What's That? Wednesday: The Shanghai Fabric Market & the Joy of Halloween

For Halloween this year we took advantage of the affordable sewing talent in China and had costumes made.  Suzhou has several tailors that are popular with the expat crowd and Jamie and I plan to use them in the future, but for this project we headed to the Shanghai Fabric Market.

I wish we had pictures of the interior of the building to show; it's really hard to describe in words.  The building is very large with 3 floors of small stalls and rooms just filled with fabric, dress forms and pre-made dresses, coats, costumes, suits, ties, and scarves.  It was almost too much for me to handle.  Oh, the possibilities!

We had a recommendation from friends on which stall to try first.  It had lots of sparkly fabric and tulle, very promising for LBean's costume.  I was a bit over-confident in my negotiating skills and when I balked at the original asking price and walked away (to try and get the woman to call me back and agree to my price), she let me walk away.  I couldn't believe it! I wasn't too worried because there were hundreds of other places to try, but every time the asking price was at least double what the first woman had quoted.  I was getting a bit discouraged and decided that maybe we would just try have the costumes made in Suzhou.  Not only were the asking prices too high for LBean's costume, but we weren't having any luck finding the right fabric for EBean's costume.  At this point I decided that what I really needed was a Hobby Lobby craft store.

Finally, on the third floor we discovered a small stall making bathrobes and other things out of soft, fuzzy material.  It was perfect for EBean's costume.  We showed the stall owner a picture of EBean's costume and he quoted us a price that was exactly the same as the quote for LBean's costume at the first place.  That sealed the deal...we would get EBean's costume made there and I would go back and eat crow and have the first place we visited make LBean's.

LBean getting measured for her costume.

I love this photo because our driver and I have the same pose!

After we ordered the girls costumes I decided to go and just "see" how much it might cost to get a Scarlett  O'Hara dress made for myself.  I wanted the green velvet dress from the movie, without the curtain rod for you Carol Burnett fans!  The asking price was at least half what it would cost in the States, so I decided to go for it.  The woman did up her asking price after she measured for the length of the dress (perhaps I'm a little taller than her average customer), but it was still a great deal.  This woman was making my childhood dreams come true!  And, now for the next 30 years I will be Scarlett O'Hara for Halloween.

Even though we spent more for the girls costumes than I had planned, the "deal" I got with my costume more than made up for it.  It was a really fun experience!

LBean's finished costume (without the wings)

LBean's inspiration photo

EBean as Hoho the monkey from the tv show
Ni Hao Kai-Lan

EBean's inspiration photo

Meet Scarlett

My inspiration photo

I'm back...

Waiting, not-so-patiently, for my mom at the airport.

It's time to ease back into the blogosphere after a two-week vacation, a recovery week (the vacation from a vacation week), and a week of sick children & sick mommy.  The beginning of October brought our first visitor to Suzhou.  My mom came for not just one week, but for a full two-week stay!  We were excited to show her around our new home and introduce her to some of our favorite spots in Suzhou.  The first week of October was a national holiday here in China and Jamie and the girls were off from school and work.  Taking advantage of the time, we became tourists in our own city.

                                        

                                                       A few happy tears!

On the first Sunday she was here we took the bus to church and then ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant in Suzhou, Casa Zoe.  On another day, we took in the sights on Walking Street and ate cotton candy and did some shopping.  Because it was a holiday, there were many locals out and things were pleasantly crowded.  Another holiday special was the smell of stinky tofu wafting around, nothing says vacation like foul-smelling food!  I made it a priority to introduce my mom to my "purse guy" and we nabbed a very traditional Chinese meal (or not) for lunch at McDonald's.

Next time mom gets some cotton candy too!

Looking down on all the people on Walking Street.

Cross that off the bucket list

There are a few publications in Suzhou that expats follow to stay connected to the activities in town.  One is called "What's On" city calendar (http://www.whatsoninsuzhou.com.cn/) and the other is Open magazine.  Each month a few local expats are featured in Open magazine and our realtor approached us about being in the magazine.  Many times the expat families will mention the realty company in the magazine, so it's good advertising for the realtor.  I said yes as a favor to our realtor who has been fantastic.  I really didn't think anything would come of it and I forgot about it.

EBean's interest in the
magazine is waning

At the very end of September I got a call from Open magazine and we were asked to be featured in the October issue.  They wanted to do the article in the next two days, and were we available?

Thankfully the person who did the interview was my friend and photography class teacher, so it turned out to be a really fun experience.  The last part of the interview was to get our picture taken for the feature, but the girls were so tired (Wednesdays are LBean's late night at school), and we didn't get any family pictures taken that night. So, I had to come up with some of our own photos to be included with the article.


I fired off a quick email to my friend Kara back in the States and asked if she would be okay with us using the family photo that she had taken last fall for the magazine.  She was great and said "no problem!"


I jokingly told someone that now that we've been in the magazine, it's time to move back...that's all we came for.  Actually, I just went to the grocery store this week and the cashier pulled out last month's Open and pointed to the picture (she thought EBean was the big sister).

The featured photo (karakamienskiphotography.com)

What's That? Wednesday 11/2/2011

Mmmm, this week's What's That? Wednesday is yummy "purple bread".  When we first moved here I was perusing a bread store at the Incity mall and saw a loaf of bread that was a very interesting shade of purple.  Because I have two young girls at our house, purple bread seemed to be the perfect after school treat.

The girls were hooked from the first slice.  I couldn't accurately describe the tasty swirl running through the middle, but it was slightly sweet and very good.  It wasn't until the October holiday when LBean ordered some purple ice cream from a shop in Tongli (that listed the English names of the ice cream) that we figured out that the purple flavor was tarot root.  LBean was not a fan of the purple ice cream and we kept asking her "how bad can it be, it's ice cream?"...it was bad, the flavor was way too strong.

Of course we should have known the mystery ingredient was tarot root!  C'mon why didn't we figure that out earlier?!  Actually we knew that tarot was popular in China and we had a tarot root pie from McDonald's (like the little apple pies in the States) at Family Day in September, so we shouldn't have been so surprised. Here's to tarot root!

What's That? Wednesday 10/26/2011

I considered taking a "sick day" from the blog this week as 3 out of the 4 members of our family have been very sick this week, but we are rallying!  I hope to blog about our first and second visitors from the States and our October holiday soon.  I am so behind!

For this week's What's That? Wednesday post, I need you to take a look at the picture below and see if you can find the similarity between all three packages of food.  Do you see it?

 If you spotted the white "S" against the blue background, then you win the prize (your check is in the mail).  I have been told that this is the international symbol for safe foods.  I do pay attention to it when I'm shopping at the stores, but most of the things that I'm interested in purchasing have the symbol on them.





I tried to do some internet research on the symbol, but I had no luck finding anything.  Sorry I don't have more details!

A close-up of the packaging.

A few health & safety practices have already gone by the way-side.  At first I thought I wouldn't wear flip-flops outside because it's quite dirty, but that only lasted a week or so.  We also used bottled water to brush our teeth...for the first month, now we use the tap (we don't drink from the tap though).  And, I'm okay with the fact that my eggs aren't refrigerated when I purchase them.  I figure the Chinese have survived for thousands of years and we will too!

What's That? Wednesday 10/19/2011

This week's What's That? Wednesday post is dedicated not to a new object or something distinctly Chinese, but rather to an action....an art form.  The unfamiliar practice (at least unfamiliar to me) of bargaining.  I've mentioned it in some of my earlier posts about bargaining, but I thought I'd dive into a little more detail today.

Bargaining is a way of life here.  Just about everything is negotiable and if you're willing to take the time to haggle a bit, you get some really great deals.  In the beginning it was very intimidating.  Coming from a culture where all the prices are listed on the sales sticker, I didn't have much practice (although I have been known to ask in the States, "is this your best price?")  And frankly, sometimes it comes down to squabbling over a dollar or two, or less.  The exchange rate is roughly $1 USD to 6.4 RMB, so if I'm arguing over a 12 RMB price drop, that's only $2 or so.

The better actor/actress you are and the more showmanship you display, the better deal you can get.  It's important to look utterly shocked and disgusted with the first price they offer you...seriously!  Then the fun starts and you go back-and-forth until you've reached some agreement.  They've got a distinct advantage, I am clearly marked as an expat and the prices automatically double.  I've been told to offer half of what the first price is, but for some reason I usually drop it by about 40% to start.

In all but one instance I have had no emotional attachment to anything I'm haggling over and that is so helpful.  In fact, most of the time I can literally walk to the next stall and buy the same thing and the seller is very aware of that.   If I start to "walk away" (as in, walk away from the seller if they will not accept my final offer), I get called back and they will agree to my price.  Otherwise I'll walk to their next door neighbor and negotiate a good price.  The only time this has not worked was when we were looking for fabric and a seamstress to make the girls' Halloween costumes (which will be an entire post of it's own) and the lady didn't call me back!  I was flabbergasted, but she knew I was an expat and I needed costumes by October 31st, so I was at a disadvantage.  Lesson learned, go earlier!

Another trick is to lump purchases together.  I did that when I was buying scarves (a few of you will see them at Christmas...).  After the woman quoted me a price for 3 scarves and I said no, but I would pay that for 4 scarves.  She initially said no, but as I started to walk away she said "okay, okay".

In the beginning I had to take some time to explain to the girls what was going on and try to let them in on the game.  It was a little hard for LBean to "walk away" at first, but she has figured it out now!  If fact, when we were negotiating for Halloween costumes she knew that when we walked away it was because the price was too high and we needed, in her words, "to look for lower numbers, a good price, right mom?"

I don't know enough Chinese yet to bargain completely verbally, but that's why I carry my small calculator in my purse and the numbers can talk for themselves.  Plus, I've developed some pretty refined acting skills!

Be aware though, if you act interested in something, I might just negotiate for you just for the fun of it.  While my mom was here visiting she started looking at a ceramic Chinese piggy bank in Tongli and before she knew it, I had negotiated an 80 RMB price (down from 120 RMB, to about $12.50) and she got to lug this piggy bank around.  She threatened to leave it at our apartment, but I think it made it back to the States in her carry-on luggage.  Sorry mom, hope you love your new pig!

What's That? Wednesday 10/5/2011

Take a deep breath.  And again.  Do you smell it?  Oh come on, try again!  This week’s What’s That? Wednesday is the Asian delicacy, stinky tofu.  The dish comes by it’s name honestly.

We have spent this past week exploring some of the local Suzhou sights.  Because it is a holiday week, there were many people out exploring and celebrating.  Part of the celebration included favorite foods such as stinky tofu.  

We got our first whiff, literally, on Monday when we were on Walking Street in Suzhou.  The smell is so overwhelming and terrible, there really isn’t a nice way to say it.  Jamie likened it to China’s blue cheese and my mom suggested sauerkraut.  

From what I understand, the smell is terrible, but the taste is mild.  I’m not brave enough to find out if that is true.  The best way to describe the smell is rotten flesh with a little manure mixed in...and then fry it in hot oil.

After we got back from Walking Street, I felt as if the stinky tofu smell was clinging to my hair and wouldn’t let go.  Not a pleasant thing!

We were so fortunate to smell it again on Tuesday as we visited Tong Li, an ancient water town south of Suzhou Industrial Park.  The tofu was fried in hot oil and then put on skewers for people to munch on as they toured the town.  I think our family will pass on this treat!

Frying the tofu.  I think the small, round canisters have
dipping sauce in them.

Time to dig in!