A New House

We're buying a house! That's right - we are moving back to Austin and we just returned from a brief trip there. While in Austin, we did some house searching and we found what we hope is the perfect house for us. We ended up making an offer and getting it! We close in about a month. We are so excited and happy to be moving back home! The plan, for now, is a move home date at the beginning of August. Anthony will most likely have to stay in China for a few more months after that (possibly up to December, but we hope sooner). It has been an interesting journey over here, but I am ready for it to be over.

Disney on Ice, Chinese Style

We took the girls to see Disney's Princess on Ice show here in Shanghai over the holidays. It was a great ice show and the girls loved seeing all the skaters dressed up as Disney characters. They lipsynced in English to Chinese lyrics for all the songs. That was very interesting and often times humorous to watch. It was a bit disappointing that all the songs were in Chinese, but this is China, so I understand. The place was absolutely FREEZING though - even out in the lobby areas, where there was no ice to keep frozen, there was no heat - it was freezing. We should have brought blankets to keep us warm during the show! For future reference, anyone attending a show at the Shanghai Gymnastics Stadium - they do not use HEAT and it is COLD so dress accordingly. When we saw Harry Connick Jr last year, it was at the same place, and again, it was cold, no heat.

Bless You

Ryken just came up to me in the study, while I'm checking email. I tell him the study is a mess and mommy really needs to clean it up. He says "I'll go get you a ***(mumble)". I think he says Tissue - so I repeat - "You're going to get mommy a tissue?"and he says "No not tissue mommy a bless you and it's mine". He runs away and gets a tissue and brings it to me and says "this is a bless you, not a tissue".

I just thought it was funny and should share.

Tree and Cat

Tree and Cat, originally uploaded by Armstrongs in Asia.

I am going to try and put up some of Ashley's fabulous artwork! Yes, I think it's fabulous.

Interesting talk from ayi

With all this election stuff going on, my ayi has seen me watching the debates and news on election coverage. She has asked me several times who I like and I have told her Obama. She seemed quite surprised. Then one day, she asked why I like him, when Americans don't like black people. I was shocked at her question and unfortunately don't speak enough Chinese to communicate effectively enough how America works. I just simply stated that it doesn't matter to me what color his skin is, I still like him. I asked her who she liked and she said Obama - I said why and she pointed her fingers like a gun and said McCain likes this too much. Hmmm...this is what she is hearing from Chinese media and her sons teachers. Today, when I told her that Obama won the presidency, she seemed happy. Then looked at me perplexed and again said that she thought Americans did not like black people so how could he win. I tried to explain to her again that in America there are many different colored people, that you can go to America and have a child and that child will be a US Citizen, will be American, no matter what color of their skin. I don't really think she understood me very well.

Rotesserie Chicken

I found this the other day at our local Carrefour! I was so excited! One thing I do miss is the Rotisserie Chicken from our grocery stores back home. I love the smell and taste of them. They had about 5 different kinds of flavored rotisserie chicken when I was there and I bought one and brought it home for lunch. It was so yummy! I remember buying a chicken from Costco in Taipei when we lived there and when I opened the bag, the chicken still had it's head on it! That turned me off a bit on buying anymore full chickens in Asia. But this one was on display with no head! I will be buying these more often.

Bound to Happen

first scratch, originally uploaded by Armstrongs in Asia.

Well....here's the first fender bender we had with the car! I was driving....but it wasn't my fault. There are so many crazy idiot drivers here that it was bound to happen sooner or later. Some guy was going down the wrong way on the wrong side of the road while I was turning into our complex when he hit the front of my car. He drove off, which is a big no-no here in China. You are always supposed to stop and wait for the police to come and determine fault. Who knows why the guy left - most likely he knew it was his fault and didn't have money to pay out. It was a big ordeal going down to the police station and making the report - it turns out they had the accident on video from a street camera nearby and could state for insurance purposes that it wasn't my fault. The accident was on a Tuesday, I took the car to the dealer on Wednesday and picked it up on Friday all fixed! And the cost....300 RMB - that's about 43 USD! That was 30% of the total price - insurance covered 70%. I was amazed how cheap.

Going down to the police station to do the report was eye-opening. It was absolute insanity. I took a friend who can speak and write Chinese with me as they have no English speaking officers (yes, in a part of town where there are THOUSANDS of foreigners, they do not have anyone in the traffic police department who can speak English). We had filled out the report at her house in pen on the report form - but when we took it in - we were told we had to use a "special pen" to fill it out. So my friend had to write it out all over again using the pen from the police station which cost us 10rmb as a deposit to use. It was a normal black felt tip pen. While she was filling it out, I was watching all these people come in to dispute accidents and decide whose fault it was - some of these people had obvious broken bones, open wounds with blood gushing out and bruises with lacerations. The shouting and fighting over who should pay what was very loud. There were open arguments going on while police officers just sat back and listened. It was insane to me. I've never seen anything like it. When you visit a doctor here, you have to pay for it up front - so people were not getting treatment for injuries, they were arguing for money so they could go seek treatment after getting paid by whoever caused the accident. Sometimes, the injured would just sit back while relatives or friends would argue on their behalf. I was just stunned and amazed by this process. It makes me see how far this country really needs to go to become modern....

There was also a board up at the station listing the number of accidents for the month in our area of town (Zhangjiang 119 square km or 46 square miles) - the number for August was around 2400. I have no idea what that means or what the number includes (bike accidents, pedestrian accidents, motor vehicle, etc) but it is the traffic police, so all accidents would involve traffic somehow. I'd be curious to see real statistics on this versus other countries.

I've talked to several people who drive and own cars here and I've been told that accidents and scratches happen ALL the TIME. It is just so common here. One of my friends doesn't even tell her husband anymore and at the end of the every year, she gets the whole car body redone.

Our Couch!

The new couch has arrived! We spent a full day furniture shopping last month and found this one. We had to order it with the color we wanted - by looking at a small swatch of a sample. So, we weren't real sure what the final color was going to look like, but we are happy with it now. It's nice to have a relaxing place to read and watch TV/DVD's.

Construction Worker

man carrying blocks, originally uploaded by Armstrongs in Asia.

Here's the worker carrying 2 blocks of concrete upstairs into the house. He did this for 3 days straight - all day.

Random Stuff

Just thought I'd post some random thoughts/observations from past few days.

On my home from a Class Parent meeting at Liz's school, I watched a taxi driver pull over on a 4 lane road (pretty major road) walk to some bushes and take care of business.

I did some shopping last night at Pines Supermarket, an expat market with imported foods, to get some imported yogurt and milk (until this melamine dairy thing is solved no local dairy products for us!) and noticed they've gotten in a big selection of US imported foods - like Teddy Grahams and Handy Pudding Paks and Fruit Loops and Mac N Cheese - ahhh good old healthy American food.

I am loving driving a car here in Shanghai! Yes, there are times it truly SUCKS - like being stuck in traffic and taking 1 hour and45 minutes to go about 15 miles with 1 screaming kid in the back - but overall, it is a nice freedom. I do get upset at the driving style here, but am learning how to deal with it without getting too mad. I say lots of swear words (sorry kids) and honk my horn way more than I would in the States.

They are doing construction in a house across our little street. They did about 3 days of jackhammering brick/concrete in the house - with piles and piles of it ending outside in the driveway/street. That was carted away and then a big truck delivered loads of big huge concrete "bricks". Then 2 guys spent all day putting one brick on each end of a stick and hauling them upstairs into the house using their shoulders. Will try to sneak a picture of it soon - it really is amazing. I guess they are just completely redoing the inside walls of the house. The complex we moved into is new and so there are all these "shell" houses that were sold by the developer and then the house owner competely renovates and finishes out the inside how they want. Since everything is done with concrete here, that means a lot of jackhammering and a lot of concrete dust everywhere! It has been interesting to watch the process. The construction guys also tend to live in the house they are renovating...so there is laundry hanging out the windows and they gather to eat in the garages in the evenings. So far, they've been friendly to us.

I am completely overwhelmed by having to keep track of the kids schedules - with 2 kids in proper school at 2 different campuses (would be similar to one in elementary school and one in middle school) and 1 in a little nursery at a different place. It's a lot of work just remembering who goes where at what time to do this or that. Thankfully, Liz is not at all interested in doing any sort of activity after school - that makes it a bit calmer. Ashley is trying out today for the Year 3/4 choir and then we have a meeting tonight to learn about the Touring Choir which she could audition for if she wanted - this choir would involve traveling to Vienna (!!!!!) to work with the Vienna Boys Choir. After tonight, we will see if she is interested. If not, there is always next year (assuming we will still be here). I am absolutely amazed at the opportunities offered at Dulwich for their students.

Our new couch should be coming today! I am so super excited - will post pics when it is here. We ordered it a few weeks ago and had to wait for it to be made. It is leather and L shaped. Currently we are using a friends couch (it only cost 35 kuai - about 5 us dollars - to have a taxi bring her couch to our house) until our new couch comes. The borrowed couch really only sits 2 people, which has been a bit of a problem when the kids all want to cuddle and read stories. We barely all fit!

We have gotten a Phillipino Satellite and I have not watched so much American TV since leaving the States back in 2004! The Phillipinos LOVED American TV. It's been great fun flipping around the different channels and finding some surprising things to watch - I found out in the mornings they show "The Today Show" - which is quite fun to get a different view and news perspective other than CNN.

Kids Bund Trip

all 3, originally uploaded by Armstrongs in Asia.

Before school started, I took the kids on a trip to the Bund. We parked on the Pudong side, took the ferry over to the Puxi side, took a one hour river boat cruise (kids lasted about 45 minutes) up the river to see a big bridge, then took the 'sightseeing tunnel' back over to Pudong for some Hagen Daz ice cream! We all had great fun and it was a nice way to end the summer. I've posted photos of the trip on our flickr site.

School Days

The girls have started school! They are both very happy and are enjoying meeting new friends and getting into the routine. Liz looks so grown up in her school uniform and walking around at school. She had a bit of a meltdown her second day at school - Miss E (her teacher) said that after lunch Liz started crying for me and it took a while to calm her down. Liz told me that she calmed down once she was outside for playtime right after lunch. I am picking Liz up from school this week while she gets used to going and then next week, she will ride the bus to and from school. I picked Ashley up the first day and after that, she requested to ride the bus home!

Getting a License - or Wading Through the Bureacracy

Husband post...

As Kimberly previously posted, we recently bid for, won, and paid for a license plate. Thought I'd share the experience of bidding and getting that said license plate. Many hours of my life that I will never recover...

1. Bidding
a. First go to pay for right to bid (2000RMB), and get documents including password to login
b. Bid online – 2nd or 3rd Saturday of each month, and bid process is insane and difficult, don’t even ask how it works, but it’s highly likely you won’t be successful since you have limited number of bids and they’re time constrained! (Why? I don’t know!) They usually allow 5000-9000 license plates each month – amount appears to be random.
c. Finally win bid, move to step 2

2. Take your documents and go to payment place – have to pay by that Friday.
a. Way over in different half of city, down a block off major road, have to walk 300 or 400 meters to get there. Large room where you pay your 5-6K USD, probably mostly people pay in cash, and then they give you more documents (certificate saying you paid, and some smart card, again, who knows why).

3. Now on to get the license plate – this is in yet ANOTHER part of the city, no where near the other two
a. First go to building, get a number and wait. Number gets called, show them your docs, they do something and give you another number.

b. This number gets called, and you pay the tax on your car – can’t use non-local credit cards or mixed forms of payment (I learned to my chagrin). Then get another number, still same room!
c. Wait, get up when no. called, and they take your proof or something and give you new documents – no idea why.

4. Drive to another building, get in line of cars, and go in with your documents and take another number
a. First have to get rub of VIN number from inside your hood (dealer w/ me had already done that before we left dealership, but other people were actively doing it there) – apparently license plate is tied to VIN of your car.
b. Call you up – here they verify it really is you and I guess get VIN info, checking face and documents, and store a huge number of Xeroxes of passport and work permit and so forth.

5. Drive to another building, this with a ton of people in it watching numbers (available license plate numbers, and numbers up for people to be helped) on big bulletin board. Take your number, wait for an hour. Btw, bathrooms were nearby at back on both sides of room... and they stunk!

a. Finally call your number, you take a piece of paper to a row of machines. Machines show you all the license plate numbers currently available. You hit “OK” and it randomly picks 6 of those numbers for you to choose from. You pick one, and that’s your license plate number. Spits out new piece of paper.
b. Take that paper to lady in an equipment cage, she finds your already made license plate number and hands it to you.

6. That is not it! You can’t put it on your car yet… SO….
a. Go out to parking lot, have to flag down helpers walking around in parking lot. They take license plate and TAPE it to front of car, then take picture of it, then remove it and hand over new number (or something). Have to stand in line to get picture eventually, which goes with registration document that stays in car

b. Have to flag same guys down AGAIN, and they install license plates on car. No idea why.

7. Finally, we are done and are the proud owners of a shiny new license plate. At this point, we can finally get after market additions applied to the car -> no modifications were allowed until license plate was done for yet another who knows why sort of reason…

Cute Picture

Ashley, Liz and Ryken on stairs in new house!
They are getting so big! Ages 7, 5 and 2.5

Ryken's First Day of School!

Ryken all ready for school - at the door to garage

Ryken at school - getting toys to play with

He is such a big boy. All dressed up and ready for school with his Thomas Train backpack. He was a bit unsure about going to school and didn't want to get into the car. I convinced him by talking about the playground at school. Then, on the way to school, I had to explain that he had to go inside first and play, then his teacher would take him outside to play on the playground. He walked into school with me beside him with no problems. We changed his shoes, put his bag away and went into his classroom. He washed his hands and went to play. That's it. As he was playing, I walked out. No crying today. I hope he has fun today and is excited to go tomorrow. I just can't believe my baby is at school! I was sad while driving home without him. The girls start school tomorrow - so it's going to be an amazingly quiet day tomorrow.

Moved in!

We're all moved in to the new place. Moving day was a pain! And not something I want to do again for a long time. It was raining half way through the move - so lots of stuff got wet and the guys wanted to take lots of breaks to "wait out the rain" which then just pushed the end of moving day later and later. We finally got them out of the new house at 10:30pm, with lots of boxes still unpacked. In a house that has 4 stories, that's not exactly what you want.

Things are good though - we like the house and are slowly but surely getting things put away and organized. It will be much easier when the kids start school (NEXT WEEK!!!!) and I can have some downtime to get stuff done. I'll try to get some pics put up soon so you can see what the place is like. We love it after living in an apartment!

Our car is awesome and I am so happy to have it! I've been driving quite a bit since we have joined a club about 10 minutes away. The kids and I go to the pool there almost everyday (if it's not raining). When buying a car in China, you must also purchase a separate license plate for it. This is done once a month at an auction. Lucky for us, one of Anthony's co-workers husband thinks the whole process is fascinating and actually attends all the auctions just to watch it happen. So, he was able to bid at the last auction for us and we won a plate (not won, but won to BUY!). That just happened this weekend, so we still need to go by the license place and pay for the plate before we can put it on the car. I will be happy to get it as I am currently driving around with an expired temporary plate (they only last 6 days!). Will be nice to not have to worry about getting pulled over for driving without plates!

A Car, A Car

While I was here in the States, Anthony bought a car for us in Shanghai! I am so excited to go back and have our very own car for driving around! The renting an old minivan was becoming a hassle and costing a fortune! I will have to post a pic when we get back but it is a Nissan Livina Geniss (which Anthony said the non-English speaking dealer pronounced as Guiness). I do think Guiness will be my new nick name for it - nothing like driving around a car named after beer :) It has 3 rows of seats but is more like a car than a minivan or SUV.

I don't really know how the whole sale of the car went down between an non-English speaking salesman and a non-Chinese speaking buyer, you'll have to question Anthony on that one. I do know that he brought a friend with him to help with the process. I've been told that our temporary plates last for 6 days and they will register them when we return, then hope that 6 days later we can get an official license plate. Not sure how that works, but hopefully, it does. Anthony also told me that when he test drove the car - the odometer wasn't working - he questioned the salesman about it and his reply was that they unhook it so there are no miles added to the car when testdriving before selling it!!! Isn't that crazy?!

Staring at the Clouds

Being back in the States often leaves me breathless - just seeing the amazing blue of the Texas sky and the fluffy white clouds! I stare at the sky for minutes at a time, just admiring the beauty. Our backyard is also sometimes on the flight path for the airport, so we get lots of planes flying overhead. This makes endless entertainment for Ryken, who LOVES airplanes! Ashley commented today that the clouds in Texas have so many different "varieties" - fluffy ones, wispy ones, wavy ones, etc, etc. She loves them too. Nothing like living in a polluted city where you rarely see blue skies and rarely see clouds other than a grey cover all around to make you see the beauty of the unpolluted skies!

We are enjoying our stay here - not so much the heat - but at least visiting with friends and family! Anthony just arrived this weekend from Shanghai, which I desperately needed. Weeks without him makes me and the kids cranky.

Back in States

The kids and I are back to the States visiting family and friends for the summer. Anthony flew with us but he is now back in Shanghai working and preparing to start an MBA program. It's been miserably HOT here in Texas - and miserably WET and RAINY in Shanghai. I think I'd rather have the heat than the rain.

The last days of school flew by for both girls. Ashley was very upset to be missing the last few weeks of school as her school year doesn't end until July 4th! Mainly she missed her end of year choir performance and school production. She was very excited to be in both of those and very upset that she missed it! Liz's school ended the week before we came back so she was able to have an early birthday party and an end of school party. This was the first birthday party we've had for her with school friends as normally we wait and have one at home during the summer. She was really happy and enjoyed having her friends over to play, eat cake and open presents.

Once we get back to Shanghai in August, we will be moving into a new house! I am excited about the house as it will have a small yard, more rooms, more storage space and room for guests!

Doing what we can

Ashley's school has arranged to collect donations of blankets, clothes, food, toys and books to the areas affected by the earthquake. I was unsure how much to talk with the kids about right after it happened, but have since told them the truth. I asked both girls to go through their closets and pick out clothes and toys to donate. They did a great job going through everything. Ashley had chosen some of her favorite outfits and I had to resist making her keep them. I did ask her to think about the choices again and she responded that she did like those clothes, but that she thinks a child who has lost everything would really enjoy wearing them. I thought that was so sweet of her and am very proud of that. The school is also having a "memorial" assembly tomorrow where everyone is to wear their "best dressed uniform" and bring in a donation - the school has asked each child to bring in 20 kuai. Ashley then asked me if she could bring in more. I hope she continues to keep this charitable spirit alive throughout her life.

There has been a lot of news coming across the TV in both Chinese and English here. There is one English CCTV news station that has been broadcasting many hours of Live news and interviews. The first day the earthquake happened, there was very little news and I was very frustrated at the controlled media here - but it really has gotten better since then. There are so many LIVE reporters on the scene, I am actually amazed! There are also many personal accounts of what is going on at the scene through blogs, video and pictures. It truly is a first for China.

I've posted links to this site before, but will again! Shanghaiist is what I think the best place to go to get the latest updates and news reports from all over the world about the earthquake.