Carrots and Raspberries are not a good mix!

Kyle loves carrots and loves to blow raspberries while eating carrots! 

A weekend of Haircuts

 Nicholas, Ian and I all got haircuts this weekend. Mark took the boys for their second haircut at Head to Toe Family Salon. He decided to treat them to a shampoo/head massage for an additional 10 RMB ($1.50). Nicholas was not so fond of someone touching his head - so lots of tears were shed during the hair wash/massage.  

Ian on the 

other hand likes a little pampering. I am determined to make him my manicure/pedicure partner before we leave here. Total cost for 2 haircuts with wash and massage : $12.  My neighbor set me up for a haircut with a nice French man at Eric's Salon in Puxi. Laurent did a wonderful job and it was great to have my own head massage/shampoo with no children to be heard!

Ian loves radishes

Today I went to a Parent/Teacher conference for Ian. In the few short weeks we have been here, we have seen such an amazing change in him since he started school. He is now writing his name and drawing pictures that actually resemble something. He is huge into phonics saying "Mom I am thinking of something that sounds like rrrr." He has started eating dumplings dipped in ketchup and he claims he loves radishes (this was fruit and vegetable tasting month). He tells us words that rhyme all the time - Kyle - smile. Here he is singing a song in Chinese that he learned at school! (We have no idea what he is saying?!?!)

Holy Cow

Today I finally took Kyle to the doctor for what was suppose to be his 4 month check up (he is 2 days shy of 5 months).  (IBM has been a nightmare with our medical benefits and  finally realized that Mark is not a bachelor and added his wife (me) and 3 kids to his insurance plan.) When the nurse put him on the scale she weighed him in kilograms -8.69. Then I asked her if she could switch the scale to pounds - up popped 19 pounds 12 ounces - "Holy Cow" I said.  A few minutes later the nurse said, "Um excuse me miss - what holy cow mean?" Now my mom always tells a story about many, many years ago when she was potty training me that once when I produced a success I turned looked in the potty and said "Holy Cow!" I guess I have been using the phrase ever since, but how do I explain that to a Chinese person?  So I just said, "It means Wow he is big!" 

Heaven in a Plastic Bottle

Since we have moved here to Shanghai our one daily treat from home has been our Dunkin' Donuts coffee with our Coffee mate creamer. We brought 2 giant bags of Dunkin' Donuts coffee from Sam's and a large bottle of self stable Coffee mate creamer(makes you wonder what is in that stuff that it does not need to be refrigerated and yet it is coffee cream? Would be a little scary in the US, but here - no big deal). We just ran out of the creamer last week and have been trying hard to find a Chinese substitute. I have bought a few varieties of powdered creamer, some sweetened condensed milk, and I found some little creamers like you get at a restaurant. Bottom line is that nothing compares to Coffee mate creamer. So Mark stopped at The City Shop(the best import market in Shanghai) on his way home from work on Friday and surprised me with 2 small bottles of Hazelnut Coffee mate!(for $7.00 each!!)When we first arrived in Shanghai we went to The City Shop and saw the creamer so my thought was that they stock Coffee mate here great - we will never be with out it. Well - you quickly find out that if you see something you want - buy it because it won't be there tomorrow. I am even finding that friends call each other when they find things and buy them all to share with their friends. Anyway what a great Saturday & Sunday morning treat! (thinking of you Traci Giles!)  It would have gone great with the  New York Times Style Section, but I read a UK InStyle magazine instead (also for $7.00). Sipping Dunkin' Donuts coffee with Hazelnut creamer and my eyes closed - it feels like home.

"The Batmobile"

One day a week our driver gets the day off. We typically give him Saturdays off. So our main source of transportation on Saturday's is "The Batmobile". Nicholas and Ian love to ride in "The Batmobile" and it is a great workout for Mommy or Daddy. Mommy can also fill it full of groceries for a trip to the store. Kyle is still a little too small, but loved hangin' with the big boys to get his picture taken. 

Beautiful Friday in Shanghai

Kyle and I headed up to the roof top deck to enjoy the sunny 19 degree weather (everything here is in Celsius - 66 degrees F to us). I took a few photos with my new camera - wow- this is going to be a fun hobby to master! It is usually pretty smoggy here in Shanghai, but today it is pretty amazing. This is Claudine's (my favorite neighbor and shopping partner) house.

In the far background of this photo you can see the World Financial Center building. It looks like a bottle opener. In 2008 it was named the world's "Best Tall Building" by the Council of Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Cool. The building just to the right of this is Mark's Office in the Jin Mao tower.

The yellow bell tower to the right is at the middle of the compound. There is a great grassy area and a fountain where the kids play soccer or ride their bikes.

I put this one in to show the street signs - hence why we have a driver. All in Chinese and to us all the roads sound like Long Duck Dong Rd? The roads that surround our house - Mingyue Rd, JinXiu Rd., HeiSong Rd. and  Bai Hua Rd. Where is Main St.?

How you going?

Mark keeps telling me he doesn't know what to say when people ask "How is your wife adjusting to life in China?" So I have been thinking hard about how I am adjusting to life in China. Everyday at least one person says "How you going?"(It sounds funny, but this is how the Australian's ask how are you?). After a little brainstorming, I have decided I have progressed through the 5 stages of grieving. I am not sure what I am grieving - the loss of home? Anyway - the five stages of grieving are:

1. Denial - I was in denial until about 8 hours before we boarded the plane. As most people know, I found out about this little move when I was about 8 months pregnant. Therefore, I chose not to think about it until after Kyle's arrival. After Kyle arrived, I still did not want to think or talk about it. Until I boarded the plane I still thought we might not be going for sure.

2. Anger - there have been more than a few angry discussions about why we have to do this. I will stop there as to not air any more dirty laundry.

3. Bargaining - I feel myself bargaining with myself all the time. If these Dunkin Donuts are just like home, I will like it here so much more. If I can have one day were people don't stare at me and Kyle, life will seem more normal. If this mirror will actually fit in this frame, I will stop complaining about nothing working right.

4. Depression - I have up days and down days. I miss a lot of things from home especially friends and family, but overall - I think the days of crying are over.

5. Acceptance - I think I have reached this stage. I don't even look twice at a man riding a bicycle carrying a 6 drawer dresser, or the full pig hanging in the meat section at the grocery store, or the heavy smog that hangs over the city, or the guy cooking dumplings in the street cart outside Ian's school. I just say "Ni hao" and keep on walking.  This is life in China.

I guess it is time to embrace my life here. Maid - Driver - Manicure, Pedicure, & Shoulder/Head Massage for $26 - fresh flowers for $2 a bundle - 78 degree weather- fabric market. Life in China is getting better by the day.

Success at the Fabric Market!

So here is the raincoat! It looks great. And luckily it rained the day after I picked it up! I see many more designs in my future!

Dress up as your favorite storybook character.

So this week at school was a book-a-thon. Nicholas had to read as many books as possible and we asked people to give him money for every book he reads (thanks for that 5RMB pledge from Grandmum and Pop)! The money goes to the Heart-to-Heart charity that helps children here in China pay for heart surgery. So all week were activities - I went to school on Monday to read books at the library with him, Thursday he brought his pajamas to school complete with Spongebob slippers to hang out and read books in and Friday was dress as your favorite storybook character. So luckily I had brought the wolf mask that I had worn when I was the Mystery Reader last year in Mrs. Smith's class. So he brought the book Mind Your Manners B.B. Wolf and I had a great costume made for him at the fabric market. He looked really cool and got lots of complements. We are going to get some really great costumes here!

Just Chillin' in China

A Tooth Lost in China

Nicholas lost a front tooth on Sunday, March 1, 2009. We weren't sure what the tooth fairy was going to do now that we live in China, but Nick was pleasantly surprised when he got a $2 bill and 20RMB. He said "She knows we are from America, but we buy things here with Chinese money!"

The boy likes rice......cereal that is!

When we lived in Aurora, IL and Mark was getting his MBA at the University of Chicago we met some wonderful friends Trong & Natalie Nguyen and Trey & Angela Parker. We all entered the world of parenthood within a few months of each other and started a little baby sitting rotation. Two couples would stay at home with 3 babies and one couple would get to go on a date. It was fun if you were at home or on your date and we saved a ton of money on babysitters (3 kids now cost almost $15/hr - except in China where it is only $3!) Anyway - whenever we would leave Nicholas, Trong would always joke about how he was going to feed him rice and teach him to use chopsticks while we were out. I think there were even a few staged photos of Nicholas with chopsticks. Well now we may have a real chopstick pro on our hands. Spending his first 2 years of life in China he may come home a rice and chopsticks kind of guy. But for now - he took his first bite of rice cereal. It started out rocky, but by the end he was grabbing my hand to help get it to his mouth! 

Does your Wii speak English?

Ok - so I have been anti-Wii for some time. My sister has it - my mom & dad have it - many of the kids friends have it. The kids love it and overdose on it when we visit anyone who has it. I really felt like we did not need it. At home we have TV, we have the computer, we have Jackson park, we have the town pool, we have Nintendo DS, we have so many options - we do not need Wii. Well China has broken me down and all the boys are cheering. So the boys and I decided to get Daddy a Wii for his birthday. I asked one of the orientation people to help me out and find the best place to buy a Wii that is in English. She did some research and let me know where to go. So Ian, Kyle and I head into this very illegal game store to do the deal. Here in China they sell Japanese Wii or Korean Wii. The Korean Wii has been changed to English, but can play both pirated games or games from the US. Also he changed the plug for me so it can be plugged in here or in the US. SCORE! So I tried my best to negotiate a better price and only got him down about $15(well at least I tried). The games here only cost 5 RMB(75 cents) so he threw in 2 games for free. Unfortunately he only had Wii sports in Chinese, but the boys know it so well they have no problem knowing what to click. And I can pretend they are getting a little Chinese lesson while playing. It is really strange how the writing is all in Chinese, but they still speak in English - the bowling says "Nice Strike" - the baseball says "2 base hit(instead of double)"? A night of donuts and Wii in Shanghai for birthday number 36. 

Wal-Mart Supercenter

While Kyle and I were out running errands on Friday, I am looking out the window and I spot a Wal-Mart Supercenter. The exact same sign you would see in the US. I feel myself start to get excited. Doesn't Wal-Mart go in there with baseball and apple pie? What is more American than Wal-Mart? I tell the driver "Take me to Wal-Mart". He has no idea what I am saying. He calls his wife on the cell phone and I tell her Wal-Mart - OK, OK she says. We pull up to the big blue sign and I am so excited now I practically run into the store. I enter in the plant section - beautiful flowers and plants - nice - then into the grocery area - wait why is there a woman with an axe chopping pigs feet in half in the Wal-Mart?? Why is there a lady with a wagon putting quail eggs on a non-refrigerated shelf? What are those big bloody fish heads doing in the WAL-MART! Does Sam Walton know this kind of stuff is going on in Wal-Mart? He would be turning over in his grave if he knew this was going on in a Wal-Mart. I guess he was a business man and he knows what sells in China. I made one purchase - a 6 pack of Corona from the import section. I needed one to go home and cry into.

A Taste of Home?

So after baking cupcakes for Ian's class and another cake for Ian's dinner, I decided I would suprise Mark with a sweet treat from Dunkin' Donuts for his birthday instead of another cake. There is only one in Shanghai(I knew because I saw a You Tube video of a guy finding the Dunkin' Donuts in Shanghai) and I decided Kyle and I would go on a little ride and see if we could find it. So I printed out directions in Chinese for my driver and he said he knew where it was! So off we go and here it is. I was so excited I was running with the stroller to get inside. Mark and I both love Dunkin' Donuts coffee! In fact my hope is to stay stocked with Dunkin' Donuts coffee for the next 2 1/2 years. We brought a few bags with us and we have received a few bags from home(thanks for helping us keep our stock sis - always happy to take as many as you want to send us). Well - it was no US Dunkin' Donuts, but some familiar things - the cups looked the same- and I think that was it. It looked like a groovy retro disco bar inside and I couldn't smell coffee or donuts. I smelled nothing?? When did they make these donuts? How can you make donuts and not get the sweet smell of donuts?? No ground or whole bean coffee for sale? Green tea donuts? So I got 18 donuts (I think the largest order they have ever had - they were all talking about it or me who knows?) and a small box of munchkins. I chose Boston creme, lemon filled, blueberry filled, and chocolate and strawberry with sprinkles. Once again things are not sweet here like in the US - so the donuts were more like bread with cocoa powder icing- not the wonderful sugar filled treats we love. I guess - it's the thought that counts and Mark was excited to see the box and eat the donuts that tasted like the box as well!

The I-man turns 4!

It was a Batman kind of birthday here on Wednesday. Ian turned 4 years old and Superheroes are his favorite thing right now. He has a Superhero room, clothes, and games. He got a large Batman action figure from Nicholas, a cool bath toy(since they share the bath every night) from Kyle, a Bat mobile from Daddy and a remote control car from Mom. At school they had a little party for him complete with a Superman card and hat. He was a bit stubborn and did not want to wear the hat or open the gift, but I forced him to wear the hat for one quick picture. As you can see from the pictures the attitude was out in full force and there was no changing it. Luckily they are very understanding at school - kids are coming and going each week. Ian is still very confused about living in China - he keeps talking about going back to Luke and Jenny's(the people maintaining our house in NY)house. Anyway for his birthday dinner we had our neighbors over for cake, ice cream, and song. Overall, I think he had a pretty good day.

Designer PRL

OK - so after my last post my Mom sent me an e-mail saying I sounded like I was trying to talk to a Chinese person. Here goes that crazy accent thing again. I guess after trying to communicate all day with people who don't speak English I start talking and writing very slow and with as few words as possible. It was late and I was tired - now I think I am adjusting so hopefully the accents are over - until I met someone else. 

Anyway -I took my first trip to the fabric market today and I think I am already addicted! So much fun! My lovely Scottish neighbor Caludine was happy to expose me to the world of design. She is a pro and so many of the vendors know her - so you know she is there very often. I decided I would start pretty simple with a raincoat. It has been raining for 2 weeks straight(of course it will stop raining the day I pick up the coat I am sure). So I scoured the internet looking for what kind of style I wanted - button or zip, long or short, hood or no hood(so many decisions- I was a little worried I would have trouble because I sometimes take forever to decide and then second guess myself). I found a picture similar to this one and took it with me to the market. There are hundreds of "vendors" begging you to "make coat" or "make scarf" as you walk around through 3 floors of cottons, silks, cashmere, wool, flannel, buttons, etc. So I chose a navy waterproof fabric for the outside, a fun navy, green, and white floral cotton for the inside and white buttons. I had him add big pockets on the front and a small slit up the back. I am so excited to get it next week and all for 525 RMB($77). I also had a costume made for Nick. Next week is dress as your favorite story book character and lucky for us I packed the wolf mask I wore for the mystery reader last year. So Nick is going as BB Wolf dressed in a little suit I got made for $30! Design clothes - have them made - sell them on ebay? Who knows, but this maybe more fun than internet shopping?

Mr. & Mrs. Xu

Our new driver started this week and we can not be happier with our choice to let Mr. Zhong go. Mr. Xu is a careful driver, he wears his seat belt, he does not smoke, he is super nice, etc. On Monday it was raining pretty hard, when we came out of school he was standing at the gate with an umbrella waiting for us. He helps Ian get in and out of the van and best of all - he let us put a NY Yankees hat in the dashboard - so now we easily find our van!

Mrs. Xu(not related to Mr. Xu our driver - just a coincidence) has started working for me as our Ayi. Let me tell you I have not seen someone clean so much. On Monday she is in the bathroom with bare feet, her pants rolled up to her knees, straddling the toilet, and scrubbing. She got in all the bathtubs to clean them. On Tuesday when I got home, she is outside on a latter scrubbing the windows. Wow- it is hard to not feel guilty as I am sitting with Kyle and hearing her working so hard, but it is really nice to have such a clean house and not be exhausted doing it. We are giving her a try for 2 weeks then going to decide to keep her or find someone else. Monday I was convinced this Ayi thing was no good - now Wednesday I am thinking not too bad.

Chinese in China

Our wonderful neighbors across the street have been so kind to expose us to many new things here in China. On Sunday night they took us to a local Chinese Restaurant that is one of their favorites. Claudine warned me before we went to not be frightened by the snakes. Snake is one of their specialities and they bring out 2 for you to chose from, if you order it. Well we chose not to order it and lucky no one near us chose one either. The restaurant is family style with a large lazy susan in the middle of the table. So we let them do the ordering and really enjoyed all the selections. Even Nicholas found some things he liked including a roasted pork dish and the homemade dumplings. Everything was very fresh and tasted fantastic. Ian loves "China broccoli" - I am not sure how it differs from American broccoli, but I will just let him enjoy. A great time was had by all! 

Dad & Mum = Me

I saw this shirt and could not pass it up - now that I am a Mum! Too Funny. The hat is an adorable gift from Ashley and Uncle Ben. I have grown into it and don't I look so cute! Thanks guys! 

A woman at church tapped me on the back during the homily today and said he was the most beautiful baby she had seen! Well I think so - but I am a  little biased! 

A China Moment

Today as I was getting out of the swampy shower I was reaching for my towel and thinking to myself - I am so glad I bought these nice brand new towels before we left to bring here to China. They are big,(Mark was told by our orientation person - no tall man towels in China - you might want to bring your own) they are soft, they are white (right now but after a few washes in this water they will not be) and they smell pretty nice. At home I would not spend this much time admiring new towels, but here where everything is very cheap and dirty I really value the things I have from home. So I start thinking - why don't they sell nice things in China? or where are they all hiding? If these towels were for sale here - would no one buy them? Does the government not want people to have nice things? Yesterday I went over to my neighbor's house to meet a friend of her Ayi's who is interested in becoming my Ayi. So we chat for awhile about what her skills are and if she has any children and how she feels about 3 crazy boys. What hours she is interested in working and then she asks about pay. She wants 15 RMB per hour- what? If you read my last post you know to get American dollars you divide by 6.76, so $2.22 per hour. So she wants to come clean my bathrooms, scrub my floors, iron our clothes, cook us dinner, watch the children, make beds (I could go on forever) all for $2.22? Are you kidding? We pay Nicholas $2 a week allowance to do nothing really. It just doesn't seem right. Cheap labor - cheap goods. Are we in America just greedy and lazy or too demanding? Is China producing all these goods and shipping them to the US thinking they are the suckers who will buy this stuff - even though it cost very little to produce. After all this thinking, I hang up my wonderful new towel on the plastic hook on the back of the door and out pops the tag that says in big letters MADE IN CHINA.