We spent several days this week in another city. We loved the city and the people we met there. The security guard was trying to get us to take the kids for a ride in this display. We did not take it away from it's spot, but we did let the kids get in and pretend.
Do you have any guesses on what this building might be? We had to take a picture because it was almost unbelievable. This is the Wal-Mart in the town we went to! The kids thought it looked more like a castle and I have to agree that the building is pretty fancy. It really wasn't anything special...just Wal-Mart. 
Pretty much every city here has a walking street. So, we hopped in a taxi and asked to go there. We thought it would be a good starting point. This was one of the nicest walking streets I have seen. I did, however, have to keep reminding the kids to look for cars/motorcycles! This city had tons of motorcycles and they drove on the sidewalks and streets and even on walking street. Benjamin was very excited to find this camoflauge umbrella. The sun was really hot this day, so we let him buy it to try and stay a little cooler.
So, this was/is pretty typical. It all seems so normal to me now, but I know that the "normal" can also help you see all parts of the culture here. It is very common to see at least 2-3 people on one bike, sometimes the ladies will sit sideways. Notice this man's shoes...also common...he is wearing dress pants and dress shirt and what we call house shoes. Most people wear a helmet or a hat of some sort, and I am certain that not all would meet the safety requirements that we have come accustomed to in the States. At least most of them are hard hats.
We walked by this guy making homemaid waffle cones for icecream. It smelled soooo good. We did not buy any, but enjoyed watching him make the cones.One, funny thing happened that I did NOT catch on camera. We were crossing the busy street (I like to say "playing frogger") when this guy comes running up to Jonathan. I finished crossing the street with the kids but Jonathan got stopped IN THE MIDDLE of the street. What for? The guy wanted to take a picture. We were thinking that he wanted a picture of the kids (that is most typical) but no, he takes a picture of himself standing next to Jonathan with all kinds of motorcycles honking and going by on either side. If only I had known...I would have been ready to snap a picture of the craziest moment ever. It was definately a first.
It was very hot, so it was no problem to sit down when we found this shaded bench. We went and got drinks for everyone and felt a little relief from the heat.
This is another form of transprotation that we do not see in our current city. The kids wanted to go for a ride, so we asked the man if he would just ride around for a few minutes and then bring us back to where we got on. This did not make sense to any of them...why would we pay to go nowhere? This guy finally agreed and took us down the street and back. The kids enjoyed it.
As soon as he got back, he had round two. I think it was probably the easiest money he had made all day :)
I was so proud of my little girl. She has decided that she wants to try to use chopsticks. I thought she did pretty good for being a two year old.
She also had a plate full of squid. She and Regan both liked it a lot.
Also, another common thing to see, especially in the summer, is all types of things the keep the sun away from them. So, in this picture, the little boy in the back has an umbrella and wearing pants (in super hot weather). The mom has a sun hat, and long sleeves, and "oven mitts" on her bike. Sometimes they just have these sleeve covers that they will put on the lower half of their arm. Those covers are used in the summer to keep the sun off of them and in the winter to keep their jacket sleeves clean.
Some friends of ours went to the beach and sent the kids some shirts and things. The kids loved seeing their shirts change colors out in the sun and they had lots of fun with the finger paint.
Regan was very particular wear she wanted her fingers to paint while the others just enjoyed making some impressionist pictures :)
It was very hot, so it was no problem to sit down when we found this shaded bench. We went and got drinks for everyone and felt a little relief from the heat.
This is another form of transprotation that we do not see in our current city. The kids wanted to go for a ride, so we asked the man if he would just ride around for a few minutes and then bring us back to where we got on. This did not make sense to any of them...why would we pay to go nowhere? This guy finally agreed and took us down the street and back. The kids enjoyed it.
As soon as he got back, he had round two. I think it was probably the easiest money he had made all day :) 
I was so proud of my little girl. She has decided that she wants to try to use chopsticks. I thought she did pretty good for being a two year old. 
She also had a plate full of squid. She and Regan both liked it a lot.
Also, another common thing to see, especially in the summer, is all types of things the keep the sun away from them. So, in this picture, the little boy in the back has an umbrella and wearing pants (in super hot weather). The mom has a sun hat, and long sleeves, and "oven mitts" on her bike. Sometimes they just have these sleeve covers that they will put on the lower half of their arm. Those covers are used in the summer to keep the sun off of them and in the winter to keep their jacket sleeves clean.
Some friends of ours went to the beach and sent the kids some shirts and things. The kids loved seeing their shirts change colors out in the sun and they had lots of fun with the finger paint.
Regan was very particular wear she wanted her fingers to paint while the others just enjoyed making some impressionist pictures :)
