Medical testing and Grocery adventures

On Friday we had our medical exam for our residence permits. I heard horror stories over breakfast from the other women of how awful it was, but it really wasn't so bad. Sure, I was poked and prodded, but talk to any women who has been pregnant and she can tell you that you just kind of get used to that. It was actually very efficient. You go through a series of test - EKG, x-rays, blood work, eye test, dental, ultrasound, and the list goes on. But you are whisked through with surprising speed. I think that the one thing I will take away from this experience is how we can treat others who don't understand our language. You know how you see someone from another country who does not speak English or speak it well and there can be a tendency to make assumptions. Well, as someone who has been on the receiving end of said assumptions, I hope to never judge too quickly again. Because I was often treated like someone who isn't very bright just because I don't speak Chinese. One thing that I hope our time here does for our children is for them to realize that people are people no matter how different we may seem.

After our medical tests, we took the kids out for Chinese. I think that it will be a couple weeks before we do that again. Lesson learned: tired, grumpy kids do NOT want to try new foods. They did eat after some grumbling. Becca is definitely the most adventurous.

Then after lunch I went grocery shopping. Now I had been to a grocery store when we were here in January, so I thought that I was prepared. Yet another example of how living is different from visiting. I just wanted some basic food, you know, milk, bread, produce. Little did I realize that this takes 3 different stores to accomplish. First we went to Metro (a German owned store) that has a good offering of Chinese and Imported foods. But as I wandered the aisles, I soon began to realize that this could take me a LONG TIME. It is a huge store! Then I was figuring out what exactly things are. I mean what exactly is the difference between "High Calcium Milk" and "Vitamin Milk"? C'mon where was my 1%? I went for the "High Calcium Milk" because I was told that it has a better taste (more pleasing to foreigners). We shall see. The meat department was also an adventure. You could pick out your fish for dinner that night from a tank. And I am talking some funky fish! Then I was picking out some pork (no I didn't want the half of a pig that was hanging up) and yet again the labels were a bit confusing. I must confess though there is something very real about seeing the meat you will eat in carcass form. Talk about keeping it real. As opposed to the anesthetized meat you see in US grocery stores (that looks as if might never have come from an animal). I also bought a bag of rice - a 10 kg bag for 48RMB. Which is a 22 pound bag of rice for about $7! After Metro, we were off to the bakery (a different store) to buy bread. Then the fresh produce market (yet again a different store), which was my favorite. I am going to enjoy coming to this store, though lack of language will make it a bit of an adventure. 

After all this, we celebrated Josh's birthday with a taco dinner. What a full day! Okay, this doesn't exactly fit with the flow of the post, but I have to share something. We were leaving the apartment at one point and one of the women at the front desk said to me, "You are very fortunate (looking at the kids), two children and one son!" What an example of the value placed upon kids and extreme honor placed on sons!