Feeling the stress

While on break, I am really enjoying time catching up on reading, running, and being with the kids. Andy on the other hand is seriously feeling the stress in life. Business is booming, which is great. But there have been several situations (machines breaking, problem getting certain materials) that have really brought production to a halt. Or are threatening to. The last several Fridays he has been working from home well into the night and is at work today (a Saturday). Hopefully, some of these problems are being turned around, but in the meantime be thinking of him. We leave for vacation in 2.5 weeks and I know for Andy it can't come soon enough!

Sometimes.....

I just miss the most random things. Yes, the people are the obvious one. But this last week as I have had more time on my hands, I have realized little crazy things that I miss. What are they you ask? Here they are (in no particular order)....

1. Having a light over my kitchen sink. Isn't that a strange one? But often as Andy or I (well, to be honest it is more often Andy) do dishes at night we have to get really close to ensure that are plates are actually getting clean. Surprisingly, I really don't miss the dishwasher. Maybe because I married one? :-) But really in the States he did the dinner dishes and I did everything else.

2. One stop shopping. When we were visiting the U.S. this summer, I was reminded of how easy it is to go to the store, get everything you need and leave (and do it all fairly quickly). The fact that I don't drive just adds to the complicatedness. I have 3 stores (plus the fruit and veggie market) that I go to on a regular basis. And really I need to go to all 3 or we end of just doing without certain things.

3. Reece's peanut butter cups. My great weakness. But I must confess that when people come to visit and bring them, it just makes them even more special.

4. Communicating with ease. Yes, each day gets easier. But it still happens all the time, where someone will ask me something and I have no clue what they just said. RIght now, I have enough language to be dangerous. I start talking with people and they realize that I understand what they are saying. Then because they think that I am more fluent than I really am, they start speaking quickly with more complicated vocabulary and I am immediately lost. Thankfully, at least now I can ask them to repeat it and talk slower. A funny side note is that I notice that often even when I speak English, I speak slower and use simpler words. Since many people that I know are not native English speakers, both Andy and I overall just speak slower.

5. Solitude. I don't think I can ever fully explain this one. Not only am I rarely alone, but people are always watching with curiosity. Like stop what they doing and watch. What is the foreigner doing? Why is she doing that? Even in my home, I am not alone. Granted I have the amazing benefit of household help but what I sacrifice is my privacy. I don't think I truly realized what a private person I am until recently.

Surprisingly to me, what I don't miss are my wide array of kitchen gadgetry. I kind of like how I have gotten used to just having less stuff. When we sold most of our things to move here, some people asked if we would miss it. Honestly, as you can see it is not the "stuff" that I miss. We gave a lot of stuff away and since we are so far away Christmas/b-day gifts become much more minimalist. Even at 1 1/2 years in, it is a freeing thing.

The other thing that has surprised me of late is our view of heating has changed. I am currently sitting in my house and it is around 55 F (13 C) inside and I don't have the heat turned on. Instead we layer up (yup, still working the long underwear) and snuggle under blankets in the evening. I have discovered though that my threshold is right around 50. Much colder than that in the house and I want the heat on.

I looked back at this old post to see what I was missing early on. Funny how things have changed! Now it is definitely less about the food. I have either been able to find those things or just do without. All in all, we continue to be so grateful for this adventure we find ourselves on. I picked up Tori from school yesterday and then we stopped at the park on our way home. Several of her classmates were there with their grandmas. It was so amazing to me as I watched our girl run around with her friends jabbering on in Chinese. She obviously felt so at ease. Mind you this is the same girl who used to scream every time a Chinese person spoke to her. How far we have all come!

oh, so puffy!

UPDATED: Andy wisely told me that without a picture to compare it to, Tori just looks a little chunky. So here is the T with layers and without.....

In December, I posted about how Tori has to wear so many layers. As it has gotten even colder (we had snow yesterday), the amount of layers has increased dramatically! Tori told me the other day, "Mom, I am too puffy! Just so puffy!" How true, Tori! But she is warm in school and that is the important part. In this picture she is wearing: (on the top half) 2 long sleeve t-shirts, 2 fleece shirts, a sweater, and a fleece jacket. This all has to fit under her winter coat. She has started wearing Becca's coat from last year that is a size 6 because her own coat won't fit on top of all these clothes. (On the bottom half) She has on a pair of tights, 2 thin cotton pants, 2 pairs of fleece pants, and 2 pairs of socks. Definitely my little cute and puffy girl!

Date with the T

Last Friday to kick off my holiday break, I had an all-day date with my little T. We rode the bus down to my school to pick up my grades. Then headed off to Starbucks for yummy coffee and a HUGE doughnut. We met up with a friend for lunch and played at a playground for a while. Nothing overly special, but I just really enjoyed time with Tori.

Isn't that a HUGE doughnut? Since we ate lunch shortly after, this pretty much was her lunch.

Tori with my 汉语 Hanyu teacher (she teaches us the grammar and characters). My teacher was enthralled with Tori and amazed as Tori had a conversation with her all in Chinese.

Now I have to tell you an awkward thing for me. Everyone keeps asking how did in my classes. I then tell them that I did well. They pause and look at me expectantly waiting for me to tell them exactly how I did. Since the school doesn't really have a grading system that I am aware of (it is just the score), to tell them how I did I have to tell them the exact score. And I must confess that telling my exact score feels awkward like I am being prideful or bragging. Is it just me, or would that be awkward for anybody else?

I just have to say, don't I look like a giant? Ah, the reality of being 5'9" (or 1.75 m) in China. Often on the bus, I have a clear view over everyone's heads. The other day this random woman on the bus seriously did not come up beyond my chest. She kept smiling up at me and making conversation. I had to stoup down to hear her! :-D

My bookworm

All of our kids love to read. As a parent and an educator this is something that I am so grateful for. But Josh has loved to read since birth! I know that all kids love to sit on mommy's lap and be read to, but he just would never get tired of it. I was reminded of it as I was glancing through some old pictures. In fact, often the girls would be playing and I would wonder - "where is Josh?" Only to go and find him in bed, on the couch, floor, wherever, curled up with a book. So here is my buddy in all his reading glory...

I feel like he could be a Dr. Seuss book:

I could read here or there.

I can read near or far,

I can read at the hair salon.

Or in school,

On the floor,

In a bucket,

Without clothes.

I like to read in a tent,

by a couch.

I love to read here or there.

I love to read ANYWHERE!

My artist

In Mandarin class at school, Becca made this painting (using traditional Chinese calligraphy ink). Can you see the panda peeking out? Up in the right hand corner is Becca's Chinese name. She wanted to give it to Andy. So I had it framed, and I think it turned out really well! If not an engineer (see next post), an artist? Who knows? Andy is going to hang it in his office at work. ;-)

Potato Clock

For Christmas, my parents had gotten Becca a potato clock. Becca is really into how things work. Using this kit, you can use fruit, vegetables and even soda to make a battery that runs this clock. Andy and the kids put this together (I was studying). But before long, Becca began her own experiments to see how she could alter it and whether or not it would still work. . . "If I put both the copper and zinc into the same potato will it work? What if it is not in the potato? It doesn't work unless I am holding it. Why is that? Is the electricity flowing through me?" Hmm, a future engineer?

Family invasion

This was such a great Christmas. I don't know if I really got into it too much on the blog, but last year Christmas was really hard for me. It was the first time I had not been with family during Christmas in my life. Throughout most of December, I was in a funk. I think that a big reason we went to Hong Kong right after Christmas last year is my incredible husband knew I needed something to look forward to. This year, Andy's brother Dave and his wife Amree came and stayed with us for 10 days (they recently moved to Japan). We didn't really do anything all that special. No traveling around China and we saw just a few sights here in Suzhou. But really there was a lot of games, late nights full of laughter and talking, cooking together, and just showing them bits of our everyday life. It was so wonderful. Then on Christmas Day, we had quite the crowd join us to celebrate. We just enjoyed hanging out together, and for dinner (with Dave and Amree's help) we had 3 big pots of soup. Yes indeed, a wonderful time with (actual) family and family we have adopted here in Suzhou!

Dave modeling the coat he had made at the tailor.

My Christmas gift (not the crazy hat) - a crockpot. I put it to good use making soup later on Christmas.

Mmm, Christmas morning crepes.

Tori working the princess shoes with her pjs

Christmas kiddos -- one of the traditions that we have in our house is that on Christmas day our kids can stay in their pajamas all day long. So, even with a houseful of guests, our kids stayed in their pjs all day. :-)

End of classes

The end of the year kind of snuck up me when I wasn't looking! This has been an amazing year. While the previous year (2008) brought great change and transition in our lives. 2009 was a year of settling in and finding our place. While after any move, there is a time of transition as you make friends, find a church, and figure out your new city. I think that moving to a new country (with a different language) just intensifies that. By the end of the school year last year, I was ready for a change. All of our kids were in school and I just felt at odds. I knew that I could look for a job (teachers, especially ones who speak English, are always desperately needed), but I just didn't feel that was the right path. The thought of going to school and really pursuing learning Mandarin Chinese just kept coming to mind. Now, I have finished my first semester and have time for reflections. While none of the speaking and very few of the vocabulary was new, I was quickly overwhelmed with characters. But about a month into classes, the characters become less just sheer memorization through will, but I began to see the rhyme and reason to (some) of them. It is like I was unlocking this giant puzzle that with each step began to make a little more sense. Someone asked me the other day what my long-term plans were for learning Chinese. Honestly, I don't know. Since we have no plans to move back in the foreseeable future, I think I will be using it. :-) And how I use it beyond our time in China? Who knows? But somehow, I think knowing more of the language that is spoken by 1/5 of the world just might come in handy.

But now that I am done with classes, I am going to finally catch up on some much needed blogging. Has it really been almost a month since talking with you all? Yikes!