Small Triumphs

With LBean's start to school, the rest of last week was spent experiencing some small triumphs.  Doing things that are much easier to accomplish with one child who will willingly ride in a stroller.  Tuesday morning I learned the first rule of kindergarten, tell your mom you need something for class as you're leaving for school.  LBean informed me that she needed to have a hat to go outside for recess to protect her face from the sun.  If we had already received our sea shipment with the rest of our household goods, this would have been an easy task.  But...I digress.  Finding a hat for LBean became my mission for Tuesday.

I texted a few friends here and they agreed that Decathlon, a sporting goods store would be the best place to look.  I called one of those friends and she graciously agreed to hop in a taxi, with her two kids and ride with me to Auchan to look for a hat.  Decathlon was so much fun.  It has a wide range of things such as bikes, roller blades, swimming gear, sporting clothes, fleece clothing, exercise equipment, etc.  We were able to find two hats to fulfill LBean's request...even a blue one, her favorite color.  I managed to find a few things for myself.  After wandering around the store, it became apparent that since we've moved here I've been craving two things: chocolate and "comfy clothes".  I'm happy to say that I found a few new pairs of "comfy clothes" (the stretchy kind of cloths you lounge around in on the weekend) and EBean and I already fulfilled the chocolate craving by having not one, but two brownies for snack time that morning.  Mmmmm!

My friend and I then decided to celebrate our successful shopping trip by taking our girls out to lunch.  I love turning an errand into an all-out event.

Wednesday was a flurry of activity at our apartment.  One of the pieces of furniture that the landlord purchased for apartment (a wardrobe for the girls' room) had arrived.  Our realtor came over to help oversee the delivery and during her time here people just kept showing up!  The furniture guys carried in the wardrobe in pieces and assembled it.  Our Ayi mentioned to our realtor that the bolt on the guest-bathroom toilet was broken, so a service man was called.  I needed to have 2 more jugs of drinking water delivered, and it's our realtor who calls that man.  While our realtor and I were putting together lamps that our landlord had purchased for the apartment, another delivery came.  The food that I had ordered from Shanghai (free delivery over 300 RMB, ~$50) came, even though I was pretty sure that I had selected the 5 pm-11 pm delivery time slot.  It actually worked in my favor, but I am so glad that I was home and my Australian beef didn't sit outside my front door all day.

We also had a service guy from the apartment complex stop by because apparently there is water leaking from our pipes underneath the floor below the washing machine into the apartment below.  It started doing it before we moved in, but it needs to be fixed, but our landlord doesn't want to pay to fix it since it isn't affecting her apartment, yet.  Some of the floors above us are having the same trouble, so I fully expect it to happen to us at some point. While our realtor was here I also had her talk to our Ayi about our Friday night date nights and that it is okay to stop doing housework and play with our girls.  Her job is to care for them and spend time with them.

What started Wednesday morning, turned into an all-day event.  To fix the bolt on the toilet seat, the entire toilet had to be taken off of the floor since the bolt was screwed in from underneath the toilet.  As EBean and I were having lunch we heard an extremely loud crash and she looked at me and said,"it broken".  I told to go and take a look, sure enough the ceramic toilet had tipped over onto the tile floor and shattered.  When Jamie got home that day I told him that someone in our apartment had a "China day" but thank goodness it wasn't one of us!

Wednesday night we took a visiting Big Yellow employee out to dinner.  The food was so-so, but the atmosphere was great and the chocolate crepes were amazing!

It was a rainy Thursday for us and I had planned to stay home again with EBean.  I got an unexpected text from Jamie saying that our driver was in Suzhou because he was having routine service done on the van and wondered if I would like to use the car when it was done.  Absolutely!  I jumped in the shower and was ready to go.  It was nice to spend a few hours wandering around the mall and grabbing lunch with EBean.  Because it was raining, the mall wasn't crowded and it was very peaceful.  I took the time to stroll through some clothing stores that normally I wouldn't be able to because LBean would think that it was "boring".

Friday morning was my last small triumph of the week.  I really wanted to conquer my initial fear of using the bus.  When I had two girls during the day, it was too much for me to think about.  But, with just EBean I was willing to give it a shot.  We were headed across the lake to a friend's apartment for a playdate, which is pretty much a straight shot.  I figured out two buses that I thought might get me there and told myself if the bus turned a different direction, I'd just get off and grab a taxi.  Last week I learned that if there is a snowflake picture on the bus marquee that it is supposed to be air conditioned.  The cost for those buses is 2 RMB, 1RMB for the others.  Each bus stop has a digital sign that lists the buses scheduled to stop there, then some Chinese characters, and finally the estimated number of minutes until the next arrival.  Once our bus arrived, Ebean and I hopped on (took me a moment to figure out where to put the money) and an older woman immediately started calling out to EBean and gesturing for her to sit on her lap.  I was happy to let EBean sit with her if she wanted to, and she did.  I had the diaper bag and the stroller slung over my back, so having EBean sit on a different lap (other than mine) sounded like a good idea to me.  Just a few stops down the road (push the red button to request to get off) and we were there.  We had a great morning with our friends and we road the bus back to our apartment.  This time EBean sat on the lap of a elderly Chinese man.  She was very content to have a place to sit, I'm so proud of her.

It's my hope that I can figure out the bus system well enough to use it for those short trips to the grocery store or on a day that I want a small adventure with the girls (and we don't have a tight schedule).  With my husband's company we chose the option of not sharing our van with another family.  That means the company will pay for the van and the driver, but we are responsible for the gas and tolls.  To take Jamie to work, it's over 20 miles and a few tolls.  If I need the driver, he has to take Jamie to Wuxi, drive back and take care of me and then drive back to Wuxi to bring Jamie home.  I'd like to use our driver for big trips to the grocery store, driving out to Lilly's school and the orphanage and use taxis and the bus for the little trips.  I'll report back in a few months and see what we've decided.

Friday night was date night!  We tried a different place for massages and they were fantastic.  The atmosphere was nice, you walk on stepping stones placed in water to get to the massage rooms, and the massages were so good.  At one point I had to stop myself from drooling through the little head piece that you look down when you're on your stomach.  Afterwards we walked up and down Singa Plaza stopping at the international foods store for craisins, chocolate chips & shredded wheat, the bread shop for pastries for Saturday morning breakfast, and then had dinner outside at Simon's.  I had Thai noodles and Jamie had a sweet and sour pork that was amazing, almost BBQ-ish.

I am happy to report that both girls were asleep when we got home and our Ayi was not exhausted either.  I don't know why I had assumed the previous week that our Ayi would know just to repeat what she had done the previous week and put them down to bed.  It's just like with your spouse, he/she can't read your mind and you need to clearly state your expectations so there is no room for confusion.

The only unexpected result from date night...apparently the massage was a bit more vigorous than I am used to?! (My editor says, please note the nice pair of bruises between my shoulder blades).

Weekend Update

Jamie and I had our weekly date night while the girls stayed with the Ayi.  This week we had our first massages in China.  I made appointments for us at the salon where LBean and I have been getting our nails done.  It is so inexpensive; $20 for an hour!  I think I might need one every week, right honey?!  Jamie chose the traditional Chinese massage, which he said targeted some pressure points, but there was very little skin-to-skin contact (a towel over his back).  I had the head, neck and arms massage and I was seated in a recliner for the 60 minutes.  After carrying my fruits & vegetables back and forth from the wet market, it felt pretty good.  Afterwards we met some of Jamie’s co-workers at Big & Whistle, the German restaurant, for dinner and then walked home.

I expected the girls to be in bed and the apartment to be quiet when we walked in the door, but I had another lesson to learn.  I must be very specific with our Ayi about what I am expecting.  We got home at 10 p.m. and the TV was still on and the girls were sitting bleary-eyed in front of the screen.  Ayi was doing laundry and looked just as tired as the girls.  I think that I need to be specific and make a detailed schedule for Friday nights and I need to have someone who speaks Chinese explain to our Ayi that caring for our children is the only thing she needs to do on Friday nights.  No laundry, dishes or cleaning, just watching the girls and getting them to bed.  I’m assuming that the Ayi wants to do a good job and doesn’t want me to think that she is neglecting her responsibilities, but when I’m gone, I want her to spend time with the girls.  Something to work on for next Friday night.

On donut day (Saturday), everyone slept in because of the late bedtimes from the night before.  We started packing up our swimming gear when I realized that I was to supposed to Skype with one of my best friends from the States.  I didn’t want to miss that!  I got on the computer really quickly and there she was!  It was so good to see her and talk to her.  I know I talked too much, but I couldn’t help it, I wish all my friends could be here to share in the adventure.

After we wrapped up our conversation, it was time to throw on our swimsuits and head to the Suzhou Water Park.  But, before we could leave SIP (Suzhou Industrial Park), Jamie had to go to the bank with his passport, his China Construction Bank debit card and a little business card that has in Chinese “please change my U.S. dollars to RMB” on it.  When we wire transfer money from the U.S. to our Chinese bank account (doesn’t that sound like a spam email letter you’ve seen in your inbox?), the money doesn’t automatically change over to RMB.  Jamie has to physically go in and ask from the money to be exchanged.  Frankly, it’s a big pain.

After the bank we picked up some friends along the way and headed to Suzhou New District to the water park.  I’m so glad that the friend that came with us spoke some Chinese because it was going to be difficult pantomiming “I want 2 adult tickets, 1 child ticket and the baby is free”.  We stood in line for a long time to get our electronic wristbands loaded with money so we could buy food in the park (there was no cash accepted in the water park).  The park reminded of the Dell’s, complete with wave pool, slides and a lazy river.  Once we were all in the water, it was fun.  At lunch time Jamie was very brave and ordered a hot dog, which was served without a bun (turned out to be a spicy, "Chinese" flavored sausage) and a “yellow box” full of goodies (...had to be, the locals were buying them like crazy) that turned out to be two packages of jerky/meat flavored tofu (well...we’re pretty sure that it was some kind of tofu).  The girls and I stuck to the familiar and recognizable...ice cream, twice.  And, I’m going to throw this out there...the fashion craze of men’s surf shorts/swim trunks has not made it this way yet.  There was a whole lotta spandex going on, just sayin’.  We stayed through nap times, so when we left...everyone was hot, tired and exhausted, but relatively happy.

A view of the water park

Another section of the water park.

Lunch

Can't say that I've ever had to stain stick a water
floatie before!

The mysterious "meat" package

As soon as we got home I put Jamie on bath patrol (the Chinese let their kiddos pee on the ground, so you never really know what was in that puddle you just walked through, bathing is essential, bleach anyone?...and no shoes in the house) and I threw together an “all-American dinner”.  We had invited over another expat for dinner who is here in China without his family and I wanted to give him a little taste of home.  I managed to pull together meatloaf, steamed green beans, baked beans (that had to be doctored with brown sugar and bacon...the Chinese baked beans are a little different), corn on the cob, iced tea and banana bread for dessert.  As LBean was waiting for dinner to be served she started to fall asleep at the table, a first for her!  We tried to get them to bed early, but by that point they had gained that crazy “second wind”.  You know...where if they stop moving they’ll fall asleep.  


We got them to bed and Jamie and I settled down for our new favorite show, Modern Family.  I'm afraid that we'll run out of episodes to watch way too quickly.


I'm just going through this out there, Sunday was almost a "China" day-the day where things just don't go quite right.  Fellowship was great, lunch with friends was perfect, but LBean had another fit after church (she was tired from the day before), EBean had an accident at the restaurant, I couldn't get the washing machine to start to save my life, the girls never took a nap and I had a massive headache.  I don't want to give the impression that every day here is sunshine & rainbows and real life moments don't happen.  But, I didn't give in, no tears were necessary and I just moved on.  Here's to fresh starts & second (and third...) chances!