainer ( AT) Vicky was especially kind and patient with me the entire day. My rough class was unusually smooth running and entertaining, with what I'm pretty sure was a birthday gift from the difficult kid in his deciding to stay home that day. At the end of the night as I began to leave Vicky gave me a card, that took her three tries to get the way she wanted. It was such a sweet gesture from a girl who I've had the pleasure of working so closely with the past five months.

It's amusing to me to think in retrospect how intimidated and worried I was to work with her. She and the teacher before me had clashed on a large scale when they first began and she made no bones about showing her discontent. It was always something on my mind when working with her and I have always wondered just a little bit where I stood with her when the big confrontation that I expected never happened. Today was her last day working with me as my partner, and I'm going ot miss her so terribly much. I'm more than a little glad that the feeling was mutual.

So Sweet!

 

Jeff has learned me well enough in the past two years of knowing me to know that I'm nosey. I sniff out surprises and am particularly suspicous around holidays. As he was going to pick up lunch for me I mentioned how much I was craving doughnut holes because they reminded me of real cake back home. I've given up trying to bake anything intricate with the easy-bake oven we're trying to pass off as a toaster oven. China is severely lacking appropriate baked goods, and cupcakes ( my favorite), are particularly rare.

Apparenlty in the mix of the day this wonderful man managed to borrow a legitamate oven to bake legitamate cupcakes and made legitamate CREAM CHEESE FROSTING. From scratch. All this from the man who emphatically insists that he does NOT bake. Hmmm.. In his explanation of his surprise he insisted that he wasn't copping out of icing the cupcakes, but that he knows that my favorite part of baking cupcakes is the decoration. Which is 100% true. Aside from the couple I taste tested/devoured, I plan on making a morning of it tomorrow. :)

 

OM NOM NOM Cream Cheese is my FAVORITE!

Oh how I love birthdays, and the wonderful people that make them special!

-Ashley

{ Shanghai Wildlife Animal Park}

People that know me well know that I'm a sucker for animals. People that know me even better know that I have a giant potential to be a crazy cat lady someday. However, while Jeff's still around with his allergies, that asperation will have to be put on hold. In the mean time, I can keep my animal addiction at bay with frequent visits to zoos, pet stores, petting zoos, etc.

Jeff was quick to pick up on this minor obsession early on and has already taken me to a couple zoos including the Cincinatti Zoo , a weekend getaway in West Virginia where I got to pet a baby giraffe in a small petting zoo, and Lowry Park while we were in Florida. The man keeps topping himself each time and when I heard that there was a local zoo here in China that let you hold tiger cubs, he made sure that it happened!

We woke up at 5 am, left the apartment by 6 am, got to the train station by 7, got to Shanghai by 9, and after a LOOOOOOOONG bus ride, were in the park by 11. Now, I've been told by MANY people that Chinese zoos are NOTHING like American zoos, and that they are in deplorable conditions, so I've been leary to visit any although there are several around. Now, first a person has to understand that the cultural attitude towards animals is very different from our own, and is only slowly turning around to assimilate towards what we would expect as foreigners. Although there are marked exceptions, there is a general and distinct difference on how they view and treat their pets, live stock, and zoo animals. That being said, I was suprised at how... few depressing sites there were in this zoo, and while there were noticable differences, I didn't leave weeping like I expected to.

The park was HUGE, and there were different busrides around the park that one could choose from. It was hot, we were lazy, and we took advantage. The safari bus was by far the best... if you aren't squeamish. It's a cage enclosed bus that takes you through the enclosures of the lions, tigers, bears ( oh my), and cheetahs and occassionally provides a show by feeding them live chickens ( carrots for the bears... maybe on a diet? ).  It was actually less gore than I expected, but facinating nonetheless. If you're an animal planet junky like myself, you'd probably be all over it.

After that we bounced off to find a personal guide and his golf cart who took us around to the exhibits we wanted which also meant MY getting to hold precious baby animals! Like any Chinese establishment they nickled and dimed us for every little thing beyond the gate, and I'm fairly certain we were over charged as foreginers but as far as I'm concerned I got my moneys worth and enjoyed getting close to some amazing animals. The ONLY animal I couldn't get a picture of that I wanted to was the two ligers who were avoiding attention and the heat in some tall grass behind glass panes that created nasty glare.

Animals smell.

 

Jeff: That's a chicken shoot!

They got on like peas and carrots... and the workers enjoyed illustrating their similarities.

 

So. Much. CUTE.

 

I. Can't. Control. Myself.

 

"Dawwwwww"

 

10 seconds after this baby tiger looks up and realized Jeff's a giant and promptly flips out.

 

This sweet lion cub was born on July 9th. Too little to hold but plenty to cooo over.

 

Mom, Where do tigers come from?

 

Truth in irony

 

This cynical giraffe was not finding the humor

Ever stared an elephant down the trunk?

 

A fuzzy picture, but these white tiger cubs are only a week or two old.

The best way to wrap up an awesome date day in Shanghai? Bubbas Texas BBQ, of course!

Have a terrific day!

-Ashley

 

{The Boy who cried Wolf!}

We realized once we tried to take pictures that they simply did not do this dog's size justice. His paws are easily bigger than my hands... and even Jeff is a little nervous around him, just because of his size. We found him a few months ago while wondering downtown, and were amazed by his size ( and were frankly suspicious of what kind of growth hormones he'd been exposed to). He's a very quiet and inquisitive dog, but just standoffish enough to put the smart individual on guard. We met his owner this time around and had a very non functional conversation. What I got out of it was " He's big, and so are you!". What do you think?

-Ashley