What a Difference a Year Makes

We were reminiscing the other day about how quickly things change in a year. For example, one year ago on Halloween:

• Our limited knowledge of China was largely a result of the movie “Mulan.”
• We thought authentic Chinese food included Crab Rangoon and Sesame Chicken.
• We had 5,000 frequent flier miles combined amongst the three of us – now we’re all at least Gold.
• We were convinced the maximum occupancy of a moped or bicycle was one.
• If someone had said “Ni Hao” (which means hello and is pronounced like Knee How), we would have been sure someone was asking about our legs.
• The idea of the garbage man riding a bicycle was absurd.
• If someone’s name began with an X we would have had some pronunciation difficulties.
• We would have thought it was odd to see a 40 year old man walking down the street with a pink Hello Kitty umbrella.
• Annie had no clue that someday she would be driven to learn a foreign language solely for the purpose of knowing what people are saying about her in the elevator.

Sun Up and Sun Down

With daylight savings coming to an end next weekend in the U.S. we thought it was a good time to touch on one of the biggest adjustments we’ve had to make moving here to China - sunrise and sunset times. The sun comes up before 5am and sets before 5pm right now. In the dead of summer, it was light until about 5:30pm at the latest point.

There are really two reasons for the early rise and early set of the sun. One, China doesn’t practice daylight savings. Two, China is roughly the same size as the U.S., but the entire country is in the SAME time-zone. Just imagine if New York and Los Angeles had the same exact time – it would be great on New Year’s because everyone would get to celebrate live with Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest, but not-so-great the rest of year.

If we had migrated here from Alaska or had a paper route then it might not be such a downer, but when we’re used to our summers having sunshine until 9pm, it’s a bit of a beat-down.

Yard Work

One of Scott’s favorite aspects of living in China (and being a “renter”) is the fact we have a gardener that takes care of the lawn. Despite his extreme disdain (and his complete ineptitude) for yardwork, he has never before outsourced the function (primarily due to cash flow constraints).

Our gardener comes three times a week and does the mowing, the watering, the planting, etc. The yard looks good now, but at one point this summer, after weeks and weeks of us complaining the lawn needed to be mowed, all the grass died. It is our theory that he mowed it and then euthanized it so he wouldn’t have to mow it again during the heat of summer (Scott has actually taken note of this in case Annie balks at the hiring of a yard man when we are again homeowners).

It could be worse - at least our gardener does have a mower. Often you will see gardeners butchering an otherwise beautifully manicured 2000 square foot lawn with a weedwacker while a pal comes behind and rakes up the clippings. This method can take an especially dangerous turn when the “wacker” accidentally takes a large divot from the earth and the debris punctures the “rakers” bare legs.

A Temporary Addition

On Wednesday, Anne received an e-mail from a group she volunteers with here in Shanghai. The e-mail stated that a 3 year-old orphan from somewhere outside the city had been rushed here for brain surgery. The child had a brain cyst that caused hydrocephalus and they had to insert a shunt. The group was seeking a foster family for the girl because she will have two months of follow-up care here with the surgeon.

Anne immediately responded to the e-mail and said we were more than willing to foster her during her recovery. A few hours later we were told to come to the hospital the next day to see the girl and sign a form. And… just… like… that…. we became foster parents.

So beginning late this week, she will come to live with us for a couple of months. We are all very excited (especially Juliet) and look forward to sharing our lives with her so she can recover and go back on the adoption list.

The few people we’ve talked to back home about this already have all asked us the two same questions, so we’ll answer both here in advance.

1. No, we would not be able to adopt her. When you are an ex-pat in China you must live here for at least one year until you are eligible to even submit an application to adopt.

2. No, except for “bye-bye” she speaks no English. However, we’re really not that worried about it because our Mandarin is getting much better as a family - Scott and Juliet know quite a few sayings and words and Anne knows how to say “hello” and “do you take plastic?”

New Name for Anne

We recently applied for local Chinese credit cards because there are a number of places in China that do not accept foreign credit cards. According to the application (which was in Chinese so it had to be translated) we had to apply using our full names.

Today we received the cards in the mail and were fairly satisfied to see they had gotten Scott’s name pretty close to being correct. However, they made a slight error on Anne’s card. It came to us with her name written as “An Na”. Nothing else – just “An Na”. Now if her name was actually Anna, then we might see how they could make such a mistake. However, since it isn’t, we are really struggling to see how a major bank could get “An Na.” Plus, if you use the same logic they applied to Scott’s card (surname first then given names), her name would actually be Na An to a westerner.

Sounds like she’s found her Chinese name!

Service with a Little Something Extra

Buying clothes that fit us can be quite challenging here in China. One, the clothes aren’t as big as those in Western countries because Westerners are typically taller (not Scott) and portlier (Scott). Two, the sizes are based on meters rather than inches so we have no clue whatsoever what we need to buy.

Store clerks often really struggle when Westerners walk in, and on several occasions, the clerk has just looked at us and emphatically said NO! However, Annie has a friend who actually got a little “special treatment” when she went to buy a bra. The lady perused her choices and picked out the one she thought “looked right.” The store clerk then approached her and without saying a word, looked at the chosen item and then directly at her chest. After surveying the landscape for about 15 seconds, the clerk cupped her hands and proceeded to “honk her horns.” The clerk immediately selected a different bra and the woman went on her way … A satisfied customer.

Not Your Average School Bus

For the first two plus months of school, Mr. Chen has taken Juliet in our car. However, due to the fact it was taking Scott a lot longer to get to work and because Juliet insisted, she began riding the bus to school this week. Below is a picture of the bus that transports her everyday. Are they going to school or cross-country to Beijing?

Cleanliness is Next to Godliness – Or so We Thought

Today Annie was waiting at the grocery store for the deli to finish slicing her ham and noticed that in one of the pre-packaged sandwiches in the refrigerator case there was a bug crawling around. At first she thought the bug was just on top of the plastic wrap, but upon further inspection realized he or she was actually trapped inside the wrapping along with the sandwich.

When the worker returned with her ham, she felt like she would do her civic duty for the poor soul that might purchase the sandwich and informed the worker about said bug. He came over, took a gander, and thanked her for her assistance. Wondering if any action would be taken, Annie loitered around the deli counter and observed the man tell another worker about the critter.

The other worker immediately sprang into action. She went over and picked up the sandwich. However, instead of disposing of it as Annie expected, she opened the plastic wrap, smashed the insect with her thumb and index finger, and wrapped up the sandwich good as new. Mmmmmm Good!

Plenty of Carbs

It is our recollection from childhood the hot lunch at school typically included a fairly well-rounded, balanced meal. It wasn’t too heavy in one food group versus another (protein, starch, etc). Well, the last few weeks Juliet has begun to eat hot lunch a few times a week. Each night this week, Scott has asked Juliet what she had for lunch.

Monday:
“We had Grilled Sausage … and Rice”

Tuesday:
“We had Meatloaf, Mashed Potatoes … oh yea … and Rice”

Wednesday:
“We had Cheese Pizza … and Rice”

Sensing a trend, the following conversation occurred this evening:

Scott: “So do you have rice everyday?”

Juliet responded with a touch of sass: “Uh yea … Last week we even had Rice with Spaghetti, but I usually only eat a few bites because … you know … It doesn’t taste very good.”

Scott: “Is it Fried Rice or Steamed Rice?”

Juliet: “You get what you get and you don’t throw a fit!”

And that was that.

Too Close for Comfort

This morning Scott witnessed something he felt was truly remarkable. The elevators in his office building are probably about 6’ by 8’ – basically standard size elevators. In the U.S., the maximum number of people that would ever consider getting on said elevator is probably about 8 people max – even without the weight restriction.

Today on his way up to the office on the 24th floor, 21 people got on the elevator – prompting the phrase “Aren’t you glad you use Dial…. Don’t you wish everyone did” to play over and over in his head.

After the 17th person got on, the elevator started buzzing as if to say “good morning elevator travelers but at least one of you is going to need to wait 15 seconds until the next elevator makes it to the ground floor.” Despite the buzzing 4 more people wedged their way onto the sardine-like lift. The buzzing continued but finally dissipated as the doors closed to all 21 people staring across at the other elevator that had landed and was about to head up for its journey with only 3 passengers.

Protection from the Elements

Last night and today, the second typhoon of the summer came through near Shanghai. It brought with it 30 MPH wind and hard rain for virtually 24 hours now. We are trying to stay dry and have been pretty successful, but it’s not so easy for the millions (not an exaggeration) of bicycle and scooter riders here in Shanghai.

There are a variety of interesting methods these folks employ to stay dry. No matter which method selected, each strategy employs an oversized plastic poncho, a ballcap, and two clothes pins. The hat is placed under the poncho to provide a “brim” for the water to roll off, and the clothes pins are used to secure the front of the poncho to one’s handlebars – providing a “tent” to protect the legs and feet from water. Here are a few of the more common strategies:

“The Rollback” – This strategy involves tying plastic Wal-Mart sacks securely around each foot and each hand. The downside is this method requires another person to adequately fasten one’s hands with Sam Walton’s multipurpose totes.

“The Big Wheel” – This is the most dangerous of all methods, but very common. It’s utilized by those with motorized bikes and scooters. The rider puts his feet up near the handle bars – parallel to his hands – in order to protect his legs and feet from the water below. It puts the rider’s balance in a very precarious position. The risk of injury is quite high, but keeping one’s pants dry trumps safety.

“The Huckleberry” – The Huckleberry is the most common tactic and involves rolling one’s pant legs up to the knees (ala Huck Finn) and wearing flip flops or going barefoot. This strategy keeps the shoes dry (as they are kept in a backpack), but puts one’s bare legs and feet at the risk of a sudden “foot stop” that might be necessary or any random critters that might want to munch on the exposed flesh.

“The Rat’s Ass” – This is the second most utilized method and it’s when people take absolutely no precautions whatsoever to protect themselves from the elements. They ride to work as if it’s a perfectly sunny day and they don’t give a rat’s ass that it’s going to rain 6 inches today.

A Little Eye Candy

During our flight home from Dallas, Annie and Juliet were seated in the two seats closest to the window and Scott was seated across the aisle from them next to a 50-something American man. After some brief cordial chit-chat after boarding, Scott and his seat-mate, each began reading their respective magazines as we taxied down the runway. Scott noticed that his new friend was reading Time and thought to himself “great, maybe later in the flight, I can borrow his magazine if I need something to read.”

After a few minutes, Scott was deep into his Sports Weekly and noticed out of the corner of his eye, something that strongly resembled a female breast. Initially, he figured it was just a picture in Time. A minute later, however, when looking to the left side of his magazine, Scott realized that it was not in fact a Time magazine picture, but rather, a hard-core porno magazine slipped inside the middle of Time.

After the man fell asleep 30 minutes later, Scott figured that would be the end of viewing. However, at least twice later in the flight, the magazine made its way out again – apparently when it was “Time” for “little pick me up.” Needless, to say, Scott decided not to ask to borrow his pal’s reading material.

Returning Home

We had a great week in Dallas as we celebrated the National Day holiday, and we survived the 18 hour journey home on Friday/Saturday.

Juliet had a great trip with one minor fiasco. A little over half way through the flight, after waking up from a 6 hour nap, she received a full cup of Sprite with her snack. Unfortunately, before getting a chance to savor the lemon-lime goodness, she spilled the entire glass all over herself and Annie.

Fortunately, Annie had inexplicably put Thursday’s dirty laundry in our carry-on luggage so she and Juliet both had a set of clothes to change into – albeit slightly dirty from the day before. We did not, however, have an extra pair of underwear for Juliet. We’re sure those seated around us got quite a chuckle out of us trying to convince our resisting five-year-old of the benefits of going “commando” versus wearing soaking wet princess panties.

The New MasterCard Ad

In about 10 hours we will show up at the American Airlines ticket counter to check in for our trip home to Shanghai. We will then embark on an 18 hour trip that has all the makings of a new MasterCard ad.

Oversize Baggage Charge = $50

Piece of Pepperoni Pizza at Sbarro = $7

Cinnamon Roll from Cinnabon because Juliet changed her mind about the Pizza = $8

Jack and Coke on the plane to wash down the Nyquil = $5

Playing “Old Maid” for 14 hours with your five year old who refuses to sleep despite getting up at 4am that morning = Priceless

Fallen Off the Face of the Earth

Where are the Richardson’s? Sorry for the absence in the posts. We are actually on vacation for the Chinese National Day Holiday (we get the first week of the October off of school and work – Annie also gets the week off from shopping and scrap booking).

What exotic location did we choose to spend the week at? ….. Dallas, TX.

You might ask why we would choose to come home after only three months with all these great Asian destinations in our backyard. There were four reasons:

1. Eat Mexican Food
2. See Family and Friends
3. Get Juliet checked out by a Urologist
4. Eat Mexican Food

We have had a good week and have been able to accomplish all four of our goals. Juliet was tested and it was determined she has what is know as kidney reflux – we don’t yet know the treatment, but it does look like surgery is unlikely, which is a relief. Our visit with family and friends has been great and now we’re looking forward to an extended trip at Christmas. Mexican food is still the best cuisine in our minds despite our acquired affinity for Chinese food – who would have thought Pig Stomach could taste so good?

One thing we have realized this week is how much we do enjoy living in China. Despite the pollution, the language barrier, the smell, and the inability to purchase Rotel, we have taken to our new life over there and are looking forward to continuing our adventures next week.