Indian at the Cross

I know everyone is dying to know about our eating options in China, especially considering we need to find food for the kids. We were never much for eating out; it was always a challenge to find a someplace to eat with them. They were always kind of, how to put it gently….finicky when choosing a place to eat. It was more about the change of options than anything else. Even then, we never strayed far from fast food, a pizza joint or perhaps really reached out with (gasp) Olive Garden. I know, pretty sad isn’t it? It’s the way it was for us while we were in the US; it was easier to just eat at home rather than go out and deal with the anxiety and stress. “What do they have?” “Why do we have to go there?” “Do they have anything else?” “I don’t like Italian (or insert any other food type in this spot).” So it was probably more stressful for Tammy and I as we had to try and push the kids to try something outside of the chicken nuggets and/or mac–n-cheese genre. The kicker… Jacob will eat at Taco Bell but he won’t walk into a Mexican place….you figure that out. Just to be clear, the kids exposure to Chinese food prior to this trip was limited to Panda Express (I know, pretty extreme right….we’re quite the trend setters!) and Jacob wouldn’t eat there although the frozen Kung Pao chicken meal from Wal-Mart was acceptable.

So the move incorporates so many changes/challenges rolled into one with the language barrier, the lack of many basics we’re accustomed to and of course….the food. It’s not like you can run to the local supermarket and just pick up some chicken nuggets and french fries for dinner. First of all, there’s no oven in the apartment but that’s not the biggest challenge. Try and find chicken nuggets and french fries at the market (go ahead….I dare you). It isn’t there (and you’re going to have to trust me on this one), chicken nuggets aren’t a staple for the local kids. Chicken feet….no problem, which flavor would you like? Chicken nuggets…you mean chicken pieces (with bones), right over there in the “pieces/parts section”. Hmmm, I think I’ll keep looking thanks.

So anyhow, going out to eat has become a more common occurrence since making the move. We will usually try the food via Sherpa’s (a delivery service for over 100 local restaurants…guys on scooters, gotta love it) first and if we can find stuff they can eat, then it’s time to make plans to head to the local establishment. Friday night we headed to Indian at the Cross, an Indian restaurant (duh). After we dealt with the feeble attempts to divert us from our mission (and you can guess that Tammy and I have become more immune to these pleas to go somewhere else), we jumped in a cab and headed out. The cabbie gave us a very “fun” ride when traffic became nearly standstill and he had enough of waiting for traffic to move. He did his best action movie hero stunt and went up on the sidewalk with his horn sounding to keep those foolish pedestrians at bay. Some scooters actually would pass us on the sidewalk as were “weaving” through the crowds. One cyclist headed in our direction appeared to be a new hood ornament before veering out of the path of the taxi driver being “forced” to drive like a maniac to make the white devil family happy (or I’m sure that is the thoughts of those on the sidewalk staring at us as we narrowly avoided hitting them with the cab).

So we make it and would’ve kissed the ground after getting out the cab but I have a hard enough time not soaking my shoes in bleach after walking around. We walk in the door and get the look from the kid’s (it stinks in here….you know just the curry smell) but sit down and take a look at the menu to figure out our options. We order 3 kinds of Nan bread, Madras chicken curry, Chicken Tikka, Chicken Birani and the Vegetable Spring Roll. It was all excellent!!! They ate so much that we decided against walking around afterwards and we’d just go to the corner and grab a cab. The image below captures the moment. In the middle is the Chicken Tikka. From that spot at 2 o’clock is the Nan bread. 6 o’clock is the Chicken Biryani, 8 o’clock is the Madras Curry and then at 9 o’clock is the Spring Roll. The Chicken Tikka comes out from the kitchen on a sizzling platter like Fajitas and the rest comes out as they are ready. If you don’t think you like Indian food because it’s too spicy or whatever; I would urge you to check around and find a place to give it a try. I had never really eaten Indian before arriving in China and neither had Tammy so we all have had to try new things with this move.

So, since we’ve been here the kids have eaten more variety of cuisines than we ever had “back in the States”. Indian, Italian, Tex-Mex (yes, that’s right a Tex-Mex place that is frequented by all Westerners), and of course, Chinese. They have really surprised me by their ability to adapt to this move. They have been here for 8 weeks and it really has gone better than I expected. The next big thing is school. They start tomorrow morning (Monday) so keep checking in this week to “read all about it”.

Poke my eyes out.....PLEASE!

Today, for the first time, Jacob and Warren went swimming at the Chateau swimming pool. They dressed in their usual swimming trunks, you know the trunks that go down to just above the knees and off we went to see the pool in action. Tammy stayed in the room to continue reading (which turned out to be the smart move) while I decided to watch the kids while they went swimming. We had to sign in to use the pool and were given a key for a locker in the men’s locker room in case they needed to change. Since they came prepared, I kept the keys in my pocket and picked up a couple of towels to wipe dry after the swim. We walked in through the door into the pool area and I found a seat to watch the kids (no lifeguard on duty here).

So I began to look around at the other people in using the pool. BIG MISTAKE!!!! It seems that the local swimming attire must be tight and small, I don’t know if this is a government regulation but if it is, they were all following the rules. Bright green speedo over there, black speedo over there and good-gosh man…they’re all wearing freakin’ speedos!! The Chinese seem to have a similar build to mine (so their all pretty darned sexy men….just kidding) but they have no chest hair to be seen, no arm hair, no leg hair, and it’s not because they shave it off. So, I’m looking around at a group of men, mostly older, wearing speedos. I don’t wear speedos because I feel an obligation to everyone around me…they don’t need to see that. Here, no shame….none! One guy was wearing something from Frederick’s of Hangzhou because his speedos were shear and when wet……ugh, do you want me to draw you a picture!?! C’mon people, you’re in a very large country, be kind to your fellow citizens…put on some swim trunks, please. Real ones, ones that cover up and not reveal…let’s keep some mystery in this relationship.

Another odd thing, these guys wore swim caps, swim caps!!!! With the caps came the obligatory swim goggles. It looked like some kind of goofy, synchronized swim competition. I mean, if you are just swimming, why cover your hair? I don’t know if they felt like the next Michael Phelps or what but man it was just plain weird. They would swim one lap using their best technique (like some kind of twisted mating ritual in front of the women) and then just hang out for awhile and then, another swim to the other end of the pool. WOW!! This guy just missed the Olympic team (for speedo wearing wackos!), he’s just that good…look at that form! One older man, wearing a less revealing pair of like boxer swim trunks (about 3 sizes too small) added another piece to the swimming collection…..hand flippers. He wore these things that looked like sandals on his hands to give him the extra “burst” while he was casually swimming up and down the pool. He moved through the water like he was a fish (an old, out of shape fish that wore tight swim trunks, a swim cap, goggles and some flipper thingies on his hands). Just goofy, c’mon gramps swim without the handle sandals will ya!

Then there’s the kids (no not my kids, at least not this time). The kids all had on the same goofy attire as the parents. The girls wore tight hair caps just like the boys so they wouldn’t get their hair wet (really?). These poor kids, having to look at the adults…this is one time where too much chlorine in the pool might be useful (my eyes are burning!). One small child was placed in a full, blow-up life vest (with of course the swimming cap and goggles) that went from his knees to his neck. He was carried up and down the pool by his father or grandfather. No attempt to kick or swim, heck he was so far out of the water with that darned vest on that he barely got wet. Jacob was laughing so hard every time he was carried by us. Come on folks! Put him in the water for cryin’ out loud.

So many thoughts going through my head as I watched the surreal Olympics going on before my eyes. One older lady doing her best swim technique that perfectly imitated a seizure in the water, I didn’t know if she was trying to drown or what. Hey lady….it’s only 5 freakin’ feet deep, put your feet down. Hey, please don’t walk in front of me wearing that. Man!!! Is it really necessary to bend down and check the water….move on you speedo-wearing freak! Now to be fair, the women wore the standard bathing suits with nothing revealing (Thank God) but the men….good gravy!

Then as I’m watching, I think back to the morning visit to Auchan (I know, Auchan…ugh!). As I’m trying to find Tammy and the boys I walk by the mom holding her daughter in “the position” so the girl can pee on the floor. Sorry, it’s not a type-o, she was peeing on the floor, on purpose, and her mom was “helping”. I’ll post further on this later but I don’t want to digress from my pool story (yet). So, I look at the kids and wonder to myself “would they feel it’s okay to pee in the pool?” Well DUH! If they have no problem peeing in the middle of a grocery store, on the sidewalk, and pretty much anywhere else that the urge strikes, then why would the pool be any different. Perhaps that’s the reason for the goggles and swim cap but I still don’t understand the speedos. Some of the mysteries of China will have to remain unsolved.

Hello, Ni Hao

Tonight for dinner we went to Hot Chic. Yes, it sounds very high class, doesn't it. It's a hole in the wall diner that serves a variety of food, but we go there for the Chinese. It's located at Singa Plaza and we typically taxi there and walk back.

As we were waiting for our dinner to be brought to our table (in no particular order and not all at one time), the boys saw out the window the local older gentleman that we like to call "the Hello, Ni Hao guy" (to fully appreciate this, you must say "hello ni hao" with a deep and rattling smokers voice and you must shake the tin can to get the passerby's attention). And they of course said (out loud), "look, it's the Hello Ni Hao guy!" Those of you who are reading this in the SIP area know the guy that we are talking about. We had not seen him for a while, as we normally see him in the Singa Plaza area around Franco Papa (the bakery, a.k.a. Papa Roaches) to around Starbucks. When we would see him outside the bakery, we would give him a coin (1Yuan) and be on our merry way. This may not seem like an important siting, but since he is "older" and walks with "help" ~ although the boys have said that they see him "walking" without his walking stick ~ it was good (is that the right word) to see him. So if he is "handicapped" or if that is just part of his routine to get a yuan, one will never know.

On another note, we may be starting our "beginners" Chinese language lessons next week. The woman from the Boland school emailed us tonight and I will be finalizing our class plans this week. It will be good to get into a setting to learn in an organized way as opposed to flying by the seat of our pants and hoping that the locals know English. I now have a better appreciation of non-English speaking people in the US. I believe that those people do try to learn the language if just to get by, but as with learning any language, it can be a very daunting task. So I ask you, the next time you hear something that does not resemble English and it upsets you (or doesn't), think of us in China with 6 billion of our closest friends speaking Mandarin and the four of us not being able to find our way out of a paper bag!

Catching up

It’s been awhile since our last posting so this may meander a little bit as we try to catch you up with things happening here in China. It’s become more difficult with “big brother” blocking more and more sites from access so we’re trying to find ways to keep things updated but it is becoming more of a problem. It’s not like we’re doing anything subversive but around here one person spoils it for everyone. I’m surprised that even our web album page is also blocked but we’re to abide by the local rules and so we’re stopped from posting photos and stuff. Just one of the sacrifices we have had to make for this relocation. On my soapbox for just one moment, consider the tradeoff of security versus freedom. When people far away have “your best interests” (and they don’t even know you) in mind, this should scare you just a little. Giving up personal choices and personal responsibility should never be taken lightly.

The kids are doing well with the transition, or at least much better than I expected. It’s tough for them right now since school doesn’t start for another couple of weeks and they are surrounded by adults. They haven’t killed each other (yet) but you can see that they are getting tired of one another. They are now registered for the Fall semester and are ready to get started. Warren has to take several tests to determine where his skill levels fall for English, Math and Chinese. Obviously the Chinese section will result in a low score since his exposure is limited but that’s okay (I think he’ll get his name written on the page and that’s about it), we expect him to be in the beginner class. Math and English….now we can see where the GA schools fall according to the IB school standards. Again, we don’t expect miracles since GA ranks low in the US. CRCT scores….what’s CRCT? Jacob lucks out that he doesn’t have to take any tests but we’ll find out how he does quickly. August 24 is coming up rapidly, we have the Open House on the 22nd where we can pick up their uniforms and other school stuff they need.

Work is going okay; it’s still a learning cycle for me as I work alongside of some local contractors to get things done. It would seem that they try to get away with whatever they can. The workmanship isn’t there and if you turn your back, they’ll take every shortcut in the book and hope you don’t notice. I have taken the advice of Jenny, my Chinese Expat co-worker; when they are upset…you just have to be more upset than they are. Using this advice, I took it to the next level and showed them what I thought of their work. Believe me; it was difficult since I have to be loud and angry to Jenny since she translates what I say (not too angry though since that could be thought of as losing my cool which will cause me to lose face). She’s not the source of my frustration but I have to be sure my tone gets conveyed before she starts to translate. I even took the opportunity to show them how easily what they did would break by kicking at it a little with my toe and breaking it without any effort. I think it finally came across to them that I was serious (only after two weeks of consistently asking questions and telling them it was wrong). It makes for an interesting insight into the rapid growth of the country and thinking about how some of the work may get done quickly as opposed to correctly. The SIP area is 15 years old and when you drive by and look at some of the buildings, you would swear that they have been around a lot longer than that. The country is progressing very rapidly but will it last?

We’ve had 4 kids in working with us and training for the past 5 weeks. I say kids because the oldest of the group is 26. We have 6 more kids coming in this week and these will really be kids. They are from a textile college in Changzhou and will be working here for at least 1 year to finish off their schooling. [Educational content: Colleges and Universities are different here rather than just being interchangeable words. Colleges are 3 years and are typically for more technical skills, more like a Technical School. Universities are 4 years and are for the kids that score higher on the tests and have the extra $$$ to stay in school.] I’ll bet that the incoming group will all be under 20 years old. For the current group, it’s interesting to get to know them and see how they interact with Westerners. One of the first questions I got from them (outside of the classroom) is “Do you have a Chinese girlfriend?” They said they could find me one if I wanted one. Imagine that, I can’t understand American women…what the heck am I going to do with a Chinese woman? (although I’m sure they know how to spend money just as well as their counterparts but imagine the “you don’t understand me” type conversations…no kidding, you speak Chinese) It was an odd question but it almost seems expected here that the foreigners will have “local interests”. It’s kind of funny to speak with them at times and hear their thoughts on many things. They are very interested in how we lived in the US. Having two cars (Two cars!!!! You must be rich.), owning a home, etc. are very different from here. We don’t talk politics at all since its best not to raise that topic. The kids speak okay English (which is better than my non-existent Chinese) but some of the terms they use are really not accurate. Many times you will explain something to them for the first time and they will respond with “I know…..” You know?!? I’m sure it’s something they were taught but it certainly doesn’t mean they know, especially if you ask them to repeat what you said. They want to improve their English skills so they are eager to speak English but sometimes it makes for difficulties when trying to teach them something (even when training in Chinese). It makes the day very interesting. Anyhow, the plant is very young and it makes us feel old (although I am the youngest of the Press Expats, I still feel old).

Some other random thoughts from China, just to touch on a few other items;
• Taxi drivers. UGH!!! Friday night we had a new experience when a driver was mad that we wanted him to take us to Bar Street (Hey, you live with our kids for a week and try not to drink….don’t judge me!). Friday night, getting to Bar Street is a mess for traffic before 6:30 pm and sometimes the drivers don’t want to deal with it and he was one of those but we got in the car before he found out. He drove like a maniac (much worse than the standard taxi ride) and went right on past the restaurant we wanted to eat and finally threw up his hands and asked where we wanted to get out. Here is fine (nut job!). So we walked to the eatery and had a good meal. This does happen every once in awhile to other Expats but it’s the first time I’ve seen it.
• Big Feet. Try to find shoes for Warren around town. Walking through a shopping complex just off Walking Street, one of the cleaning women looked at Warren’s feet, pointed and laughed at the big feet. He’s still trying to figure out how to walk on these Sideshow Bob feet. He seems to trip over anything and everything when walking.
• No oven. Try and prepare dinners for a week with no oven. We used the oven and our George Foreman grill all the time to make dinner, now…nothing. We’re looking to either move or buy a decent size toaster oven to meet our needs. We found a Costco/Sams type market called Metro and once we have our hot box…life may get much easier.
• Apartment maintenance. Our apartment complex has some real issues with maintenance (this is probably the same at many other places as well), they don’t seem to fix anything. When something goes wrong, don’t expect a quick resolution. We have had a window leak for over a month now. It’s fixed when it doesn’t rain so what’s our complaint!?! We’ve been patient but it’s getting old quick. It might be that the “maintenance” people don’t know how to fix something, they were just hired to perform a job and it doesn’t mean they have ever even held a screwdriver in their life.