A Fantastic Weekend

This past weekend was fantastic. Filled with a lot of relaxing and spending time together. Friday after work/school we all went and enjoyed the beach (fake one at our clubhouse pool). It was quite enjoyable, even with it being the hangout for all the teenagers. Saturday morning we also headed to the beach. We were actually the first people there, and we left just about the time it was filling up. This also was a great time and we got to catch up with some people we had met in the spring. After the pool, we did a quick lunch and then naps. We followed naps with two quick shows of Bob the Builder.

Danny has loved Bob the Builder for a while but what is really cute now is watching Josh get into it now. We have a little stuffed Bob the Builder that sings the theme song and he loves carrying it around and then dancing to the music. He actually sings the song too, but in a cute half talk half giberish version. After an early dinner, we walked down (the weather actually cooled down this is was really pleasant) and got ice cream. On our way we ran into Danny's teacher and his wife and had a nice visit. After ice cream, as it was only 6pm, we headed to the clubhouse to let the kids play. At the clubhouse we ran into a couple I had met at Danny's meet the teacher's meeting and the first day of school. They are from Germany and have children close to our boys' ages. They invited us to join them, and we had a nice visit about the moving here and life here so far. (He has lived here as long as we have, but his wife and children just joined him a couple of weeks ago before school started).

On Sunday, it was cool and stormy, so we headed for the indoor pool. We let Josh walk to the clubhouse and he was so adorable. He actually stopped and did everything he has watched Danny do---Danny would hide behind the pillars in the clubhouse and play peek a boo, and Josh ran up to these and did the same thing. So cute. Definitely reinforces the idea that they take everything they see in and remember it.

Danny and Josh had a great time swimming and again we were the only people there, which was nice. After naps we headed to church and ran into the new friends we had met a couple of weeks ago, Erin and Jeff. Dustin and I decided to forego our traditional McDonald's Sunday night meal, and headed to Pete's Tex Mex. We had a nice time together there and then headed home for bed.

Dustin leaves tonight for Shenzen (just outside of Hong Kong for a busy week of meetings, so this weekend was so nice to just crash and enjoy each other's company.

This week should be busy for me as well, as I am joining a women's bible study on Tuesday, Wednesday I am meeting Erin at the fabric mart (you can have anything you want tailor made here--I am so excited to figure this place out and have stuff made for Dustin and myself), Thursday is IKEA (we still need more hangers and random stuff like that) and a trip to the shoe store for me. We get to meet a delegation from Indiana on Monday evening for a light dinner and drinks (kids get to come as well)--the governor is suppose to be there too. Unfortunately, I left most of my shoes in Indiana, and the two pairs I have one pink (they are cuter than this description sounds) and one blue will not cut it. I spotted the same place I bought my other shoes at in Hong Kong right next to IKEA, so I will have Tom bring me there as well. Friday we will crash and Saturday we have a party here at the clubhouse. Should be hectic but a fun week. All the activity should hopefully make our week apart from Dustin go quickly.

Another Low-key Day

Today was another low key day for me, which was nice. We dropped Danny off to school, and Josh and I made the trek down to the store. It was at least not too hot when we left, but by the time we got home it was terrible. We played and had lunch. Our new ayi is nice and is warming up to the kids. I am still not quite sure about how well Fong trained her, as I noticed the dishes were sitting in the sink most of the day--this in itself is not a problem by any means, it is that at the end of the day, she took them from the sink and was just drying them off. It made me wonder exactly how she was washing them. I had read stories about ayis not using hot water or soap..I guess many Chinese do not wash dishes in hot water. So, needless to say, I will be maybe reading downstairs tomorrow to try and see what she does first hand. All the little things you take for granted of being the same, and just are not in different cultures.

Danny is continuing to enjoy school. His teacher asked me today if he might be left handed. I guess he writes equally as good with his left hand. I am still used to when they forced you to be one over the other. I guess they do whatever is comfortable for the child today.

Looking forward to the weekend and maybe spending time at the pool. There is not much more you can do in this heat. I was told in usually gets better by the middle of September. Thankgoodness that is sooner than later.

On a funny side note, I picked up a flyer on kids tennis here (we live at the Racquet club, so it is pretty big here), and was amazed at the pace they move the kids through the system. There are two tracks--recreational and professional. Both start at the age of 4, so I am not sure quite how it is determined that you should be in the professional track...Of course, I am expecting if Danny is even interested we would only be relegated to the recreational section. Also, curious of what happens when you decide to start at say age 6 or older. Are you in with the 4 year olds? I guess its called groom them young. We are doing the soccer thing this fall, so maybe we will try out the tennis in the spring, who knows...

We are solo here tonight as Dustin is out with late meetings. I just realized a terrible mistake that I made... I told Danny we would watch a movie and maybe we would make the nights that Dad is gone movie nights... My mistake is that Dustin will be out of town all next week...whoops. Oh, well I guess I will have to revise or make up some contingency.

A Somewhat Normal Day

So finally, we have had a somewhat normal day. The boys were fairly well behaved this morning, and we were able to greet our new subsitute Ayi before I took the boys to school. She seems nice and does a nice job. She does not try to communicate with us too much, but maybe this will change as we get to know each other better. (Of course when I say communicate this is usually talking in your own language and using lots of hand motions, so it is limited anyway).

Josh and I had a nice relaxed morning just playing at the house. No errands to run today--thankgoodness. I was able to go and watch Danny swim again, and even Dustin was able to stop by for a little bit (he worked from home today). Danny actually swam from one coach to another today, granted only for a short distance, but this is still huge. He is enjoying school and brought home homemade binoculars--he was quite proud.

I am enjoying visiting with the moms before and after school. Today one of the other moms invited me to join the beginning tennis lessons with her. Unfortunately, with the new Ayi, I do not know how secure I feel leaving Josh with her just yet. They also mentioned a bible study on Tuesday mornings, that I would love to do. I am hoping that maybe I can do a test run with the Ayi watching Josh while Dustin is working upstairs to see if I might be able to get out to do at least one of these gatherings.

We are looking forward to a relaxing evening here at home. Dustin has a late call tonight with the States...maybe I will watch one of my chick flicks I have been wanting to watch.

And the Adventure Continues...

Well, if we thought the adventure and fun was going to end last night, hold onto your seats. Our ayi arrives today with her friend in tow and announces after we made formal greetings, that she is leaving today for her hometown and will see us in November. This of course is all happening in the fifteen minutes I am trying to get Danny and Josh ready to head out the door. Dustin is let’s just say less than pleased, because our understanding yesterday was not this arrangement. Fong had just stated she wanted September and the holiday in October off. We thought we were just going to meet Fong friend and see if we were happy. Yet today we are informed that this is not true. Since, we like our ayi and do not want to really look for a new one, and I truly need an ayi with my TM condition and the enormous fatigue associated with it, we are stuck. Not happy, but stuck. Please pray this all turns out okay. At least it is for a long enough time that we can get used to this situation, but again, if she is not to our liking, two months is a long time. So, needless to say I was a little rattled on the way to Danny’s school. Thankfully, children, or at least our children are quite adaptive and Danny seemed really oblivious to all the flurry associated with today’s morning routine.

After dropping Danny off, we quickly turn around to do more shopping. I have to obtain a bike lock that will withstand more than one turn of the key (see yesterday’s blog) and get shoes for Danny that are not so large. I am going to head to the farthest Carrefour, praying that they may have the items I have been searching for since we arrived here three weeks ago.
As we make our way around the Carrefour, it seems like my luck is out. They do not carry squirt bottles, nor razors to trim the back of one’s neck (Danny needs this as his hair grows funny in the back and needs trimming here, long before he needs a haircut). Looks like my Mom will be bringing these items to us when she visits.

We arrive home and within about fifteen minutes, Fong is saying goodbye. Apparently, she is not even going to stay through the rest of the day. Oh, well, what are we to do. Prayers is about it. I think I am going to go lay down for the next hour before I go and pick up Danny. I was able to get his shoes and a much better lock for Dustin, so those are at least positives in the day. I will be limiting my time going to these stores from now on, because the traffic is just insane.

The Rest of the Crazy Day

Well the rest of the day seemed to continue like the first part of the day. Dustin called me to tell me that our Ayi has asked for all of September and most of October off. She did say that she had a friend who would take over, but this is extremely disruptive let alone the fact that we have no idea who this women is that Fang is brining over. We tried to discuss it with Fang during our quick lunch before I left with Josh on our errands. It is really crazy, because she is saying the same thing, and we are trying to pin point what it is she wants—i.e.-it took us the whole time to get out of her that she wanted that total time off and that her friend would work it. We are not happy about the situation, but feel there is very little we can do except fire her, and that would be a little extreme, plus the fact that we like and feel she does a good job. This time off is apparently tied to the death of her mother. There is some ceremony that they will perform since she died young and in a tragic way. So after that upsetting news, I took off to the store with Josh and Tom. I headed out to the farther store thinking we would be able to get there an back in time for Danny. Of course this is not true. Traffic was terrible.

Once we did arrive, I went to the store with computer items and tied to buy a cord for our router. Well, lets just say let the circus begin, because it was close to that in trying to get this cord. Now the problem was not finding it. I saw it on the wall and took it right down knowing exactly what I wanted. The problems began after that in trying to buy it. I of course do not speak Mandarin and first had to track down a salesperson focused enough to help us. The salesperson looked at it and started talking in Mandarin to me. I of course shook my head and motioned to Tom. (Who speaks Mandarin, but no English, so while he can usually help, he can never tell me what is going on). So, I believe from the hand motions and pointing that she was upset that there was a hole in the plastic the wire came in. Of course the hole is there because this is how they hang things up in the store. So, I drag her over (not literally) to the other cords and point to the fact that this is how all of them are hanging up. Then somehow the conversations switches and another employee gets involved. They then began having a conversation between them about length of the wire. I had not told them a length, and I know Tom had no idea what I came in there to buy, so I do not know why the conversation came down to this. Yet, finally after about five minutes of them arguing about the size I was able to convey that I just wanted to buy it. After this, the two employees began arguing again, this time shoving the item I wanted back and forth into each other’s hands. Apparently, neither of them wanted to write up the ticket for it. (Here in China, you cannot just take something up to the register and buy it. No, first you need a ticket, then you pay for it, then you bring the copy of the ticket back to the employee that first helped you, and only at that point do they hand you the item). So, after another couple of minutes of bickering about writing the ticket, finally the women employee won and the guy went over to look it up. I paid out, and receive my wire. There is no such thing as fast shopping in China.

We quickly went through Carrefour, only to confirm that Qibao’s store does not have squirt bottles either. We got our other items, and left to look for Danny’s shoes. Thankfully they had a Crocs store right at the entrance and I was able to get a pair for Danny. We then finally headed home, with me feeling a little guilty that I would not be there to pick up Danny. We did amazingly make it back in time to greet him when he came in the door. He tried his shoes on, and of course they were to big. Dustin unlocked the bike lock I had bought him (he got a bike this weekend) and it literally broke when he unlocked it. The insides of the lock poured out onto the floor. There is something about Chinese quality that I cannot ever grasp. Why do they put up with this junk. Who wants stuff that breaks within minutes, or in this case without ever using it. Stuff like this would never make it to US stores, yet now that I think about it, we complain about how many lawsuits there are in our country, but this is what prevents the junk ever being sold. No one wants the liability. Here, no one cares. Literally, the lack of caring about human life here is shocking.

Anyway, we got the boys down for naps, and planned to go to the nice Italian place for dinner for our anniversary. Of course, the boys when we need to leave, are so out of it Dustin and I decide it is not worth the headache of dragging them out of bed and to the restaurant. Hence, we had a nice dinner at the clubhouse where we regularly eat. Not quite the day or night I imagined, but here in China God has shown us that rolling with the punches is much easier--for everyday here is an adventure—with some being more wild than others. He has taught us that regardless of location and where we are sitting down as we look around the table the blessings are the same—one amazing marriage and two amazing children. God is so Good. Here’s to all the years to come and the adventure the Lord may take us on through those.

Crazy Morning in China

Today so far, and it is only 10 am now, has been insane. Josh has been pulling things off counters, opening cabinets he should not, etc all morning. He is also way way way overtired and cries at the drop of the hat. With this being our back drop to the morning, I did not have eggs for the pancakes we were going to make (our ayi made us fired rice on Friday and I guess used all six eggs in it. I forgot to look over the weekend to restock), and the little store in the clubhouse apparently does not open until 8 or later. So, I had to convince Danny that peanut butter toast and cereal was a great substitute breakfast.

For school today, the kids needed to bring a picture of their family and of themselves. Unfortunately, the only picture I have of our family is gigantic. So, I lugged this picture to school and had to apologize for the size as they tried to find a place for it. I had smaller pictures of us, but had brought them home this summer looking for frames. Guess where I left the small family pictures. Yep you got it, in Indiana. There is no transfer it to Walmart and go pick it up in an hour later here in China, or at least I do not know how to navigate it, so I took the large one in for Danny.

Once Josh and I arrived home from dropping Danny off, Josh was so crazy that I finally just gave up and put him down for a nap. That would be all fine and dandy, but I had our driver waiting to take us to the store. So, I first sent a text Dustin, but he is in his language class, and could not help. Secondly, I attempted to translate out the situation into Chinese. I can only guess what it actually sounded like I said, but thankfully Tom could read what I had written out in Chinese and understood. At least I think he understood, because he went back to sitting and waiting in the car.

Now that this is tackled, I have to figure out how to get to the store (I was planning to go to the farther store) and get back in time to get Danny from school, who has half days on Mondays (1:30), and get lunch for Josh, who normally eats at 11am. The farther away store depending on traffic could take at least 40 minutes to get to, so just getting there and back will be a challenge.

I would try and go take a shower now since I have been unable to get one yet today, but our ayi has already diligently taken them to be washed and we do not have a second set. (I think a second set is going to be added to the shopping list for today, if we ever get there).

Maybe I should just get back in bed and attempt to start over in a little bit. :-)

At least I know I do not need to cook dinner tonight, as we are going out for dinner for our Anniversary. Of course, it will be a family affair, as we do not have someone we trust to watch the kids for a long period of time. Yet, it should still be fun..we are going to go back to Marco's the Italian restaurant closer to downtown.

I will update on the rest of the day later, but today has been so nuts, I thought I would share what has occurred so far.

First Full Week of School and the Cricket

We have reached the end of the first full week of school and I was happy to see that his teacher said Danny was doing well. I think our biggest problem right now is getting him to eat his lunch at school. Today when I picked up Danny, the teacher asked me if Danny ate food with sauce. Apparently, Danny had said that he did not eat sauce (the past two meals were spaghetti, but with vegetables mixed in and Chinese noodles with beef), and the school was debating whether they needed to provide Danny a meal without the sauce. Well, at least we know he is not afraid to speak up about his preferences. I explained that Danny could eat whatever was served to him.

Today I was absolutely exhausted, as in I felt like someone had snuck in the middle of the night and drugged me with something. Yet, the Lord was so faithful in seeing me through the day. I just took it minute by minute, and it turned out to be quite a nice day overall. Josh and I took Danny to school and then did our usual walk down to the local store. We stopped into my favorite place (Starbucks) and headed home. I let Josh walk for a little bit (normally his is in his stroller) and he was so adorable. He is still in the "I just learned to walk" wobble. He has seen his brother walk back and forth from the store, and was quite proud to be doing it himself today. It unfortunately, remains oppresively humid and hot, but again makes us so grateful for our air conditioner and after walk snacks of cold green grapes. Josh and I played and read this morning and he is finally pointed at his nose, ears and mouth when I ask him. (I have really been working on these points). The funny part is this is what Danny's class is discussing as well, just a little more advanced.

While Josh napped, I was able to run over and pick up Danny from school (Fridays and Mondays are half days for him), and we headed back home for a snack and a nap for him as well. Both boys slept a long time and I was able to rest and visit with Dustin. Dustin worked from home this afternoon, but had to head out just before dinner to meet a customer. The boys and I went over to the clubhouse for dinner and had a nice meal before it got really crowed. Friday nights at the clubhouse can be a little insane--lots of children and lots of volume. It makes you wonder what the staff thinks of all of us expatriates.

We finished the night off with Danny's favorite Sesame Street show and I tucked them in. Now it is just me and the cricket. I believe I have failed to mention our resident cricket yet in the blog....

When we arrived back from the US we were greeted by a cricket. My best guess is that he is somewhere under the baseboard in the dinning room area, but we have been unable to track him down any more specifcally than that. He must be quite an amazing cricket, because we live on the top floor (fifth floor) and I have no idea how he would have gotten up to the apartment from outside. So, if not through the outside then he had to hop his way through the lobby get on the elevator and then hop into our apartment at sometime. Anyway, I am beginning to think he is a permanent feature of the apartment. Thankfully, we have coexisted quite nicely so far. He greets the boys and I when they wake at 5:30 in the morning, and is quiet after that until we head up to bed.

We have a busy weekend ahead, as Dustin will be gathering with other IU alums on Saturday---I know, I know, what happened to Purdue (our undergraduate), but Dustin did get his master from IU, so I guess it is allowed. We both said we need to track down the Purdue alums in Shanghai and get them together if they are not already organized. Then on Sunday we are going to have lunch with a couple that we met at church, who are from Michigan originally. It should be a lot of fun.

On that note, I am heading to bed, as 5:30 always seems to come quickly.

Swim class and Adjusting to a Mom of a Preschooler

The first day of swim class went extremely well for Danny. All of his classmates signed up for this section, and they were really cute to watch taking turns with the coaches in the pool. I was able to watch with a few other moms through the window in our clubhouse that looks into the indoor lap pool. Danny was so excited to see me when he finally noticed that Josh and I were there (he had wanted me to come to the pool with him this morning, but I told I would be there to watch him). Danny dunked under the water (this is big for him as he does not care for water in his ears) and jumped into the pool numerous times. He also swam kicking behind him.

Today our ayi came back and she cried a little right when she arrived and then she just delved into her work. She is such a sweet women and I wish there was more ways to communicate and express our sympathy for her mother passing away. I think though that she understood we care for her and her family.

I was so excited to have her back, as I was truly coming to the edge. The TM disease seems to make it extremely hard for me to keep up the house and chase after the kids (Danny was home last week). Today I have been sort of dragging, which is my term I have coined for Dustin to know that I am having a hard day. I made sure that I napped when Josh did, but unlike yesterday and the day before he did not take a very long one. I am hoping that by the weekend I have stored back some of my energy. Dustin is gone on Saturday in the afternoon, but some of it should be during nap time. Dustin is gone to meetings today and tonight, so I have planned pizza and movie night for the boys. I just don't have it in me to do anything else, and I am counting down the time until bed.

I was able to get Danny to lay down right now, which is nice. He does not want to be the only one taking a nap at school, and everyone else plays during the scheduled time. I told him if he chose not to lay down in school then he needed to do it when he got home. He had some small complaints, but not for longer than a few seconds. I think he is absolutely zonked out in there. Josh, is also tired I can tell, but prefers to just come over to me and curl up on my lap and then go back to playing.

I am adjusting to being a mom of a preschooler, and it is fun to go to things like watching the swim class. Another nice part of the day was I was able to connect with some of the moms after dropping off Danny. We sat in the clubhouse and visited until Josh decided that he needed something to drink--the one time I forgot it--I will not do that again. Dustin had noticed the moms seemed to congregate after class, and I was hoping I would be able to connect in this manner. Some of the other moms I had met, either have older children, so I do not see them as much, or they have moved to other communities. I therefore only see them in passing and not for longer visits. It is an adjustment, and I had not really thought through how all these changes in how I pictures my routine to be here this fall. I still have to figure out when I will try to begin working out, etc, but I figure I first need to get my energy back before I attempt that one.

So far, we are adjusting to life back here in China--now if only this crazy hot weather would subside!

Second Day of School, but First Full Day

Danny did great today, even with two days without a nap and this being a full day of school for him—8:30-3:30. He was so cute this morning, asking me to stay with him at school, yet being just fine when it was time for me to drop him off. We were again the first ones there, and this was even with me leaving a little later today. Apparently, the 8:30 drop off is relaxed as the first half hour is just playtime. Danny gets up so early, that we are just waiting to leave in the morning. I realize that this is not the norm in most households. I am grateful that Danny is enjoying it, as I have met many moms who have said their children are having a hard time. Danny even mentioned that one of the boys cried in his class yesterday.

We have a great routine in the afternoon. I pick him up and we head home for a cookie and milk—surprisingly they do not give them milk at lunch. He excitedly tells me all that he did—of course prompted with a million questions from me. (I dread the day that he is not as excited to share his day, but for now I enjoy it so much). He is so proud of it all and so happy to hear my excitement over each thing he has learned and done. Today when I picked him up I was waiting outside (I tend to get there early just in my excitement to pick him up) when I saw one of the teachers lift him up so he could look out. I waved and gave him a big smile. I was so grateful that I was early and just sitting there so I was able to see that moment—also to be there when he was obviously looking for me.

We signed Danny up for soccer, as he has been wanting to play since this past spring (we walk by the soccer field every time we enter the clubhouse, so I think it is always enticing him). I am hopeful that he has the energy to do it, as he swims in the afternoons on Wednesday and then has gym class on Thursday afternoons. I signed him up for the Thursday soccer, as I figure we are closer to the weekend than Wednesday afternoon, and Friday is only a half day for him. Dustin and I have decided after a second whiny dinner with Danny that we are going to have Danny take a small nap when he gets home. He does not want to take one at school because the other kids in his class do not. We are hoping this will eliminate the whine and also give him the energy he needs to make it through the week.

Josh is missing his brother, but also enjoying the time with just Mom and Dad (Dustin worked from home today, so he had lunch with us). He was so cute when we got home from dropping off Danny—he went into their bedroom calling his name. I guess the memory is a little short lived about leaving Danny at school. We had a nice walk down to the store (although terribly warm—its 95 here with at least 100% humidity). I was able to connect with another mom from Germany, whose daughter goes to Danny’s school, but is a little younger while we were out for our walk. I also bumped into one of the other mother’s from Danny’s class who I had met last year. They are from Arkansas of all places—Dustin’s family is from there.

Overall, the day was good. I am heading to bed, as the exhaustion is still pretty intense—thankfully, the room spinning and feeling nauseous level has subsided. Tomorrow, I plan to just stay in the house with Josh or only go to the indoor park with him. (It is suppose to be close to 100 and still the crazy humidity tomorrow—all I can wonder is how on earth people survive in places like India or the tropics where it is even hotter—not my cup of tea).

The Afternoon Adventures in China

Well, the one thing that is quite certain about life in China, is that what would just be routine, even mundane in the US almost always turns into quite the adventure (i.e.--pain in the neck). Let's take this afternoon for example--going to the atm and cooking dinner.



These at first glance do not seem like difficult tasks, and I must admit I never gave them much thought back home, but here I am continually surprised.



The ATM


We wanted to sign Danny up for his soccer class today and also mail off some drawings he had done for his cousin. Both of these required me paying in cash. I figured we would just stop into the atm machine near the office and be on our way. Unfortunately, the office staff told me the atm machine was out of order. In addition, she went on to say that the man who came to work on it today could not fix it and that someone with more knowledge needed to look at it. This of course translates into us being lucky to be able to access the machine sometime tomorrow afternoon. While we did not need the cash right away, I thought it would not be too hard to walk to the clubhouse in the community next to ours.

After Josh woke from his nap, we headed out. In hind sight, what I should have done was walk out the front door and return immediately to the air conditioned lobby upon feeling the heat and humidity of the afternoon. However, my determination sometimes translates to stubbornness--I guess Dustin isn't to blame for the sheer amount of this that Josh has after all. (I will eventually learn to not leave the house on these days--apparently it is not today though). So we walked ever so slowly there (mostly because Danny is trying this new no nap thing, and he is incredibly slow--like a turtle). When we finally arrived a nice lady directed us around the corner to the atm. I slid my card in and hit the button to request English. Unfortunately for the first round, the machine chose to ignore me and give everything to me in Chinese. It finally spit my card back out and I tried again. This time it would only give me the choice of checking my balance. I did this and was rewarded with the ability with choosing to continue. I therefore hit this button and for a few seconds (I do not exaggerate here) it flashed the ability to withdraw. Apparently, I did not hit the button fast enough, and it spit my card out. I go through the entire process again, only to be rewarded with a notice that there is some error. So, after the hot walk over, we leave with no cash and head home. You got to love banking in this country--it makes the the crazy idea that we all laugh at in the States of stashing it under your mattress sort of appealing.



Dinner

On the way home we stop into the little market at the clubhouse. Dustin is going to be out tonight (surprise meeting set up this morning--got to love his schedule--look for blog on this in the future). I had decided to do a chicken pot pie--mostly because it is fairly easy to make and Dustin will not eat it. I was looking for my last ingredient--either biscuits, pie crust or something else to make it into a pot pie. I was excited to see there was puff pastry in the small cold section of the market. We headed home and I hooked the boys up with Sesame Street, mostly in an attempt to not have a repeat of Josh sitting in the middle of the dinning room table while I attempted to make dinner (see blog from this morning). This of course only partly worked, so I was still fighting him off in the kitchen from opening cabinets (no such thing as kid safety stuff here in China). I finally got everything set up and in my tiredness forgot two things. First I usually cook the chicken before hand and second, I usually keep the kids chicken out. Tonight, I without even thinking tossed the raw chicken into the cooking sauce and vegetables. I debated ordering pizza, until I remembered I did not have any cash, then I focused on the only place that does not need cash and is close--the clubhouse. Yet, the thought of one leaving the house in this heat did not appeal to me, nor did dragging two tired kids to a restaurant by myself. So, I silently prayed that the dish may turn out in the end.

Thankfully, the chicken did cook in the broth, and I set out to tackle my next problem. No rolling pin. I apparently, in not making many pies, etc yet, did not purchase a rolling pin. The puff pastry I had bought needed to be rolled out. I therefore began looking around for a proxy. I settled on the cover for my candy thermometer. It is a narrow tube and sturdy enough for me to press on it without breaking. Of course, when I opened the puff pastry it was quite clearly imported, because one side was dried out and the other soggy. I cut off the dried out part and patted flour on the other side. I finally got the puff pastry rolled out, and put my pot pie together and into the oven. After not quite the full time the package said had elapsed, I went into the kitchen to check on my pot pie. To my great horror my puff pastry had completely burned. Leaving the kitchen smelling terrible. I was able to peel off the burnt part and fish out chicken for the kids to eat. I did this solely because as I stated before, I could not face dragging the kids (exhausted as they were) to the clubhouse to eat. I can say that my pot pie which is simple and easy in the US is an absolute disaster in China. It came out closer to chicken and dumplings, except for the additional vegetables found in a pot pie. Oh well, at least it was fairly edible. I could not help but think that I hoped Dustin was having a better meal out.



Overall, I am counting the minutes to put the kids to bed. I am exhausted from last week without our ayi and she was not here again today (we believe she said on the phone that she was driving home today and will be there tomorrow). I can only pray this is true, as I am quickly finding out that with this disease, I just do not have the energy to take care of the kids and this house as well. I currently am bordering on being so tired the room is spinning and wanting to throw up. I guess I will read the boys some stories and get them in bed. They currently are running around the room trying to tackle each other--if only they could funnel me some of that energy.

Okay, we are off to story time and all of our bedtimes. Tomorrow is a long day for Danny as he goes until 3:30, I hope it goes well.

It's Official, Danny's a Preschooler

Danny ready to go and views of the new backpack

Danny First day of School and Danny ready for me to stop taking pictures


Today is Danny’s first day at school. He woke up at his normal early hour (a little later than this spring thanks to the sun rise being later) and we began our normal, or what will be our normal morning routine. We of course got the milks and coffee (they need milk to start the day and I surely need my coffee at 6am) and then headed up stairs. We had to shorten our skype time, but were able to connect with both sets of grandparents. Then it was downstairs again, where Danny helped me make pancake batter. Dustin wandered down with the smell of cooking pancakes, and we all had a great breakfast together. I of course need to highlight the fact that while Danny and I were mixing those pancakes together, Josh was getting into everything. I will not list it all, but I will leave you of the worst of it which was him on top of the dinning room table holding a steak knife leftover from yesterday. Thankgoodness for two things—I caught him just as he reached for the knife and second the knife, while considered a steak knife is barely sharper than a butter knife. So, needless to say Josh was not helping me in the stay calm and stress free that I was shooting for, but he definitely kept my mind off that Danny was heading off soon.

After breakfast we were able to get a quick call into my brother (this is our normal day to connect—unfortunately it was too late to talk with Ryan, but once we get the routine down, we can catch them earlier). I gathered up the hat and extra clothes that the school requires for us to bring for the kids. They cannot play outside without a hat on—with the weather here, this is a good rule. I then slathered Danny with sunscreen (another requirement before school and for outdoor play) and Danny got dressed. I took a couple pictures (maybe one too many—see Danny’s face on last picture), and then off we went.

We of course still made it too school early (but better than late). We went into Danny’s class and he put his bag on his hook and I placed his extra clothes in his cubicle. I placed his hat on his hook as well. I don’t think I even had the hat on the hook, before Danny was heading out the classroom towards the play area. (This is the first thing they do before welcome circle time). He already had a train car in his hands before I got over to where he was, I asked if he was okay if we left, and he sort of glanced up with a look like he was surprised we were still there. I got a little hug and we left him playing there. Kids were streaming in and his teacher was trying to engage Danny in talk while he played. I can say that I made it out the door before misting up, and all the way home before crying. Overall, a big success—thank you for all the prayers.

I ran into a German family that I met at the Meet the Teacher event. He has been here for a couple months, but his wife and kids just arrived. They were also facing their “first” first day of school. We talked about the misty eyes and that we were grateful to still have one at home to hug throughout the day. Their daughter is Danny’s age, but apparently his class is full at 11 students, so she will be in the younger class—at least they will meet at the play times and lunch. I also ran into Monica with her daughter Jule (pronounced Ula) (also from Germany) as they headed to the school. It will be nice to connect with these moms as well as the American moms as the school year goes on.

After calling my mom and crying, I gather up our stuff to head off to do our typical Monday grocery shopping. Even Josh looked sad as he looked at his brother’s empty car seat and gave me a look like what did you do with Danny. I reassured him that it was okay and that it was going to be just him and mom (okay--and Tom our driver too). I only got misty eyed one other time—when Tom handed me a cart and put Josh in the one he was pushing. I pushed in my empty cart trying not to make an emotional scene that no one around me would be able to understand. Thankfully, I was able to pull it together without any tears dropping and off we went.

It helped to focus on buying a pitcher to make the grape juice (like kool-aid—but a Chinese brand—we will let you know how that turns out) and look for what else we needed. Shopping can be so frustrating here—we were blessed that they had Josh’s diapers, but we could not find squirt bottles and some other common items. The best was at the end checking out. I had gotten a funnel, because I do not have one yet in our kitchen and I needed it to pour the oil we used for French fries back into the container. I did not notice that the funnel did not have a proper sku number. It had a hand written one. Well, basically after three people assisting and putting different numbers into the computer, she smiled at me and placed it under the counter. No funnel today. Got to love China. With all the assistance, you think someone could have resolved the issue, but not here, I have come to expect that this rarely happens.

Well, I am off to bake chocolate chip cookies for Danny to have when he gets home from his first day and make up that grape Chinese koolaid. (A tradition my mom always had that I want to pass down—plus I have been craving cookies myself). There is only an hour before we pick up Danny, this day has gone really quickly. I have to take advantage of Josh taking his nap—who knows what he would be doing while I baked if he was awake. :-)

Last Day before Danny's First Day of School

So I will keep this short as I have to wake Josh in fifteen minutes to allow him to eat lunch before we head off to church (i.e.--the traffic to get to church and then church).

This is the last day I have with Danny before he takes the big step into being a student. So naturally I have spent as much time with Danny as possible. Also, praying throughout the day, as for like every mother, I want his first day to be fantastic--filled with fun, learning and new friends. Not scared, bullies and every other nightmare a mother can dream up.

We spent the morning watching a new Mickey DVD we got last night. He did not seem to notice that I was holding him on my lap and silently crying as I thought of him leaving the house and heading to school--at least he did not comment on it, if he did notice. I am hoping that this will be my last cry about it, and that I can be happy and joyful tomorrow. Especially since it truly is a happy and joyful moment. My little boy is growing up and that is amazing and wonderful and I feel so privileged to watch as he develops from the young boy he is today to the man is going to be. (Okay--I better start signing off as the tears are already welling up).

We had a great lunch thanks to Dustin and I am looking forward to church today. Church here is to me such a magical place since it is filled with people from every country and every walk of life. What a joy.

I will update you tomorrow with hopefully my story of how I was brave in dropping him off (we needn't worry about Danny being brave as he has asked each day for the past week if this was the day he begins school. I am sure he will simply wave goodbye and head in the door without a second glance). I pray for no tears or squeaky voice from me. We should have pictures, although none of the school just yet, as I do not want to be the crazy mother out of the group :-) or embarrass Danny in any way.

Well as if on cue, Josh is screaming out his adorable "Mama"--until tomorrow....

Finding Food and Cooking in China

Jackie was a little under the weather on Friday, so I set the menu for Friday through Monday and went shopping with the boys...

Jackie has done a good job of explaining most of the shopping experiences, that is, from a person who normally shops.

I decided that I was going to have some real American food this weekend. You know, the kind of stuff you can easily get at home. So, here was the menu:
Friday evening: BBQ Pork Roast
Baked Potatoes
Corn
Saturday Lunch: Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
Saturday Dinner: Eat out
Sunday Lunch: Steak with french fries and salad
Sunday Dinner: Usual McDonalds after Church
Monday Lunch: Sandwiches

By Friday evening, Jackie did the cooking as I was too tired to go at it in the kitchen. On Saturday, however, I took over the culinary duties.

Buying the ingredients for the Alfredo was a challenge. The noodles were in the import section and were in Italian. The butter, cream, and cheese were in the imported dairy section and were in French. Luckily enough for me, the Italian for Fettuccine is spelled a lot like it is in English, and cream was close enough that I could ask the driver to confirm what I had via Chinese.

The Fettuccine was the best I've had in a long long while. I doctored the recipe a bit, which always seems to help. I'll say it was even better than what my mother would make, and that was rather good stuff. The disappointment (as always) was the chicken. Very tough.

Sunday lunch just happened. Let me say that I don't know if we will be eating steak again very soon in China. Just way too expensive to have something that more resembled the really bad steak they serve in school. I forgot what they called that junk, but they had to cover it in an equally bad gravy so that you could choke it down...

What was very good were the homemade french fries. Not as good as Granny Davis's but close. Now I’ve just got to learn how to make hush puppies. (If any of my relatives have the starting recipe, please send it over to me.) Once we’ve got french fries and hush puppies, all we need is some fish!

Buying the potatoes was the more memorable part. (I was expecting the fight to get my veggies weighed and priced.) There were all sorts of vegetables. Some I recognized, others I did not. But, I could not find the potatoes. After 3 laps, I found them.

They were not in a bulk bin, not in bags, nor in boxes. No, they were sold in pairs, and each pair was individually wrapped on a plastic tray... I usually don't shop in the USA, but I do see the stuff when it comes home, and I've never seen potatoes packaged this way.

So, I figure I need 6 potatoes. As I'm looking through them, a Chinese man and his daughter stop and start commenting on me looking at the potatoes. As I start to pile them into the bag I had, they became animated and actually started laughing.

I thought, well, I don't stand at the mass rice bin and laugh at you all buying it 5 to 10 pounds at a time! Guess the Shanghaiese don’t consider the lowly tuber to be a staple.

Here is the survival point for anyone who is thinking about an ex-pat assignment: take along the cookbook "Joy of Cooking". Space is always limited, and this is an excellent reference book as you will need to improvise and change out ingredients based upon what you can find. If you are a budding chef back home, this is probably the one you should start with.

The weekend has been nice. We got to go to the pool yesterday a bit before we walked down the street to get dinner. This is the end of the calm before the storm... Danny starts school tomorrow, I start language lessons tomorrow, and the business activity is about to go into overdrive. Got a few major projects that I am either working on or stewarding, and my time is about to be filled to the max.

Chinglish

Today I had a meeting closer to downtown... not across the river, so I was still in PuXi.




70 minute car ride to the subway for a 12 minute ride to my destination. The photo above is on line #2 inside the line 4 loop... and that is when rush hour is beginning to wane. I could actually stand with my feet at shoulder width apart and my briefcase on my shoulder this time. When it is bad, you have to stand with your feet together and your bag at your feet. At those times, you have to get over your fears of mass humanity and rapid transmission of disease through the air.
Any way, I had a nice meeting and went to my usual spot for lunch after I have a meeting there:




Yep, that's a flame grilled hamburger.

Now on to the language part of this. If you are not into learning a new language or grammar, bail out now -- you've been warned.

I am quite happy with the level of verbal communication I can accomplish. If you want to learn Chinese, I highly recommend Flunez. On my first trip to China I could say a few lines, but this program served as an awesome base. Soon, I expect to take it up a notch and get some specific business Chinese training... we'll see how that goes. I guess I understand about 60 to 70% of what is said to me in a restaurant or store. Comprehension drops to less than 5% when in a business meeting.

So, I have gotten to the point (which I have said before) that I must learn to read this language. My handy cell phone dictionary allows me to draw in characters and get the definition.

For this lesson in how Chinglish is formed, I want to focus on Burger King's tag line: "Have it Your Way." This is below the logo on the cup in the photo above (我选我味) for which the pinyin is wo3 xuan3 wo3 wei4. The literal translation of this is: I choose I taste.

Now we are at the problem. Is taste above a verb or a noun? I hadn't thought of taste as either a noun or a verb until I translated this, but when you think about it you realize taste can be either. So, how do you know? It's easy in Chinese -- the character is very specific -- this is a noun. (A verb doesn't make a lot of sense anyway since everyone knows you eat the hamburger.)

In English, of course, we have a problem. We would now translate this "I choose my taste". This, makes good sense (some would argue better than their English tagline, but that is done to promote a hip/rebellious image as much as anything -- and rebellion is not looked highly upon here in China -- therefore the modification).

So why didn't I know from the start to use my versus I? Simple. My is technically 我的 (wo3 de). I would think they are using the first person pronoun not the first person possessive pronoun.

And herein lies the beginnings of Chinglsih. You see, while we accuse Chinese of being very difficult, really it is in some ways easier than English. We have conjugations, verb tenses, and contractions. And China has contractions as well. In fact, I have found that Chinese want to use as few words as possible. I don't really know why, but with 1.3 billion people, I guess you have to shorten some of it if everyone is going to get a chance to talk... Hence, when trying to understand (given my need for technical accuracy) I have issues when they leave out words they consider to not be critical.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Our driver is trying to learn English. The problem for him is that he can only communicate in the present tense. So, telling me about a problem tomorrow or in the past is impossible for him. Think about that -- only being able to talk about what is going on now.

Chinese, of course, can talk about the past and the future, but there are no verb changes -- "is" stays "is" so to speak. Is does not go from "is" in the present to "should be" to indicate future conditional or "will be" to indicate a future condition. To change the time, they just add a few words to the front of the sentence, and then continue. Really, the grammar is much easier.

The problem with listening to and speaking Chinese is hearing and reproducing the tones. (For those who are not familiar with the pinyin Romanization, the numbers after the word indicate the tone.)

The problem with reading is obvious... you need 2,000 to 3,000 down stone cold to make it on the street, and over 5000 to be college level fluent. Keep in mind that is only a starter when in traditional characters there are over 90,000.

I have lost count of the number of characters I can read. My guess is I'm over 150 but less than 200. I'm getting good enough to guess what the character sounds like even if I don't know what it means. That is great because I can look it up way faster than drawing it, but proves worthless when trying to put a string of characters together.

I'm going to keep all of my posts on this subject under the tag language barrier. I'll have plenty of funny stories (similar to the plunger) that will go into this category over the next few months, I am certain of it.

The Mistake of the Outdoor Park and the Teacher Meeting

So today did not start of terribly hot, just humid and bearable warmth. The boys and I walked to the store and got rice for tonight. I told Danny, who has been dying to go to the outdoor park and ride his bike that today we could do both (it has been raining since we arrived in China last week due to the typhoon). This idea all seemed great as we walked back and forth from the store, so we dropped off the rice and picked up Danny's bike.

Going bike riding (or practicing really) is no easy feat here as I have to drag the bike out of our storage room at the back of our apartment, get Josh in his stroller, and push both stroller and bike into the elevator. One would think the hard part is over, but that is actually the easiest. Here in our community they have made hills all over and our apartment building is at the base of the largest hill, which is quite steep. The entrance to our community, and all the parks are on the other side of this hill. Of course in addition to hills, they also have a lot of lakes/ponds. We therefore keep to the main sidewalk in front of the apartment buildings and avoid the paths behind connecting the parks. No need to get going on the bike careen down a hill and into a fairly deep lake. For similar reasons, I do not have Danny get on his bike until we get down the steep large hill. Therefore, this leaves me to push the stroller and drag the bike up and down the large hill. On a good day this is quite a task, but today it has moved from tollerable heat and terrible humidty to sweltering and unbearably humidity.

So, I am coaxing Danny up the hill, while pushing Josh in the stroller and dragging the bike with my other hand. I can only imagine the site we (or I) make going up and down the hill. Then of course, you can only imagine what happens when we finally get to the spot where Danny can get on the bike and safely manage to bike to the park. Oh you guessed it, the front tire is completely flat. Hence, I then got to do the same exact drill of pushing Josh up the hill dragging the bike with us, while Danny walked ahead. Now I do not know if it was my exhaustion at this point, or the hill truly is steeper on this side, but I had to stop three times to align the stroller and its wheels, while balancing the bike so it did not roll back down the hill, before we made it to the crest of the hill and the easy descent. We finally arrived home and then headed back to the park.



Now, my first hint that going to the outdoor park (there is an indoor one we have been at all week due to the rain) this was just a plain dumb idea is that there is no one outside. No children, no parents. Only the workers cutting the grass and trimming the bushes that are being paid to be there. Basically, we remained at the park for 5 minutes. At which time I told Danny we had to head to the clubhouse and play there. I was about to pass out myself and Danny looked like he just came out of the bath his hair was so wet. Thankgoodness for that indoor park. The funny part in it all is that as we entered the clubhouse, sweating profusely and praising God for the inventor of air conditioning, a Chinese lady exits through the door at the same time. She is dressed (I kid you not) in jeans and a sweater. I just thought to myself--exactly what temperature does she go, "wow its hot, let me put on a t-shirt and shorts"--100, 110, if this temperature here is too cold?



In the afternoon, I headed to the school for the meet the teacher meeting. There was a little confusion over the date of this event as two e-mails were sent. Both exactly the same, right after each other with different dates. One for today and one for tomorrow. The second e-mail did not say anything about the first one, or that it was a mistake. So, on Monday I went to the school and asked what day the event was being held, and if it was just parents or was for the kids. The first reply was "if you want to bring them you can". The Chinese tend to be round about in how they speak, so I was not sure if she was telling me no, but not wanting to offend me. I therefore asked the question again, this time asking if parents usually brought their children, or if it was just for parents. She informed me it was for the parents.

So fast forward to today. I raced over to the meeting, and I am greeted by the head of the school and the girl that told me it was just for parents. The head of the school asked me where Danny was. I looked around and there were all the parents with their kids, and I realize it is for Danny to meet the teacher, not me. The school is an English speaking school, but the secretary (the women I had spoken with previously) speaks English, but what I can only term really as Chinenglish--when they speak they use English, but the order they put it in or the words they use, make it so what they say makes absolutely no sense. (see Dustin's earlier blog for more of this)



So, I just smiled and said I would quickly go get Danny. I ran all the way back--no small feat in this weather, even if we live across the street. Danny was excited to go and he ended up having a fantastic time. We started in his classroom, but it was just myself, Danny and his friend Jule (pronounced Ula, she is from Germany). Ula's mom was downstairs at first dropping off her son Matis. All the other childrenn have not returned for the summer. I guess the older kids do not start right now. Danny's teacher Nick is very nice. He is from New York, but knows Japanese and has taught in China for the past couple of years and speaks fairly good Chinese as well. In addition to being Danny's primary teacher, he will also be teaching Danny's gym class and swimming class (these are two days a week that we have Danny going full days).

Outside the classrooms is a huge play area (reminded me of my kindergarten/preschool) they had the dress up clothes, kitchen area and they also had a slide jungle gym that ended up in a pit of those plastic balls. Danny loved playing in this and then later dressed up with Ula in superhero costumes, while Nick their teacher put them on his back and ran them around. Needless to say he has found a nice comfort level. Hopefully, Monday will go well when more of the children should be in his class. His class is small with only 11 children. Danny is one of four Americans, and the other children are from all over the world. It should be quite cool.

Overall, I think we are excited about Danny's school and have learned the important lesson of checking the bike tires before leaving the apartment and never ever go to the outdoor park in humid hot weather. Not bad for one day.

The Old Stomping Grounds

Well we did our usual Monday routine of going grocery shopping at Carrefour. We made sure to get out today as Shanghai is suppose to be hit by the Typhoon later today and tomorrow. No need to try to do grocery shopping in a terrential down pour and massive flooding. (the streets flood here like mad even with a regular rain). All the normal things of shopping in China came back to me. Having it be impossible to find things like a paper napkin--a whole asile stretching the entire length of the store is devoted to kleenex/facial tissue in every type of size and packaging, but no napkins. Go figure. Then of course we hit the meat area. This is the free for all section where they are all combing over the meat with their bare hands and pushing each other out of the way to get their selection. I calmly go to the prepackaged area where I am virtually by myself. The stench of the meat in this area makes me grateful I am not able to find much and will have to go to the import store to get the rest. I can only guess the condition of the meat in this store and based on the smell, I am ready to run.

The most embarassing part of our shopping trip was when I picked up my coffee I had brought with and it got stuck in the cart and spilled all over the floor. There was a lady right there thankfully with a mop, but I can only imagine what she was saying in Chinese...thankfully Tom our driver who was with me did not bother to try and translate it. That is the first time I felt like a stupid foreignor in China, and I hope to keep it my last.

We settled back at our home and I confirmed that Danny starts school on Monday. I am so happy he is starting because he will really enjoy it and he is ready. I just look at him and am amazed to see the young boy that is looking back at me. Yet, the Mom part of me that is less logical and more emotional, is screaming and crying and partly in shock that my baby, who seems like yesterday just came into this world and fought his way through the NICU to come home is now taking his first steps out of that home. Dustin just does not get this, but I know every mom out there is in complete understanding of what I am saying. I'll have to see if some of the women I have met will be willing to go to Starbucks or something afterwards, as I know I do not need to just go home and cry. (Many of them had there children in the school last year, so have already gone through this first separation).

Anyway, today has gone better than I thought it would this morning at 3 when the boys woke up (hence the Starbucks at the grocery store--that got me into trouble). I am going to go lay down for a little bit before the boys wake up. We are without Fong today as her mother fell and she had to leave to be with her. I am praying all is well, as it is unlike in the US where you can move about the country freely. I believe it will be really hard for Fong to bring her mother to live here with her and I can only imagine how hard it would be to have her mom far away and in need of help (she lives eight hours away). Another reason I am grateful for all we have in the US.

The Long Day Ahead on No Sleep

So what Dustin did not know in his blog post is that was the second time Danny got up since we put the boys down at 9:30. Both boys got up at midnight and apparently Danny and I have been up since then (I had gone to bed at 2 when I put the boys into their beds again, but I could not sleep--Dustin got up shortly after 2 because he could not sleep. Now he is in bed and I am back up with Danny). Needless to say I am dreading today. Thankfully Josh is asleep and has been since 2, but Danny and I have to make it all the way to nap time this afternoon. Yikes that seems forever away right now at 4:40 am.

Overall our trip back here went smoothly. They again messed up the children's meals--Danny ate two breakfasts and Josh ate two dinners--thankfully no complaints from them, so all was okay in the end. The only other issue was a broken light right next to Danny and Dustin, so their lights never turned off during the "night" part of the trip.

As Dustin said, it was so nice to enter our house rather than the hotel like last time. It was also great to have our ayi help me all day get things unpacked. I am amazed that almost everything is put away and hung up (just the kids clothes left)--this is quite a feat as we had eight large suitcases and eight carry-on bags.

Dustin has already mentioned the weather here. The humidity is quite unreal. I would liken it to living in a sauna or stepping into a small bathroom after you have had the hot water running for about an hour in the shower. Not very comfortable--thankgoodness for air conditioning in our apartment and the clubhouse. I am not looking to going to the carrefour Monday where they seem to hardly put any air on at all.

Looking forward to getting over the jet lag and really settling in here. I got two e-mails about Danny's school. The first invites you to meet the teachers over coffee on Friday and the one right after it in my mailbox says exactly the same, but invites you to meet them on Thursday. I simply thought--ah welcome back to China. Such a simple thing, but it is interesting how they will not acknowledge that they got the first e-mail wrong, this or they are extremely unclear about having two dates planned.

Well, I think I am going to go start my first pot of coffee for the day.

We're back...

Well, no quarantine, thank goodness. We landed about 30 hours ago.

It's 3:00 am and I can't sleep, but that is normal.

Arriving here to our apartment was great when compared with our few days in a hotel when we first came in February. It was nice to have the space and know where everything is.

I thought I was the only person up, but I just heard Danny in the hallway... seems I'm not the only one who can't sleep!

August in Shanghai is very different from February -- it is hot, humid, and the first typhoon is 36 hours away. NOAA (since I can't read the Chinese weather sites) updated the track and shows the remnants of the eye passing directly over Hangzhou (where we visited in May). All it will need is a slight shift to the East, and the eye will pass over us.

I've lived through a typhoon (there was a cat 3 when I was in Hong Kong) -- they're not that bad. Just a lot of rain. So much is expected, in fact, that they have drained the retention ponds here and the paper says they have manned all of the flood gates to stop the storm surge...

(Danny has now joined me, and said "I can't get my sleep" -- I know the feeling.)

Stay tuned... this fall should be filled with all sorts of interesting opportunities and issues. The one we are most looking forward to is Danny starting preschool -- 1/2 of the instruction is in Mandarin.

Now, it's time to entertain an almost 4 year old at 3:30 am.

Preparing for the Trip back to China

We are getting ready to head back to China and it seems like we blinked and the summer was over. We had a great time with family and friends, but I spent a lot of the time at doctor's offices. They have finally determined the tingling/numbness that I began having before leaving China is Transverse Myelitis. This is similar to MS, but rather than multiple sites of damage, I have only one resulting in the symptoms I have. The latest to set in is terrible fatigue--as in unable to get out of bed fatigue. Great thing for a mom of two active little boys. :-) There is no real treatment for Transverse Myelitis and I have a fairly mild symptoms--one could be paralyzed--so I am extremely blessed. The game plan is to monitor me once a year to make sure I do not really have MS (30% of people diagnosed as I am end up really have MS) and to live healthy. The one amazing benefit of living in China is that I am able to have my ayi, Fong. She comes each day, during the week, to help me with the house. This now, will be an even greater help to me. Dustin's and my perspective on it is that we are so blessed it is not worse than it is, and that God never said this life would be easy, he just said he would see us through it. If there is one thing I have learned throughout my life so far is that God is so faithful and is with us no matter what and no matter where we are.

On that same note, Dustin and I are praying that all this gear we have piled up around the house will fit into our luggage and will make it safely to China. We are bringing back another full load. All the clothes the boys need for the fall and well as our fall clothes. Plus a whole bunch of wants, not just needs---more toys from home for China, books, all our favorites that we cannot get in China or least you would have to take out a loan to pay for it. (i.e.--Cherrios which are impossible to find in China and when you do it is the smallest box you can imagine and costs no less than $15.00--we are taking at least five large boxes).

One magnificent blessing about heading to China this time is that we head to our house, our beds and we have everything waiting for us. We do not have to try and buy everything when we get there, and no dealing with jet lag in a hotel lobby--it was not so much fun being either in the lobby with the boys at 2 am or stuck in our bathroom while the rest of the family tried to sleep. I look forward to doing that all in the comfort of our home.

While this time in the States has gone quickly and was split between doctors and family and friends, we are so grateful for the time we had, and look forward to December 13th....when our feet will touch American soil again.