Went for a taxi ride today (alone!). It went well. Thought is pretty funny that during the drive, the taxi driver pulled his seatbelt across his lap and chest, but never locked it into place, so it was just sitting there. My assumption is that it’s the law to wear a seatbelt in the front (definitely not the back as most taxis don’t have working seatbelts if at all) and he doesn’t like it so to fool the cops, he just lays it in his lap. Great idea, huh?!
I went to a baby consignment shop run by some expats here out of their apartment. It was interesting – lots of good stuff, bought a baby monitor and some other little things. That means I can now lay Ryken down during the day and leave the room to do other things and not keep checking on him. That will be good. Maybe he’ll start taking some good naps in other places besides his swing or someone’s arms.
Ashley threw a monster of all fits this morning. Wednesday is baby playgroup here at the complex. Ashley woke up with very stuffy nose and wasn’t feeling very well, so I decided she should stay home (she’s also way older than all the kids in it). I told her she could watch a movie and that Liz and I were going to playgroup. She freaked out and when I say freaked out, I’m not kidding. I carried her kicking and screaming up to her room to let her settle down and I sat on the bed next to her on the floor, just watching and waiting. She seriously seemed possessed. She was kicking her legs into the bed and flailing her arms and occasionally hitting herself with her arms. It was not a pretty sight to see. I felt bad for her, but knew that any intervention I tried would just hurt either her or myself. After a few minutes, I calmly explained that I would talk to her when she finished screaming. She did manage to calm down eventually and I explained that she was sick and we didn’t want to get anyone else sick and that Liz and I were going regardless of whether she threw a fit or not. I told her that she had gotten to go to IKEA with me and play and have ice cream and Liz didn’t. Of course, she didn’t really care about that. I ended up leaving and she was crying (but not freaking out) and she watched us go – then when we got back, she was asleep on the couch. Poor kid tired herself out completely. It’s rare that she has a fit that big. It’s so hard to see and deal with as a parent. Staying calm is so key, but often very hard to do – when snot and drool is hanging out their mouths as they grunt and cry and scream in frustration and anger. I can only imagine what she’s gonna be like as a teenager! OH MY!
Ryken hasn’t been sleeping very well – he’s been eating a ton – I am seriously beginning to feel like the milk cow. I know that’s normal when nursing – but it seems even worse now that we have a helper – since Xiaoshu seems to get all his good/happy attention and I get the “I WANT FOOD” attention. He has been quite happy lately when he’s not hungry or tired. He smiles, coos, squeals and attempts to talk. It’s so cute. If only he would sleep more, that would be good. I told Anthony it’s all his fault – he was sleeping so good when Anthony was away, but now, no more – maybe because he doesn’t have as much room in the bed to stretch out! He’s been waking up every 2 – 3 hours at night to nurse. Argh.
Oh, I forgot to post about last week when I took ALL the kids in a taxi up to meet Anthony for lunch one day. I had the address of the restaurant (TGIF’s) and told the taxi driver what it was in Chinese. Off we went, girls were in a good mood, Ryken was sleeping. Ah, it was going oh so well. Then, we get to the place and the restaurant is not there anymore, it’s been closed down. Oops! Luckily, Anthony was meeting us there and arrived at the same time and hopped in our cab to tell the driver another place to go.
Also, last week, I met Anthony at work and we headed off to the nearest place to get passport photos taken (nearest according to people at his work). We took a cab to the place and got some photos taken of myself and Ryken for our visas and country club membership (I swear this country has about 20 photos of each one of us for all their documentation!). It took quite a long time, they were trying to be really exact on our photos – touching them up, making them look better. We told them to just print them. I noticed that another lady was getting some pictures done and they were touching up things she asked them to – basically airbrushing the photo so she looked great. I think that is so strange! Anyway, we finally got our pictures and went back to Anthony’s office complex to eat some lunch. On the way back, I saw a Kodak picture place RIGHT ACROSS the street from his office. Argh, we could have just walked over there.
I am using a lot more Chinese than I ever did in Taiwan. It’s weird, I lived there for 18 months, took lessons every week (well, almost every week) and hardly ever actually spoke Chinese. Here, I’m forced to speak it with Xiaoshu everyday and with taxi drivers. Anthony will also speak it and then I’ll have him translate for me. The written Chinese here is so much easier than in Taiwan, because for streets and other things, the English pronunciation of the word is written below the Chinese character, so I can say them using that instead of having to know the Chinese character.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Blog Issues
So, I can't actually view my blog here. I can post to it and edit it, but I can't view it, so I have no idea how it actually looks. I'm trying to figure out if there are any blog sites that I can use, but so far, I can't get any blog sites to come up over here in China. Anyone have any ideas on sites that I may be able to use?
Happy Birthday to Ashley
We had a great weekend. It was Ashley’s 5th birthday on Sunday. I really can’t believe that my baby is five years old already! How time flies. She’s growing up so fast, just like everyone says happens when you have kids.
Saturday afternoon, there was a “picnic” sponsored by Ashley’s school. They had some food and a band and lots of things for the kids to do. The girls got to paint and run around in a tunnel and play on a balance beam and throw some balls and get their faces painted. We all had a fun time being outdoors and spending some time together. It was a bit icky outside as far as the weather was concerned. It was drizzly. We had the stroller with us and noticed that as the rain fell, the stroller got dirtier and dirtier. You’d think that rain would clean things, but not here, guess it’s just so polluted that when it does rain or drizzle, it just drizzles mud. It’s pretty gross.
After naps, I decided we should get out of the house and go somewhere, decided to take the shuttle offered here at our complex to the Lido Area – Holiday Inn Lido. I’d been told that there were some good stores and a market in that area. So, after waiting a LONG time (we had the shuttle times wrong), we finally got on the shuttle. The trip was fairly short, although the bus was stinky and traffic was pretty bad. We made it to the Holiday Inn and started walking around to find a place to eat. There are many places around that area. We ended up eating Peking Duck at a restaurant near there. First time I’d had duck. It was interesting. The girls were in a great mood (and Ryken was very good too!) and ate lots of food. Ashley even picked up the cooked duck head to get a picture taken with it (yes, they serve you the duck head, I’m sure Chinese actually eat it, beak and all, but we weren’t that adventurous!). We then walked around some more, going to a small market where you can buy Tshirts and purses and DVD’s and souvenirs. I got a “Kate Spade” bag, a backpack and a wallet for about $18 US. This was my first try at bargaining/haggling and I thought it went well, since the starting price for one item was the end price for 3 items. After doing a bit of shopping, we went back to the Holiday Inn, where they have a Baskin Robbins! MMMMM, it was delicious! And not completely overpriced like Hagen Daz ice cream is here. We had a great night and were glad that we had gotten out and seen one of the touristy areas here.
Sunday was Ashley’s birthday! I felt like a failure as a mom since we haven’t met any kids her age and I wasn’t able to put together any sort of birthday party for her. With kids her age being in school during the day, it’s been really hard for her meet any friends. I talked to her and explained that we wouldn’t be having a party, but that we would be celebrating her birthday all day with Mommy, Daddy, Liz and Ryken. She seemed to understand, so that’s good. I made a cake for her and so we had cake with candles and sang to her. She got to open her presents from us and from the grandparents. She was so excited! Anthony and I got her a tennis racket along with some other odds n ends (nail polish and a bright pink cowgirl hat for instance).
When we got Ashley’s birthday present, we also bought ourselves tennis rackets. We figured since there is a court within sight of our house, we might consider trying to take up tennis as a way to exercise. We tried it out Sunday night and had lots of fun “playing”. I don’t really know how, so we mainly just volleyed. I was sore the next day, so I know it does work. We’re going to try to do it a few times a week and I’m looking into taking some lessons just to get the basics. I took Ashley out on the court today and I think she’s gonna have to take lessons from someone else since I wasn’t really much help. She has a hard time keeping her eye on the ball and just sort of swings blindly through the air hoping to make contact with the ball – but she looks so cute doing it! She was wearing her hair tied up through a baseball cap (pink of course) with a red shirt and aqua blue shorts. She had on dark pink socks with rainbow hearts and her white tennis shoes. I told her she looked a bit silly since nothing really matched and she said “mom, I want to look like a rainbow!”. Hahahaha. She knew it was all different colors and wanted it that way!
We keep slipping on our stairs and after going to a store similar to Home Depot and being looked at like we were crazy when asking for “stair strips to keep from slipping nd falling on the stairs”, I thought IKEA might have them (I’ve seen there in the Taiwan store). So, today, Ashley and I went to IKEA while Liz was taking a nap. Ashley loved going there since they have a kids play area she can checked into while I shop. It really is quite cool and a neat place for her. So, I ran around IKEA trying to find it, asking many different people and was finally told “we’re out”. When I asked where it would be located once they got some more in, was told “I don’t know, we’re out”. I don’t know if this means they won’t be getting more in or they really don’t even carry it. We’ll see. Our ayi slipped today following Liz down the stairs and she hurt her elbow, so we really need to do something about our stairs!
While at IKEA, my cell phone rings and I answer only to here a screaming crying child on the phone, attempting to say something to me, but I can not understand what. My heart skips a beat thinking that Liz has been hurt or something, but then I realize that had Liz been hurt, Xiaoshu wouldn’t have Liz on the phone talking to me, she would have called me directly. I finally get Liz calmed down enough to understand that she’s saying “I want you” over and over again. I explain that I’m at the store and will be home soon, then put Ashley on the phone who talks to Liz and says the same thing I did – that was pretty cute. It calmed Liz down and when we got home, she was happy and in a good mood.
Anthony left today for his first business trip since we’ve been here, just overnight, he’ll be back tomorrow night. His flight was supposed to leave around 1pm, didn’t end up leaving until around 5pm. Sucks for him, he had to sit at airport that whole time!
Saturday afternoon, there was a “picnic” sponsored by Ashley’s school. They had some food and a band and lots of things for the kids to do. The girls got to paint and run around in a tunnel and play on a balance beam and throw some balls and get their faces painted. We all had a fun time being outdoors and spending some time together. It was a bit icky outside as far as the weather was concerned. It was drizzly. We had the stroller with us and noticed that as the rain fell, the stroller got dirtier and dirtier. You’d think that rain would clean things, but not here, guess it’s just so polluted that when it does rain or drizzle, it just drizzles mud. It’s pretty gross.
After naps, I decided we should get out of the house and go somewhere, decided to take the shuttle offered here at our complex to the Lido Area – Holiday Inn Lido. I’d been told that there were some good stores and a market in that area. So, after waiting a LONG time (we had the shuttle times wrong), we finally got on the shuttle. The trip was fairly short, although the bus was stinky and traffic was pretty bad. We made it to the Holiday Inn and started walking around to find a place to eat. There are many places around that area. We ended up eating Peking Duck at a restaurant near there. First time I’d had duck. It was interesting. The girls were in a great mood (and Ryken was very good too!) and ate lots of food. Ashley even picked up the cooked duck head to get a picture taken with it (yes, they serve you the duck head, I’m sure Chinese actually eat it, beak and all, but we weren’t that adventurous!). We then walked around some more, going to a small market where you can buy Tshirts and purses and DVD’s and souvenirs. I got a “Kate Spade” bag, a backpack and a wallet for about $18 US. This was my first try at bargaining/haggling and I thought it went well, since the starting price for one item was the end price for 3 items. After doing a bit of shopping, we went back to the Holiday Inn, where they have a Baskin Robbins! MMMMM, it was delicious! And not completely overpriced like Hagen Daz ice cream is here. We had a great night and were glad that we had gotten out and seen one of the touristy areas here.
Sunday was Ashley’s birthday! I felt like a failure as a mom since we haven’t met any kids her age and I wasn’t able to put together any sort of birthday party for her. With kids her age being in school during the day, it’s been really hard for her meet any friends. I talked to her and explained that we wouldn’t be having a party, but that we would be celebrating her birthday all day with Mommy, Daddy, Liz and Ryken. She seemed to understand, so that’s good. I made a cake for her and so we had cake with candles and sang to her. She got to open her presents from us and from the grandparents. She was so excited! Anthony and I got her a tennis racket along with some other odds n ends (nail polish and a bright pink cowgirl hat for instance).
When we got Ashley’s birthday present, we also bought ourselves tennis rackets. We figured since there is a court within sight of our house, we might consider trying to take up tennis as a way to exercise. We tried it out Sunday night and had lots of fun “playing”. I don’t really know how, so we mainly just volleyed. I was sore the next day, so I know it does work. We’re going to try to do it a few times a week and I’m looking into taking some lessons just to get the basics. I took Ashley out on the court today and I think she’s gonna have to take lessons from someone else since I wasn’t really much help. She has a hard time keeping her eye on the ball and just sort of swings blindly through the air hoping to make contact with the ball – but she looks so cute doing it! She was wearing her hair tied up through a baseball cap (pink of course) with a red shirt and aqua blue shorts. She had on dark pink socks with rainbow hearts and her white tennis shoes. I told her she looked a bit silly since nothing really matched and she said “mom, I want to look like a rainbow!”. Hahahaha. She knew it was all different colors and wanted it that way!
We keep slipping on our stairs and after going to a store similar to Home Depot and being looked at like we were crazy when asking for “stair strips to keep from slipping nd falling on the stairs”, I thought IKEA might have them (I’ve seen there in the Taiwan store). So, today, Ashley and I went to IKEA while Liz was taking a nap. Ashley loved going there since they have a kids play area she can checked into while I shop. It really is quite cool and a neat place for her. So, I ran around IKEA trying to find it, asking many different people and was finally told “we’re out”. When I asked where it would be located once they got some more in, was told “I don’t know, we’re out”. I don’t know if this means they won’t be getting more in or they really don’t even carry it. We’ll see. Our ayi slipped today following Liz down the stairs and she hurt her elbow, so we really need to do something about our stairs!
While at IKEA, my cell phone rings and I answer only to here a screaming crying child on the phone, attempting to say something to me, but I can not understand what. My heart skips a beat thinking that Liz has been hurt or something, but then I realize that had Liz been hurt, Xiaoshu wouldn’t have Liz on the phone talking to me, she would have called me directly. I finally get Liz calmed down enough to understand that she’s saying “I want you” over and over again. I explain that I’m at the store and will be home soon, then put Ashley on the phone who talks to Liz and says the same thing I did – that was pretty cute. It calmed Liz down and when we got home, she was happy and in a good mood.
Anthony left today for his first business trip since we’ve been here, just overnight, he’ll be back tomorrow night. His flight was supposed to leave around 1pm, didn’t end up leaving until around 5pm. Sucks for him, he had to sit at airport that whole time!
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Taxis
I do not like the taxis here. It’s hard to communicate with taxi drivers here as none of them speak English (ok, maybe there are some, but it’s RARE) and they don’t understand my Chinese. So, unless I know exactly where we are going and can sort of give directions in Chinese, it’s useless to try and go somewhere. Another really annoying thing, taxi drivers are picky. For instance, the other night, I needed to go to get some passport size photos taken for Ryken and myself. The place I needed to go is about a 15 minute cab ride away. No one would take us – too short of a distance, I was told. I spent about 30 minutes waiting for a cab that would take Ryken and I, getting more and more frustrated by the minute, until I just gave up and went back home. The first cab I had gotten into actually said No and made me get out of the cab. That is so frustrating! The other day, we got in a cab and Liz got in first – climbing from one side to the other (cabs only open on the passenger side, so you have to slide across the backseat if more than one person is sitting) and she put her foot on the seat to push herself across – she promptly got reprimanded by the driver for putting her foot on the seat and he spent a great commotion “wiping” away where her shoe had been. ARGH.
Some interesting things I’ve noticed. People really seem to be money conscious here (SO different than Taipei). The air conditioning isn’t blasting everywhere, including taxis. They keep their windows rolled down in taxis (we’ve requested AC and they’ve turned it on) and I don’t freeze when going into restaurants or stores. When taxis are waiting in a que to take people, they don’t leave their engines running – and they push their car up the line if it needs to be moved.
We had the flooring replaced in the playroom – it was badly warped and the original agreement was to put wall to wall carpet in the room. Their idea of wall to wall carpet though was a rug that fit most of the room (a rug with all vegetables on it, hmmm). We said no to that rug, then decided the flooring was so badly warped and smelly that it should be replaced. What did they do? They just laid the new flooring on top of the old wood flooring. Nice. Took the guys about 2 hours to do the whole floor. I’m quite sure that it’s not supposed to be done that way – especially since they came with some sort of padding to put under the new floor and they didn’t even use it.
The place we live has many activities to help become involved here. They have sports, get togethers, playgroups, meetings, etc. I’ve met MANY people and lots of moms with kids. It’s been good – although hard keeping track of everyone. All the kids Ashley’s age are in school during the day, so it can be quite lonely for her. And many of the kids Liz’s age are also in school, so she hadn’t really made any friends yet. We went to a playgroup this morning, I think there were about 25 kids there – mostly 18 months to 2.5 years. The girls had fun – Ashley was the oldest and helped make the craft example, so she enjoyed that. Liz was a bit intimidated at first by all the kids and noise, but she quickly got over it and played for a while, not with anyone else, but alone.
We went to the playground this afternoon – there is one playground in the complex that a lot of people go to after school. I counted that there were 16 boys and 4 girls (2 of which were mine) – it was craziness seeing that many boys running around in the sand and on the playground equipment. Lots of horseplay and crying. The girls pretty much ignore most of it unless they accidentally get involved some how.
We are still looking into getting a car and driver to avoid the taxi hassle and feel safer taking the kids out and about. There are some yoga classes I’d like to try with Ryken, but haven’t gotten the courage yet to try and venture out on my own in the taxis. There are also a few preschools I’d like to visit for Liz, to find something for her 1-2 days a week, but again, same thing. I’m hoping we can figure the car/driver thing out, it’s just a bit expensive and we aren’t sure how to go about finding one.
Xiaoshu is working out well – she’s doing really well with Ryken, he gives her lots of smiles and some laughs. She seems to enjoy watching him and playing with him. She gets happy when I tell her I’m taking the girls to the park and leaving him with her. She’s doing ok with Ashley and Liz. Unfortunately, we don’t speak enough of the same language that I am able to give her a list of rules or things that girls can or can not do, so it’s all by trial and error right now. Ashley has learned that if I say no, she can go ask Xiaoshu and she’ll get it because she doesn’t know any better. So, that’s a problem we are addressing.
The weather has been pretty nice lately, although the past 2 days, it’s starting to get hot. Last night, we had thunder and lightening, with a little bit of rain. That’s unusual here, I guess, at least the rain is. There’s a guy that’s been here since August and hadn’t seen rain until the week after we arrived. Since then, it’s rained several times. Guess water just follows us everywhere!
Our stuff is here from Taiwan – it is so nice to have it all! To have the girls toys and our clothes and kitchen stuff. We’ve managed to fry a few of our appliances – our expensive air purifier, my bread maker, an alarm clock and a floor fan – all due to the voltage difference and the faulty converters we were using, along with some error on our part – plugging the wrong things in. I’m really hoping we’ll be able to get the purifier and bread maker fixed, but who knows. I also wanted to make some cookies and went to use our oven for the first time, kept turning the knob for temperature and it wasn’t getting hot. Called the service center who had guy come out and he showed me that there are 2 parts to the oven, one is electric to be used to “make things yellowish or brown” (this translated apparently is a crisper) and the other is the gas part to “cook things through”. So, you have to push a button in to get the gas to ignite and turn the oven on to cook. I did manage to figure it out, and Ashley and I made cookies yesterday – they are yummy! I also had to have someone come out to show me how to operate the dishwasher. It’s quite weird and strange, but it works. The washing machine we have is designed to hold 2 kg of clothes – yes, that’s 4.4 lbs of clothing. Um, not a lot for a family of 5. So, we are looking into buying a bigger one, that works better. It’s not really cleaning the clothes very well, especially the kids clothes.
Some interesting things I’ve noticed. People really seem to be money conscious here (SO different than Taipei). The air conditioning isn’t blasting everywhere, including taxis. They keep their windows rolled down in taxis (we’ve requested AC and they’ve turned it on) and I don’t freeze when going into restaurants or stores. When taxis are waiting in a que to take people, they don’t leave their engines running – and they push their car up the line if it needs to be moved.
We had the flooring replaced in the playroom – it was badly warped and the original agreement was to put wall to wall carpet in the room. Their idea of wall to wall carpet though was a rug that fit most of the room (a rug with all vegetables on it, hmmm). We said no to that rug, then decided the flooring was so badly warped and smelly that it should be replaced. What did they do? They just laid the new flooring on top of the old wood flooring. Nice. Took the guys about 2 hours to do the whole floor. I’m quite sure that it’s not supposed to be done that way – especially since they came with some sort of padding to put under the new floor and they didn’t even use it.
The place we live has many activities to help become involved here. They have sports, get togethers, playgroups, meetings, etc. I’ve met MANY people and lots of moms with kids. It’s been good – although hard keeping track of everyone. All the kids Ashley’s age are in school during the day, so it can be quite lonely for her. And many of the kids Liz’s age are also in school, so she hadn’t really made any friends yet. We went to a playgroup this morning, I think there were about 25 kids there – mostly 18 months to 2.5 years. The girls had fun – Ashley was the oldest and helped make the craft example, so she enjoyed that. Liz was a bit intimidated at first by all the kids and noise, but she quickly got over it and played for a while, not with anyone else, but alone.
We went to the playground this afternoon – there is one playground in the complex that a lot of people go to after school. I counted that there were 16 boys and 4 girls (2 of which were mine) – it was craziness seeing that many boys running around in the sand and on the playground equipment. Lots of horseplay and crying. The girls pretty much ignore most of it unless they accidentally get involved some how.
We are still looking into getting a car and driver to avoid the taxi hassle and feel safer taking the kids out and about. There are some yoga classes I’d like to try with Ryken, but haven’t gotten the courage yet to try and venture out on my own in the taxis. There are also a few preschools I’d like to visit for Liz, to find something for her 1-2 days a week, but again, same thing. I’m hoping we can figure the car/driver thing out, it’s just a bit expensive and we aren’t sure how to go about finding one.
Xiaoshu is working out well – she’s doing really well with Ryken, he gives her lots of smiles and some laughs. She seems to enjoy watching him and playing with him. She gets happy when I tell her I’m taking the girls to the park and leaving him with her. She’s doing ok with Ashley and Liz. Unfortunately, we don’t speak enough of the same language that I am able to give her a list of rules or things that girls can or can not do, so it’s all by trial and error right now. Ashley has learned that if I say no, she can go ask Xiaoshu and she’ll get it because she doesn’t know any better. So, that’s a problem we are addressing.
The weather has been pretty nice lately, although the past 2 days, it’s starting to get hot. Last night, we had thunder and lightening, with a little bit of rain. That’s unusual here, I guess, at least the rain is. There’s a guy that’s been here since August and hadn’t seen rain until the week after we arrived. Since then, it’s rained several times. Guess water just follows us everywhere!
Our stuff is here from Taiwan – it is so nice to have it all! To have the girls toys and our clothes and kitchen stuff. We’ve managed to fry a few of our appliances – our expensive air purifier, my bread maker, an alarm clock and a floor fan – all due to the voltage difference and the faulty converters we were using, along with some error on our part – plugging the wrong things in. I’m really hoping we’ll be able to get the purifier and bread maker fixed, but who knows. I also wanted to make some cookies and went to use our oven for the first time, kept turning the knob for temperature and it wasn’t getting hot. Called the service center who had guy come out and he showed me that there are 2 parts to the oven, one is electric to be used to “make things yellowish or brown” (this translated apparently is a crisper) and the other is the gas part to “cook things through”. So, you have to push a button in to get the gas to ignite and turn the oven on to cook. I did manage to figure it out, and Ashley and I made cookies yesterday – they are yummy! I also had to have someone come out to show me how to operate the dishwasher. It’s quite weird and strange, but it works. The washing machine we have is designed to hold 2 kg of clothes – yes, that’s 4.4 lbs of clothing. Um, not a lot for a family of 5. So, we are looking into buying a bigger one, that works better. It’s not really cleaning the clothes very well, especially the kids clothes.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
Just Random Stuff
It’s a gorgeous day outside today. I can see blue skies with no clouds, not much pollution today! Took the girls to the park earlier. We bought Ashley a bike over the weekend, so she’s been wanting to ride everywhere. It’s got training wheels and a spot on the back that Liz can sit on and ride. So they ride around with me walking next to them, I sure get my exercise if she starts going fast. Hopefully, soon, she’ll be able to learn how to ride without the training wheels. Everyone here has bikes and rides them all around the complex and to nearby stores, along with all the workers that use bikes to get around town.
Ryken hasn’t been sleeping too well and has started spitting up after almost every feeding, when he burps. He also has been having some severe gas pains (at least that’s what I think they are). It was pretty bad last night, enough that if we have a repeat of it, I’ll be taking him in to the doctor. I haven’t really changed my diet much, so I’m not sure what could be the cause of it.
The sun rises here at 5am! ARGH. The girls were getting up that early, but we’ve been able to remedy that by having a clock in their room and they aren’t allowed to come out u until 7am. The past 2 mornings, it’s worked, so that’s good. Ryken wakes up though around 5, which sucks! We have curtains that block out the light, but there are still some places where it comes in.
Our stuff from Taiwan is supposed to arrive tomorrow! I am SO excited, just to have towels and kitchen ware and toys for the kids. We’ve been using plastic kitchenware and it’s getting old. Xiaoshu bought a wok and she’s been using that one pot to cook all our meals. When she was first cooking, she was using a spice they use here all the time called “5 Spice” – I really don’t like it, so I asked her to not use it and since then, I have LOVED all her meals. She made a beef dish with carrots and potatoes the other night, almost like a beef stew, she didn’t know that’s one of my favorite dishes back home – meat and potatoes – it was delicious. I’m not sure what’s in “5 spice” , but it smells like black licorice to me, and I do not like licorice! Just looked it up and there is an ingredient in it called “star anise” which is licorice flavored.
Yesterday was a very icky day, rainy and nasty outside. It doesn’t rain here very often and apparently, when it’s going to rain, they government “seeds” the clouds so that it rains more. There are many articles online about it, if interested, just google China seed rain – here’s one: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-china-fake-rain,1,1562964.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true
Anyway, I needed to get a physical done in order to apply for my residency visa here, so Anthony, Ryken and I set off for the Chinese Foreigner Travel Office to get this done. It is a VERY efficient process. I believe we were there for around 45 minutes total. During that time I had a picture taken, a quick physical check, blood drawn, an EKG and a chest Xray. For my physical check, it was just BP, pulse, listening to heart and lungs, weight and height (fully clothed with shoes on, so I’m about 1.5 inches taller here in China). We then went up to Anthony’s office where I got my first glimpse of the city of Beijing, downtown. It looks dirty – gray and ugly. Dirt is everywhere, very little grass. Lots of trees though. Anthony’s work is nice and he has an office rather than a cubicle which is a step up from Taiwan. I met most of the people in the office and then we went and had lunch in the basement of his building at a Japanese place. I had sushi, which I have really been enjoying lately for some reason. It was nice to hang out with him and Ryken and have a peaceful meal (Ryken was asleep) without the girls. I love them, but they can be a handful at mealtimes! They enjoy staying home with Xiaoshu now because she takes them to the park to play.
Many of the restaurants here that cater to the foreign crowd have kids play areas in them. Anthony’s favorite, Annies, which is Italian food and very nearby where we live, has a little playhouse with some toys. Lots of families go there, so there’s always other kids for them to play with. Makes for a good time for parents and kids. You can meet other parents and chat and eat while the kids play. I often wonder why more restaurants don’t do this in the States. I guess in Austin, restaurants are busy enough without having to cater more to families than they do.
Ryken hasn’t been sleeping too well and has started spitting up after almost every feeding, when he burps. He also has been having some severe gas pains (at least that’s what I think they are). It was pretty bad last night, enough that if we have a repeat of it, I’ll be taking him in to the doctor. I haven’t really changed my diet much, so I’m not sure what could be the cause of it.
The sun rises here at 5am! ARGH. The girls were getting up that early, but we’ve been able to remedy that by having a clock in their room and they aren’t allowed to come out u until 7am. The past 2 mornings, it’s worked, so that’s good. Ryken wakes up though around 5, which sucks! We have curtains that block out the light, but there are still some places where it comes in.
Our stuff from Taiwan is supposed to arrive tomorrow! I am SO excited, just to have towels and kitchen ware and toys for the kids. We’ve been using plastic kitchenware and it’s getting old. Xiaoshu bought a wok and she’s been using that one pot to cook all our meals. When she was first cooking, she was using a spice they use here all the time called “5 Spice” – I really don’t like it, so I asked her to not use it and since then, I have LOVED all her meals. She made a beef dish with carrots and potatoes the other night, almost like a beef stew, she didn’t know that’s one of my favorite dishes back home – meat and potatoes – it was delicious. I’m not sure what’s in “5 spice” , but it smells like black licorice to me, and I do not like licorice! Just looked it up and there is an ingredient in it called “star anise” which is licorice flavored.
Yesterday was a very icky day, rainy and nasty outside. It doesn’t rain here very often and apparently, when it’s going to rain, they government “seeds” the clouds so that it rains more. There are many articles online about it, if interested, just google China seed rain – here’s one: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-china-fake-rain,1,1562964.story?coll=sns-ap-world-headlines&ctrack=1&cset=true
Anyway, I needed to get a physical done in order to apply for my residency visa here, so Anthony, Ryken and I set off for the Chinese Foreigner Travel Office to get this done. It is a VERY efficient process. I believe we were there for around 45 minutes total. During that time I had a picture taken, a quick physical check, blood drawn, an EKG and a chest Xray. For my physical check, it was just BP, pulse, listening to heart and lungs, weight and height (fully clothed with shoes on, so I’m about 1.5 inches taller here in China). We then went up to Anthony’s office where I got my first glimpse of the city of Beijing, downtown. It looks dirty – gray and ugly. Dirt is everywhere, very little grass. Lots of trees though. Anthony’s work is nice and he has an office rather than a cubicle which is a step up from Taiwan. I met most of the people in the office and then we went and had lunch in the basement of his building at a Japanese place. I had sushi, which I have really been enjoying lately for some reason. It was nice to hang out with him and Ryken and have a peaceful meal (Ryken was asleep) without the girls. I love them, but they can be a handful at mealtimes! They enjoy staying home with Xiaoshu now because she takes them to the park to play.
Many of the restaurants here that cater to the foreign crowd have kids play areas in them. Anthony’s favorite, Annies, which is Italian food and very nearby where we live, has a little playhouse with some toys. Lots of families go there, so there’s always other kids for them to play with. Makes for a good time for parents and kids. You can meet other parents and chat and eat while the kids play. I often wonder why more restaurants don’t do this in the States. I guess in Austin, restaurants are busy enough without having to cater more to families than they do.
Sunday, May 07, 2006
Delivery, Delivery, Delivery
I could become addicted to this! Everyone delivers here, usually for free, sometimes for a small fee. You can go buy groceries, then have them delivered (thank goodness since I don’t know how I’d get them in and out of a cab with 3 kids and a stroller to boot!), order dinner, have it delivered, buy furniture, have it delivered. And sometimes, there is no wait! The other night, we had to have the delivery boy wait with our groceries so we could catch a cab and make it home before he did. I bought some flowers yesterday around the corner from our complex and the lady hopped on her little bike – put Ashley in the back (it was a little three wheel bike with a platform for carrying the plants) and away she went to our house to deliver the flowers we had purchased. 35 plants for about $7.00 US and she delivered them to us for free! I put the flowers where I wanted them in our yard and this morning, the lady who waters our lawn planted them for me. Sheesh, I could get used to this!
On the other hand, there are some very annoying things. Lots of paperwork for things here. To join the country club here (part of our complex), you have to submit 3 passport photos (I have no idea why) and fill out all this paperwork, have a guarantee letter and pay a deposit. It takes a long time and can be frustrating trying to figure out what is needed and who it goes to.
We also are running out of hot water rather quickly and when we told the service center here at the complex, they sent a guy out who told us to turn up the heat on the water heater. We did that, even though we didn’t want to – due to possibility of scalding the kids – but that didn’t work. We’ll see how long it takes to have them actually understand what we mean and fix it.
The air conditioning in our house isn’t working, so we told the service center and the answer was that they haven’t turned on the AC yet for the buildings. Apparently, all the houses share the same HVAC unit and they don’t turn it on until they do an inspection of every unit in the complex, which they started last week and won’t finish for a few more weeks. So, it’s hot in our house and muggy. I’ll be glad when they can get it turned on.
We finally have cable and two TV’s hooked up. The quality is pretty bad and we only get a few English channels. Not all of the ones they have here, I’m not sure why we only get a select few. We had a guy out to look at the picture and try and fix the quality, but no can do.
Anthony and I did quite a bit of shopping last week. We bought some furniture – first at IKEA – gotta love that store! And then at an antique Chinese furniture store down the street. It’s got some great furniture in it, some insanely pricey, but some rather reasonable. We got an antique piece to put our TV on in the living room. I’ll take a photo and post when I get a chance. IKEA was a madhouse, crazy busy. It’s HUGE too! We also shopped at Carrefour for everyday items and that place was pretty crazy busy too. Don’t know if it was because it was a holiday week or because it is always that busy. Hopefully not always that busy.
We’ve had one unfortunate incident so far, not to us directly, but our ayi – Xiaoshu. Last Thursday, while riding her bike home from our house, she got hit by a car. She is ok, just a little bruised with a very sore arm/shoulder. She worked on Friday and then had Saturday and Sunday off. She’s back today and doing well, although I don’t think her shoulder is ok – she can’t lift it all the way. She doesn’t speak English very well so I haven’t been able to find out if she went to a doctor to have it looked at or not. I hope she has.
On the other hand, there are some very annoying things. Lots of paperwork for things here. To join the country club here (part of our complex), you have to submit 3 passport photos (I have no idea why) and fill out all this paperwork, have a guarantee letter and pay a deposit. It takes a long time and can be frustrating trying to figure out what is needed and who it goes to.
We also are running out of hot water rather quickly and when we told the service center here at the complex, they sent a guy out who told us to turn up the heat on the water heater. We did that, even though we didn’t want to – due to possibility of scalding the kids – but that didn’t work. We’ll see how long it takes to have them actually understand what we mean and fix it.
The air conditioning in our house isn’t working, so we told the service center and the answer was that they haven’t turned on the AC yet for the buildings. Apparently, all the houses share the same HVAC unit and they don’t turn it on until they do an inspection of every unit in the complex, which they started last week and won’t finish for a few more weeks. So, it’s hot in our house and muggy. I’ll be glad when they can get it turned on.
We finally have cable and two TV’s hooked up. The quality is pretty bad and we only get a few English channels. Not all of the ones they have here, I’m not sure why we only get a select few. We had a guy out to look at the picture and try and fix the quality, but no can do.
Anthony and I did quite a bit of shopping last week. We bought some furniture – first at IKEA – gotta love that store! And then at an antique Chinese furniture store down the street. It’s got some great furniture in it, some insanely pricey, but some rather reasonable. We got an antique piece to put our TV on in the living room. I’ll take a photo and post when I get a chance. IKEA was a madhouse, crazy busy. It’s HUGE too! We also shopped at Carrefour for everyday items and that place was pretty crazy busy too. Don’t know if it was because it was a holiday week or because it is always that busy. Hopefully not always that busy.
We’ve had one unfortunate incident so far, not to us directly, but our ayi – Xiaoshu. Last Thursday, while riding her bike home from our house, she got hit by a car. She is ok, just a little bruised with a very sore arm/shoulder. She worked on Friday and then had Saturday and Sunday off. She’s back today and doing well, although I don’t think her shoulder is ok – she can’t lift it all the way. She doesn’t speak English very well so I haven’t been able to find out if she went to a doctor to have it looked at or not. I hope she has.
San Ge (Three)
This is the phrase we heard over and over again, with hands shoved in our faces, holding out 3 fingers. Their look of utter amazement shows that they are truly stunned that we have 3 children. I am not sure if most Chinese are even aware that you can have more than one child. Our tour guide asked us if our government told us how many children we can have. At first, it’s interesting to get the kind of attention we do, lots of people stopping to stare, trying to talk to us, touching our children on the faces and hair, trying to peek in at Ryken asleep in the sling next to me, taking pictures of us all, but mainly the children. Then, it gets annoying. I just have to keep reminding myself, they aren’t doing it to be mean or annoying, they truly are interested and intrigued. We were told by someone that many of the people have never seen foreigners at all, so to see us along with two childen and an infant, it is really amazing to them. Apparently, most Chinese babies are not taken out in public before 6 months to 1 year, so to have a Western baby out who is only 2 months old is truly a sight to behold. I also had a lot of thumbs up from many of the older generation of Chinese – after I responded that, yes, indeed, all three children are mine. I am not sure why this was, but they gave me a big smile while doing it.
The trip itself to Qingdao was fun. It was on a beach but the weather was a bit chilly for beach fun. We did hang out a bit on the sand and the girls went in the water the first day – it was freezing and I wouldn’t even put my toes in for long! Our hotel was nice, rated 5 stars by the Chinese (I would have given it 3 stars) and they provided a crib for Liz and an extra bed for Ashley. Ryken slept with us. Everyone slept well after getting tired out from walking and playing all day. It really helped out with the jet lag in getting everyone back on track. There were hoards of people everywhere, we were told it is the busiest tourist season in China. Everywhere we went, it was crowded and crazy. We attempted to go to a place called Underwater World, but there were just too many people for us. We also attempted to take a boat tour ride around, but they were jam packing people on the boats like sardines (along with having to stand in line for hours and Chinese people aren’t known for patiently waiting their turn – they fight for one slot ahead) and we just didn’t feel that would be safe for us or our children. We did do quite a bit of walking around the town, seeing some of the architecture. The city was occupied by the Germans in the 1800’s (I think) so there were some interesting types of buildings around town. A lot of them reminded me of chalets and quaint swiss villages. Qingdao is also famous for it’s beer – TsingTao beer – started by the Germans, now Chinese operated. We had some, thought it was ok.
One day, we rented a van and a tour guide to take us around. That was interesting. We had an English speaking tour guide, along with a Chinese tour guide. The Chinese guy pretty much said about 10 words the whole trip and the English guide didn’t know much and for some reason, wouldn’t ask the Chinese guy when we wanted a question answered. It was a bit strange, but oh well. She was the one who wanted to take us out on the overly packed boats. We had to make her go back to the van and move to our next destination, which was the TV tower that you can go up to the top in. We waited about 45 minutes in line to go up for about 1 minute, then needed to go back down, but the line was LONG – Ryken was crying, Ashley was crying and it was very frustrating. Our guide managed to talk to some staff there and get us down the service elevator after some food had been brought up – thank goodness, waiting in that line with crying kids would have driven everyone insane. The tour guide also wanted to take us to some mountain area to see the tea farms and some Buddha temple. The traffic getting there was horrendous and we had some interesting moments on the way up. It was beautiful up there, although we could have skipped seeing the temple – the girls were CRANKY (as was I by that time) and there were many, many stairs to climb in order to see the temple. Not a fun outing at all.
Let’s see, other interesting items to note. The hotel had a little bowling alley (2 lanes) and golf center. We went bowling on the last day as it was too cold to be outside for long. The sign for the bowling center had a picture of a naked lady with very pronounced boobs. It was pretty funny – I guess they equate boobs with bowling balls?!
There was also a big “jumpy castle” out on the beach for the kids. It was named DSNLY (I’m guessing this was supposed to be DISNEY) and had a fake Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck on it. They were both very weird looking, but the kids were having fun jumping all around. One hard thing to get used to here are the open crotch pants on toddlers. They have the nice outfits, with a hold down the middle of their pants, for easy access. So, on the bouncy castle, there’s a kid jumping and playing and bouncing around with everything hanging out for all the world to see. I don’t see how hygienic this is as other kids are playing right where his naked butt was sitting! Ewww….but what can you do?
All in all, we had a good trip and enjoyed seeing a different part of China. Hopefully, we’ll be doing quite a bit of travel and will get to experience many different things here.
The trip itself to Qingdao was fun. It was on a beach but the weather was a bit chilly for beach fun. We did hang out a bit on the sand and the girls went in the water the first day – it was freezing and I wouldn’t even put my toes in for long! Our hotel was nice, rated 5 stars by the Chinese (I would have given it 3 stars) and they provided a crib for Liz and an extra bed for Ashley. Ryken slept with us. Everyone slept well after getting tired out from walking and playing all day. It really helped out with the jet lag in getting everyone back on track. There were hoards of people everywhere, we were told it is the busiest tourist season in China. Everywhere we went, it was crowded and crazy. We attempted to go to a place called Underwater World, but there were just too many people for us. We also attempted to take a boat tour ride around, but they were jam packing people on the boats like sardines (along with having to stand in line for hours and Chinese people aren’t known for patiently waiting their turn – they fight for one slot ahead) and we just didn’t feel that would be safe for us or our children. We did do quite a bit of walking around the town, seeing some of the architecture. The city was occupied by the Germans in the 1800’s (I think) so there were some interesting types of buildings around town. A lot of them reminded me of chalets and quaint swiss villages. Qingdao is also famous for it’s beer – TsingTao beer – started by the Germans, now Chinese operated. We had some, thought it was ok.
One day, we rented a van and a tour guide to take us around. That was interesting. We had an English speaking tour guide, along with a Chinese tour guide. The Chinese guy pretty much said about 10 words the whole trip and the English guide didn’t know much and for some reason, wouldn’t ask the Chinese guy when we wanted a question answered. It was a bit strange, but oh well. She was the one who wanted to take us out on the overly packed boats. We had to make her go back to the van and move to our next destination, which was the TV tower that you can go up to the top in. We waited about 45 minutes in line to go up for about 1 minute, then needed to go back down, but the line was LONG – Ryken was crying, Ashley was crying and it was very frustrating. Our guide managed to talk to some staff there and get us down the service elevator after some food had been brought up – thank goodness, waiting in that line with crying kids would have driven everyone insane. The tour guide also wanted to take us to some mountain area to see the tea farms and some Buddha temple. The traffic getting there was horrendous and we had some interesting moments on the way up. It was beautiful up there, although we could have skipped seeing the temple – the girls were CRANKY (as was I by that time) and there were many, many stairs to climb in order to see the temple. Not a fun outing at all.
Let’s see, other interesting items to note. The hotel had a little bowling alley (2 lanes) and golf center. We went bowling on the last day as it was too cold to be outside for long. The sign for the bowling center had a picture of a naked lady with very pronounced boobs. It was pretty funny – I guess they equate boobs with bowling balls?!
There was also a big “jumpy castle” out on the beach for the kids. It was named DSNLY (I’m guessing this was supposed to be DISNEY) and had a fake Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck on it. They were both very weird looking, but the kids were having fun jumping all around. One hard thing to get used to here are the open crotch pants on toddlers. They have the nice outfits, with a hold down the middle of their pants, for easy access. So, on the bouncy castle, there’s a kid jumping and playing and bouncing around with everything hanging out for all the world to see. I don’t see how hygienic this is as other kids are playing right where his naked butt was sitting! Ewww….but what can you do?
All in all, we had a good trip and enjoyed seeing a different part of China. Hopefully, we’ll be doing quite a bit of travel and will get to experience many different things here.
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