Ladies night in Shanghai: Round 2

Well- I was once again invited out for a ladies night (I guess I behaved well enough to be invited back again). The crowd was a little different this time. Mostly British women with children at Dulwich and a few Americans as well with children at Dulwich. We headed over to "18 on the Bund" for a night of all you can drink champagne. Now I have become quite a light weight in the drinks department - after a nine month hiatus and with nursing it does not take too many champagnes before I feel a wee bit (British talk) tipsy! Plus I pulled out my heels, which have also taken quite a long vacation(carrying a 10 pound baby is just not easy in heels). So the combination of all you can drink champagne and heels could be a recipe for a big disaster, but with the moderation lesson I have learned from my Dad (I finally get it Dad after all those agonizing rides to Thanksgiving dinner - I finally get it!) I was able to tell when one more champagne meant a crash and burn on the heels! So anyway - it has been quite an eye opener into stay-at-home mom life in Shanghai. I know I have talked about this in previous posts, but before I left I kept thinking "what is it that women do here in Shanghai?" Now I see the lifestyle that many women live by - 3 ayis - 1 for each child and 1 for cleaning/grocery shopping/errands/etc. 1 driver - to take you wherever you want to go or to do other errands for you. Pick up dry cleaning, get light bulbs, etc. One woman goes to the gym every morning at 7:00 am before her children get up - she stays at the gym until 9am. The Ayi's are responsible for packing lunches, backpacks, and getting the children to school. She stops on her way home for a massage - "must have a good massage after a workout". Back home to shower - out to lunch for a little food and a lot of cocktails. Off to shopping or spa. Ayi's get kids from school and take them to their after school activities. Home for dinner(cooked by Ayi) with children. Off to ladies night - Ayi's to put children to bed. Home from ladies night at 4:30 am. Now I am still considered a "newbie" here, but I just don't see myself ever turning into this kind of mom. Sure I have my Calgon take me away moments, but isn't part of being able to stay home to be with your children?? This life feels almost surreal. People say take advantage of it while you are here, but then how do you go back to normal? I still make the kids clean up their mess- they still battle with me and many families just let the Ayi do it, but no one needs to get that spoiled. Call me the mean Mom - I don't care. You make the mess - you clean it up (except for your bathrooms, laundry, vacuuming, dusting and the kitchen - maybe I am a hypocrite?)

Crowds

Typically at home I do most of my shopping (groceries, target, etc.)during the week. The crowds are much smaller, shorter lines, easier to browse, etc. The down side is that usually I have at least 1 child in tow. So this makes things very unpredictable- some days great -easy to browse (child very entertained in stroller or cart) other days not so good- not even able to get everything on my list because of the screaming. Benefit of shopping on the weekend - leave all children with Mark. But with the crowds I usually get frustrated and end the trip early. Well - here in China - weekdays are like weekends in Westchester and weekends are like being at Disney World during Spring Break. Shanghai is a city of over 20 million people and they are all out on the weekends! So this particular day we headed to the B&Q (Home Depot of China) to quickly buy some patio furniture and then we were headed to Jade Buddha Temple for some sightseeing. We arrived at the B&Q early to beat the crowd and were pleasantly suprised by how empty it was. We quickly selected the furniture (a large table, chairs, umbrella, and stand for adults and a small table with 2 benches for the kids) and we had a few men helping us. As these men started getting multiple carts and loading huge boxes into the carts we tried to explain we wanted it delivered. We had bought a BBQ grill a few weeks ago and they delivered it to our house so we knew they delivered. Since the language is impossible I have really resorted to playing charades. So me pretending to push a wheel barrel was not getting the message across. Our last resort was our driver Mr. Xu. Now poor Mr. Xu speaks VERY little English, but we try with him all the time anyway. When I go and get him to help me he always says "Pam I no good". So we drag Mr. Xu into B&Q and tell him to tell them to bring to Vizcaya. So the men continue to load multiple boxes into carts and wheel them to the check out. At the check out, they are scanning all the boxes and Mark is ready to pay and all of the sudden they understand delivery. So they wheel the carts away and the woman at the check out clears out the transaction. We have now officailly been at the B&Q for one hour and we have not paid, but have convinced them to deliver. Needless to say we spent another hour trying to pay and arrange the delivery day. So after 2 hours in the B&Q everyone was starving so we headed to lunch and decided we just could not do the Jade Buddha Temple. We instead headed to Yu Garden to walk around. Yu Garden is a very touristy place so between the guided tours and some kind of food festival going on it was once again overwhelming. So we found Mark's favorite donut place and headed in for a snack. Of course the donut shop was empty(Chinese do not like sweets)- so we escaped the crowd and enjoyed a sweet treat!

Montessori Party

Ian's school hosted a little Spring "Garden Party" complete with food, fun, and families from around the world. They grilled sausages that looked a little anemic to us and served them on hamburger buns. The rest of the meal was potluck - so very interesting selection of foods. I am sometimes guessing the contents of foods served at potlucks in the US, but here I can't even begin to guess. So we did a little tasting, enjoyed the games and crafts and met a lot of really nice people. (I was playing with my camera settings- so sorry for the poor photos).

What the bloody hell is Hamburger Helper?

I have started this post a couple times and then had a hard time wording what I am thinking - so I keep saving it and them coming back to it. Well, the other day I was talking to some British women and one says "What the bloody hell is Hamburger Helper?"(When the import markets are low on stock they will fill an entire aisle with Hamburger Helper - I am not sure why there is an abundance of the stuff?) The other British woman says "I think it is seasoning to help you make hamburger patties?" Now of course I know what Hamburger Helper is - I haven't made it a lot at home, but every now and then when I am in a dinner rut I have been known to make a big skillet full of the stuff (Mark actually likes it). But do I admit to knowing what it is or play dumb like I am way too sophisticated for HH? They are both looking at me for the answer. So I start to explain what is in the mysterious box. "Well you buy a pound(or 450 gm in metric system) of ground beef and brown the meat. Inside the box is a bag of dried pasta and a packet of powdered cheesy sauce stuff that you mix with milk and pour in with the beef and noodles....?" "So it makes a skillet full of mush?" she asks. "Basically - yes". Of course they are looking at me like - you would eat that and feed it to your family? One woman says,"Have you looked at the ingredients in that stuff? I had no idea what most of the stuff was in there." So this starts me thinking about all the things I used to buy in the US - convenience items. These items are like drugs - you eat them and become addicted to them - wanting more and more processed sugars and carbs. So hard to eat just one. Then there are the commercials showing you and telling you how good these foods are - how easy to make - kids will love them, etc. Kids begging for this cereal and that cookie. It is really terrible. Since the only TV we get here for the kids is Nickelodeon and it comes from the Philippines we have none of this- if they ask for something I say "Sorry - only in the Philippines not here in China."  There is such a weight and health issue in the US due to all these convenience foods and yet we are creating it ourselves. My neighbor recently traveled to LA on business and said he was shocked by the portion sizes at the restaurants. He asked for a half order of mashed potatoes and the waitress said "We can't do that, but we can give you a doggie bag to take home." He said "Why in bloody hell (very common British phrase) would I want a doggie bag of mashed potatoes!" Being here has really made me realize how truly addicted I was to all these tasty time bombs. But I must say the withdraw is hard. Mark and I many nights search for something sweet to satisfy that super sweet tooth we both have. The other night Mark discovered some candy in his jacket pocket left over from a trip to the movies in NY. A few rounds of rock, paper, scissors and then we decided to just share it - biting Starburst in half and savoring every morsel. Of course afterward I found myself craving even more - see?...like a drug!  Is there rehab for this?? 

Fake Market

On Saturday we decided to head over to the Underground or Fake Market (I should say one of many, but I think this is the most popular)here in Shanghai. It is located in the underground Metro station at the Museum of Science and Technology. It sounds all mysterious, but it really just seems like an underground mall with very aggressive sales people. "Lady want to buy watch, bag, scarf, shoes, etc." People are begging you to buy anything and everything from them. It is pretty easy to negotiate since so many of the shops have the same thing - so if they are not willing to take your price you move on to the next until someone will. We decided we all needed new sunglasses - including Kyle! So here we are looking extremely stylish in our new designer (fake) sunglasses!

The Boys!

Here are the boys in their matching PJs from the Easter Bunny!

Also some practice with the new camera. Luckily -I have a good and willing subject!

A little taste of the Outback

Nicholas finally went back to school on Wednesday (8 days of vacation is just a few too many) which left Ian, Kyle and I at home. Our neighbor up the road (whose daughter is in class with Ian) found this great little Australian Cafe in Puxi with a sandbox in the middle. So we hopped in our van and took a 45 minute ride to Sydney Cafe. There was basically a deck build around a sandpit with plexiglass all around. The tables surrounded the pit, but the plexiglass kept the noise and sand out of the restaurant area.  Well the kids had a blast and Jane and I were able to enjoy a nice lunch with a glass of wine. Lookout Briarcliff - Pam's Australian Cafe with Sandbox coming in 2011! How great would that be! Picture Surfboards hanging on the walls - maybe a fake palm tree or two. I will keep the heat cranked inside so you feel like you are in Sydney in the summer time(which is winter in New York)! The food can be simple - kids menu with chicken nuggets, pizza, fish and chips with tartar sauce (Ian's new favorite meal) and for the moms soup, salad and flavored coffees. Of course lots of desserts including an ice cream bar(maybe not good if the heat is cranked??) for the kids - I am going to need to make up for this 2 1/2 year sugar loss! What a great way to escape the New York winter (which sounds like it has been lingering forever this year)! Anyone want to be my silent investment partner - Rick??

A Trip to the Aquarium

The boys and I decided to take a little trip to the Shanghai Aquarium. Ian had already been once with his school - so he was our tour guide for the day.

Of course, whenever I tell the boys to pose for a picture I am never the only person taking their photo. So we learned a new phrase this week 

"Bu Yao"  which basically means -I do not want. So we were all 4 at the Carrefour (I am not sure what I was thinking - I don't take all 3 of them to a store in the US - why would I take them to the crazy Chinese Dollar Store?)on Monday and a toothless woman comes up to Kyle ready to grab him and I say "Bu Yao"! Well I am pretty sure I made her angry because she started basically yelling at me in Chinese, but she did not touch him! So all day at the Aquarium the kids were armed and ready with "Bu Yao", but luckily had no need for it. We almost had the whole place to ourselves. Lots of fun!

This is called a saw fish! We had to wait awhile to get this perfect shot!

There was a long moving walkway into a tunnel of fish, sharks, turtles, etc. We all thought it was really cool - except Kyle who got bored and decided to take a nap!

At the gift shop you could turn in these raffle tickets for your free pearl. So we turned in our tickets and the woman put on her rubber gloves, broke open the oysters and gave us 4 pearls.

What a great way to spend Nick's 8th and final day (thank goodness) of spring vacation!

Easter Sunday in Shanghai

The Easter Bunny was able to find us here in China. We are never sure if we will be found here, but since the tooth fairy found us we think she told her American friends...Easter Bunny and Santa Claus. When the boys mentioned it to our British neighbors that the Easter Bunny came, they said he didn't make it to their house - so we decided it must have been the American Easter Bunny - so he only hit the American families? Anyway we got baskets of goodies and had a few eggs to find. 

We decided to spend our morning participating in the Jinqiao Run towards Expo 2010. There was a 2K and an 8K race - so the whole family ran/walked the 2K and Mark ran the 8K. We all finished surprisingly well - Mark ran his 8K in 39 minutes - 350th place! Great time for him! I had Kyle in the stroller and Ian on the buggy board attached to the stroller and Mark ran with Nick, who was pretty fast and ready to run in his next competition. Fun was had by all of the fam!

We worked up a big appetite doing the walk/run, and then headed up to the Vizcaya Club for an Easter Brunch. The brunch included an omelet station, waffle station and lucky for us (and the white pants) a chocolate fountain. After the brunch they had an egg hunt for the kids around the pool - the eggs were just hard boiled brown eggs and the big prize was for the person who found the one ostrich egg (no such luck in our group- thank goodness!) Overall a pretty good Easter! Mark said one of the best! 

Poncho's by Pam

Whenever it rains I am so excited to wear my new fabulous raincoat, however, I am usually carrying poor Kyle and just trying to keep him covered with a blanket. So after a little brainstorming I came up with my latest design - children's ponchos! I used the same waterproof fabric mine is made of and a cute red, white, and navy plaid on the inside. It has holes in the front for his hands or on the sides. As you can see he looks adorable! And what a pair we make. Accepting custom orders now!

Eggs

Thank you to all for the e-mails, calls, etc. with ideas for dying the brown eggs. I ended up buying the lightest eggs I could find and soaking them in bleach to get the Chinese stamp off which also made them a little lighter. The kids had a fantastic time and the eggs did not look too bad!

Ladies night in Shanghai

We - The Ladies of Larch Road - like to try to get together at least every couple months for a night out with the girls. We usually pick a nice restaurant in Westchester and head out for a night of dinner, wine and woman talk(I will say no more and let the men continue to guess what we talk about until midnight!) So when my neighbor invited me out to ladies night I was excited to find out what kind of restaurant we would be going to. Well - ladies night is a little different here in Shanghai. My neighbor informs me we are headed to Hong Qiao (45 minute ride) to go dancing to the soulful music of Carlton J. Smith. So off we go in her van with the champagne flowing freely (since we are not driving and there is no open container law here). We arrive at a Marriott and head to the bar/lounge area to meet the rest of our clan - 4 Dutch women, 2 Scottish, 1 Irish, and good old Mid-western me. Now the ladies had warned me that he likes to draw attention to new people he meets and since it was the eve of my birthday- I knew I was probably in for some trouble. After a few songs, he called me up to the middle of the dance floor, had me sit on a chair, put a Michael Jackson type hat on my head and sang "You Can Leave your Hat on" by Joe Cocker from the infamous movie 9 1/2 weeks! Anyway - it was a very fun night of drinks and dancing with the ladies (Ladies of Larch - he is from NY and plays in the city all the time - so we will be going when I get back)! And as we were riding home( at 12:30 AM) in Brenda's blue Buick mini-van with the Chinese driver and 3 women speaking Dutch - I could not help but feeling like I was in some bizarre dream, but no - it is just my new life in China!

Sunday Sightseeing in Shanghai

It was a beautiful (except for the smog) Sunday in Shanghai and we decided to head into town to have a little lunch and check out the Bund. We had lunch at Din Tai Fung which in 1993 was ranked as one of the world's top 10 restaurants by The New York Times. They are famous for Xiaolongbao which are small steamed buns or dumplings available in many different flavors. Even our pickiest eater, Nicholas, polished off his share of the pork dumplings- so many we had to place a second order! Boy those Chinese know how to do "buns".

After lunch we headed down to "The Bund" - a less than one mile strip of waterfront area that separates Puxi from Pudong. It is lined with many restaurants and shops and has great views of many of the tall financial buildings in Shanghai. As usual our sight seeing turns into a sight to see for the Chinese people. A man came rushing up to us and in his best English he belts out "Welcome to Shanghai - now I take picture of your boys?" "NO" - we said and jumped into a cab back to the walls of Vizcaya to shut our door and try to escape China.

White Sweet Potatoes; Brown Eggs

Well I am now trying to be creative and add different foods to Kyle's menu (have I said how much I love the baby food maker Aunt Kim sent us! So easy! My other 2 kids were Gerber babies all the way -so making baby food was not something that interested me, but this Beaba Babycook is the best!! Of course I have to plug it into an adapter plus 2 extension plugs to not blow it up, but sooo worth it!) Anyway - I went to the Carrefour yesterday to buy what I thought was a sweet potato. I came home peeled it and cut it open to find it was white with black spots in the middle. I immediately threw it in the trash assuming I had bought some weird Chinese root plant?? So I sent the label (written in Chinese) over to my neighbors house for her Ayi to read what it was that I bought and yes indeed it was a sweet potato? So I googled sweet potato to find that only in America are the sweet potatoes orange? We eat sweet potatoes for the carotene in them - if they are white - no carotene? So what is the point? So I headed to the import market to buy an American sweet potato. Success.

My other dilemma: brown eggs. Right before we left NY I was cleaning out the pantry and found a box of Easter Egg dye tablets. I don't know what made me think to put them in my suitcase, but I did. So everyone is so excited that we get to dye eggs. We are having the neighbors over and everyone can't wait to get the dying underway! However, all the eggs are brown. Will brown eggs work for dying? I stood in the row of eggs yesterday trying to find the lightest eggs possible, but they are still brown? We like to use white crayons to write on them and then put them in the dye? Will this work? The duck eggs are whiter, but they looked like they were pickled? Each one was shrink wrapped in the carton? This may be a huge disappointment? Any suggestions?

Still searching for the American Donut

After the disappointment with the Dunkin' Donuts we have been asking around about where to find a good sweet, sticky donut. People say Mister Donut is the place to go, but Mark insisted he knew the place- Maisy's Donuts. So after sending our driver, Mr. Xu, on a wild goose chase and calling a friend and his wife (she speaks English and is many times my translator) we finally found Maisy's donuts. They looked beautiful and tasted pretty good as well. On my donut scale - I give them a 7. Keep looking.

Kid Expo Shanghai

We got a flyer in a Magazine here in Shanghai advertising a Kid Expo at the Shanghai Exhibition Center so we decided to check it out. It was basically just a bunch of booths to stop at and get information about services provided in the community. Decathlon (a local sporting goods store) was doing sports demonstrations including fishing. So the kids could fish in a blow up swimming pool and take home their catch (goldfish). I don't know what it is about Chinese people and goldfish, but goldfish are everywhere - restaurants, school, grocery stores, etc. After waiting for quite some time and dealing with a lot of invasion of the personal space, we gave up on trying to squeeze between the herds of Chinese people smashed around the little blow up pool. The boys got a brief golf lesson and what kid doesn't love a blow up jumpy castle. Overall, not a bad way to spend a rainy Saturday and it was free.