Author: travelingexpatfamily

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.

We made it one week. We’ve adjusted to the new time, Alex has started school (which he loves), we went on a mini excursion, it’s been a good week.  

Alex’s favorite thing about school is violin, I haven’t heard him play it yet but I’m looking forward to it!  He made a friend the first day, and has a few more friends now too. Since his school just opened it’s not full yet, the 2nd grade class only has 8 students.  He’s learning his numbers in Mandarin, music class, art class, PE, and next week starts after school programs of ukulele, Tae Kwon Do, and Creative crafting.

We managed a trip to the local Walmart to get some necessities (eventually we’ll start ordering on Taobao and JD.com like everyone else, but not quite there yet).  It was our mini excursion, I didn’t think to take pictures while we were there but I’m planning on a solo trip tomorrow and I will try to remember.   Some things were very typical Walmart and some things were unexpected.

Next week is the National Holiday and we have the whole week off. We’re going to take a staycation and explore a small part of our new town. As good as the food in our cafeteria is, and it really is, I’m excited to get out at try some local cuisine.  I think we’re going to hotpot, Mark’s been hyping this pretty hard so I hope it lives up to the expectations.

It’s been raining most days since Alex and I got here, we had one hot and sunny day (and I got heat stroke). I’m kind of getting used to all the rain, but I could use a break in the gray skies.

I figured I’d close this post out with a couple of pictures of our campus.

Faculty club (not finished yet)

Shot of our beautiful bride (it lights up at night) and the building behind the bridge is the new faculty apartments- that we are supposed to move into by the end of October. We’ll see…

Our clock tower, any time we’re driving through town, I know we’re almost home when I can see the tower.

My silly, rainy day, umbrella loving kid!

Leaving the states to come to China has been a fast hard process.  We decided in mid June that we were going to take the job here, and that started a countdown that seemed to speed up every time we took a breath.   There were countless visits to the Chinese consulate in Chicago, trips to get paperwork in Springfield, back and forth the police station to get papers notarized… and as soon as we crossed something off our list, two more things would get put on.

In addition to getting all the papers in order to get to China, we had to pack all our things and get ready to put the house on the market. I would be remiss if I didn’t take a minute to give a shout out to all my friends who made that possible.  Jonesy- thank you for watching Alex so I could get some work done. Lisa- thanks for being such a good friend, and my first friend in Illinois. Angie- thank you for being a shoulder to cry on and one to laugh with! Amanda- thanks for always being my sounding board when things seemed too much. Jill- Thank you for your support and help with the yard, I’ve got such a black thumb.  I don’t know how I would have gotten through the last month without you!

We spent the summer running around the country visiting family before we left. And if we could have, we would have visited even more people- but there’s always next time.  Alex and I went to  Seattle, Texas, and Mark joined us for Miami, and Minneapolis.  We got to see my cousin get married (and it was beautiful). Not a bad send off for the States.

There is an app that most of you heard me mention over the last couple of weeks called WECHAT.  It is available on App store for iphones and android wechat.   Once you add the app, you can search for Mark and I by name, by email or by phone number (if you search now you will find me, but it will change again after I get my Chinese number).  This is the easiest and cheapest way to get in contact with us, text messages have been a little spotty since we arrived.  Mark and I still have our email addresses and I still have facebook that you can use to contact me as well.

We’re very fortunate to be moving into a furnished apartment on campus at Mark’s new university, everything is there and we don’t need to bring our furniture.  But how do you decide what things of sentimental value to pack?

We’ve got three basic groups: things to be stored in my lovely Mother in law’s basement, things to be craigslisted/gifted to friends/ thrown out,  and things to be brought with us.   We are limited to luggage ( up to 10 pieces each) and that puts us at a 50lb limit per box.

Of course we’re also moving with a 7 year old (who by the way is a champ about moving again and downsizing his toys) and in an effort to make such a big move easier for him, his various treasures and toys will be taking up the most of our packing space.  We got these great footlockers to bring on the airplane that I saw on another blog about moving overseas. I was able to get all his legos into one footlocker with room and pounds to spare.  He has given away a chunk of his toys, but he has some he’d like saved at Grandma’s too.

 Sterilite Footlockers

I have collected crafting supplies, kitchen gear, vintage pyrex bowls. None of which is practical for stuffing on a plane and bringing around the world.  Some crafting stuff will be donated to teachers I worked with and friends, some will go to my MIL’s house for her and my nieces to use, and some will come with (I’m trying very hard to limit it to one footlocker!).

I think Mark has the easiest job with packing, in so much as he is very minimalistic in his nature.  He’d have next to nothing if he could get his stubborn wife to stop collecting things.  He has an easier time letting go of things too. I have a hard time letting go of the memories or emotional attachments I have to things, especially if they were a gift from someone.  I have hung on to things way to long because they were a gift from someone I love.

So I’m trying to use this as a cleansing, get rid of things that hold me back from embracing the adventure ahead of me.  It’s admittedly nice to have a stash of really important stuff at my MIL’s house (Alex’s childhood art work and things from school, my vintage pyrex, and a few other knick knacks I’m worried won’t travel well).