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??