Ponderings from the Clawfoot

I don't know about you but some of my best thinking comes from relaxing in a bubble bath or while taking a shower.  Since the shower is out of order, the bathtub wins.  This morning I was thinking about some of the stuff we left behind and was playing "when was the last time I did that?"  Mind you, none of this is earth shattering, solving the world's problems kind of stuff.  Just the beginning of making changes in your life.

So here's my list:

1.  Paper Towels
      I was the queen of paper towels.  I can assure you, no other family used as many paper towels as we did.  Whether for cleaning, cooking, art projects, a creative need for just the tube, ect.   I didn't bother buying them two at a time, I bought them a dozen at a time.  My family used paper towels for everything.  I'm sure since we left the country Sparkle Paper Towel Co. has had someone on their staff to try to determine the drastic drop in their sales.  Yet in my time without them, I have learned that you can actually wipe up a spill with a wash cloth and put a "hot dog" on a plate in the microwave.  And your children have to get more creative with the sail for their boat or the banner for the old art sale.

2.  Soap Operas
     Hi, my name is Karen, and I am a soap opera addict.    
Chinese soap operas aren't as interesting to me mainly because I can't understand the words.  Oddly enough, they have John Black's pensive look down to a T.  Funny how soap opera facial expressions can break through any language barrier.  Anyway, I use to while away the hours just waiting for Young and the Restless and Days of our Lives to come on so I could while away a few more hours watching them.   Finally I would while away the whole do and get nothing accomplished.   Until today, I haven't thought for one second who killed Stephano - not that I really believe he is dead mind you - or if dear sweet Paul is going to be charged for the murder of his own psychotic son.  My mother is most proud that I have had to leave these obsessive, mind-numbing shows behind.  She thinks they cause you to lose brain cells.  She's probably right.

3.  Driving Privileges
    I really, really hate that I just can't jump in the car and go visit Linda at Red Door or Missy at The Antique Mall on a regular basis.  Going to the grocery store and Wal-Mart, not so much.  Living without my vehicle has certainly been an adjustment.  As Rob likes to put it, traveling has become an event.  We have to plan around his work schedule, the vehicle maintenance schedule, and the time of day because of traffic. I may not be able to go to the Hongiao Flower Market the second I think of it.  In fact, like today, it had to get postponed until the flat tire got fixed.  Thankfully, I didn't have to worry about that.  Our driver, Jacky, takes care of all things car related and when he can fit me in the schedule, takes me to get my shopping fix.  Plus we are fortunate to have an extensive taxi, subway, train system to get around Shanghai pretty easily.  We even have a family scooter.  I just haven't had a strong enough urge to drive to take it out for a spin.  For now, I leave that up to Rob and his junior co-pilot.

4.   Air Conditioning
   Yes, we have air conditioning in China.  It just costs twice as much to use it during the day as it does at night.  We sleep in lavish cool comfort and we manage not to melt during the day. We have managed to live with floor fans during the day to help manage the sweltering heat. Also the beauty of having a three story house.  The main floor stays pretty cool while the playroom looks and feels like a ghost town. While the temperature isn't any different than living in the mid-west or south in the summer time, the humidity is a whole different story.  I have sweat more in the three weeks that I have called Shanghai home than I have in my lifetime.  That is not an exaggeration.  Think New Orleans in August.  Air so thick you can't breathe at 7:00 in the morning.  The kind of sweat that soaks through your clothes and they just hang on you.  Then when you hit air conditioning, a chill runs down your spine and a shiver along your shoulders and you spray everyone around like a dog shaking off excess water.  Ladies and Gentlmen, it gets nasty hot here but there is always a breeze.

5. Seven Pounds
    For years I have carried around extra pounds and eventually, they had a few more friends join them.  Now I am proud to say I've lost  seven pounds and hopefully some of their friends will leave with them.  It's a combination of things that my doctors have been telling me for years.  Move more and eat less.  Somebody please tell Dr. Shepherd that I said he was right all along.  We have also eaten less sugar, drank more room temperature water, and consumed more vegetables than meat.  In China, they believe that drinking cold water is not good for your body so you should drink warm water.  I have found when it is miserable hot and you are sitting in front of a fan drinking room temperature water, you are just not as hungry.  Also helps that a box of Froot Loops costs $13.  Do you know what I could get at the pearl market for $13?  I'm a big opportunity cost kind of girl and I just don't want to throw my money away on something like Froot Loops that only give me momentary joy.

So I guess that I have shared all of this just to say if you can live without something for three weeks, then just maybe you could try four.

Changes don't have to be the huge, overwhelming, wish you weren't teaching in this place kind.
They can be small, grow over time, and make a huge difference in your life kind.
The kind that let's you see different people and learn something from them. 

I Have Been to the Market - Top!

I didn't really know what to expect of the textile market, but it was everything and more.  Stall after stall of ready-made or practically made-while-you-wait, bedding, sheeting, clothing, and pillows.  Craft supplies, buttons, evening gowns, wedding gowns, cross stitch kits, furniture, pajamas, and more bolts of fabric than I have ever seen before.  Everything has a price and that is just to start the bargaining.  As quickly as I learned "how much" in Chinese, I have forgotten it.  But who needs it?  All you need is one working digit that can type numbers on a calculator and the ability to walk away when the calculator read-out is not to your liking.  The prices are certainly better than IKEA and haggling is so much more fun.  Why pay retail price just because there is a sticker that implies you should?  I can certainly get use to this! 


In case you wanted to know, I walked out with two bedding sets for the children and some pillows to fill the shams. Shiny Barbie pink silk for sister and brown cotton/ultrasuede for the boy. And I'm pretty sure everyone was happy in the end.   That's the beauty of this negotiating system.  There is an ebb and flow to it, a few arms thrown in the air in disgust, and ultimately, a final resting place that lines the pockets of the vendor and fills my shopping bags.  I've already dreamed of my next trip and the need for some custom-made feather pillows.   


Are you ready for the Flower Market?

As a surprise, my shopping companion for the day suggested we head over to the flower market.  I'd already heard how fabulous it was and couldn't wait. After a marvelous lunch at the Cafe Montmarte, we headed over in search of the perfect orchid.  There is just something about their delicate blossoms and arching stems.  So perfect, and feminine, and architecturally beautiful.  They are the perfect plants for me.  I get to neglect them and enjoy their beauty.  Water, slightly, every two weeks.  Surely, I can handle this!

The market itself is filled with fresh cut stems, bonsai trees, orchids, bamboo, orchids, green plants, cactus, and did I mention orchids?  The scents were heavenly. Fresh beautiful plants at every turn.  Little shops line the end with wares of dishes, artwork, porcelain, and pots for your newly purchased life-forms.  After traveling through many of the shops, we made our way back to the stall to lay claim to the coveted lime green and deep purple orchid in all her splendor. I'd insert her picture here but you'd have to look at her sideways and even that doesn't do her justice. 


 I finished my day shopping without even the first haggle.  The shop girl quoted the price and I just laid out my money.  Thrilled with my purchases and the experience, I was ready to take everything to my new home. 

Next time:  Children tag along on a non-shopping adventure.

To Market, To Market....

First thing to celebrate this morning is that my dear, precious children are finally sleeping past 5:00a.m.!  Maybe it is the rain, maybe they finally crashed, hopefully it means they are settling in to their new surroundings.  Those five o'clock mornings were killing mama!

The children and I made a return trip to the market with much less fanfare than the first.  While you still drive your cart like a demolition derby driver, there were far fewer opposing drivers and it made the experience, dare I say it, almost pleasurable.  We picked up a few necessities like chopsticks, pink spoons from the clearance aisle that Robert refuses to use, $6.00 spaghetti sauce, floppy cheese for Emma Grace's scrambled eggs, and plastic hangers.  After making a few rookie mistakes, like leaving the shopping bags as home, we sailed through the checkout and made it back downstairs without incident.  Yes, even the markets have multiple floors.

I wish I could say the trip to the phone store was as satisfying as the market.  If you ever want to feel bad about yourself, take your self-confidence down a notch, or just feel like you just aren't as smart as you think you are:  go to a Chinese phone store.    Too many questions that I don't know the answers to and was thinking they were getting a  little irritated with me by their tone.  After the interpreter phone had been passed around a few times too many, it was decided that I needed to go to a different store.  They didn't have what I needed - someone to call my husband. 

To  my husband's amazement I didn't have a phone when he got home from work.  After playing fifty questions with him - always a sport I thoroughly enjoy after my ego has already been nearly severed - I have to go on and cut it all the way through when I remind him that when I try to get a new phone in the States, I'm not allowed to do it on my own.  Some eighteen year old always has to call and get his permission since my phone is set up in his name.  So I figured why should it be any different in China?  Needless to say, someone was feeling better about himself after that little game and it wasn't moi!

But today, oh today, I am getting to go to my version of Chinese Nirvana - the fabric market.  Jiggity, jiggity, off to buy a fat quarter or two of silk.  Yes, there are visions of sugarplums dancing in my head and Jon Bon Jovi singing in the background.   I'm a glass is half -full kind of girl.  Besides the law of averages has to be turning in my favor.  Surely, this will be the market day made from a little piece of heaven.    Either way, I'll let you know later and hopefully with a few pictures from my new phone!

Children are stirring so I better run.  Much to do before all the fabric fun!

Greetings from the Land of the Rising Sun

It is a balmy 94 degrees at 10:30 this morning. Robert went for his morning bike ride and returned "sweating like a turkey on Thanksgiving". I get it. Went to work in the garden this morning by rearranging the potted plants. Didn't last long because I too was sweating like a turkey. Emma Grace has decided to learn to play the piano so she practices no less than fifteen times a day. Now that we have an Ayi, she has also embraced doing chores for an allowance. Each morning she makes a list of what chores she needs to accomplish and dutifully checks off the ones that Qian does for her. Life doesn't get much better than that for the little princess. Must say that both are adjusting well and sleep patterns are improving. If the ding dang sun didn't come up at 4:30a.m., the adjustment may come a little faster. In the past forty-eight hours we've been the market, had the shipment delivered and unpacked, hourly bike rides, neighborhood walks, eaten at a Pizza Hut (American Pizza Hut could learn a thing or three from this Pizza Hut), rearranged furniture and belongings at least three times, used a bidet, haven't washed a dish or an article of clothing since I've been here, caused an international incident trying to pay for the bottled water delivered to the house, and most importantly discovered the value of Google Translate. Nothing makes you feel more incompetent that being unable to communicate with other human beings. The six Chinese words I know are not nearly enough to get by. There will be some language lessons in my future! This post wouldn't be complete without some color commentary about the trip to the market. There will be a return trip tomorrow but I am prepared for the excursion! The best way I can describe the market experience is by relating it to a demolition derby with shopping carts. It is every man, woman, and child for themselves. Remember when Kroger put all of there generic foods in yellow boxes and you needed to wear sunglasses to walk down the aisle? If they'd put red lettering on those boxes, you would be at the carrefour. Throw in some dehydrated fish part sections, floaters in the fresh fish tanks, aromas like I have never known, four floors filled with thousands of people and children using the bathroom on the floor and you would have the complete experience. All this, and I am looking forward to going back tomorrow! All in all, we have had a tremendous experience so far and are blessed to have good people working with us. This is going to be an amazing experience and I look forward to what each new day brings!

We're Leaving on a Jet Plane...

At least we know when we'll be back again.  :) 

Bags are finally packed.  So thankful this day has actually arrived.  It seems as though "moving to China" has taken on a life of its own, but now it is real and happening tomorrow!  Feeling so many emotions this evening:  excitement for a fabulous adventure, dread of the long flight, sorrow for the friends I'm leaving behind, hope for the amazing opportunity my children have before them,  emptiness for not having a classroom of smiling children to meet in August, joy in sharing my experiences with you through this blog, and most importantly, having an open mind to bask in the challenge that is ahead of us.  We can do this because of all of you.  Hopefully, I'll be able to give a little back to each of you by posting about our adventure and you'll know how much I appreciate each of you.


We will begin this little adventure at the crack of dawn but we also begin this adventure as a family.  So glad to be a family unit again.  What a blessing it is that my children have the luxury of a two-parent household.  Not having this myself growing up, I have to come to truly appreciate having both parents, under the same roof, demanding high expectations, appreciating the differences in talents, expecting respect and responsibility, and dishing out unconditional love because how can you not.   God bless all you single parents out there.  I know there is a special place in heaven just for you.  My little stint as a single parent taught me to appreciate the ones in  my life even more.  And I made a point to tell them that as often as possible.

This has truly been a journey overseen by God.  Thanks for all the prayers, kind words, and thoughts so many of you have felt the need to share.  While it has been a long, strange road that we have followed these past few months, it has been a road paved with God's purpose.  I see that now.  I feel His strength like never before.  I hope He guides each of you down a long, strange road and takes you to places that you've never imagined.  His power is awesome and it is there for the taking.


So get your passports ready and y'all come when you can.  Mi villa et su villa.


I'll be catching up with you from the other side of the world next time.   Isn't that cool!