Our neck of the woods - photos

Hi friends and family! The Leonard's of China aren't dead. We've just been living our normal, not-exciting life. I kept waiting for something earth-shattering to blog about, but that something never happened. We haven't traveled anywhere crazy, China is still China, and the people here think North Korea is just as crazy as the American's do. All in all, regular. Perhaps some of you have had this revelation previously, but it took me until this move to figure it out. No matter where you move to (even across the ocean), your life will invariably become a similar type of life that you had before. You will continue to have a job, go grocery shopping, clean your house, cook your food, and raise your children. You will make friends and you will hang out with those friends. You will do a bit of traveling. You will stay in the house when the weather is bad, and get out to play on the good days. Whatever you spent your time doing before, you will probably do it again. I'm saying this just in case anyone is thinking that an international move (or national for that matter) will automatically morph you into a different person. It won't. You'll still be you.

That being said, the Leonard's are still the Leonard's. Eric is remarkably busy fixing all the problems at his job...and all the computer technology of the Shenzhen International LDS Branch. It took about a second for the branch to realize that Eric was handy with a soldering iron and could repair electronics. His engineering fix-it brain has been well-utilized here. He's been enjoying his job and looking forward to lots more adventures with Harman. I have been able to put my music, teaching, and medical skills to good use. I'm frequently planning music for one church event or another, and have enjoyed teaching piano and music to some of my little friends in the neighborhood. I've also been able to teach English to the Chinese, both kids and adults. I just spent a week whipping some Chinese doctors into shape, they were preparing for an exam that would allow them to study medicine in Germany. I'm happy to say that almost all of my students passed. We're pretty busy most of the time, but Eric's really happy to not have homework in the evenings any more. I'd highly recommend graduating from college, and getting a full-time job was the best thing he's ever done! It's so great having a normal schedule. That's one thing I don't miss about our old life: the terrible schedules (mine at the PICU and Eric's at school/work/homework). Working nights and weekends, never spending time together, no thanks. I'd rather not go back to that.  

Well on to my post. Several months ago my brother made a request (hi Sean!). He said when he thought about Crystal and Eric in China, he had no image in his head, nothing to picture. The reality was, all our family could see of "China" was the window in our living room, the area directly behind our skyping station. Yeah, I think we failed in our documentation of the place we actually live. We've done really well documenting all the places we've GONE, but not what we see every day. So I know it's 8 months too late, but here are some photos from our neighborhood. I made some videos too, I'll post them next time.



Welcome to China, as your tour guide, I thought we could show where Shenzhen is, and where we live within it. Hopefully you can gather an idea of what our neck of the woods is like. 

This is Shenzhen, as pointed out on a map of China.
As you can see, we are at the very southern tip.

This is a map of the greater Shenzhen area.
Note that Hong Kong is our immediate neighbor to the South.

Hey look, a chinese door.

The view of Mont Orchid, our complex, from the balcony.

Looking down at the sidewalk, toward the entrance.

Nanshan mountain, directly behind our apartment.

The entrance

This is our building, on the right.

Walking out to the road.

The guard station at the entrance.

This is a fountain that never is on. In 9 months, I've seen water flowing once.

Just down the street is our little grocery store, Vanguard.

The produce

The vats of oil

The "freezer" section

Notice the very few dairy products in the refrigerated section.
China is a sad and depressing place without milk

Pineapples are in season, these guys were peeling and
carving out the eyes faster than you could blink.

This is our church. It's in one of the few neighborhoods of single family homes in Shenzhen.

Our "chapel", aka the living room.

These are a few of our import stores, this is Park and Shop,
or as Nichole told me, Park and Rob (they're super expensive).

Silver Palatte and Charlie's USA
(we call it Charlie Chow's, he he)

Inside Charlie's, they pack these places FULL.

We try to use the import stores sparingly, as they are very pricey.

Our favorite mexican restaurant in Sea World. Lots of International restaurants in this complex.

Bombay, where we get our naan and curry fix.

Construction in china.

This is Mont Orchid.