Traveling Expat Family

This post is a little late as it’s been over a month since we went orange picking, but life and work and holidays have gotten the better of me.

 

Our friends Summer and Kitty (who took us to the amusement park) asked us if we would like to go into the countryside and pick oranges. Since we hadn’t gone outside the city yet, love oranges and have a great time with Summer and Kitty every time, we couldn’t pass it up.  They picked us up and it was a short drive through some really beautiful farm land.  In the beginning, there was a variety of crops, and I got to ask some of my ridiculous foreigner questions (Summer always answers them and never judges); who farms all this, is it corporations or single families?(mostly single families), What is that, I see it growing all over? (it’s rice – does not look like I expected).

There was a little farmers market set up right next to where we parked, and I was thrilled because Summer’s Dad (who had come with us) offered to help me buy some things and show me which ones were good.

 

The whole area was so beautiful and serene, I really felt like I could have stayed there all day. Because it’s more of a local thing though, our foreignness really stood out here.

Alex and Kitty were so excited, they each got their own basket and clippers and we got escorted into the grove behind someone’s house. We walked back and started picking! The owner walked back with us, and showed us which spot had the most ripe oranges.  Here the little ones are the best, more like tangerines.

 

Alex’s favorite part was all the sampling, he got to peel and eat a few oranges on the spot.  We came at almost the end of orange season, so most of the fruit was ripe and ready.

Once we were done , we sent the kids into the house to wash their hands.  As soon as they exited, they found the water pump. Just like Wuzhen, Alex was drawn to it and had to pump water, but Kitty was in on it too!  They had a blast pumping water, forget a playground, people just need to install water pumps everywhere.

On the walk back to the car, I noticed Alex’s eyebrow was very red and blotchy, and then there was another spot on his face. And I started to panic a little, thinking, what could he have eaten or touched that would give him an allergic reaction.  Then it looked like his nose was starting to bleed and I couldn’t figure out what was going on.  Summer’s parents told us that he shouldn’t eat any more oranges if his nose was bleeding because oranges make your body hot and that’s what causes nosebleeds.  Traditional Chinese medicine would suggest drinking some hot water to cool yourself down.  I went to wipe the blood away and realized that it was red ink.  He had touched a bottle with wet hands and the ink soaked in and then he touched his face all over.   It was such a silly thing in the end.

Summer’s Dad helped me buy fantastic eggs, some really lovely peppers- they are almost like serranos, and another vegetable that for the moment is escaping me (maybe it was cabbage?).  It was really nice of him to help me since I have very little experience picking fresh eggs or peppers and I’m sure I would have gotten the wrong ones.

It was a really fun day and I hope we get to do it again. The kids had a blast and I had oranges for days! We ended up giving them out at work because we had so many extras.

At the beginning of November, Alex’s school had parent – teacher conferences.  Which meant that as soon as we were done with meeting his teachers, he had the day off.  And we decided that we should visit the scenic and famous town of Wuzhen which is not far from Alex’s school.

For anyone unfamiliar with our school transportation drama,  Alex is driven to school by one of three guys – any day it might one of them. So this kid rolls up to school with a private driver, not because we’re so special but because I don’t have a Chinese driver’s license yet and can’t get a car until I get one.  This day though, we all drove in with Alex and his driver, with the plan that we would meet back at school for regular pickup in the afternoon.

We went in, met the teachers, heard mostly good stories about our kid. Almost universally got the comment that he is a chatterbox. Mark got to see the school for the first time since it’s completion and we both got a chance to see Alex’s classroom for the first time.  (I didn’t take any pictures, I was too busy being a responsible parent… next time though.)

After that we hopped in a cab and drove to Wuzhen. Mark had been telling me about Wuzhen since he applied for the job here. It’s beautiful, it’s very old, it’s got canals – what more could you ask for?  It’s perhaps most beautiful at night, but admittedly given our limited schedule with the driver we were only there during the day.

One of the first things we did when we got to Wuzhen was walking through a fabric dyeing museum. I had never seen anything like it, it was so beautiful.  There was a lady giving a demonstration on how they put the patterns on to the fabric before dyeing.

 

Of course, after walking through one museum, Alex was starving. So we made him order his own food. The reality is that he knows more Chinese than Mark or I do, and he handled it beautifully.  He said it was the best corn, and afterwards told the lady it was delicious in Chinese.

 

There was so much to see and do, and so many food options. There were stores and shops all along the way.  While we were walking we came across another museum and stopped to have a look.  It was a wedding museum, and while we didn’t partake, you could dress up in traditional wedding clothes and get your picture taken. Maybe next time! I think I enjoyed this one more than Mark and Alex, but it was fascinating to see the traditional style and how weddings use to be here.

While we were walking through the museum, there was a beautiful courtyard in the back section of the former house.  It was so quiet and beautiful back there, I wanted to stay forever.  Alex was not so patient however.

I really felt like I could stay right there where Alex is sitting, with a book and a big cup of coffee and never want to leave.  It was peaceful and beautiful, I can’t wait to go back again.

After we were done in the museum we went back to just wandering up and down bridges and walkways. Mark, and most of our Chinese friends, think Wuzhen is a  Disney-ified version and that are more authentic old towns to visit.  I loved Wuzhen and will be happy to visit any other old towns too!

By this time, the corn had worn off and Alex was starving again. So we went in search of food. There are many, many options for food along this way, but we wanted to find the right place. We ended up finding a  place that looked good, and when we went inside was actually a fancy hotel restaurant.   We sat down and looked at the menu and realized that we had made an error.  Mark usually handles the translation apps on his phone, he’s much better at that than I am, and seems to have better apps.  However, his phone was dead. There was only one picture per page in the menu, and we really couldn’t tell what to get.

As the restaurant found an employee who spoke some English,  the lady sitting at the table behind us offered to help. She told us not to get what we had been looking at because they had eaten it the day before and it wasn’t very good. She helped us order a fish, rice, veggies, and xiao long bao (dumplings with soup in them).  And then we chatted for a bit about why we were there and how Alex liked school.  If not for the kindness of strangers, we would have been stuck again.

Fed and happy again, we were able to keep walking.  I’m sad I didn’t get more pictures inside the restaurant, there were some beautiful blue windows.

We crossed back over a bridge to start heading back (in order to make it back to Alex’s school on time) and on the other side of the bridge there was a water pump.  I don’t know what is so exciting to Alex about water pumps… but if there is one, he’s got to pump it.  He was so happy to pump water, and so a few older ladies came by to wash their hands in the water he pumped and tell him good job.  And then a few more people came to see him pumping water, and then a few more. There were waves of people who were walking by, happened to see him and then had to stop and wash their hands too.  At one point, I was trying to get him to move along but as he was about to stop, some college aged girls came up to get water from him. “Can’t stop now Mom, I’ve got more customers!”

If you look on the left side of the picture, you’ll see someone with their phone out taking a picture of all this.  We’re getting more used to it, but this time was the funniest for me. Alex had around 20 people at a time watching him pump water, ask him questions, thank him in Chinese and be so happy when he said you’re welcome back to them in Chinese.  Mark pointed out that I should get a picture of the people taking pictures of Alex.

And Alex just loved it, he thought this was the best part of the day!  People asked us where we came from, and told me that Alex looked just like Mark and nothing like me. A good time was had by all.

A little bit farther down the road, there was a replica water pump… we had to stop again.

After this, it was really time to get moving so we could make it back to the school. There had been a mix up and the driver had come early back to the school, and then left again and I was so worried we would miss him or make him late again waiting for us.

As we were trying to figure out how to get back to the starting point, we found a little wooden bridge with lots of people on it. We had to stop and see what they were all looking at.  In the water, there were giant Koi- bigger than I’ve ever seen. Each one was at least a foot long, and there were so many.  People were throwing bread in to them, and they were fighting to get the food.

 

We made it back to the entrance, hopped in a cab, made it back to the school (after making him wait another 10ish minutes) and back to the university.  Despite the hiccups, this may have been one of my favorite things we’ve done in China yet. I’d go back tomorrow if I could.   This makes me very excited for Shi-town which is a more authentic old town.

One of the biggest changes for our family here in China has been meals. Mark and I have cooked most meals at home most of Alex’s life. We go out every so often, but we usually have dinner together at home talking about our day, what happened in our book the night before. Here, we eat in the cafeteria most meals. And that’s not bad, no dishes to wash or messes to clean up. But it’s not the same either, it’s loud, there are always lots of students around, sometimes we’re not crazy about our dinner options, and often we have friends join us for dinner (which is lovely, please don’t stop doing that).  It has changed the dynamic a bit though.

So Mark and I decided that as soon as we got into our permanent apartment (which should just be apartment now) we would cook a meal at home, something we all enjoyed. And slowly we (mostly me) decided that we should invite all our western friends over to enjoy it too.  I began planning and shopping, sourcing out western foods from the available options, and buying way too much cheese because I didn’t convert KGS to LBS correctly.

The second half of the Taco Night plan came together when Mark was talking to a friend about movies to show Alex.  The thing they both landed on was Fifth Element.  And it was decided that a movie night needed to happen, complete with popcorn and beer.

And so it become Taco, Movie, Popcorn night at Casa De Butala. 

Mark made homemade chips from the massive quantity of tortillas I overbought, and amazing guacamole. He made taco meat and all the fixings.  I made lemonade and iced tea and there were tons of beer options.

After dinner, it was movie time.  And after the movie, Alex went to bed and the grownups stayed up and drank and talked. Richard, Mark and James were all brave (stupid?) enough to drink baijiu, a type of Chinese liqour that is 52% proof.

All in all, I think Taco Night was a success, and will be repeated in the future, although the next Taco Night might really be a pizza night, or pasta night or who knows what.

I keep meaning to, and promise I will soon, take and post pictures of the apartment. You can see part of our dining room above. Maybe when I finish decorating for Christmas I’ll post the pictures.

In mid October, as I was sitting in the cafeteria with Mark, I noticed some new Western faces. And I watched them for a little while (like a creeper) to see if they were just visiting or if they’d be staying around longer.  I thought to myself- this lady doesn’t know it yet, but she’s going to be my friend. But I figured I should give them time to get at least a little settled before I forced friendship on them.

As I was picking up packages a few days later, they stopped me!  We struck up a conversation about getting packages weird life in china stuff and thus a friendship was born. Coral and James have joined the growing Western presence here on Campus.  They are a lovely couple from Scotland and have been brainwashed into thinking we’re not that bad to hang out with.

So we thought we’d start them off right and we took them to Hotpot! So we took the bus so they could get used to that. And of course, Alex made friends with everyone.

And, like he always does when given a camera, Alex took dozens of pictures of random things along the way.

 

When we got to the mall, we walk around for a bit, showed them the important things, made them play some arcade games with Alex. And then it was time for Hotpot! This time Mark had figured some things out from our last adventures and ordering what we wanted went much smoother.

We got the usuals, beef, tofu, potatoes, lotus, noodles, corn and mushrooms. And we had such a good time introducing Coral and James to hotpot and getting to know them more in the process. It was nice to be the person with the experience for a change, instead of always feeling  two steps behind.

Alex was done earlier than the rest of us (as usual) and got very bored waiting for us to finish, so he started taking pictures.  Someday I will look back on this and say that this was the beginning of his amazing career as a photographer… or not.

Before dinner, or maybe after (I really can’t remember) we took them to a toy store to show them what I consider to be my greatest find in China yet.  There is a Lego factory here in Haining and as a result there are lots of off brand legos. There are some (Enlightenment is one of them) that are absolutely legos;  same bags, instructions, pieces, quality, everything is spot on.  That being said, some of the sets of enlightenment legos are different than any we’ve seen in the States. You can get Space Wars (Star Wars), and Future Knights (Nexo Knights) and Super Ninja (Ninjago) but you can get completely different sets that as far as I know are only available here in China.

One of these sets is the one that Alex has started collecting. He has a newfound fascination with WWII and the Chinese legos have a WWII collection. He picked a tank and a plane (shown in a previous post) and an anti-aircraft gun thing that I had to learn the name of.  I tried to convince him to get the lego set below… but he wasn’t having it.

I have since tried to buy only lego Hitler, but he’s only available in this set.  I don’t know why exactly I think this is so funny, but I really do.

 

After that we took them down to the supermarket in the basement of the mall. It is a little overwhelming at the best of times, but it was particularly busy that Saturday night.  They were good sports though, even though they had to watch me pick out kitchen ware for our next big adventure… TACO NIGHT!

We’ve moved into our permanent apartment on campus.  Moving was an adventure, since apparently we have brought more stuff than anyone else.  Most of the faculty came with one or two suitcases. not us, I packed 6 footlockers and 4 suitcases and still felt like I left half of my life behind.  So, needless to say, we had some help moving things in.  Actually, we had two very helpful security guards help drag all our stuff up to the apartment.

After worrying and writing here about being sad about Halloween- I found some vinyl stickers online and decided to decorate the best I could. One of my amazing friends (Sheri!) sent me a care package full of Halloween goodies. There were candy corn, fall m&ms, reeses peanut butter bats, kitchen towels and amazing smelling candles.  It was like a little slice of Americana here in China. I didn’t take any pictures of any of these, but I should have- I need to start thinking like a blogger!

Our lovely apartment manager Tiffany, who we’ve become friends with,  also orchestrated trick or treating for her daughter Elsa, Alex and the little boy who lives upstairs.  She decorated the courtyard and even put up a tent for the kids to play in.

He had a great time teaching the little kids about trick or treating. And we did trick or treating UK style where the kids actually had to do a tick (sing a song, do something cool, etc.) to get a treat. Alex figured out he could impress people by counting to 10 in Chinese.  It was a really fun night and it made me really happy to see new people enjoying my favorite holiday!

We’ve made quite a few friends since we got here and several of them just because we have Alex.  Summer is a lady who also works at the university, and she has a little girl who is 6, Kitty.  So we decided to get them together.

The first time we hung out with them,we went to the local mall and the kids got ice cream and played at the arcade and had a pretty good time.

The next time we hung out with them, they took us to Bigfoot Park. It is a local kids amusement park here in Haining.

We also met one of Kitty’s other friends Ethan. Even though the kids didn’t have much overlapping language, they were all having a good time running from ride to ride together and deciding what to go on next.

 

After the kids were done going on the rides, we all walked over to Summer’s house to let the kids play on the playground over there.

There was a big grassy area where Kitty, Alex and Ethan all kicked the soccer ball around with Mark, and then some more local kids joined in.

The best part was when someone brought their dog out to play

 

There will be more adventures of Kitty and Alex to come.

So I’ve already covered Hotpot, but food in general here has been pretty good and I wanted to share some of our favorite things with you.

 Every morning I get these noodles for breakfast, and it’s gotten to the point that if I can’t get them… my day is a little ruined.  They are onion oil noodles and they have soy sauce, msg, green onions, and hot onion oil on them. I then add a healthy dose of hot pepper oil to it as well.  This is the breakfast of champions. To top it off, this day I got a pork bao. It is a pork sausage with some sauce stuffed inside a bun and then steamed.  It’s a little fluffy meat cloud of happiness.  Some days instead, there’s fried rice- but I didn’t get any pictures of that.

On really special days, when the stars and moon align, or for some other reason I can’t figure out,  they have dumplings for breakfast. Never for lunch, never for dinner, only very rarely for breakfast.  And if you come early- no dumplings, and if you come late- no dumplings. It’s small window-but when you get lucky,  heaven!

And the really cool part is- both of the meals pictured- cost me $1 USD. That’s it- $1.

This ^ is one of our favorite dinners. So on campus there is the regular dining hall, and then there is a Halal dining hall. This soup is from the Halal.  It’s a beef broth, with pieces of lamb, tons of noodles, and green onions and cilantro. All the red stuff you see is hot pepper oil I like to add to almost everything.  The guy who runs Halal has 3 little girls who run around campus- one is 9, one is 6 and one is 5, but in Chinese years. Here in China, you add the 9 months you were utero to your age. So Alex is 7 in the US but he’s 8 here in China.  Alex has made friends with them and they all four run amok and teach each other English and Chinese.

 Mark is such a good sport letting me use pictures of him for the blog- I really wanted to get a scale of how big the bowl of noodle soup was and how big the bread was, and this is what he gave me.

So with the bread and the noodles, this meal was a whopping $3USD.  And like the dumplings, some days when everything aligns and appeases the food gods, halal does kebabs, and they are good! They also take the lamb from kebabs and use it as a dumpling filling- so many good food choices at our dining halls.

 

 

I have been very bad about writing recently. I started working, we moved into the permanent apartment, and then we’ve been running from activity to activity.  So there will be a rush of posts soon as I finish writing and catching up on all the things we’ve been up to.

I started my job after the Golden week holiday. Since then my job has changed a few times, but I think I’m finally settling into a groove. I proofread the website for the university, and I’m currently working on a faculty handbook full of all the information we had to learn the hard way.  I’m thinking about asking for a position as an international recruiter, as we don’t have one of those at the moment and we really need one.

Alex has been practicing a lot of sports with the help of some of our new friends here in Haining.  Lynken and Richard, both teachers here at the university, have been playing soccer(football), american football, baseball and Frisbee with us.  Soccer is still his favorite, but I don’t know for how much longer. Alex is loving Frisbee and Lynken even got Alex his own Frisbee and smaller sized football. Richard gave us a great volleyball to use as a soccer ball.  It’s lighter weight so you don’t tire out as easily and it rolls a little better and Alex has to use better footwork to control it. 

 

Alex also met a local boy named Miles, and he came to visit and played basketball with Alex.  Miles’ dad, Mao plays sports with the university sports club.

We learned that day that the local chinese kids Alex’s age have to pass a jumping roping test at the end of the year. They have to complete 100 jumps in 1 minute.  It made me very glad Alex’s school doesn’t do that test!

Miles and Alex turned basketball into a full contact sport, but they were both having fun.

The weather has started to turn colder here, so I don’t know how many more good sports days we’ve got left- but I hope he gets a few more practices in.

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.