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.

The Battle of the Squatty

So, the title should properly warn you: THIS IS A BATHROOM STORY! As I mentioned in another post, Tori has refused to use the squatty potties. I wondered how our trip this last week was going to go because MAJORITY of public toilets in China are squatties. Our trip was taking us a little off the beaten path. But we are NOT going back to diapers, so I just packed lots of extra underwear and was hoping for the best. Amazingly enough, Tori found quite a few Western-style toilets in Hangzhou. Huangshan was a little different story. We did find one non-squatty, but of course she didn't have to go then! We had just come down from the mountain and were off the bus and Tori informed me that she had to go pee and poop. I took her to bathroom in the restaurant and of course it was only a squatty. She then proceeded to freak out. I got her to calm down and explain to me what she was thinking. She told me that she was afraid she would fall down the hole. After much reassurances that I would hold her and NOT let her go, she was willing to try. Of course by this time, she had already pooped in her undies! But she did pee in the squatty! Woo-hoo! Small steps.... right? The next day we were driving back and she informed us that she had to go. Now rest area bathrooms are a whole new level of toilet. This time she peed in the squatty and the whole time she was sort of saying to herself over and over (almost under her breath), "I am not going to fall. It is not too slippery for me." She did her business, but unfortunately she is still figuring how to stand so her aim was off and she soaked her undies and skirt. Alas, maybe next time she will master it. I am just excited that she is now willing to try!

Bus Insanity

I mentioned in my last post that we had no trouble going up the mountain (waited only 20 minutes or less for a cable car), but going down was an entirely different story. Apparently, there are 2 cable cars in the same area - a new one (which is the one we took on the way up) and an older one. The newer one runs continuously, but the older one comes only 20 minutes or so and can take 30 people. We waited over an hour for the older cable car (there was quite a line). Well, I thought that the line was long for the cable car, but I had no idea what a long line was.... until we got off the cable car and saw this enormous crowd - all waiting for the bus. Just to give you a bit of perspective this is the line we waited in for the cable car to go up the mountain:

And then here is the crowd waiting in front of us for the bus (can you see the buses in the distance?):

And then all the people behind us:

Tori sleeping in the midst of it all!

Amazingly enough, Tori feel asleep while we were waiting in this crush of people. So, I was carrying Tori and trying to stay with Andy as the people around us were all pushing forward to get to the buses. Thankfully, we got to the bus without getting separated and made it safely down the mountain. As I was standing in the midst of the crowd waiting for the bus, a young woman turned to me and said, "Welcome to China!" I think that this might have been one of the few phrases of English that she knew and she just wanted to practice her English, but I found it incredibly ironic. Here I am, standing in the midst of this overwhelming number of people, having viewed nature all day in the midst of a crowd. As she said this, I thought, "Yes this is truly a China experience! A definite TIC moment!"

Huang Shan

From Hangzhou, we left and drove what should have been 3 hours but actually took us closer to 5 hours due to getting lost. Tuesday night we checked into our hotel room, got some food and collapsed into bed. Wednesday we were up bright and early and ready to tackle the mountain. As we were leaving the hotel Josh asked if we were going to climb all the way up the mountain. I explained that we were going to take a taxi to the bus station, a bus to the cable car and then a cable car up the mountain. Sounds a bit complicated, doesn't it? Getting up the mountain wasn't too complicated, but coming down is another story (and actually another blog entry). The day was beautiful - blue skies and good climbing temperature (mid 60s). We had heard horror stories about how National Week was the worst possible time to climb Huang Shan (The Yellow Mountains) for various reasons: crazy crowds, long lines, no chance to enjoy the scenery. Even with all of this in mind, we decided to brave it when planning our trip. While the crowds were at times overwhelming, the breathtaking views made up for it reminding us a bit of Yosemite. The kids were troupers trekking up and down the steps. We had only two meltdowns (which for an early day with no naps is pretty good I think). Tori flat out refused to put on her coat and was demanding to be carried everywhere. Finally, I won the battle of the jacket and lunch brought back our happy T. Josh's feet started hurting in the afternoon, so to distract him we started counting the steps. We would alternate counting one set in English and the next in Chinese (much to the amusement of the Chinese around us). What a great, tiring day!

The view from the bottom

Riding in the cable car - the ride up took almost 20 minutes

Tori was determined to climb this ledge. Can you see the safety chain before the great precipice? We were spotting her and demanding she hold our hand all day long (which she did  NOT always like).

There were these crazy stone mushrooms and the kids enjoyed climbing on them.

The day started out sunny....

but before long the mist rolled in. The kids were intrigued to be walking in a cloud. 

The stairs that never end! The kids counted these and there were 225! And Tori was determined to climb ALL of them (by herself).

West Lake Impression

Monday evening after dinner, we went to an amazing show - West Lake Impression. Choreographed by the same person who did the opening ceremonies for the Olympics, West Lake became the stage for a fantastic display. Words cannot describe it..... With the stands on the edge of the lake, the "stage" was just below the water so that the dancers looked as if they were dancing right on top of the water. Since it was done at night, special lighting was used to light the stage and the dancers - and the effect was incredible! In the picture above, the man is dancing on the platform just before where the water stage began and the woman is flying in the air. Becca sat on the edge of her seat and was dazzled by the whole show. At one point she said to me, "I never thought I would see something this wonderful in my whole life!" Kind of hard to top that, huh? We wondered how Tori would do since it started at 8PM and debated not going, but we were so glad that we did. All the kids were enchanted by the whole production!

Hangzhou

Hangzhou is considered one of the most beautiful cities in all of China. Located on Xi Hu (West Lake) and only 2 hours by car (or van as the case may be) away from Suzhou. It is amazing we haven't visited sooner! We spent a relaxing day walking around the lake, took a boat out to some islands, and had a delicious dinner.

We found some green space that you are actually allowed to walk on - a rarity in China. Of course the kids wanted to take advantage of it with a game of tag....

Tuesday morning before heading to the mountains, we enjoyed a leisurely cup of STARBUCKS coffee on a balcony overlooking the lake. What a peaceful spot.... we particularly enjoyed this because we can't go anywhere without drawing a crowd. At one point, we had sat on some benches near the lake to eat lunch and enjoy the view. But soon such a crowd had congregated to gawk at us that we couldn't even see the lake! We often joke that we feel like zoo animals. I know that I have mentioned the staring before, but I don't think that you can fully comprehend it without being here. They stare at the kids, they touch them (particularly their hair), they want their pictures taken with them.... did I mention we are like zoo animals? ;-)

Tori loved riding the boat to the islands.

The place we had dinner at was holding a wedding that night - so inadvertently (since we were a few tables away) we went to our first Chinese wedding! The table behind Becca which was right next to ours was the beginning of the wedding guests. Apparently, the actual wedding ceremony takes place in the restaurant. 

Our 1st Chinese Road Trip

This week we took our first road trip. Andy and the kids had the entire week off (for National Day) and we decided to see a bit more of China than just our own city. Yes, you did read that right - they had the week off for National DAY. I should clarify that the holiday is actually celebrated Wednesday through the weekend, but many companies (Andy's included) opt to work the weekend before so that they can then have 7 days in a row off. Anyway, we left Monday morning for Hangzhou and then went on to the Yellow Mountains. I will be doing a blog-o-rama tonight and describing all our adventures. Some memorable moments of our drive:

• Becca LOVES to play games while traveling (particularly the A-B-C game when you find all the letters of the alphabet, which is a bit of a challenge in China). She decided to make up her own game.... she called out, "Let's play, I spy the pollution." Now we are driving through factory after factory, so trying hard not to laugh I asked her to clarify. She told me that she would say if she saw something polluting the earth and we had to try and find it. Needless to say, the possibilities were many. Andy and I think it is ironic that we moved to China with our environmentally conscious 7-year-old!
• While driving from Hangzhou to the hotel we were staying at in the Yellow Mountains, we got really lost. We had directions, but the road that we were supposed to take was under construction. Now I am talking about driving 5 miles on a dirt road and passing cows (in the road) lost! Andy and I each were envisioning spending the night in our van parked in a field somewhere! Thankfully, we backtracked and found our way back to the highway. We then asked the toll operator how to get to the city of our hotel and found out that it would be only about 30 kilometers on the highway. Let me just state for the record that we are grateful that we had already started learning Chinese because between our limited Chinese and the man's little bit of English we were able to understand the directions. I also think that we are going to seriously think about investing in GPS before we go on another road trip. It is one thing to get lost when the signs are in English (and almost all of the highway signs are in both Chinese and English), but imagine being in a small town and all the signs are only in Chinese. Definitely adds a bit of challenge!