6 month update

I realized a few days ago that we have been here for more than 6 months. Is that amazing to anyone else? Just makes me stop and take inventory....

The kids continue to do well. Our recent visit from Duease was so good for them. I am thankful for their overall good health. True, as I write this Becca has a bad cold and just got rid of lice. Becca is thriving at her school. As I watched her in the school play last week, I felt like I was watching a different girl than the one we brought to China. Every time I turn around, she is growing and changing before my eyes. Josh is slowly making friends. But that is who he is. Tori has made several friends and is enjoying taking a ballet class.

Andy hen mang! (is very busy) Over the last 3 weeks, he has been gone more than he has been home. I think that he has been home maybe 5 days during this time! He was even gone on Thanksgiving. He gets home Friday and does not travel again for a while. Funny how it comes in spurts. He feels that he is starting to settle into his role, though there is still much to learn.

I am overall doing well. The past 4 weeks have been busy. Duease (Andy's mom) came to visit, which was wonderful. Then for the last week and a half we have had a family of 5 staying with us. They discovered mold growing in their apartment, so they bunked here while looking for a new place. There were 6 kids and Becca (at 7 years) was the oldest! 

Normally, I love this time of year, anticipating Christmas. However, even though we have decorations up it just doesn't quite feel like the holiday season. I am sure part of it is the weather (it was in the high 60s today). But I also know that it will be hard for all of us to be apart from family and friends over the holidays. In fact, I am already missing our families. :-(  Don't misunderstand me. I am still enjoying so much of life here, but this is my first wave of homesickness. There is just a small store of sadness that I normally don't carry around this time of year as I miss all of YOU!  Knowing how celebrating with others is so important to me, we will be celebrating with several friends who will also be around. Anyway, think of us over the next couple of weeks.....

Voting Amazement

I take back all the doubts and wonderings I had about voting from China and am just impressed. Andy faxed our application in and that SAME DAY we had our ballots via email. Is anyone else impressed by that? Now we just print them off, fill them out and send them in! We are also excited that Indiana is a swing state this election and not the overwhelming red state that it normally is. As many of you know, Andy and I are swing voters and not tied to either party. As we are approaching 5 months of being in China, there are many things that I miss. But it has been rather refreshing to follow the presidential race from afar. We watch a bit of CNN (but it is the world version based out of Hong Kong) and have read a lot on both candidates, but still have yet to see a political ad. Yes, definitely a refreshing way to vote!

Voting

So, we are about to embark on the wonderful world of absentee voting. After a bit of research, I realized that we could fax in our vote but first we need to apply for a fax-in ballot. I filled out the form and AFTER it was filled out realized that we do not need your standard absentee ballot, but one specifically for military and those living abroad. I thought that the form I filled out didn't seem geared to us! We fill out our application, fax 'em in and then we should receive our ballots via fax. Then we can fax them back. This option is only for those living abroad (hence the different form). We also have the option of doing it snail-mail but I can only imagine how long that would take from China. ;-) We send off our applications tomorrow (Wednesday) as they have to be there 10 days before the election. So, I will keep you updated as to how it goes.... It seems straight-forward enough but with bureaucracy there is no telling! Truly, it cannot be as crazy as the last presidential election where I stood in line for over an hour!

An old friend moves to town!

I had heard a rumor that a family friend of ours had moved just down the street.... and was excited the other day to find it to be true! In the same building as Tesco (my main grocery store) and just a block away, look who came to town:

Yes, that's right the Papa came to town! To be fair, there is a Papa John's on the other side of the city, but they don't deliver. This is truly a Papa John's Chinese style. Yes, they have the familiar favorites, but there is one that we are quite scared of called Chinese Treasure. Let me read you the ingredients: grilled chicken, shrimp, mushroom, fresh tomatoes, PICKLES, and creamy alfredo sauce. They had me until the pickles! And it is not a Chinglish mistake because really they had a good translator and the English is quite good. Anyway, in front of the store, they have a small army of bikes with the pizza warmers on the back -- you gotta love that! Seems appropriate in a country that not only has almost as many bikes as people, but has the most electric bikes in one country. Yes, this friend will make frequent stops at our house!

Things we enjoy . . .

So, to be fair, I thought that I would also make a list of some of the things we enjoy about China. I asked everyone and here are the responses:

• "I like our house and my bed and my mosquito net." - Josh
• "My school and our neighborhood" - Becca
• "Living in the city -there is so much to see and do!" - Becca
• "Riding on the high speed train" - Josh
• "Ja la bu" (the club, which has a playarea that Tori loves) - Tori
• "The challenge, responsibility and people at the company" - Andy
• "I like watching our kids experience China. Seeing them meet kids from around the world." - Andy

And some of the things that I really enjoy:

• The caichang (fresh produce market) - I can walk out of the market with several bags of vegetables and fruit and spend only a couple of dollars. Granted, there are things that aren't available (or fruit that is expensive because it is imported), but I love getting what is in season and very fresh.
• Riding my bike and walking so many places. 
• Having Andy home more. This may seem like a strange one when Andy was just out of town for a week, but he is really home so much more here. We eat breakfast with him every morning and he is home most nights by 6.
• The tailor - I really enjoy having clothes made to fit me. Andy recently had a suit made and it looks wonderful. He is so tall and lean that he had never had a suit that really fit right.
• Watching all of us adapt to the culture. I especially enjoy watching the kids pick up the language and seeing them grow because of this move. :-)

3 months

We have officially been in China for 3 months! In some ways, it seems like we have been here even longer, but in others we are still very much newcomers. It is funny, but it no longer feels like an adventure biking to the grocery store, just part of the rhythm of life. As I got to thinking, I realized there are many things I miss and have not done . . .

Things I miss

Here are the THINGS (not people) I am missing. I cannot even begin to describe how much we miss family and friends. These are in no particular order just stream of consciousness.

1. Coffee - yes, there is coffee in China, but to get GOOD coffee you must pay exorbitant prices. There are even Starbucks (Suzhou has several and one I can walk/bike to), but they are even more expensive than back home (more than $5 for the smallest of coffee drinks)!

2. Whole wheat ANYTHING. The whole wheat bread here leaves much to be desired. I found whole wheat flour (just once) and have not seen it since. Our whole grain intake has plummeted, but the flip side of that is we eat so many more veggies (even the kids). Both the girls now even like tofu.

3. Ice cream. The bing qi ling (ice cream) we like so much is usually ice cream bars. While these are yummy, I do miss a nice big dip of mocha chip ice cream. The pints of ice cream (or whatever size it is) often taste kind of strange to us - don't get me wrong, we still buy and eat them. They just aren't the same. We like the fruit flavors but have just stopped buying the chocolate - it was just too weird!

4. Convenience items (canned tomatoes or beans, tortillas, enchilada sauce). The other day Andy was watching me make dinner and was baffled as to why I was peeling tomatoes (because when you buy canned tomatoes, they are already peeled). I have found ways around these things, but usually it just takes a lot more time. ;-)

5. Jazzercise. I really enjoyed the group of women that I worked out with. I miss the accountability and fun of working out in a group. Now it is just me, the treadmill, and my ipod. Although, I am thinking about training for a mini-marathon or at least a 5K.

In the last 3 months, I have not . . .

1. Driven a car. Though so far I don't miss this one! I think eventually I will, but right now I am good with my bike, the drivers, or taxis. I really don't think I will miss driving enough to actually drive here!

2. Seen any political ads. Granted, living in the great red state of Indiana, we didn't see many. But I haven't seen even one! I do look forward to figuring out how to vote from here. :-)

3. Experienced temperatures below 75. Okay, so that might be a slight exaggeration. Yes, it was a bit cooler when we got here and during the rainy season, but it seems like we have lived in a sauna for a while. Thankfully, the temperature has dipped down into the 80s, which is welcome relief. You know it is hot when even the pool doesn't cool you off (often the pool temperature was in the upper 80s/lower 90s)!

4. Watched any NFL. Now I know that the season hasn't started, but I am anticipating that even in a few months, I will say "I have not seen my Colts play" [sigh]. I know this is something we will miss a lot. Andy and I were flipping through the channels and chatting the other night when we stumbled across an ad (not an actual broadcast, just an ad for the NFL) and we sat there mesmerized. 

5. REALLY been outdoors in nature. No hiking or camping for us this summer. There are some hills that we have heard are nice to hike up nearby, but it has been so darn hot! We are waiting until September or October to tackle those. Right now, we are just trekking through the city streets.

6. Laundry or clean a bathroom. Thank you, XaLiu! Now, I did do laundry the first month we were here, but since then I'll just say that I am extremely grateful to have the added help. Andy is excited because she irons many of our clothes. I fear that he will get too used to having pressed clothes and then someday we'll move away from China, and you know what? This girl is NOT a fan of ironing.

Loneliness

This is the blog where I gripe. Maybe grip is too harsh of a word. Right now, with still almost a month of summer to go I have a major case of the blues. Don't get me wrong - things are going really well. Just yesterday, Josh told Andy that we have a great house and that he loves China. The kids are picking up new Chinese words every day and just really enjoy things here. I think that a bit of the honeymoon stage has worn off for me and I really miss our friends from home. Now I am not frustrated with being here or wanting to go home. No, I just want a couple friends to move here as well. Any takers? :-) We have met some people that have great potential to be friends, but I don't know them yet. I went through this when we moved to Indy off and on for the first year. Someone asked how long we planned to be here. When I told them at least 4 years, they then told us we could be friends (they have lived here for many years). Life is transient when you live overseas and people come and go. Right now, many people are back home for the summer. I think that when school starts and we have more of a routine and when more people are back, things will be better. In fact, I hope to start school as well and take Chinese at the university, but we will see if it works out! But I have mixed feelings about school starting - I have really enjoyed all the time with our kids. I just long for friends! Okay, I think I am done complaining. . . . (Know that under all my complaints, I realize this is just a stage and am still so grateful for the opportunity we have to live here) 

No longer home owners!

It is finally official! We sold our house and the closing was yesterday (Friday) morning. One of the funny things about closing on your home when you are on the other side of the world is the time difference. We had given power of attorney to someone in Indy (because we were NOT flying back to Indy for it). But even though there was someone signing for us, we needed to be up and available in case they had any questions. Since the closing began at 11 AM EST (which is 11 PM for us), we had a late night! But it is done! Hooray! We are no longer home owners!! (I know that you can't see it, but Andy I are doing victory dances right now!)

30 boxes in 60 days

Our shipment has arrived! Our shipment has arrived! Have I conveyed my excitement clear enough about this?! Strangely, it arrived tonight at 8:30 PM. Isn't that a bizarre time for them to deliver things? Even though it came so late, I had to know if my dishes made it. I just got brand-new dishes for Christmas and they had to come with us! When the boxes arrived, I was really concerned because they looked battered and bruised. Thankfully and amazingly, NO dishes were broken. I haven't opened up all the breakables (there are still boxes with picture frames in them), but so far the only casualty is a Starbucks mug from Saudi Arabia. While it is not replaceable, it isn't in the Wilcox top 5 favorites. Now, the fun of unpacking begins. . . .

Moving In!

Bedtime stories in the new house (see our grand staircase?) -sorry about the dark photograph!

Some people have complained that I am not doing my every couple day updates. While there is new stuff happening all the time, I have been SO BUSY that a couple times a week is all I can manage! :-) We moved into our house yesterday. All our suitcases are unpacked and I am already feeling more settled. I think that Andy is as well. We love this house. Just a side note - this house is BIG, plenty big enough for people to stay with us when they come to visit [hint, hint]. The girls are still sharing a room, but this so that we have more play area. Becca is going to have her own "art space" so she can create masterpieces. Josh said to Andy last night that he really likes his new room in China because he has blue covers on his bed (that he picked out) so it's like a Colts room. Do you remember how hard it was for our little buddy to leave his room? Now, he just loves his new room and new bed. All we need to feel totally settled is for our 30 boxes to arrive. A friend recently titled a post "Moving without boxes" (because they are rearranging things in their house preparing for a baby). I laughed and thought, we are moving with delayed boxes! The latest rumor is that our shipment should arrive in Shanghai Friday, which means we should have them next Friday or the Monday after. While this makes me rejoice, I am cautiously excited. I have heard horror stories from other expats about their things being in customs for 3+ weeks! Since the Olympics is fast approaching (I have a complete separate blog to talk about that!), security is quite tight. So, cautious is the key word. 

I have been busy dragging the kids all over buying things for the house. Our house is furnished, but I needed to buy bedding, towels, pots and pans, knives, .... Tonight, we packed the kids up and Andy drove us to Carrefour. Ahh, Carrefour. This store strikes fear (okay, that might be a bit dramatic) in the hearts of most foreigners here in Suzhou. Carrefour is yet another grocery/department store, but it is the store where most Chinese shop. Most expats avoid it like the plague! But they have great selection and great prices, so off we went. We found all that we needed, but navigating all the people was no small feat! This store is what I thought more of China would be like: wall-to-wall people (and all these people are armed with carts). Here is a photo we took while waiting in the check out line. 

I will never complain about slow Meijier lines again!

One month

We have officially been in China a month! Does anyone else find that hard to believe? This got me to thinking of how each of us are doing here. Andy has hit the ground running with so much to learn in a short time. I don't think he has even had time to wonder how he is doing! Becca loves it here, but misses friends. Josh, too, is enjoying life here, but has not made friends yet. He can be my shy guy so I know that it will take him some time. Tori seems unfazed - she is back to napping most days, which she had pretty much given up in the States. I think this is partly due to the fact that we walk so many more places and the heat also takes a toll. She is also getting back on track with potty training and going whole days dry. And me? Well, I am doing well, but I think that it is so hard to really judge until we get into our house. Everything so far I can just say, "this is just temporary. It will change." I am curious to see how things will be harder and how they will be easier in the house. I know my way around my little part of the city and that makes this feel more like home. But the language barrier frustrates me. People tell me this is good because it will motivate me. But imagine trying to do simple things and not having the words to communicate it. Yet again, I think this has raised an awareness of how we treat others in the U.S. who do not speak English. I cannot tell you how I appreciate small kindnesses and when people go out of their way to try to communicate with me and don't just get frustrated. Already I can see that living here will change me and help me to grow in ways I had not realized. That is my hope for each person in our family - that our time here will help us grow in ways we couldn't have in the U.S.

WE HAVE AN OFFER!!

We finally have an offer! Woo-hoo! There are still some things to be negotiated and nothing is definite yet, but I am just rejoicing at an OFFER. The truly sad thing is that by the time we paid for all the repairs on the house, if the offer goes through, we will just about break even. [sigh] I think that we will be glad just to be rid of our house. :-) ....Can I mention again that Andy never wants to own a house again?!

MISSION: Shop like a crazy person!

I am currently in shopping mode.  While this may sound like a ton of fun, for me it is actually difficult.  Those of you who know me well, know that I have a frugal soul.  While I do like shopping, I am a bargain-hunter.  But alas, I have throw our budget out the window and am trying to shop for many of the necessities that will be difficult to get in China.  Some of them are obvious -- like clothes for Andy and I.  We are both on the tall side for the States, but in China I feel like a giant (okay maybe a slight exaggeration).  Just as an example, I bought a down coat while we were in China in January and had to buy a size XXL (this is a form-fitting coat that is not even baggy).  

But something that humors me is that deodorant is hard to find in China.  Hmm, I don't think I'll comment other than to say we bought the amount we thought we'd use in a year and got some VERY strange looks while checking out! :-)

Since the Chinese don't bake (most homes don't even have ovens), I have bought bulk quantities of cinnamon and baking powder.  Our garage (where we are storing everything) is looking a little like a small store!

Getting ready, and . . .

After much work, our house is finally ready and on the market!  We painted, fixed doors, cleaned, got rid of LOTS of stuff, cleaned, fixed the entry floor, put new carpet in, and cleaned some more.  Here are some pictures of the process....

Cleaning out under beds

Fixing the floor with Daddy

billions and billions of bubbles

Well, at least it seems like billions of bubbles!  Check out this massive amount of bubble wrap we bought:

Andy brought this home and my first thought was, "Whoa!  That is tons of bubble wrap!"  Then I immediately thought, "I wonder if it will be enough?!" With that thought in mind I have a contest of sorts.... so exactly how much bubble wrap will we use?  There might even be prizes!! Guess how many feet of bubble wrap and you could be a lucky winner!  (I will even give you a hint -- these two rolls together contain 275 feet and we will be using it for LOTS of things)

From the mouths of babes...

Our move has prompted lots of interesting comments from our kids.  Below are some of our faves:

Funny

Me:  How do you say hello (in Mandarin)?

Tori:  Mee-how (often it ends up sounding like "meow" -- the correct way to say it is "nee-how" and spelled out: Ni hao)

I, being the mom who likes to talk things through with our kids, was telling Tori that we are moving.  She looked at me and said, "Silly Mommy, no we're not!"

"Once our aunt and uncle move to Japan, then we will have family REALLY CLOSE!" -Becca

Becca has been concerned about the 14 hour plane ride (actually, I am too!) so she came up with this plan:  "We could fly to California, stay a couple days.  Fly to Japan, stay a couple days and then fly to China."

Serious

"When we move, can I take my paint (from his room)?" -Josh

"Will people speak our language?  Will I make new friends?" -Becca

After finding out we are not taking any of our furniture: "Can I still take my blanket?" -Josh

Changing Attitude

With our move a reality, we continue to chat with the kids about how they are regarding the move. Becca continues to be excited, though she amazes us with her questions. The other day she asked us what we were going to do with our American money in the bank.
*A side note from the book I am currently reading, Third Culture Kids. The author says one of the ways to tell if a child has lived in a variety of cultures is by asking them the color of money. While most American children would look at you like you are crazy (because money is green), the third culture kid will ask which country you mean. One of many examples of how their perspectives are altered by living in more than one culture.*
Anyway.... Josh has been adjusting to the idea of the move. I asked him the other day how he felt about the move and he answered "okay." A month ago, he would have answered "Sad" with this very downcast puppy-dog face he makes. Someone else asked him recently if he was excited and he replied, "Not yet." He is one who needs time to adjust to change. So this is definite progress!

Where exactly is Suzhou?

Suzhou is in the Yangtze River delta about 60 miles from Shanghai. There is a high speed train that connects the two, so you can be in Shanghai in about half an hour. We could also take a sleeper train to Beijing leaving after dinner and be there by 7 or 8 the next morning. Suzhou is a large city by our standards (but only a medium-size one for Chinese standards) with roughly 5-6 million people. There is a Chinese saying that goes: "In heaven there is paradise, but on earth there is Suzhou and Hangzhou." Suzhou is known for its beautiful gardens and canals and Hangzhou for its lake. The climate is similar to that of Atlanta (note the key word here is SIMILAR). Hot and very humid in the summer. Spring and fall are the best seasons. Winter is short and it does not usually snow. This year was an exception as Suzhou was covered with a lot of snow -- it was the most snow the area has seen since they began keeping records (which I am unsure of when that was - the 50s? A hundred years ago? Who knows?). Though it does get cold and one thing that makes it seem colder is many buildings are not heated. In fact all public buildings south of the Yangtze river do not have central heat (or as they call it in China do not have central air). When we were there in January, I was surprised to go in the grocery store and find it cold enough to keep my coat and gloves on. Ah, one of the many things to get used to in China!

It's official! .... well, almost

We got the contract yesterday so our move to Suzhou, China is on its way from 90% certain to a done deal. Andy is working out a couple details with the owners. There is something really crazy about seeing all the figures in RMB ("Ren-min-bi" which is the Chinese currency). I think that the actual translation for RMB is the "people's money." While I knew we were heading to this, it is amazing and a bit overwhelming to see it in black and white. My feelings are all over the place. This has been a dream of ours since we got married, and it is crazy to see God bring it to fruition. But when I start to think of all that needs to be done, I get dazed and sometimes anxious. Andy's official start date would be the 1st of May, but he would spend May at the parent company here in Indy and we would move at the end of the month. There is so much to be done in that amount of time!

Passport Adventures

This morning we loaded all the kids up with all the important documentation and trekked to the Post Office to apply for passports for them and to renew mine. Now I just must say for the record that there is something really funny to me about a passport for anyone under the age of 5. Something about the mug shots of a little one humors me. Or maybe it's the fact that when they are 8 or 10 they are going to have this shot of them as a toddler/preschooler that looks very little like them. Anyway, we arrived and were told that the forms we had filled out were no longer valid and we had to fill them out AGAIN. They had just changed the form that morning because they upped the price a couple bucks and the forms somehow were different then?! Mind you, that we had to fill out one FOR EACH CHILD and me as well. We then stood in line for over an hour and a half just for our turn -- not to mention how long it took to process our forms. As we were standing there I thought, this is preparing us for the bureaucratic craziness that is typical in China! :-)