Just a little update on the buildings...

They have now painted over the cement with white paint.

I got a little video of one of the painters while walking one day. Interesting method, I hope you enjoy.

See ya' later! 再见！！

Have some noodles Joel!

Hello. This is the last post about last week. I think the pictures speak for themselves, especially the video, so I won't write much. We went to Center Street, also known as Walking Street, Friday - all except Steve who wasn't up to a ton of walking obviously. After walking and enjoying the street a bit, people were hungry. After some deliberation, we ended up at a noodle restaurant. The first pictures were from the mall we walked through a bit. The kids voluntarily took this picture, which made it all the more exciting. The last pictures are of the restaurant and a short video of Joel. I hope you enjoy!

 See ya' later! 再见！

A Day in the Park

We get a week off for the holidays, so this week we have tried to visit a couple of sights around Harbin with our team. We went to the Botanical Garden in the city and had a picnic. It was a beautiful day. Kelley's students from her last school came to visit, and we really enjoyed having them around.

The last time I had been at this park was two and a half years ago – also with our team at that time. I remember the brides all taking their pictures and wanting the foreign babies to be props for their special day. This year was not all that different honestly, but not as many people wanted to take our pictures – not as many does NOT mean none though. :)

I was reminiscent of that day a couple of years back and remembering how I was early in my pregnancy with Joel and Olivia was just a little thing. We took pictures that day, and they were sweet. Her little friend Eliza was by her side. Today, she isn't so little, Joel is even bigger than she was then, and now her friend is Lydda Grace. Time really does fly, and I am amazed at how many things just pass us by.

2010 with Eliza

2012 with Lydda Grace

The day was a nice one for the most part, but there was a major something that was less than enjoyable. While throwing a frisbee, Steve stepped in a hole and sprained his ankle. He was careful with it, but he still had to walk around more than he might have wanted at the time. By the time we got home, his ankle was swollen and he was in some pain. We iced it and it seemed to get better. Since then, we have been given a Chinese traditional medicine to put on the ankle that is supposed to be the “secret of China” as they don't give out any of the ingredients inside. It sure does stink, so it must be good. 

 (Side note: A couple of days after the park, a friend took Steve to the hospital for an x-ray and a talk with a doctor. We don't trust the doctor's advice completely, but at least Steve got a pair of crutches out of the deal. He has to take it easy for about 4 weeks and put more of the medicine on his foot. There is another friend with a different kind of medicine coming tonight, so between the doctor, all the medicine, ice packs, crutches and rest, Steve should be fine in the not too distant future. Now we have to try to keep the kids from thinking of the crutches as a jungle gym - that might be the harder task actually. ) More about all that coming soon...

Overall, the day at the park was great and we had a nice time together. After the busy and stressful month behind us, it is nice to have some time to sit and reflect on the start to the semester, catch up on work, and get a grip on what is ahead. May our minds be clearer and our hearts ready for whatever comes.

See ya' later! 再见！

Mid-Autumn Day Joys

I love this time of year. The Mid-Autumn Day festival is one of my favorites in China. On the lunar calendar, it falls on August 15 which puts it around the end of September or beginning of October. This year, it fell on September 30, the day before Chinese National Day (something like America's 4^th of July, but not exactly). So, it was a double holiday, which in China, double is ALWAYS good – usually. :)

Mid-Autumn Day is special because of three things. First, the moon if full, beautiful, and bright. It is customary to go out and look up at the moon and think of your family members who are not with you. This year, the moon was the clearest and brightest I think I have ever seen it. Exquisite! We took Olivia and Joel out to gaze at its beauty and then took them back inside and put them to bed.

The second special thing about the holiday is the mooncakes or 月饼 (yuebing). Now, if you have never had a mooncake, it is something to behold. First of all, you get a lot of them from everyone! They are a lot like fruitcakes at Christmas time. You can keep re-gifting them because they never go bad and you could never eat all that you get. They have nearly every flavor you could think of. Nuts, fruits of all kinds, red bean paste, even chocolate.... The ones I tend to run the fastest from are the ones with an egg inside – the traditional ones. The egg yolk is to remind you of the moon.

The third special thing is family. I eluded to that when talking about the moon. It is a time to be with or remember family. It is something special to be with a family on this holiday. There is a table full of food, good talking and laughter. It is a great time. Many students who cannot go back home for the holiday feel the loss in a similar way Americans might if they were away from their families at Thanksgiving.

So, as I looked at the moon, ate my mooncake and thought about my family, my heart was warm and my tummy happy.

A quote I like to throw around at this time of year is, “Life is like a box of mooncakes, you never know what you're gonna get.” (Actually, some have the characters on the front of the cake to tell you, but if you can't read them, they won't do you much good, now will they? :) Haha.)

Happy Mid-Autumn festival and Chinese National Day! To celebrate the National Day, Olivia and I made a paper cake for China's birthday and even sang “Happy Birthday” to China. Kind of fun.

See ya' later! 再见！

It is snowing … styrofoam!

On our walk to Olivia's school one morning, we realized workers were hooking up man-lifts to the apartment buildings along the way. We could only guess what they were up to since they had just painted these buildings a couple of years back. I think washing the windows came to mind, but I thought the method was a bit much.

Over the course of a few days, all was made clear. They were cementing styrofoam squares to the outside of the walls for insulation. Seemed like a little bit of an afterthought, but hey, who am I to judge? 

I was really curious about the process and what they would do next. Sure enough, they covered it with cement to hold it in and make it as though it never was.

It was interesting to see the result of all this as little styrofoam balls were floating through the air and some pieces of styrofoam were falling off the wall leaving large globs of dried cement. I also wondered how much time and money was going into this job. 

I'm sure the workers appreciated having the work. That is one thing about China that has been very interesting to me. Sometimes the jobs I see seem so mundane. A machine could do it in about half the time (time oriented culture that I come from influencing that thought no doubt) but those 50- 100 people get paid and can go home and have a meal - perhaps a hot one or send money back to their families in the countryside. 

I'm glad that in spite of the lightening speed development, the street sweepers, tree planters and movers, grass cutters (at times with a basket) and such get to have a days work. In the winter, there are hundreds of people picking the ice off the road, and I am glad a snow plow didn't take their wages away. 

So, though I still wonder about the styrofoam, I find myself glad that those workers have something to do before the weather gets cold. Who knows where they are from, but I'm glad Harbin has welcomed them! And it just might be that those apartment buildings are a bit warmer this year as well. 

What would the pediatrician say about that!

This past summer in America, I took both my children to the pediatrician for a check-up. They gave me the rundown of where they should be developmentally as well as some 'tips' for their safety. 

Joel's was more along the lines of keep him away from the stove and power sockets. Olivia was more interesting as I thought about where we live and HOW we live. 

One of those tips was about crossing the street. I should teach her to look both ways and hold my hand. 

Um… Well, if she doesn't only look both ways and hold my hand and perhaps be able to move from one side of me to the other at a moments notice, be able to stop in an instant and in the middle of the street while a bus wizzes by inches from her little body… she might not make it across. It has been "fun" crossing the street with the new families on our team. I am reminded of how crazy an act it really is and how much danger I am putting myself and my children in just to get to the bus stop on the opposite side of the street. 

Another tip was to teach her not to talk to strangers, take things from strangers or go to strangers.

Um… Well, the picture below is a picture of a stranger that Joel reached out to hold on his own accord. They are always talking, touching, taking pictures of and giving treats to my children. It is not uncommon for a well meaning lady to give a sucker to my child who is under two (even before he had teeth this was common). 

The other day on our way home from preschool, Olivia is stopped by a young woman in her twenties. She had a bag of pop-corn and popped rice. She took Olivia's hand and stuck it in the bag and asked Olivia to give her a kiss. Olivia did so before I even realized what the girl had said. Then the woman returned the favor and Olivia went on with her hand full of popped-rice and the woman was squealing with delight that she had talked to my daughter. 

The pediatrician's tip playing in my mind, all I could do was laugh out loud and walk on home. 

And the tips go on… :) 

再见！ See ya later!

I paid 20 kuai for a free facial

Really, all I went to the store to buy were diapers. Okay, I chose to go to Carrefour because it also has an import section that sells good raisins, but really THAT was it. As I was leaving with my few goods in the bag, a man stopped me at the door. I believe this has happened before, but I managed to get away then. I felt weak today for some reason and I guess it showed.

So, as the man was telling me tales of "free.. won't have to pay anything to try… it won't take long…" I was being lead like a sheep to the slaughter and thanking him for it. Once I was hooked, another man talked to me long enough to know if he COULD talk to me in Chinese and then passed me off to a woman who was going to "take just five minutes. Don't you have five minutes?" about my skin or something or other.

She began asking me my age and telling me "oh you don't look THAT old. Russian women all age so very well…" I clarified that I am not Russian and the first and last English word "sorry" came up in the torrent of explanations why my skin is dry and in need of great repair. She poked my face with this wand that told me my skin moisture was a whopping 23.5% and then she went over my face with this special light that showed all the yuck on a tv screen. Talk about less than appealing! At this point she asks, "Won't you take some time to fix it? It is free. You don't have to pay anything."  Sure, why not? Who wouldn't after that?

The woman leads me through a hallway of rooms with curtains to a back room where she tells me the "skin teacher" will come and tell me what my skin needs. This young woman (24) bounds happily into the room and tells me to lay down. She then proceeds to wash my face, fuss at me for not doing more than I do, and giving me the spiel.

She explains that I should come in for an hour and pay 80 kuai to have her wash my face with this special stuff from Taiwan. I would also benefit from a massage on my head, shoulders and neck. She gave just enough of one that I felt the benefits without getting any. "Can't you spare one hour of your life for yourself?" That's where she missed a step with me perhaps, but we'll leave that for another discussion.

Right then, my face was washed, creamed and covered with a white face mask where just my eyes and mouth were poking out. Her voice was going on without stop as I was being convinced that I wasn't taking good enough care of my face and that she was the magical face fairy that would make all my pitiful dry cells disappear.

She talked on, "If you sign up for four visits, they are discounted to 50 kuai a visit. How much money did you bring today? Only 20 kuai, well, that can go toward your 200 prepayment. Haven't you decided you want to do it?" The more she talked the more convinced I was that I wasn't getting out of there with my face if I didn't give her in blood that I would come back and the 20 kuai. Only then did the mask come off and she let me see my very moisturized skin in the mirror and let me get myself together and we headed to the front to get my receipt.

I left wondering if it would have been better to have just walked out Carrefour with a "ting bu dong" [i don't understand] and a smile to that first guy. But then, I did get a free Chinese 'tutor' session, and free facial and skin inventory all for 20 kuai. Who knew so much could happen in five minutes?.… wait, make that an hour. ;)