Buying Our Fruits and Veggies

Once or twice a week I go to the local market to buy fruits and vegetables. There are stands inside where the people get produce from a wholesaler and resell it at this market. On Saturdays, there are also people who set up stalls outside (probably 50-100 of them) to sell locally grown produce and fish and other items. It is a truly "China" experience. I took pictures and video today with my phone. I don't think it captures the true ambiance of the market. But it's a start...

Video (short and not great quality):




Pictures (double click to view album):

JinShiTan Market

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No Pearls, No Apron

Have I turned into June Cleaver? Have I returned to the 50s? Some days I feel like it. Fresh, hot cookies when the kids get home from school and calling the kids in from riding their bikes to come in for a home-cooked meal!

Especially the day I made "Pork Chops Supreme" and "Au Gratin Potatoes" with recipes from my new best friend Betty Crocker. And I sliced my own carrot sticks, too! You see, we have very few convenience foods here, so we have gone back to the day when people actually made and cooked food, not just prepared and reheated food. Can you believe that?? I cook (not just bake)!! From scratch!!

Actually to me, this is quite fascinating. I really thought that we used to eat relatively healthy. Of course, "relatively" is the keyword. We ate healthy compared to the typical American, but in general, not so much. Too much restaurant food, too many packaged foods, too much junk food. We have very little of that now...but we do have some!

But, surprisingly to me, I think I'm enjoying this. I appreciate having the TIME to cook. I like the feeling of being able to relax while I create meals instead of feeling like I am rushing through meal prep because we have a zillion other things to do. Life really is simpler here. Less stuff, fewer activities, less busy-ness.

So tonight we'll be having salmon, potatoes and green beans. And I made fresh peach crisp for dessert. Wish you were here to join us!

How My Life is Different in China

If you are curious about any of these, ask and I'll explain...

1. I'm not allowed to drive - our Chinese driver takes me everywhere (company policy).
2. I have neighbors above and below me.
3. I have a house cleaner (ayi) once a week.
4. I have a small washing machine.
5. I exercise outside instead of in the gym.

6. I use Facebook a lot more.
7. I take my cell phone everywhere and actually use it.
8. I plan my meals and shopping trips more carefully because I can't just run to QFC or Safeway.
9. I drink milk out of 1 liter boxes.
10. I let my kids drink way more juice.

11. I make my bed every day.
12. I like that my furniture all matches.
13. I'm more relaxed.
14. I watch less TV.
15. I read more books.

16. I eat healthier.
17. I scrub all my fruits and vegetables.
18. I spend less time putting away "stuff" cuz we have less stuff.
19. I rarely eat out.
20. I have 1/4 of the clothes I used to, and it's ok.

21. I have a wider circle of friends.
22. My shower isn't as hot.
23. My kids get more exercise.
24. I don't do yard work.
25. I don't have a dog to keep me company during the day.

26. I don't pick up dog poo.
27. I don't take the trash out to the curb.
28. I don't own a vacuum.
29. I don't have a job.
30. I don't read the newspaper every day.

31. I don't talk to people when I shop.
32. I don't eat as much chocolate.
33. I don't get junk mail.
34. I can't live as spontaneously.
35. I see poverty and wealth every day.
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More Shopping Experiences

Kevin and I went shopping on Sunday and saw a few funny things.

First, a little reminder of home - it's a little bizarre to see Oregon t-shirts in China...but we were in the Nike store...




And then in the "mall" we found this...guess what these girls were selling???



Did you guess hair dryers, razors and irons? During their dance, a crowd had gathered and then models came out to show off fancy hair dryers. It was a special display of very expensive (even by US standards) Panasonic personal care electronics!

We had Blizzards at Dairy Queen and lunch at KFC. Kevin tried on a bunch of shoes, but we didn't find any that were comfortable (except for the $100 Nikes that he would grow out of in 2 months!). Kevin was very popular at KFC - the local Chinese like his long dark blond hair as most boys in China have very short hair. Some teenage boys with long hair took their picture with Kevin.

We bought 3 DVDs ($2.25 each). One of the movies was "UP!" which turned out to be a DVD filmed in a Russian theater - the sound is in English, but the written words in the movie are in Russian. Good movie, we watched it last night. We know that it is "buyer beware" to buy DVDs here, but for $2.25, it's worth the risk!

Also, on Sunday night we had a Luau at Campus Village, complete with a roasted pig. Here are some pictures.










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Purpose?

Well, it's clear to me that I need some purpose in my life! When I stopped working last year to prepare for the move, I kind of had a hint that I would miss working. But, I was so busy with the prep to move, I had plenty to keep me busy. Even though before I stopped, I wasn't working that much, it was enough to keep me happy.

Now that we are here and settled and the kids are in school until 4pm, I know that I'll need to find something to do on a regular basis. Now, I actually have plenty to do - or plenty of options of things to do - yoga, working out, reading, shopping, cooking, painting class, Chinese lessons, etc. But what I'm missing is cleaning the toilets (ha ha). No, what I'm missing is doing something that helps other people. There is no doubt that public health was the right profession for me! I need to help people to feel like I've contributed to some greater good in my day.

In the past week, I've been helping in the school library. It's satisfying to take boxes of books and put order to the room. I'm just a helper bee, they have a great librarian and assistant librarian. I've always thought I'd love to be a librarian or work in a bookstore...It is FUN!

So while this isn't helping people who have a great need, it is still helping out and it feels good!
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Brown Sugar

This is for my sisters....

We used to fight over the lumps of brown sugar - there were not very many lumps and 3 of us who wanted to eat them...

I'd like to point out that I have this lump all to myself!!!


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An American Day in China

I was going to write only about the first day of school, but then as I was reflecting on the day, I was struck by how my day could have happened in any suburb of America. For the most part, yesterday, I didn't feel like I was living in China at all.

Here's what I mean:
- morning walk/run
- bagels, cereal and milk for breakfast
- pack lunches - peanut butter and jelly
- kids ride their bikes to school
- parents are at school on the first day to take pictures
- the school principal does the clapping rhythm to get the kids' attention
- I volunteer in the school library
- kids come home after school and do homework
- we have tacos for dinner
- kids play after dinner
- a little TV, then bed

Seems pretty typical, yes?

Here are some pictures:

Getting off the elevator in our building:


About to leave the building for school:


The road to school:


Waiting in front of the school:


The big kids (middle and high school) go through a separate entrance:


The school buses:


Bike parking - that's our condo in the background:


On the way home from school:


Coming back into our neighborhood:


So looking at the pictures, maybe you did notice some differences from a typical American day:

- kids on bikes without helmets (not mine...)
- security guards directing traffic
- leaving home via the elevator!
- the cushy school buses
- valet bike parking (not sure if this will happen every day but the guard took the bikes from the kids and parked them!)
- no bike locks
- no bags of school supplies
- playing outside, after dark, unsupervised

And one thing you can't tell from the picture - small class sizes!!! (Don't read this part if you are upset about your local district's budget cuts...)

Kevin's class has 8 students! There will be more coming during the year (up to 17 max), but 8 right now!!! Kiana's class has 9!!! She said after school yesterday, "I don't feel like I'm at school, I feel like I'm at some kind of camp!"

They also have several "specials" every day. Science, art, music, tech lab, PE, Mandarin, and library. WOW!

I think this will be a good school year!
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New Cookbook

OK, this was funny to me, but maybe not to others....

After making 3-bean salad with kidney beans, garbanzo beans and baby corn(?), I thought maybe my new book should be called:

The Bored China Expat Housewife's Experimental Cookbook.

Here is a picture...it tastes better than it looks! :)


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Turning Left in China

There's a lot I could write about driving in China, but let me just give a brief introduction today by showing a video of people turning left from a busy main street onto a side street. Instead of going one at a time, a big group forms in the middle of the street they all come through at once. Sometimes a bus will push through the oncoming traffic and everyone else will tag along. What shows in the video is actually quite orderly compared to what I sometimes see.



Also, on the drive home from the water park I took some pictures of the neighborhoods we passed through. Double click on the album to view the pictures.

Random China Pictures Taken While Driving

More about driving in a later post...
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Turning 12 in China

Happy Birthday Kiana:


Celebrating with new and old friends:


Huckleberry Finn:


Not every girl is lucky enough to get Mandarin Oranges for her birthday:


Kiana has 2 1/2 more hours left of her US birthday, but her China birthday is over. She had a great time. Spent the first part of the day at the indoor water park with about 10 other expat families and hundreds of other Chinese and Russians.

Then a bean and cheese burrito with green taco sauce (thanks Grammy and Papa), and some Mario Kart Wii. Dinner was steak at home.

She had a party in the evening with three families who live here in Campus Village - and cake with blue icing cut into triangles and brownies. And a new dolphin named Huckleberry Fin.
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Discoveryland

On Sunday, we went to our local amusement park - Discoveryland. They have a cool log ride that you get really wet on. We didn't wait to go on it because the line was too long, but we watched people come down the chute instead...that was a mistake! Here is our video:



If you didn't figure it out we were behind a glass wall. The kids did decide to go into the splash zone, though, as you can see in our pictures.

Discoveryland is cute, you can tell it is trying really hard to be like Disneyland, but I don't think anyone can capture the Disney magic. It's laid out similar to Disney with "lands" and has some similarities that you can see in our pictures. It's a fun park - more like California Adventure or Six Flags. Lots of thrill rides for the older kids and adults. We had fun. We will go back again as it is less than a 5 minute drive from our house.

We had some great conversations with some locals - one a English teacher at a middle school in Dalian and a few young employees. We also had our share of people staring. One of these days I'm going to get a picture of someone staring at us.

Here are our pictures (double click to open the album):

Discoveryland

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Beer Festival

German beer, Chinese city, German food, chopsticks, Chinese singers, American song....



This was at the International Beer Festival in downtown Dalian. A 10 day event. There were 160,000 people there the first day. We went today during the day, when it wasn't so crowded. Good beer!







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