Month: October 2017

Last night, and again this morning,  I had my first China break down.  I was trying to figure out how to organize a trick or treating event for Alex and a few other kids in our apartment. Or if that didn’t work then maybe just a little party in our apartment.   The reality is that I have two weeks, not enough free time and not enough understanding on how the ordering works to get things here on time.

Time has been speeding by since we got here and every minute has been filled with things we need to get done (I still don’t have my residency permit- I have two days to get that done before I get deported), things we’re learning how to do (like ride the bus to the mall this past weekend) and regular things like laundry and homework.  So when I took a breath last night and realized that Halloween was in two weeks, I panicked.

Halloween is my favorite holiday and I always try to do it up big.  By this time in the year I’ve decorated the house, bought Halloween candy (maybe more than once ), and usually am finishing up Alex’s Halloween costume (which every year gets more elaborate and harder to make) . Last year I collected bags and bags of Halloween clearance supplies at Michaels after the holiday.

This year, there will be no jack’o lantern by our front door because I can’t find any pumpkins here.  And Alex won’t be trick or treating with friends, because the friends he has here have never heard of trick or treating and we have no where to go.

So last night I cried. And this morning I cried because like his slightly odd mother, Alex loves Halloween and I can’t give that to him this year. And I miss my porch with my jack’o lanterns, and mantel with my pumpkin candles.  And I miss my friends, and the traditions of home.

I know that there will be new traditions here, new holidays to celebrate and new friends to celebrate them with. And I’ve learned a valuable lesson that will not be repeated at Christmas, I will start early setting things up so that Alex has the Christmas he’s used to.

This year Alex will still get to dress up (he picked Storm trooper again) and we will steal candy from Daddy’s class (Mark is teaching on Halloween and providing candy to the kids) and watch Halloween movies. And next year, I will plan early and we will bring Halloween to Haining.

On our last day of the Golden Week holiday,  we took a mini adventure to a local shopping area.  We got on the bus not too far from campus  for the bargain price of about 30 cents each.  It’s a fun little bus ride and the locals are definitely not used to foreigners on the bus. The first time we took it, the older ladies all fawned over Alex and decided that Mark and I must be Chinese (from Western China).

At our bus stop, we walk around a bustling neighborhood with fruit shops (we bought some on our way out), restaurants, and brothels.  I was completely oblivious to the brothel until it was pointed out to me.  There’s an angry dog that patrols his area of the street, but so long as you don’t make eye contact, he will leave you alone.  Right past the angry dog, you come to a little bridge, and that bridge is the gateway to a magic area of shops, restaurants, live entertainment, and people watching.

Now I will admit that I made a rookie blogger mistake,  I didn’t check to see how much battery my camera had before we left for the night. So there won’t be as many pictures as I’d like, but I will definitely be going back there again.

There are lots of tea shops and snack places along the way, and Alex asked for his favorite snack- popcorn.  Chinese popcorn is not the same as popcorn in the States. I always think of it with butter and salt, but here in China it is usually sweet with a kettle corn to caramel corn taste depending on where you get it from.  Alex loves it! Personally, I miss salty popcorn, although this popcorn is good too.

We found this place because Mark’s coworker and new family friend, Lynken,  goes there for tea and thought we’d like it too.  The tea shop he goes to make an amazing ice tea! Right across of the tea shop is a little pagoda sitting area next to the river.  It’s so peaceful, I plan on going there to write this blog any chance that I get!

Along the way we found a pet store, Alex was enthralled- it had bunnies, fish, chinchillas, and a raccoon (or what we like to call Trash Pandas- extra credit if your get the reference). Alex really wants a raccoon for a pet now, luckily we can tell him the apartment doesn’t allow raccoons.

As we kept walking along the pathway, we came across a big bridge that lit up right as we got to it.  And all around the bridge there were bats flying around keeping the area relatively mosquito free.

We ended up at a vegetarian buffet and sitting at a large round table with a family we didn’t know. Luckily they thought Alex was pretty cute with his chopsticks and trying all the different foods. I thought it was great, and as good as the cafeteria food is here on campus, it was nice to have a break from eating with all the students.  By now my camera had run out of batteries, so no pictures of the great food or the restaurant. Next time I will correct this mistake. I was able to get two more nice photos on my phone before we left for the night.

one entrance to the strip

Alex wanted to be holding up the dragon

We are lucky enough to get a major holiday right after we got here. We’ve been in country less than a month now and it was the National holiday. Everyone travels back to their hometown and has a week off.  I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but admittedly at this point, that’s all I know. Mark and I decided that since we’re still getting settled that a staycation getting to know our local area would be better than a big trip (and Mark and Alex don’t currently have their passports as they’re in the process of getting their residency cards) .

So we spent a couple of days in downtown Haining at the Langham Hotel. The Langham has hotels around the world and was a great place to stay. While we were checking in to the hotel, we had to wait in the lobby for a little while and we met the nicest Chinese grandma, who was trying so hard to communicate with us. She would write things down in chinese, and we were texting it to our friend Tiffany and getting her to translate it.  Apparently this lady thought Alex was beautiful and invited us to stay with her in Shanghai.

First bath since moving- no bathubs in the apartment, only showers

For the cost of a Holiday Inn back in the States, we were able to stay in a very nice room in the middle of downtown.  From the hotel we walked to the big mall in town, about a 10 minute walk. One of the first things we did was go get hotpot. I’ve been hearing about hotpot for months, so it was exciting to finally try it.

We got to the mall, found the place we wanted to try and realized that the menu is all in Chinese (as one would expect). After trying unsuccessfully to figure it out and having the only staff member who speaks a little english try to help us, they took Mark inside and had him point to what we wanted.

It was so much fun. We all made our own dipping sauce (mine was a fairly traditional sesame paste, soy sauce, green onions and garlic) and Alex was so proud of his sauce.  We ate so much food, and it was pretty spicy but so good. Alex couldn’t stop talking about it.  When anyone comes to visit, we will be taking you to hotpot!

After hotpot, Alex got to do some rides that are always outside the mall. I think he would ride these all day if we let him, but after so much hotpot Mark was getting a little sick from all the spinning.

The next day we went back to the mall, and we had promised Alex some legos he had seen so we went to track them down. This is my favorite part, because you all know how I love a bargain.  We got Chinese legos (a company actually called enlightenment) but they are Legos. The bags are the same, the instructions are the same and the quality is just as good.  So for around $10 Alex got two sets that would have cost us around $50 back home.   He picked these sets out, and has been going on and on about his anti-aircraft gun for days!

WWII US truck

WWII German plane

Nothing makes this kid as happy as Legos do!

And then, we had more hotpot! We enjoyed it so much we went to a different hotpot place the 2nd night too.  This time we went a little more prepared, with translations and pictures of what we wanted to get.  We got spicy and plain split again, but the spicy was so much more spicy than the night before. It was so spicy Mark was actually sweating!

We did decide that after two nights in a row, we need to take a break for a while! It was so much food. What a great experience though.

It was nice to get a little break and just do some casual exploring.  We got a tour of another local spot from our friend Lynken, but that will be a whole other post!

While Alex was at school, I decided that I needed to get some things done. I thought I have my iphone with some translation apps, I will go get my Chinese sim card and run to Walmart.  So I hopped in a taxi and off I went.  Interesting fact, my international AT&T sim randomly stopped working and my phone would only kind of work without WIFI.

When I got to China Mobile, I discovered that my translation apps don’t work without internet or cell data.  If you ever want to challenge yourself, go to a country where you don’t speak the language and try to buy a cell phone from someone who doesn’t speak English. The ladies who helped me at China Mobile were wonderful, and worked really hard to try to set me up.  We’ve actually had so many great people help us over the last few weeks, random people have stopped to help us translate, or give directions or even help us order (more on that in a few days).

I’d like everyone who reads this to remember my experience next time you see someone in the US who needs help and doesn’t speak the language.  I am that person pointing at signs and only able to nod or shake my head at questions,  I am that person that moved to a new place without the language, I am the person holding up the line because I need extra help.  Please help that person, they are trying and probably feel embarrassed and awful that they are stuck like this.

Sim card obtained, put in the phone and now I’m ready for Walmart.  Except, I still can’t get my iphone to work (because it’s a 6 and won’t run 4G here). So I can’t figure out where Walmart is, or get the address so I can show a taxi driver.  I decide I’m going to flag down a taxi and tell him Walmart and hope that he knows where it is, I finally manage to catch one, and he proceeds to tell me it’s two blocks down from where I’m standing and to just walk.

Walmart was easy ( I forgot about half the things I went there for because I got flustered by the sim card experience and getting lost getting there), I was going to try to get a haircut in the mall Walmart is in, but I flaked deciding that maybe I needed a functioning translation app before letting someone near my head with scissors.

After leaving Walmart, I realized that I had the address listed on my facebook page that I can’t access due to no internet. I called Mark, slightly panicking that I don’t even know the general direction of home. He manages to text me the address after a few failed attempts, I’m back in a taxi and on my way home.

I learned a few valuable lessons on this trip. One is be prepared- with phrases written down that do not require internet, two is always have an address, and lastly, it’s ok to admit when I’ve taken on a bit too much.