Go White Sox!

Mike's school took the new class of 2009 to a White Sox game.

They even gave us $10 each to spend on food. We got hot dogs and beer of course...oh wait, no, just hot dogs. We took the L there with Simbo and Ade. Needless to say, it was the first time Erin had been to a baseball game in a long time. The last time she had been to a game was way back -- in CA with the Angels! Oh, the days growing up with "Mormon Night" at Angels stadium.

As you can see below, Mike is clearly the best on the team. Check out that pitch.

Adri and Alyssa visit

Adri and Alyssa visited from Colorado! They came when Mike was still in China, so it was girls-day-out every day. We had a blast: taking the free city trolley, seeing the Chicago sites (including Portillo's hot dogs--wow) and going to the beach. Alyssa is such a little cutie. I miss you both already!

Shanny and John visit (and decide to MOVE) to Chicago

Shanny and John were out last weekend--FUN. We seriously did everything we possibly could fit in--including finding them the best studio apartment Chicago has to offer. It sure is cozy. I can't wait until they move out here in October.




(Okay, this one needs a caption. We went to this greektown festival and wanted to try our hand at dancing like all the greeks. Pretty hot huh.)

The DC superstars visit

The famous superstar DC couple Zach and Alicia visited us two weeks ago. We had fun seeing Wicked, getting deep dish, and playing "Ticket to Ride." I swear, they were practically showing US the city--we are such Chicago newbies. We had so much fun with you two Zach and Alicia! Good luck with your next year of law school.

My Shanghai sweetheart

Well Mike made it to Shanghai. Here are his pictures. His group keeps him busy, but they were finally able to go the "Bund" which is the famous European historical district. He told me this city has over 4,000 skyskrapers. AKA it is BIG.

Here are Mike's words.

8/30: "And check out these pics--this is why Shanghai is such a cool city. The one is the iconic shot from the Bund across the river to Pudong. The other two shots are of the Bund, that old set of buildings from the 19th centry that used to be western banks and is now restaurants and shops and hotels. Cool stuff."

8/29: "I just went to a pretty yummy dim sum place up the street from the hotel. Mmmm. I'll definitely be bringing you here when you and I get to come to Shanghai. This place is way cool, by the way. The vibe is MUCH cooler than Beijing--more like HK, NY, or Chitown. Way cool. BUT, really humid and still pretty hot. The weather ain't great, but I guess you gotta deal with it if you live here. Which we very well may be..."

Here's the update on Mike's trip

Mike and I talk usually once a day. He sounds like he is having a lot of fun in China, although he explains Beijing as: big, gray, full of big gray communist buildings, and millions of people everywhere. I think he is excited to leave Beijing and head to Shanghai. He has sent me a few pictures, and I promised you all (especially you Marianne) that I would share. He has been on his own, but will join with the GSB group tomorrow. I pasted portions of Mike's email to explain the pictures.

Thursday 8/23 - "So here are a couple of pics. The first one is my room, the second is the South gate of the Forbidden City w/the Great Helmsman's portrait, and the third is the street that runs between the Forbidden City and Tiananmen."

8/25 (Sat) - "Today I ran around Tiananmen again, then headed up to the big Lama Temple on the north side of the city, then caught the subway back around to the east side to check out the Beijing Underground City. Check this--so back in the 60s and 70s, China was paranoid of a nuke attack from the USSR (they weren't the best of friends) and so Mao wanted a whole series of underground tunnels built to hold, like, hundreds of thousands of people. They've opened a small section, like a half a mile or so, to tourists. I wandered around in there by myself and got a few pics (even though I wasn't supposed to), then joined up with some Germans and their English-speaking guide. Check out the pics."

Goodbye Mike

Mike's going to China for 1.5 weeks before school starts. He left this morning. We went to an early breakfast at the Bongo Room, and then I dropped him off at the train stop. I am going to miss you Mike...

The beach in Chicago

We decided to have a picnic along the beach for my lunch break. We packed up sammies and walked there. Here are some pictures for all those who have been wondering (like myself) what in the world a Chicago beach looks like...

We made it to Chicago!

Okay okay we made it! Mike and Luke made the long haul to Chicago in about two days. It was brutal, but they made it.

We've been here about a week and finally have our house unpacked. We secured the place without ever seeing it in person, so we are lucky it turned out to be as great as it is. Here is what our new house looks like. I'm not in much of a writing mood, so I'll just dump a bunch of pictures in here and hopefully you can figure out what is what. We've promised these pictures to many of you, so I apologize for taking so long to put them up. As you can tell, we've had our hands full!

We love you all and are so grateful for everyone who helped on this move--both in SLC and in Chi-town. Thank you!

The front room:

The kitchen:

The office:

(As you can tell, we still have a bit of unpacking to do...)

The master bedroom:

The walk-in closet (we've never had one of these before):

It's so big, Mike can lay across the whole thing. We don't have enough clothes to fill it up --- LOL

The view:

(they didn't tell us the EL runs by our place all hours of the day and night...)



We're so glad we're finally all settled in. Thank heavens! The last thing we have to do is head to Ikea to find Mike a desk for school...

More to come.

Last day of class

Monday was our last day of teaching Financial Literacy at the IRC. What a sad day! We have LOVED teaching our refugee friends every Monday. This month they were recently arrived from Burundi.

Every group of students seems to start at a different level, but with our last class we had to start with the basics--like "This is a nickel. Let's practice saying nickel." We also taught them about US banking, how to get a good credit score, etc, but I really think they were just a little overwhelmed.

We are going to miss teaching this class. The refugees are such a refreshing group to spend time with. They remind us to love life despite its obstacles, and to appreciate our blessings.

Hopefully we can find a similar place to volunteer in Chicago.