teaching again

Sometimes timing just amazes me. We (and by that I am really meaning me) just finished gathering our paperwork and sent it off to the US. About a month ago, Eton House (the international school where our older two attend) asked me if I would be willing to substitute for the rest of the year. I said possibly, as I was in the thick of gathering all of our documents. And last week, I talked with the principal again about what they needed and then I started on Monday. The very next day after I started working, we sent all of the documents to the US. Coincidence? I think not. I love when you can see the hand of God working even those small details out perfectly.

I am teaching a class of 4 year olds. And wow, after almost a week in, I have a couple observations. First off, I think when I did this before I had more energy. Or less kids of my own. But wait, could those things be related?

And secondly, 4 year olds are darn cute. A couple of the girls in my class are tiny which just multiplies their cute factor exponentially. I have a thing about not showing pics of other people's kids here without their permission or would show you just how cute they all are. One challenge that I have never dealt with on this big of a scale is not a single child in my class is a native English speaker. I have had one or two ESL students, but not an entire class. In fact here it is not called ESL as we call it in the States, instead they call it EAL for English as an Additional Language. Not second, ADDITIONAL. Humbling, don't you think? If you walk into my room, you are likely to hear Korean, Japanese, Chinese, English, German or any mixture of the above. Makes for an interesting class dynamic. But surprisingly, I have not really needed a translator yet. I wish we could all learn language like 4 year olds do. One of my girls is Japanese, and speaks well in both English and Chinese as well her native Japanese. 3 languages at 4 years old. My Chinese is okay, but by no means fluent. There you have it, me humbled by a 4 year old.

I hope to keep updating you as our journey with the adoption progresses. And just life things. But I have to frank, right now I am just happy to get my family fed and a decent amount of sleep each night. I am sure that I will find my groove, but I am not there yet. So in the meantime if I am silent for a while, assume that all is well. Because if it wasn't, then I would blog. But for now, I need to get sleep so I can keep up with my new little munchkins.

Spring? And other random musings

Spring has been slowly creeping up on us with flashes of beauty and warmth. Like the trees that are flowering about the city. Currently it is 9°C (48°F for my US friends), but I have hopes of warmer days. Spring, or at least what I think of as true Spring weather is rather short here in Suzhou. We linger in the lower teens (high 40s-low 50s) with threats of rain and then all of the sudden we jump up to the high 20s (low 80s). Somehow we skip, or least move very quickly though my favorite temps. You know the days where you wear jeans and just a shirt with maybe a sweater, but by the afternoon it is warm enough to wear just ONE layer? Oh, those are the days. But unfortunately, during Spring those days are shy and just don't come that often. But today, in spite of my many layers (and yes, we are still working the long underwear -- even under the jeans!), the sun and this beautiful flowering tree gave the promise that Spring is indeed on her way and will be visiting us shortly.

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In other news, it seems that all of that studying worked and the characters did indeed stick (for now). So for today, maybe not tomorrow because my brain is getting older and more like a sieve, I can write the character for earthquake. Just in case you ever need to know it. I came home after class to work with Tori on reading, and let me tell you I wonder what is in the future for our littlest. She is so creative that she takes my breath away and constantly astounds me. Just today, she wondered why she couldn't fly and asked if she could talk to God about helping her to fly. She then proceeded to earnestly pray that God would help her fly and was disappointed when she still couldn't. But I have to love her faith that what she asks for will be given. But being T, she was not down for long, instead just decided that she would be a pilot so she could fly. Of each of our children, she is having the most unique experience here in China. She attends a school where she is the only foreigner, where Chinese is spoken all day (rarely a word of English), and she sees this as normal. She asked me last week what her job will be when she is a grown up living in China. I told her that she may not live in China, she might live in the US or somewhere else. She then asked, "Or Vietnam? Or Thailand?" Of course, I answered that she might live any of those places. We just didn't know what the future held. She looked at me and said, "I might live somewhere else." When I asked her if they spoke a different language what would she do, she promptly responded with, "It's ok, Mommy. I am really good at learning languages."

And that my friends, is just one of the many reasons why life is good on the other side of the world. ;-)

Uninspired

So, I have not blogged in over a month. And while the usual excuse (of busyness) is there. I think it is more than that. I think that I have just been lacking in inspiration.

But just to keep you somewhat updated, here is a snapshot of our last month:

• Hosted 2 Thanksgivings (one with almost 40 people, and one with a measly 25)
• Got family portraits done
• Hosted a Christmas dinner for our church's leadership
• Josh performed in the lower grades school musical. My quiet boy actually rapped. It was awesome to see!

And in the midst of it all, school and work continues. Today is the kids' (well, at least Josh and Becca's) last day before holiday break. Tori does not get a holiday break, but in the idea of family harmony, I will decide which days she can stay home from school.

The Super Yummy

Andy was traveling some this week. One of the nights the kids and I walked up to Papa John's for dinner. We ordered this meal deal: 1 large pizza, wings, sodas, and then it came with soup. We really didn't want the soup, but the waitress said we could substitute this in its place:

It is Sprite and strawberry ice cream, and the kids have christened it "The Super Yummy". They even wanted to make the Super Yummy for Daddy's first night back. I think the best part is the glowing spoons! So tell me, does your Papa John's have these? 

Jet Lag again

Jet lag is a nasty thing. Before we moved to China, Andy and I had both traveled various other places and had some experiences with jet lag. But really, I had no idea what an ugly thing jet lag was until: 1. traveling to Asia and 2. experiencing it with small kids. The time difference between where we are in China and Eastern Standard Time is 12 hours. So essentially, we need to totally flip our days and nights. Usually, you fade early each night and have to power through it to stay awake until a resonable bedtime (you know, like 9 PM). Gradually you push it back until you are on schedule. As an adult, I can force myself to stay awake, but just try and explain that to a 3 year old. The other challenge is that each morning your body thinks it is time to wake long before any sane person would be getting up. This week Tori has gotten up at: 3:30, 2:30, 4:00, 5:30, and 5:00 and yes that is AM! (yawn) This is why we planned to arrive in China over a week before school started just to give us all a chance to get on the right time.  Eventually, we will be sleeping at the right time, but until then we will continue to see this at 6:30 PM:

Whole Wheat EVERYTHING!

Since my last post, I have made so many things with whole wheat flour! So far, I have made whole wheat: pancakes, waffles, pizza crust, banana bread, tortilllas and I even added a bit of whole wheat flour when Josh and I made cookies the other day. And this is just since Wednesday. I feel like I have entered the wonderful world of whole grains again! I think I am going to make bread this week. If I don't watch out, I will go through my 2 bags really quickly (yes, I did get 2 bags!). But wait, I can order more! =)

Too Easy

So, I have lamented for MONTHS about my lack of whole wheat flour. I found it one time in an import store in Suzhou, but that was last June! I love to make bread, pizza crusts and even pancakes using whole wheat flour. In fact, I had kind of given up on it when I was talking to a friend who lives in our neighborhood. She had come over to borrow some white flour because all she had was whole wheat. Really? I inquired where she got it and she said City Shop which is located in Shanghai. This is an import shop that sells many things not available in China. In my mind, I immediately thought, well good thought but that won't work (Shanghai is not far from us, but it takes at least 2 hours to get there by car). Then she said that City Shop delivers to Suzhou every Wednesday. Really??!! Later that afternoon, she brought by the catalogue. Let me tell you, this was almost too easy. I sent an email (in English) listing what I wanted and that I wanted the normal Wednesday delivery. Later that day I received a confirmation email (also in English) and Wednesday morning my things showed up. The delivery was even free when you purchased a certain amount (which was really easy to do as import stuff can be pricey). To celebrate, I made whole wheat banana bread last night. :-) Wow! It only took me 8 months of living here to figure this out....

Fried Chicken

Yesterday was a friend's birthday. I asked him what he missed from home and if I could make dinner for him. He said fried chicken. After hearing this, I was a bit nervous because I have made fried chicken only one time and it was a DISASTER! But, of course, I agreed. So I did a little bit of research online to get some tips. The result was really good (if I do say so myself). But when Andy got home, he was humored to see me frying chicken in my wok and using chopsticks to turn the chicken pieces. But really, it was so much easier to do use chopsticks and the wok worked wonderfully!

PSA

Today I went to the monthly meeting of the PSA (Parent Student Association, aka PTO, PTA) at Becca's school. The meeting was to work through some communication issues and hear parents' opinions. The entire meeting was conducted in English and then translated into Japanese, Chinese and Korean. It was really valuable to hear everyones opinion and for language not to be a barrier, but..... can you just imagine how long it took? =)

Creepy, creepy bug

When Duease (Andy's Mom) was visiting us for THANKSGIVING, she discovered a rather large wasp in the kid's bathroom. Instead of trying to kill it (and who can blame her?), she put a cup over it thinking it would die in a few days. Every week or so I lift the cup to investigate. Each time the thing moves and I put the cup back. Today, yet again I picked up the cup and that thing is alive. Granted it is barely hanging on, but STILL! Is anyone else impressed/scared/freaked out by this like I am? I consider myself one who is not bothered by too much, but this bug is truly freaking me out. I was less unnerved by the weird eggs. How is it still alive? I mean, the thing even made it for the 4 days that our house was unheated while we were in Hong Kong (the house temp was probably in the 40s!). Basically it has been alive for about 50 days under that paper cup! Crazy impressive Chinese bug.

The residence

Technology

I'm back! Well, you probably didn't notice that I was gone, but I have been without internet for almost the last week. Nothing makes you realize how dependent you are on the computer until it stops working. I recently read another friend's blog about the good and bad of technology. As I was without it myself, it got me to pondering as well..... what would I do without my modem and computer? When I was in the US, the internet was a convenience and a luxury. Sure, I missed it if it was not working, but here it was a whole new level. I felt lost without it. I don't really know how to describe it.... my computer is my phone (thanks Skype), my source of communication, and my window into your lives. I was talking with another expat and we agreed that we would almost rather be without water than the internet. Makes you think, how hard was it to live so far away when you needed to rely only on letters? Really it just makes me thankful for technology and how it allows me to stay connected from the other side of the world!

Party people

Over the weekend we had quite the crowd of people at our house. Saturday we had a party to celebrate the holidays. I invited some other expats who also weren't going home. Knowing that probably not everyone would be able to come, I invited a lot of people. Then only 2 families couldn't attend! We had 26 people for dinner (14 adults and 12 kids). It was a fabulous time! I was too busy enjoying myself to take any pictures. :-D

Then on Sunday, we had the music teacher from Becca's school and her family over for dinner. Her youngest daughter is a friend of Becca's (they are also in the same class). 

All in all, a busy but wonderful weekend! 

Making cookies

I have been baking up a storm getting ready for Christmas. If we were back home, we would be going places where others would have made cookies. But this year if I wanted cookies, I needed to make them myself. Ovens are a rarity in China. Most homes or apartments don't have them (which makes me SO thankful for mine). I was also giving plates of cookies as gifts (neither of the kids teachers have ovens in their homes). All this to say, I have been a cookie-making fiend! I have lost count of how many batches and kinds I have made! Last week, I had several Chinese friends of mine that work at Andy's company over at our house and we made cookies. We had a GREAT time! I had so much fun sharing one of my favorite holiday traditions with them. :-D They were funny -- I gave them basic instruction and then they took over while I looked on. I thought that the cookies would be too sweet for their taste (many Chinese don't like really sweet foods) but they all liked the sugar cookies. They were in shock with how much sugar was required though!

IKEA road trip

On Saturday, we took a road trip to Shanghai to visit IKEA. We have made many, many trips (and even road trips) to various IKEAs about the U.S. -- I even once browsed through one in Dubai! But this is the first one we've been to in China. Like many things here in China, the store was packed (partially because it was a weekend and partially just because this is China). We had a yummy lunch of Swedish meatballs and got to shopping. Several hours later, we finished our shopping, got some bing qi ling (ice cream) and headed home. A very busy day, but we got all that was on our list (and of course a few other things....)

Taking a break

Tori asked for bing qi ling (not using English, but Chinese).

We love these buses.... the kids call them the "happy buses" -- do you see the face? It only shows up when they brake and totally cracks us up!

A Chinese Wedding

This evening we attended a wedding dinner for one of the women at Andy's company. I think that it is such an interesting cultural experience to see what traditions a wedding entails. Apparently, a couple goes through several wedding ceremonies and dinners. This was the couple's 3rd ceremony/dinner! One in each of their hometowns and then this one was for close friends and co-workers. These don't even include the procedure to get the official license! Yikes, doesn't that sound overwhelming (at least I would be exhausted as the bride)?! We had a great time hanging out with people from the company. The kids even tried some crazy foods.

The official cutting of the cake - with chopsticks. But what I found REALLY interesting is that we didn't get to actually eat any cake. They cut it and then it was whisked away. Hmmm, I feel like I missed something (literally).

Pouring champagne. Again we didn't drink any, it was more decorative. But I was amused because the groom intentionally shook it up trying to get it to spray everywhere. Then the couple poured it together.

Trying some crazy food..... Tori was quite worried about the hairy crabs. And, yes, the crabs are really and truly hairy! But I must confess that I side with Tori on this one, knowing how you are "supposed" to eat it, I am a little apprehensive as well! I won't go into the particulars because it is unappetizing. But they are a Suzhou delicacy and a must at a wedding.

Any guesses as to what Becca is about to eat? I will give you a clue, it is meat. I know that doesn't exactly narrow it down since the Chinese waste nothing of an animal. Okay, one last clue - it is pork. (look below for the answer)

Pig's ear. I kid you not! And Becca is having her second helping in this picture. Josh liked it as well and ate a couple. If you get past what it is, it tastes good and is quite tender.

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!

My Caichang

So, I thought that since I have run out of new things to tell you as life has fallen into a rhythm here, I would start telling you some of the daily life stuff that is different than the States. Well, I may NEVER run out of things to tell, but much of the newness for us has worn off. Many of you have also asked about just what a typical day or week is like so I will attempt to share some of this. . .  As I have stated before, I go to the grocery a whole lot more here. I have found that I usually go to the grocery store about twice a week and the fresh produce market about two or three times in a week. I love the caichang (fresh produce market)! You can buy so much there! I could buy a chicken (live) and have them kill it for me, buy fish from a tank, so many kinds of tofu, spices, and let's not forget the fruits and veggies. Now, I don't feel brave enough to go the live chicken route (or even buying fish), but I really enjoy buying spices, tofu, fruits and vegetables. This is also a great place to practice my Chinese. I have gotten to the point where I can ask for what I want (I know quite a few vegetables in Chinese), can ask for suggestions and can understand how much I have to pay. Yes! A victory for Sarah in the ongoing Chinese battle! I have a regular veggie lady that I go to - so much so that I sometimes come by myself and she always then asks where the kids are. ;-) But the differences don't stop here - then when you get the vegetables home, EVERYTHING is thoroughly washed (in soap). This helpful piece of advice has kept all of our stomachs behaving normally throughout the transition. Here I am washing xi lan hua.

On the hunt...

. . . for mosquitoes! One thing that surprised me here is the abundance of mosquitoes. Now, I am talking about big ones that come out during the day. No waiting until night for these! After being in our house only a week or so, I was on the hunt for mosquito nets for the kids beds (which are sold everywhere here). We do have air conditioners and don't usually have our windows open, but somehow they still manage to find their way in. And I have found them in some random places: in the curtains, closets, and the other day I opened the toilet and one flew out! So, I have developed a nightly ritual of going hunting - particularly making sure there are no bugs inside the netting with the kids. One of our favorite finds (another thing that might make the trek back to the States for friends and family) are these bug zappers. These tennis-racket-looking things are sold for about 7 yuan (around $1). I know similar things are sold in the States, but I have a feeling that these are a bit more powerful (less pesky regulations here). In fact, these little bugs are so much a part of our lives that Tori renamed a bug that we have had forever "Mosquito". Just spotting ANY bug (ant, mosquito, and recently a cricket) and Tori screams like crazy! But for some reason, she likes her stuffed bug and plays with it a lot.

Snuggling with "Mosquito"

Josh and Becca in their mosquito nets. The girls call theirs the "Princess carriage"

Gas Leak

On Friday, we noticed a strong gas smell in our kitchen. Our house uses natural gas for the stove/oven and for the water heater. After some investigation, I concluded that there was probably a gas leak. Someone from the company was here to make sure that I had paid the bills correctly (which I had) and she called the gas company for me. My experience when calling anywhere is that I call and if there are no English speakers then they usually just hang up on me (this has happened several times). Someone from the gas company was going to come out and check it out in the afternoon. When the guy came, he checked and kept telling me "Mei you wenti" (no problem). I called and had someone from the company translate. He told them that we needed to wait 2 days and to see if the problem gets worse. This is a gas leak we are talking about here! Obviously, I didn't want to do that so I was told that my only other option was to go down to the gas company. Tina, who had been translating for me in the morning, came with me to the gas company. We were told that we needed to prepay 400 yuan (about $58) and then a repairman would come in the morning. I thought, "Yes, now are we are getting somewhere!" The next morning the repairman came, looked under the sink (where the gas lines are), and told us it was too complicated and left. He just left! Tina called the gas company again and we figured out that we needed to pay 300 more yuan and then someone would come in the afternoon to fix it. So with great trepidation, we paid the additional money hoping this would get it fixed. I mean we are talking about a gas leak here! Bear in mind, that the gas was turned off and so was not leaking anymore, but this obviously needed to be fixed. Anyway, after paying the additional yuan (bringing the total to 700 yuan or $100), another repairman came around 2PM. He fixed the problem in less than a half hour and informed us that we would be refunded some money because it was not that complicated. Yes, those were his word - NOT THAT COMPLICATED! So, I just need to go on Wednesday and I will be refunded 600 yuan! Really, not too bad. It just took 3 repairmen, a translator, and 3 trips to the gas company (including the one for the refund)! Definitely a TIC (This Is China) moment. ;-)