WARNING.....Long Post

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final note of the week

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