Our Life and Times in China

Skype

2009-09-07T17:33:00.000-07:00

When we were in China, we used Skype to see and talk with family and friends back home in America, but last week we reversed it and had a video call with Xing Ayi and Xiao Shang. It was great. They were SO excited to see the boys and the boys loved seeing Ayi and Shu Shu.

Xing Ayi asked how we are doing. She said the boys look so lovely and that I look tired.... Nice! I said I am busy. She said she knows and that she'd like to come help me. MAYBE!

Home at last

2009-07-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

We are now back in the US. It has really been a busy month. June 16-20th, the movers were at our house. I've never seen such efficient movers. They made boxes that perfectly fit the furniture before crating it all up. We had 15 wooden crates in all. The workers packed boxes for 2 days and crated them on the third day for our sea shipment. It will take a few months before we see them all again. On the fourth day, a different company came to box up our air shipment. The government calls the shipment "unaccompanied baggage" and it is only supposed to take about a month. At last check, however, the shipment was still being held in Beijing by customs agents. Go figure...

For the last week in China, we tried to relax and enjoy family time. We did a little sight seeing, some shopping and went to our favorite restaurants. We sold our car, so getting around was a little tricky. Mile-long walks to a restaurant or for a last minute pedicure are not so enjoyable in 100+ degree weather and heavily polluted air. These things just made it easier to leave China, though, so I guess it's a good thing.

For the last month, pollution has been especially bad. We all were coughing our lungs up and Jed came down with a fever of 105.7. We feared it was H1N1 but the doctor was less concerned since Jed was acting fairly well. It passed and we breathed (coughed) a sigh of relief.

As diplomats, we were each entitled to 3 bags on the airplane and since Tom was traveling on military orders, he was able to take 2 extra bags. In total, we had 20 suitcases! We departed our home in a small bus filled with friends, suitcases and our family. As we pulled away, the driver and ayi both sobbed. Xing Ayi could not bring herself to see us outside. She watched from the window. It was heartbreaking.

Once we departed, however, it was immediately behind us and we were looking towards the future. We used Tom's miles to upgrade to business class and enjoyed a comfortable trip over the Pacific.

The flight attendants enjoyed talking to the boys. Jack kept looking around and he said to one of the ladies, "I just can't get over how much extra room there is up here." She laughed and said, "well sweetie, it's the old saying, ' you get what you pay for...' You pay a little, you get a little, you pay a lot, you get a lot. Enjoy!" All four boys did great on the flight. Of course, Zeke had his moments of not wanting to sit, but didn't we all?

We arrived in DC in the evening and our wonderful friends, Michelle and Craig and Jay and Nalini, picked us up in 4 vehicles and took us to our hotel. The next day, our car, which I had purchased during my May househunting trip to DC, was delivered to us. We spent a few family days in DC and then took a trip up to PA to see Tom's family. After a few days, we left Jack, Jed and Huck in PA and Tom, Zeke and I went back to DC to buy a second car and settle on our houses. We sold the old one and bought a new one. When we learned we could not get our long term storage delivered for at least a week, we went back up to PA, picked up the boys and drove to St. Louis to see my parents and the rest of the crew. We left PA at 5 a.m. and arrived in StL at 8:30 p.m., driving straight through. Again, the boys were champs.

So, we are now in St. Louis, enjoying a little down time. Our storage will be delivered on the 24th. Tom will be there to receive it and start unpacking. The boys and I will return when we have beds for the boys to sleep on. All of our old furniture is in the storage shipment because we were not permitted to take it with us to China. That will make it easy to move in to the new house quickly. We just have to figure out what we will do with the old stuff when the new stuff arrives. CRAIGSLIST!

It's great to be back in America. It was hard to leave our friends in China and I miss every one very much, but being home is something special. Despite its faults, America is the best country, hands down. As Jack said, "green grass, fresh air, and water we can drink from the tap." What more could we ask for?

moving day

2009-07-14T12:18:00.000-07:00

Time To Go

2009-06-16T05:58:00.000-07:00

We are leaving Beijing in 10 days. By the time we board the plane, we will have been here for more than 3 years, the longest we've ever lived anywhere together. I have mixed feelings about leaving. I am eager to get back to America but am sad to leave the life we've made here. We've made wonderful friends here and it feels like we are leaving family. The hardest part is leaving our ayi, but not for the reasons most people would think. Of course I will miss the help she gives us, but more than that, I will miss the part of our family she has become. We all love her and she adores the boys... each one. Jack, Jed and Huck each have their own attachment to/with her. It's wonderful to see. Worse, though, is the feeling of terrible guilt and sadness I feel for pulling Zeke away from her. She is so attached to him. She has loved him since the day after he was born. When I told her I was expecting, she jumped for joy... literally. She was in tears a few days ago, when we were talking about the coming weeks. Knowing we are the cause of her distress is a terrible feeling. We've told her she can come visit whenever she wants. All she needs to do is get a passport and we'll write a letter to try to get her a visa and pay for her ticket. I know this hardly helps to ease the heartache, though.I've said before that I cannot read my own blog, but until now I've been able to write it. Now, though, the entire blogger site is blocked. So, I am writing this entry in an email and my Dad will post it for me. (Thanks Dad)Three weeks ago, I traveled back to the DC area and found a house to buy. In 10 days, we'll fly back to Dulles and the family will see the new house. We'll have a mini vacation in Washington DC for a few days. Then, we will drive up to PA, in our new car (I also bought a car when I was in the US) and after a few days with the family, leave the three older boys with Tom's parents while Tom, Zeke and I go back to close on the house and move in to it. So, this might be my last post for a while. Thanks for reading.Xie Xie and Zaijian!

Having my cake and eating it too...

2009-05-14T00:02:00.001-07:00

I had to run an errand today and wanted to take Zeke with me. This is a rare occurrence because, why would I take a toddler on an errand with me when I have a perfectly good babysitter at home? Sometimes, though, I just feel like having him with me. I know I'll long for these days of the easy babysitter soon enough but I don't always like to leave him at home.

So, anyway, I decided to take him with me. Keep in mind that running an errand here is not like running an errand in America. I cannot just hop in the car, pull up to Target, hop out, complete my transactions and dash home.

I went to the Sunny Gold market to exchange a pair of trousers I had bought last week. They had a hole in them and somehow I missed it when I made the purchase. I buy from this particular lady regularly so I knew I would not have a problem. So, despite the fact that this is not a stroller friendly, nor shopping cart containing place, off I went with Zeke (and the driver).

We pull into our parking place (no easy task- backing up, in between to closely parked cars) and I get Zeke out of the car and start to juggle him with my sling. The driver hops out, grabs Zeke and says he'll help me. So, off we go, into the market and up the escalator. Xiao Shang proceeds to entertain Zeke as I made my transaction to exchange the trousers. He had Zeke laughing up a storm, walking on the top of the escalator like a treadmill. Not exactly an activity that I would have selected, but they both seemed to be enjoying themselves and I know that Xiao Shang would never let anything happen to Zeke, so I let it be.

Next I walked around the corner of the market to get a larger size of a shirt I had purchased for each of the boys. The vendor had told me I could change one if it did not fit. Jed's is a bit too small so I went by her stall and sure enough, this time she had the larger sizes. I bought one from her and next time I go, I'll take back the too-small one and exchange it for something else.

All of the vendors I frequent enjoyed seeing Zeke. He walked up to one of the women, arms extended, and let her hold him for a while.

I walked around for a little while, looking for a purse that I want, trying to kill a little time before heading back to pick Huck up from school, all the while, the driver followed. At this point, I was carrying Zeke. I did not find the bag and soon we got back into the car and headed to get Huck.

It was a successful outing. Everyone had fun. Now I just wish I could take Xiao Shang with me to Target in July! Oh well. That's what shopping carts and lollipops are for, right? I'll keep telling myself that.

The boys today

2009-05-13T03:10:00.000-07:00

Here is Huck opening his last bday present and boy was he happy!

Jed's haircut video

2009-05-12T21:53:00.000-07:00

Huck's haircut video

2009-05-12T19:26:00.000-07:00

The Big Haircuts

2009-05-12T19:11:00.000-07:00

The before picture

The boys have been growing their hair for nearly a year and a half in order to donate it to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. Jed heard about someone who did it and said he wanted to do it. I told him if he wanted to do it, I would do it with him so he would have someone to do it with him and then Huck said he wanted to do it as well.

Yesterday was the big day. We all got our hair cut at different times and everyone is happy with the results. This being China, though, of course my hair looks absolutely nothing like what I asked for, but that's ok. It will grow back and the end result of the whole day is we have 4- 8 inch ponytails to donate for wigs for women with medical hair loss.

2009-05-12T19:07:00.000-07:00

LOVE this picture, though he did not want me to post it.

AFTER

Walking through the village

2009-05-07T22:10:00.000-07:00

There is a village about 3/4 of a mile from our house. We walk by it every day and occasionally walk through the main drag. Today, though, my friend suggested we take a different turn once we were on the main drag through the village.

We discovered a hidden metropolis! There was so much activity. It was great to see. My friend bought a hat for a party tonight for less than a dollar. There were fruit and vegetable stands, buckets, mops, shoes, clothing for sale and lots of people going about their business, as you can see in the video.

I gave out several American flag pins to adults and lollipops to kids. I try to remember to carry them whenever we are out and about.

The crowds

2009-05-02T20:17:00.000-07:00

This is what happened at the Temple of Heaven. You can see, if you look at the pictures from the bottom- up, how the crowds gather.

In this particular position, we had moved away from the main flow of people so the boys could sit and have a snack. Removing them from the main flow of traffic did not make a difference in the attention they got. Eventually, we just went back to the car. It is fun to be out and about like this but eventually the boys get overwhelmed.

A European tourist even commented, "your children are like rock stars."

The Pearl Market

2009-05-02T18:52:00.000-07:00

This is the pearl market I always mention. The woman talking to Zeke is Fenny, our pearl lady. She gave Zeke the necklace he is wearing when he was born. She recently expanded her business. The stall used to end at the glass ledge, but she extended into the neighboring stall.

I bought gifts to bring home when we move. After our visit to Fenny, we went to the toy market behind the pearl market.

Temple of Heaven

2009-05-02T04:07:00.000-07:00

We visited the Temple of Heaven this weekend. We like to do that sometimes just to be with the local people. They do all sorts of activities, including the activity you see here, it is a sort of Tai Chi, dance. You can see how the boys attract attention. We could not move 10 feet without attracting a crowd. You can see, despite not understanding the actual words, that everyone is intrigued by the fact that we have 4 children, especially since they are 4 sons. They ask again and again, to confirm. We have to explain that despite the fact that two of them have long hair, that they are boys. It is not easy to explain the concept of Locks of Love to people here, but we do try.

You can see from Jed's face that he really is not a big fan of these interactions. He really dislikes being the center of attention. He gets the most attention out of any of the boys.

I will post more tomorrow.

Off to school this morning

2009-04-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

Jack and Jed both chose to wear their new soccer/football clothes to school this morning.

Just a day in our lives

2009-04-29T17:39:00.000-07:00

Zeke up to his antics this morning.

Huck in his Chinese mode of sitting outside, waiting for Daddy.

Bday party

2009-04-27T06:04:00.000-07:00

Grade 2 show and pollution

2009-04-23T20:15:00.000-07:00

Today was Jed's performance at the grade 2 assembly. It was fun to see. Sorry about the technical difficulties at the end of the video. Taking a 1 year old to these things can be a challenge. Notice the boy hiding behind Jed.

I will not miss the environment here. When I opened the curtains in Zeke's room this morning, the first thing I noticed and said out loud was, "wow, it's yellow out there today." Sure enough, on the weather forcast icon on my computer, next to the temperature (57) I just noticed the word "DUST." So, it is not my imagination. I would have thought that the rain for the past two days would have washed the dust out of the air, but I guess I was wrong.

Flower and planter shopping

2009-04-21T01:40:00.000-07:00

Typical scene at a local flower market

The roses here are about $2 per plant.

The tall rose plants are about $10 or $11

A typical outdoor "pot" shop. Notice all the trash in the background. The place was very stinky. There's a very smelly body of water behind the trash pile.

The two planters in the foreground cost a total of about $18.

At the flower market, the vendors will plant your pots for you, no extra charge! This is definitely something I will miss.

Jed in print

2009-04-21T01:33:00.000-07:00

Jed is in an ad for the school where he attends. The ad is running in various publications, including Beijing Kids. He is also on the website: http://www.isb.bj.edu.cn/about-mission_statement.aspx.

This photo was taken of him and his friend when they were in kindergarten.

camping and more squatty potties

2009-04-19T00:27:00.000-07:00

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At the campsite, there was an outhouse. Now, I've seen some pretty basic outhouses in my days but this one was basic with Chinese characteristics.

You can see it is situated nearly against a stone wall and they have dug a quite shallow hole and placed planks over it for people to use it as a squatty potty. The most interesting part is that there are 4 planks, so two people could use it at the same time, in quite close quarters.

Don't think too long about the logistics of that operation...

Cub Scout Day Camp

2009-04-19T00:11:00.000-07:00

Chickens

Huck did not want to be left out.

2009-04-17T16:07:00.000-07:00

Not to be left out, Huck wanted a video of himself, too. He said, "I want to make a random video." So, here is his version of random. He's running around saying random things...

Jack's CASTA Performance

2009-04-17T06:39:00.000-07:00

Grade 5 is working on a production of the Chinese Opera, The Monkey King. They did a scene of night fights for us. It is supposed to be a sword fight in pitch darkness, the enemies cannot see one another.

Jed's CASTA Performance

2009-04-17T03:47:00.000-07:00

Today was CASTA at ISB. Celebrating And Sharing The Arts. Jed's class did a song and dance.

Pollution today and glasses

2009-04-13T01:17:00.000-07:00

Today I snapped a photo while I was in the car on the way downtown to pick up some new pairs of glasses. The pollution was so bad, the buildings not far from the expressway were obscured by the awful air. If you look closely, you can see the buildings in the near distance. Luckily, the children had inside recess at school.

Leaving the pollution would be one of the good things about leaving here in June. Paying US prices for glasses would be one of the down sides. We are stocking up, though. Jack now has 6 pairs plus 1 pair of sunglasses (our friend, who has a glasses business, gave Jack a pair last week, so I had lenses put in them for about $26.50).

When I took the frames in on Friday, I also bought 2 more pairs for myself. The total came to 1000 rmb (about $150). I only had 735 rmb in my wallet, so I told them that was all I could pay. They said I could use a credit card, but we don't do that here, plus I was using that as my bargaining tool. Next, they told me I could ask my friend for money. I said she didn't have any either (also the truth), so they said I could use her credit card. I explained that I had 735 rmb and that was all I could spend. So, after a great deal of back and forth conversation between the vendors, they said ok. So, I got 1 pair of plastic frames with lenses and 1 pair of wire frames with lenses and lenses in Jack's glasses, all for about $108. The best quality lenses cost 180 rmb (about $26.50) and the middle quality lenses cost about $18. I opted for the best quality. I figured I'd splurge. I now have 10 pairs.

and the not so good parts

2009-04-06T01:43:00.000-07:00

The water is getting lower and lower in the floor

paint is crumbling off the wall

The baseboard is pulling away from the wall.

The floor outside the boys' room. The metal piece that marks the door frame is standing up against the door frame, the flooring is dried up and loose.

I will get the boys' (and maybe our) lead levels checked when we leave here.

As our date of departure from China approaches, I am reminding myself of the downsides to living here. I've blocked them out for the better part of the past 2 years 9 months, but it is time to remember them, or, rather, pay attention to them, again.

Not long after we first moved into our house here, we noticed a bulging in the floor outside the boys' bedroom. The workers came to investigate and told us there was a pipe with a problem. They "fixed" it and the floor and said more work would have to be done at some point.

Everything was fine until about November of last year when we noticed the floor was uneven again and then we noticed water coming from the door frame after we showered in the master bathroom.

We called the workers again. The "boss" came to investigate and told us it would be best if we did not use the shower in our bathroom. They said they would fix it but it would take 4 weeks and we'd have to cover everything because of the dust. Two major issues with this came to mind. One, 4 weeks really means twice that, probably. Two, dust? In China? This could be filled with lead or worse.

So, we told them to wait until we leave. We had Jack and Jed start showering downstairs in the guest bathroom. Huck and Zeke bathe in the 2nd upstairs bathroom. We continued to use the shower in our bathroom until last week when I noticed the problem was getting much worse and began to fear that the floor would cave in and we'd have to move out of the house. So, now Tom and I also shower downstairs. It's a big pain in the neck but not as big as having to move out of the house earlier than necessary.

This inconvenience and building toxin fest in our house is a big help in preparing me for our move. I am much less sad about leaving than I once was. Yes, I will miss my great friends, the neighborhood, the schools and, of course, the help, but I will not miss the pending disaster we call home, or several other things I will write about some other time.

One of the best little things

2009-04-01T01:32:00.000-07:00

One of the best little things about living here and having help is always having fresh, cut-up vegetables. Of course, in America, we can buy baby carrots and don't need to peel and cut carrots, and the same goes for other veggies, but here, we cannot. Jack likes carrots, Jed likes peppers, and Huck likes cucumbers, so we always have them around the house. On weekend days, I leave the veggies out for the family to snack on all day. I know it is really not that big of a deal, and I will do it when we move back home this summer, but for now, it is a nice luxury. I enjoy the little things...

Cute kids

2009-03-31T01:41:00.000-07:00

On a walk the other day my friend and I came across these two children. I think they are brother and sister or maybe cousins is more likely, due to the one child policy. Many people around here are migrant workers, though, and have more than one child if they are from certain outlying provinces. I am not sure if they are boys or girls or one of each. The Chinese tend to dress their children in any color and style, regardless of gender.

They are so cute and were very happy to pose for a picture and loved seeing their photo on the camera. I gave them each a dum dum lollipop. I almost always carry them and American flag pins with me to give away to nice people we come across on our daily outings.

Strange things that happen in our life here...

2009-03-26T18:20:00.001-07:00

On Tuesday we had a flat tire. So, we called the "auto club" people who came to check out the tire. They said we could patch the tire, but we already had done that once so we decided to replace it. Total cost $200+ usd.

When the driver saw what had happened, he said the "auto club" people were bad people because they were trying to cheat us by making us buy a tire and by taking our old tire to sell. I explained that we chose to replace it due to safety. Then I told him to tell the men that we wanted our old tire back. I then told the driver he could have the tire so he could sell it and keep the money.

I had to get Huck to school, but I also had to be at the house to pay the auto people, so I sent the driver and Huck in a taxi. Two drivers- one boy.

Yesterday, I took Jed and Huck to the eye doctor and dentist at the international clinic and I saw a physician and physiotherapist. The dentist if from Iran, the eye doctor and family physician are from Australia and the physiotherapist is from Germany. The nurses are all Chinese. It was quite the international afternoon. Zeke has a cold that has been going on for weeks and now it is a cough as well, so I'll likely take him to the doctor tomorrow. The pediatricians at the clinic near us are: Philippina , French and Chinese.

The factory

2009-03-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

This is the "factory" where the furniture is being made. It is about 1 hour from our house. The man in the picture is the father of the man we deal with to order and purchase the furniture.

A family clearly lives at the factory because there are personal effects throughout the buildings and when Gary showed me the inside of a chest I was looking at in his warehouse, there were clothes stored inside it!

bunk bed

2009-03-21T19:05:00.001-07:00

The bunk beds have drawers that will go underneath the beds. You can see the woman in the picture below is working on a drawer.

Furniture

2009-03-21T18:14:00.000-07:00

In January we ordered about half a houseful of furniture. I researched online and found designs we liked, combined them to make the perfect furniture designed specifically for our needs and tastes and ordered them to be made by the man we have used in the past. It was supposed to be nearly finished, ready to be viewed at the factory, on March 10 and delivered to us on March 30.

Surprise! It was not ready when we called a few days after the 10th. He said to call back in a week. So, this week we called back and made arrangements to go see the progress. The bunk beds, boys' dressers, our dressers, and bedside tables were there for us to see. They look pretty good.

You can see the bunk beds are made with shelves inside so the kids can put their books in them, rather than put them on the foots of their beds like they do now. Also, the dressers are as tall as the bunk beds so the boy on top can use the top of the dresser as a shelf. You can see a picture of the dressers, the tallest ones are the boys' dressers. I designed them so the bottom drawers are smaller and will hold socks and underwear. The highest drawers can hold out of season clothing since they won't be able to reach them. All of the furniture will be stained to match what we have back in Virginia.

We were able to see the 2 bunk beds, the 4 boys' dressers, our 2 tall dressers, 1 long dresser and armoire, book shelves, and bedside tables. He has yet to start our king sized bed and coffee table and we still plan to order a study desk and hutch for the kitchen. We are having a hutch for shoes, hats, gloves, scarves and coats made at a different place. The guy making our big order says it will be ready April 15.

We'll see...

The Driver and Huck and Zeke

2009-03-14T19:58:00.000-07:00

We are so lucky to have such a great pair to help us. Every morning, the driver comes at 7:40, gets Jack and Jed's bikes out of the garage and sends them off to school. Then, he comes inside to play with Zeke for a few minutes before he takes Huck to school. This day, though, Huck wanted to play too, rather than wait until they get to school, where they play together on the playground. Xiao Shang was carrying Zeke around and Huck was calling to him "Shu Shu, pick me up too!" SO, he did.

Interesting times lie aheadl

2009-03-09T15:44:00.000-07:00

Pentagon says Chinese vessels harassed U.S. ship

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Pentagon said Monday that Chinese ships harassed a U.S. surveillance ship Sunday in the South China Sea in the latest of several instances of "increasingly aggressive conduct" in the past week.

The Navy says this photo shows two Chinese trawlers forcing the Impeccable to make an emergency "all stop."

1 of 3

During the incident, five Chinese vessels "shadowed and aggressively maneuvered in dangerously close proximity to USNS Impeccable, in an apparent coordinated effort to harass the U.S. ocean surveillance ship while it was conducting routine operations in international waters," the Pentagon said in a written statement.

The crew members aboard the vessels, two of which were within 50 feet, waved Chinese flags and told the U.S. ship to leave the area, the statement said.

"Because the vessels' intentions were not known, Impeccable sprayed its fire hoses at one of the vessels in order to protect itself," the statement said. "The Chinese crewmembers disrobed to their underwear and continued closing to within 25 feet."

After the Impeccable alerted the Chinese ships "in a friendly manner" that it was seeking a safe path to depart the area, two of the Chinese ships stopped "directly ahead of USNS Impeccable, forcing Impeccable to conduct an emergency 'all stop' in order to avoid collision," the statement said.

"They dropped pieces of wood in the water directly in front of Impeccable's path."

A Pentagon spokesman called the incident "one of the most aggressive actions we've seen in some time. We will certainly let Chinese officials know of our displeasure at this reckless and dangerous maneuver."

Don't Miss

China accuses U.S. of interference

He said the Chinese crew members used poles to try to snag the Impeccable's acoustic equipment in the water.

The U.S. Embassy in Beijing lodged a protest over the weekend with the Chinese government, a State Department spokesman said Monday.

The Impeccable's crew is composed primarily of civilians and the ship itself is not armed, the spokesman said.

No one at the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing answered CNN's telephone calls seeking comment, and there were no stories about the incident in Chinese media.

The 281.5-foot Impeccable is one of six surveillance ships that perform military survey operations, according to the Navy. It is an oceanographic ship that gathers underwater acoustic data, using sonar.

It has a maximum speed of 13 knots -- or about 15 mph -- but it travels 3 knots, or 3.5 mph, when towing its array of monitoring equipment. It carries a crew of 20 mariners, five technicians and as many as 20 Navy personnel.

The Chinese ships involved were a Navy intelligence collection ship, a Bureau of Maritime Fisheries Patrol Vessel, a State Oceanographic Administration patrol vessel and two small Chinese-flagged trawlers, the statement said.

The Pentagon cited three previous instances of what it described as harassment, the first of which occurred Wednesday, when a Chinese Bureau of Fisheries Patrol vessel used a spotlight to illuminate the the ocean surveillance ship USNS Victorious.

In that incident, which occurred about 125 miles from China's coast in the Yellow Sea, the Chinese ship "crossed Victorious' bow at a range of about 1,400 yards" in darkness without notice or warning. The following day, a Chinese Y-12 maritime surveillance aircraft conducted 12 fly-bys of Victorious at an altitude of about 400 feet and a range of 500 yards.

The next day, a Chinese frigate approached Impeccable "and proceeded to cross its bow at a range of approximately 100 yards," which was followed less than two hours later by a Chinese Y-12 aircraft conducting 11 fly-bys of Impeccable at an altitude of 600 feet and a range of 100 to 300 feet, the statement said.

"The frigate then crossed Impeccable's bow yet again, this time at a range of approximately 400-500 yards without rendering courtesy or notice of her intentions."

And on Saturday, a Chinese intelligence collection ship challenged Impeccable over bridge-to-bridge radio, "calling her operations illegal and directing Impeccable to leave the area or 'suffer the consequences,' " the statement said.

In 2007, the Pentagon filed a formal protest with Beijing over its refusal to allow a U.S. aircraft carrier to make a Thanksgiving port call in Hong Kong so its crew could spend the American holiday with relatives and over its refusal to grant refuge to two U.S. minesweeping ships that were caught in a storm.

And in 2001, an EP-3 surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet and made an emergency landing on China's Hainan Island, where the Chinese held the plane's 24 American crew members for 11 days before releasing them.

Jed and 2 of his Grade 2 friends

2009-03-07T19:13:00.000-08:00

Jed and Kate

Jed and Max

The Cha Cha Slide

2009-03-06T22:59:00.000-08:00

This was the entire grade 2 doing the cha cha slide, second to last act...

The circus also included spinning plates, juggling scarves, short jump rope, dribbling balls, stilts, ladder pyramids, gymnastics and balancing acts.

Grand Finale

2009-03-06T21:32:00.000-08:00

Goodbye to the Circus. :-(
This is SO cute.

Human Dominos

2009-03-06T16:45:00.000-08:00

This part of the circus was GREAT! It was the opening act. Boy am I going to miss this school. Really amazing.

Jed's Grade 2 Circus

2009-03-06T05:41:00.000-08:00

The ISB Grade 2 Circus was a great success. Here is Jed's class performance.

On the road

2009-03-02T02:28:00.000-08:00

We were on our way home from downtown Beijing this weekend when I spotted a car in front of us. I wonder what was in the boxes and I wonder from where they came...

This is on the road where we travel almost daily. It runs between Beijing and Shunyi, the town where we live.

Zeke walking again

2009-02-26T02:24:00.000-08:00

Here is Zeke, on his way to perfecting walking upright. He has nearly mastered it, as you can see, he can now walk and talk on the phone. He even says "hi."

Visiting Performers at the Temple Fair

2009-02-21T18:47:00.000-08:00

Spring Festival at ISB- The Temple Fair

2009-02-21T18:37:00.000-08:00

Lion Dance

Jack and Jed at the dragon at their school's Outdoor Learning Environment (i.e. playground). In the summer, it shoots out a cool mist!

Jed and some of his friends.

Jed enjoying candied fruit on a kabob. A traditional Chinese treat.

Every year, ISB puts on a Temple Fair during spring festival. The children do performances. They have treats, crafts, visiting performers and music. It's really great.

Spring Festival

2009-02-21T04:44:00.000-08:00

This Is Jed's grade 2 academic Chinese class performing at the ISB Temple Fair at the end of Spring Festival (Chinese New Year). Every Chinese class in the elementary school did some sort of performance.

Snow in Beijing- thanks to the government

2009-02-19T18:58:00.000-08:00

Beijing blanketed by snow after China seeds clouds to beat drought

(China Daily/Reuters)

People's Liberation Army soldiers sweep snow in front of the Forbidden City in Beijing

Jane Macartney in Beijing

A carpet of snow blanketing the Forbidden City and the ancient halls and courtyards of the Lama Temple has transformed China’s capital into a fairyland. Hundreds have played truant from offices to sneak a peak of the first snowfall of the winter.

But nature has been given a helping hand. The heavy snowfalls over Beijing have principally been induced by meteorological offices to try to mitigate the most severe drought to grip northern China in nearly half a century.

City officials have been blasting chemicals into clouds over northern China to create the first precipitation in more than 100 days. The first flurries fell on the capital on Tuesday. By Tuesday, more than 500 cigarette-sized sticks of silver iodide had been seeded into clouds above Beijing from 28 rocket-launch bases around the city, said the Beijing Weather Modification Command Centre.

But this was still nowhere near enough to alleviate the drought that is threatening wheat harvests in several northern provinces.

Since the Government calculated that the city had gone for more than 100 days without a drop of rain, residents have been complaining to one another about how the snowfalls that were a common occurrence even into the 1980s appeared to have halted, as drought and desertification have marched towards the city from the Gobi desert.

Making the most of the cloud cover and renewed scattered snow, officials decided to “enhance” the fall by artificial seeding again last night. They fired 313 more sticks of silver iodide into the sky. The procedure made the snow a lot heavier, officials said.

Guo Yingchun, a senior engineer with the Hebei provincial meteorological observatory, said: “The snow has brought moisture to the soil and that may end the drought.”

So heavy was the fall that officials closed 12 highways around Beijing yesterday. Residents got up early to sweep the carpet away from their front doors with bamboo brushes. Few are equipped with spades, since snow has become such a rarity in recent years. Road sweepers were drafted in to work overtime, pushing snow into piles against pavements and around trees.

The snowfall did, however, succeed in attracting visitors to the Forbidden City – the former palace of China’s emperors – that sprawls with its legendary 999 rooms across the heart of the capital.

The increasingly rare sight of Beijing’s ancient buildings blanketed in snow and with footsteps muffled always draws residents eager to capture the moment on their cameras. An administrative official at the Forbidden City said: “Tourists will come in any weather, no matter if it snows or rains - people come anyway.”

But many said they were visiting just for the pleasure of seeing the home of the emperors in the snow.

A spokesman for the Badaling section of the Great Wall, about an hour from Beijing, said twice as many tourists as usual had come out to view the snow-covered site. “Even though it wasn't the weekend, about 4,000 tourists still showed up yesterday to watch the snow ... the scene is spectacular,” he said.

(Diego Azubel/EPA)

Tiananmen Gate in Beijing - there has been no precipitation in some parts of China for months

(Greg Baker/AP)

The rare sight of snow in Beijing has thrilled tourists, but not ill-equipped residents

Everything has a knock-off

2009-02-15T01:08:00.000-08:00

Our little grocery store is now selling "Arm and Hatchet" baking soda, made in
China, on their shelves right next to imported Arm and Hammer. The box
of the rip-off version is orange, the slogan is a circle, with a
drawing of an arm holding a hatchet, with the words "The Standard of
Purity"circling the bottom, exactly like the Arm and Hammer emblem.
The price, of course, is much lower than the imported original.

Welcome to China!

Zeke walked!

2009-02-10T02:56:00.000-08:00

Zeke walked more than a few steps for the first time today. Xing Ayi was VERY excited about it. Just before she left for the day, I videotaped her having him walk to her.

Sliding in Harbin

2009-02-08T22:52:00.000-08:00

Our Trip To the Harbin Ice Festival

2009-02-08T22:47:00.000-08:00

In the Ice Bar

The slides at night

Huck and Jed

Tom, Jack, Jed and Huck when we first arrived at the ice festival

We went to Harbin, in Northern China, to see the ice festival. It was truly amazing to see what they have done with ice and snow. The sculptures and buildings are truly sights to behold but the best part was the fun we all had sliding down the ice slides.

Here is a site where I've posted our photos...
http://henderschedtsinharbin.shutterfly.com

Today's outing

2009-01-31T02:24:00.000-08:00

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Today we took the boys to a wet market. We wanted to buy some more of the delicious little oranges we have been enjoying. I don't know if they are considered Mandarin Oranges or what but they are so sweet, juicy and are seedless and easy to peel so even the boys have no trouble with them.

Locals give them as gifts at this time of year, I imagine as a symbol of a new year filled with sweetness.

It was fun to chat with the vendors and locals who were quite curious about the ruckus we caused as we walked, really not loudly, around the market. Of course we had to say again and again that the children were all boys. Tom explained the Locks of Love phenomenon to them.

The fruit pictured here cost less than $10 USD.

We also visited one of the indoor vendors to purchase Chinese New Year decorations to take home with us when we move this summer. The vendor is pictured here with Jack and Jed. Notice the cigarette, which he lit while the boys stood next to him.

The man holding Zeke in the photo was talking to me for a few minutes and insisted on holding Zeke. I tried to avoid it, as his hands were quite dirty but he really wanted to hold him and Zeke's hands were inside his jacket, so I relented. He did scold me for not having heavier shoes on Zeke. He was wearing soft leather shoes. It is near 50 today, though, so very cold.

Chinese New Year/ Spring Festival

2009-01-27T02:22:00.000-08:00

The Festivities began on Thursday with a morning of activities at Huck's school. There were art projects and cooking activities in each room. Huck painted a fan, made a noodle art project of a Chinese Character, painted the Great Wall on a Challah cover and did several water colors. He also made jiaozi (dumplings)... Kosher of course.

At Jack and Jed's school, on Friday, there was a parade. I had a meeting with teachers, so Tom went to watch the boys. In my meeting, with 3 faculty members about some fairly serious issues, about 5 minutes into the meeting, loud drums and Chinese marching music began to play for a solid 30 minutes for the parade. We could not turn it off so we just talked through the ruckus.

Friday was Xing Ayi and Xiao Shang's last day of work for 9 days. I am sure they think the house will nearly fall down without them watching over things but we are managing well. Of course I prefer not having to do the laundry and dishes and cleaning but it is nice to have our house to ourselves.

There is hardly any traffic on the roads. The markets have shut from anywhere from 3 days to 2 weeks. Even our little Jenny Lou's grocery market was closed on New Year's Day. It seems as though more shops have closed this year. I assume it is because business is very slow so they figure shutting down for a few days can't hurt.

My friend took her kids to her ayi's house for New Year's dinner. Her daughter was sick and the ayi's mother reported that Western kids get sick more than Chinese kids because we feed them cold foods. The cold foods cause the stomach to shrink, so there isn't enough room for the food in the tummy and it comes back up... Interesting theory.

Chinese New Year- 2009 The Year of the Ox

2009-01-26T20:11:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T20:09:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year

2009-01-26T19:58:00.000-08:00

Spring Festival Approaches

2009-01-17T00:01:00.000-08:00

Thursday night we attended the People's Liberation Army Spring Festival Party to welcome the year of the Ox. January 26 is the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year. Seating at the event is done by diplomatic rank and for the past 2 years we were seated in the last row of tables. This year, we were delighted to find we had moved up two rows and we were still seated with our close friends, the South Africans, with whom we traveled this fall.

Dinner was buffet and full of the usual delicacies. I limited myself to the vegetable dishes. Being a vegetarian has proven to be a very wise choice for someone moving to China. I must have known when I was 12 that I had better get prepared. I was happy to avoid the chicken feet.

At our table, in addition to the South Africans, were Vietnamese and Cambodians and a few PLA officers. One officer I met at the dinner spoke perfect English and we had a very interesting conversation. I asked him if he had ever been to America and he said, "no." He said he would very much like to visit, though because it is such a big country. I replied that China, is quite big but he said he meant that he meant America is vast in its diversity. He said that in China, if you talk to one person, you talk to every person because everyone has the same opinions and thoughts but that in America, everyone is different.

I seized upon the opportunity to affirm his thoughts and tell him how great America is, indeed. I told him that people in America come from every background and that anyone can do anything he or she wants to achieve there. America accepts everyone. I said that our youngest son was born in China but China will not give him a passport. In America, if you are born in America, you are an American, no matter what. He seemed to know most of what I told him but also seemed to enjoy talking about these things. It was clear to me that he had perfected his English, in part, by watching American television programs and movies, so I asked him what his favorite show to watch is. He said "Friends."

Explaining some differences

2009-01-08T17:28:00.000-08:00

In many of my posts, I humorously describe things that have happened to us that show major cultural differences between us and our host country. I want to be clear that in doing so, I do not mean to seem critical of our hosts, rather just point out how two groups can be so completely different in their daily lives.

A clear illustration of this is how the general population in China treat the raising of their children. We all know about the one child policy. This has created a phenomenon of spoiled only children but while parents spoil their children like many families in American do, they continue to raise them in a very different way.

The priority here is for children to grow to be successful and driven. Parents want their children to grow up and take care of them. They send them to school very young. Schools are very competative and demanding. Children as young as 6 and 7 years old are often awake past 10:00 at night working on school homework. Parents enroll their children in extra schooling, keeping them occupied every day of the week. School is 6 days per week and many children have extra activities every day plus Sundays. Tutoring sessions are a common way for parents to try to keep their children ahead of the class, but when every child is doing it, more and more extra work is needed to stand above the rest.

Starting in middle school, children have to take tests and go through interviews to get into the better middle schools. This is true of all children who want to continue school past age 12. Our Ayi and driver's son went through this last year. He did not get into the school they wanted him to attend and it caused them great dissapointment. Also starting in middle school, education ceases to be free. Everyone must pay for the schooling, which explains why many people stop going to school at this age.

Education is the priority here because they see it as the way up in life.

Yesterday, I told Xing Ayi that I want Zeke to hear mostly Chinese so that he speaks it first. I said there is plenty of time for him to learn English when we go back to America so I want her to speak to him as much as possible. She told me (not for the first time) that I should leave Zeke with her when we leave China. He could stay here until he is "maybe 10 years old and then he can speak Chinese very well, like a Chinese boy." She is quite serious. She has also expressed to me, on several occassions, that she would like her son to come stay with us in the US for an extended period so that he can learn to speak very good English.

It is not uncommon for families to send their children away to live with relatives so that the child may get a better education than in the home village. Many children see their parents only once per year, at the New Year, which is at the end of this month. While I would love for Zeke to speak perfect Mandarin, there is not even a small part of me that would consider leaving him here. Now, ask me if I'd like to take Xing Ayi with us... That would be a different answer entirely.

After

2009-01-06T21:52:00.000-08:00

Christine (US)

Bex (England)

Marianne (Finland)

Karen (Aus)

The Tai Tais!

Before, During and After

2009-01-06T21:46:00.000-08:00

Amanda (Australia)

Britta (Germany)

Karen (Australia) and me

Bex (England)

Photo Shoot

2009-01-06T18:13:00.000-08:00

Christine (US)

The jelly

Britta (Germany)

One of my closest friends, Karen, is leaving China tomorrow to move back to Australia. Losing friends is one of the biggest downsides to the life we lead. She and her family are our family here. We spend Friday night dinners together, carpool to Sunday school, drop in on one another without calling... you get the point. SO, at her request, as a last hurrah, a group of ladies spent the day together yesterday. We did a classically Chinese thing and had a photo session at a local studio.

It is common for middle class Chinese to do these photo shoots for weddings and special occasions and just for show. The studios have traditional Chinese clothing, western wedding clothing and even colonial clothing. They do your hair and make up and then do a detailed photo session.

The hair and make up session was extensive. The girls used spray, gel and what can only be described as jelly (see photo) in our hair. You know it's bad when the girl tells you to wash your hair when you get home! It was slightly out of my comfort zone but we all decided to just embrace the experience. I let my "stylist" dress me how she wanted and do what she wanted with my hair and make up. I have posted many photos so you can see what our day was like.

We took a picnic snack of cakes and champagne and coffee and had a fabulous time. I am glad I will always have these pictures to remind me of our days in China. We are a group of tai tais. Tai tai means wife or madame. Workers call the ladies of the homes they work in "tai tai." So, we ladies call ourselves tai tais in jest.

Framing- Only in China

2009-01-05T00:19:00.000-08:00

Important reminder to self... ALWAYS CARRY A CAMERA!

Sadly, I did not have a camera with me today when the following took place.

Last week, Tom and I took a few things to a local framing store. In all, we had four items to be framed and 3 frames that needed a quick fix. The place I had the three items framed initially only put a mechanism for hanging the pictures but the pictures are small and will likely be placed on a table, so they needed an addition to the backs.

One of the items to be framed was two posters of Chinese submarines, placed side by side in a single frame. (You may have guessed that this was Tom's item.) He explained to the woman at the shop how he wanted the posters placed, which one on the left and which one on the right. He had a post-it note to indicate the one on the left.

When I arrived at the shop today to pick up the finished items I immediately spotted Tom's posters. The finished products looks great... except... wait for it... the post it note remains in place under the glass.

She'll have it ready for me on Thursday with the 3 other items I took in today.

I've been here long enough that this did not even phase me. It is just a small hiccup in our adventure here, something to write about and laugh about. I just wish I'd had my camera.

The above picture is of the canvases we made of the boys' handprints. I saw something similar in the Red Envelope catalog and decided to do it myself. I went to a craft market and found a painter who would mix the colors I wanted and paint the canvases. Once the canvases were ready, we took the 4 boys to the market and had them do their handprints on the canvases. This endeavor had TWO hiccups. First, the paint was oil paint, not non-toxic, water based paint as in the catalog, so getting the paint off of the boys' hands was not easy. Second, I let the boys choose the colors they wanted to use for their own handprints and by the time we got to the last boy, the only color that remained unused was the color that matched the only unused canvas which explains whey there are 2 brown handprints. Oh well. I think they came out nice. Eventually we will hang them all together like in the catalog picture but for now, I just hung them around the boys' picture.

Great Wall

2008-12-29T01:35:00.000-08:00

Back in November, Tom, Jack and Tom's parents went to the Great Wall. You can see what it is like where we go. We go up in a cable car, walk about 2 km along the wall and then take a toboggan down the hill. It is a lot of fun.

2008-12-29T00:53:00.000-08:00

The Great Wall- November

2008-12-29T00:23:00.000-08:00

This is the slide you can take down from the Great Wall section we frequent.

Things that make us go, "hmmm."

2008-12-18T05:09:00.000-08:00

(Zeke's first birthday, just for fun. Hard to believe he was born here 1 year ago.)

So here are some things that have made us go "hmmm" in the past few weeks...

Chef Bai used red wine, rather than white wine, in the recipe I gave him for chicken breasts, giving them a sickly, raw look. Good thing we didn't have any guests (unless you count my parents who are visiting from home.)

The toilet in one of our bathrooms didn't work well. It would run and run until we would, yes, shake the handle. We had it repaired by the maintenance crew in our compound many times since we moved in 2 1/2 years ago. The problem was that the chain would get kinked and the flap would not return to it's resting position. Eventually, after much shaking of the handle, the chain would break. Finally, Tom had reached the end of his rope, which you will see is ironic when you read what happened. He went up to the clubhouse of our compound to talk directly with management to complain. He explained that we have had the problem "fixed" 3o times since we moved in and now he wanted it done right. He was kind but firm and later that day a worker came to make the repair. When the work was complete, Tom asked the man if it was done well, and of course he was told it was. When Tom took a look at the workmanship he found that the chain had been replaced with a piece of twine!!!

You can imagine Tom's reaction, I am sure. I can tell you he was not pleased. He calmly explained to the worker that the fix was not acceptable and he told the man to tell his boss he wanted it fixed right. A manager came to our house and we were told that the toilet had not been fixed 30 times this year, only 9. (This does not include last year or the year before, of course.) After much discussion, the problem was solved when the inner workings were replaced with new parts. So far, so good!

Getting Ready for the holidays

2008-12-14T05:16:00.000-08:00

Jed's 2nd grade show

2008-12-09T17:35:00.000-08:00

The second grade at International School Beijing did a performance of African music yesterday. Here is Jed's class, including Jed's solo.

China things

2008-12-08T19:05:00.000-08:00

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Well, it's been several days since my last posting because our computer contracted 3 viruses in one night. The perils of living in China. The irony, or not, is that we had just updated our anti-virus software.

So, I phoned the computer teckies to help me. The rep showed up at my house, spent an hour or so working on the computer and then told me the problem was big and I'd need to bring the hard drive to the shop where they would remove everything from the hard drive and reload it.

5 days later, they phoned to say the task was complete and that I could come to retrieve the computer, which I did. I asked them to come help me set it up in my home, so 15 minutes later, a man showed up to do it. It was taking a while and then I heard him on the phone, speaking quickly. I could not understand everything that was said but I did understand the key words, "broken," "electricity," "none," and "I don't know." So, the hard drive went back to the shop where it was quickly determined that the problem was that the shop technicians had switched the power from US 110 to China 220 and forgotten to switch it back. So, with a quick flip of the switch, we were back in business. Back to my house we went, I in my car and he on his bike, and about 2 hours later, the computer was up and running. Total cost: 150 rmb, $22.06.

The photos above are unrelated. On a 5 mile walk last week, my friend and I discovered a pipe across this terribly polluted creek had sprung some sort of leak. The photos do not do justice to the image. The water is a terribly murky green black color and the pipe is streaming steam of some sort. Scenes like this one are not unusual, sadly. People hardly even notice them. On my way downtown on Sunday I noticed a huge power line drooping down along the side of a busy road. No one even looked twice at it as I stared from my car in traffic.

Sinterklaas

2008-12-08T19:00:00.000-08:00

On Friday I attended a Beijing Military Attache Corps Spouse afternoon tea hosted by the wife of the Dutch attache. The highlight of the afternoon was the arrival of Sinterklaas. It was the attache dressed up and he was great.

These teas are hosted by a different country each month and they feature culture and foods from the host country. Attendance is usually between 50 and 80 women. English is the main language used but there are groups that cling together, speaking: Spanish, French (both from France and African nations) Russian, Japanese and Korean. Sometimes women from two different countries who do not speak one another's language will converse in Chinese.

Attache Corps Ball

2008-12-01T05:09:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, we attended the Beijing Military Attache Corps ball. It was attended by over 200 attaches and spouses from countries all over the world. It is our third year here, third BMAC ball and first we have attended. The first year, Huck was in the hospital with Rotovirus, last year, I was 2 weeks away from giving birth to Zeke. We were very happy and relieved to be able to attend this year. We sat at a table with friends from England, Northern Ireland, Australia, The USA and Malaysia.

Crazy prices and pollution

2008-11-24T17:23:00.000-08:00

Prices are still going up around here. Yesterday when I was shopping at our local grocery store, I looked to buy a box of Cheerios for Zeke and saw that a regular size box cost $13.10!!! That is one thing I won't miss when we leave here this summer. I suppose it is a good idea for me to start focusing on the things I won't miss rather than dwell on what I will miss.

Another thing I won't miss is the air pollution which seems to be worse than ever. Lately, in the evening, it smells like someone is smoking a cigarette in my living room. I find it affecting my mood, which has never happened in the past. Huck is coughing a lot, he has asthma, and I caught a cold, which is rare for me. I assume the pollution has an effect on the immune system. Luckily, I've read that the effect of the pollution is short term. Once one leaves the polluted atmosphere, the damage reverses. For those of you who wonder why we don't wear masks, I will tell you that the particles are too small to be blocked by a mask. The masks you see people wearing only protect from the particulate during the dust storms, so we just have grin and bear it.

2008-11-18T01:05:00.000-08:00

We spent 15 days traveling with our South African friends. They showed us their country in a way that only locals can. It was fabulous. We traveled from Capetown to Durban to Spieonkop to Kruger National Park, to Sabie to Pretoria to Johannesburg.

My absence explained...

2008-11-17T23:29:00.000-08:00

Several readers have wondered why I have not written in more than 2 weeks.
I've not been monkeying around.

We've had some family time...

We went on a 2 week vacation to South Africa!

Another classic sign

2008-10-25T20:00:00.000-07:00

This sign is at the entrance to the Pearl Tower in Shanghai. See number 1, in particular.

"The ragamuffin, drunken people and psychotics are forbidden to enter the tower."

Our bar

2008-10-25T00:34:00.000-07:00

We had a bar made. We've had other furniture made, including a hope chest and book shelves and plan to have bunk beds, dressers and more made, but this is the one piece of more traditional Chinese style furniture we will be bringing home with us. It is great. To show it best, I made a video.

Having it made was a classically Chinese process. Tom had checked around to find the one place that did the best job, as far as he could see. He went to the shop to place his order and gave his specifications since he was altering the design a bit to suit our taste. After completing the order, he asked the woman at the shop when we could expect to have it finished and delivered to our house. He was given an answer to which he replied, "ok, now tell me when I can REALLY expect to have it because if you tell me one date and I don't get it, I will not pay the full amount. Just be honest and tell me when it will be ready." She added 10 days.

When it was delivered (on time) there was a small nick on the top of the door where it was obvious that the pin that stops the door from spinning had nicked the finish and dented the wood. It was a small defect that we did not care about fixing but when the person delivering the piece saw us looking at it, she explained, carefully, that if we have a brown pen, we can fix the problem by filling in the spot...

The Bell Tower

2008-10-13T04:42:00.000-07:00

This is the bell tower playing "The East is Red". Sorry the video is on its side, I forgot that I cannot rotate it, but you can still hear it.

Go to the first Shanghai posting at the bottom of today's postings to see a detailed entry about the trip and a video of Zeke and his paparazzi.

Food in Shanghai

2008-10-13T03:00:00.000-07:00

This guy had a nice setup to cook food on the back of his bike. He did a fair amount of business!

This food stand was very busy. YUCK!
Tom and I ate at California Pizza Kitchen rather than take our chances and he still got food poisoning somewhere between there and the hotel buffet breakfast.

More Shanghai

2008-10-13T02:22:00.000-07:00

We came across this bride on our walk.

That is the Shanghai Pearl Tower in the background.

The bells in this tower play "The East is Red" every hour. Nice!

Shanghai

2008-10-13T02:06:00.000-07:00

Tom and Zeke riding the Chinese way, without a carseat, in Shanghai. Scary.

An interesting name/concept for an eatery!

Bamboo scaffolding.

Shanghai

2008-10-13T01:59:00.000-07:00

This was the view from our hotel room the day we arrived. The air was not much different than in Beijing.
This was the view from our room the next day.

This is another view from our room.

Shanghai Video of Zeke and his fans

2008-10-13T00:14:00.000-07:00

Zeke and I went to Shanghai with Tom on Friday. He had to work there and I'd never been, so with only 9 months until we leave China, I decided to seize the opportunity of a weekend trip. Tom has to be there for 11 days, so we flew down together and Zeke and I flew back on Sunday. Jack, Jed and Huck happily stayed with Ayi. I am sure she was much more fun than I am and she let Huck sleep with her so while I won't say I wasn't missed (they were eager to talk when I called) they were quite happy in her care.

Shanghai is a very interesting city. Its architecture is quite modern mixed with very old. I've heard it referred to as an architect's playground because one can do whatever he/she wants and not worry that it won't fit in there.

My friends all told me to shop like crazy while I was there but really I just wanted to see the city's new and old sites and enjoy a little time with Tom and our youngest son. It was a really nice weekend. The weather was in the low 70s, the sun shone and luckily, Zeke loves to be out and about, so spending the days wandering suited everyone. However, I can't say it was a relaxing weekend since Zeke was not too happy with his temporary accommodations and therefore did not sleep much. Tom and I, on the other hand, were quite happy with the hotel. We stayed on the 25th floor of the new Hyatt on the Bund. The view was lovely once the fog/pollution cleared and service was very nice.

On the first night we were there, we had a work obligation for Tom. A Brazilian ship was visiting the port and they held a reception on board. It was not appropriate to take Zeke so, this being China, the land of the ayis who love children and the land of tight security where nothing goes unnoticed. We asked at the desk for babysitting services for 1 hour. I was not thrilled with the idea of leaving Zeke with a stranger, but knowing that "big brother Wang" is everywhere, I felt more at ease. So, a 50-65 year old woman happily watched our little one for an hour while we walked across the street to the pier for the reception. She even almost had him asleep before we returned but a hotel employee rang the doorbell and startled him so he was crying when we returned. While many things are ridiculously inexpensive here, the babysitting at the Hyatt was not. We paid 230 RMB for 1 and a quarter hours. ($34) This was difficult, considering that if we were not in a hotel like that here, we'd have paid about $2.00. Oh well.

People were very friendly, Zeke was a real show stopper. We spent about 2 hours walking on the Bund on Saturday and were stopped no less than 10 times by groups like the one in the video. I had taken a few pictures of the groups but realized that the only way to convey what it is really like was to take video. This video was taken the final time people stopped us. Zeke had reached his limit by then, as you can hear. You can also hear Tom talking to people in the group. Most of the people who stopped us were not from Shanghai but from areas less apt to see westerners. Still, it took us by surprise each time since the reverse would never happen in America. In America, we have such a diverse population. On any given day we will see people of many ethnicities and races. Here, though, it is more rare to see a face of a different ethnicity. Men and women, young and old were attracted to Zeke. A vendor came running to join a group of onlookers, his table of knicknacks in hand! A 30 something man said Zeke was just like an angel. It was really a unique experience.

Visiting with Ayi and Shu Shu (auntie and uncle)

2008-10-05T02:25:00.000-07:00

When Xing Ayi was getting ready to leave on Tuesday, I said "thank you," and "see you on Monday." She said, "Monday? It's so long!" I said Monday because Wednesday-Friday was a Chinese holiday so she had the days off. She said she would miss Zeke because he changes so quickly now. So, I told her that if she misses him, she can come get him and take him to her house for a visit if she'd like. Her mother lives near them now, so I knew she'd like to see Zeke. I've told her she could do this before, but she never has, so I didn't expect to hear from her.

On Saturday morning, just after I put Zeke down for his nap, Xing Ayi called and said, "Hi Erin, is ok if I come take Zeke, go to my house? Maybe 11 or 11:30? I think he wake up then." I said no problem and she asked if Huck could come too. Jack and Jed were at a friend's house. Xing Ayi and Xiao Shang (her husband and our driver) arrived just after Zeke woke from his nap. At first, Huck did not want to go. He wanted to stay with us but I didn't want their feelings to be hurt so Tom and told Huck he could have a treat in the car and gave him a new star wars ship and off he went. While he waited outside for us to get Zeke's bag together, he ran around playing with Xiao Shang, whom he calls 叔叔 Shu Shu (pronounced shoe shoe). Tom snapped this great photo.
That's Xiao Shang's car in the background. He drives our car for us and leaves his at our house.

Wednesday

2008-10-02T22:12:00.000-07:00

At Hong Qiao we visited our friend, Fenny. She is our pearl lady in stall number 96 on the third floor. She has become a family friend and always asks to see the boys so we took the boys to see her. Her brother, sister and inlaws work there as well so we all go to see each other. We've given English names to many of her family members so it was fun to see them. Here is a picture of us with them.

We walked from Hong Qiao, across the bridge to the Temple of Heaven where we walked around and enjoyed the day. Everywhere we walked, we could hear people speaking about us. People assume we don't understand what they are saying but we do. We lost count of how many people uttered the words "si ge" which mean "4 of them) referring to the boys. After a while, we sat down so I could feed Zeke and before we knew it, we had a crowd gathered around us. They asked about the boys and what we are doing in Beijing. Some foreigners are bothered by this sort of attention but I figure that I enjoy my kids, so if others do too, that's great!

The funniest part of the outing was when a preteen girl shouted to her parents as we walked by, "kan kan, waiguoren!" "Look, look, foreigners!)

Wednesday

2008-10-02T20:39:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday we decided to take advantage of the holiday and go out and about with the Lao Bai Xing (Old 100 Names). We ventured to Hong Qiao, the Pearl market; and to the park surrounding the Temple of Heaven. On our way down to the sites, we saw no fewer than 12 wedding processions. I photographed two of them so you can see how people drive tfrom weddings to receptions and so you can see the air on that day. It was bu hao- not good.

The bottom picture is the entrance to the market, Hong Qiao.

The corn season

2008-10-01T00:14:00.000-07:00

I took these pictures as I walked around our community 2 weeks ago. 3 or 4 times per week, I walk with friends from our compound, around Jack and Jed's school and back. It is about 5 miles around. You can see there are still leaves on the trees and the bushes are green.

The corn is out on the roads again. I love this time of year. The weather is usually below 80. We've had some lovely, blue sky days (not today, though), and people are out enjoying the days. As I've posted in years past, this is the time of year, like in many other places around the world, when corn is harvested. Here, however, there is a different practice. They lay the corn cobs out in the road to dry, then they scrape the kernels off the cobs, by hand as you can see here, to dry further. Later, it is collected and the waiguoren (foreigners) debate what we think is later done with the corn. I have a friend who refuses to eat corn here, for fear she'd eat something that has lain on the road for weeks.

My theory is that it is used for flour and animal feed. I think it's probably best not to think too much about it.

Jack's Day

2008-09-27T02:59:00.000-07:00

Today we took Jack downtown to buy glasses but first we took him to lunch at Hooters. The girls LOVED Jackie. He talked with them in Chinese and they talked with him in English. He said he thinks they are smart girls because they speak Chinese and English.

The girls wear pantyhose under their shorts and one girl had sort of control tops on and you could see the band around her thigh. Classy!

Things that make you go ewww

2008-09-24T01:11:00.001-07:00

Jack and I were working in the office when we heard a familiar noise. Jack said, "is someone cutting their nails?" I had thought the same thing, but knew that the boys wouldn't do that on their own and Xing Ayi and Zeke were out, so thought it must be something else. I told Jack to go investigate. He came back and said, "it's just Chef Bai, he's using his own clipper to cut his nail, that's all." I made a face and Jack said, "what, he's using his own clipper and clipping them over his apron." He was doing it in the kitchen!!! EWWW.

Great Wall Hike

2008-09-20T21:37:00.000-07:00

A true blue sky day!

Jack is one of the three yellow shirted boys walking together up the Great Wall.
Cub Scout Pack 3944 of Beijing hikes at the oldest site of any other pack in the world. Pretty cool!

The man staking his claim on chestnuts.

Cub Scout Great Wall Hike

2008-09-20T19:58:00.000-07:00

Jack and his great friend, CJ (red shirt)

Jack and CJ participating in the group activity. About 45 scouts took part
in the outing.

This is the view (up) from where we ate lunch.

This year, I drew the short straw and became the parent to go along on the Cub Scout Great Wall Hike. It was nice to go with Jack but it was a long hot day.

We hiked up a long winding trail for about a mile + or so until we reached the Great Wall. Then we walked through a tunnel to reach the other side of the wall and the boys did some games and songs and we all ate lunch. Then we took a walk on the wall.

Along the trail, we found thousands of fallen chestnuts. Locals were collecting them on the ground and some were even using long sticks to shake them out of trees. One man shouted at us to leave the chestnuts or we'd have to pay him for any we took. I'm not sure how he can claim ownership, but he seemed to think he had a legitimate claim.

Bathroom habits- Revisted

2008-09-12T00:13:00.000-07:00

It is nearly impossible to live in China and not address the bathroom differences. I have posted before about squatty potties, and probably, though I can't say for sure, I have also addressed the split pants issue. In case I haven't, or for those of you who are new to the blog, I will explain a bit.

Traditionally, the Chinese have trained their children to use the toilet from a very young age. Babies do not wear diapers. They wear open clothes, called split pants so that the pee or poop, theoretically, does not mess the clothes on its way out. Parents must work hard to "train" their children to go on command or stick to a strict schedule of elimination. This explains frequent sightings of parents with young children squatting by the side of the road.

There is a movement (no pun intended) in the states right now, to toilet train babies from a young age, also. It is called "elimination communication."

A few days ago, I came home and Xing Ayi proudly proclaimed that Zeke had pooped on the potty. While I was surprised, I can't say I was shocked. She said she could see he needed to go so she put him on the toilet to go. I tried to picture the logistics of this episode but didn't think too much about it. Then, yesterday, Zeke seemed to need to go again so she took him into the bathroom. Curiosity got the best of me and I knocked on the door and took this picture. I have encouraged her to continue this habit. If she can get him toilet trained by the time we leave here when he is 18 months, WOW!

Mid Autumn Festival

2008-09-11T03:28:00.000-07:00

This weekend is Mid Autumn Festival. It celebrates the harvest, the brightest moon of the year and middle of the lunar calender autumn. It is a time to celebrate with family and enjoy the bright moon. Sunday and Monday are national holidays, so we give the ayi and driver the weekend off. I am guessing that Tom will have to work at some point.

Mid Autumn festival occurs on the 15th day of the eight lunar month. Chinese families come together at a family feast to celebrate the abundance of the harvest and the richness of life. Mooncakes, reported to have played an important part in the overthrow of Mongolian rule in the 14th century, are a traditional mid-autumn treat. Once “filled” with secret messages about rebellion, nowadays they contain plums, bean paste, and other delicacies. This year, the official festival falls on Sunday, September 14.

The kids learn about the festival at school and Huck made mooncakes at his school and Jack and Jed did the same at theirs. Mooncakes are a baked item filled with various Chinese delecacies. Lotus bean paste is one traditional filling. Huck was explaining to me what they learned about at school. He was telling me about moon cakes and the Chinese vegetable, which confused me since the cakes are usually filled with something sweet or, in some cases, egg yolk, to represent the moon. Finally, when I asked him to explain more, I realized he was talking about the Chinese FESTIVAL. Here you can see him explaining it.

Fishing

2008-09-11T03:22:00.001-07:00

Fishing

2008-09-11T03:14:00.000-07:00

The boys went fishing with Tom and two of our Zimbabwean friends. "Uncle" Boet was so kind to arrange the outing. The pond is near the Great Wall. The water is mountain spring fed, so it is surprisingly clean. There is no catch-and-release here, so everything they caught was paid for and taken home. Huck caught 1, Jack caught 2 and Jed caught 4. The workers at the pond gut and clean the fish for you!

Fishing

2008-09-11T02:32:00.000-07:00

See Below this post for a new post that just went up, though it says an earlier date.

2008-09-08T18:43:00.001-07:00

2008-09-06T18:25:00.000-07:00

Today was a busy day. We had friends over for breakfast. We went to a flower and craft market. We shopped for stone lions for outside our door. We went by a friend's house to drop off a gift. We put gasoline in the car. We went for a family walk. None of these things sound particularly interesting, but as we live in China, each has its own Chinese characteristics.

At the flower and craft market, we bought a beautiful bouquet of flowers for a friend who is recovering from surgery. The flowers contained small roses and large lilies of several varieties and they were all arranged in a large glass vase. Total for the purchase: 70 rmb, a little more than $10. The boys, of course, attracted much attention. We priced some lions at this market. 40 cm stone lions were priced at 900 rmb. We ventured across the rode... literally, across the street, no further, to a small local shop where the same size lions were priced at 550 rmb. A difference of more than $50 USD. We haven't bought any yet but want to before we move frm here.

I took a picture of the sign at the gas station to show a typical situation at a station here. The sign is in dissaray. The prices have gone up as they have in the US. There is a marked entrance and exit to the station and an attendant direction traffic, yet people still go in and out the wrong way. Gasoline has to be pumped by an attendant. Usually, our driver gets the tank filled for us while he waits for Huck to finish school.

We decided it would be a nice idea to go for a family walk after dinner. It's nice to get out, spend some time together, and the kids like to get ice cream or popsicles from the clubhouse. So we went out. The above picture is before our walk. The humidity was as high as I have ever felt, it was incredible. We walked to the clubhouse, bought the ice cream and a few other groceries and took the long way home. On the way, we spotted dozens of spiders like the one above. They are quite large, about an inch to an inch and a half. I hope they eat the mosquitos that are everywhere. No matter what we do, they get into the house and bite us at night.

So, we ended our day with showers for everyone. The pollution, combined with the humidity, make is so spending more than a few minutes outside makes you dirty enough to need to bathe. It was a day we could taste the pollution in the air. Thank goodness for our cool, clean house with air filters.

From start to finish

2008-09-02T23:22:00.000-07:00

These big signs are located at various places throughout the city- by the expressway, in front of the International School, downtown, etc. They've been in place for more than two years and they counted down the days, hours, minutes and seconds to the Olympics. We saw one on our way home from the airport on the day we first arrived in China. Here you can see it was the last day before the games began. Nice air, right? It was not a cloudy or rainy day, that's the air pollution.

After the completion of the games, signs went up on buildings. We passed this one on our way home.

Close but not exactly...

2008-08-28T00:34:00.000-07:00

Traffic has been limited since mid July in order to reduce traffic and pollution. On odd days, cars with odd numbered plates can drive and even days, cars with even numbered plates. We are lucky to have diplomatic plates. We can drive whenever we want. Cars officially tied to the Olympics can drive any day and they also have a special lane on all the main roads that are restricted to only Olympic cars. Leave it to the Chinese to try to figure out a way around the restriction and get it not quite right...

Things here are different in many ways

2008-08-28T00:22:00.000-07:00

Last night we had dinner with some French friends of ours. They are departing Beijing on Sunday so we took them and their two young boys to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants. It is a Brazilian place that is really great.

The boys are 1 1/2 and 3 1/2 years old and the 1 1/2 year old was looking to play so the waitresses were making eyes at him and trying to entertain him a little. After a few minutes, one of them held something out for him, shook it to make a rattling sound and handed it to him. On closer inspection, we saw it was a box of wooden matches! Nice toy! Our friend quickly took it away from her son.

The weather here is quite warm. It has been in the upper 80s and upper 90s with very high humidity. Luckily, we have air conditioning in our house. We have one control upstairs and one downstairs. Plus, we have two traveling controllers. I am one, the other is Xing Ayi. I keep the temperature at about 74 or so degrees downstairs and a bit cooler upstairs, where we sleep. Since Zeke sleeps during the day, I am constantly moving the temperature setting up and down so it is cooler when he sleeps. It seems, though, that I keep it too cool. At least, that's the message I am getting from the fact that every time I leave the house and come back, our ayi has either turned the temperature up to 80, turned off the thermostat or both! EVERY TIME! I realize it's a lifestyle issue. They don't have air conditioning, so it must feel too cold for her and she must think I'm a terrible mother, freezing my children. I try to be respectful of her feelings but when it gets too hot, I do turn it down. Otherwise, I wait until she leaves for the day and then I turn it down. It's more amusing than annoying, luckily, so I just keep my mouth shut.

I just put Zeke to bed and when I went into his room the thermometer I keep in there read 79.

Medical Care

2008-08-26T00:28:00.000-07:00

Medical care in China is slightly different from that in the US. Yesterday, Jack had to have a medical test that is not available at the international hospital where I delivered Zeke. The process for such a test is as follows:

We had to go to the international hospital at 8:00 in the morning. We were met by a nurse who put an IV in Jack's arm and drew blood for a test required by the other hospital. We then had to wait for the results. Jack played his Nintendo DS to keep occupied. You can see he goes to great lengths to be able to play it. Even with one arm that wouldn't bend, he kept playing. We waited 30 minutes for the result of the test, then took a taxi, with the nurse, to the local hospital. After about an hour drive, we arrived at the crowded facility. The nurse led the way.

People waited outside for family members and friends. People arrived with food for patients. Patients lined the hallways, waiting their turn.

We had to stop at the cashier where the nurse paid cash for the services in advance. Nothing is done at these hospitals without payment up front. Next we followed the nurse to the radiology department, waited a few minutes, then followed the nurse into the MRI room. We were given ear plugs to protect us from the loud noise from the machine. Jack's IV was hooked up to the contrast medication and he was moved into the machine. It was a GE machine, just like back in the US but older. The radiologist sat at the computer, wearing scrubs and flip flops! They told us the test would take 15 minutes but it took 45. The doctor said on first examination, the pictures look fine and he expects there are no problems. We will get the full report on Wednesday.