We’re here in Beijing finally! It’s been a LONG four months being off and on separated from Anthony and it’s nice to be together, even though he’s worked everyday we’ve been here.
The flight here was uneventful. The kids did pretty well. We forgot to request a bassinet on the long flight, so they didn’t have one for us. Instead, Ryken spent the majority of the time in the sling with me or in Liz’s carseat, if she would sit in a seat. The flight was not full, so we had an extra seat available for her to use. Ashley complained a lot of stomach pain, but we think it was from not eating. She pretty much refuses to eat anything offered by American Airlines unless it’s cookies or brownies or candy. We stopped in Tokyo for a layover, where the girls enjoyed the foot massager in the JAL lounge. We were told by several people that we had cute girls and that they did well on the flight over. There were definitely some moments of distress, mainly with Liz – as she had several timeouts in the planes bathroom. I’m sure only about ½ the plane had to listen to her screaming for a few minutes at a time. There was one point where all three kids were crying, but we managed to get it under control fairly quickly. I tried to watch some movies, but with American Airlines system of movie playing, it’s too difficult when you have kids. I much prefer other airlines, where you have on demand moves and can stop and start them on your own. On our flight from Tokyo to Beijing, we flew JAL and I was impressed with the service and quality of seats. They did have a bassinet, so I was able to lay Ryken in it and have some time alone for about 2 hours while he slept, that was FANTASTIC! We arrived in Beijing after a bumpy flight at around 9:30 pm and had a minivan waiting to take us home. With 6 people and tons of luggage, it was a feat fitting it all in, but we managed. The drive was short, about 20 minutes. I was very excited to be going to the place where we’ll be living.
We arrived at night, so it was dark coming into the complex – so I didn’t really get a good look around, plus I was EXHAUSTED. Anthony kept pointing stuff out to me, but that was pretty useless since I couldn’t really even focus. We pulled up to the house and Ashley remarked that the place was “GORGEOUS”. And it did look so. It is a very nice house, so much better than the tiny apartment in Taiwan. I am very pleasantly surprised by how nice it is. It is 2 stories, with a kitchen, dining room, living room, playroom and ½ bath downstairs. There are 3 bedrooms each with their own baths and an area at the top of the stairs we’re using for a study. Anthony had the girls room painted purple and Ryken’s room painted baby blue –it really is so nice to have color. There is a LARGE balcony off of the girls room, which they haven’t discovered yet, thank goodness and there is a smaller balcony off of the master bedroom. We have a yard, yes, a yard. It is big compared to what I thought it was going to be. There’s a front yard with rose bushes and some vines climbing over the fence/wall. The whole place is surrounded by a wall for some privacy. The backyard has several trees and a patio area complete with patio furniture. The grass is new and someone comes by to water it. It really is nice and the girls can run around to their hearts content.
I’m extremely happy with our accommodations here. The place we are living is a large community, with many families. Today is Saturday and I’ve seen kids (and adults) out on bikes, rollerblades and walking all day long. There are several playgrounds with sand and swings – that is just heaven for the girls as they both just want to swing and play in the sand. There is a clubhouse with indoor/outdoor swimming pool, some restaurants, a kids playroom and a small grocery store. Such a change from living in Taiwan.
So far the days have been nice. A bit polluted – the sky just continually looks gray. And there are these strange little gnats flying around everywhere. They get in your clothes and hair and eyes, if you aren’t careful. Strange. We are across the street from a park and there are lots of trees nearby so we have a nice view.
We are all suffering from jet lag – the girls are getting up around 3am and not going back to sleep, it’s been pretty miserable for us all!
Our Ayi (helper), Xiaoshu, is working out wonderfully. She has been a great help to us! It’s taking some getting used to, having someone here all day long, and having someone do things that I normally do, but it is so good. I’m able to take the girls to the park or play with them or write this for the blog while she takes care of meals or watches Ryken. Or she’ll take the girls to the park while I am feeding Ryken or when he’s sleeping. It is so nice to be able to spend some quality time with the kids, especially after the months of being alone and not being able to do things with them. She is going to spoil Ryken for sure, as she loves holding him. The girls are getting used to her being here and have started asking for her to do things with them, which is good.
We are off tomorrow for a little vacation (yes, I know, already!) to Qingdao – supposed to be a beach/seafront touristy town. Should be nice, although it’s definitely not going to be beach weather. Hopefully the hotel has an indoor pool that we can hang out at. I’ll write more when we get back from our vacation.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Cinnamon
Yesterday (Sunday), went to XiangShan (Fragrant Mountain) with some co-workers. Walked up to the peak, back down, had lunch at the town at the bottom, then headed back home. Have pics with comments at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/64879399@N00
A few interesting things about that trip:
* A lot of people hiking had on business suits and dress suits (not usually in good shape as you might imagine), I was told when I asked that most of the were probably migrant workers from outside Beijing, so probably only had business suits with them – appropriate for work or play.
* At one point at the top, a guy asked if he could get his picture with me, I was by co-workers because I was Westerner wearing sunglasses, that I looked “cool.” Finally, people who understand me! :)
* Also, the mountain area where we were has military installation under it (some command headquarters or something, protected from bombardment by being under the mountain), and a lot of dignitaries lived nearby.
* The mountain itself, was named because apparently one of the peaks (I think where we climbed up to), looks like an incense holder. Thus, “fragrant.”
* And yesterday, at lunch, I think I had buried duck eggs for first time. That’s where they take duck egg, bury it in mud with herbs for about a month, then dig it up, cook it, and serve it with slabs of white tofu. Wasn’t too bad. Ain’t gonna become my main staple anytime soon, but not as bad as it could be. As it should be.
So this morning(Monday), I’m heading out to go to work (walk to security gate, have them call cab), when opening gate it seems particularly dusty. Thinking I need to ask the Ayi to do something about that. Then say good morning to a lady walking her dogs, and she mentions the dust everywhere, that there must’ve been a sandstorm night before. Sure enough, now that I’m actually paying attention, everything has a light covering of light brown dust. Like everything’s been sprinkled with cinnamon. Car’s driving by have a covering of it across the top. Similar to what you see the morning after a light rain with freezing temps – but instead of ice it’s dust.
It’s to the point when as I’m walking through the grass (and this is not thick grass), there’s a puff of dust that goes up with every step I take. A car driving out through the exit of the complex sends a large poof of dust up around it’s sides just from turbulence as it passes.
Another interesting thing I’ve found out. Apparently, government here charges each taxi car (or driver, not 100% sure) about $4,000-5,000RMB per month for license. Divide by 8 for US equivalent ($500-$625). This probably doesn’t sound like much, but I’ve been in a cab for and hour and a half before in bad traffic going to work, and total bill for cab ride was about $7.50. So if you figure $8/hr very best case (when traffic good, getting lots of riders), working 12 hours/day, 6 days week, 4 weeks/month, that’s $2300/month). Then you have to pay for the cab, gas, maintenance, and money goes to the cab company, I’m sure. Chances are, they probably pulling in about half that or less, so more like 1100-1200 mth.
There’s a lot of ‘illegal’ drivers here, too, usually at airports entrances and touristy locations. They stand around, ask you where you’re going, and offer a fee to get you there, usually more than you’d pay be meter. This way they get out of tax/fees, mostly they’re not even driving cabs, just normal car. Sometimes you can actually save money this way, but you have to know about how much a cab ride would cost. Generally it’s not worth it, just look for a cab. They’re cheap enough.
Stuck in traffic right now. When cars are stopped in traffic, sometimes people will come by and jab business cards and little flyers in the between door and window on side of car. Just jab it in and keep quickly walking to the next car.
HAHAHA… So, I’m actually typing this in the cab (all the really good cabs here are Hyundais, this is one of ‘em). And he asked if he could use a “XiaoLu” – little road. I said OK. Well, too bad I don’t know more Chinese, or he could have been more precise. He could’ve asked if he could drive through a forested bumpy dirt field… It worked through, we passed a significant amount of not stopped traffic…
OK, that’s enough for my random thoughts and experiences for the day.
Less than a week ‘til I’m home! But it’s gonna be a hellacious week. See y’all soon!
A few interesting things about that trip:
* A lot of people hiking had on business suits and dress suits (not usually in good shape as you might imagine), I was told when I asked that most of the were probably migrant workers from outside Beijing, so probably only had business suits with them – appropriate for work or play.
* At one point at the top, a guy asked if he could get his picture with me, I was by co-workers because I was Westerner wearing sunglasses, that I looked “cool.” Finally, people who understand me! :)
* Also, the mountain area where we were has military installation under it (some command headquarters or something, protected from bombardment by being under the mountain), and a lot of dignitaries lived nearby.
* The mountain itself, was named because apparently one of the peaks (I think where we climbed up to), looks like an incense holder. Thus, “fragrant.”
* And yesterday, at lunch, I think I had buried duck eggs for first time. That’s where they take duck egg, bury it in mud with herbs for about a month, then dig it up, cook it, and serve it with slabs of white tofu. Wasn’t too bad. Ain’t gonna become my main staple anytime soon, but not as bad as it could be. As it should be.
So this morning(Monday), I’m heading out to go to work (walk to security gate, have them call cab), when opening gate it seems particularly dusty. Thinking I need to ask the Ayi to do something about that. Then say good morning to a lady walking her dogs, and she mentions the dust everywhere, that there must’ve been a sandstorm night before. Sure enough, now that I’m actually paying attention, everything has a light covering of light brown dust. Like everything’s been sprinkled with cinnamon. Car’s driving by have a covering of it across the top. Similar to what you see the morning after a light rain with freezing temps – but instead of ice it’s dust.
It’s to the point when as I’m walking through the grass (and this is not thick grass), there’s a puff of dust that goes up with every step I take. A car driving out through the exit of the complex sends a large poof of dust up around it’s sides just from turbulence as it passes.
Another interesting thing I’ve found out. Apparently, government here charges each taxi car (or driver, not 100% sure) about $4,000-5,000RMB per month for license. Divide by 8 for US equivalent ($500-$625). This probably doesn’t sound like much, but I’ve been in a cab for and hour and a half before in bad traffic going to work, and total bill for cab ride was about $7.50. So if you figure $8/hr very best case (when traffic good, getting lots of riders), working 12 hours/day, 6 days week, 4 weeks/month, that’s $2300/month). Then you have to pay for the cab, gas, maintenance, and money goes to the cab company, I’m sure. Chances are, they probably pulling in about half that or less, so more like 1100-1200 mth.
There’s a lot of ‘illegal’ drivers here, too, usually at airports entrances and touristy locations. They stand around, ask you where you’re going, and offer a fee to get you there, usually more than you’d pay be meter. This way they get out of tax/fees, mostly they’re not even driving cabs, just normal car. Sometimes you can actually save money this way, but you have to know about how much a cab ride would cost. Generally it’s not worth it, just look for a cab. They’re cheap enough.
Stuck in traffic right now. When cars are stopped in traffic, sometimes people will come by and jab business cards and little flyers in the between door and window on side of car. Just jab it in and keep quickly walking to the next car.
HAHAHA… So, I’m actually typing this in the cab (all the really good cabs here are Hyundais, this is one of ‘em). And he asked if he could use a “XiaoLu” – little road. I said OK. Well, too bad I don’t know more Chinese, or he could have been more precise. He could’ve asked if he could drive through a forested bumpy dirt field… It worked through, we passed a significant amount of not stopped traffic…
OK, that’s enough for my random thoughts and experiences for the day.
Less than a week ‘til I’m home! But it’s gonna be a hellacious week. See y’all soon!
Saturday, April 15, 2006
Open What?
Open crotch Pants... Run-in #1...
First experience with the dreaded open crotch pants… I’m at Carrefour, a major “hypermart” i.e. like Wal-Mart or Costco… And see some parents with a cute kid, the kid’s kind of standing up with his legs bent in the top of a high grocery store type cart (don’t worry, no expelling of bodily wastes in this story). But that is when I realized, I could see his little kid ‘nads hanging out of his pants. ARGGGG… That was the point, where, despite being in a nice, modern grocery store/hyper-mart, I started glancing down more often and watching a tad more closely where I stepped…
Been doing a fair bit of shopping, and this is the first I’ve noticed of this, I’m pretty sure it’s an exception these days, but what an exception… : )
Less than a week until I’m home! Then, I get to turn around and come back here, but this time bringing my home with me! I am quite ecstatic and emotional. Every hour an adversary, but I will prevail.
Dammit.
First experience with the dreaded open crotch pants… I’m at Carrefour, a major “hypermart” i.e. like Wal-Mart or Costco… And see some parents with a cute kid, the kid’s kind of standing up with his legs bent in the top of a high grocery store type cart (don’t worry, no expelling of bodily wastes in this story). But that is when I realized, I could see his little kid ‘nads hanging out of his pants. ARGGGG… That was the point, where, despite being in a nice, modern grocery store/hyper-mart, I started glancing down more often and watching a tad more closely where I stepped…
Been doing a fair bit of shopping, and this is the first I’ve noticed of this, I’m pretty sure it’s an exception these days, but what an exception… : )
Less than a week until I’m home! Then, I get to turn around and come back here, but this time bringing my home with me! I am quite ecstatic and emotional. Every hour an adversary, but I will prevail.
Dammit.
Monday, April 10, 2006
Movin’ In (Anthony’s Song)
Here I am in my swank new digs, sitting on the floor, typing on a computer who’s battery is about to die… But, you may ask, how did I get here? Well, I’ll tell you. It started many hours ago, on a day not too much different than today.
Saturday, 2 days ago…
Day to get the keys. Told you about furniture shopping, well today, I loaded up a cab with whatever I didn’t absolutely need that was in the hotel (which is a lot, trust me), and head over to the house. Frances drives me over (well, sits in the car with me, while her company’s driver, Joshua, technically does the driving). Arrive, do inspection of house, meeting landlady. Man, does it stink. The fumes are HORRID. You know the smell of paint in your house? You ever smell industrial site paint? Well this is a bit worse. It’s rides down your throat, even when you’re not breathing, and takes a nice tight grip all the way around inner circumference, and refuses to budge. I don’t know if it’s worse than if the air went all the way to your lungs, but it’s awful nonetheless.
Anywho, get my keys from the landlady (all 30 or so of them, I swear to God), we go over and sign a bunch of paperwork (everything requires your passport here). They need more passport-sized pictures for resident pass (this is for people living in our Villa to get through security, must be about 50 security guards on duty all the time here). When we’re done, I mention that I still haven’t bought a fridge, so we go by the big electronics/appliance store. Pretty nice place. Things of interest. Find a fridge I like, then look at water dispensers, pick one and buy it, then look at safes, pick one and buy it (all cash of course), then go back to make sure I still like the fridge. Decide to buy it, get it all written up, go over to the separate cash area to purchase it (I’ll explain on some future post how they sell things at department stores here, different from US), and they only take cash or Chinese credit cards. No Mastercard or Visa here! I feel very silly, that somehow I left the house without ~$550US worth of $100RMB notes.
Currency background: Currency in China is RMB (literally translated as the People’s Money, despite most of the People having very, very little of it). $1US+$8RMB. Almost everything is done in cash here. Now for the best part. In this country, the very largest denomination of money is $100RMB. That’s right. Think it through, now… Huge country, almost all transactions done in cash, and the largest bill is the equivalent of $12.50US. So, to buy the fridge, I needed $4600RMB – 46 bills.
So that was a bust. Home I went.
Sunday: Nothing special, a little bit of shopping (paper towels and plates, some snacks to survive, stuff like that), and went back with wads of cash and purchased my fridge. Actually, got a slightly cheaper one. So there, they got less money out of me. Also did some souvenir shopping.
Monday, today: Big move-in day.
Spend morning in hotel (did actually work out in morning, yay me!), have conference call, do a bit of work, start packing up the mess they call my hotel room. Have lunch in room before leaving, then take cab to my new home. Btw, it’s cold here, still right now. Like mid-50’s in middle of day. Dammit.
Get there around 1:15pm, and unload. Unload, that is, amongst about 8 workers doing clean up and painting. Downstairs is a mess, dirty beatup tarp across floor in all rooms, pain buckets and stuff everywhere, couple guys on painting ‘ladders’, and that wonderful smell. The ladders the guys use are about 4 ft tall, like a step ladder, hinged at the top, like a triangle with the point at the top. But, they don’t stand on it like ours (and these are very basic, just cheap wood thrown together, no latches, plastic, or any safety features. They straddle the ladder, so one foot is on each side of the triangle, and then when they finish painting a place, they ‘walk’ across the floor abit by waddling back and forth and adjusting the spacing of the ladder as they go. Certainly don’t get down from the ladder to move.
So, our Ayi (maid, babysitter, cook) shows up a little before 2pm, and begins helping me unpack everything I have, she also starts cleaning up dusty spots all throughout the rooms before putting and clothes down (where she gets the cloth, I have no idea). Then the furniture starts showing up. First is the safe. Guys shows me how to use it (speaking rapid fire Chinese the whole time, like that helps me). The cardboard box from the safe is where I get my ‘desk’ for my laptop. The fridge. It’s a 6ft tall, Asian style fridge. Not double doors like US typically has, but freezer on the bottom, and two sections above it. Top for fridge, middle for veggies and fruit, I guess. How do they get the fridge out of the truck? One guy helps lower down to another’s back, who then carries it over to lawn to put down before they unpack it. Don’t recall seeing one of those heavy lifting girdles they make everyone where at Walmart in the back…
Later water dispenser shows up (necessary in a place where you can’t drink the water).
Finally, the good part – my sofa (L-shaped + ottoman) and bed. I’ll send pics of the bed probably later, it’s a purple creature, not swank old style, but functional and a bit modern. Popular style they have here, with cushions as headboard. Good for people like Kimberly and I who like to read and watch tv in bed. But sofa is still wrapped up since it’s in the room with all the painting going on.
Chinese style furniture shopping… You bargain even though these are not back alley places, and there’s no discussion about how much it costs to ship, they just do it! And when it shows up, they immediately put it all together for you. And this bed was in pieces. Pretty cool.
So, the not so cool parts.
1. They’re still painting and touching up, will be doing it all week, and there will be dust and smell until they’re done.
2. My computer desk doesn’t show up until Tuesday, so I’ll be using the cardboard box and/or my lap until then. Of course, when the desk shows up (with bookshelves), it won’t help much, I don’t have a chair yet (that’s being shipped from Taiwan).
3. Don’t have nightstands yet (waiting for Kimberly to help pick ‘em out)
4. Don’t have enough storage space in master. Don’t know how I didn’t notice this before, but there’s not nearly enough room for all the clothes Kimberly and I have. Will have to rectify that later.
5. Haven’t figured out if hot water is working yet (need to get that fixed real soon if not).
6. Not enough electricity plugs, and each one is just that. One. Need to buy some power strips.
7. Not sure what I’m going to eat.
8. Have to work full day tomorrow and rest of week. Sigh.
9. Last and greatest, still empty – no family here.
But, neighborhood's great, I think the house will be nice once we get settled in, and I’m going through the hassle of workers and moving stuff, so Kimberly and kids won’t have to (minus last bits of furniture we need to buy). And so far, our Ayi is working out great (although I wish she spoke more Enlish...).
That’s it for now. Bye!
Saturday, 2 days ago…
Day to get the keys. Told you about furniture shopping, well today, I loaded up a cab with whatever I didn’t absolutely need that was in the hotel (which is a lot, trust me), and head over to the house. Frances drives me over (well, sits in the car with me, while her company’s driver, Joshua, technically does the driving). Arrive, do inspection of house, meeting landlady. Man, does it stink. The fumes are HORRID. You know the smell of paint in your house? You ever smell industrial site paint? Well this is a bit worse. It’s rides down your throat, even when you’re not breathing, and takes a nice tight grip all the way around inner circumference, and refuses to budge. I don’t know if it’s worse than if the air went all the way to your lungs, but it’s awful nonetheless.
Anywho, get my keys from the landlady (all 30 or so of them, I swear to God), we go over and sign a bunch of paperwork (everything requires your passport here). They need more passport-sized pictures for resident pass (this is for people living in our Villa to get through security, must be about 50 security guards on duty all the time here). When we’re done, I mention that I still haven’t bought a fridge, so we go by the big electronics/appliance store. Pretty nice place. Things of interest. Find a fridge I like, then look at water dispensers, pick one and buy it, then look at safes, pick one and buy it (all cash of course), then go back to make sure I still like the fridge. Decide to buy it, get it all written up, go over to the separate cash area to purchase it (I’ll explain on some future post how they sell things at department stores here, different from US), and they only take cash or Chinese credit cards. No Mastercard or Visa here! I feel very silly, that somehow I left the house without ~$550US worth of $100RMB notes.
Currency background: Currency in China is RMB (literally translated as the People’s Money, despite most of the People having very, very little of it). $1US+$8RMB. Almost everything is done in cash here. Now for the best part. In this country, the very largest denomination of money is $100RMB. That’s right. Think it through, now… Huge country, almost all transactions done in cash, and the largest bill is the equivalent of $12.50US. So, to buy the fridge, I needed $4600RMB – 46 bills.
So that was a bust. Home I went.
Sunday: Nothing special, a little bit of shopping (paper towels and plates, some snacks to survive, stuff like that), and went back with wads of cash and purchased my fridge. Actually, got a slightly cheaper one. So there, they got less money out of me. Also did some souvenir shopping.
Monday, today: Big move-in day.
Spend morning in hotel (did actually work out in morning, yay me!), have conference call, do a bit of work, start packing up the mess they call my hotel room. Have lunch in room before leaving, then take cab to my new home. Btw, it’s cold here, still right now. Like mid-50’s in middle of day. Dammit.
Get there around 1:15pm, and unload. Unload, that is, amongst about 8 workers doing clean up and painting. Downstairs is a mess, dirty beatup tarp across floor in all rooms, pain buckets and stuff everywhere, couple guys on painting ‘ladders’, and that wonderful smell. The ladders the guys use are about 4 ft tall, like a step ladder, hinged at the top, like a triangle with the point at the top. But, they don’t stand on it like ours (and these are very basic, just cheap wood thrown together, no latches, plastic, or any safety features. They straddle the ladder, so one foot is on each side of the triangle, and then when they finish painting a place, they ‘walk’ across the floor abit by waddling back and forth and adjusting the spacing of the ladder as they go. Certainly don’t get down from the ladder to move.
So, our Ayi (maid, babysitter, cook) shows up a little before 2pm, and begins helping me unpack everything I have, she also starts cleaning up dusty spots all throughout the rooms before putting and clothes down (where she gets the cloth, I have no idea). Then the furniture starts showing up. First is the safe. Guys shows me how to use it (speaking rapid fire Chinese the whole time, like that helps me). The cardboard box from the safe is where I get my ‘desk’ for my laptop. The fridge. It’s a 6ft tall, Asian style fridge. Not double doors like US typically has, but freezer on the bottom, and two sections above it. Top for fridge, middle for veggies and fruit, I guess. How do they get the fridge out of the truck? One guy helps lower down to another’s back, who then carries it over to lawn to put down before they unpack it. Don’t recall seeing one of those heavy lifting girdles they make everyone where at Walmart in the back…
Later water dispenser shows up (necessary in a place where you can’t drink the water).
Finally, the good part – my sofa (L-shaped + ottoman) and bed. I’ll send pics of the bed probably later, it’s a purple creature, not swank old style, but functional and a bit modern. Popular style they have here, with cushions as headboard. Good for people like Kimberly and I who like to read and watch tv in bed. But sofa is still wrapped up since it’s in the room with all the painting going on.
Chinese style furniture shopping… You bargain even though these are not back alley places, and there’s no discussion about how much it costs to ship, they just do it! And when it shows up, they immediately put it all together for you. And this bed was in pieces. Pretty cool.
So, the not so cool parts.
1. They’re still painting and touching up, will be doing it all week, and there will be dust and smell until they’re done.
2. My computer desk doesn’t show up until Tuesday, so I’ll be using the cardboard box and/or my lap until then. Of course, when the desk shows up (with bookshelves), it won’t help much, I don’t have a chair yet (that’s being shipped from Taiwan).
3. Don’t have nightstands yet (waiting for Kimberly to help pick ‘em out)
4. Don’t have enough storage space in master. Don’t know how I didn’t notice this before, but there’s not nearly enough room for all the clothes Kimberly and I have. Will have to rectify that later.
5. Haven’t figured out if hot water is working yet (need to get that fixed real soon if not).
6. Not enough electricity plugs, and each one is just that. One. Need to buy some power strips.
7. Not sure what I’m going to eat.
8. Have to work full day tomorrow and rest of week. Sigh.
9. Last and greatest, still empty – no family here.
But, neighborhood's great, I think the house will be nice once we get settled in, and I’m going through the hassle of workers and moving stuff, so Kimberly and kids won’t have to (minus last bits of furniture we need to buy). And so far, our Ayi is working out great (although I wish she spoke more Enlish...).
That’s it for now. Bye!
Thursday, April 06, 2006
In Beijing (last couple months of Anthony’s life)
So, I’m in Beijing (I being Anthony, not my beautiful wife, stuck in Austin with 3 endearingly, insanely, unrepentantly childlike children). Been meaning to get around to adding to the blog, since blog is really based on living out of the country, and I’ve now been doing it for about 3 weeks in Beijing (yes, without the family, but still...). Anyways, finally getting around to it.
Background for those not up to date. I came into town by myself in February(from Taiwan, where I had been by myself for about a month, too) for a housing scouting trip. Three days of different houses/apartments blending from one to another, constant pictures being taken with none of the context of really being there, and none of the skill of a real photographer (keeping in mind, I didn’t put much effort into it, at times taking a picture of a room behind me without looking as I walked awayJ). I think I took something like 500 or 600 pictures in those 3 days of looking. Also scouted out hospital places (local housing contractor for AMD showing me around, very helpful), schools, banks, whatever.
Hospitals - US vs. Taiwan vs. China (China exposure was about 4 hours, but…).
US: not too cheap, but not real bad if you have health insurance, good minimum standard, clean, not real efficient, but in an emergency very good.
Taiwan: Dirt cheap (national healthcare, awesome), clinics and hospitals have pharmacy built in, often can be in, see Dr. quickly (like less than 15 minutes with no appt.), quickly get Xray if you need it (we had to do that a couple of times :( ), get prescription at pharmacy while you wait (10 minutes or so, tops), pay and leave. Often only $5-10US for whole thing! The tradeoff is Taiwan has some good Dr.'s, but some not so good. The minimum standards just aren't as good as US, you'll hear anecdotal horror stories, but generally if you're careful (and listen to yourself if you get nervous someone's a quack) you'll be fine.
China: Take your pick. Bad or Expensive. They have general hospitals, from what I have heard, they are not very good, bad quality for most Dr.’s, horrible waits, etc…, etc… Dr.’s don’t communicate, tell you a real diagnosis, just give you medicine or whatnot and send you on your way. But realitively expensive. Other option? Expat hospitals. From what I’ve seen and hear, these are butt ugly on the outside, but inside very nice, often best of the best Western trained physicians, great bedside manner (told most nurses actually take good care of you, give kids shots to where the kids don’t even know it’s happened), but damned expensive.
I’ll compare other stuff later, but back to the background…
Went back to US for birth of child number 3, a boy. Ryken. :) He’s adorable, just like the other two (who both love him). For more details, just ask, or you already know anyways.
In town for 4 weeks around birth, sick for about a week and a half of it (along with rest of family except Ryken). That part sucks. Then back to Beijing by myself. That sucks, too, big time.
Arrive in Beijing about 8 hours late, around 7am on 2/23. My flight from Austin left morning after the major storms we had a couple of weeks ago, causing general disruption, and specifically 2 hours added to my take-off time on flight to Tokyo. Was going to miss connection to Beijing, so they got me alternate routing through Hong Kong. At this point, refer to a map if you’re not big on SE Asia geography, and cry for me. Was the very last flight of the day out of Hong Kong airport, one THE major airports in world (left at 3:25am, a time indelibly imprinted on my mind). This is after about 28 hours of travel. Arrive at hotel, they say they don’t have my reservation anymore because I didn’t arrive the night before ARGGG. Finally get a manager type who grovels a bit (the joys of being a Diamond member at Hyatt – or recently expired Diamond member), and get my room. Do some unpacking and organizing, then, go into work. Don’t want to fall asleep.
Man, I was cranky and tired that day.
Then within a week, had business trip to Shenzhen (manufacturing based town, just outside of Hong Kong). It was an OK trip, good to be with team from AMD, but ALL the meetings I went to were in Chinese. About 6 hours of pure Chinese, for someone just learning the language (AKA clueless). Guess it’s time to really learn…
So this coming Monday, I move into house. We’ll be living in a villa called Beijing Riviera. Really nice, great clubhouse, looks like a wonderful expat community, has a ‘club house’ which is a huge building with two restaurants, gym, small grocery store (very small by US standards, basically big convenience store), salon, indoor and outdoor pool, etc… Also, across street (a small two lane street only for villa and school) is a large nice international Montessori school (where Ashley will hopefully be going, if they have room for her), and a driving range. The place has potential…
Place is unfurnished. The way it works, is they let you buy up to one month’s rent worth of furniture to put in the place (along with some stuff landlady let me keep in the place when we dropped by on Tuesday). So, today was furniture shopping day.
Went to the big furniture mall – all it is is a huge 3 story building with tons of small to medium stores lined up one next to the next (feels kind of like a convention), selling furniture (and some other stuff on other floors). Just think of my excitement of getting to pick the furniture Kimberly and I will live with for the next year, without her being there, in a country where I won’t be able to return anything I don’t like, in a place I don’t live in yet, so have only seen for about an hour a couple of days before. I sure hope whatever I pick matches, and Kimberly likes…
Basically, I’m focusing on only buying what’s necessary (beds, couch, that’s about it, also fridge this weekend). Also bought stuff for study, since that’s pretty neutral and not too worried about it being exactly what we need… Went well, my usual housing rep wasn’t available, her stand-in (Candy, I just love the names people choose for themselves when given a chance) was actually great. She had fun, seemed to be very honest with me, was patient and helped out a lot.
Apparently, one of the first question almost every salesperson asked when she started talking to them in Chinese with this white guy standing next to her, was if she was getting a commission. Apparently, that’s something that if she wasn’t honest, I never would’ve known about, it would’ve just been quietly tacked on there in Chinese to the contract (and to the price). It took pretty much all day, but got bed (with mattress, pillows, sheets, thrown in! That’ll save me some of my desperate last minute shopping), couch, beds for girls, and study stuff (desk and shelves). Pretty happy with what I got, that it won’t be horrible, should be comfortable, and got a pretty good price on everything.
One of the other things about SE Asia, I don’t think they’ve (based on Taiwan and China experience, so far) really figured out retail and customer service. This furniture place? It’s open from 9am to 5pm, then shuts down. I just don’t get it, surely someone must realize that for working people (the people with the money), those just aren’t hours that aren’t conducive to making sales. In Taiwan, one of the things that amazed me, was a modern mall that Kimberly and I went to a few times, and at least one time on a Saturday, we were there until 9pm, when the mall closed. Huge numbers of people all filed out of the mall at once. The place was still very busy! So, why close? Just makes no sense, sometimes it seems there’s no real concept of paying attention or really listening to the customer.
That’s enough for now, I’m still in Beijing, in the Hyatt, by myself. It’s quite amazing what a mess I’ve made of my fairly nice hotel room. And no, I haven’t done much touristy. A few restaurants, Tian’an Men Square, that’s about it. I’d rather wait for my family. Probably an excuse, but until they’re here with me, I just feel like I’m pretending.
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