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).

GIRLZ vs. FUDZ

We went to Casa Zoe's for dinner tonight. No big surprise there, it's a pretty good Tex-Mex restaurant with good cheeseburgers. The manager (Lena) came over to us tonight and was telling us about upcoming things of note ~ they will be ordering and selling turkeys for Thanksgiving, yea! and homemade apple pie. We both got very excited at the concept of having Thanksgiving dinner in China. All we need is a fryer and we will be all set!

We order drinks and our dinner, Warren is the first to get his. He ordered penne pasta with Bolognese sauce. As the waitress was putting it in front of him, Scott made the comment, "how much you want to bet he finishes the whole thing?" Now there is a pile of pasta on the plate and those of you who know the appetite of a growing 13 year old boy can pretty much guess who won't win that bet. Well right after he gets that out of his mouth I say to him, "what is more important to a 13 year old? Girls or food?" Does the phrase "can't talk... eating" ring a bell. Ding, ding, ding, you are the winner! Food wins! Some girls come into the restaurant and see Warren and say "hi Warren". Warren, being the normal 13 yr old, is still eating. Now he claims that he saw the girls walk in, yea right, and responds to them and then starts to blush (he will deny this!). It was a pretty cute exchange of words.

This brings us back to our great neighbors in Georgia. Warren and Jacob were (and still are) great friends with the neighbors on both sides of our home. So we always felt that special thing for Michael and Lorenzo with such beautiful young daughters. However, living here in Suzhou where neighbors come and go, you never really know what the parents believe (can you see where I am going with this???). We have found that there are some parents (not to name names but they mostly come from the area of EUROPE) that are very free in their thinking and how they raise their kids. We are far from being classified as liberal parents and can see where we might have to do that fight that battle before we depart. But we will fight it when and if it comes.

CISSA

China International School Soccer Association, was the tournament that Jacob and the 5th grade at SSIS participated in today in Shanghai. We left school at 8:30am for our first game at 10am. Much to my surprise, it only took 1 hour to get to the Shanghai American School where the tournament was being held. It was, however, on this side of Shanghai and not the Pudong side (which takes upwards of 3 hours to get to if the traffic is 'normal'). When we arrived I was amazed at how the facility was spread out. SAS is much larger than SSIS when it comes to land from what I could tell. The soccer/baseball/track area was huge! The soccer tournament was held on 9 fields (1/4 of regulation size field) so there was 2+ full size fields plus two baseball fields and a full track. It was interesting that while we were there playing soccer, it didn't feel like we were in China. All I heard was English and there were more people than not that looked like us. It was nice to talk to other moms and hear that they were from the Midwest or other parts of the US where soccer (not football) is played.

Jacob and his class split into two teams, each team played a half (9 1/2 mins). They played 4 games with two bye games. They won 3 games, lost one, and tied one ~ even though he will tell you that they won 3 and lost 1. I took about 500 pics (love the new camera!) most of which were on the continuous mode. I was very happy when during the first game Jacob scored a goal. He was happy also! When the game finished, I texted Scott and told him. I even caught it in pictures (you have to look hard, but it's there).

Jacob's class picture, as you can tell he did not tell us he had to wear red!

As I was taking pictures, I had a flashback to many Saturday mornings on Jodeco Road and our time serving on the Board at Community Youth Soccer. I can't say that it brought a tear to my eye, but I did have a short moment where I missed our "family" at CYS ~ we love you guys!!! It was good to get to participate in a soccer event where I could just be a parent. The event was well put together and I made sure that I told the lead director that I appreciated his hard work.

I will try to post pics to the picassa site later. We have a lot of pictures to upload from the past month or so.

Tàitai Terror

If I ever wondered about Tammy becoming acclimated to living in China, the question was answered this weekend by two “incidents”.

First, we spent Friday on Walking Street just for awhile to look around and see what was happening there. We needed to go to UTown to find a spare battery for the camera and a few other small errands on this trip to the shopping area. It was very crowded since this is a big holiday period in China, National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival. It was extremely crowded on Walking Street but we made it through okay as long as we weren’t in a hurry and took our time. We found the “sugared fruit” kebob that we had seen before on TV (during the Olympics), Jacob had said he wanted to try but when it came to stepping up to the challenge….he backed down. The sugared fruit kebob contained a cherry tomato, a slice of melon, a purple grape, a slice of kiwi, a green grape, a section of orange and one other fruit that we had no idea what it was. All of this was on a wooden skewer coated in a thick glaze of sugar (see the photos). It was okay, perhaps just a little too much of the sugar coating but we ate it anyhow for the quick burst of energy. We went to UTown and found the battery we were looking for but it was too expensive and we settled for a knock off version of the battery for about 20% of the price of the original battery. What was most interesting was that the first Nikon place we stopped at actually opened the camera box and was going to sell us the battery that was supposed to go with the camera in the box. Interesting, anything for a sale I guess. Anyhow this isn’t the story; I’m trying to set the mood. After UTown, we stopped in a TGI Fridays for a mid-day snack. We came out and then headed to the corner to find a taxi. It’s a bad spot and usually takes a little more time to get a cab in this area but we weren’t in a hurry. After about 15 minutes, we see one coming and Tammy signals to the driver. The driver turns on his blinker and slows down to pick us up. All of a sudden, from our left comes a young Chinese couple. The young guy waves his hand and cuts us off as he heads for the taxi pickup point. This is when Tammy shows that she understands how things work here. She dodges to his right, out on to the street and hits the jets as she goes by the guy and gives him a little, light bump as she moves past him (just to let him know that it’s OUR taxi). Keep in mind that I was behind this action so I got to watch it in real time. I saw the guy and was thinking, “are they trying to steal our cab?” when she made the move (obviously, she picked it up a lot faster than I did). The guy just stepped back and didn’t say a word; he just accepted that he had been beaten at his own game. I was surprised but she just did what had to be done. They were going to take our taxi because they would get to it first, not because they flagged it down. At least that’s what they thought, but we flagged it and we were going to get it. Now they understand that although we will be polite and friendly, it doesn’t mean that you can walk over us, not when we have Tammy on our side.

Today (Sunday), we went to a small, shopping street just off Bar Street to look at jackets. Warren can wear the North Face jacket I picked up earlier this year but Tammy and Jacob both needed a good rain combo winter jacket before the cold rainy weather arrives. We stopped at several places to look and left without buying anything. In the final store, Tammy found a jacket but she could not come to agreement over the price. The store owner wanted 450, she offered 150. They haggled a little bit with Tammy not moving off the 150 price, which surprised him since he figured she would come off her price and be closer to his price (isn’t that how it supposed to work?). She walked out of the store without the jacket with the owner still trying to find a good price, he even offered the 150 RMB before I walked out with the kids to catch up to Tammy. He seemed a little dazed by the exchange and I gave him the look (I feel bad for you pal but you’ve got it easy….I’ve got to live with her. Of course I say this with love and because I know that she reads the blog and I don’t want to get my butt kicked.). We walked perhaps 100 yards down the street and around the corner when the shop owner ran up to us and offered the jacket at 140 RMB. So we turned around and went back to the shop to purchase the jacket, a very good knock-off jacket with a fleece zip-out liner (the best part is that she pulls out 200 RMB to pay for the jacket, I know this has got to drive them crazy). She asked if they (the shop was run by a husband and wife) had a jacket in Jacob’s size but they indicated they didn’t (I think they weren’t going to sell us another jacket at that price so they just said no, they had been beaten and they were cutting their losses. They made money on the jacket, no doubt since no one sells anything if they don’t make any money no matter how much they might fuss about it.).

After lunch at the Drunken Clam (yes I know, another bar….but the kids wanted to go! We had seen ads in the local magazines and decided to stop in and check out their sandwich menu. The sandwiches were really good and the place was empty so the kids could play pool while I watched NFL Network [Wo-hoo!!! NFL Network!!] on the big screen), we went back to Bar Street and found a jacket for Jacob for only 5 RMB different than her price but it took a lot more haggling with this shop owner. Still, she got two jackets for less than the price I paid for the jacket in April (d’oh!); I was schooled today in the art of negotiation (and so were the locals). The Chinese are just beginning to learn how my wife has adapted to living here. I can say this because I know first hand, watch out China for the Tàitai Terror (to quote Sylvester Stallone in Rambo, First Blood….I’m your worst nightmare). You can already figure out that I will work this to my advantage when I turn it over to “the closer” for all future negotiations.

Outward Bound

Jacob has posted his first experience at a birthday party here in Suzhou and now we turn the blog over to Warren to describe his experience at the Outward Bound Camp he went to as part of the school curriculum. The editor’s of the blog will lend a little bit of commentary to the blog within the “( )” otherwise, the story is Warren’s (and like any Hollywood movie, it is based upon a true story and actual events…with little “adjustments” to add a little bit of excitement and flavor).

The Outward Bound Camp is something the school added to bring kids from all over the globe together to learn to work as a team (and to indoctrinate them into the global culture….it takes a village, next week they sing the Obama song but they can’t post it on YouTube since that’s still blocked here). Each grade has a camp theme and activities. The Camp was held in Anjie and here’s the blurb about the camp from the SSIS website. “Focus of Grade 8 Camp Theme: The focus of the grade 8 camp/homeroom theme, Developing a ‘Sense of Self’, is for students to better understand what influences the way they view themselves and to develop strategies that will help them develop a positive and healthy self image. (sounds like a lot of psycho-babble doesn’t it…touchy-feely crapola!)

Packing: Mom contacted some other people from the PVO (Parent Volunteers Organization) to get some information on the camp. The one thing she found out is that the one night where we sleep in tents that we sleep in “rental” sleeping bags that may or may not be well used (in English, koodie alert!). So we went to Decathalon to look at sleeping bags or liners for sleeping bags (just to be sure he didn’t come home with some “uninvited guests”). Since the liner was 49 RMB and the actual sleeping bag was 69 RMB, we went ahead with the sleeping bag. It was larger but I thought it would still fit in my bag. I used the rolling duffel bag to carry my stuff since I needed several days of clothes and other stuff (including snacks since he wasn’t sure of the dining options….squid chunkies anyone?). It took several different attempts but everything was finally able to fit in the bag.

Day 1: Went to school as normal and then everyone gathered to load up for the 3 hour ride to Anjie. We used 3 of the school tour buses for everyone to ride. It was loud on the buses; it seems that some cultures speak very loudly regardless of the circumstances. You would think that these kids were yelling at each other but they are just talking. I tried to ignore them but it was tough. We got a bag lunch before we boarded so we ate while we traveled since it wasn’t clear if we were stopping for lunch (makes you wonder, are there rest areas like on the highways in the US and Europe?). We arrived in Anjie at a hotel to eat lunch, or our second lunch if we ate the bag lunch. There was deep fried chicken, ribs, green beans, rolls, and watermelon for lunch. Once we ate, we went out for a hike up the mountain. The minimum time for the hike was 2 hours, it took us about 4 hours to get up the trail. I slipped several times getting my shoes and pants muddy. There was a lot of bamboo on the trail. After the mountain, we walked through a village with the local wildlife running through the streets; dogs, chickens, etc. We got back on to the buses and rode for another 30 minutes to the campsite. The weather was bad, it had rained during the day and was supposed to rain through the night so there was a discussion about if we would sleep outside. Due to the weather, the decision was made to sleep inside a room that would fit 10 people; bunk beds were available so we didn’t sleep on the floor. There were only 7 kids in my room so it wasn’t crowded.

Day 2: Our day started with a 7:00 am wakeup call. I was up earlier than 7 due to the local chickens making plenty of noise starting early in the morning. At 6:30, I went outside and saw some locals walking bears (yes, bears). They appeared to be training the bears to walk on their hind feet and not all fours. They had the bears muzzled and a lease attached to the muzzle. If the bear got down and started to walk on all fours, the “trainer” would give them a crack of the whip and back up they would go. The bears were small (about 5’ high), black with white on their stomach. I got one photo of this (which you can find in the photo links). Anyhow, we packed our things and headed out to the hotel (where they would stay for the next night) by golf carts. When we got to the hotel, we dropped our bags off in the rooms and headed to breakfast. We had french fries, celery, green beans, noodles, roll type things (yes, that’s his very astute description, really narrows it down) along with hot juice and hot milk to drink on the menu for breakfast. After we ate, about 9:00, we met in the lobby to get on the golf carts to be taken to bamboo forest maze. It was supposed to be confusing but we (me and two other kids) found it to be simple and finished it in record time. We actually went through it again just because we had the time. We then went to raft building where we were given 8 inner tubes, 4 short pieces and 6 long pieces of bamboo and some rope to make our raft. It took us about 30 minutes to build the raft so it could float and hold 5 people. It had to float across the lake and back (about 25 meters across) with the 5 people. After that, we went back to the hotel, ate lunch. Lunch was fries, orange chicken, kung pao chicken, noodles, celery and bread. In the afternoon we walked to Roman catapult. We had 8 pieces of bamboo, 4 small pots and string to make our catapult. It took 15 minutes to build to try and shoot water balloons at the other team. After all the water balloons were gone, we went to rope walking. We had to rope walk across a small ravine. Once completed, we grouped together and went to the scenic spots. Each team had a tour guide and we had to take photos of our group around the entire park. Once that was finished, we went back to the beginning and then searched for food (this would be interesting, when I see what they eat I wonder what they would not consider eating). After this, we went back to the hotel at 5:00, dinner was scheduled for 7:00. Dinner consisted of chicken, fish, pork, corn, rice, vegetables, noodles and rolls. Then we prepared for the Talent Show. People had signed up for the talent show months back and so they got up and performed their stuff; dancing, singing, poetry, etc. After the talent show, it was time for bed.

Day 3: Again, the 7:00 am wakeup call for the day. We had to be eating by 8:00am and then be packed and ready to leave by 9:00 am. After the loaded the buses, we had to do our homeroom team work which was camp reflections, design a homeroom t-shirt, come up with a chant (and sing koom-by-ya). Our homeroom chant was “2, 4, 6, 8, who do we appreciate, 8A”. (That’s right folks, I’m a very proud parent. What inventiveness! What creativity!) After this was finished, we got back on the buses for the return trip home. First we had to eat at a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese place. They had live ducks & chickens in cages just outside the restaurant door (now that’s fresh!), so we were a little nervous about this place. We had chicken, tofu, rice, corn on the cob, rolls and vegetables for lunch options. After that we got on the bus and headed back to SSIS. I slept a little on the way back since it wasn’t as loud on the return trip as it was on the way there. It rained on the way home and there was a leak on the top of the bus. When the buses stopped at a rest stop to help one child that wasn’t feeling well, the bus driver tried to close the “trapdoor” that was leaking and he could not get it done. It was funny to watch him use all his might but he couldn’t get it to budge. It remained open a little and the leaking continued but it wasn’t leaking on anyone so it wasn’t that big a deal.

That’s my trip to camp. It was fun.

Odds and Ends

So as you have read, we’re in the market to find a new place to live. We’ve decided to find a place that has more kids around so the boys can get out with someone their own age a little more (and get out some of their energy that they use bugging the crap out of each other, and of course Tammy and I). Tammy has been doing most of the legwork regarding the apartment hunt and I’ve kind of been on the outside of the hunt (let’s call it delegation). Up until recently I only saw two places, both at the Chateau Regency Towers. It’s still part of the Chateau property (where we are now) but the buildings are 26+ stories high and the apartments are owned by individuals who rent them out. It seems that real estate ownership is an investment opportunity that is common to both the US and China. During the expansion of Suzhou, the government “purchased” farmland to create the Suzhou Industrial Park. Depending on the amount of land that the farmer “owned”, they would be compensated in the form of property (specifically apartments) in one of the new apartment complexes being built in the area. So they could get multiple apartments, one to live in and others to rent out as a new income source. Of course this was mutually beneficial since the government could build the new manufacturing facilities for the business’ that wanted to come into the area (expanding the tax base) and the farmer’s went from a hard life to a more “comfortable” life that wasn’t as dependent on things like the weather. Anyhow, back to the story. This weekend, Warren, Tammy and I had a look at a few more places. Where was Jacob (you are wondering right)? Jacob was at another birthday party so he was able to escape the apartment search (why can’t I get invited to a birthday party?).

So we looked at several places, including a “villa” which was very reminiscent of the Virginia Highlands area in Atlanta with the exception of the traffic. It was a nice townhome area with a backyard that actually included a pomegranate tree (seriously, there were fruits ready to be picked). I know, a backyard…..I could actually cook on a grill (hambabas and hot dogs; and yes, it is spelled correctly. Hambaba is the Chinese term for hamburger. Jacob told me this, I told him he was crazy but after I looked it up it turned out he was right [darnit!].). The problem was that the complex was kind of out of the way and there wasn’t a good way to get around to anything (and I didn’t see any indications of kids no matter what the realtor said). It looked like there was an abundance of the places being renovated which also indicated to me that perhaps the long term viability wasn’t all it should be (but it is China and it seems things aren’t always built for the long term). The place was actually very large and was bigger than our home in Stockbridge but it just didn’t feel right (you know the seventh sense). The electric blue cabinets in the kitchen and the blue toilet, tub and sink in the one bathroom also was enough to make you wonder about the place (they were freaking B-L-U-E, even the realtor got a good laugh, who chose these colors….Poppa Smurf?). It appeared they turned the place over to 7 different people and each was given a room to decorate because it certainly didn’t flow at all from room to room (seriously, one room had dark colored furniture, the next was just plain varnished wood, then light colors, of course the blue rooms and the other bathroom with the black and white checkerboard [don’t come around here no more]). So we gave this one the thumbs down and continued our search.

We walked through an apartment with a full, wrap around deck. It was on the second floor and the deck was very nice but this place also had a major drawback. The furniture and décor was HIDEOUS. I’m not certain of the specific terms used to describe the decor, perhaps modern renaissance or something like that (I’ll coin the term Amadeus nightmare). All I know is that it was awful. I felt like I needed to wear a powdered wig and a puffy shirt to fit in (but I don’t want to be a pirate). It was like something from the movie Amadeus or another film of that era. I told the realtor that it was awful but I’m not sure she understood how bad it really was. The couch, chair and loveseat were all overstuffed dollhouse furnishings (I think I saw them in Modern Decorator magazine under the story title, Mistakes that Decorators Make. Who told these people that we like that kind of furniture?). So we laughed and moved on to the next place.

All-in-all, we found 2 possibilities out of the 5 places we looked at, and this is on top of the other places Tammy has seen. One of the places had no furniture and was just completed being renovated so we really need to see it cleaned up and with the furnishings to make a final decision on that place. We talk to the realtor to indicate our interest only to find out that the owner isn’t willing to put the furniture in the place because it has been loaned out to furnish another apartment for rent. WHAT?!?!? So you want us to rent the place but you have no furnishings? Something about this story doesn’t make much sense but we’re stonewalled here meaning we keep looking. It was an okay place and would’ve probably worked out okay for us and I guess you could say we’re lucky to find out that the landlord is a little nuts before we went ahead with the rental.

It’s pretty overwhelming because there are so many places available (they say the global crisis is over here in China but the number of expats here has really dropped off from last year and hasn’t rebounded which means there are a lot of empty apartments and with all of the new apartment units being built, it’s a renters market) and many look very similar. Then there’s the negotiations coming to ensure it meets our $$$ criteria. I look forward to this being over, it’s pretty stressful. The Chateau has its share of issues but there are no guarantees that the grass is greener at any other place. Let the buyer beware is still a good motto that could be used for this situation. The most important thing is to find a good realtor and good landlord since those are the people that will be taking care of your issues when you run into problems. If you can’t get anything fixed or repaired, you are in deep trouble (you can’t just run down to the Management office since in many cases there isn’t one and they don’t speak English…or so they say). It’s tough to remember that no matter how bad things may be (from a Western viewpoint), compared to the locals, we’re still living “high on the hog” (I’ll bet that doesn’t make much sense in Chinese) where we are. We’ll keep up the search and you’ll hear more about it upcoming posts.

Other things happening, China National Day (the 60th anniversary of the rise to power of the Communists Party so this year is a HUGE celebration) and Warren’s school trip to his Outward Bound Camp and our endeavor to learn the Chinese language, there’s a lot going on. We’ll try and stay on top of these posts since it seems we’re always a little behind. Keep checking in, take care.

National Day

National Day is a huge holiday and celebration in China. Today is the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China in 1949. I am watching the parade being telecast live from Beijing on CCTV. It is real interesting to see how controlled the activities are. The beginning of the parade showed President Hu riding in a car observing the soldiers and the military vehicles along the parade route. He would say something then the soldiers would sound back a response. Don't ask me what they said... the interpreter on CCTV did not repeat. When Hu got back to Tiananmen Square he did a speech celebrating the victories and the future of the country. The military parade began shortly after that. It began with the different branches of the military presenting to the government officials. It was interesting that the women's branch of the military presented after and looked "different" then the men's. You also notice that there are no "fat" or non-fit soldiers. Very interesting. After that completed, that is when the real excitement began... the heavy military machines! Tanks, airplanes overhead, more tanks, anti-aircraft artillery... I believe all of this military presence is to show the country that they are a strong and powerful force.

When Scott and I began trying to figure out what to do over this holiday (he has 5 days off, the kids have 12), we thought that wouldn't it be cool to go to Beijing and see the parade ~ then we realized that "what are we crazy?". The only people that are "allowed" on the streets and in the Square are the 30,000 people who have special invitations to witness the parade. The news channels (coming from advice from the gov't) has been telling people to stay home and watch it on tv. The gov't told people along the parade route to stay inside and close their window blinds. And the people obliged, but wouldn't you too?

We are going to go out later and walk up and around Jinji Lake to see what the street (lake) vendors are selling today. We figure that it should be interesting to see the Mao hats, posters, flags, t-shirts, etc that will be sold. Tonight there is going to be a huge fireworks display celebrating the day at the lake. We will take pics and post later (with our new camera).