Blogger Ban SIlences EMSChinaJourney

Admittedly, my cousin Emily hasn't been the most frequent blogger, in spite of her wildly interesting new life in China and great demand on the part of her family.

I, her cousin and guest blogger, am here to assure you that her silence is not voluntary. She would be enthusiastically and hilariously (if sporadically) sharing the best bits of her life in China, if only the Chinese government would let her.

They recently banned access to all blogger sites, leaving this blog quiet and other good ones (ahem) inaccessible.

Stay tuned, though, because when the ban lifts, Em will surely have a whole pile of stockpiled stories to share!

(Oh, and Mei, she received your message!)

New Apartment Pic's

We finally broke down and bought new couches... When I say "broke down," I mean our butts were literally breaking on our old couches - they were ROCK hard!!  I found a factory here that makes excellent Pottery Barn-ish furniture for about half the cost.  Here are some pictures!!

In the past few weeks, I've found some excellent new antiques - three old 'lunch boxes', two beggar's chairs (they are a matching pair), and one painted bucket.

     

I found this info on Antique Chairs online at www.bohoco.co.uk/origins.html  :

Generally chairs were made in pairs, (unlike contemporary European sets of eight, ten and twelve) and reflects the Chinese desire for balance and symmetry in room settings. Chairs were reserved for the most important members of a wealthy family and for receiving esteemed guests. Women, due to their subordinate status in Chinese society rarely sat on chairs and were confined to low platforms and stools. Chairs of the 18^th and 19^th centuries were not upholstered, unlike their western contemporaries.  In the homes of high-ranking officials, chairs may have been draped with extravagant and brightly coloured silks. There were several styles established in the Ming period, which were copied throughout the Qing dynasty: There are basically two major families or styles of chair, based on their appearance: square backed chairs and round backed chairs.

Round backed chairs

These are generally much more comfortable than the straight backed chairs. The square seat remains the same but the back rail offers a continuous support, which slopes downwards supporting the sitter’s back and arms. The finer pieces from the south were exquisitely made by craftsmen as the rounded rear support involved three to five ‘invisibly’ jointed segments of hard wood. These chairs were reserved for important members of the household and for ceremonial occasions. The round curving arms gave the sitter an air of imperial dignity and so it came to be that these chairs were considered as the perfect position for posing for one's portrait! Due to their shape they became known by westerners in China at that period as ‘Horse shoe backed arm chairs’. Vernacular versions of the round-backed chair were larger, more ‘rustic’ in design and were made of willow. The rounded back was made of one piece of willow which was steamed and then bowed to form the horse shoe shape. Due to their rather humble back ground, these more rustic chairs were sometimes referred to as ‘beggars chairs’

'Normal' ?

OK - by this point, I think we can all admit (especially me) that I’m not the most consistent blogger.  I honestly have the hardest time trying to decide what to write about because I’m actually getting used to living here!  Sometimes, I miss the feeling of looking out the taxi window and witnessing a bizarre situation for the first time.  Now, it’s bizarre that these things feel ‘normal’!  For example:

 - Trucks stacked so high with bundles of who-knows-what that I’m scared to pass them in case the load topples over.  Only to pass by and realize that amid the bundles there are Chinese men sitting between the bundles holding them in place.

 - Entire families riding on a motorbike.  Typically, a man driving with the woman sitting behind him, side-saddle.  She’s holding an infant (of course, that’s totally safe!!) and standing in front of the man, is a toddler holding onto the handle bars.  I used to constantly point this out to whomever I was with ... along with a comment or two about how unsafe it was.  Now, it seems like an affordable means of transportation (NOT :)

 - The seas of brown faces around every corner that shove, push, and crowd my personal space.. the spitting, hacking, and nose picking.. Although, I’ll always find it annoying and often down right disgusting, it doesn’t stand out like it used to.

 - A day of grocery shopping.  Yes, it often takes an entire day to get all the ingredients to make a meal.  No wonder we eat out a lot!

 - Walking out my front door to see a long rope hanging from the top of the building with a man latched onto it cleaning windows and gutters.  Other men standing on the top of the building peering below, yelling to the hanging men.  I just hope they don’t fall - I wouldn’t bet my life on the safety equipment.

 

 - The one thing that DOES still stand out to me are the Chinese babies and kids... can’t get over them... not sure I want to...

I Skipped A Week!

No major stories!  So here are some random (TOTALLY random) things:

- - Ordering Dinner:  The other night we were ordering dinner from a Thai restaurant.  The girl who answered the phone was a very sweet Chinese girl who spoke pretty good English.  It's always amusing to call and order food (typically Thai or Indian food) speaking to a native Chinese speaker.  My pronunciation of Thai cuisine is far from correct... you can imagine how interesting the conversational mix of English and Chinese is.  Long story short - I wanted to order the "Snow Peas with Basil and Shrimp" but it's normally a very spicy dish.  I asked for "No Spicy."  The girl had a difficult time understanding - so she said "Yes, Please hold - I will ask the chicken.."  (girl giggling)  "Oh sorry.. sorry.. I mean, I ask the kitchen."  I LOVED IT..

- - Heidi had her second Dr. appointment.  The baby is only the size of a PLUM and on the ultrasound you can see so many many details!  Even the nose!  Amazing Miracle!  I've been busy helping her brainstorm design ideas for the nursery and learn baby-related Chinese terms :)

If anyone has any suggestions on a good infant stroller/car seat, please pass along the info!!  The items here are limited.. Also - I'm trying to help research info regarding what types of baby seats an airline will allow on an international flight!  

- - Justin and I are considering a trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia!  Don't have all the details lined out yet, but I'm researching that as well!  We're going to try and fit that in before coming back to the US in May.

- - We have these horrible bug/moth things in our apartment!  Justin gets to smash most of them.. basically because going near them really grosses me out.  He thinks I should call the service center to come spray, but I'm fearful that whatever they spray might not be safe for us to be living in here!  (My mom tells a story about when I was little -- apparently I refused to go outdoors for several weeks because I didn't like the bugs..  Yep, I bet that was true!!)  I did get a sample of a few of the pests in a ziplock and I plan on doing some investigating on how to get rid of them!

- - I still haven't driven yet, but just having my license makes me really miss having a personal car!!

Driving in Shanghai

I’ve searched online for the official number of licensed drivers in Shanghai and can’t find one!  Granted, my search only lasted about two minutes total.  Let’s just say that the number of licensed drivers in Shanghai just went from “A GA-Zillion” to “A GA-Zillion + ME".  Yes, I now have an official Shanghai Driver’s License!!

The process took two trips to the Police Headquarters on two different days and another trip to the Police Translation Building on a third day!

The first day, we basically just had to prove we had all the required documents and register for a time to take the exam.  The documents included:  passport, valid foreign driver’s license, etc.  Oh - and also included another health check!  I even took my paperwork from the health check I had when we first moved here and that wasn’t acceptable!  I wasn’t surprised, but thought I would try at least!  This one wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the health check last year - “are you pregnant... are you sure?!”  ha  ha

One interesting thing to note during the health check though...  The lady at the eye-check station asked if I was learning Chinese.  So, I replied (in Chinese) “Yes, I study Chinese.”  She then asked if I had a teacher and what the rate was.  (This is very typical here - asking questions about rates and even salaries is quite common.)  After I told her I had a very affordable teacher, she quickly opened up a drawer at her desk and started copying something off of my health form onto a scrap of paper hidden in her drawer - my TELEPHONE NUMBER!  Then she looked at me with a huge smile and said, “My son will be your new teacher!”  I’m anticipating an interesting call soon!  

The next day, I had to have my Oklahoma license translated into Chinese by an official translator.  Uneventful.

Yesterday, drove back to the police station to take the 100 question exam!  They did provide us with the exam and answers to study, so the only difficult aspect was trying to make sense of the Chinglish (Chinese and English combo)!  Some of my favorite questions were:

1 Before driving motor vehicles, drivers..

a. may drink a little alcoholic drinks

b. must not drink alcoholic drinks

c. are only allowed to drink beer

2 What obligation do the persons involved in a traffic accident undertake when the accident is being investigated?

 a.  Making up a story about the accident

b.  complaining of the fault of the other party

c.  making a true statement of the accident without concealing truth

3 When entering a tunnel, the vehicle should:

 a. sound the horn and drive fast

 b. slow down and turn on the headlight

 c. maintain speed and sound the horn many times

4 When there are puddles on the road ahead, the driver

 a. should accelerate and pass

b. should drive slowly lest the water be splashed on pedestrians

c. drive at normal speed without need to slow down

Needless to say, I passed!!

Now, we are just hoping that sometime this year we get our own car!  

Shanghai - look out!

Xin Nian Quai Le - Happy New Year!

For anyone who has been worried... Yes, I’m still alive!  AND, No, my mom isn’t still in China!  I’m amazed you’re still checking the Blog!  One of my resolutions for this year is to blog more than I did last year.  So, at this rate, if I create ten entries, I’ll feel successful!!!  (My actual goal is to write once a week - - but we’ll see how that goes.)  

I’ve been back in Shanghai for almost three weeks after going home for Christmas.  It’s nice to be back!  I’m embracing life here and counting myself as blessed.  Justin’s job is steady and the time here is passing so quickly - I’ve committed to enjoying everyday (or trying to at least) and I’m starting to remember why I  loved coming here to visit over the past three years.  I know when the time to move home is ‘right’ then I’ll be home - until then, I’m trying to let go of controlling the unknown!  We are so fortunate - many families are being sent home or to other locations and expat packages are being minimized.  All that to say - I want to share this experience.. and will try to blog more!!  

This week was Chinese New Year!!  Everyone takes an entire week off work to celebrate!  Locals shoot off fireworks every night of the week.  On the actual day of the New Year, we were invited to a get-together for dinner and fireworks!  At midnight, we shot off fireworks in the street near our apartment and watched as the sky lit up.  This is, by far, the most fireworks I’ve ever seen.  The sky was booming in every direction and the streets were flooded with confetti and paper.  (Some of the pictures were taken from inside the warm car!!  It was below freezing out and I do NOT like the cold :)  I was both amused and scared to see cars and taxis driving super close to fireworks being shot off in the streets.  I moved the car backward twice to avoid becoming part of the booming display!

Chinese New Year is also THE time of gift giving in China.  The drivers and Aiyes get a bonus and the week off work.  Jen, my aiye, has worked for Heidi for three years - and we decided to go in together and get her two children rollerblades for Chinese New Year!  The kids (little boy 6yrs old and girl 14yrs old) were soo excited to see their gifts!  Mei Fei (the little boy) looked so cute all strapped in the protective gear and wanted to go outside right away and try out the rollerblades.  He was also very inquisitive about my computer when we showed him the pictures we took of him in his new gear!