For 5 seconds...

I forgot I was in China! Why, you ask? Because I hailed a taxi and got in the backseat, only to discover there were SEATBELTS! And they even worked! Now that was amazing, so amazing, I texted Anthony right away remarking on this wonderful discovery. But, alas, all good things must end and rather suddenly they did. The guy started driving and I quickly understood why he had seatbelts. This is China afterall.

Our Newest Adoptee

TITO!!!

He's a 4 month old kitten that was found in someone's garden. He was put up for adoption by a place here called SCAA (second chance animal aid) and we adopted him last weekend. He's cuddly and sweet and loves to play.

Our Little Brit

Daddy, look at the bike, they're rich.

No, they're not rich. [chuckle]

But the bike is posh. It's so posh.

(Ashley on way to school this morning)

You Can Never Have Too Many Towels

especially when 2 of your kids have the stomach virus at the same time! I used to think that having so many towels was a waste...ahhh, but now I know better. Nothing cleans up the puke as well as all those towels along with using 2 or 3 or even 4 to layer the ground around where the child is sitting or sleeping so that maybe, just maybe, you can avoid having to wash sheets, bedding, pillows, couches and rugs. I have also learned that just after you take a shower and clean yourself up, the kids must smell all that cleanliness and think, nows the time...and you are back to square one - standing holding a crying child who has just managed to puke all over your clean self and clean clothes. Who said having children was so much fun?

Watch out Disney!

Here's a story written by Ashley - although a bit confusing, surely Disney would want the rights to this one...

the fariey tale of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Willam
Once upon a time ther was a princess called Elizabeth and a Prince called Willam. they Lived in a castle far away in the Kingdom of olivia. and then Elizabeth did not like willam. She Liked Prince James. but Prince James did not like Princess Elizabeth he Liked Princess Sana. but then Princess Elizabeth Liked Prince willam again and Princess Elizabeth and Prince Willam mareid and Princess Sana and Prince James mareid. the end

A cheap UNO game

Here in China, we have noticed that the Chinese are very good at imitating – they copy anything and everything they can when it comes to consumer goods. For example, Ashley has a set of playing cards she got as a birthday gift this year. Liz and I decided to play a game with them today – they are California Barbie UNO cards – while playing, I noticed there were a large number of blue cards and sure enough, after checking the cards, there are only 3 colors in the deck, instead of 4 – so double the number of blue cards. I then thought I would check the box to see what brand it was – its’ a copy of a Mattel product – even have the red Mattell stamp on it – but upon looking closely – it says MaIIel instead of Mattel. Then on the side of the box, they list the phone number for the company, if you have any comments or questions – the number is 1(800)524-TOYS, which is the real Mattel US phone number. But, the website listed on the box is www.maiier.com. They even have the statement “safety tested. Conforms to astm F963” but do I dare believe that these copy cat cards have actually been safety tested? Not really.

One highlight of my days...

I have discovered something that just makes me giggle and smile – something so utterly adorable – of course, it involves my own child. I have discovered that I can sit for hours (ok, maybe not hours, but mintues for sure) and watch Ryken eat. I just find it fascinating and so cute. He LOVES food. He giggles when food is placed before him and lets us know in an extremely grumpy manner if it has been more than 30 minutes since food has last been in his mouth. He is trying so hard to eat with a fork and spoon and will often hold the spoon or fork in one hand and savor the taste of his other hand with food on it. He smacks and licks his lips and does all the disgusting things that I find so distasteful when an adult does it. A meal is an event for him, one that usually requires a bath or at least a good washing down afterwards. We have only found one thing he will not eat – Eggs. We’ve been able to trick him a few times by hiding the eggs in with ham and cheese and veggies. But if it’s a hard boiled egg or a fried egg – the second it touches his lips the tongue comes out and nothing can go back in. I keep trying though – every few weeks, I’ll give it to him again and so far, same reaction every time. I wonder at what age I will no longer find awful table manners adorable and the need for some real learning at the table to begin?

Taxi Woes

We needed to go to IKEA to look at some storage stuff for the kids toys. Finally decided to go on Sunday. It was raining, so thought taxi would be good way to go rather than subway since we’d have to walk around outside a bit. Maybe that wasn’t the best idea. Ryken got a bit carsick and threw up in the cab – mostly on the floor but a bit on the seat and on Anthony. We cleaned up what we could. The ride took about 1 hour and 20 minutes! Thank goodness I wasn’t holding him when he puked because I think I would have puked too – I was also feeling carsick. When the cab driver dropped us off, he got out to inspect his seat (all seats have these white covers on them here for easy washing and cleaning) – he was not happy at all and started yelling at us. But what we were to do. I handed him the fare plus a little bit extra to cover the cleaning cost – but he was still standing there yelling as we walked away. Of course, all in Chinese, so I have no idea what he was saying…but I can guess!

Once inside IKEA, I took Ryken to the bathroom to clean him up – stuck him the sink to wash him down – while one of the bathroom ayis (I call all cleaning people ayi’s and every bathroom has at least one cleaning lady) was yelling at me to move him – she thought I was letting him pee in the sink! I explained as best I could in broken Chinese and gestures (gagging with finger in mouth) what happened and she finally calmed down. Then I had about 15 women staring at us and talking in Chinese while I cleaned him and changed him – I am pretty sure we caused a huge traffic flow issue out of the bathroom as everyone wanted to see this white mom clean up her white baby boy. When he was completely naked with all his bits hanging lose, there was a lot of commotion as everyone wanted to see.

It is definitely true that we live in a bubble in Jinqiao area – where there are foreigners everywhere and although people like to see what I buy at the local supermarket, we don’t get many looks and our children are usually left alone. But when we step outside that bubble we become a spectacle and everyone wants to watch us, touch our kids, take our pictures and generally just be amazed by the fact we have three children.

We did take the subway home, which is a better mode of transportation when you have kids who may be carsick and aren’t strapped into a car seat or even a seat belt. Although, I still do not understand how any handicapped or wheelchair bound people can go ANYWHERE in this city! The way to get down to the subway when we had to transfer lines was only by stairs. There was an elevator sign and we tried taking it, but it didn’t go to the right floor or right area. It was three flights of stairs. Luckily, we have a WONDERFUL stroller that only weighs 9 lbs, so carrying the stroller and Ryken isn’t that difficult.

It went around...

no worries - the typhoon went right around Shanghai. We stayed home all day, waiting and watching the radar, but it never got very windy. Just a bit of rain and a little wind. Ashley is back at school today and Liz is still home. I'm not sure why her school was cancelled for the day, but it gives her some mommy time, which is good for her. Then I get to hear her say things like "mommy, everytime I keep picking hard boogers out my nose that are black".

It's only been less than one year since....

our last typhoon! So, here we go again.

Typhoon heading for Shanghai

Kids school has been cancelled - Ashley for tomorrow and Liz for tomorrow and Thursday. After school activities were cancelled today for Ashley's school - was her first day of music class, so that sucks! It's been raining all day. I used a taxi to pick up Liz, made him wait, then take us both over to pick up Ashley. Due to the sure number of private drivers picking up students, there is no room for a waiting taxi at Ashley's school and it's impossible to catch a taxi because they can't get through all the private cars - so we walked home in the rain. We all got soaked but the girls had fun splashing in the pouring water. I saw some little frogs floating upside down going downstream in the water - sad.

This is an interesting way to keep tabs on the typhoon - this guy is CRAZY, but I'll be watching to see how he fares the brunt of the storm!

Culinary Delights

It was not an adventurous weekend by any means! Both Friday and Saturday night were Papa John’s Pizza! Friday night we had dinner with Ashley’s best friend’s parents at their house – after Ashley had a playdate at their house – so pizza was the best and easiest thing for dinner – it was supreme with wine. Saturday night was dinner at another family’s house – ones that Anthony had met on the street months ago and got contact info from. They have 3 kids, all similar ages, but opposite gender. The girls had a blast playing with the boys and it was fun to see them all get along so well. Again, we had pizza, this time pepperoni with beer – branching out a bit. It was nice being sociable and meeting some new people and having some fun. Today, we had New Orleans style food for lunch at a place called Café Du Monde – the food is excellent. And dinner was at The Flying Fox – which is an Irish place – with Guiness Stew, usually very yummy.

Ashley got a new bike last weekend – with gears – so she’s been busy riding her bike and trying out all the gears. Liz started using Ashley’s old bike today and did great riding it around. I am starting to get used to riding the bike everywhere – even in the rain – which I really do not enjoy by any means! But it’s manageable, as long as it’s not pouring. This last week, I forgot to pull the rain poncho over the top of the handle bars, so it was just laying down the front side of me and I got SOAKED through – it kept riding up every time I would pedal and water would just come pouring in – I think that was a 4 shower day. I just keep reminding myself that I am helping the environment by not having a car. When it’s nice outside, I don’t have to say that to myself, as it is great riding around in the sunshine and warmth. But, when it’s raining out I have to remind myself over and over and over again – as I grind my teeth and charge through the cold and wetness.

Help, I'm Stolen!

subway sign in Shanghai -what number should I call if I am stolen?

Breast Enhancement

This is an ad on the backseat of a taxi in Shanghai. I'm not sure what it is for, but with the pictures I am assuming it's some sort of breast enhancement device. Looks like so much fun.

School, date night and weekend

Liz survived her first week at school. The first day she was happy to be left, the second day, she was not so happy and the third day, she screamed and grabbed my leg and wouldn’t let go. They said she refused to talk to anyone during the morning class but after lunch, she was fine and played and chatted. She loved going on Thursday, because it was swimming day! And Friday, she went but not really happily. I thought we might have issues today but she was quite happy to go and talked about school and what she was going to play with. Once there, she went to her room – changed her shoes and walked in to put her toothpaste away. She wanted me to walk her to the window where she could see me when I left, then she said goodbye and gave me a hug. No crying, screaming or fighting to stay today. I left and waved goodbye to her from outside (she’s on the second story so I think she likes seeing me from above as I cycle off home). Hopefully, she’s been active today and talkative.

Our weekend was good – the girls both started in gymnastics classes on Saturday. I took Liz first to the wrong building and then had to walk back to the right one. We walked next to a man and his daughter going to the same class – a taxi pulled up to the stop light and stopped in the crosswalk (a Very common occurrence here if they even stop for the light) and the guy who was walking, just kept walking straight OVER THE HOOD of the taxi! Instead of getting mad and realizing why the guy was walking on his car, the taxi driver just laughed amused at the guy.

Liz took a while to participate in the gymnastics class and I was dreading having signed her up – I was having to hold her hand and help her do some tumbles and things while ALL the OTHER parents sat against the far side of the gym watching their children participate and laugh and have fun. But, eventually, I was able to walk away and she actually listened to the teachers and did some things and she’s really good! She even smiled a few times. I was able to sit for a few minutes and watch her. I also watched some of the parents – there were many dads there as Saturday and Sunday are dad days here since not much time during the week is spent with dad – and there were many “blackberry” dads – those guys sitting on the floor of the gym – typing on their blackberry and randomly looking up.

Ashley liked her class and I have no idea what she did in it as the parents weren’t allowed to watch.

Saturday night, Anthony and I headed out for a date – we went to a few different areas, trying to find a place to eat – finally ended up at a weird local Chinese restaurant attached to a mall – the food was so-so. We had ordered a round of beer and it came very cold. Ordered a second round and mine was cold, but Anthony’s was not. They opened it before letting us see if it was cold or not – then because it was warm brought out ice to cool it down. Not exactly the best way to drink beer, but he was thirsty.

The place we were reminded me a bit of Taipei as there were lots of street vendor selling jewelry, purses and clothes on the sidewalk. There was even a bit of a pet market for puppies – oh so CUTE! But to buy from a pet market here is basically buying an animal for a few months – they tend not to live very long.

On Sunday, we went to a place called Bubbas (a BBQ place opened by a Texan) and watched some of the UT game from Saturday. It was a nice gathering of UT fans and ok food. It’s hard to enjoy a game with kids running underfoot – and cranky ones at that – Ryken did not take a nap! But we did the best we could and saw the UT victory. Looking at the crowd yesterday, really did not seem like we were in China!

I'm Back

I found a way around the blocking of the blog here in China – as least for now. So, I am able to post and see the blog again! Thanks to this site:

Liz starts school tomorrow and Ashley had an amazing first week at her new school. She’s already made a best friend (from England, of course) and her English accent has returned full force!

Summer Days Gone Bye

We are finally settled into an apartment in Shanghai. It has been a LONG difficult journey since June when we left Beijing with 5 suitcases and what seems like 10 carry-ons. I’m sure it wasn’t that many, but traveling through airports with kids, carseats, backpacks and rolling carry-ons sure makes for some difficult traveling. Our flight to the States went well , with no major issues.

Two minor annoyances in the Beijing airport - first not allowing the family into the lounge with A (who is platinum or whatever it takes to be in the lounge). They said only the ‘platinum holder’ was allowed – so he just went in and took the free food and drinks and brought them out to us. The other annoyance – we had already gone through security, so had done the whole “no liquids” thing - there were liquid drink vending machines in the terminal next to the boarding area of our plane, so we figured we were allowed to bring liquids bought AFTER security onto the plane. We bought water and orange juice and put them in our carryons. During boarding, the agents were checking through all bags and threw away all the unopened bottles we had just bought. ARGH! No signs, no information saying you can’t bring on board the plane. VERY FRUSTRATING!

The plane was full of some older American travelers who had just finished a tour of Beijing – they were definitely having some fun on the plane which made for some interesting people watching. You know when the captain turns on the fasten seat belt sign and says everyone needs to sit down for turbulence – AND THERE IS NO TURBULENCE – that someone has been having a bit too much fun on the plane.

It was wonderful being back home – visiting with friends and family. It was quite hectic with the three kids – going around visiting with people isn’t as easy when there are more kids – and one of them has to take a nap everyday. The kids were troopers though – going everywhere and staying in different houses without much fuss. Anthony went back to Shanghai weeks before the kids and me. I visited family in AZ with all the kids (never again will I fly alone with 3 kids until the youngest is able to sit in a seat by himself and watch a movie for the whole flight) and tried to visit with friends/family once back in TX. I did not get a chance to visit with everyone who I wanted to – and for those who missed out on seeing us, I am truly sorry and sincerely hope that next summer there will be better planning on our part.

My friend, P, took up the offer of a trip to China in exchange for helping me fly with the three kids back to Shanghai. She was truly a godsend and helped keep me sane during the trip – especially when the pilot turned the plane around 2.5 hours into our flight out of San Francisco and made an announcement that there was an alarm in the cargo hold that was going off and SF told him he needed to return for safety. ARGH. I have a rather high anxiety level when flying and this setback DID NOT HELP! So, 5 hours after we left SF, we returned to SF. Stayed on the plane for 2 hours – with lots of chinese high school students – before taking off again on the same plane. Talk about a NON RELAXING flight. The kids were absolutely positively angels during the flight. They slept a good portion of the flight and there were no fits going on at all. I was very impressed with their behavior – maybe they sensed the anxiety level in mom and decided that mom having a nervous breakdown on the plane wasn’t the way to go. So about 19 hours after getting on that plane, we arrived in Shanghai – at 2:30 in the morning! Everyone was happy to see Anthony waiting on the other side of customs.

We stayed for about a week at a serviced apartment and then moved into our new apartment. It is a good area with lots of greenery around. I am truly amazed at the pollution difference between here and Beijing. Not having dust everywhere and dirt covering everything is so nice. I have seen so many blue sky days that I just can’t believe it. That part of Shanghai I really do like.

Is He a Girl?

Back of Ryken's Head

My ayi keeps telling me when she's out and about with Ryken, all the other ayis ask if "it's a girl?". I LOVE his hair - it is so cute and curly! It's starting to get pretty long and sometimes I call him my clown boy since he's kinda got that curly side hair thing. But, it's adorable. I suppose since he often plays with all the girlie toys we have - purses, dolls, barbies and yes, even puts hair bands and clips in his hair - people may think he's a girl. But I just can't cut it. Check out this photo - my little pirate man with a pink cell phone and black purse.

The Things We Miss...

By being expats and living overseas, we often have to miss things we would rather not. Like, my sister's HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATION! I am so proud of her and want to say "CONGRATULATIONS sis"! I wish I could have been there, but she'll have to wait for a congratulatory hug until July.

Truck Overload

This is a COMMON site here in Beijing. This truck was going by our house - and stuff started to fall off the back. I took the picture when they were starting to pile stuff back onto the truck. The end of the truckbed is right at the left side of the gate.

No censoring?

I'm sitting here watching CNN International and they just did 2 stories on China that did not get blacked out. Occassionally, the TV will go black when there is a story on CNN or the Australian Channel (ABC) that the censors don't want to be shown in China. I am quite surprised that one of these 2 stories made it through the censors - as it does not make the government look good. One story was about some rioting that has been going on in rural villages regarding the enforcement of the "one child policy". Apparently, there have been government officials going around trashing peoples houses and belongings if the women don't agree to forced sterilization or birth control, along with fines up to 10 times the annual salary of these villagers.
Guardian Unlimited Story on Riots
The other story was interesting and funny as it was a CNN reporter going into one of the major "designer" markets to buy knock offs (looked like Silk Street Market to me). It was funny to see him haggling and dealing just like we have to everytime we shop at a market. He was able to buy a whole "designer" outfit for around $100, uncluding socks, underwear and a "rolex" watch. One reason I love shopping in the States, even if it is more expensive - I know I'm getting something that is going to last longer than one wash.
Article on Silk Street This is an article I found doing some searching on silk street market. The only reason tourists go there is to buy fake designer labels at a cheap price. I find it hilarious that there are people reporting less fakes being sold. Two years ago, the market was sued by some international brand names. I believe they don't sell those fakes anymore (although if you bring a picture of anything you are looking for, I bet there is someone there who can show you the same "fake" piece either in "the back" or "under the table". I mean this literally.).

Ashley's birthday!

Ashley's birthday is tomorrow - she'll be SIX years old! She is growing up so fast. We had a party for her on Friday, after school. We'd invited her whole class (24 kids!) at her request. Luckily, the clubhouse here is able to cater kids birthday parties, including bouncy castles, so I didn't have a ton of work to do. I got her a cake from a wonderful bakery here called Exquisite. The price was HIGH - but the cake was GORGEOUS. A pink and purple castle. She loved it and it tasted wonderful. Reminded me of the cakes my mom made when I was growing up. The cake was strawberry flavor with buttercream icing. Yummy. We had the party in a small park across the street from our clubhouse - next to a little pond. It was a beautiful sunny day and just perfect for a party. Anthony did some games such as "Simon Says" and "Hot Potato" and "Musical Chairs". I think Musical Chairs was the favorite. The kids really seemed to enjoy that one. It was pretty overwhelming to have 20 kids (I think that's how many showed up) at the party but it turned out well and Ashley was thrilled with her party. We started a new tradition of not opening up gifts at the party - from what I've seen, only Americans do this at parties - it worked out really well. We were able to slow the process down and have Ashley open up a few at a time over the weekend so she could really enjoy them.

I've had a cold, so that hasn't been too fun. Luckly, Anthony was home this weekend for the party and for letting me get some much needed rest. He just left this evening to go back to Shanghai. It sucks when he leaves and we are definitely getting tired of this back and forth thing. I will be so relieved when we are all together in Shanghai.

Cute Video from Thailand

I posted this video yesterday. It's a few months old, from our last trip to Thailand. Whenever I watch it, I am so proud of Ashley. She's such an outgoing brave little girl who isn't afraid of much. She was thrilled to get to go up on the elephant and she was so happy when he did a little trick - turn your volume up and listen closely at around 7 seconds she squealls with delight.

Liz, on other hand, was cowering in fright as close to me as possible - trying to make herself as small as possible. She's not a big fan of animals - big or small! Oh, the differences between siblings!

Ryken loves to dance

Here's a video of Ryken dancing in the car to his favorite music - the soundtrack to Curious George - Jack Johnson & Friends. He makes me smile and giggle everytime he dances.

And on a lighter note...

Liz can now ride her bike WITHOUT training wheels! She decided she wanted to do this last week and she did it. Anthony only had to help her out just a few times and she got the hang of it rather quickly. She's still a little wobbly in her steering so no tours just yet. Maybe another "L Armstrong" in the making :)

Where does it come from?

Where does the product you are using come from?

This is something that has become an important question to me. While in the States, I didn’t really ever think about this. I simply trusted that anything being sold in the States was of good quality. It never occurred to me that it would matter. But here, in China, this is a big question. And in light of the recent event of contaminated pet food across the world, which came from China, I would say it is also a big question all over the world. It is amazing what gets exported here into the States and other countries, with little to no quality control. In China, anything can be faked, forged, replicated, reproduced, changed, etc. If it costs them less or makes them more money, they will do it, no matter what the cost. I do believe that this stems from a lack of education and not that these people really want to harm others.

Click on this to read an article from the NYTimes. This is one extremely sad case where someone decided it would be easier and cheaper to substitute a lethal product for sugar in medications, which was then shipped out over the world.

Being here in China, I hear all sorts of horror stories about China. Some examples of things I’ve read or been told (possibly just gossip) are (this is just from my memory and may or may not be completely true):

The pollution is so bad that metals are sinking in the ground from the air and contaminating farming fields.

Don’t trust your bottled water, even with a name brand on it, it could be fake (one company here has set up a number system on stickers where you can go to a website and check to make sure it is a real bottle that hasn’t been used before).

See that man spraying “water” on the side of the road? It’s not water, it’s “medicine” for the insects or pesticides, which is now all over your car because you drove past him as he was spraying it everywhere.

Be careful of medicines you buy here in China, even from reputable pharmacies, they may be fake or sugar pills.

Name brand liquor sold here is often diluted down with cheaper liquor or water.

The furniture you buy that is made here could be harmful to you and your children as it’s possibly made with toxic paint, toxic wood and toxic glue.

Shrimp farms use antibiotics to treat the shrimp, along with banned pesticides in the water to prevent algae buildup (figures I’ve seen are roughly 70-80% of the WORLDS shrimp comes from China)

Now, it appears that with all the export business going on with China, these sub-standards are going out across the world. Along with my most recent post about challenging yourself to go “greener” and think about your impact on the world, I would also challenge you to think more about the products you use, not just food. Although it is IMPOSSIBLE to know exactly where everything you have is coming from – just being aware of this and trying to buy some things locally is a good idea. I find it a bit ironic that many people with only buy American made cars, claiming that they want to support the local people and not foreign industry, but there is no big push to buy locally made food, grocery products, clothes etc. I do understand that the cost of buying locally made items tends to be higher and in order to save money, people need to buy the cheaper items which are usually imported in from other countries. I am not saying never to buy imported items, just to be aware of what you are buying and where it is coming from.

I also find it quite interesting that all those items you buy in the States that are “made in china” are usually impossible to find in the country itself. And when you do find something that seems like a great product you could find back home, it is often either a forgery or something that doesn’t work right or has problems. So, the government here allows quality control on items that are being exported but if it’s being sold in the country, there is no quality control. For example, I’ve heard that if there is something that doesn’t pass inspections or quality control on the way to export, it just gets turned around and sold here in the country. So, a piece of furniture may have paint used on it that contains lead – this wouldn’t be allowed to be sold in other countries, so they just sell it here. It doesn’t matter what gets sold here. There is so little education here about the quality of things, they have no idea that what they may be using could injure or kill them.

I’m sure this probably just seems like a big ‘ole ramble – at least it seems rambling as I write it. Hopefully, it comes across better than I feel I’ve stated it.

The next question I’m sure to hear is “why do you continue living and working over there then?”! At some point, I’ll try to address that question.

Vacation Week Over

We had a great week with Anthony home on vacation and the girls off of school. I got to go away for some much needed ALONE time for 2 nights! Anthony put me up at the Hyatt downtown for 2 nights. I spent a lot of time reading, walking and window shopping. It was enjoyable, even with the masses of people around due to the May holiday.

Anthony and I also got a night away by ourselves - without the kids! The first time since before Ryken was born (unless you count the night we spent in the hospital while I had surgery on my nose, not exactly romantic, but hey, there were no kids). We left the kids with the ayi and went about 1.5 hours away. It was weird not being right there with them, but we trust the ayi and she loves our kids so much. They did great and had a good time without us. It was also wonderful to have a super happy excited greeting by the kids when we got home.

We stayed the night at a place on the wall - in a little "cabin" made to look like a little cave. Other than lots of bugs in the place, it was a really nice place. To walk about 1 minute and be on the wall was also pretty cool. It was a neat part of the wall, not restored, so harder to climb and but cool to look at. I didn't climb as much as I wanted due to my still sore ankle.

Rug Day

We bought some new rugs. I've been wanting a good rug for the living room for a LONG time now and we finally broke down and got one. There are so many places to buy rugs here - and at a large variety of prices. You can buy pure silk, pure wool and fake stuff too. It's quite overwhelming, which is one reason I hesitated buying one. When I had some curtains made here, the lady told me she knew a warehouse she could take me to look at carpets. So I called Brenda, the curtain lady, and asked if we could go look at carpets. She had us meet here there - a warehouse for a Beijing carpet company. We checked out all the carpets and there were many that we liked. Some were quite expensive (around 1000 US) and some not too bad. I also asked if they had kids rugs and they had the most adorable kids dinosaur rug - I just had to get it for Ryken's room. So there they are, the two rugs we ended up with:

Wool and Silk Carpet - changes color with light

Ryken's Room - wool rug

The Environment and Me

I live in a country where the environment is of little concern to the majority of it’s people. I think one of the reasons for this is that most people here are just trying to survive, on the littlest amount of money possible – so if something is cheap, that’s what they will use, no matter how bad for the environment it is. Or if they can make more money by using certain products, no matter what cost to the environment, they will. There are so many examples of this across China, it’s utterly amazing to me. Illegal factories, overuse of pesticides and fertilizers, the use of banned products in production of wood are just a few small examples. Seeing the horrible Beijing pollution firsthand and hearing all of the horrible stories of how the pollution across China has affected people here, has made me very aware of what we, as people, are doing to the environment.

In light of this, I am making a conscious effort to help our planet, to contribute to being more “green”. This can be quite hard and often overwhelming here in China, where I can’t read or speak the language fluently. Here are a few ways I have started trying to make a dent:

1. Use cloth diapers for the kids – Ryken is in cloth about 90% of the time and the girls both are using cloth “pull-ups” for night time.

2. Air-drying as many clothes as possible. With the pollution and the amount of sand blowing around in Beijing, this can be quite difficult to do – so often I hang wet clothes up inside to air dry them. When it is clear and sunny out, it’s a nice day to do laundry and have clothes air dry.

3. Use fewer paper towels – when we first arrived in Beijing, I often wished for a Costco or Sams Club, where I could buy things in bulk, like paper towels. We would go through a roll of paper towels in just a few days. I eventually realized that we don’t NEED paper towels.

4. Look for environmentally friendly products – this is the most difficult part to do here. The government has started to “certify” certain products with a little green label when they decide something is environmentally good. The problem with this is that everything is in Chinese and I often don’t trust this little label – things here are often fake in order to make more money, so it’s difficult for me to trust if something is truly what it is intended to be. So, for now, although this costs me more money, I buy things imported from other countries that are labeled in English, with ingredients I can read. These include cleaning products, laundry detergent and food.

5. Eat organic food – This is also quite difficult here. Luckily, it is becoming easier. There is a company that has started delivering organic vegetables, fruits and grains – I can place orders 2 times a week and it is delivered to the house. Yes, it is more expensive, but in a country where in ground pollution is rampant, it is so important to me to have a reliable source of produce that is organic. I attended a seminar on the “organic movement” here in China. The difficulty of going organic is the amount of time involved and that little money is made by farmers who do go organic. I’ve heard stories of farmers who have certified their land as organic – then at night, when no one is looking, they go out and spray fertilizer and pesticide on their land in order to ensure a good crop, with good looking fruit/vegetables. Farmers and distributors will get fake organic labels made up and stick them on their produce so that people think it’s organic when really it isn’t. I completely understand the whole idea of “knowing your local farmers”.

I am definitely not someone who can say they do everything they can to help the environment. I am trying to do my best for now and research things and continue to improve how I live everyday and how I impact the rest of the world. I still use a vehicle more often than I would like. One of the things I am looking forward to in Shanghai is living within walking distance of stores and schools, at least that is our goal.

I would challenge each of you to think more about the environment, think more about your impact on the world.

For those interested in China

Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting on China's Naked Capitalism

Read the articles on conditions ranging from inequality to pollution that earned the Wall Street Journal a Pulitzer Prize for international reporting.

These are very interesting reading for those who have an interest in China.

It's broken mommy

That's what I heard at 6:30 in the morning. Anthony read somewhere about putting an alarm clock in the kids room to go off when they are allowed to get up. So I set the alarm clock for 7, told the girls that when it went off in the am they could get up and come wake me. I hear them talking and playing around 6 this morning and at 6:30, Ashley comes in my room and tells me "the alarm clock, it's broken mommy, it hasn't gone off". Well, that's because it is set for 7 and it is only 6:30, so you have another half hour. "but mommy, that's too long!" ARGH! So much for the alarm clock theory.

5 am - Early?

Who thinks 5 am is early?! I certainly do, but not my 3 year old! The sun rises around then here and it seems as soon as there is a bit of light peeking through the curtain, she thinks it's time to get up. She woke up Ashley, who was not happy to be woken up early. And of course, after pleading with her for 2 hours to go back to sleep, at 7:00, when I needed her to start getting ready for the day, she complains she's tired and wants to go back to sleep. I know that kids have shared rooms all throughout the years, but I don't know how parents survive it. My kids just can not share a room without being completely exhausted and grumpy from each other. I am about to put the baby in my room (ARGH!) so that Ashley can have a room to get some good sleep in and Liz can have a room to get up with the sun.

But I'm NOT Tired

I've been having lots of issues getting Liz to sleep everynight. I really have no idea how each night is going to go and am quite surprised when it goes well. Given that the girls share a room and Ashley is usually keen to go to sleep, it is difficult to do any sort of bedtime enforcement for Liz - who will cry and scream for hours. The other night, I actually had Ashley tell me, with tears building up, to just be nice to Liz - that I should just let her have baby and go to sleep (Liz was refusing to lay down and I said she couldn't have her baby until she laid down). Poor Ashley doesn't enjoy dealing with Liz at bedtime and neither do I. I finally have just given up the fight. I get both girls ready for bed, do the whole routine, read stories, lay down and then just leave the room. If Liz gets up and follows me, I don't say anything, just go about my business and pretend she's not there. Sometimes, like tonight, this works GREAT! After 5 minutes of me doing other stuff, here is where I found Liz in the living room - and she said she wasn't tired...

Sleeping

What is our driver doing right now? Sleeping...with his head on the steering wheel. Good thing we aren't driving anywhere! We have a sub driver, as Simon is out for the day and I asked him to come at 12:30, but I wasn't feeling well and feel asleep (guess it's a sleepy day here). I went out to him at 1:30 to let him know I didn't need the car until 2:30 and I had to shake him to wake him up. I am now eating lunch inside and looking out my window he's asleep again. It's quite a funny sight to see in front of my house.

Mahjong

I've decided to learn how to play mahjong. Every other week, I get together with a group of women here who are also learning to play and we learn new rules and play together. I think it's a pretty complex game, so far, I've only learned the basics. I have heard there are many different variations to the game, including a "western style" for foreigners. Not sure why the foreigners need their own style. You can buy different sets, with the numbers written in English (1,2,3...) on them or with the Chinese Characters for the numbers. Today, I played with the English tiles and last time, I played with the Chinese characters. Makes one learn the number characters quite fast. I find it a fun game and it feels good to "use my brain" every once in a while! So, look out my friends! When I'm back home in the States, we'll have to set up a Mahjong night (the guys get poker, we can do Mahjong)!

Subway Collapse

Don't know if this made the news in the US or not...I found it quite disturbing.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-03/30/content_5917218.htm

What to do?

on a bright, sunny, beautiful RARE day here in Beijing, with three children, no husband and no ayi...go to Chaoyang Park! This is a wonderful park which has some great amusement rides for the kids. I wouldn't say that everything is in great condition (I mean, we are in China!), but most of them are rideable. The girls had a blast in the big jumpy castle - they probably ran around for an hour or so, while I tried speaking Chinese to lots of elderly Chinese women who ohed and ahed over our "pong" (Fat) baby boy. He was sitting in the stroller and got lots of attention. One lady was very attentive and kept speaking to me over and over again, but I could not understand anything she was saying. Luckily, a Chinese woman from England who spoke both English and Chinese, was able to tell me that the woman was from Shichuan (not sure about the spelling) and had a very strong accent for that region - so it wasn't just me and my bad understanding of Chinese, it was her strong accent!

The girls had lots of fun going on rides at the park - Ashley even went on her first real roller coaster ride - it lasted about 20 seconds - but it counts in my book. We walked a ton and got to see some cherry blossom trees blooming, which are beautiful. All the kids were exhausted when we got home.

I probably shouldn't have walked so much on my leg, but being cooped up in the house surely would have driven me more insane than I already am. I saw the doc today and was informed that I stretched the ligaments in this last fall and may have even tore some of them - we'll have to wait for 3 more weeks to see how the healing process is going. It still hurts quite a bit and I don't have full range of movement on the ankle. I'm supposed to stay off of it as much as possible, keep it elevated and wrapped for another 3 weeks. Fun, fun, fun. Not so easy to do! Especially now that the weather is finally turning nice - it's sunny and bright and getting warmer.

Funny China Story Time

Dog in hospital after mating(China Daily)Updated: 2007-03-27 09:22

A male dog in Chengdu, Sichuan, had to receive an intravenous drip in hospital after being given Viagra and made to mate with three female dogs on a single day.
Wang, the dog's owner, has been very busy since mating season arrived. Her dog is considered handsome, and many owners of female dogs want her dog to sire puppies with their pets. Wang can earn more than 1,000 yuan ($128) per breeding session, so in order to boost her earnings she fed her dog Viagra and made it mate with three female dogs last Sunday. The effort was apparently strenuous enough that the dog had to be taken to hospital.

(Chengdu Evening News)

She can ride on two wheels

Ashley can ride a bike without training wheels! We are all so excited for her. She’s wanted to do this for months and has been trying, but she’s been scared. We knew she could do it, if she got enough confidence in herself and her abilities. And this weekend, she did it. At first, we needed to help her get going, but then she figured that out too. We are working on going around corners and bumpy paths. She fell on the way to school this morning, but I made sure she was wearing pants on the way, so she didn’t skin her knees. Her friend, Kathleen, gave her a card congratulating her on riding her bike without training wheels and Ashley just beamed.

Day by Day

Anthony has started his job in Shanghai. He flies there on Sunday evenings and comes back to Beijing on Thursday night. It is hard having him gone for the week, although we stay so busy with the kids after school activities that it does go by quickly.

Things got a bit hairy last week when I took a fall (yes, again!) and twisted my ankle. I thought it was allright, but once I tried to stand up afterwards, I couldn’t put any pressure on it. So, off I went to the doctor. Thank goodness for the ayi and for friends as they were all able to take care of the kids at the last minute so I could go. They did Xrays and determined that nothing was broken, just a bad sprain. My foot swelled up and is now mostly purple and yellow. I was on crutches for a few days and did a lot of butt crawling up and down the stairs. It’s getting better, but it’s definitely a day by day thing. I’m hoping soon I can fit it into a regular shoe and can stop wearing my slippers everywhere.

Ashley and Liz are both taking swimming lessons now. We had a major breakthrough 2 weeks ago when Liz put her head in the water while wearing goggles – because Liz did it, then Ashley did it – so we have finally gotten past that part. Liz is much more into learning how to swim and enjoys putting her head in and swimming around – she’s trying to see how long she can stay underwater – if she can beat her swim instructor. Ashley, on the other hand, is very much ready to just doggie paddle her way through the water without getting her head wet in anyway. So, the instructor sure does have his work cut out for him.

Some Videos

I've posted some videos on Youtube...

Ryken's First Attempts at Walking

Liz taking video without me knowing it

Watch This Movie

Today, I was privileged to be able to watch the Oscar Winning Movie “The Blood of Yingzhou District”. Although what I watched was not the original full length movie that won the Oscar – it was a modified, shortened version that has been released in China – only for viewing by private audiences and not for distribution (at least I think that’s what was said) – apparently the gov’t here wouldn’t approve the full version (about 10 minutes longer) for viewing because it shows the gov’t here in a bad way. Anyway, the film is great, very sad and disturbing. It’s about AIDS orphans in remote villages in southern China. I am glad that attention is being brought to this horrible situation. If you get a chance, please go see this film – it is so amazing that this has happened and is going on in the present day and age. I was told today that the movie is being released across the US in small theatres and this summer, in June, the movie will be shown on the Discovery Channel. Keep an eye out for it, definitely worth watching.

Let it snow, let it snow

photo from http://www.china.org.cn/english/environment/201455.htm

It snowed last night here in Beijing! We went out for dinner at Hatsune, our favorite Japanese restaurant - I absolutely LOVE sushi now - and then went out to a "cuban" bar for a few drinks. While sitting in the bar, I kept looking outside, thinking how the raindrops were so big, I could see them really clearly through the window. That's when I realized it was snow - and it quickly piled up. It was a beautiful drive home through the snow. The ground is warm, so it was mainly just slush - no real fear of it turning into ice as it wasn't cold enough. The girls played in the snow today, making snowmen, until some boys came and knocked the snowmen over (boys are MEAN!). Most of it melted by the end of the day. It was nice to see some snow though - it's the first precipitation we've had here since December 31st. Hopefully, it will clean some of the air up for a few days.

And the Fireworks Continue...

http://www.china.org.cn/english/China/200697.htm

Just read this article online, after listening to the fireworks here nonstop, insane for the last 2 hours. Took a long time to get the kids to bed tonight it is so loud - well, Ryken and Liz anyway. Ashley is the heaviest sleeper I have ever known so it doesn't bother her. So, according to the article, this should be the last night of fireworks 'till next year. I am really hoping so as I am seriously tired of the constant barrage of noise every night!

Ryken's One Year Stats

Ryken went in for his one year checkup and got his height, weight and head circumference measured. For those interested, here are the results.

Weight 12.5 kg or 27.5 lbs

Height 79.2 cm or 31.2 inches

Head 48.8 cm or 19.2 inches

Basically, what all that means, is that he's a big, happy and healthy boy. He's above the 90th percentile for everything.

Frustrating Days

We have ants in our kitchen – AGAIN. We had a large infestation last summer and now the ants are back. I’ve taped up a hole in the cabinets and that kept them at bay for about a day. But then, this morning, I opened up one of our cabinets and there were many, many ants. I called the local management office to have them come and try and take care of the problem. They came, pulled the dishwasher out, said it was all bad and they needed to do some caulk work. I said ok. They said it costs money and I must pay them. I said no – I am refusing to keep paying for maintenance and upkeep of the house when the landlord should be the one paying for these things. They seemed confused and said ok, they would send a quotation to the landlord to get approval to caulk part of the cabinet. ARGH. Yes, a quotation to put about 2 feet worth of caulk in the kitchen has to be sent to the landlord for approval in order for them to fix anything. This is ridiculous. I am quite frustrated right now about the whole rental thing with a landlord who isn’t accessible and a rental agent who only cares about getting money for herself, not about keeping the client happy.

We also had a rather large heating bill for December, when we weren’t even here for 2 weeks and I have complained and the rental agent just said to me – who cares, isn’t the company paying for it anyway? – Yes, this is the type of service we get. It sucks. That is one thing about China that I get really, really sick of. Customer Service. It just doesn’t exist (unless you are willing to pay for it).

Mortgage your credentials

This is a sign in a local grocery store – the sign says not to take the cart outside the store, but if you have too, you can “mortgage your credentials”. Not quite sure how to go about doing that, but I guess they really care about their grocery carts.

Happy Birthday to RYKEN!!!!

Happy Birthday Ryken! He is ONE YEAR OLD today! I can’t believe it’s already been a year, my baby, no longer a baby. We didn’t really celebrate at all – since Anthony’s out of town for work. We did open a few of the presents from Grandmom and Grandad – he enjoyed the boy toys – the girls actually took the boy toys and put them on their heads as hats and face masks. We will do a cake and simple "party" for him this weekend when Anthony is back in town.

Xin Nian Kuai Le

Happy Chinese New Year!

The fireworks going on here are amazing - it does sound like a warzone! Tonight is the official New Years Eve celebration and it's loud and colorful. We ate at the clubhouse (Tokyo Teppanyaki) - and thought it ironic that we were eating Japanese food on Chinese New Year night - oops. It was good though. The fireworks were going off so we decided to bundle everyone up and take a walk around outside the complex. Even with all the loud noise, Ryken fell asleep and Liz was quiet the entire time. For weeks, she's been saying how scared she is of fireworks, but she was excited to see them tonight and enjoyed looking at them.

Happy Valentine's Day

Ashley had to write on a heart at school for Valentine's Day - she was supposed to write down the names of those she loves. She wrote " I love Kathleen and Ella and Hugo". All her friends. Did she write "I love mommy and daddy"? Nope. And on our fridge that night, did she write "I love you mommy thank you for the chocolate"? Nope. She wrote "I love you Kathleen". Her best friend.

Anniversary means Party?!

That’s what Ashley was hoping earlier this month when Anthony and I celebrated a day that we consider a mini anniversary. It’s not our real anniversary (that’s in August), but it is a day we consider special and unique to us. We mentioned to Ashley that we were celebrating this special day the morning of and Ashley immediately became excited! She asked to take our wedding photo into school and I thought, sure, why not? I thought it was sweet she wanted to show her teacher. So, she took it to school and immediately told her teacher it was our anniversary. Instead of explaining the whole thing to the teacher at drop off time, I just let it go, said thanks and went home. When I went to pick Ashley up from her ballet class, there were parents already there and they congratulated me on my anniversary! I must have looked perplexed and they said that Ashley made an announcement before ballet and told everyone there,all the kids, all the teachers and all the parents! I never imagined that our anniversary would mean so much to Ashley, that she would even recognize what it meant – and I found out later, when we arrived home, that she doesn’t know what it means! She immediately asked when we were having the party and where the cake was. Yep, she was excited because when I said “celebrating” she blocked all else out of her mind and just thought “party, sweets, candy, ice cream, cake”. She was quite disappointed when I explained it all to her. Poor Kid. But, as she pointed out afterwards, Ryken’s birthday is only in a few weeks, so we’ll have a birthday party then, right mom?

Liz is Married!

Ok, so not really, I mean, come on, she's only 3! But, tonight, Anthony had a friend come over from work - he works in Taipei. Liz has never seen this guy before. But, she's all excited that he's coming over for dinner. She's runs outside to greet him when the taxi shows up. Then, she wants to know if he's eating with us. She talks to him and chats. I tell her it's bathtime and she wants to know if he'll (let's call him Tom) still be here when she's done with bath, then asks if Tom can see her pajamas. I tell her yes, he can (thinking she means, can he see me in my pj's?). That's not what she meant, she takes her PJ's downstairs to show him! After her bath, she goes downstairs and asks him to brush her wet hair. This is hilarious since she has never asked anyone to brush her hair and Tom has never brushed a kids head before! She chats to him the whole time (which is so unusual for her) and she decides to marry him. She tells him they are getting married and dances for him in the living room. Ahhh, this is the first sign of trouble I have seen out of this child. As I put her bed, she aks if Tom is staying the night because she wants to see him tomorrow. Too bad her little heart will be broken when I tell her he won't be back becuase he's going to his girlfriend in Taiwan!

Toaster Oven, Iron, Vacuum and Bedding

What do all these things have in common? They were the giveaway gifts for every employee at Anthony's company's party last night for Chinese New Year. Every employee recieved a ticket with a number and a Chinese character on it. There were four characters, one for each prize. So if your ticket had the character that was chosen for the iron, then you got an iron (that was ours). I guess they figure everyone needs household items, so it would be a good gift to give. Most people I talked to said they would give their gifts to their mom, since they didn't do the cooking or cleaning or ironing, but thier moms did!

We had a good time at the party, even though the whole thing was in Chinese. It was also very much like a TV studio - they had high tech video equipment, with one camera on a crane! They were filming the whole thing and then would also show everyone who was speaking or singing on 2 huge screens - this for a roomfull of about 200 people. Anthony did a sort of karoake performance with four other guys. He sang "Country Roads" and pretended to play a guitar. He did a great job. His company had hired a firm to help make the party a success and they came up with ideas for the show and had people practice for their "roles". They originally wanted Anthony to show up at 9am and stay all day to practice for his one song that he was singing with 4 other people. He said no and agreed to show up at 3:30 for a quick 15 minute practice and then to stick around until the party at 5:30. We both thought that was a little crazy for a company party. Before Anthony came out on stage, they brought me a bouquet of flowers and told me I needed to take them up to him while he was singing - and I agreed, but then asked how he was supposed to hold them since he would be "playing" the guitar. "Meiguanxi" was their answer - meaning no problem, it's ok. I get tired of hearing that phrase. So, I did take him the flowers and he did awkwardly hold them and the guitar and sing his heart out.

He finished his song and it was time for a raffle drawing. He's backstage and they call out a number and I'm trying to figure out the number in Chinese to compare to the number on his ticket when the people at our table start pointing to me and hollering! I realize that the number is our ticket! I go up to the stage looking very bewildered and really wanting Anthony to come out and take my place. They are talking to me in Chinese, I have no idea what they are saying. They tell me in English to shake some guys hand, I do, although I have no idea why - the lights are so bright on stage I can't see anyone in the audience, which is a good thing! Anthony shows up so at least I'm not alone now. Everyone is clapping and I don't know why - still. I know we've won something, but have no idea what. Then I break this egg thing to get a character to see what character goes with what appliance they have for the giveaway. We are told to go with this lady to get our prize and as we leave, we realize that we have won the MAJOR prize! The SONY LCD TV!!!! We don't know how big it is or anything, but we won the big prize. The big prizes were a Camcorder, a 5000RMB travel voucher and a TV. It was completely unexpected and a total surpise, especially since we had no idea! I just hope that the audience understood that I didn't understand and if I had of known I would have acted a bit more excited than I did! The TV is getting delivered tomorrow. One big downside is that it's 220 Volt, so no matter how great it is, we'll be leaving it here in China when we come home. No matter, we'll enjoy it while we're here. Thanks AMD!!!

KaPow

Chinese New Year is next week and is the biggest holiday in China. Last week, along the road that I go on almost everyday, red tents were being set up. I had not seen these before and wondered what they were. I asked our driver and his answer was "kapow" - he doesn't speak much English - along with kapow he used hand gestures to insituate something blowing up. Ahhhh...FIREWORKS. The next day, we drove by the red tents and sure enough, they were filled to overflowing with fireworks being sold to celebrate the festival. We aren't talking small little bundles of fireworks, nope, huge packages of LARGE fireworks. I really have to wonder how many firework injuries there are here in China because I know they aren't exactly safe with them! We've been hearing and seeing fireworks going off every night now and every night, there are more and more. We will be leaving on the 19th to go to Koh Samui, Thailand until the 24th - partly to be spared the noise and celebrations of Chinese New Year. We've been told that it sounds like war zone for days during the festival, from evening until 4 in the morning!

New Painted Stripes

On the main road outside our complex, I noticed today that the lane stripes were bright white - they were freshly painted. I am slightly complexed as to why they would paint new stripes, when I think it just confuses drivers. The majority of drivers here have no idea why there are stripes on the road, have no idea what lanes are and just drive whereever they want to. I am thinking that since it was supposed to snow last night and didn't - that maybe there were people hired to street sweep the snow away, but since it didn't snow, they thought it would be a good idea to paint lines on the street, give them something to do.

China here we stay

Anthony's been told he will start work in Shanghai after the Chinese New Year holiday - that's at the end of February. So, although we have yet to officially be signed on for a stint in Shanghai - it looks like it's going to happen. We've been thinking about this move for a few months now, but things haven't been so easy with deciding when and how and the logistics of it all. Schools are very competitive and full in Shanghai, so it is quite difficult to get a child into a good school given a few weeks or even a few months notice. We have decided to stay here in Beijing until Ashley finishes this school year, that way she can finally complete one solid year of school at the same school. So, for now, starting after Chinese New Year, Anthony will fly to Shanghai for 4 days a week and we'll stay here in Beijing. In April, our lease is up on the house, so we'll probably have to stay here in a small serviced apartment until school is over and we can then move onto Shanghai. We are still not sure what our stint will be in Shanghai - 2 or 3 years. We are excited about this - I'm excited about being somewhere for more than 1 year - I'm getting really tired of the moving around so much. Although most expats are used to the making friends and seeing them leave every year or so, it doesn't make it any easier. I've made good friends here in Beijing and it will be difficult leaving all of them, but there are new adventures that await us in Shanghai (and it won't be quite so cold in winter or as polluted!).

Ryken is Bilingual

Ryken is finally starting to speak, a lot of babble mainly, but there are three words or sounds that are worth mentioning. The first and foremost is DADA. Second is MAMA, which he's been saying for a while - but he says it the most when food is involved, so I think he thinks mama means food. We are trying to teach him to say "more" for food - when he wants to eat, but MORE to him doesn't sound much different than MAMA. The last one that I have yet to distinctly hear, but that my ayi swears he says all the time is jiejie - the would be the Chinese word for sister! I have heard him make the j sound before, so she could be right, but I haven't caught him actually saying jiejie to his sisters. So, if he's actually saying all those words, he is truly bilingual, since MaMa is said both in Chinese and English. If we can get him to say BABA (Chinese for father) before he says anything else, then he'll really be speaking another language.

School Cancelled

Today, Anthony took Ashley to school this morning since he had taken the day off. When he took her, they told him that there was no electricity or running water at school and they had no idea why. He could leave her and see if it came back on and they would call us to pick her up shortly if it didn't. Hmmm...definitely not something we'd experience back home, in the absence of any storms, weather phenomenom, etc. So, he left her, hoping the water and electricity would come back on. About an hour later though, I got a text message on my phone (very popular way of communicating here) that we needed to come pick up our children if possible. Anthony went and picked her up and they had no further news as to what caused the problem or when it would fixed. Ashley seemed excited to have another day at home with Daddy until lunch time - then she said she wanted to go back to school because they were having a buffet in her classroom. I learned from her that they were setting up lunch in the classrooms (lunch is catered by our complex clubhouse, which did have electricity) for those kids that had to stay at school. Usually lunch is eaten in the "basement" where the cafeteria is, but due to no electricity, it would be very dark down there. Ashley would have loved to have eaten in her classroom, but we said no, she had to eat at home with the adults - how sad.

Superbowl the China Way

We did get to watch the Superbowl! Anthony even took off the day to stay home and watch it. The game started at 7am and ended around 11:00am. Anthony made breakfast burritos and then later, we had nachos (by this time, the game was already over though). One thing that is seriously missing when watching the Superbowl here - COMMERCIALS! Please let me know which ones I just have to see - and I'll check them out online. The only commercials we get here are ESPN commercials for upcoming games that will be showing on ESPN Asia. BORING! Would much rather see the commercials that companies pay out the wazoo to have aired during the Superbowl.

Mummy Dearest

Ashley has been attending a british school here in Beijing, meaning that it follows a British School Cirriculum. Now, with a classroom full of diversity - I'm not sure how many different countries are represented in her classrom, but I would say at least 10 - you would think she would be able to maintain her own "American" accent. But no...she hasn't. On our trip to Australia, we found out just how prominent Ashley's new accent is. She kept getting asked over and over again if she was British! Since Ashley's 2 best friends both hail from England, Ashley has picked up on their accents. She says lots of words that we don't say coming from the States and I even have a new name - I am now known as "mummy". I wonder what Liz will be talking like in a few years.

Memory Loss

What happens when Anthony and the ayi are both out of town? Well, I think I go crazy. I realize that with each child I have given birth to, I have lost a part of my brain. I wonder if it will ever come back – the intelligence, memory and patience I used to have – ok, maybe not patience, I don’t know that I’ve ever been a very patient person, but still, it must be the kids that have made it worse!

We needed new pots and pans – we were using ones I bought back in Taipei from IKEA – the cheapest set they had – I think I paid about 10 US for 3 pots. They were starting to flake off into our food, so it was time to buy more. After visiting IKEA three times to get new pans (the first time, I forgot that’s what I was there for – see, the memory thing – the second time, they were doing inventory and the pots and pans were blocked off with no access for customers, argh), I have already burned 2 of them! In one week. First, I put some carrots in water to make them soft for Ryken to eat – and promptly forget they were there until I smelled something funny – luckily I caught them in time and there was just a small layer of burnt stuff in the bottom. The pan was at least salvageable. But on the second pan, I was washing dishes and decided I should probably boil Ryken’s bottle tops and bottle nipples since he’s using them often now. I put the water to boil, added the bottle stuff and went to play with the kids. Ryken was a bit fussy, so I put him down for a nap and by then, the girls were playing so well together in the play room, I thought I could finally sit and read a book and relax for a few minutes. I was reading and didn’t notice a thing, until the fire alarms started going off. Smoke was rising from the kitchen – the water had boiled out, the bottle top rings had melted and there was smoke everywhere. Needless to say, Ryken woke up screaming in fright from the fire alarms and my few minutes of peace were no longer! I had just completely forgotten that I’d put them on to boil!

Australia, the Rest

Ok, so it’s now January 26, 2007, and I never got to finish my posting about our trip to Australia. To make a LONG story short. Lady Elliot Island was amazing! Gorgeous weather, amazing sights and sounds. Birds nesting, birds hatching, turtles nesting – Ashley and I got to see a HUGE turtle lay eggs one night and Anthony got to see two different turtles build nests but he doesn’t think they laid any eggs in them. The snorkeling was amazing – seeing lots of fish, coral and turtles. We swam with turtles – turtles as big as Ashley – even bigger, how amazing is that? Anthony went scuba diving and saw a shark – that was cool. We also saw a HUGE ray at the bottom of the ocean floor while snorkeling. I have no idea how big he was, but I would guess about 8 feet wide. The girls had fun too, playing with the kids club “Reef Rangers”, playing in the sand and checking out all the things in the water on the coral reef.

We left Lady Elliot Island after 5 days and went to Fraser Island, which is just south of Lady Elliot Island. It is a very large sand island – nothing else, just sand – not exactly true – they also have dingos and some cool rock formations and a neat shipswreck called the Maheno. It is here where Ryken has an accident, we have to quickly pack up our stuff and take the ferry back to Hervey Bay (which takes an hour) and find the hospital to get him checked out. He bonked his head (his nose/upper lip area) really hard and since it was a head injury, we needed to get him looked at. He wouldn’t eat as it was causing him a lot of pain. They gave him some meds, then watched him for a few hours. We found a new hotel for the night and stayed there. The next day, we drove to Brisbane and stayed the night there, since we didn’t want to be far away from a hospital for 48 hours after the accident. He was soon back to normal and we weren’t worried anymore.

Our final place to visit in Australia was Lamington National Park at O’Reilly’s Rainforest Retreat. This is about a 2 hour drive south of Brisbane. It was absolutely stunning up there and we really enjoyed walking the trails and seeing nature at it’s finest. They have a wonderful treetop walk which is all suspension bridges linked together above the trees – it’s pretty cool and the kids loved it.

All in all, we had a great trip. I thought Australia was great – people were friendly and helpful. The best part of all – so many places had baby bathrooms – rooms where there were nursing chairs and baby changing areas and hot water for bottles and clean sinks and sometimes even little potties for the little kids. It was just brilliant! Really made me see how child friendly Australia is and how unchild friendly China is!

Australia here we come...

January 10, 2007
My first post of the new Year! And it’s already the 10th of January. Wow. We had a wonderful holiday in Australia! It’s been my dream to go to Australia and the Great Barrier Reef for many, many years. Although it wasn’t exactly in my dream to take 3 kids along on the trip, that’s life, though, isn’t it. Better with 3 kids than never going at all! It was a long flight there, although overnight, so the kids did sleep. Ryken was in a carseat, which is so much easier on planes than having to hold him. We arrived in Sydney on the morning on the 17th. We stayed at a hotel in Darling Harbour. For the first day, we mainly just walked around, trying to find diapers and baby food and checking out Darling Harbour area. We found Sydney to be very expensive food wise and grocery wise, at least compared to the States.

On the 18th, we shopped most of the day. I was in heaven with all the stores! It was wonderful, although I must say, would have been much more wonderful had we not had kids who were completely bored and tired of walking and just wanting to play. To satisfy their appetite for fun, we stopped at a mall called Myer, where we saw that there was a Santaland train. The girls got to ride the train and look at all the Christmas decorations. Santa was also visiting Myer mall, but due to Liz’s complete fear of the man in red and white, we didn’t get to see him. After shopping, we went up the to Sydney Observation Tower and go to see Sydney from high up in the air. It was pretty cool and amazing how far you could see, along with how green and pretty everything is. Definitely a sight for sore eyes after being in polluted Beijing. After the observation tower, we took the kids to the Sydney Aquarium, where we got to see lots of fish, sharks, rays and even a croc.

On the 19th, our first stop was to the doctor, Liz had a UTI and needed to get some antibiotics. Fast, efficient and cheap, we were happily on our way after about an hour. We visited Taronga Zoo by taking a ferry from Darling Harbour over to the zoo and sightseeing along the way. It was windy and a bit chilly, so the sky ride (a gondola from the ferry dropoff up to the top of the zoo) was closed. The zoo was beautiful, with amazing views of Sydney from lots of places in the zoo. It started to cloud over and sprinkle a bit, so we headed back to Darling Harbour on the ferry. Once there, we went to a fancy seafood restaurant and had a good meal, while Ashley ran outside in the rain trying to scare people with her lion mask on. It was hilarious and I think she managed to scare a few people, along with make a few people laugh.

On the 20th, it was time to depart Sydney and fly to Lady Elliot Island via Hervey Bay. We had to get up early for our early flight, so we ate breakfast at the Sydney airport – we had Krispy Kreme donuts! YUM! What a treat. The flight to Hervey Bay was uneventful, although they wouldn’t let us take Ryken’s carseat as it hadn’t been preapproved and it wasn’t an Australian carseat brand (that was frustrating). Once in Hervey Bay, we waited for our flight to Lady Elliot. At boarding time, they came and got us and walked us past security and to the tiny 14 seater plane. Guess when you’re flying on something that small, no additional security measures are needed. The flight was about 45 minutes and the island was absolutely gorgeous from above. Amazing. I was so excited to get down and check it out.