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E-mail to our Friends and Family 3/18/07

Daily Life - China

Hello Everyone,

Nothing earth shattering this week, just some little interesting tidbits.

Sophie is driving to school with Mr. Lin in the morning by herself!! This is huge! I have to bribe her with snacks and DVDs but this means I can go to the club exercise classes in the morning. Something I’ve really missed since we got here. Mr. Lin sets up the movie and she takes her snacks and does quite well. I’ve also arranged for her to ride a bus half way home from school so we only have to drive ½ an hour to get her in the afternoons. (The morning bus meant she’d have to leave the house at 6:45 which was way too early, so Mr. Lin takes her in the mornings.)

Sean is doing much better with his friends. He was called to the principle’s office for a bus incident but I have a hard time believing it was his fault. Next year when Sophie is in the same school, I’ll be driving them to school you can bet on that!! He still complains about the loudness and I believe some of that is the culture. Everywhere we go it is loud, loud music, loud talkers, cars, busses, horns etc. Cars and busses honk as frequently as we put on our turn signals. Multiply the cars in Charlotte by about a billion and you have a pretty loud street!!

Since I’ve had this extra time in the morning, I’ve been taking this Chinese Yoga class now for a couple weeks. This is my first time taking yoga and I don’t understand the instructor, so it’s pretty hilarious. Luckily I’m past the stage of worrying about what other people think. I like the idea of yoga and have enjoyed my classes. I tend to hang out in the back and get tons of attention from my instructor (a young Chinese boy). I’m not sure if it’s because he knows I don’t know what’s going on in class and he feels sorry for me, or because I have the biggest boobs in class, either way I’m sore the next day so I guess that’s all that matters.

Scott is in Beijing this weekend with his bosses from NC. He’s doing the tourist stuff so the kids and I are hanging out here. Now would be a great time for one of my many friends to call and ask if they could take the kids for a couple hours. Mr. Lin has Sunday’s off to be with his family so rather than trying to communicate with the Taxi drivers I think we’ll do our running around today (Saturday) and spend tomorrow hanging out around here and walk to McDonalds and the mall. We bought the kids scooters and roller blades so we can do that tomorrow as well. Speaking of McDonalds don’t you think it’s strange they don’t serve the Asian Salad here? Anyway, Scott still loves it here and is doing great. He gets his shirts ironed just the way he likes them, dinner on the table every night, no leftovers, clean clothes all the time, comes home to a clean house and looks out onto the river in his recliner. No wonder he’s doing great. He swears he’s getting a Mope head over the summer while we’re in NC but it’ll kill him for sure. Even Mr. Lin says they are very dangerous here in China with the rampant drinking and driving. Even though drinking and driving is illegal it is not as enforced as the U.S. probably because of the culture and the common practice of closing business deals after at least 10 shots of alcohol. When asked to do a shot it is considered rude if you do not oblige.

The other day while in the car picking up Sophie from school, Mr. Lin had a Chinese press conference on the radio. It was in Chinese with an English translator. I can’t tell you how interesting it was hearing the Chinese talk about the U.S. on the radio. Their government views are so different than those of the U.S. I could only listen to it for about 40 minutes then Sophie got in the van (and we had to watch Tom and Jerry) but the focus was on treating intercountry conflicts in a peaceful manner as opposed to violence. They didn’t say the U.S. was wrong or violent just that the Chinese are different on how they resolve conflicts based on their constitution. Very interesting and somewhat uncomfortable with Mr. Lin looking at me in the rear view mirror wondering how I felt about the U.S. and their actions.

Oh, very important! I got my hair cut and highlighted and I love it! I went to a place called “Eric” in the French concession part of Shanghai. I had a Chinese guy highlight it and a really cute French guy cut it. When I first sat down, I was said to myself “Oh great here I we go again, another spaghetti pot story, where’s the wine?” then realized they were both very good and the French guy very personable. Needless to say I will need a cut at least every 6 weeks I think!!

I’ve got to mention the Ayi’s and what life is like with a total of 3 cleaning people. The complex provides linen and towel service twice a week. Two very nosey Ayi’s come in twice a week and change the sheets and towels and clean the bathrooms. These women drive me crazy. They speak absolutely no English but insist on trying to communicate with me. So many questions but, I have no idea what they are. They go through all our stuff happily just being curious. This I’ve found is part of their culture. It explains all the looks we get with Sophie and crowds we attract at the grocery stores.

Then we have our part-time Ayi who comes M-F from 1:00 to 7:00. She does the rest of the cleaning, laundry and cooks all dinners. She loves Sean and Sophie but spoils them to death. She carries Sophie around on her back whenever Sophie asks. She has a great heart but tends to be very set in her ways (I’ve since heard Shanghai Ayi’s are all like this and some people request Ayi’s that are not from Shanghai). I bought her a Chinese/English cookbook with many western recipes and bookmarked the ones we might like. She hasn’t opened it yet. She has babysat for us a lot and likes to give the kids a bath in our tub. This sounds great but I wouldn’t even take a bath in our tub because the water is a greenish brown. I need to get over that because if it truly was unsafe to take a bath then I know Ayi would not allow it. Again, I just tell them to keep their mouths and eyes shut in the water. Also, when Scott and I get home (usually around 10:30) the kids are still up watching late night cartoons (Simpson’s, etc). She won’t put them to bed because they don’t want to go to bed even though I’ve told her many times to put them to bed at 8:00pm and I even now say that in Chinese so no excuses. Again, I pay her practically nothing to watch them so no room to complain I guess except it kind of kills the mood when we come home to two very cranky kids that we have to put to bed.

All in all, I love the fact I don’t have to clean, cook and do laundry but all these people coming through the house kind of bothers all of us. Again, something we’re getting used to. We also are craving a good old fashion Lasagna or a chicken casserole or a Bisquick cheeseburger pie which sounds easy but takes a lot of prep work. I can’t count on the stores having all the ingredients from home so I have to buy things as I find them and put together a meal once I have all the ingredients. Tomorrow I’m making very expensive tacos that both kids better love!!

I’ve been very busy with Chinese lessons and planning trips for the family. At the end of March Sean has 2 days off of school so we’re all taking a 4 night Yangtze River Cruise. I decided it was time to do something educational. We’re very excited to visit the Three Gorges Dam. Then the next holiday is the first week of May and we’re going to Singapore and Indonesia, after that Japan in October. So I guess saving our money and buying a big old fancy house when we get home from China might be a pipe dream. I think the once in a lifetime experiences are more important anyway.

I’ve included some pictures most self explanatory. Notice the white van making a U-Turn in the middle of the street of the “our street” picture this is very common.

Well, I guess that’s about all folks!!! We hope everyone is happy and healthy.

Jennifer

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E-mail to our Friends and Family 3/18/07