It's true - I'm going to India!

My passport with the new Indian visa affixed inside made it back today. Yes. So that means that . . .

I. am. going. to. . . INDIA!

Time to start planning. Both for here and what we will do there. I have less than a week to get things order for the kids here and for us to decide what we are going to do and see. Words are failing me right now. I am so excited to see this unique and fascinating country. So excited to travel and see the Taj Mahal. But mostly I am excited to be with my love for four days. When we traveled early on in our marriage, it made me fall a little more in love with him. We just travel well together. I don't know how to describe it more than that. So I am going to take a ton of pictures and just soak it all in. The time together. The exotic location. The heat. Ok, I could do without so much heat, but we can't have everything. 6 days, baby, and then India here I come!

Bumpy Bagels

I found cream cheese in the store the other day which prompted me to want to make BAGELS. I found a recipe online and it didn't look too difficult. A German friend of mine recently moved back to Germany and when she cleaned out her pantry here, she gave me a lot of baking supplies. Which is completely wonderful, but the challenge is that everything is in German. I have been using Google translate to help, but sometimes that doesn't always work. For instance, anyone out there know what dinkel flacken is? I deduced that it some sort of flake, but beyond that I have no clue. Anyway, I decided to use this:

And it might have been a good idea if I had decided to use Google translate. Or at least use it before I made the bagels. Because my bagels turned out slightly odd. They taste really good, but when I was baking them they just wouldn't get done. I checked after 20 minutes in the oven and the top still looked raw. Put them in for another 10. Then another 10. After over an hour in the oven, they were sort of done. And the end result? Umm, sort of bagels. They taste like bagels and the texture is good but they look so weird. In fact, Andy laughed so much I threatened not to let him eat any. And Becca dubbed them Bumpy Bagels.

So maybe a little late, but today I looked up what exactly I had used. Sourdough mix. Hmm, that would be why they had a great taste and texture (much like sourdough). I am being done in by language. If not Chinese, then German!

I-just-might-be-going-to-INDIA

Does anyone else find that totally crazy?! On Monday Andy leaves for a 2 week-long business trip. India, Indonesia, Singapore, and I feel that I forgetting someplace on the itinerary. But due to flight schedules and his customers' availability, he had a block of time free in the middle of his trip while he will be in India. So he got the idea that maybe I could meet him in Delhi. That's right. Delhi, India. I laughed and didn't take him seriously.

I should know after 12+ years of marriage to always take him seriously about things like this.

Later that day, he researched the flight from Shanghai to Delhi (there is a direct flight) and about obtaining of visa. I went on Monday and applied for my visa and if it comes in time, I am going to travel WITHOUT CHILDREN and meet Andy in India. Can I just say that again -- INDIA? Is this for real? Friends have graciously offered to watch our kiddos. So, I am cautiously, hopefully waiting.

I know that I mentioned how we love to travel with our children, but after Andy's recent trip to India he concluded that they are not old enough. Or maybe we are not ready. Because while traveling with kids in China is intense, apparently India is the next level. I cannot remember the last time we took a trip just the two of us. We would go see the Taj Mahal. But I am not getting too excited just in case it doesn't work out. The weather is crazy hot right now. Today was a measly 39˚C (102˚F), later in the week it will be 42˚C (106˚F). I am so going to melt. But I am waiting and not getting excited, who am I kidding, I am super excited and hoping that it happens. Will keep you posted!

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. . .

Freeing the feet

A friend and I started an annual tradition a couple years ago. When Spring starts to peek around the corner, we begin to talk about it and dream about the day we can:

free our feet from their sock bondage!

Now to most of you that might sound like a simple pedicure. And it is, but it is also more for us. Winter here is cold and damp and really just miserable. It is not that it is any colder than where we are from in Ohio. In fact, the temps here are usually warmer, but it is this strange thing that you just cannot get and stay warm. I am northern girl through and through (not a Southern magnolia unused to cold winters) and laughed when everyone told me how cold it got here. But a big factor is that inside it tends to be colder than outside. Somehow these concrete buildings (and that includes our house that is constructed primarily of concrete) act as refrigerators. Combine that with poor insulation and inefficient heating, and it leads to this chill that just never leaves you. So after one winter here, I decided I would react as the Chinese do -- and layer up. From the months of December to March, I live in long underwear. In January, I was even doubling up with tights, long underwear, and THEN jeans! For us our first pedicure of the year, means saying goodbye to our long underwear and saying hello to . . .

pretty toes!

Though I must mention as an aside something funny that happened during the pedicure. Since I have started running, my big toes often have a crack in them. It doesn't hurt so obviously, I keep running. The guy who was doing my toes inspected it, called someone else over and then they began to question me about it. I told them that I run long distances, this often happens and it is not a problem. That all they needed to do was cut and paint the nail. It is actually really common in runners. Here is an article about it. But clearly, they didn't believe me. In fact after my pedicure was done, the nail technician gave me some advice: 休息一会，别跑步。[meaning: Rest for a while, don't run.] Hmm, while I appreciate the thought somehow I don't think I will be following that advice. 

While running. . .

I have run for several years now. When it starts to get cold here, I take my run to the treadmill. Because as it gets wet and slippery outside, dodging e-bikes, buses and trucks becomes a little too challenging. I prefer to run outside, but running in China is seriously an extreme sport. Because of where we live, I run in a largely industrial area. To be honest, I could run more in the city, but that means more traffic (bikes and cars) and the blocks are shorter so I have to cross the road more often. So I run by factory after factory. But that is not really what makes it extreme. In my daily life (shopping, on the bus, walking down the street) I get stared at, but when I run, it seems that the world stops and watches. I might be exaggerating a little (cause I have been known to do that from time to time), but only a little bit. Part of the reason that many people stare is that exercise is just becoming more common in the last few years in China. For many people, life is hard and there is no reason (or even time) to exercise. And many jobs are so physically demanding that people have no need or desire. Even though gyms are becoming more and more common here in Suzhou, people are still shocked to see a foreign woman running down the street. Another reason I get stared at is that many people think that I must be cold running in shorts. In fact, yesterday when I was running, a man on a 3-wheeled bike with a cart came alongside me and started keeping pace with me. He asked if I was cold. Keep in mind that it was in the upper teens (speaking Celsius, in the 60s Fahrenheit). He then commented that running was good for my health. Then he asked me where I live (and this is not a creepy question, this is a common thing to ask someone). Finally, because he had to turn he stopped talking, otherwise I think he would have kept firing questions at me. On the same run, these are just some of the experiences that I had:

• 5 people took my picture. At least that I saw, there could have been more. I wanted to tell them that I wasn't very exciting while running.
• At least 10 people called out "hello!" to me. And this is a very common occurrence, pretty much happens at least once a day. Sometimes it makes me perversely want to say something to them in  French. Well, if I could I would speak French. Ironically enough, our French friends also get "hello" yelled to them in English all the time.
• Almost caused an e-bike crash. Though it would not have been my fault. He kept looking back at me even after he passed me and almost hit another bike. (And this is not the first time that this has happened)
• Had to stop in the middle of the road because a bus came through a red light.

All I can say is, can you see why sometimes the treadmill is just easier?

Outgoing

The power of our cutie. We hope to harness this for good. . .

Our little T really just knows no strangers. Combined that with her fluency in Chinese and you have quite the combination. She has been known to ask total strangers to give her some of what they are eating (and, much to my embarrassment, they DO give it to her), ask people what they are doing, and just insert herself into most situations. When we were in Shanghai a couple weeks ago, someone gave up their seat for her on the subway. She sat down next to this young woman who was playing a game on her phone. Of course Tori asked her what she was doing and then if she could play (naturally, this was all said in Chinese). Sometimes I worry that we are creating a little monster that expects that everyone will give her what she wants. While she is not singled out at school in most situations, there are times when she is given special privileges. Then as we go about life people just give her stuff. Part of it is her general cuteness and then with her language, people cannot resist the power of Tori. In order to combat this, sometimes at home I don't let her do things or have her way. And sometimes there is not a reason for it, just maybe hoping to provide some balance. While her language is a gift that we are so thankful for, there is a price and I only hope that our consistency and rules at home can balance it out.