The Rebuttal

So this morning (Sunday morning) I take a look at my wife’s post and realize that she’s hung me out there as a waffler (not to be confused with Alton Brown’s superhero, The Waffler [see Food Network]) on the apartment move. This necessitated my rebuttal post to ensure that the truth comes out (since we all know that the truth will set you free). Yes, we looked at the Chateau Towers and found a nice apartment but in my defense, she did nothing but talk about the Horizon apartments since she returned from being over there for an afternoon raiding a woman’s pantry so she was on a shopping high (just to clarify, the family in the apartment is heading back to the US at the end of the week so they needed to clean up and Tammy “helped them out”). So I simply asked the question, “Should we consider Horizon since there are more kids there and it seems you like the apartments there?” (Your honor, I’d like to admit that statement into evidence as Exhibit A) It’s a tough call since we both would probably stay here where we know people but we need to consider the kids and determine if they would rather be around other kids or surrounded by adults all the time. I have to note that she took my quote out of context, totally twisting my words (just like the “main stream media” back home) and therefore I had to post to set the record straight (if you find other posts of questionable content; you should forward those on to me so I can “set the record straight”). This is all in jest of course so don’t be concerned about our relationship; we’re just as “stable” as we have always been. So now the truth is out there, you can choose to believe who you want to believe.

So we’re into Football season now and it’s weird. I was able to watch some NFL Preseason games online and although the video feed was questionable, I could listen to the games and at least feel a little like I was “ready for some football”. However, we’re into week #2 and I realize it’s no use. I can’t see any game live since the game times don’t really fit into my schedule. Getting up at 1:00 am or 4:00 am to watch a game on a Monday morning doesn’t really make working go over well. Tammy is kind of used to being an NFL widow (and she does watch the games with me, unless it’s a Cowboys game because she knows I get too worked up) so she knows I love to watch my football. My lovely spouse actually accused me of getting up at 6:30 am on a Sunday morning to watch one of the Cowboy’s preseason games (a Saturday night game). I had to plead insanity because I actually woke up thinking it was Monday. So I got up, showered and after stepping out of the shower, realized it was Sunday morning. Of course, just to add to the idiocy of the move, I plugged my beard trimmer into the wall outlet and stepped out of the shower just in time to watch the plug-in transformer blow since the trimmer isn’t rated for the correct power. So she went from thinking I’m an idiot to get up to watch a football game to just thinking I’m an idiot (I don’t know which was more offensive). Anyhow, NFL games look to be pretty much out of the question unless I’m willing to adjust my schedule quite a bit. I keep up with the happenings as much as I can online but it’s not the same. When I get the scores, the games are over. You can’t get a feel for what’s really happening but I still love my football. I’d wear my Cowboy’s jersey to bed but Tammy might feel that I need a psychiatric evaluation to determine if this move has caused some kind of breakdown (you try and figure out what differentiates a breakdown and the “normal” me….now that’s a pretty fine line).

We have been able to get the NCAA games online and I have watched the last two Georgia games since those have been night games. Today we found out that ESPN will show some of the college football games. They showed the Tulsa v. Oklahoma and Oregon v. Utah game replays today. These weren’t the greatest games to watch but at least it was college football. This is the more local ESPN so it concentrates a lot on soccer, which is okay but I’d like to see American football. I was surprised to see NCAA football and I hope it continues.

It's been a while....

It's been a while since I have blogged, there has been so much going on. I'll try not to bore anyone tonight with the longevity of this post. It may be separated into 2 different sections depending on the length, you will have to read on to see....

The boys and I have been here for 3 months as of today. How time flies. It's been an interesting 3 months. The boys have adjusted really well, not too many issues. They are making friends and enjoying school (so far). Warren goes on a 3 day, 2 night trip next week to an Outward Bound China camp with the entire 8th grade. He's going to take the camera and hopefully take some pictures. Jacob will be going to Shanghai the middle of October. The 5th grade is participating in the CISSA (China International Schools Sporting Association) soccer tournament in Puxi, Shanghai. Jacob will also be going on his camp the end of October (details to follow).

I have been getting out and participating in "TaiTai" activities. TaiTai is Chinese for wife. Sometimes, the word is used in a not so nice way (like, let's say comparing an Expat wife to that of a Jewish princess (sorry my Jewish friends)). Me, I'm not a princess, so the activities are a way to meet other wives and build relationships. This week we went to the Fabric Market. The area was pretty interesting (I describe a lot of things this way, need to find another adjective). It was like a Chinese mall. There were many vendors with all sorts of fabric on the second floor, while on the ground floor there were generic stalls and other fabric related vendors. It was funny, we walked into one stall and there were spools and spools of ribbon and lace trim on the wall. I had a major flashback to when I was a kid. My Nana used to make all of my dresses when I was little (yes, I used to wear dresses ~ imagine that!). I took a picture of the wall of trim so she could see it. I told one of the other women that if my Nana was here (in China with me) she would have thought that she died and gone to Heaven with all the lace trim that was there. I didn't buy anything that day, but when I get ready to have my cashmere jacket made this winter I will definitely return to get a bargain on material.

While I'm on the topic of relationships.... I have come to one conclusion about them during my short time here. Friendships in the Expatriate world are very different than in the home culture world. Let me explain... friendships "home" take a while to form, real friendships, not just the ones that meet once a month. When I was still in the US, I could count on one hand the number of really close friendships that I had/have. I admit that I take my time building these relationships, but once my walls are down then it's friends for life. I'm reading a book now that explains all friendships have a 1-5 level of communications. Level 1 is the casual, "hey how are you" friend. Level 5 is the "let me confide my deepest thoughts to you" level. Most people don't get to the level 5 friendships. Here in the world of Expats, friendships move at such a super speed rate. This is mostly due to the fact that contracts are short term and if you want to have a "real" friendship with anyone than you must bypass that superficial B.S. and move straight on to marriage (not marriage, but you get my drift). People come and go all the time and if you want to get to know them you have to make the most of your time and get right to the point. There is no messing around with courting, it's straight to the 'wam, bam, thank you mam' stage. This is kind of hard for me to accept, but I must admit that I have gone with the flow and really been blessed by the people that I have met and become friends with.

Back to the update.... We are in the process of looking for another apartment. Oh the joys of apartment hunting. It's almost as bad as house hunting only you don't have the 30 year commitment of a mortgage. We have found a couple of places that would fit our family needs for our time here so now it is time to negotiate the monthly rent. You heard me right, negotiate. Here in China you negotiate EVERYTHING! We met with our agent this afternoon and told her what our amount for a 3 bed/2 bath + study would be. Now she goes to the landlord and "negotiates" on our behalf to see if that is acceptable. I don't expect to hear back from her until Monday, I'll be sure to let you know what we find out. It is a very nice apartment with a nice view of 2 lakes, on the 16th floor. Funny thing, after the kids went to bed Scott and I were discussing it when he said, "should we look somewhere where there would be more children for the boys?" "WHAT???" Ok, deep breath, I'll call the agent on Monday and keep looking! Actually, we have an idea where our kids would be with other kids. It is fun to see the different "compounds" and what you can get for 1RMB (what can you get for a buck?).

We are taking Chinese language lessons twice a week, the boys have it in school for 240 minutes per week. They are learning much faster than we are ~ the older the brain is the less absorbent the brain is! If you read this far you are in luck, I'm going to teach you the phrase of the week. Because this is football (college and NFL) and coming up on MLB playoff season, I'm going to teach you a phrase that boo-birds from around the globe yell and scream! "TAI CHOI LA" Say it like "TIE CHO (WITH LONG O SOUND) LA". It means, "man you really stink/suck" (when referring to an awful play that your favorite team just did) OR when the toilet is really stinky (quite often here in the Middle Kingdom).

Hope you enjoyed the post! Remember to use the phrase of the week! Peace out.....

Guest Blogger ~ Jacob's Party Day

Today we have a special guest blogger as Jacob details his day at a birthday party. This blog is based on a true story. Although Jacob will not be typing the blog, the author will add a few comments which will be noted by the ( ) so be advised when you see this, you’ll know that the author has added in the comments. Just to lay the foundation for the story, Jacob came home on Friday with an invitation to a classmate’s birthday party. The party was being held at the Giant Wheel Park (the largest Ferris Wheel in China that never stops and takes about 30 minutes to go the full circle) which not only has the Ferris Wheel but several other carnival type rides along with a small roller coaster. We contacted the boys father and let him know that Jacob would be there for the party which ran from 10 am until 5 pm. We met Alex and his father Mike around 9:30 at the Chateau when they dropped in to pick up Jacob and take him to the party.

We arrived at the Giant Wheel Park and we went over to the Disko ride. I decided not to get on this ride although Alex, Cole and Andy gave it a try. Then we moved to the giant swings, I was a little hesitant to go on the ride but after watching Alex, Cole and Andy have a good time I decided to give it a try. I enjoyed the ride so much that I rode it three straight times. Then we moved over to the Ferris Wheel to get on that and see the view. The line was really, really, really…..really long. After about 45 minutes we were finally able to get on the ride. While on the ride I had to go to the bathroom but there isn’t a quick way off so I had to wait to do my business (unlike many of the others on the ride). While we were on the ride, one father held up his little son so he could pee out the side of the ride when we were about one quarter of the way around the wheel. (Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s…..a kid peeing out the side of the Ferris Wheel). In each of the Ferris Wheel carts, there was a small TV screen that showed random tv shows. While watching, I saw a news story about a guy that urinated into a plastic bag and threw it out the window (look out below!).

After the Ferris Wheel, we took a boat ride out to the island on the lake (Jinji Lake). It took about a 50 minutes before we could get on the boat out to the island. It was a short trip out and once we got there, we go on to a long golf cart and were taken on a tour of the island. The tour was very short, about 5 minutes and then we had to grab a boat back to shore. Upon our return, it was time to leave the park and get something to eat. (There were no eateries in the park so you had to leave the park to eat. BUT once you left, there was no returning to the park without paying again).

We had lunch at Pizza Hut at New Times Square. We had salad, salmon, mushroom soup, bacon & mushroom pizza, popcorn chicken and a drink that had chocolate milk with a chocolate scoop of ice cream on top, that was really good. For desert (like that was needed after all of that food) was a brownie sundae and a birthday cake, which was a cheesecake.

After lunch, we went to Cartoon Land (a two-story arcade area at New Times Square) where we played bumper cars and all kinds of arcade games. We played one racing game where we all raced against each other and I came in first 5 times. Then after all of this, it was time to go. Mister Mike called Dad and we met them out in front of Papa John’s.

(We actually headed out to New Times Square about 3:00 since we knew we would need to pick him up near the Giant Wheel Park. It was the first time back for us since the family got here back in June when it was hotter than all get out. The weather was very nice today, cool and a little overcast. It was a good day for Jacob and he was very tired when we got him. We are pleased that he has adjusted so well and made new friends. We were shocked to hear what he ate for lunch since he is a little finicky….a little. Anyhow, it was an interesting tale to hear over dinner so we asked him to tell the tale again for the blog. We hope you enjoy the tale.)

Suzhou International Auto Show 2009

Saturday, Sept. 5th, we decided to make a trip to the Suzhou International Expo Center for the Suzhou International Automobile Exposition. We read about the show in a small magazine called “What’s on in Suzhou”. This is a free magazine that comes out every month that contains a ton of advertisements mixed in amongst some small blurbs about the happenings around town. It doesn’t contain everything but it is a good start about what can be seen around town for the Westerner that cannot understand the local news and can’t read the local paper (if there is one, I can’t tell since I can’t read Chinese as I just mentioned so please try and keep up). You can see what the magazine contains at http://www.whatsoninsuzhou.com.cn, if you are interested. We’d never been to see an Auto Show back in the States so we decided to see what this was all about. Now adding to the appeal was the fact that the blurb about the auto show contained one of my favorite phrases (can you guess it?). Yep, that’s right…..No admission fee. Wo-hoo, FREE!!!!

So we get a cab from the Chateau and I indicate to the driver where to go according to the blurb from the magazine. He understands and then begins to talk to me, asking me questions. Oh-oh! This is usually trouble but I actually understand what he is asking me. [Editors note: We started Chinese classes 3 weeks ago and so far we’ve learned a lot and know we have a long road ahead to understand how this language works but it has helped us a little. The kids have been taking Chinese at school so we’re all trying to learn something about how to communicate with the locals.] The classes are paying off as I understand he is asking where we are from and trying to understand where in the US we are from. I’m not sure he understood Georgia but he at least understood we are Americans and he was probably one of the nicer taxi drivers we have had since he was very talkative even though we didn’t understand a lot he tried to make himself understood (of course he could have been calling me all kinds of nasty names in a very polite fashion…it helps me more to believe that they are all saying nice things).

Anyhow, we arrive and take stock of the situation and figure out where we are going and head in to see the show. We get past everything and then when we get to the doorway we find out we are missing something. The young lady says “Please follow me” and takes us over to a desk where they have the tickets. Tickets……hey, what happened to no admission fee?!?! Crap!!! Too good to be true so I part with my 80 RMB for the 4 tickets and we head back to the entrance. Oh yeah, you know I’ve got to send a note to the What’s On In Suzhou people to let them know they screwed this one up.

Anyhow, the music is blaring as we head in the entrance and follow the red carpet around the area. See the photos from Tammy’s links to see what we saw not only from an auto standpoint but also the “eye candy” women that we standing next to the cars. It looked like a bizarre version of the ladies from The Price is Right showing the cars with the pasted smiles and the sweeping hand gestures. They would look at every camera while the pictures were being taken without every really even changing expression. The ladies were much taller than the normal Chinese and some weren’t Chinese at all but Pilipino (and unfortunately for the Chinese “models”, they were clearly outclassed by the other models present in my opinion. It may be a matter of taste but the Chinese girls looked a little too emaciated and had basically the same figure that I do and that’s saying something. I’m not saying I would wear their dresses but I think I would’ve filled them out a little more….not to mention how good my legs look in those heels LOL!). It was very strange, as you walked around you would all of a sudden see the lights dim and the music come up for one area. The attention of the locals would be drawn to the area and some girls would come out in little dolls outfits (or something that looked like it was from the Tom Petty music video “Don’t come around here no more”) and start to dance. After they did their little routine, the big guns would come out with their “model walk” and stand by the different cars while all of the amateur photographers would snap a ton of photos.

As far as cars go, there are a ton of Chinese auto manufacturers (I’ve heard the number is somewhere around 90 different manufacturers in China) and so we tried to get all of the names but we couldn’t read half of them. One was BYD (Build Your Dreams) and another was Great Wall motors. Mixed in were the standards, Honda, Nissan, Mazda, Ford, Audi, Lexus, BMW and so on. We also saw a Bentley, a Rolls Royce, a Ferrari and some other of the luxury type vehicles. The cars ranged in price from what appeared to be around 8,800 RMB to one that was over 970,000 RMB; so a little something for everybody (as long as you’re Bill Gates).

Tammy played the role of “the tease” as she walked around and looked closely at cars, staring at the features, opening the doors and even sitting in the cars. The salespeople were all excited to come over and talk to the Westerners to try and sell us a car. I’d have to give them the wave off and let them know that we can’t drive in China (and based on what I have witnessed in my time here it would seem that neither can anyone else but that’s another story). One guy even talked to Jacob after we left his “showroom”. We wondered if he was trying to sell Jacob a car but he simply wanted to know where he was from (and why his mom was a tease).

Also of note; the multiple Chinese “Billy Mays” type that were peddling their wares near the exit area for the show. They were selling mops, folding picnic-style tables and a few other strange items considering this was an auto show (radio controlled helicopters; what the …???). Some had a table of sunglasses since you can’t look cool (looking at the cars since I would imagine that most could not afford a car) without the proper shades. They were even selling bicycles at the auto show, not the e-bikes but the standard bikes. They had BMW models for those that need a cushier bicycle seat or whatever “German engineering” that would be needed to make your bicycle better than the standard model. I mean really, a BMW bicycle, you’ve got to be kidding? For the spoiled child that needs to rub his money in the faces of his friends. We all know that there are “two Americas” but things here are much, much different. The gap between the “haves” and the “have-nots” here is larger than the gap between a politician and a logical thought (now that’s funny, I don’t care who you are). Don’t worry folks, I’ll be here all week; don’t forget to tips your waitress. So that’s our adventure to the auto show. We’ve got more updates to send out but it seems we never have the time to get the blog updated. We’ll do better, keep checking in and have a great week.