Chinese Hawaii

We took advantage of the Chinese New Year holiday by taking a quick trip to Hainan Island and the city of Sanya. Brandon's Chinese office is closed for the week, so it was a perfect oppotunity for a tropical getaway. We redeemed a wad of Brandon's bigillion Sheraton points and embraced the beauty and warm temperatures of the resort.

No less than twenty-nine times Lydia and Marcus had their pictures taken with random Chinese tourists. When we returned to Shenzhen, Kenny informed Lydia that she is a "superstar". Lydia now thinks she ranks up there with Hannah Montana. Her little blonde head is swelling by the minute.

Some highlights of the trip:

The biggest sandbox he's ever seen!


Sun, beach, searching for shells.... what could be better?


Juice-running-down-your-chin-elbow-and-arms fresh fruit.


The cable car ride to Monkey Island


The monkeys roaming free on Monkey Island (these happened to be part of a show, hence the ropes). The monkeys were so cute and funny to watch. Well, until that time that one monkey tried to steal Marcus' coat off his back. THAT wasn't so funny. Marcus didn't think so either.

Leaving on a (Chinese) jet plane....

Once upon a time, there was a Chinese airline flying to Hainan Island. On board were 176 heads of black hair and 4 that were not.

The two adult caucasian passengers each received a cup of hot water upon take-off. We're not sure why. We DO think holding a cup of boiling water with no lid during take-off is not permitted, nor recommended, by the FAA.

'Tasty' in-flight snack:
Guofu (an unidentified dried fruit)
Two packages of green onion crackers
Fish pizza flavored crackers
Strange gelatanous ball of goo. Only Brandon had the courage to try it. It did not receive rave reviews.

Say what?

Notice posted in the elevator...

respected owners (households):
Take notice of the public security organs, near the end and the beginning of the year, is the order of the high rate of cases. Public security organs in response to the call of mass prevention, combined with the actual situation in the district, the management office again solemnly remind the overwhelming majority of owners (households) do a good job of self-prevention measures,
1. when you walk out, please open the indoor lights try your best;
2. please, when you accece the garden carry cards, parking cards, access to cell doors car road to initiate credit card, and readily closed to prevent the criminal elements to enter the tail;
3. if you have installed anti-theft alarm system, please go out or rest, take the initiative to open a home burglar alarm system.
4. suggest that the owners (households) to install the smart home alarm system, a police intelligence report to the police when a timely manner;
5. we recommend that you rely on light wells Department of windows built-iron ornamental work to install anti-theft network;
6. please do a good job in the neighborhood, suspicious and timely call Management Service 24 hours a day.

“From there to here, and here to there, funny things are everywhere.”
- Dr. Seuss

It's beginning to look a lot like Chinese New Year...

The color red, a Chinese symbol of good luck, is popping up everywhere: Banners and flowers and lanterns, oh my! I attended an event this morning where the speaker spoke about different Chinese customs for the New Years celebrations, traditional foods and the do's and don'ts. There's a whole lot of superstition bundled up in the traditions. For example....

Do not wash your hair for the first 3 days of the New Year. Yikes!

Do not buy new shoes or new clothes for the first month.

Do give money to the children in small red envelopes.

Do let the children stay up late on New Year's Eve. The longer they stay up, the longer the parents will live.

Do not make anyone sad (including kids) on New Years Eve or you will have bad fortune.

Do wear red.

Do not wear black or white (they are symbols of death).
Think about that next time you attend a wedding! Ha!

Do not sweep the floors for 3 days because you will sweep away your good fortune.

Do not drop your chopsticks or your food. Your rice bowl is a symbol of your career/sustenance, so dropping it is bad luck.

Do visit the elderly.

Do not eat the entire fish for dinner. You must save some of it for next year so your fortune will increase.
Mmmmmm....yummy! Year old fish!

"Fortune" sure is a wily little bugger; one misstep and he slips away at a moments notice. I'm walking on eggshells just thinking about it. Wait a minute... Are crushed eggshells good or bad luck?!?! Help!!!

Funkitis

And just as quickly as a Happy Monday came and went, Full of Funk Tuesday showed up. As clearly as I recall those pleasant coffee-filled moments and conversations with friends while living overseas in Prague, I also recall this familiar feeling of difficult-to-diagnose "blah". Even Lydia informed me twice today that we should just go back to America.

Maybe we got to bed too late last night.

Maybe it was the clouds rolling in late in the day.

Maybe chatting with friends and family on the phone today made me a bit homesick.

Maybe it's the increasingly strong odor of dead fish in the air outside today.

Maybe I just want to drive my own car. Don't get me wrong.... Kenny's great and all... but he's not my red Toyota Rav4.

Maybe I want to load my shopping cart full of groceries instead of returning to the corner market every day, sometimes twice, to buy only what I can carry home with me.

Maybe my brain wants a break from dividing the cost of everything by 6.8 to figure out how many U.S. dollars.

In any case, I spent $8 for a 'taste of home' neatly packaged as Johnsonville Brats and another $3 for a bag of Pop-Secret I'm about to inhale... here's hoping for a whimsical Wednesday.

Things are not always what they seem

Looks like the local toy knock-off designers did a pretty good job of recreating and repackaging Lightning McQueen's buddy, Big Red. They even threw in a likeness of Sarge on the box.

Then came the logo...

Red and gold color? Check.

Circular shape? Check.

But somehow "Rust-eze" got lost in translation. And there you have it; Baby's first English lesson.

This was in Wal-mart!

Oh Happy Monday

It was a pleasant morning today.

1.
I managed to find two pairs of water shoes for the kids, for $5.50 each. The store owner was pleasant and really trying hard to communicate with me. We managed to find the right sizes by utilizing lots of hand gestures and typing the size I was looking for on his calculator. And he didn't even try to rip me off! I know because my new friend Katie, who is fluent in Chinese, just bought some shoes at the same shop this weekend and paid the same price as I did. A round of applause is in order for Chinese Shoe Salesman for not taking advantage of the naive foreigner!!!

2.
Kenny couldn't pick us up for preschool this morning, so I was on my own finding a ride for the kids and myself. I avoided a scam by confidently stating "No." and talking the driver down 5 RMB before hopping in. Kudos to me and a pat on my back.

3.
I came in underbudget at the supermarket today! Hooray for not having to unload purchases from the shopping cart.

4.
With my 5 RMB taxi ride savings and cost effective supermarket shopping, I managed to justify buying not one, but two lattes before noon today! It just doesn't get any better than that. Ok, so it doesn't quite net out, but I have never claimed to be an accountant...

Embracing the adventure

Nothing melts away stress like a little boy and a newly discovered playground!

Meet Anja

I call her "Anj" for short. She's my handy dandy sanitizer.

She's about the size of a teeny tiny dishwasher, but instead of a dishwasher (because why would someone want one of those, when you can wash dishes by hand?!?) the common thing in Chinese kitchens is a sanitizing machine.

We have not yet determined how she works, since she does not require any chemicals, soap or water. We simply load her up with the dishes we have recently washed by hand*. We push one of her two buttons (Speed I or Speed II) and 120 minutes later our dishes are supposedly rid of all impurities. I find the whole routine a bit ridiculous but, like a good Chinese person, I just do what I am told.

So Anj and I will continue our silly little dance of nonsense. And maybe, just maybe, we'll even grow to like one another.

------
*with water heated in the electric tea kettle (three times to fill the sink) because there's no hot water in the kitchen. Folks, efficiency is not the name of the game.

In case you were wondering.....

I still find it unacceptable to smell Chinese cooking mixed with sewage odors 24 hours a day.

In case you were wondering...
I saw cooked chicken feet and a whole roasted dog at the grocery store today. I didn't buy it.

In case you were wondering....
Today it will be a balmy 69 degrees. And smoggy.

In case you were wondering...
Tomorrow it will be a balmy 70 degrees. And smoggy.

In case you were wondering....
Kenny calls China a "Giant Fake Factory". Gucci anyone?

In case you were wondering....
I found a favorite cereal on "sale" today for $3 a box and stocked up. It's such a bargain, I'll go back for five more boxes today.

In case you were wondering...
There is no hot water in my kitchen. Chinese think this is normal.

In case you were wondering....
I was completely nauseated when the lady dipping fish from the fish tank in the grocery store splattered water that landed on my hair and face. I couldn't stop thinking about it for 12 minutes.

Art in the everyday

Lydia's First Day of Preschool - Take 2; China

Today was Lydia's first day at preschool while we are here. She walked right into the classroom and didn't hesitate once. She has a really nice teacher, Miss Annie, and from what I can tell, some really sweet classmates. They all said "good-bye Lydia" and some even gave her hugs at pickup time. The day went really well according to the teacher as well as Lydia. The only time she got a little homesick was when the kids were practicing for the upcoming Chinese New Year program... which entailed practicing songs in Chinese. I think I may have had a few tears myself in that situation. But when she came out of school at pickup time she was all smiles.

I, for one, am very impressed with the school already. The teacher sends home a little notebook each day where she writes individual notes for the parents about the day, the child, etc. There is a phonics songbook that we received to practice from as well as a practice reading book that Lydia should practice reading and then she needs to draw a happy or sad face on the reading log to indicate if she did or didn't like the book. I already feel so much more at peace with the decision to send her to preschool while we are here... it was an extremely difficult, anxiety-filled choice for me. Thank you, Lord, for answered prayers!

God sent me an angel. His name is Kenny.

When we were looking for apartments, we rode in a random taxi that our realtor hailed. After a block or two, the driver started speaking in English, asking us questions and telling us about his sister and parents who are living now in Miami. By the time we exited the taxi, he gave us his business card and told us to call him anytime. Finding an English-speaking, mild mannered, smile-filled taxi driver this easily and quickly is 100%, without a shadow of a doubt an answer to the many prayers sent up on our behalf.

Kenny is now our transport to and from preschool every day. He picks us up at our apartment complex at 8:15, waits while we drop off Lydia and brings Marcus and I back home (or wherever we need to go during the morning). Then at 12:15 he meets Marcus and I again to go pickup Lydia and return home. All this for a little less than $9 per school day; which is a complete bargain in my mind considering the total peace it has given me about getting around in Shenzhen while we are here. Kenny just loves Lydia and Marcus; he hurries around the car to help them in and out and even gave them gifts from his wife - a box of color pastels for each.

Sometimes angels don't come clothed in white with halos and shimmery wings. Sometimes they are a bit skinny with black hair, a crooked smile and they drive a Suzuki.

My heart misses Sunny

We don't have a coffee pot and that's not going so well for me.

So, after preschool dropoff, I coerced Marcus to join me for a latte at a little coffee shop I noticed near our apartment. It became abundantly clear that Marcus is not shaping up to be the stellar coffee companion that my daughter has proven to be (see this link for evidence).

The basis for my theory?
1. Multiple commands of "Ready go now, Mommy".
2. Shouting "No like it!" upon tasting the latte foam.

This is a big, huge letdown!

As I sat utterly and completely alone, sipping my coffee in a foreign country, my mind drifted back to Prague and I got a bit nostalgic. Sunny should've been sitting across from me, taking pictures of my kids with the camera she whips out at a moments notice. Just like old times, I ordered a hazelnut pastry and Illy brand coffee in broken English and with lots of pointing. Aw man, Prague + Sunny.... I miss you.

Traumatized at the supermarket

Yesterday the kids and I had to drop off the registration papers and deposit for Lydia's preschool. The building we had to go to is located right next to a little grocery store called "Park n Shop" (which I just realized is a very humorous name because no one in their right mind would actually drive in China, so who is doing the 'park' portion?"). Anyway, they carry a lot of foods I'm used to seeing at relatively normal prices. I decided we'd load up Marcus' stroller basket with a few food items we needed before heading home.

Apparently I'm still getting acquainted with the monetary system (and was hungry for lunch) because by the time I got to the checkout I had 360 RMB worth of food and only 178 RMB to spend.

Memories of shopping in Prague immediately overcame my brain. I could feel my body temperature rising and my face getting flushed. Not knowing how to communicate that I was short of cash I just started taking things back out of the stroller basket and putting them back on the counter one at a time. Thankfully the workers at this store speak a little bit of English... enough for me to apologize over and over and over and for them to say "No problem". Which, actually, was a pleasant change from my Prague days where this sort of transaction would've gotten me some very angry looks, shakes of the head and disgusted Czech grumbles.

I was so scarred by the experience that now I am only courageous enough to buy 1 liter of milk, a jar of jelly and two lollipops per visit. Apparently I just can't trust my RMB cost analysis abilities.

It's laundry day...

My combination washer/"dryer"... I managed to wash ONE load of laundry today: 4 Marcus shirts, 1 Brandon shirt, 6 pairs of socks, 1 pair of pajamas, 3 pair of underwear = filled to capacity.

3 HOURS and 43 MINUTES later... cycles are complete. Two year old boy enters room. Pushes 'start' button. Doors cannot be opened. Oh, no problem!!! I'll just cancel the cycle by pushing this. button. right. here. Aghhh! Mommy fumes!


3 HOURS and 43 MINUTES later... cycles are complete. Turns out "dry" is a relative term. I still need to hang the clothes to dry throughout our apartment. Make mental note to buy hangers and attempt the "Laundry on the balcony to dry" method. Can you say, "Hello world! Here's my underwear!"

Grilled cheese in a wok...

...doesn't work so well.

A look at our neighborhood

Brandon just left for work a few minutes ago. I have to admit, over the weekend thinking about this day has made me a little nervous in my stomach. Today is when real China life begins for me. I'm on my own now with both kids for the day. There's nobody to keep me safe and take care of the things I'm too nervous about. It also means a ton of walking for all of us... no taxis since I can't communicate with them how to get back to our apartment. The general rule is that you need the location written out in Chinese on a piece of paper or a business card. This also means there is no Brandon to carry Lydia when she gets too tired to walk.

We'll also finish registering Lydia for school today and she'll probably start on Wednesday.

I walked around our apartment complex yesterday and took a few photos. You don't really get the 'smell factor' by looking at these... and it's not really something I can even describe. You just need to experience it firsthand.

Our apartment building #11


The main entrance


Our front door to the apartment. Warm and inviting, huh?


Our neighbors as seen from the kitchen window

Discovery Zone

Today has been a pretty nice day so far. We met up with a contact Brandon has in China (Jenn). We spent a LOT of time in Starbucks either drinking coffee, eating snacks or feeding her baby. Then she was so helpful in showing me the shops to find food that we're familiar with. I am amazed! So far, compared with Prague, so many more things from America are available here... including my favorite soup: Progresso Tomato Basil! There is even Land o' Lakes chedder cheese. Wow! She also calmed my fears about China milk by explaining the safe vs. unsafe options.

Lydia was very tired of walking by 2:00 and longing for our car or a taxi ride. She notices the 'interesting' smells instantly (and loudly proclaims her feelings about them). Marcus is continuously caught off-guard by the constant car horns. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure he's ever heard a car honk before! Such a strange, new set of smells and noises for all of us.

A new definition of painful

We made it safe and sound halfway around the world. Who knew the world was SO BIG?!?! Seriously, that was the longest flight ever. Both Brandon and I thought it would never, ever, ever, ever end. Just when we thought we were getting somewhere, the inflight map would pop up on the screen and wouldn't you know it.... only 10 hours remaining flight time! It didn't help that the kids each slept only about one hour throughout the flight. My kids are champion sleepers IN a bed. My kids are NOT champion sleepers anywhere other than a bed.

At one point, Brandon won "Hero Dad of the Universe" award. He gave up his seat and walked around the plane for the hour or so, so that the kids could stretch out across two seats. Ironically, the last trip he took to China, he had 3 seats to himself to lie down and sleep. This time he was seatless. If it wasn't for his heroic actions I am certain Lydia would have pulled her first all-nighter and the ripe old age of 4.

Our first day was a test of any child's tolerance, let alone two severely jetlagged tykes. We visited two preschools and FIFTEEN apartments. I don't think the realtor will nominate either of our kids as "Best Behaved American Child of the Year". But honestly, if it was acceptable for a 30+ year old woman to fall on the ground and writhe about, I may have done just that. Even McDonald's was a total bust with both kids whining and moaning throughout the duration:

Mommy's Brain: "I know, kids! Let's draw even MORE attention to our fine blonde hair, fair complexions and light-hued eyes. How about some more pouty faces and wailing excessively in public??? That sounds FUN!"

Kids' Brains: "OKAY!!!!!! Yippee!"

Daddy's Brain: "Traveling to China with my kids isn't very fun."


I think you get the point. Moving on....

We managed to decide on an apartment. All details are being worked out and we hope to move our things in this weekend. I think we've also decided on a school, but wouldn't you know it.... Lydia wanted the school her parents DIDN'T chose. When they showed her how the little kids have access and ability to get their OWN snacks, she was sold. Apparently that was more of a selling point than a playground twice the size.

Here's a few pics of the new pad:

We'll take the blue light special, please....




The view isn't half bad!

TOP 10
Reasons We Decided to Go to China for 7 Weeks

10. Lydia wants a pet Giant Panda, so we decided to go straight to the source.

9. The latest Scientifc Journal studies show that inhaling large quantities of smog is actually beneficial to your health.

8. I'm conducting research for the latest Eastern diet craze to sweep the nation: "Rice, Chicken Knuckles, Rice, Locusts and Rice: How to effortlessly lose 25 lbs in 8 weeks".

7. The 8 hour car ride to Iowa is no longer challenging. We wanted to take it up a notch and thought 16-1/2 hours in a plane would be much more fun!

6. It's winter in Wisconsin and we're not old enough to be "snow birds". Besides a "snow dragon" sounds much more edgy.

5. Consuming rice, soup and noodles with chopsticks sounds so effiicent and enjoyable. We just have to try it out.

4. Lydia is studying the origins and effects of Communism in her preschool government and world history class. As involved parents, we believe hands on learning is the best kind.

3. We'll be there to celebrate Chinese New Year 2009 and kick off the year of the ox. Who doesn't love a big ol' cuddly ox?

2. Looking like a giant makes me feel powerful.

................and the number 1 reason we decided to go to China for 7 weeks...................

1. Blogging from Wisconsin was becoming stagnant. We're off in search of new blog fodder. Stay tuned!

All dressed up with somewhere to go....

One week from today we will all be suffering severely from jetlag. I know what European jetlag does to kids (and their mommies and daddies!). I can't even begin to imagine what another 7 hours does to a little body. We will be contained inside an airplane for 16-1/2 hours. What does one do with two small kids in an airplane for SIXTEEN and ONE-HALF HOURS!?!?

Why are we going to China? With the frequency that Brandon needs to travel there each year, and the amount of work he needs to cram into a 1-2 week trip, it seemed a wise choice to stay for an extended period of time instead. This will allow him to focus more completely on his duties, and hopefully allow time for those extra things that need doing as well... like mentoring, developing leadership, and relationships with the engineers in China that report to him. The idea of staying behind with the two kids for such a long period of time was more than I felt I could handle. So, after much prayer and uncertainty, we decided it would be best for the kids and I to come along. There are still many, many details to work out. And although 7 weeks is "only" 7 weeks....... 7 weeks with two little ones in a foreign country seems very daunting at best. I try to stay focused on the "adventure" of it all. But truth be told, I am just plain scared.

What's funny about the little outfit Marcus is wearing in the photo is that we bought it nearly 6 years ago when visiting China while I was 6 months pregnant with Lydia. It shows our complete lack of understanding regarding Chinese dress, since it is a boy outfit. But what a coincidence(?) that the outfit we bought 6 years ago just happens to fit our 2 year old boy in the exact season in which we are leaving for China!