China Day 600 The grands are here!

Friday, April 29th, is always a weird day for me...it is my father's birthday.  He died when I was 19 years old, when I was on spring break from college. Given our unsettled relationship, it still is an unsettling day for me.  When he died unexpectedly, I was staying at my grandparents (his parents) in Texas at the time.  These are the grandparents I have always been especially close to, and last year marked the end of an era.  I wrote a post about how grandma's death, on 3/18/15, was sandwiched between the death anniversaries of her two favorite men, my dad (her only child) and my grandpa who died on 3/17 & 3/19 many, many years ago. I blogged about the irony of her death date, and took a much needed trip down memory lane in the blog called Sad day.  It couldn't have ended any other way for Grandma, at nearly 102 years old. 

I will forever be grateful for Betty here at BNDS for granting me the leave to go attend to her graveside service in Texas last year, in Coming full circle. I needed to be there for so many reasons. The one thing the Chinese do understand and value, and that is 'family first'.   

As I reflected on this date, and I wrapped up my work at my desk, in a moment's notice I went from somber and reflective to chuckling out loud when I stepped out onto the sidewalk and saw the bumper sticker below- because that's just what China will do to a person :)  

Sometimes I feel so bipolar living here on planet China.

Check out the Chinglish bumper sticker:
"Baby on Road."  I saw this as I was
leaving school today to head to the airport
to get my grandbabies- who are no longer
babies anymore.  They grow up quickly,
and soon there is no need to worry about
leaving them on the road anywhere!
Oh, China, you still slay me sometimes ;-)

Their flight was delayed over an hour,
and it was another hour before they got
through customs and immigration-
but as soon as I saw my grandbabies'
 smiling faces, this Mimi burst in to tears!
Happy tears, of course :')
(To which Ava girl hugged me and 
said, "I told you guys she'd cry!")

We caught the airport shuttle bus, and
this sweet girl held her Mimi's hand all
the way home <3.

And so the jet lag begins for Eli
little man...and if Stephanie stopped
talking, she too, was fast asleep! 

The long slog from the bus stop to my apartment, with all the
luggage in tow, just about had them worn out for good.  ("Mimi
how many more miles?!")  It was only four blocks- but four 
very large, Beijing blocks. The promise of a subway ride and
pizza for a late dinner renewed their spirits, but it was another
three block walk back to the subway station!  Ava was
excited and raring to go- Eli, not so much, lol.  Pizza was a 
big hit, but even between bites, Stephanie was nodding off.
The kids were cracking up, "There she goes again!"

There was no argument to brush teeth and head straight to bed when we got home. It is a long hard journey flying halfway across the world.  We all were in bed soon after 9pm. I don't think I had a decent night's sleep the three days before they got here; I was too excited.  Sadly though, the kids were up, bouncing on the bed, and playing cards at 3am.  They were starving and wide awake.  I gave them a pbj and ordered them to be quiet and rest, at least until the sun came up!

The next morning, it was a long walk to the police station to get them all registered with the authorities.  "How many more miles, Mimi?" asked Eli.  "It's blocks, Eli, just really big blocks, buddy", replied Ava.  And again, she held my hand the whole way.  After the police station, I sent the kids and Stephanie to a little market while I made a quick run to China Unicom to recharge my cell phone.

I found them, twenty minutes later, not in the market, but next door at

BURGER KING!!!

lolllllzzzzz

I get it.

It's ok.

No judgment here ;-)

To get the salty fries taste from their mouths, we stopped at
the little shop across the street for some shuijiao (dumplings).
The first attempt at a meal with chopsticks was an epic
fail, but at least the kids were willing to give traditional
Chinese food a try- it is nothing like the China buffets in Indiana.
  Look at the expression on the woman's face in the background- 
we provided she and her husband with their noon meal entertainment!

We ate fried pumpkin strips, too :)

It's only Day One, and these are the experiences
that I prayed the kids would have...masked up,
(ok, I wasn't praying for bad air days!)
interacting with the locals, and petting baby
chicks and ducklings for sale on the street.
I just appreciate their willingness to be
open to this strange new world around them :)

After lunch, we met up with the Engler's (fellow 
FL Keys friends!) on the subway platform for a 
day trip to the Beijing Zoo and Aquarium.
Zach is Eli's age, but taller than Ava. The
kids become fast friends in a matter of minutes!
This is true of friendships formed when living abroad.
 When you are a minority in living in the East, friendships form
very quickly and very authentically, as it is imperative to
your survival abroad to quickly develop a social network.
You tend to cut through the BS pretty quickly.

Like all of Beijing, the zoo is enormous, and filled with Chinese
humanity at every turn.  We decided to divide and conquer, and
not attempt the entire landscape.  Pandas, tigers, aquarium-
in that order.  Even at that, we had a full afternoon ahead of us.

Our first stop was at the Panda House to see
the Giant Pandas...the first one looked like
Giant Panda roadkill!

Then we found a live one snacking on some bamboo!

Nom! Nom!

This guy was adorable playing with his red rubber ball on
a giant Panda jungle gym.  Hard to believe he'd rip you
to shreds- he just looked pretty cute and cuddly to me.

We passed the lemurs, which crack me up!
I can't help but think of Madagascar :D

OMG! It was a momma, a daddy,
and a baby lemur on momma's back!!!
So adorable...God love 'em <3

Next we passed this GIANT tiger statue on the way to
see the tigers.  I swear, everything is bigger in Beijing!

Here kitty, kitty! 

What a gorgeous animal; I just wanted to
pet him like I did in Thailand.

The weather was gorgeous that day; the very best kind of
day to kick off their stay in China- at the zoo with new friends.
Too bad the pollution was on the rise as the afternoon wore on.
 Deanna had a headache from it before the day was out :(

The Beijing Zoo does have some beautiful grounds...

...and the perfect rocks for mountain goats!

Our next stop was the Aquarium, where we wanted
to spend a large portion of the afternoon.  All of us
love the ocean, and all the creatures in it.  We took
our time there.  I discovered you can scuba dive in
the main tank! I plan to add that to 'the list'
before I leave the 'jing next year.  Until then, at
the first tank I found a Tyson, for my Ellie bug :)

For about five minutes, I thought I was hearing an only
child screeching and pitching a fit in the aquarium
(Chinese only's have been known to throw hellacious
fits for all their grandparent's and parent's attention)
I was mistaken....it was the belugas! They are so LOUD!!!

Ava and I marveled at the jellyfish.

I'll bet she snapped 20 pics of them on her phone.

They were like art in motion.  Ava and I decided
to the heck with a lava lamp for a nightlight...
we want jelly fish in our bedrooms!

I saw the most beautiful corals, too.  It was
awesome having Scott along, naming all of
them for me. He built and maintained salt
water tanks for folks in the Key Largo area...
but now he's land-locked in the 'jing, too.
We commiserate together at times :/

What's not to love about a sea horse?!
 Eli decided that while he may try to eat a
scorpion at the night market, he could
never bring himself to eat a sea horse.
I agree, little buddy.

 

Duuuuuude....  I miss Florida. :(

Tiger shark?! That's a bad boy...I'd be like the yellow tang...oooooh!

Spotted or green moray eels always give me a startle, too.

The first day was a 20k + steps, and 21+
flights of stairs kind of day- China normal.
Needless to say, after dinner, the kids
and Stephanie were ready for bed!

This time the kids were awake an hour later at 4am... but after a snack they soon were back to sleep.

Unfortunately, I had been chilling and fevering for several hours, then it all cut loose, head down in the loo at about 5:30am.  It took me out for the whole next day, which was Sunday, May 1st.

Thankfully, no one else got sick, and after their long day of travel and a long first day in Beijing, nobody complained about a day of rest on Sunday.  Even the kids welcomed lounging around the apartment, and an occasional game of badminton in the courtyard.  As it turned out, it ended up being the worst pollution day of the whole trip, so it was just as well we all stayed indoors for the most part. Even if I hadn't been sick, the days' events I had planned would have been scrapped anyhow, given the 267 AQI.

Yes, the kids were not allowed out of the house without a mask on, and they only went out for about 15 minutes at a time....otherwise they were satisfied playing cards and reading.  We are all voracious readers, Stephanie too, so it worked out just as well.  They needed a day to get better acclimated to the time change, and I needed the day to get my legs back under me...

...because the next day we were all hiking the Great Wall :)

Stay tuned!

G'nite, y'all

China 589 Home repairs- the Chinese way

If somebody would look at the pictures on my phone, they would think wth?  You would find me petting a tiger in Thailand, jumping on beaches all over the world, diving with a whale shark in the Maldives, my cat on my sailboat, my children, waterfalls, food, some selfies, and lots and lots of pictures of home construction, renovation and repairs.  It's an odd mixture, to say the least.

While it's a known fact that I love working with my hands, and using power tools to build something new or to make things "pretty", these construction and renovation photos are not just about Len and I's home in Florida.

There is a down side to living in China...

...what to do when something in your apartment breaks.

In the United States, you would simply call your landlord, and depending on how emergent the situation is, you could expect that the repair would be made sooner rather than later.  Well, things are done very differently here in China, some of which is customary to a different culture, and some of which is complicated by the language barrier.  Hence, the photographs...

You take a picture of what is broken, and then trudge off to the apartment management office.  You show the photo to the lady behind the counter. She jibbers in Mandarin, you stare blankly and respond in English with "I don't know." "I don't speak Mandarin."  You pull out your mad charades skills, and demonstrate that the item in the photo is "broken".  She jibbers in Mandarin in response. You smile and look stupid in every sense of the word.  You then count on your fingers in Mandarin (because that's about all you know how to do in Mandarin) to see if you can figure out a time when they might send a repairman to the stupid laowai who is flailing her arms and acting like she has a broken something on her body, not in her apartment.

Not certain that you've made a lick of sense, she only jibbers at you in Mandarin EVEN LOUDER- like that helps matters any. You then think to pull out one of your utility cards which shows your apartment building number, which tower, and your particular apartment number.  For example, I live at 24-04-902.  You point at the clock on your phone, in a second attempt to nail down what time a repairman may turn up.  In exasperation, she then very plainly says in English, "Go Home!" and points to the door.

Now, that, I understand.

So I go home...

...where I could wait 10 minutes, 10 hours, or even 10 days.

On Sunday I had to replace another outlet that crapped
out- this is the third one (Made in China, you get what you
pay for). Behind my apartment complex in an alley market
that I call "Home Depot". It's one stall after another of
home repair supplies. You pull out your phone, show
the photo of what you need and shop vendors all start
pointing you in the direction of the stall that sells
electrical supplies. The Chinese are helpful in that regard :)

The good news is it cost me 12 rmb for a new outlet, 10 rmb to pay the repairman, and two trips to the management office to get the job done.  While it was a hassle and two hours out of my Sunday afternoon, the total repair came to a whopping $3.42- that's parts and labor.

The bad news is my faucet has been 'breaking' for
days now- it won't shut completely off.  I just have
not had the time to deal with it.  I woke up to a
flooded bathroom this morning, so I guess today
was the day I have deal with it.  I took a photo.

I turned off the water at the feed lines and took
another photo, just in case those need replaced, too.

I went to the management apartment office, and I could see the look of disgust on the women's face when I pulled out my phone.  She's thinking, "Oh Buddha, here were go again with this woman."

And I'm thinking, "Oh God, here we go again with this woman."

It's fair.

I "Go Home!" as I have been ordered to do once again, and I wait.  This time, in pretty short order, a plumber shows up to my apartment, takes one look at my faucet and starts gibbering at me in Mandarin. Fortunately I was in my apartment where the internet works great, the VPN was connected, and I could use Google translate on my laptop to somewhat reasonably communicate with him.  As I suspected, I needed a new faucet.  We quickly got that sorted out, and I told him I would pedal to the alley market, pick up a faucet and be right back.  He wouldn't hang around to smoke a cigarette like I had wanted. Instead, it meant another trip back to the management office once I had the faucet in hand, to put in the formal work request for the plumber to return to change it out.

Is there anything in this packaging that
says "bathroom faucet" to you???

Yeah, me neither.  China can be so confusing.
At least I was pretty confident I had what I
needed as I've bought plumbing fixtures a
time or two in my lifetime. I even bargained
down to 300rmb, less than $45 bucks for a
solid stainless steel faucet with brass fittings-
no plastic parts on this one, a bargain!

I went back to the management office for the fourth time in three days.  I'd like to think the Chinese woman and I are now fast friends, but that is likely wishful thinking on my part.

She tolerates me.

Then points to the door.

I smile, place my hands in 'prayer mode' (which communicates 'thank you' in this part of the world)
and offer a xie xie (which sounds a little like 'she-she') and means thank you.

I didn't get a smile in return... I'm working on her... it's going to happen one of these days :)

I heard an hour's worth of grunting, ha-rumphing,
lip smacking, tisking, and not an ounce of progress
was being made.  He had an adjustable wrench-
that was the extent of his plumber's tools.  He
couldn't reach the nuts at the right angle, and
couldn't see what he was doing.  I gave him my
headlamp, and then showed him a picture of
a socket wrench set on my laptop- that would
have done the trick.  He waved me off, meaning
he didn't own such a tool, and he continued
to grunt and groan...

I simply had to walk away.  In the next hour, I
peek in on him...progress was finally being made
although he removed the entire vanity from the
wall where he could get at the old faucet nuts
with his trusty adjustable wrench. 

By 8;45pm, two and a half hours of labor thus far, and I was left
 with this mess for the night.  He broke the feed lines and the drain
taking the old ones off.  To his credit, it really was not his fault. The water
here is so hard and corrosive here, s**t just breaks. Unfortunately, plumbers
 and electricians in China do not carry supplies with them to the job site.
If something breaks in the midst of a repair, they point for you to
 take a photos of the broken parts, and then the customer (me) is responsible
 for going on the scavenger hunt for the replacements. Remember there is no
local Lowe's big box store here, and these transactions occur in a language I
do not speak. Also unfortunately, since it was now going on 9pm, no alley
market stalls were still open. Fortunately, he felt bad about breaking the parts
so he said he would go and buy them first thing in the morning, and then
come back to finish the job. Also fortunately, I did not have classes the first
  two periods the next day so hopefully this mess would all get put together
before I had to teach class. I managed all of this communication by calling
one of my students, Michael, to translate for me.  Google translate wasn't
cutting it. Michael is a kind and sensitive boy, and he likes coming
to my China rescue. Thankfully he answered his phone in my time of need!

This was the scene the next morning.
Squatting isn't just for using the potty here in China-
it's how the Chinese wait for the bus, smoke a
cigarette, talk on the phone, have a rest, or simply
do their work- all from the squatting position.
It hurts my knees just to watch!

It was another two hours replacing the broken
parts, hooking it all back together, checking for
leaks, and reattaching it all against the wall.
My only complaint? He used clear caulk :-(

Beyond that, where are you going to live that you pay only 50rmb for four and a half hours of labor for a plumber to do a repair?

People, that's a whopping $7.78!!!

It's the Chinese way.

G'nite, y'all!

Day 579 Beijing Garden Expo Park

Len and I tried going to the Beijing International Garden Expo Park on a beautiful fall day last year. We just couldn't get from here to there.  Maps here are deceiving, because Beijing is so dang big!  By the time we gave up walking and hopped on a train, the park was closing.

Well, spring has certainly sprung here, so it seemed like a good time to give it a try once again.  My teacher friend, Irish Tom and I decided it was more prudent to take a cab there first, and then we could figure out the return trip later in the day.  For less than three bucks were were there in a matter of minutes.

There.

you.

go.

Garden Expo Park is HUGE- like all things Beijing.   

It wasn't a beach, but I had to jump for joy to be out on a beautiful spring day!

So the reason for the differing architecture and gardens is that
there are 69 exhibits in all- countries from all over the world,
 and many cities and regions of China and Asia are represented.

As we made our way deeper in to the park, we saw what
looked like a look out point, so we had to check it out.

What an interesting climb up.

Check out that view!  You could see all the way to the
Westerlies (mountains).  What it so spectacular about this
place is that the entire park was built on a landfill!
They turned the ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

In the distance you can see the high speed bullet train
passing by- perhaps on it's way to Shanghai?

I had my nose in lilac bushes all day :)

While the Chinese are typically reserved people, I
love that in parks and public places they sing, dance,
play instruments, and practice their tai chi,
with reckless abandon :)

   

My buddy, Irish Tom :)

Beautiful buildings

Beautiful blue sky!

Beautiful gardens

Beautiful ponds

See the dragon?

Spring is in full bloom :)

Something interesting to see at every turn.

I found a waterfall!!!
Ok, it's man made, but STILL....
I wanted to stick my head in it!

Very cool; I love the diverse architecture and gardens.

Japan's building and gardens...

Lovely

It certainly looked very Japanese.

Next was the exterior buildings of the Fijian Gardens.

So different from architecture in China.

I've always wanted to go to Fiji!

They were feeding hundreds of goldfish!

In the distance, Yongding Prayer Tower.

Everywhere we looked, there was something incredible to see.
I can only imagine how beautiful it will be when summer arrives.

In the words of Irish Tom, "It was gob-smacking!"

Beijing is blanketed in flowering trees in the spring :)

Around the base of Yongding Prayer Tower.  We finally made
it all the way down to the sixth gate.  This park covers a
mere 513 hectares, which equates to a whole lot of walking!

Any day I can get out and explore and see
something new, is a very good day indeed.

The only way to make it any better is to top
it off with the first ice cream cone of the season!

G'nite, y'all