Shanghai Surprise

We took a quick trip to Shanghai over the weekend to take a little time out before the holidays. Tuesday we checked out of the hotel and headed toward the Metro (subway) station so we could catch our train back to Suzhou. It was just after noon when we checked out so it was probably 12:15 – 12:20 when we arrived at the entrance to the subway station. At the top of the stairs was a message in Chinese along with 2 metro station workers standing there. There was some caution tape across the entrance to add to the mystery. We wondered “What the heck is going on here?” and since we don’t read Chinese, it was even more confusing. Tammy asked the worker if we could use the Metro, she asked where we were going. Railway station. Then she gestured to go ahead and go down into the station. There were very few people around but we thought nothing about it since it was the middle of the day. We were on Line 1 and had to go through the major interchange (Peoples Square, similar to Five Points from Marta but with about 5 times the number of people, it’s a major interchange and always has the most people) and stay on the same line for a few more stops to get to the Railway station. We figured we would have plenty of time since the train didn’t leave until 2:21 (or 14:21 in local terms).

The first subway train ran straight through the station without stopping which seemed a bit unusual but we just stood there and waited for our train. The next train stopped by a few moments later and we hopped on. It didn’t move for several minutes and we wondered what was the holdup but since the locals didn’t seem to notice, we did as the locals and sat and waited. The lights went off on the car but came back on within seconds. Another 30 seconds later, it happened again. But soon enough, the doors closed and we were on our way to Peoples Square. Along the way, the car slowed for some reason but it picked speed back up again and the voice told us we were arriving at Peoples Square station.

We immediately noticed that something was quite right as we arrived into Peoples Square interchange and we saw no one….I mean nobody. The place was empty, nothing, nada. Something was wrong because this can’t be normal, Shanghai is a huge city and the metro is always crowded and to see no one in the major interchange was kind of eerie. It brought back memories of driving back into Atlanta from SC on 9/11. The highways were virtually empty with very few cars on 285 and the traffic signs indicating “National Emergency: Airport closed”. That was so strange and this reminded me a lot of that. The locals didn’t really say too much or seem to notice but something was wrong, you could feel it. We were in the front car of the metro and there is a line monitoring station right there by the front car. You can see at the next stop (or somewhere else, I assumed it was the next stop) there were a lot of police, construction crews and others moving around frantically. Flashlights were being used all around the car we could see, both from inside and outside the car. A few metro line workers were on their radios talking and some announcements were being made. Of course we didn’t understand what they were saying so we stayed put (just like the locals). We figured that perhaps it was a delay of some sort. I walked closed to the monitors to see what was happening since it seemed that there was something wrong from what I could interpret from the monitor. The next thing we see is one of the metro line workers running up through the length of the train waving everyone off the subway. He seemed a little worried and so we stepped off and figured we would be waiting for another train or something. Once we stepped off, there were other metro line workers and security personnel waving us towards the exits and indicating that we were to leave and quickly (kwai le! kwai le!). Now we’re getting a little more anxiety than before, what was happening, a fire in the station, a crash, a chemical leak (attack)…it was all running through your mind. At the top of the stairs, on to another level for the subway, we noticed that all of the entrances and gateways between where we were to the other lines were closed (it was like a bunch of garage doors that had been closed shut), something we had never seen before. Usually the station was bustling with activity no matter which line you we headed to. You would crowd on to an escalator, walk through the maze and perhaps go back down another escalator to the next line or wherever. In this case, they even had the pay gates wide open for people to walk through. They didn’t seem to care about people getting charged; they just wanted you O-U-T! We finally exited out to the street wondering what just happened (and how we were going to get to the Railway Station).

As we wandered for a few moments to gain our bearings, we were approached by some college age kids that asked us the standard “Where are you from? How long have you been in China?” type questions. They were very nice kids, they even said “Merry Christmas” which was even more surprising. We asked if they knew what was going on and they indicated that there had been a crash on the metro line that morning. It kind of answered the question but we still had a lot of unanswered questions running through our heads (like sugar plums). They helped us figure out where to get a cab and we headed out to get a cab. We learned quickly that although there seemed to be an abundance of taxis in Shanghai, there weren’t enough. It was much more cutthroat than in Suzhou and we had a hard time hailing a cab. After about 20 minutes, one stopped and we hopped in only to be rebuffed by the cab driver as he wasn’t going to take us to the Railway station. We were angry but we got out like a good tourist. We didn’t expect it to take another 15-20 minutes to get another cab. While we waited, people would leapfrog ahead of us (towards the stoplights) to be the first people the cabbie would see so he would pick us up. We would move, they would move, we would move, they would move….you get the idea. In the meantime, I told Tammy that if the next driver would not take us, offer him 100 RMB for the ride (the ride couldn’t be much more than perhaps 25 RMB so he would make out like a bandit) to sweeten the pot. Finally, we got a taxi to stop and we were off to the Railway Station.

Finally we understood why the Metro was so popular. Traffic on the highways was a nightmare. It took us 15 minutes to go less than 5 km. The two left lanes barely moved while most weaved in and out in the two right hand lanes. It was bizarre to see how bad traffic was. We thought Suzhou was awful but we had no idea at all. We arrived at the Railway station at about 1:40 (and yes, we had to bribe the driver with the 100 RMB which he had to consider before accepting), which gave us a little time to get something to eat if we wanted it but we were kind of exhausted from the stress of the day and just wanted to go in and sit and wait for the train.

When we got home we searched the web for information on what happened and below is the official story from a Chinese news outlet.


SHANGHAI, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- A Shanghai subway line that was closed early Tuesday after a system failure and subsequent collision of two trains, has reopened, subway authorities said.

The two trains, coded 150 and 117, both moving slowly, collided at 7 a.m. after a short circuit caused a power system breakdown in Shanghai Subway Line 1, said a spokesman with Shanghai Shentong Metro Co., Ltd (Shentong), which operates the line.

Train 117, which was empty, left the site at 10:17 a.m. after repairs. But the removal of Train 150 was delayed until 11 a.m. when the passengers trapped inside were rescued, the spokesman said.

He gave no details on how many people were in the train.

Train 150 was dragged out of the station at 11:48 a.m. and Subway Line 1 resumed normal operation at around 12:15 p.m.

No one was injured and Shentong was investigating the cause of the accident, he said.


We know where we live and we accept that the news is what it is, it comes with the territory. We were ushered out of the subway line at around 12:20 – 12:30 when according to the story the line was reopened so it makes you go hmmmm. We won’t go any further but needless to say, it was an interesting end to our quick trip to Shanghai. It makes you keenly aware that when a public transportation option shuts down, it impacts just about everything. One bad experience isn’t going to sour us on the Shanghai metro line, after all it’s the best way to get around and see the city. We’ll be back in a couple of months to see more of what Shanghai has to offer. Stay tuned as more stories will be added very soon pertaining to our short visit.

Back to the dreaded list

No culinary exploits to comment on this week so I fall back to the old top 10 list.

10. So its Christmas time right? Interestingly enough, it is Christmas time here. The Chinese people know who Santa Claus is and at the In City mall they lit the Christmas tree last weekend. Notice that it’s a Christmas tree and not the politically correct “holiday tree” or whatever the pc crowd is calling back in the States so they don’t offend anyone. It is not overblown or overhyped, they don’t beat you around the head with Christmas sales or other things but when you go around town, you can see small signs of Christmas on windows and stuff. One of the hotels, Hotel Mercure, out near the plant has a giant inflatable Santa Claus on the top floor, just reaching over the top of the building. It’s been there for about two weeks but when I first saw it, I was surprised. Of course, the Mercure is not a Chinese owned hotel chain but it was still interesting to see a huge Santa. Last night while we ate dinner at Visto (an Italian place) at the In City mall, they were pumping in the Christmas music big time. What was more interesting was hearing “Feed the World” (the irony of that song wasn’t lost on us as we’re sitting there), something I had not heard for years. They had all of the Christmas tunes going on so if you sat back and ate your dinner without looking around, you would never know you are in China.

9. Another note about the In City Mall, we walked to the mall which is about 1 km. We tend to walk to many places that are under 2 km away unless the weather is really bad. A total reversal of what we did in the US. In the US, even if I had to buy gas for the lawn mower from the corner gas station which was perhaps a 5 minute walk, I hopped in the van and drove over there to pick up the 1.5 gallons of gasoline. It seems so strange not to have a vehicle even after all of this time because you could do so much more but it is what it is. Anyhow, it was sprinkling a little so we carried the umbrellas to keep the rain off. When we walked inside the mall, we closed the umbrellas and tapped them on the floor mats to try and get the water off them. One of the aiyees from the mall came over and took our umbrellas and headed back to the front door (Somebody stop her, she’s taken our umbrellas!). There’s this stand at the door that we didn’t see where you take your umbrella, drop it down a hole in the top and then pull the umbrella out the side and bingo! Your umbrella is wrapped in a thin plastic “umbrella condom”. She hands them back to us and off we go. So now, as we walk around, any condensation from the umbrella gets trapped in the plastic bag and doesn’t drip on the floor (which could be a safety hazard or whatever). It seemed strange but “when in China”.

8. The church was holding their Christmas service today in a larger auditorium than normal so it was a much longer taxi ride to get to church. You had to carry your passport to ensure that you were not a local attending the church since I don’t think it is licensed or something to allow for locals to be a part of the church. Once you move into a government building that has been approved for the church, locals can attend but not until that point. I don’t know if you read about the mega church in China that was closed down for “various reasons” but it was a sobering reminder of where we are. Although we can worship as we choose (as long as we don’t draw attention to ourselves or try to recruit locally), it’s not the same for everyone. These are the times when you have to remember where you are and you need to understand and obey the rules regardless of any inner conflicts. You feel free to do many things but you always must be sure to keep a “low profile” in order to remain in the country. It’s just one of those trade offs that you have to accept or you’ll never make it here.

7. As you might imagine, the martial arts are a very important part of the culture here. You will see many older people practicing their Tai Chi in the mornings in the parks and other public places where there are trees and more of a natural surrounding. This week, on my way out to the bus, I saw an old lady doing here Tai Chi with a sword. Yes, that’s right, a nice shiny sword that she was using as part of this spiritual exercise of Tai Chi. It made me think that if she tried this in Atlanta, she would be hauled away for using a deadly weapon. Since Tai Chi moves in very slow motion, the only thing she was threatening was my attention span (Isn’t that interesting, there’s an old lady with a sword….I’ll stop and watch for a minute. BOR-ING! Oooh, look another scooter with 4 people on it, let’s see if they make it through the intersection.)

6. I’ve been fighting a cold for a couple of weeks now (H1N1?) which means that it was time to get some meds to try and alleviate some of the symptoms while my body tried to fend off the cold. You can’t just run down to Walgreens and pick up some cold medicine, it’s only sold at pharmacies, which don’t sell anything but medicines, no magazines, cards, etc. You also can’t find the stuff you would take in the US, none of the medicines that you are accustomed to taking and know which ones are for which symptoms. Instead here, you are relying on the people at the pharmacy to help you out. Tammy went to the place at Singa Plaza (the hangout area for Westerners) and demonstrated the symptoms to the people behind the counter. They went over and picked out the meds and headed for the counter. Take 4 of there 2 times a day and 1 of these three times per day. Tammy has to write it on the box to be sure she remembers and brings them home. What are they and what do they do? I’m not really certain but what are you going to do? The choices are pretty limited, either take the meds or don’t. I trusted that the medications were okay and so I took them. These were better than the 999 meds I took in March, those made me loopy. These ones diminished the symptoms of the cold and allowed me to function normally (which some could call loopy but it was a “normal loopy”). The most interesting part was when we needed more of the meds (they don’t sell the 50 tablet packs and stuff, typically there is a very limited amount of doses in every package they sell, usually about 3-4 days worth of the meds) Tammy took the package back and asked for more of these. The pharmacist then gave the “oh no, not those ones…try this instead” response. So she came home with another package (take two of these and call me in the morning…if you wake up) with similar instructions on the side of the box (2 pills, 3 times per day). It’s kind of maddening because even if you want the same stuff, you could be seen as insulting the pharmacist (at least I hope they were trained to do this as opposed to being told “sell this stuff or you’re out on your butt”) by not taking their recommendation. Either way, it worked and I’m feeling better, thanks for asking.

5. Since we’re on the topic of colds, the “Kleenex” tissues sold here aren’t like the stuff we are used to. Napkins…not the same. Paper towels…not the same. It’s odd but everything is different for whatever reason. The Kleenex seem to be more for show than for blow. They are much smaller and have much less strength than the stuff sold in the US. If you want to blow your nose here, better get either toilet paper or a paper towel if you don’t want the dreaded “boogie hands”. Perhaps we blow our noses differently but if you blow your nose with the force of a slight breeze, this thing explodes like a water balloon.

4. I’ve had the first Chinese fire drill at the plant just to ensure we are ready should anything happen. It wasn’t like I expected, after all a Chinese fire drill has a different meaning in the States. The most interesting thing was that once everyone was out of the building in the rally point, the safety guy asked for a head count to ensure everyone was out. The people started to get into formations, not crude formations but much like the military “fall in”, they started to assemble into groups of rows and columns. I had no idea where we were supposed to stand but I felt a little weird since I had not stood in formation in quite some time (and no one was yelling at me to “drop and beat your face”). You’ll see formations here quite often outside of restaurants and other establishments as the crews prepare for their shift. I’m never certain of exactly what they are told (“drop and give me 20”) or why they have these formations in a public place but it is definitely something I haven’t seen anywhere else.

3. I’m not very good at “Name that Tune” as many would attest. Riding home on the bus the other night, I heard some music that sounded familiar but it was in Chinese. I kept straining to hear over my fellow bus riders and tried to focus in on the music. The song was very familiar but it definitely was being sung with Chinese words to the same music. Okay, I can name that tune in 8 notes…I mean in English. It began to bug me because now I would keep replaying it until I could remember. But as luck would have it, when we stopped for a red light things dulled down enough that I got a good long listen to the song. It was definitely something from the Bee Gees; but what the heck was the name of the song? Of course I kept trying to sing through it myself (yes, I was using my inner voice, the one wearing the gold chains, wide collared shirt with the top 4 buttons undone, the bell bottoms and with the platform shoes). Finally….Nobody gets too much heaven no more, ta-dah!!! Admitting that I figured it out might actually be worse than saying I couldn’t figure it out. It was really strange to hear the Bee Gees sung in Chinese, the poor woman, she couldn’t hit the high notes like the Bee Gees but she tried.

2. Did you know that Amway is in China? I didn’t but I found out last week when I went to the neighborhood center for some supplies. A man there spoke with me briefly and indicated for me to call him as he handed me his list of Amway stuff to sell. Perhaps it’s just me but it seems a bit bizarre that an outfit like Amway with the quasi pyramid scheme (you call it what you like but to me it’s one of those borderline things) fits in with Chinese culture. I’m not certain but I’ve heard it’s kind of big here so perhaps it’s just me (and it usually is).

1. Last but not least, the past 6 months or so I’ve been working to bring our new plant online. As we’ve hired more people in and things begin to round into shape, there’s one thing I’ve noticed. I’m getting too old for some of this stuff. We have a large contingent of very young people working for the company, some from technical school which puts them somewhere below 25 years old. I try to show how some things are done which requires a little bit of manual effort to demonstrate the technique/process. I never thought some of this would bother me but there are days where I feel really old out there. I feel like I need an afternoon nap and then I need to go out on the porch in my rocking chair and talk about the good old days and how these young whipper-snappers can’t cut the mustard. Perhaps it’s the lack of getting the exercise from the soccer league and stuff but there are times where it hurts just to sit in the bus on the way home (this really is more due to the distance between the seats being like a cramped airline since the gaps aren’t built for taller people). It’s all a part of getting older but it doesn’t mean I have to like it.

My final thought for the week......What has happened to my Cowboys? Beware the ides of December or something like that. Thankfully I can't really watch the games so I have to read all about it. I just want to make the playoffs and win one stinking game to get the monkey off the back, is that too much to ask?

Hairy Crab

Saturday I got to take another dip into the pool of local cuisine. I was working in the plant when one of our engineers (Jerry) approached me and asked me to join them for lunch; they were headed out to eat hairy crab. I tried quickly to find a polite way of declining the offer, after all I brought in my PB&J sandwich and I didn’t want to be wasteful. Unfortunately for me, I’m much quicker on my feet with quick one-liners or sarcasm than I am in trying to avoid those cultural land mines that exist over here. It was very nice of them to think of me BUT I don’t eat crab (never had it in the US either, heck I’m from Maine and I really don’t eat lobster) and I have not heard many positive things about the crabs so I tried to turn on my thinking cap but my battery died. Jerry was very nice when I attempted to decline but he was insistent that he wanted me to join them, it would be a quick lunch he said…..so I accepted and said a quick prayer that I wouldn’t be killed by eating this local delicacy (available a limited time only).

Here’s some education material on the hairy crab. The hairy crab is a freshwater crab that is most famous from Yangcheng Lake which happens to be here in Suzhou (lucky me). The crab is officially known as the Chinese Mitten Crab and considered to be a delicacy in Shanghai cuisine. It’s not a large crab, the body is about 9 – 10 cm wide. It’s very pricey and depending on the time of year, it is considered better to eat either the male or the female crab (although when you order, they sell both the male and female together). In the winter, the female crab is more delicious (or so they say) for the roe (which I’m not certain what the roe really is but Andrew Zimmerman loves it so I suspect it’s not for everyone). It’s called the hairy crab due to the hair on the legs of the crab.

So, about noon Jerry pops by and we head out to eat at the local establishment that specializes in the hairy crab. Upon arrival to the restaurant, we are ushered past a bunch of tanks on the first floor (the tanks are all on the floor) containing the crabs. It smelled like you would think; a very strong fishy smell….just enough to “wet the appetite”. They are pulling the crabs out of the water and tying them up in a bundle like a little Christmas present (a live Christmas present). So we walk by and head upstairs to eat. It’s not what you would call a fancy place to eat but many of the best eateries here aren’t the fancy places. They are pouring green tea (and just to be sure you understand; this isn’t a little cup of tea with a tea bag. It’s a tall glass with dried tea leaves at the bottom that they add hot water to and allow the tea leaves to settle to the bottom of the glass for tea. So from all outward appearances, it looks like someone has put grass clippings in hot water in a tall glass, makes you want some doesn’t it). The menu comes out and they look and ask if I want to order, it’s all in Chinese so I let them do the ordering (while I do the praying). They brought the three Westerners invited to lunch Cokes so we could drink something more “normal” for us (I don’t drink a lot of soda either but I wasn’t asking for the water if you know what I mean…I think you do). So while they wait, the pack of cigarettes are passed around the table for the pre-meal smoke, I was able to decline this without any issue. Then the meal begins to arrive.

First up, what appears to be green beans (they looked very different but when asked they agreed that they were beans) and fried, crispy smelt. A very tiny fish, fried whole. I grab some of the beans and pass the plate. They waited on the Westerners for first taste of everything at the table so we were kind of stuck. I popped a bean into my mouth and think, wow, this is really, really, really tough. I continue to chew and think “how it is possible to get a green bean this tough?”. I stare at the other beans on my plate and notice that there is something not right here. As I look closer, I notice that these are soy beans, you aren’t supposed to eat the husk, just the bean. Darnit!!!! I was able to chew through the first one (after about 5 minutes of jaw breaking work) but now I take stock of what’s on the table before I accept their answer since they were right, it was a bean but not a green bean. I passed on the fried smelt, had this before and not really going to try it again. Then out comes the sliced silky tofu with a spicy sauce, topped with vegetable and a black duck egg. Ugh, this is going to get worse as it goes. I took a small bit, I can’t stand the texture of the tofu but I was able to get it down without gagging. Oh boy, next is a plate of snails (or I should be clearer by saying it’s the snail shells). They show me how to get the “meat” from the shell and eat it. You can either suck it out (which I was told is something that distinguishes a local from other Chinese) or use a toothpick to get at the meat. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t like you really ate anything. It was such a small snail shell that the “meat” wasn’t enough to really even chew. I ate a few and then the guy next to me pours a big spoonful on my plate just to be sure I have enough (gee thanks). At this moment, I was really beginning to dread the arrival of the crabs. Then comes the pork cubes (cubes of fat with small sections of meat , it was like 4 layers of fat with one thin layer of meat) in a soy sauce with chestnuts. A lot of fat here but it seems the locals love this dish; I ate one piece since I’m not really into eating large quantities of fatty tissue. It wasn’t bad but how about reversing the meat to fat ratio? This is they way I have seen it done since I’ve been here, so it just is what it is. Then the small shrimps (complete) in a broth and some green, crunchy vegetables (nobody knew what to call this, it was a bright green like a kiwi but was very crunchy and had little to no flavor), lotus root, whole chicken (and I mean whole) in a big pot with “broth”. Everyone is eating pretty well at this time (except for me, I’m still sampling the meal (this is the time where you miss the dog under the table) when the main course arrives.

Here come the little orange buggers complete in their wrapping paper. This is when I learn that the females are more delicious than the males at this time of season, so of course they dig out the females for us to eat. They showed us how to tell the difference between the male and female (another in a long line of useful tidbits that I will never have to use again). Now I have to learn how to eat it from a guy that speaks no English so I put on my game face and get ready to tackle the crab. First, take off the string holding the thing together (duh!). One interesting thing is that the claws have like a coating of mud (or what appears to be mud) on one side. I don’t know what this was but I wasn’t asking questions (and I wasn’t eating the claws). So after unwrapping the gift, I’ve got to learn how to open it up. First, I’ve got to pull out a section of the underbelly of the shell and toss that aside, nothing to eat here (whew!). Then, using my two thumbs, I grab the edge of the top shell with my left and just below that with my right and pull it apart. He indicates to me that I’m to eat all of this orange stuff left inside the top shell of the crab, which is the roe. I take a deep breath and dig in with my chopsticks to get at some of this roe stuff and do the taste test. It actually wasn’t so bad, I don’t know that I can describe the flavor but it wasn’t delicious and it wasn’t awful so I could eat it and look happy (but of course there is the dreaded “next day” when you really know if what you ate was good or bad). They showed me how to add some sauce to the shell to mix in with the stuff and slurp it out from the shell. What is left for the body of the crab needs to have the gills removed. Remove those, break off the legs and start prying it apart to get at the meat. Keep in mind, this is a small crab so when I say meat, I’m talking about a small amount of the stuff. So while I continue to pull the caveman routine and tear apart this crab to suck out the meat, everyone at the table is doing the same thing. When I stopped for a moment to focus on just listening to what was going on around me, it’s a concert of slurping and cracking as the crabs go down. The Chinese tend to be very loud eaters, enjoying their food and letting you know that they are eating. This just kicked it up a notch with the crab shells and all. So, there I am crackling and gnawing at the shells, trying to get every last scrap of meat on this small creature. The juices of the crab are all over my hands, creating an interesting orange staining to the fingers. They hand us napkins to wipe our hands but it doesn’t really diminish the stain much or the smell of the crab from our fingers. In the meantime, more food comes to the table, a big plate of fish, eggplant and dumplings are served. This is after the crab so it’s beginning to be a bit much now. We eat what we can (or what we want) and sit back to let the food settle. When we do this, they talk to the waitress and in a few moments she comes into the room with a big glass bowl with hot water and tea leaves. The locals tell us that we should wash our hands in the tea to get rid of the smell. Sounds dumb (snipe hunting anyone?) but we have to trust and go ahead and wash our hands in this bowl to clean up from the crab. This is one of those urban legends because my hands still smelled like the crab no matter what they said. AND it was about a 2 hour lunch to boot….quick lunch my butt! I should’ve known better (I’ve seen how they order a meal) but it was about the experience more than anything else. Now I can say that I’ve eaten hairy crab.

Would I have it again….I’m not sure. It wasn’t bad but I’m not much of a seafood eater as I indicated earlier and I really don’t like having to fight for my food scraps as part of the meal plan. However, I’m thankful that they invited me because this would not have been the same meal with a bunch of Westerners.

WARNING.....Long Post

This week’s Top 10 list has been expanded due to the change in routine that happened last week when I took the space to write about the passing of Shadow. It was helpful to write about it, I don’t know why but I felt much better after writing and posting it. This week I’ll go back to the standard stuff so I hope I don’t bore you. So we’ll be covering a lot of ground so grab a cup of coffee and get comfortable for the MEGA TOP 10 (10……10…..….10) and then some.

10. It’s finally happened, winter seems to have arrived. You think it’s a coincidence that it happened around the same time that President Obama was visiting Asia (don’t worry, his teleprompter was here waiting for him when he arrived)? The temps have dropped into the single digits here and with the wind chill; it’s pretty darned cold outside. The temperature drop seems to impact about everything we do since more people are riding taxis now than we accustomed to seeing. It takes at least double the normal time to get a cab than it did several weeks back. You really feel for those that have the e-bikes and ride them everywhere they go. It’s darned tough to be outside with the wind chill but riding a bike in this weather? Now that is tough. The shopkeepers are also hearty folk since many shops are fully exposed (they have a garage door type closure so they are either open or closed, no in between) and they sit and wait for people to come by to purchase things. It’s not an easy life I’m sure but they are working and trying to make an honest living. What’s really funny is that Beijing experienced a huge snowfall the other week and the government took responsibility for the extra snowfall since they “made it snow”. Somehow, they have figured out how to seed the clouds and make it rain and/or snow, etc. Interesting isn’t it? I mean, the government made it snow. I guess they don’t worry much about climate change (if you believe in that stuff) since the government can control the weather. Perhaps this is an idea that the President can take back to the States with him. Don’t like the weather….call your Senator and complain, they’ll change it for you. After all, isn’t that in the Constitution? (if you just asked yourself what’s the Constitution….you must be a liberal [to paraphrase Jeff Foxworthy]) The other thing about the cold weather is that for the Chinese here, they hate to be cold. They will wear layer upon layer of clothing to keep warm and if you would let them in the office, they would crank the temperature up to around 80 degrees (in US measure). Some of the businesses will not turn on the heat probably to save money, for example the barber shop. Her shop is connected to her apartment, we walked in and she came out to cut our hair in a hat and down vest, her kids were wearing winter jackets around the apartment so you know they didn’t have the heat on at all. It was pretty cold to get a haircut; I didn’t expect to have to wear my coat while waiting. The kids took off their jackets to get the haircut and put them right back on afterwards to keep warm. It’s very strange given what I’ve seen regarding how they like to keep warm all the time.

9. In City Mall, the Wal-Mart place. We went to see the In City Mall on Saturday. It’s a very nice, new mall that has 5 levels with all kinds of shops. One level is pretty much a food court with restaurants of all types, but there are places to eat on all levels including a Burger King and of course….Starbucks. Some of the stores are a little odd with some high end Western stuff but it’s a mall, what else can you say. No Spencer’s, JCPenney, Macys or Sears but it’s got enough to cover just about all of your needs. On the bottom floor is my “favorite” store….Wal-Mart. Nothing like the US version, kind of scaled back but still enough stuff to get by. I didn’t see the “babes in curlers” (and you know who you are) and other oddities like the stores in the US so there wasn’t really much to dislike about it with the exception of the meat section. I can’t describe in enough vivid detail what happens in the meat area but it’s like that’s where everyone gets to do the touchy feely stuff. There was one area with what appeared to be intestines (based on the look of the stuff, I think I’m darned close to right) with people reaching into the bin to grab some, take it out, pull on it (like it was a taffy pull or something…perhaps that’s how you can tell the good from the bad ones, I don’t know. If you know how to determine the “freshness” of an intestine, let me know.), break off a section and throw the rest back into the bin. It happens the same way with the ground “meat” area. There’s a scoop (much like one of the plastic scoops for candy or nuts from one of those candy shops in the mall) that people will grab, scoop up some meat and place it in a plastic bag (like the bags for veggies or fruits from the local supermarket) and head to the checkout counter. Everything is exposed; no sneeze guard, no hand sanitizer, no gloves, no masks, no nothing. It’s a smorgasbord of “EEEWWW” that makes you wonder how many people experience “Mao’s revenge” after they make a visit to the local supermarket. You don’t know where their hands were before they touched the meat (or other pieces/parts) and you don’t know where they will go after. Perhaps they need to buy a toy for little Billy so they head to the toy section and touch a few items…the cross contamination opportunities are nearly endless. This isn’t a Wal-Mart issue; it’s at many of the major markets (Auchan, Carrefour are the exact same in the meat section only more crowded). When the food/meat is out to be touched, they touch it and aren’t shy about going in up to their elbows to see if the fresher stuff is at the bottom. You walk past quickly and try not to look because it turns your stomach to watch. Interesting….like a bad car wreck but sickening at the same time. The smells just add to the overall ambiance of the area (Ode de Nasty).

8. We finally have a dryer (and the people rejoiced!). It took some negotiations but we got it done and have a decent size dryer. One thing to note is that it’s not as large as the US brands and there is no vent for the dryer (for the Home Depot challenged, that’s the hole in the wall that you attach to the big springing pipe from the back of your dryer. It’s the one that falls off all the time whenever you move the dryer.). It seems very strange but since they don’t typically own a dryer (after all, they hang their clothes outside to dry….very environmentally friendly), why would they put a hole in the wall to vent something. It takes some encouragement to get them to understand why you need to vent the dryer but even then, no holes. We just open the window to vent the moist air. Luckily, it’s not a US size or else it would really be a problem. We also do hang our clothes outside to dry but on those really damp days, nothing dries and the dryer comes in extremely handy.

7. The kids got their first report cards from school. I have to say that these IB schools get a lot of good pub for how they incorporate teaching for the International community. BUT, I’m not really all that thrilled about the grading structure, mainly because I don’t understand it. It all seems a little, how would you say it, um…touchy-feely for me. The kids don’t receive failing or passing grades, more like just grades on their progress. Nothing really punitive about it, it’s all the encouragement route. Well, spare the rod and spoil the child folks but it is the way it is. I’d rather see where the kids really are in school but I have to be understanding and caring (imagine that) about the grades. On the positive side, the teachers take the time to write a few sentences about your child’s progress in the given subject and a few comments about their social skills, effort, etc. This is something that I like about the program since I know this takes a lot of time to get that done. They could be cutting and pasting sentences from a list of pre-approved statements but it didn’t come across that way to me. From our experiences at SSIS, we are happy with the way things are being done at the school. The grade system, well….that’s my hang-up so I’ve got to get past it (I guess I’m supposed to be Ben Walton and not Al Bundy).

6. Ah, for those that read my post on the swimming pool at the Chateau, here’s where it comes around to bite me (karma folks). Jacob starts swimming at school this week. Sooo, in preparation for the class we had to go to Decathalon and buy him a swimming cap. Yes, that’s right…a friggin’ swimming cap. All of the fun I made of the people in the pool and now I have to include my own flesh and blood into the equation. Sure it’s mean but c’mon….a swimming cap. What the heck for? It took all I had to keep from laughing at him while he tested the “one size fits all rule” for these caps. I know the Olympic swimmers wear them and all of that. Well, when he beats Michael Phelps then I’ll start wearing a swimming cap (and matching speedos….doesn’t that paint a pretty picture). It just seems odd to me that’s all.

5. And on the subject of sports, how about ping pong equipment? Warren’s PE class will be headed into their ping pong portion of the program very soon and therefore we had to go out and get him a paddle. You can get just about everything for ping pong, the paddles range from less than 20 RMB to over 300 RMB. You can get special balls (stop snickering) for just a few RMB more. AND you can buy a paddle cover, much like a tennis racket cover so you can sling your ping pong paddle over your shoulder to carry it to your next match. It’s kind of funny but they take it very seriously here so I watch them test the paddles and try to determine if they know what they are doing or if they are just trying to look like they understand how the darned thing works. What makes the difference in the paddles, is it graphite versus wood, the rubber coverings, dimpled versus non-dimpled, etc? I have no idea and I’m pretty happy that I don’t know so I’ll remain ignorant and avoid those “my paddle is better than your paddle” types of discussions. When I was growing up, the paddle had a totally different meaning (it could also be called “the board of education”).

4. We had to grab two cabs on Friday night to get out for dinner. When we hopped in the first cab that stopped for us, I told him Lindun Lu and he gave the obligatory “HUH?” look, along with the “Hmmm???” I said it again and I could see that he understood where we wanted to go. He then opened his mouth and pointed into it and made an “ahh” noise. I just stared at him trying to understand what he was trying to convey to me (I’m not a doctor but I would recommend some Tic Tacs) but then Tammy chimed in from the back seat. “He wants to eat and doesn’t want to take us.” So I looked at him again and he gives me the same mime routine. We decided to hop out of the cab and he actually says “Thank you” and drives away. Keep in mind, it’s cold outside and there aren’t cabs coming by every 5 seconds (this was after 10 minutes waiting). I guess we could’ve just sat there and said drive but what good would that do, so we got out. The next driver that stopped (about 10 minutes later) nearly pulled the same stunt. When I told him where to go, he laughed and hit his fist into the palm of his other hand. It wasn’t threatening; he was just indicating that traffic would be a problem (or that was my interpretation). He took off and headed for the area. He was right; traffic became a nightmare as he neared the point where they are building the subway line. He laughs and shakes his head but he tries to keep going. At one point, he points to a side road to indicate there’s a back way. It’s more expensive but he asks if he can take that route. We say OK and off we go down smaller side roads, encountering much less traffic. When we come to an intersection, he asks which way to turn. We think and say “Walking Street”, he shakes his head and laughs again but he takes the turn. We made it in relatively little time and because he gave us the ride, I gave him a generous tip for taking us to our destination. Sure, it’s his job but he was the first cabbie to try the back roads and he kept going regardless of how stupid he thought we were. We were appreciative of his efforts and let him know with the tip. I don’t tip often here because it’s not expected but every once I’ll do it (wasn’t that the original intent of the tip anyhow, for exceeding expectations?). I know that on Friday and Saturday nights, the cabbies seem to avoid the Westerners since we’ll want to go to Bar Street or Walking Street and they will get caught in traffic (which impacts how many fares they can collect). Perhaps by tipping, he’ll give the next Westerners the benefit of the doubt and stop. It’s strange but they would prefer to run the short routes all day long rather than take the more expensive fares.

3. Interesting and sad tidbit from last Sunday. When Tammy and the kids came home from church, they told me that a Chinese man had jumped from the top of the building and killed himself. They had the police there routing the church goers out other doors in order not to see the results of the jump (the building is about 20 floors high if that helps “paint the picture”). Some of you more astute readers (that are used to the blog going on and on and on…) may have noted that Tammy and the kids came home from church. Where was I you ask? Well, I was volunteering at the suicide hotline…..I know, I know it’s not something to joke about but it’s a good line, I had to use it (I’m going with jerk store….jerk store). It’s the only time I’ve heard anything about a suicide here, it makes me wonder how they view someone that takes their own life. I don’t know how to brooch the subject so I may never be able to find that out but if the chance comes up, I’ll have to ask a local about how the Chinese view this tragic ending to a person’s life.

2. A substantial fog rolled in on Thursday and I mean substantial. When I got up, you could not see as far as the other buildings around us which are about 50 meters away. In fact, you could barely see 20 meters in any direction. It was crazy. Since I have to cross a couple of major streets to get to my pickup point, it was tricky to ensure I didn’t become a statistic. I could see from the edge of the street across the 4 lanes on my side of the road and figured I saw enough to know just about when I should feel the pain from the car running me over. Do they drive any different in really dense fog you ask? Nope, they drive even worse. They would drive right on through the traffic lights, like they didn’t see them at all. It wasn’t pleasant to be on the bus for the ride so I just listened to my mp3 player and tried not to look out of the window.

1. For many weeks now, I have been watching The Sopranos. We didn’t have HBO at home so I heard all the talk but never saw the show. Tammy and I purchased the entire series here and have been watching it on-and-off for about two months or so (we’ve purchased a lot of the complete series of shows, The X-Files, 24 seasons 1-7, etc.). My one observation here concerns the hullabaloo that occurred from the final episode of the series. Everybody seemed to be up in arms that the show just ended without any real resolution as far as what happens to the family. My question is did they ever watch any of these shows before??? Every episode ends in a very strange fashion, nothing is concluded, no “wrap it up” moment that ensures closure to all of the things that happened during the episode. This leads me to wonder why anyone would believe that the show would end with any kind of final word on everything.

2. Yes, I know, we’ve gone from 1 back to 2, I told you, this is the MEGA TOP 10 (10….10….10). Someone near us has a piano. This may sound strange but there is some comfort in hearing the piano being played. Growing up, we had a piano, my mother plays and my sisters had to take piano lessons. So I grew up listening to the piano being played (sometimes very badly) and now when I hear it, it brings some comfort of home. I believe the person provides lessons to children based on some of the music being played but at other times, someone with more skill is playing. It’s not loud enough to bother us, I can usually only hear it in the study. The first time, I thought I was hearing things since it was very faint. I guess it brings me back to my childhood (it all started when I was 5 years old, I remember that my brother put a frog down my pants…..), it sounds corny but it’s just one of those things.

3. Finally, do you know what an abacas is? Well, look it up if you don’t’ but believe it or not, it’s still being used here. There’s an office supply place in one of the neighborhood centers near us. When I went there to buy a few items, the lady actually rang up my total using the abacas (and you think I have a hard time with Chinese, try looking at this and determining your total). She was a pro with it, and after calculating the tab, she typed in the amount on a calculator for me to see. I had never seen anyone ever use one of these things (it’s like a slide rule, I know of them but who uses them?) so it was interesting to see. Another one of those moments where you say to yourself “We aren’t in Kansas anymore Toto”.

Final note of the week

We had Thanksgiving dinner at SSIS with many, many other expats. SSIS is the kid’s school just to be sure we’re on the same page here, so yes, we ate Thanksgiving dinner at a school cafeteria. The school has held the dinner for the past couple of years and continued the tradition this year. It seemed to us to be a waste to try and fit in a turkey on Thursday since I had to work anyhow (no holiday here) so we decided to give it a try and see how it worked out. There were other options but we decided to go with the school since we knew the money they raised would go to a good cause (we hope). The meal consisted of the standards, stuffing (with chestnuts, a little different but not bad), rice (okay that is different but it had golden raisins in it so it wasn’t plain rice), potatoes, green beans, turkey, gravy and cranberry “gravy”. It was not cranberry sauce “ala Bart”; it was like cranberry gravy that you poured over the turkey. They even served beer and wine with the meal. Tammy and I dared Warren to get us two beers and walk by his teachers and pastor from our church, but he wasn’t going for it. Tammy brought along the camera and took many photos; some will even be published in the school newsletter. It wasn’t the same as being with the family, driving to SC, deep frying the turkey, etc. The only thing that was the same is that I wasn’t able to watch the football game while I ate (I know, what’s that all about). Here, I wasn’t able to watch the football game until early Friday morning. I got up about 5:45 and watched some of the Cowboys game online. They crushed the Raiders (as it should be, sorry Marybeth but they are terrible and are not going to get better anytime soon with the crypt keeper running the show) so it was a good day. Since Thanksgiving is the traditional time to reflect on those things we are thankful for (dare I say thankful to God….I dare say it!), we are thankful for the opportunity to come to China and learn about another culture. We have met many wonderful people here who have really helped us to adapt to life in China. We miss our families and friends back home (especially on Black Friday….Tammy would leave the house about 9 or 10pm and I would not see her again until mid-afternoon on Friday) and hope that you all had a great Thanksgiving. Keep checking in and see what’s happening on this side of the world.

More than just a dog

Today we got the news we knew would come eventually. Our former dog, Shadow passed away (I say former because we had to give her up in order to come to China, one of the sacrifices we made for this journey. We feel very fortunate that we found a home for her where she would be loved and treated like a member of the family and not just a dog.). We looked long and hard to find the right breed and we found the right combination with the Boxer. We visited several places until we found the right puppy and we did with Shadow. We picked her up and she traveled home with us in Tammy’s lap, she was sooo little. She came from a lineage of show dogs but she didn’t have quite the right smile to be able to show but we didn’t care, she was our dog. On the way home, we took her to Petsmart and she got to tour the store riding in the small compartment of the shopping cart. Sitting on her sheepskin blanket, riding around like a queen as everyone fawned over her, she was in her element already.

Up until that point, we had cats so it was different with the dog. She was like another child, watching to ensure she didn’t pee on the floor (or worse). Getting through the teething of the dog, those little puppy teeth are sharp. Watching her start as a small puppy with big feet, growing into those feet was difficult. When she was still small the kids would tease her but running around the house with her chasing them and they would jump on the couch. She wasn’t big enough to make that jump but she tried and was denied. She never really seemed to bark very often except when she was playing. Someone would come to the door and she would run through the house and hit the door with her front paws (BAM!) trying to get a look at who was there. It scared the beejeepers out of many people, especially since many mistook her for a pit due to her color (she was a brindle and not fawn which is the more common color associated with the breed).

It took some time but we got her trained and everything became much easier. She always was trying to lick your face, it never satisfied her to just be there; she wanted you to know she was there. We tried to break her of jumping up on people but it was just part of her personality. She wanted to see your face, if you sat down, she was going to put her paws in your lap and get her face to yours. Her tongue was always working. She quickly became a member of the family and we took her just about everywhere with us. We kept to the crate training so she rarely ever slept outside the crate unless a special circumstance arose. But she didn’t seem to mind. First thing in the morning, she would go outside and then come in the house and make a running beeline for the bedroom (all of them, she would work her way from one room to the next to see who was up). If the door wasn’t closed, she would leap on to the bed to let you know it was time to get up. If I didn’t get up, she would start to gnaw on me through the blankets, sometimes she would give up and then just lay down or if it was a cold day, she would try to get under the covers (even if it meant she pulled the covers off of you while she was trying to burrow down to where it was warm).

We tried to keep her off the furniture but when one of her buddies came over for a visit, she watched and figured, “If he can do it, I can do it” so from that point on it was tough to keep her off the furniture (after all, she was a person…wasn’t she?). When we would visit my parents, if you turned your back….she was on the loveseat (which was a huge no-no) or on the bed. She would always sit “next to” (more like on top of) Tammy in the morning. She never seemed to realize that she wasn’t a lap dog; she would just climb up and then push up against you as she just dropped into place. She had to be next to someone, she just was a people dog…she wasn’t satisfied with being at your feet; she had to be right up next to you. Even in my recliner, she would climb up and lay down despite the fact that it wasn’t really made for more than one person. She was coming up to lay down either way…if I didn’t like it, I could always leave and just give her the whole chair to lie down. If you got up, it was going to happen anyhow.

We tried not to feed her people food but every so often, she would get a treat. Sundays, when I would make a fried egg sandwich, she would sit in front of me and just stare, drool dripped down her jowls, liking her chops. She looked so pathetic that I would always just give her a small piece. I knew she could eat the whole thing and more but it wasn’t going to happen. We learned that you couldn’t turn you back here either. One night, we cooked burgers and dogs and I brought the dogs to the table, placing on dog in a bun at each place and then went back outside for the burgers. I returned and we got to the table when Jacob asked where his hotdog was. We didn’t have any visible evidence of the crime but there was a strong circumstantial case against the dog. She never confessed but we knew. One Easter, we came home from church to find little pieces of colored foil littered all over the house. It took a little bit of time but we finally realized that someone had eaten Jacob’s chocolate Easter bunny (about 12 ounces of chocolate). We knew that this wasn’t good for the dog but when we called the vet, we found out that it wasn’t a problem due to her size. Again, we didn’t have a witness to the crime but I don’t think the cats conspired against the dog (“Hey Lucky, let’s frame the dog and see if they’ll get rid of her.”, “Good thinking, I hate that dog!”).

She never really outgrew the puppy in her. She would fetch balls and chase the water coming from the water hose (she would try to bite the stream of water and then drink from the hose). Those ears would be flopping while she ran around doing whatever. She had a habit of running around the loveseat in the living room like she was a small dog but she wasn’t. You could hear the nails just tearing away at the carpet as she tried to take the corner at full speed. She wasn’t much of a guard dog, she wanted to meet everyone, unless it was around me. I would play around with the kids or Tammy and she didn’t like it one bit. She would bark and then would get a hold of my arm in her mouth and just knaw away. She was letting me know that she was playing but if she chose to, she could hurt me. Sometimes all she could do was just try and get me with her front teeth, it made a funny sound that I can’t write but it was still funny as she tried to work on my arm like a kid with corn on the cob. She tried to keep the rabbits and squirrels out of the yard but many times she was so eager to get outside (when we said “squirrel”) that she would end up running right past it while she headed to another spot. I don’t know what she would’ve done with the squirrel had she caught it anyhow. Once the squirrel was outside of the yard, she would bark and just hop up and down in the fence letting the squirrel know not to come back. She would do the same at my parent’s place when the squirrel would come to eat out of the bird feeder. She would race across the yard, jumping at the fence to get that darned squirrel out of the feeder.

We learned that there are two inherent issues with Boxers. One was flatulence…need I say more (pppffffttttt….it wasn’t me). The other was heart issues. She collapsed at soccer fields and we thought we had lost her on that day as she was limp and didn’t show any signs of life as we rushed her to the emergency vet clinic. It was then that I realized how much this dog meant to the family (and how much an emergency vet costs….pay before you leave please). She pulled through and we had to hook her to a monitor for a couple of days (she really looked ridiculous and hated that thing strapped to her back) while we waited on test results. It turned out that this was common to the breed and in most cases; the first episode was the only episode. So she got put on heart medication and she went along just like nothing had happened.

The weekend I had to take her to PA and drop her off was a really tough day. Warren and I made the journey to try and make it easier on all of us. We knew she was going to a great home but it didn’t make it any easier. As she loaded up in Melanie’s van and sat down, she just looked at me as I said goodbye and closed the door. Perhaps she knew, or maybe I just wanted her to know that it was for the best for her, we would never have given her up under normal circumstances but this wasn’t normal. Taking a dog on a journey halfway around the world, living in a small apartment in the city just didn’t seem right. Instead she headed to PA (her own little journey) to live on a farm with a large family that was eager to have her. We would get updates and photos of Shadow fitting in to her new location just fine, we knew she was being spoiled even more now than she was when we had her. We knew that one day we would receive the news of her passing but it doesn’t make it any easier despite the fact that we haven’t seen her in months, we still talked about her often, and laughing about the “stupid dog”. We feel very badly that she didn’t have more time with her new family and know that this is just as hard on them as it is on us (if not harder). She had an episode while out playing with the kids and didn’t pull through this time. Although we don’t see her, we still will miss her (before there was some comfort knowing she was still around and doing well). She was a great dog, we were lucky to have shared our lives with her and we know that we will never find another one quite like her. You can say that she was "just a dog" but she was much, much more than that to us.

Here are this week’s top 10 observations from Suzhou.

10. If you read last week’s Top 10 list, you’ll remember that we happened to purchase an e-bike. Well, it’s takes some time to get used to riding these things. They aren’t like a standard bicycle, they are much heavier, wider and more awkward than just riding a bike. The battery for the bike weighs a good amount, somewhere around 30 pounds or so. Tammy took it out for a ride during the week without too much of an issue. BUT this weekend, as she was riding around the apartment complex with Jacob on the back they had a small “incident” with the bike. They decided to have the bike detailed by using on of the small, shallow ponds within the complex. They made it through pretty much unscathed, just a small cut and a bruised ego. Obviously, it takes time to learn to ride this thing and it will take more time (and that’s just to drain the water from the handlebars).

9. Alton Brown always talked about getting to know your butcher. Well, we know our butcher, even though we can’t really understand what he says or visa versa. The Korean butcher we use to obtain our beef and snitzel (that’s right folks, he sells pork, pounded thin that already has a breading on it. We just heat up a small amount of peanut oil in a pan and cook it for 3 minutes per side, mmmm). Two funny things about this; one, in the US we never saw the butchers at Wal-Mart or Kroger or wherever. Second, Tammy wasn’t much for beef with the exception of a steak on the grill every once in awhile. Now, she’s getting beef all the time and it’s the main thing we eat. In the US, we ate more chicken but now it’s pork and beef and a limited amount of chicken.

8. Vegetables. I wasn’t much for veggies in the US, neither were the kids. Now, we cook stir fry probably twice a week that consists of green beans, carrots, peppers (both hot and bell peppers), zucchini, and bokchoy (I know it’s not spelled right Mr. Spelling Bee, you know what I mean and that’s what matters). The kids will eat up many of the veggies, not all but most. What they don’t eat, Tammy will eat. It’s probably not surprising that we are getting the vegetables fresh from the local market (same place where we get the beef) and that seems to be what makes all the difference. Tammy has a good relationship with the butcher, the veggie lady and the fruit lady. All within the same area and all are very nice. They will tell us when something is not good and point us towards something better. It’s cheapa-cheapa to boot, we can get enough meat and veggies for three meals for less than 200 RMB total. It’s crazy to imagine but it’s true. Many told us that you won’t cook because it’s so cheap to eat out but those people are wrong. It’s much cheaper to cook in and make it yourself. Not surprisingly, we’re eating healthier here than back in the US.

7. Jacob went to SingHealth this week to check out an ingrown toenail problem that continues to be a problem for him. The doctor is from Singapore and therefore speaks very good English. You don’t feel rushed as he sits in his office with you to discuss your reason for being there and ask other questions. It’s different from the US where the notepad seems to be out right away as they prepare the prescriptions while you speak. Here, he isn’t in a hurry as he doesn’t have to fill a quota of patients in order to be able to pay his malpractice insurance premiums. I find it extremely disappointing that now in the US we are headed towards the government taking over the health industry. I wonder if people look towards Medicare and Social Security (both are hemorrhaging cash with costs exceeding projections by tenfold) and thinking “WOW! Those programs are so successful; I can’t wait until they fix the health industry”. I can only hope that people come to their senses, but it seems that envy has become the new mantra and success is the enemy. Ooops!! Sorry, almost got off on a rant, back to the subject at hand. Jacob has a return visit on Monday to see what is needed next, perhaps they will go in and cut the nail or we can continue on the current course of soaking the toe 3 times and day, followed by applying an antibiotic ointment.

6. We played touch Rugby again this weekend. I’m really out of shape but it’s a lot of fun. There’s a German couple with their kids that also play. Unfortunately, she doesn’t consider certain words to be swearing and has no problem shouting out those words when a mistake is made. The word rhymes with bit and is slang for feces. I’m not sure how the kids react to this but I’ve decided to let it slide in the interest of not making a big deal out of it. I know the kids have heard the word before (not from me of course! Tammy has the potty mouth in the family…) so making a big deal might make it more fun for them to try it out. Next week, we play people from other schools nearby so it’s time to show off our skills (and our oxygen masks) versus some competition.

5. The Korean’s are coming! The Korean’s are coming! Another fireworks extravaganza tonight that kept going for 15+ minutes. I’m not sure why but it was around bedtime. Jacob came out and said can’t we just close the windows, man. Why do they have to light fireworks all the time? Welcome to China young man, where have you been for the past 4 months.

4. One last note about the market. Today we went to the fruit lady and she offered us to try a Japanese apple. It is HUGE, probably the size of a large grapefruit. It costs 55 RMB…..55!!! That’s a ton of cash, Tammy told her it was very expensive in Chinese and they laughed. We went ahead and bought it anyway, another one of those experiences that we had to try. A Japanese apple, I didn’t know they had a special fruit. 55 RMB is over $8.00 US so it’s expensive no matter where you are from. Just so you know, it was very good but I’m not certain it was 55 RMB good. They have great fruit, mangos, pears, melons, etc. They always give you samples of the fruit to get you to buy more, which we do.

3. Okay, we kept the German washer. We found the English version of the instructions so we can use it AND they got it hooked up for us so we can wash clothes (our neighbors are very appreciative of this fact). Now, we need a dryer. The dryer they provided is about the size of a small cupboard. It can dry socks and underwear, but not at the same time. Put in a pair of jeans and you can expect that nothing else will fit AND it will take about one hour to dry. It doesn’t work on the same level as a dryer that we are used to so we’re trying to acclimate but when you do wash for 4, it’s much tougher. We are hanging wash out on the balcony to dry, just like the locals. We’ve asked for a larger dryer but the landlord doesn’t appear that she will budge on this request. She seems like a nice lady but it’s tough to really tell since we can’t understand what she says.

2. Now that we’ve moved, I’ve had to adjust to a new arrangement to get back-n-forth to work. Now, I ride the shuttle bus with the locals, rather than take the Chateau shuttle bus with just the expats and vendors. It’s kind of intimidating to get on the bus and not understand what is being said all around you with the exception of a few words here and there. I know I was the new toy the first day when at the end of the day someone had to sit in the seat next to me for the ride home. Although I wasn’t sure exactly what they were saying, I knew from the way things were happening around me that Patti was being given grief for sitting next to the foreigner. I really don’t mind, it’s no different than anything else. Everyone has to get used to me and I have to get used to them. It’s tougher when there is a language issue on top of just the interpersonal stuff, especially for me (you know, being a little bit introverted). It’s been one week, eventually it will be normal. I really want to put in my earbuds and listen to the MP3 player but I don’t want to seem like I’m aloof. It’s bad enough that I speak very little but adding that in might be rude. I try and focus on what is going on around me and just enjoy the ride.

1. One note about work since I rarely post about work. It’s not that I can’t, I just don’t. In two weeks we’ll be holding our Open House here in Suzhou. It will be the first time the Press division has been put on display for customers from all over Asia. It should be very interesting to hear directly from our customers and show off some of the new equipment that we have in this facility. Unfortunately, it comes at the time when the kids have a long weekend from school. It would’ve been nice to get out of Suzhou with the family for a few days but this comes as no surprise to us. We’ll have our chances to get away and see as much of China as we can while we are here.

Final note of the week

I know that in the US, the time has changed. Here in China, no change to the time so we’re now 13 hours different from the US. It makes it a little more complicated to remember what time it is but it’s not a huge deal. It gets dark here right around 5:00, the sun sets while I am on the way home on the bus. It seems really strange but it’s the way it is. Also, I have to point out that China is all on the same time zone, there is no separate time zone for Eastern and Western China. That makes it easy to remember what time it is anywhere you want to go in China.

Before I forget, Sunday night football, Cowboys at Eagles. GO COWBOYS!!! I'll be at work while this game is being played, so I'll be checking in every once in awhile to see the score and hope that the 'Boys can make it 4 in a row.

Horizon

We will continue on our journey with this week’s top 10 observations from Suzhou.

10. We’re moved into our new digs at Horizon. It’s a decent apartment with enough space for everyone to have a little breathing room. I write this to you from the study, Tammy is at the other end of the apartment surfing the net. She just walked down the hall to tell me to turn on my Skype so she can talk to me without walking down the hall. She must think I’m easy or something, I don’t just chat with anyone on Skype (LOL!).

9. From a US perspective (or perhaps it was just my perspective…too many Kung Fu marathons on Saturday afternoons as a kid), I always thought that the Chinese were a very methodical, patient people. I think that’s an urban legend, especially when they are on the road. If the light turns green, they honk within a nanosecond and then will provide the obligatory honk-honk if the car doesn’t move. Then, if the car still doesn’t move, it’s the 5 second blast to wake them up. Back in the ATL, this is known as road rage, here….it’s just driving. If they pulled some of the stunts on the road that they pull here, it would not be pretty.

8. They didn’t really clean the apartment as well as they should have before we arrived. Warren was putting his stuff away in his room when he found a surprise in his end table drawer. A pack of smokes and some “booty lube”. I’ll let you insert your own comments here. If you don’t know what booty lube is, ask a friend or relative but not in a public place or across the room, it might lead to some snickers and staring. Please don’t walk into the local CVS with a small child and ask the store clerk where to find these items, unless you want to be questioned by the local authorities (don’t say I didn’t warn you).

7. Halloween comes and goes in China. There were some Western kids out doing the standard trick or treat but only in certain places. It was odd to see that but it brought back the memories of trunk-n-treat at CBC. The last several years the soccer league put out a trunk and we sat out for hours getting ready for the kids, eating burgers & dogs and then chowing down on the good candies as the kids came by. When the night was getting late, it was the candy fight in the parking lot. It was a lot of fun, although last year we were stuck next to the “High School Musical” themed area, so we got to watch the same dance routine and hear the same song played over and over. Since it was a church function, it didn’t seem right to “accidentally” cut their power cord but it would’ve saved a lot of agony. Of course, plugging my ears with Laffy Taffy was another viable alternative. I still hear that stupid song now, I can’t believe just by mentioning it I can’t get the song out of my head (oh the humanity!).

6. Speaking of Halloween, we were walking back to the apartment on the 31st when we actually saw a black cat sitting on the fence (or more appropriately, it was watching us). Jacob pointed it out, I’m not certain how he saw the cat but he definitely saw it. Granted, it was on Halloween so it was strange but even more odd is that we’ve not seen a black cat in China since we’ve arrived. Most of the cats are white or orange & white so it was really strange to see this black cat. We had a black cat for many years, Homey (de cat….ala Homey de Clown from In Living Color). Homey was a great cat, she would actually fetch and get up on her back legs and beg (or look out the window, over the top of boxes, etc). It was strange to see a cat do that but Homey wasn’t an average cat. She’s been gone awhile now but you never really forget a pet (especially here….of course I remember Homey, we ate her in a stir fry with the peppers & oil).

5. EVERYTHING here runs on batteries. Our water was cutting out for just a few seconds every 10 minutes or so. You know, you’d be taking a shower and all of a sudden…{bam}..no water. A couple seconds later, it would turn right back on. We thought perhaps a toilet flushing or something but it wasn’t. Turns out the batteries needed to be replaced. Batteries!?!? For the water? Yep, the water meter batteries were running low and so it would cut out on us. We’ve experienced this for just about everything, the lock for the door, the safe, my brain, everything. The water & gas meters also run on cards, so when you get down to a low level of remaining “stuff” you contact the company and they come out to “recharge” the card. Strange but the system seems to work for them. I guess it’s also easier to shut off the water or gas to a delinquent account if they don’t pay, eventually they run out on their own so you don’t have to fight it out to get it shut off.

4. This is one of those “be careful what you wish for” things. Back in the States, I was out of the house early and on my way to work before the kids left for school. I would eat my breakfast (you guessed it, a Pop Tart…the breakfast of champions) at my desk while sitting and drinking my coffee while I reviewed my e-mails and got ready for the day. It was always a bad start to the day when I was interrupted in my morning ritual. Now, I’ve been able to eat breakfast with the kids and drop them off at the bus stop. This may sound great but it has some drawbacks. Now I get to hear the kids go at each other from the first moment they get up until they get on the bus. “You take too much time in the bathroom”, “Hurry up, I’m done eating and want to go back to the room”, “You’re wearing my socks”….and on and on it goes. I know, they are kids and this is what they do. It’s not that huge a deal but some days…..ARGH!!!! (The battle cry of all parents)

3. Another quick note about the apartment, we asked for a larger washer since we have 4 people living here and the kids go through clothes rapidly. So, we move in and the washer isn’t hooked up, the plug doesn’t fit the outlet (and it isn’t even close). So we look at the washer and I’ll be darned if it isn’t in German. German! We’ve gone back to the landlord and indicated this isn’t going to work. First, the plug-in is for European plugs and not for a Chinese plug. Second, the water hookup is all wrong for the water inlet valve. Third (and you’re out!), it’s in German. In Chinese, we can get by with it since we can have people translate it for us to learn which cycle is which. In German, the landlady can’t read it and we can’t read it so there’s no one to figure out how the darned thing works. I know she’s going to have a fit since the washer is brand new but it doesn’t work. I’m sure she went the “cheapa cheapa” route on it and now it’ll come back to haunt her. We may decide to keep it if we can read it but it doesn’t look good right now. But just sit back and think about it, we’re in China and they get a washing machine from Germany (Farfignuten or whatever that phrase was, you know what I’m talking about). Now what does that say about their faith in their own stuff?

2. Ketchup must be worth a fortune in China. One of the four major food groups (is it still four? I think the food pyramid has been replaced but who knows….and really who cares. Did anyone really stick to that thing as for their diet plan?), at least for me. Anytime here when something comes with ketchup, they bring this tiny little bowl/plate with a dollop of ketchup. The bowl/plate is about 6-8 cm is width. I would put the amount of ketchup to perhaps one of those squeeze ketchups you get at the drive through. It’s just enough to know it’s ketchup but not enough to have some for all of your fries and burger. We’re always asking for more, especially for Jacob since he isn’t satisfied unless there’s enough ketchup to make his french fry look like a match stick with the big glob of ketchup on the end. That would be okay but he’s a triple dipper. One dip of ketchup for about 1/3 of the fry is his average. They need to see how Wendy’s operated; you fill your own little cups of ketchup, as much as you wanted. Now that’s the way it should be.

1. Look out Suzhou; the Dudley’s have an e-bike. Yes, that’s right, we purchased an e-bike from an Expat that is leaving to live in Shanghai. The bike is 3 months old and we got a really good deal. We took it for a test ride and it’s tough to get used to it but eventually we’ll be riding down the road just like the locals (oblivious to everything around us). We’ve got to be extra careful since we are Westerners there may be the temptation for the locals to try and get hit so they can get paid off. Kind of the ambulance chasers but in this case, e-bike chasers. See what the Westerner is willing to pay to you once he hits you (or your kid). We’ll try to stick to the non-crowded areas so there’s plenty of room to maneuver around. I think we’ll get a chance to perhaps see a little more of the city with it but we’ll have to get better on it first. Right now we look like kids with their first bike (pedal Jimmy, watch out for the bush….).

Final note of the week

The temperature has finally changed here in Suzhou. This morning it was into single digits, which is really odd since it has been in the mid-20s for quite some time. That was a good temperature, now…not so much. We’ve got the winter stuff so we’re prepared but it makes life a little different when you want to catch a cab and such. After all, it’s the big city and now we get to test ourselves and see what we’re made of when it’s too cold to go outside.

Final week at the Chateau

We will continue on our journey with this week’s top 10 observations from Suzhou.

10. We have completed our first 8 weeks of Chinese language lessons. Our teacher, Wu Yin, was EXTREMELY patient with us throughout the course. Many times we would “get distracted” during the class and head off in a tangent direction and he would wait as we blew off some steam and then pull us back on track. As an example; this week we were learning the lesson when somehow we came to a point where we spoke of Balloon Boy (you know, the family that has “allegedly” created the hoax about the boy in the homemade balloon. I don’t understand what’s going on with the culture in the US but it seems that everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame regardless of what they have to do to get it.). So Yin asked us “What is balloon boy?” and so we spent then next 5-10 minutes explaining the story. At times you forget that they don’t have the same life experiences so when certain classmates (they know who they are) break into the chorus for “Conjunction Junction, What’s your function….”; he sits back and takes it all in. I know there had to be times where he wondered if he had chosen the correct career path. Are we now fluent in Chinese……HECK NO!!!! We’ve got a long way to go but we’ve started on a path of learning and we’ll continue as long as we can. It’s a difficult thing to learn a language but nothing ventured, nothing gained right?

9. We are finding that we are doing things differently here than back in the US. As an example, we stopped by a Neighborhood Center (a shopping area, like a really small mall) to look around. It’s the one closest to the apartment we will be moving into next week. There is a Subway shop there and we stopped and ordered lunch for the kids. While we were there, we wanted to check out a small grocery store in the center. What did we do? We left the kids at the Subway shop and walked the 50 feet to the store and walked around for 10-15 minutes not even thinking about the kids. It’s something we would NEVER do back in the US but here, it doesn’t seem to be an issue to us. Why? I guess we don’t have the fear of crime or anything shady happening here. Perhaps it’s the saturation of the news media in the Atlanta area where every day, murder, rapes, gang violence, etc. Here, there may be the same things happening but since we can’t understand the news, we don’t feel the fear. I’ve not been anywhere in Suzhou that I felt threatened, perhaps it’s one of those things that my eyes aren’t fully open but I just don’t feel it.

8. Jacob had his 11th birthday this week and his trip to Anjie (same place as Warren but not the same activities). He had a really good trip since he basically went to a small amusement park and got to spend 2 nights in a hotel. We’ll try to have him blog his trip but he’s still in recovery mode (returned home on Friday). I’m not certain he slept well while he was away from home so we’ll give him time so we don’t get the “I went to Anjie. I had a good time. I ate fried rice. The end.” We’ll have to pry the information out either way and perhaps add a few “creative edits” to the story but we’ll try and get his blog done sometime this week.

7. Jacob also traveled to Shanghai on Friday last week to play pickup soccer games against other international schools in the region. Tammy went along and took many photos of the experience. We have been used to being a part of a youth soccer league and this brought home that although at times it was very difficult, it was a rewarding thing. We miss our “peeps” that shared this experience with us and have now continued on without us. We made strong bonds with others that served as directors for the league and with many, many of the coaches through the years. It was difficult to leave that, it was a part of who we were and the league was like an extension of our family. You missed them when the season was over and sometimes during the season, you couldn’t wait for the season to be over (just kidding….maybe). We were just regular parents for some of the year but when soccer season started, we turned into soccer parents, spending much of our time at the soccer fields. Saturdays were pretty much soccer from 7:00 am until field cleanup after the final game. We found a home there and appreciate the hard work and effort that goes into running a youth program. You can’t really understand all that goes on behind the scenes until you’ve done it. Once I got involved, I gained a new respect for those who volunteer to be a part of these programs.

6. We are extremely pleased at how well the kids have adapted to the new location. They have done far better than we could’ve imagined. It may sound really odd but up until this past week, Jacob had never spent the night away from us where he wasn’t with relatives, never. Warren wasn’t too far away from that either, he had just done the sleep over stuff just a few months before we left the US. Now they are going to a new place to spend several nights away without a hitch. Jacob was even upset that his mom was a chaperone for the Shanghai soccer trip. He told her he didn’t want her to go (nothing like being needed huh?) but she was asked to go and she went despite his objections. I was really surprised he would say he didn’t want her to go but in a way, I am very happy to see it from him.
5. A quick note on sports. We have watched more soccer in the past 6 months that I ever have in our lives (it’s fun to watch but we have no idea who these teams are, it’s always a different league so we’re lost and just sit back and root for “that team”). We were able to watch some baseball and we even get to see it live with American commentators BUT there’s a catch. During the regular season, it was always those damned Yankees. Growing up in New England, you had a couple of rules (of course there are always exceptions). First, you would root for the Red Sox but you never got too excited over how they were doing. If you know anything about the New England people, you understand that they are generally pessimists (at least when it comes to the Red Sox, since the Patriots are now a top team, they don’t count. Believe me, when they have that down year, it’ll be back to the same feelings about them as it used to be.). You didn’t want to get overly excited since you knew that every year; after the All Star break the Sox would suck (Seriously, check the books. They would be a solid team for ½ of the season and then the wheels would come off). True the Red Sox in recent years have won the World Series (twice) and broke the “curse” but it doesn’t change the way the Sox are watched. It’s engrained into the psyche. Second, you HATE the Yankees (Bucky Freakin’ Dent)! You rooted for the Sox and anybody who was playing the Yankees on that given day. Now it’s the playoffs and since the games are shown in primetime in the US, we can watch them live here. We’re rooting for the Angels (and if they don’t win, then we’re rooting for the Phillies).

4. Have you watched this program on National Geographic channel called Meet the Natives? I don’t know what the program is rated but it seems to me to be a little too much. Tonight’s program is basically the first program setting the premise for the show. Too Much Information going on here, not just on the clothing optional tribe wear but showing (very graphically) the artificial insemination of pigs (anyone else hungry for some bacon?), the snapping of a live rabbit’s neck (ask him about a rabbit’s foot being good luck). It’s a little too much, interesting concept but stick to the purpose of the show (natives going to England to learn some of the culture) and leave some of the other things on the editing room floor. The tribe leader on the trip indicated that the insemination should be done in private….who says we’re all that different anyhow?

3. Mike Rowe…..we miss Mike Rowe. We saw him the other week on a replay of a Larry King Live (with Howie Mandel replacing Larry) and realized that we really miss watching the Discovery Channel. Dirty Jobs was one of the kids favorite shows that we could all watch. Mike also was the voice behind The Deadliest Catch show, another one of the good shows on the Discovery Channel. We had DC for a short time but then it was taken off from our cable for whatever reason. The show was educational and very funny and it’s too bad we can’t watch it anymore. Our English channels are CCTV 9 (Chinese News channel), CNN International (CNN with even more blatant agenda), BBCA (CNN International but with bad teeth), NatGeo, HBO (edited) and Cinemax (edited). We also get ESPN but it’s not ESPN like in the US. It’s a sports channel and that’s about the only connection to ESPN. It will sometimes show college football but it’s always a Big 12 game. I don’t understand the connection, Big 12….China?

2. The kids started Touch Rugby on Saturday morning. It’s part of the SSIS Saturday Sports program. We wanted to get the kids involved and active so we signed them up. Since there were few kids at the event, I also got involved. It’s a sport we never play in the US and the teacher running the games is from New Zealand so at least he understands the sport. Since there is no tackling, it’s not as rough but you have to be constantly moving, no breaks can be taken or the other team can grab the advantage while you are hunched over trying not to die (or is that just me?).

1. Customer service takes on a new meaning when searching for rather mundane items like a mop or bedding. Sunday, Tammy and I went to Carrefour (the kids stayed home by themselves, yet another example of #9) to get a few items in preparation for our move. (I must make a note now that this area of the blog will be written under some duress. Tammy has decided that she must “review” before this can be posted to ensure it doesn’t embellish certain facts.) She wanted a mop, not anything spectacular a mop. In this area of the store was a man who was there to “assist” in our selection process. Let’s just call him the Chinese Billy Mays (or if you prefer Birry Mays. I know, I know it’s not PC but c’mon live a little, everybody has quirks and people make fun of them. It’s not mean spirited, it’s an observation [much like the observation that I’m skinny and am losing my hair, who makes more fun of me than me?]. I mean we actually found a collection of movies from action movie “star” Steren Segal….it’s not me, this is the actual spelling on the label so you tell me who is being insensitive?). So Billy starts picking up the various mops and talking in Chinese about them and demonstrating them. I actually stood at a distance and watched (plus I couldn’t make it through the crowd with the shopping cart) this interaction. Tammy was totally disinterested with his presentation and was more interested in looking at the product names so she could determine if she knew the company. He continued to show the items and indicate the “quality” aspects of the products. It seemed to me that he was pushing a specific type of mop over the others but perhaps I was mistaken. So she continues to look at the other mops while he is indicating the one to choose. (Look lady, this is the best mop. I’m being paid to sell this one so if you would just do me a favor and buy it I can tell my boss that I met my quota and I can get my promotion from “mop guy”. I can move on to brooms, now that’s when the big bucks start rolling in.) I work my way over to her and chuckle as the guy shows us how to change the mop head, flip the mop head, etc. It was sooo strange, it’s a mop, leave me alone will ya. Tammy just keeps looking, every once in awhile looking at the guy and nodding. After about 5 minutes (and one of her patented eye rolls), he gets frustrated and finally walks away. Ah, some peace and quiet to finally pick a mop. As we make our final selection, along comes a Carrefour employee (she was wearing the blue vest) to “assist” us. HOLY CRAP PEOPLE…..IT’S A MOP!!!! We’re not buying a car, we’re buying a mop. They weren’t going to leave us alone to choose. This lady decided to take a different tact with us, she spoke Chinese and demonstrated the features (oh wait, this is the same method as Billy was using, this must be the “Annoy the Westerners into buying” technique). We finally gave up and took the one that she recommended (or at least the one she pointed at the most. For all we know, she was saying “Don’t buy this one, its crap.”). We moved on and a few moments later were looking at bathroom cleaners, trying to figure out which product was best (it’s all in Chinese so you look at the pictures and then give it the thoughtful stare at the words with a very thoughtful expression on your face, all the while thinking to yourself “I wish I knew what this says”.). Mr. Muscle seemed best (although he looked nothing like Mr. Clean, I think Mr. Clean could kick his butt in a fair fight) but what do we know. All of a sudden, along comes a Carrefour employee to point at another brand to indicate that’s better (or perhaps she said “Don’t buy this one, the fumes are toxic”). So we forego Mr. Muscle and go with the recommended brand. Then it’s on to bedding. 3 ladies in this area to assist (darn it!), when we stop to look, they pick up a sheet “kit” to indicate what is best. (or they could be saying “These sheets are made from dried camel dung.”) We give them the polite smile and wave them off. Tammy says “No”, they repeat “No” and laugh as we continue to look. Here we don’t buy because the sheet sets don’t match the size measured for the bed (strange, they sell 200 x 180 matress pads but they don’t have the same size for sheets, the sheets are 200 x 230.) Then the locals step in to “assist”. As Tammy is looking and touching the pillows, a lady comes over to touch the pillow and indicate it’s good (or she was telling her not to squeeze the Charmin, I don’t know). We’ve had enough “help” for one day so we move on to the food section (which always makes my day, the sheer chaos that ensues in this area makes a mosh pit at a heavy metal concert seem like a tame get together of friends for tea and crumpets). We get our stuff and head for the checkout. We discussed our experience with the “help” while waiting to check out, it was so strange. I can see it for major purchases but it seemed that no matter where we were, someone was there to point us towards something else. I appreciate the help but sometimes I just want to be left alone, especially for simple things.

Final note of the week

This is our final week at the Chateau Regency. We’re moving to Horizon apartments, about 4 km North of our current location. When I arrived in March, the Chateau seemed like a good place to be because there are people there to assist you in getting cabs, getting train tickets, and basically getting assimilated into life in China. I was also by myself so my personal needs are different. Several months back, the Chateau came under a new ownership and things here began to erode. It started with some small things but over time, it became obvious that the new ownership was more interested in the bottom line than the people that live here. The Chateau is perhaps 6 years old but you would swear that it is much older by the condition of the buildings. Recently, there has been a dramatic overhaul to the staff, most (there are still some that do what they can but you know their hands are tied when it comes to many things) of the people that cared and were helpful have left the Chateau which really changes the atmosphere of the place. I won’t get into all of the problems encountered by us (not everyone has had the same issues) but we have experienced more problems with our apartment in less than 3 months than most experience in 3 years so it was definitely time for us to move on and find something “new”. This should be better for the kids since there are more kids at Horizon and hopefully it will be better for us. We won’t know until we run into the first problem with the apartment, when that time comes we’ll really know if we have made the right decision.

Top 10 List

I don’t know if you’ve tried it but it’s tough to blog every day. Sometimes things you see strike you and you have the instant “I’ve got to blog this” moment. Then later in the day, when you are in front of the computer, you get the “what do I write about” moment. It also takes discipline to blog and of course, most of all be sure it is interesting. No one wants to read about toenail clipping and stuff like that….if you do please seek immediate psychological counseling. It usually doesn’t take a lot of time but I’m kind of anal (yeah right, and Chairman Mao was “kind of” Chinese) about the posts so I like to write it, walk away and then review and edit the blog before it gets posted. Sometimes it flows easily and other times, it takes “some” work to get it the way I want it. Anyhow, we’re going to attempt something a little different in an effort to blog more frequently and stuff. I’ll credit Peter King for this idea; he does a Monday Morning Quarterback column for Sports Illustrated. He breaks things down into several categories including one called, The 10 things I think this week. I’ll grab that heading (hopefully I don’t get sued for copyright infringement…..coming from China, that’s actually a pretty funny line isn’t it) and start this week with the Top 10 observations from this week (be sure to say that out loud into a hollow tube, trashcan or something like that to give it the proper effect)….Scott’s Top 10 (Ten…Ten…..Ten).

10. The Chinese really understand more than you think. Even though they may seem to not understand/speak English, they know enough. So be careful what you say because you never know if it might come back to haunt you. I guess it falls back to what your mom would tell you, if you haven’t got anything good to say, don’t say anything. You have to remember that everyone speaks English (it’s taught to kids all over the world). It’s actually a pain in the butt because when you want to talk without people understanding, you can’t. They will break into Chinese in front of you and you’ll never know what they say, it’s definitely an advantage for them. All the more reason to learn to speak the language.

9. NEVER pay what the shop owner wants you to pay. No matter what they say, they will never sell you anything below their cost. They can claim that you are wrong, crazy, etc. but if they want the sale bad enough, they will change their price. Also be sure that you try and talk to the same shop people. We purchased a jacket at a shop the previous weekend for 145 RMB; the shop person we spoke to this weekend at the same exact shop indicated the price was impossible. But she caved in to our price. We knew what we would pay and although she was trying to get us to buy at her price, we would walk away without the item.

8. Always double check the day AND time on invitations. We spent 45 minutes on Saturday morning waiting for Jacob to be picked up for a birthday party. After all of the consternation for the 45 minutes and being unable to obtain directions to the party, we gave up. We received a call Sunday morning indicating the party was on Sunday (D’OH!!!!!). We never read the date, just the time and location of where he would be picked up to go to the party. Lesson learned.

7. Never give a final count/price for anything here. It seems that if you indicate that you are willing to pay up to xxx RMB (or your limit to spend is xxx RMB), that’s where they will start the bidding. Same holds true for other things, we’ll need approximately ___ of those bags. Next thing you know; if you need less you can’t get less (without paying a LOT more money). It’s like your estimate becomes written in stone after the first time it’s mentioned to a supplier. It’s an ESTIMATE (he says in vain)! I understand it but they don’t.

6. If you really don’t want to buy and they won’t leave you alone, be sure to indicate your final price is about 15% of their asking price. They will break off negotiations at that point and you’re free to move on. The shop owner wasn’t happy but he was trying to sell us an old knockoff at a very high price. He gave us a ridiculous price for something that we didn’t want and we returned the favor (after he kept insisting we tell him our price). Once he saw what we had written down he indicated we could leave. That’s what we wanted anyhow so although he probably thought we were jerks, we were really just looking.

5. Never underestimate the power of a 13 year olds appetite. See Tammy’s post from yesterday. How long this will last is anyone’s guess but I’m going to need a second job to pay for him to eat.

4. Fireworks, although fun, can become very annoying after hearing them day after day. Every weekend and probably at least one time during the week, you’ll hear fireworks going off. At first, it was kind of exciting…”I wonder what’s happening?” Now its like, “Fireworks AGAIN!!!! What for this time? Did someone buy a can of Sprite?” It can start from basically sunrise until well after sunset. I don’t know what the rules are for fireworks (where you can set them off, when it’s allowed, where it’s not allowed, etc.) but it seems the rules are similar to the driving rules here….mere suggestions.

3. Apartment hunting is a pain in the butt no matter where you are. We’re in the final stages of getting to another location but it’s a lot of work. You see so many apartments that cover all ranges (price, furniture, cleanliness, etc.). You never find one that has everything you want so you have to find one that covers 90% of what you need and then try and work out the arrangements. Since you can negotiate a lot more here, it might seem better but it’s not. You’d rather that there be everything you need on hand so you can just move and get it over with.

2. If you can park there….it’s a parking spot. It seems to be the rule here. I’ve watched people park just about everywhere here that you would never think to park in the US. They don’t give it a second thought, even if they are in a “No Parking” zone (I use the “ “ because as with many of the rules of the road here…it’s merely a suggestion). The chance of the police catching you seems very small, although I watched a cop ticket several cars outside the local Starbucks today. Needless to say, the drivers of those cars were surprised and upset when they found the tickets on their windshield.

1. Starbucks and Cold Stone Creamery are just as expensive here as they are in the US. It seems ridiculous but if you want to have that no fat, vanilla latte with 3 Splendas, extra whip and a shake of almond dust rather than a cup of coffee, bring your gold bars (no different here than at home). Not everything is cheaper in China.

Aggravation of the week

I will say right up front that the Chinese people are in large part very nice, polite people. BUT (you knew this was coming didn’t you) somehow, they turn into a group of maniacs when they get behind the wheel or when they see a buffet line. This morning when the boys and I went down for breakfast, we walked into the feeding frenzy. It was a mass of hungry humanity in this rather confined area. We picked up our plates to get in line to go through and pick out some things to eat. Big mistake!! Ladies were pushing and shoving to get through and see what’s under the hood of the next warmer. They’d grab anything with their chopsticks (fingers, tongs) and just push on to the next spot regardless of what (or who) was in their way. We happened to see a glimpse of french toast on the horizon but within moments amongst the flurry of tongs, chopsticks and fingers, it was all gone (d’oh!). The chef came out to replenish it but before he could even get them out of the dish to put into the tray, those were also gone (it was like magic but without the wonder as to where it went). They was like creatures descending on to a carcass to pick the bones clean, and they picked ‘em clean (or if you don’t mind me being insensitive for a moment, it was like a Weight Watchers group getting a free pass to the desert bar. “Don’t worry ladies, anything you eat won’t count in next week’s weigh in.”). They were grabbing at everything, snatching bacon, sausages, veggies, it didn’t seem to matter what it was; they were going to get it. To make matters worse, they would grab something and start to eat it before they moved from the tray of food. So, in front of the roasted chicken (yes, it’s a breakfast buffet and I know it sounds weird but it is what it is), they would grab some chicken, start to eat it and grab more if they liked it. They’d even reach around a person to grab the item and do a taste test on the spot. Did I mention that they seem to always eat with their mouths open? Oh yeah baby, nothing like that to get your appetite going. For such small people they make more noise while they eat than a Homer Simpson convention. Slurp, slurp, smack, smack, munch, munch. It overloads your senses when you experience it, it’s like a race against time to scarf down the food (perhaps they can’t taste it if they eat it fast?). Most times you can just ignore it (like the fireworks, it’s background noise) but when they are doing it in the buffet line, while pushing and shoving for the next thing on the plate…it’s too much. It didn’t matter that an 11 year old wanted a pancake; they were going to get them first and too bad for the Western kid. It irked me to experience this, usually they are very gracious to kids but for whatever reason this was different. I’ve not experienced things this bad before and I dread what may be waiting for me tomorrow morning. The one thing I know is that to survive this I’ve got to be more aggressive so that’ll be my tact in the morning (or maybe I go eat a Pop Tart in the apartment and save myself the “best part of waking up” rather than deal with Captain Crunch & Slurp).