DIY: washing the windows

After being in our apartment for a couple weeks, we noticed some things that needed to be fixed. I contacted our agent to get these things done. One of these items was washing our big windows in the living room. Our agent said that it was too dangerous to wash the outside of the windows (keep in mind that we live on the 16th floor). We asked around, but all our friends living here said that it had been taken care of by their agency. Huh.

A couple weeks later, it was still bothering Andy so he decided to take matters into his own hands. And I was worried. The 16th floor, remember?!

He headed to B&Q for supplies. B&Q is China's version of Home Depot. Strangely enough, their logo is quite similar.

But I should not have been (too) worried.... he had a plan. Is anyone who knows my husband surprised by this? Mind you, I was still worried.

This was the part that worried me.

And this would be why as you see just how high we are.

But the end result was amazing. The photograph does not do it justice, but the top window was cleaned and the bottom one was not.

Christmas shopping {China-style}

I have mentioned how different grocery shopping is so many times that I am sure that you might be a little sick of it. But humor me for the sake of a good story.....

Saturday, Becca and I were out and about accomplishing various tasks -- post office (which was an experience in itself and probably deserves its own post), Christmas shopping, and of course, the grocery store. This week we are hosting all the managers that work at Andy's company for Christmas dinner. I have made turkey the past several years and we wondered if they were getting sick of it. He asked them and one of the managers piped up that he would like something else. But since that meeting, we have heard rumors that everyone except that person wanted turkey. Because that manager was older and respected, no one contradicted him. Andy, being the blunt-American that he is, asked everyone to vote who DID want turkey (to which most people said yes). I had thought that I would get out of making a turkey, but due to popular demand, I will be making turkey AND another meat. Ok, that was a crazy-long-digression about why I was even on the hunt for a turkey! In previous years, I have found the turkey on the other side of the city (home of all the import stores). But Izumiya, my Japanese grocery store that I love has come through for me again. They had 2 turkeys and I bought the larger of the 2. I thought this was the perfect opportunity since B and I had e-biked and I wouldn't have to lug the 15-pound bird the couple blocks home. However, we had done some other shopping which left us having to figure out where to put the bird so it would not fall or slide off the e-bike in the transit. 

Can you guess where it is? I will give you a clue.... it is NOT in either of the bags.

It took Becca and I several tries to get it in. After we did, we danced and around and rejoiced in the bike parking lot. I am sure that others were amused by the crazy foreigners.

To top off the story, our e-bike was just about out of power (which of course, I didn't discover until we were en route). Once before when this happened, I made Becca get off and run beside the bike as we went up a small incline. Another time it completely died and I had to push it home. Thankfully, this time we had enough power to get home. But I did have to Fred-Flintstone it to make it across an intersection in enough time. Then I had to explain to B who Fred Flintstone is and why I was calling it that. 

And this is why even just going to the grocery store can be an adventure.....

home repairs ( the china version) and other ramblings

This is going to be a post where I ramble. So consider yourself warned.

Our house, particularly our kitchen seems to be always in need of repairs. Water leaks. The workers come and repair it. A month later water leaks from another spot. Again it is repaired. Last night as I was doing dishes, the water pressure got less and less until I barely had any water. I knew another repair was in our future. When the worker came today, he said that it was a BIG problem. (which often they say, so I don't always believe them)

When the worker had gone to buy parts, I came into the kitchen to find:

Uh, yeah. I think that would be a big problem.

But it is all fixed. For now. We shall see how long it is before I have to call the repairman again. There are times when I am just ready to move. But after completing our home study, we are here until we pick up our son. We will just continue to deal with those little problems. When thinking of re-doing our home study, the continual home repairs pale by comparison.

And now, I am looking forward to next week. Tuesday I am going to Japan. Just me. I can count the number of times that I have gotten on an airplane by myself on one hand. Granted our kids are traveling pros, but still to do it completely solo is an exciting thought. Just me. I could read. Or crochet. Can I say it again? I am traveling just me (in case you missed it). I am going to help out with our new little niece. And her 18-month-old big brother. Andy's brother is traveling to the US next week, so my visit is timely.

We think that we have made a decision regarding schooling for next year. With Tori entering elementary school, we had the decision to make of where to send her. Do we send her to a Chinese school? The international school? Home school? And so, I began the process of researching a couple months ago. There is a Chinese school near us that offers part of the day in English that we thought might be a potential. But the more we thought about it, we wondered if it would be good to keep all of our kids together at the same school now that T would be in elementary school. There were things that I liked at the Chinese school, but there was also a lot that I didn't like. If Becca attended, she would have evening classes. And there would be a lot more pressure (pressure to achieve and get ahead, this is an inherent part of most Chinese schools). Not to mention that the teaching style is much different (more rote versus learner directed). And where does the international school factor into this? We really like the education at the international school, but we just kept balking at the price of the international school for all three. One year at the international school for one child is more expensive than a year at a private college in the US. Is that really a wise use of resources? Somehow we just kept coming back to the idea of homeschooling. After much debate, we are strongly leaning towards home schooling. And yes, there are concerns with that as well. Social interaction being a big one. But overall, it just seems like the best choice. There are some other homeschooling families in our city. And after looking at various curriculum options, I am excited about teaching our kids. Which is funny because I never imagined being a homeschooling parent.

So there are many changes in store for us next year. Adding a new little one. Schooling. But at the same time, I feel confident that our family and more importantly our kids will take this in stride. At least we are not moving to a different country, right? 

thwarted

You ever have one of those days?

Where it seems like everything is not going right?

Today was one of those for me.

We were having some friends over for dinner. I was planning to make spaghetti and meatballs, but needed to go to one store for the meat and another for the pasta. After Tori got home from school, we got on the e-bike to go to both stores. We hadn't even left the neighborhood and my e-bike died. I pushed it back home. I think that a wire rattled loose. After getting back home, I decided I would take my bike. But since buying my e-bike, my bike has sat lonely and was therefore so dirty. Cleaned it off, T and I got on only to discover that both tires were flat. I got the air pump, filled the front tire. But I then discovered the back tire had a hole.

Fine, guess that means we are walking to the store.

The problem is that the two stores are about a block and a half away from each other and our house sits in the middle. But in China where everything is bigger, that block is HUGE. I knew that T was not going to make it walking to the one store, walk to the second, and then walk home without major grumping. I had to decide which was more important: the meat or the pasta?

I decided to walk to Tesco (the store that usually has a selection of pasta) because sometimes they also have ground beef. Not always, but I decided to take a chance. Get to Tesco to discover that they do indeed have ground beef (and we bought the only 2 packages in the whole store), but no spaghetti. In fact the only kind of pasta that they did have was lasagna noodles. Okay fine, no spaghetti we will have lasagna instead. I think this is the first time I have cooked a lasagna in China! In fact, when we sat down to eat Tori asked what it was. When I answered her, she then replied with, "What is lasagna?" And then as she was eating, she exclaimed:

"This tastes really familiar, but it looks really strange."

Yes, that would be my daughter's view on lasagna. The same girl who adores tofu.

sunday snapshot: {the leg of lamb}

As I mentioned in the last post, we received lamb as a gift when some people from Andy's office came to our house to eat a holiday meal.

Ok, technically we received 2 huge lamb legs.

Before going any further, I feel I should give a disclaimer. If you are squeamish and don't like the sight of raw meat, this may not be the post for you. Consider yourself warned.

Mr. Dai (pronounced dye) gave us the lamb. Fittingly enough he is the purchasing manager. I think Andy looks a little stunned. Or maybe perplexed. I know I was shocked and not just a little daunted to cook this.

He gave them to us in just a regular bag. I kept thinking, how in the world am I going to cook this?

Before storing them in the fridge, Andy wanted a picture of me with the lamb. I think probably because I was making a big deal about not wanting to touch them. Don't I just look thrilled? And I told you, the legs are huge!

Pondering how to get it to fit. My face says it all.

But I was determined. And victorious in the end. I was not to be bested by the lamb.

Huge. They are huge. Yet again thinking, how am I going to cook this?

But here is confession time. I didn't cut it up. While I routinely cut up whole chickens (head, feet, and all), this was a bit beyond me. So I called in the reinforcements (my ayi, yet another reason I am thankful for Xiao Lu).

 Though she had never cut lamp before either so it was a bit of the blind leading the blind.

This a serious amount of meat. We divided the meat -- by that of course I am meaning Xiao Lu cut it up, and I put it in the bags. She cut the leg down to about what you might buy in the States so that it would actually fit in the oven. I had pushed and prodded to get it in the fridge, somehow I didn't think that was going to work so well in the oven.

One of the legs marinating. Still a little nervous because I had never cooked lamb like this before. But being me, even though it was a new recipe and I was nervous, I invited some friends over to eat it with us.

And the verdict?

It was SO good. I have the other in the freezer for Christmas eve.

Hope that you have a wonderful Christmas week!

Click for more Sunday snapshots

traffic

This is our 4th year in China and I must state that very few things surprise me any more on the road. Whole slaughtered pig being carted on an e-bike? Yes, I've seen it. A refrigerator on a bicycle? Yup, seen it. 6-foot ladder on an e-bike? Seen it. A roller (you know the machine that is used for smoothing out new roads) just driving down the street. Seen it. And these are not isolated occurrences. We see unique things daily. So not much shocks us. But a few weeks ago, we started seeing these buses about the city.

Wow. I wouldn't say they shocked us, but don't they look freaky? At a standstill they are not too bad, but while moving it gives the bus a slight demon-possessed look. Seriously freaky. And I am not even sure what they are advertising.

Then on the way home we experienced some crazy traffic. We dropped friends off at their house. They live right next to the Darenfa (a HUGE grocery store -- think a super Wal-Mart with about a thousand people inside. And this would be one of those times where I am NOT exaggerating). We like to call this store the Fa. And Fa traffic? On a weekend? Is crazy and best avoided. This was the sight out the front window:

This should be 2 lanes of cars going in the same direction we are. In front of the yellow car, do you see the car facing it? Yes, that would be a car on the wrong side of the road. There were about 10 cars trying to turn left into the Fa and all of them were just blocking traffic. Head-on into our lane of traffic. We sat through several light cycles. In fact, can you see the green light just ahead?

Like I said, this is 2 lanes of traffic. Plus a lane that is going to turn left just ahead. Do you see all the cars angling in, trying to turn into the Fa?

To get out of this mess, Andy had to pass the blue taxi on the right (in the first picture) and drive in the bike lane. All the while he is dodging bikes, e-bikes and pedestrians.

Let me count the reasons of exactly why I don't drive in China. . .

and it continues. . .

We are enjoying great weather here. Starting to get a little cooler, but still fairly mild. Enough that we have dug out our comforters. But we haven't got rid of one hang over from the summer.

Any guesses?

Can you find the visitors that are still hanging around?

There are few things that I hate in life. But I hate mosquitoes. And I know that they are a valuable part of the food chain. But I could personally live without them in my life.

But with them still hanging around that means that we are still using. . .

our mosquito nets. While I cannot say that I hate the nets, they do drive me crazy. I get up in the night and forget that I am sleeping in a tent and end up bouncing off the side. I miss perching on the edge of the bed to get dressed or talk with the kids. So I am counting down the days until we can finally get rid of the nets. If I had my way they would have been gone last week. I am sure this is influenced by the fact that the pests bother Andy much more than me. He is the lure that keeps me safe. What a great guy, huh?

I keep pleading with Andy that it is time to take them down. But he [rightly] says that while there are still mosquitoes, the nets remain. [sigh]

The other day I was again petitioning to get rid of them. I suggested one more week and then the nets would be history. He thinks that we will need them longer. We kept discussing it for a while and finally made a deal. Andy had suggested another 3 days with the net for each mosquito we see, I countered with 2 days for each mosquito we see. Somehow I brought up that the days could even carry over. We joked that it was like roll-over-mosquito-days. At the time it seemed like a good idea. But if we use this current plan, we will still be using them until almost Christmas.

I am enduring, but I have hope that soon the nets will go away. Soon. Unless those roll-over-days keep adding up. [sigh]

morning run

I don't often get to run first thing in the morning. Since the kids get on the bus at 7:50, there is just not time to get up and run before I need to get them moving. Well, let me clarify. . .

There is not much time that allows me to get up at a some-what-humane hour. I have grown to enjoy the mornings more and I love the quiet of the house before our kids get into gear. But I will never be a roll out of the bed early and chipper person. So my runs tend to happen at random times. Usually somewhat in the middle of the day when the typical street scene is fast paced. Not during rush hour, but this is after all China, so our tame is another city's insane.

For some reason I was motivated to get up and run early this morning. I had made a french toast casserole last night. When I got up to put it in the oven, I decided that I would get a run in while it baked. Some might think that I was defeating the purpose of running by coming home to eat yummy french toast casserole. But half the reason I run is that I love to eat! Anyway, I was reminded this morning why I like early morning runs. There is something about watching a city come to life first thing in the morning. Especially a city like ours that is so busy and full of life. The street venders were setting up to sell breakfast, stores were just starting to open, the park had quite a few people doing taichi, and much of the city was still snug at home.

My view as I was running. I run in the bike lane as the sidewalks are uneven and unpredictable. The bike lane tends to be a safer option. But I have caused several near-misses as people pass me and then are so busy looking back that they almost run into something/someone. I have not caused any accidents yet.

Photo taken using Instagram.

But when I got back energized, I have vowed that I will make more of an effort to do this. It was a great start to my day.

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Meat. . . but what kind?

I was talking to my ayi (house help) today about the chicken and dumpling soup that I made yesterday. She informed me the chicken that I thought that I had bought was in fact duck. Huh. I thought that the chicken smelled and looked a little bit weird. Which just goes to show that even after living here years, sometimes the grocery store still has triumphs over me. But we won't consider it a fail since the soup was delicious. Who knew duck and dumplings could be so good?

Evil 85

Humored by this license plate. So the guy driving didn't look evil. But as Andy told me, plates in Suzhou have to start with "E" which doesn't leave a lot of options. Not sure if they have to be four letter words or not. In fact, I am having a really hard time thinking of a good one. EGGS? ENDS? EVEN? ETSY?

FAIL

On my agenda today was to go to class and then stop my the eye doctor on my way home and order new contacts. Sounds simple, right? Well, no it was actually a totally frustrating experience. They couldn't find my name in the computer and wondered if I had been there before. The receptionist had limited English and I had no clue how to say contacts in Chinese. It wasn't even in my dictionary. So I left the eye hospital in defeat. No contacts. None ordered. No way to solve this except with another eye exam. Walked to the bus and headed home. But then as I was most way home, the eye doctor (who speaks excellent English) called me. She remembered me, had found my name in the computer and did I want to order the contacts? Yes, oh happy day! But that is the way things go here sometimes. When things work, it is amazing and you love it. And when they fail? They fail BIG. But that is all part of the adventure - how will things go today? Will it work? Will it fail? Will it end up totally unexpected? You just never know. . .

Oh, Crabs!

Every Chinese New Year, we often get gifts from our drivers. Before we go on, I will answer the question that is going through your mind: You have a driver? Yes, I have a driver. Well, to be more precise the company has 2 drivers and sometimes they drive me places. As I have blogged about before, Andy has his Chinese driver's license so most of the time (unless he driving farther distances or going into Shanghai) he drives himself. At this point, I should give a little background. While driving and owning a car is becoming more common, majority of people in China do not drive and instead rely on public transportation or bike/e-bikes. So when someone from the company needs to go to the bank, the Customs bureau, the Tax bureau, . . . it is the drivers that take them. And then if the drivers are available, they can drive me places as well. I tell you, I live in a surreal world at times. Though on a daily basis, I more commonly take the bus or ride my e-bike. Anyway, to get back to the story at hand. One of our drivers who has been with us for the last 2 years (and incidentally is my favorite) brought us a gift from his hometown. Well, he actually bought us two gifts. The first was a box of 45 eggs. And while that is (slightly) unusual, it was nothing to compared to other. The second was a box of crabs. As I inspected the box, I must confess that I was rather fearful of opening it and having crabs crawl out! So I cautiously opened it (Andy was traveling, so the task fell to me), and to my relief it only contained 2 packages of crabs. We gave one away, but the other is just sitting on our counter. And while Andy and I are willing to try a lot of things, I am not sure that this will be one of them. They just seem so small that the effort would not be worth the rewards. It is amazing -- if you look close, there are at least 30-40 in this small container! Hungry, anyone?

The Dispenser

Can you tell what this is?

If we were in the States, I would guess a straw dispenser. But no, it is a chopstick dispenser. So awesome, I had to snag a photo.

(Just in case you are curious the characters read: kuaizi he, meaning chopstick box)

买2送1 (buy 2, get 1 free)

Not exactly what I think of for "buy 2 get 1 free." I am trying to see the logic here. Snickers gives you energy, you know just like . . . batteries? So you get a free battery with 2 Snickers? I'm trying here, people. Anyone else have any theories?

Packed in

I have become used to taking the bus. So much so, that I really don't think about the crowds or other quirks of public transportation here in Suzhou. But like my other recent attempts to show you more of a complete picture of our life here, I thought I would show you a fairly normal sight on my morning commute:

While I am not the only foreigner on the bus, you can see that I am definitely in the minority. Today it was raining and so the bus was particularly crowded (some who might normally use a bike or e-bike in nicer weather opt for the bus in the rain). But there is a saying in Chinese that is commonly heard:

中囯人太多了.没办法.

(Zhongguoren tai dou le, Mei banfa. MEANING: The Chinese people are too many. There is no solution.) I think that pretty much sums it up!

One of those days. . .

Everyone has those days every now and then. Days where it just seems like everything is going wrong. Today it seems that our house had one of those days. Last night I noticed that our rug was wet in the kitchen. I thought that one of the kids had just spilled some water. But this morning there was no mistaking that it was more than that as part of the kitchen floor was covered in water. Our ayi (housekeeper), Xiao Lu called the maintenance department of our neighborhood. Someone came to see the problem, went to get a part and returned to fix it. I was out while it was fixed but apparently, they needed to move our oven out to fix the water line. But in moving out the oven, the hose going to the oven broke, and our gas started to leak. They quickly turned off the gas and aired out the house. I talked to Xiao Lu shortly after this and she informed me that there was no water and the gas was broken. [sigh] They fixed the water but she then called the gas company to ask them to send someone to fix the gas problem. They told her that since it was in the house it was not their problem. She next called the neighborhood maintenance department and they told her since it was an oven, they were not qualified to fix it. I called our landlord and she was going to send someone to fix it. In the meantime a different maintenance guy from the neighborhood came by and he was able to fix the gas. But by this time it was almost 5. Hmm, guess we are going out for dinner. We returned from dinner to find that the water was leaking again. Oh, yay! Does this mean we get to do it all again tomorrow?!

The Bridal Tour

China is the land of tours. Go to any famous place (or even one not-so-famous), and you will inevitably find a tour group with coordinating hats or shirts (sometimes both) being led by a person with a flag and a megaphone. At the expo we saw the tour to end all tours: THE BRIDAL TOUR. I kid you not. There was a group of brides (and some men dressed up, but there didn't seem to be matching number of brides and grooms. not sure what was going on there) complete with the tour director with the hat and megaphone. Andy and I were left speechless. So clearly, I had Andy get some pictures.

Apparently, they went to Turkey. Can you spot the bride?

Is it me, or do they seem to be missing some grooms?

All lined up waiting to go into the exhibit. Like I said, speechless.

No Vase

Last night we were invited to dinner with friends. Since it was our first time to their house, I went to the flower shop to pick up some flowers to bring with us. I picked some pretty, bright-colored daisies and he set to work arranging them. After he had the bouquet all put together (and I really need to get a picture of one sometime, they are something else), I started to peruse the different kinds of vases. He saw what I was doing and told me that with these flowers a vase wouldn't look good. Since I didn't really agree, I kept looking. He told me again that it would not look good and said that he would give me something else that would look better for free. He gave me a small basket (almost like the kind that you pick fruit in). I am not really sure how the vase didn't look good and this did.... but I was done arguing with him about it. I just went home and picked out one of my own vases to give them in. ;-)

Then in true China fashion, I loaded my flowers into the basket of my bike and rode home. Sorry I don't pics of all this, but use your imagination.

Tori's kindergarten 去看一下

(qu kan yixia -- go for a look at the school)

Last week Tori's class had an open day where all the parents could attend and see what a typical day is like. It was so wonderful for me to see Tori at school. She clearly loves her school, teachers and classmates. This school has been a blessing to her not just in her language, but really just a great school for her to attend. For those of you who do not know, Tori attends a local Chinese kindergarten. All the classes are (obviously) in Chinese and her language has expanded exponentially this year. We plan on her attending next year as well. We will have to watch out -- she will quickly pass us in Chinese! She already sounds like a local when she speaks (for fluidity and pronunciation).

The girls all lined up ready to go outside.

She is such a character!

The teacher had read a story about traditional times where the groom did not see the bride until after the wedding. In the story the groom asked to see various parts (arm, foot, hair) to guess what the bride looked like. Here Tori is under the cloth. As soon as she stuck her arm out, everyone in the class shouted, "美恩 "(Tori's Chinese name). :-)

And here she is!

Tori in her element -- doing art.

Eating lunch. Surprisingly, they eat with spoons not chopsticks. I think by grade school all the kids are eating with chopsticks.

I had hopes to show you a fun video of Tori and her class doing their morning exercise. But alas, our internet is way too slow! I will upload it when we are stateside.

Walmart?

Now I don't often shop at Walmart even in the U.S. (and really I am not so much a Target girl either), unless I have a specific item. Something about large everything stores are just not my favorite places. Maybe I am just not that much of a shopper? Last fall a Wal-Mart opened here in Suzhou. Recently Andy were in the area and I needed a few items, so we decided to check it out. But really, it did not seem that much different than Carrefour or Auchan (two French-owned stores that are really popular in China). Just another HUGE Chinese store that sells just about everything and has lots of people shopping there. ;-)

At the check-out, I found some things I am sure that you would not find in the States. Yes, you have the candy (Cadbury chocolates and Angus chews - much like starbursts), but just below those and to the right can you tell what those are? The green package is chicken feet, the orange package has tofu, and the pink circle things at the bottom are preserved eggs. And I have no idea what is in the purple package. Mmm, ready for a snack?

Andy was excited to see what is coming near the Walmart...