We're Living the Expat Life

I posted last week about Jack getting a foot massage, which is, obviously, something he would not have experienced if we were living back home in the US. Something happened on Friday night that made me really laugh and marvel at this life we currently lead.

Jed went to a friend's house to play on Saturday. They live in the city, so Eden's Mom picked Jed and Eden up from a birthday party and took them back to their house. They played for a while and then the family and Jed went to dinner at a restaurant where they had an acrobat show. Jed was amazed by the fact that they served a whole fish, eyes and all, at the table and even tried some, so he says. He LOVED the show and was very excited to tell us all about it when he came home. I sent him with a camera so he could take pictures of his adventure.

Since the family lives in the city and we live out in the burbs, Eden's Mom asked if it would be ok for her to send Jed home with the driver. After making sure Jed was comfortable with the set-up, I said it would be fine. She called at 8:13 to tell me that Jed was on his way home. At 9:00 I went outside to bring our car into the garage and saw a black sedan turning onto our street. It pulled up to our house and stopped. I watched for Jed to hop out but stared in awe as the DRIVER hopped out, walked around to the other side of the car and opened the door for Jed, who then hopped out, saying, "Hi Mom, I'm home." Hilarious...

I had a brief conversation with the driver, in Chinese, thanking him. He said Jed is his new friend, which Jed later confirmed, on his own, when I asked him how the ride home was. I asked if the driver spoke English. He said, "not much, and I only speak a little Chinese, but we became friends, and also I took a little nap."

When living an expat life, you may as well live like an expat, so in my quest to find a solution to Zeke's screaming in the car to and from our trip to take Huck to school in the morning, and in the process, getting overtired and overstimulated, it occurred to me that I could send Huck to school with the driver.

I knew this would be a challenge at first, since Huck is a bit of a Mama's boy, but with a bit of bribery... I mean positive reinforcement... I convinced Huck that it would be great. So, now, in the mornings, at 7:40, the driver shows up at the house. I pass him the key to the car and open the garage door. He pulls Jack and Jed's bikes out of the garage for them and they head to the bus. Using his mobile phone, Jack calls when he and Jed are seated and buckled in on the bus.

I get Huck's backpack ready, his coat on and walk with him to the entry way where I, or sometimes the driver, help him get his shoes on and then he's out the door, with a kiss, of course. The driver "Xu Xu" (pronounced Shoe Shoe and meaning Uncle) buckles him in and I watch as they pull away and drive 5 miles to school. I am upstairs, in the rocking chair, settling Zeke for his morning nap by 8:15. I am still new at this and my expat friends chide me for my reluctance at sending Huck off like that, but it's the best solution because it gets Huck to school and lets me put Zeke down for his morning nap when he's ready and not when it's convenient.

I still watch out the window for the driver to return so I know Huck has safely arrived at school. On the first day of this routine, the driver came inside and told me that the teacher was not in the classroom when he and Huck arrived at school, so he stayed with Huck, following him around the small kindergarten area, until the teacher arrived from the staff meeting!

If we lived anywhere else, of course, I'd be schlepping all over to the schools and back and Zeke would have to just deal with it, but we are living in China and I may as well be glad to have the help we have and make the most of it while it lasts!