Buy local

So I’ve been trying to think of grocery shopping as “An Adventure!” (caps and punctuation intended) instead of as the real beating that it seems to be too often (sometimes literally; you should see how these people elbow each other out of the way just to get their fruit and veggies weighed and priced in the produce section! I need hockey pads! Just kidding. Sort of. But let’s be honest: grocery shopping is a beating no matter where you are when you have two whiny toddlers in tow!). But today in particular I had one of those “I cannot believe how complicated this has to be” moments while shopping. I braved the frozen food section in the grocery store (a Carrefour, a French retailer that is like a SuperTarget or a Meijer; we shopped a lot at the ones in Kuala Lumpur) and I found something that I think is pork-stuffed dumplings, based on the picture on the package. The only English on the package says “Freezing for Fresh” and “Chives-Prok Vareniki”. So I’m hoping the “prok” is just a typo and not some Indian dish with which I am unfamiliar that actually means chicken feet, or pig eyeballs or something. But I was excited to find the dumplings, thinking “We like these and they will be easy enough to prepare with the limited utensils that I currently have in my kitchen. But we’ll need some soy sauce to go with them.” I was headed to the aisle where I thought I would find the oils and sauces and just had to laugh when it occurred to me that there might not be any English on the bottles. How will I know what to choose? As the default solution came to me, “When in doubt, buy the imported version”, I had to laugh out loud: I am standing in a grocery store in China and am contemplating buying the imported version of soy sauce? I think it’s time to break out of the bubble, Jack!


The good news is that there were a few brands that had enough English on the labels that I was even able to find a low sodium version! (At least I think it is…) And to boot I found a bottle of some black pepper sauce that sounds really interesting and I am looking forward to trying that out. A reward for my willingness to be intrepid! Now I just need to brave the rice cooker that came with the house… which I guess would mean braving the rice aisle at the store as well.

It’s funny though how you come to rely on certain conventions. For instance green on the coffee packaging always means decaf, right? Grab the green one. (I think the blue labels here are decaf, at least on the Nescafe, but can’t be sure so I guess if after a few days of the blue stuff I’m bouncing off the walls and up all night I will know my assumption was wrong!) Well, now that I have my purchase home I realize that there is no English on the label of the bottle of soy-sauce that I bought. But it’s green, and green means the low-sodium version in the states. Did I actually read that on the label of the larger bottle in the store, or did I subconsciously grab that one because it’s what I would have bought back home? Things that make you go “hmmm”. I guess soy-sauce is soy sauce; quit over thinking everything? Is it obvious to you all yet that I haven't got enough to occupy my mind these days?...

A belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. Best wishes for a happy, prosperous and peaceful 2011.

One Week in China

(Foreword: Yes, we have been here more than a week, but apparently the site I use to Blog is blocked by the "Great (Fire) Wall”. Tech savvy as I am not, it has taken me awhile to understand the proxy set up, but thanks to my wonderful husband we have finally tunneled in and can join the rest of the world on the entire world wide web! Looking forward to reporting in on a regular basis. Love to you all~) 

Hi Everyone,

When it first became clear that we would be moving longer term to China, not KL, I thought “Well, I guess I’ll have to change the name of the blog!” But actually I see this as an extension of the original adventure to Malaysia so I guess I can let the name stand (and then I can avoid the logistics and technical issues of assigning it a new address!) Hard to believe we’ve been here a whole week already, so I thought now might be a good time to send an update.

Simply getting everyone to check-in at O’Hare seemed to be the most complicated part of this journey. Having sold both cars before we left Indy, we already had 1 rental car and fearing that we would not fit all of our luggage, us, the car seats and Barney in his crate into one vehicle, we had 2 for the drive to Chicago and the airport. But then came the fun of trying to get the cars returned to Avis, but all of the luggage, car seats, kids and Barney to Check-in in time for an 8 am check-in for a 10 am flight. Couldn’t exactly see us putting Barney’s crate on the rental car shuttle. It took a bit of round-robin with cell-phone lots and shuttles and me hanging out in the terminal with the kids while Heinz returned the second car, but at least that gave me the opportunity to pack the last car seat in the warmth of the terminal; it was bitter cold, windy and rainy and I had to have poor Viv with me at the car return while I stood beside the car and packed her seat. For me, that is the worst part of modern travel, the logistics of the car seat!  But we made it in time, got Barney checked in, handed him off to the airlines and made our way to the gate.

I’m still so grateful that this trip was only one plane. Those 3-plane trips to Malaysia were a real beating. We had 1 window seat, which was a lot of fun for Conrad and he and Heinz actually saw Barney get loaded onto the plane. I sat behind them, holding Viv. Thankfully there were empty seats on the plane and the attendant was able to move the older gentleman next to us up a few rows (he spoke no Mandarin, only Cantonese so they had to find a crew member who did as well) so Viv had her own seat. I was so grateful! These days my Restless Leg really plagues me on these trips, especially because at that point I was already pretty sleep deprived and fatigue always exacerbates the condition. So anyway, the 14 hour flight was pretty uneventful; we all fell asleep right away and the kids stayed asleep for at least about 5 hours. The flight was pretty smooth, those big planes usually are but both Heinz and I could not stop thinking about poor Barney the whole time, wondering how he was doing, what he must have been thinking about the whole thing.

We arrived at about 2 in the afternoon, local time, 1 in the morning Indy time. The agent we hired to help us through the quarantine process had already collected Barney and met us with him at baggage claim. He seemed none the worse for wear, a little wide eyed, but if he could speak to me I think he would have said “What the hell was that?? I am not looking at you; I am not looking at you. I am so mad at you; I am not looking at you!” But we were able to spend a few minutes with him at the quarantine office and it really was sad when we had to say good bye to him again. He looked at us as if to say “Are you kidding me? You’re leaving me again???” 

We collected our bags and met our driver, Bian, who started driving for Heinz when he was here last month, and headed home. I had seen a similar house to ours on our recon mission last August so I pretty much knew what to expect. It’s a 3 bed, 3 ½ bath, study and once our stuff arrives, I will be able to download some pictures, as the cable to link my camera with the computer accidentally got packed with the stuff the movers took. Oh well, so far it seems as if that is the only critical thing that got put in the wrong pile. (Unless you ask Conrad about some of the toys he is missing!) And speaking of our stuff, it should arrive in 30-60 days. In the meantime we are living with a few pieces of rented furniture and only what we could fit in our suitcases, including boots, snowsuits and some Christmas things. It’s like a very un-fun version of camping. The thing I am missing the most is storage solutions. At the moment too many things are just sort of piled in corners because we haven’t got the furniture, or bins or shelves to corral them, but certainly won’t buy more as ours will be here soon enough (but not soon enough, if you know what I mean!) So we make do. (Aunt Vickie and Uncle Norm, I think of you SOOO often, and all of the travel you did over the years!)

Having a driver is definitely a luxury I can get used to! One of my biggest problems adjusting to life in Malaysia was that I-am-a-prisoner-in-my-own-home feeling I got from not having the courage right away to drive on the other side and not knowing where to go, anyway. But the kids and I have already gotten out quite a bit. We went to Ikea! Having never actually been to one of their stores, that was great fun for me, especially with my current, nagging, storage-solutions envy! And I found a music class for expat kids and made a friend already! That is the beauty of the expat community, I think: everyone is so quick to say “Come to our house and play; call me anytime.” We’re all in this together. The woman who runs the class is Swedish and her husband is Swiss, so that was an immediate bond for us. It will be a bit difficult at this time of year to find fun activities for the kids because most expat-centered activities are shutting down for a Christmas break but there are also an aquarium, a zoo and a few other places that look like interesting ways to pass a day with the kids. And with a driver, I can get to them so easily! I already feel miles ahead of where I was for the first few months in Malaysia.

I still have not yet made any progress with my Mandarin skills. Conrad already knows more words than I do: I know 2, he knows 3! Which is how many Heinz knows! But the kids have found a Chinese cartoon channel to watch. They’ll be fluent before I know it! (Yes, I’m joking.)We’ll have to find a babysitting solution before I can reasonably pursue lessons. Working on that.

We’ve checked out most of the grocery stores that stock western goods. The selections aren’t too bad but until I can start reading labels, I think we will go broke on groceries! The imported stuff is so expensive! Shortly before we left Indy, I read an article on literacy in Indiana that talked about the plight of the illiterate, citing the possibility of buying a can of Crisco, thinking it is cookies, and being shocked to get home, open it and find it full of lard! Well, that is me at this stage, really. I’m not even comfortable buying things based on the pictures on the package. It’s frustrating but it does give me a place to focus my energies when I start language lessons, I guess. I am still so overwhelmed by the sheer scope of the characters. And I guess it also gives me a good excuse to order delivery! There is a great service called Sherpas, served by about 40 restaurants; call one number and tell them which restaurant, which items and it’s delivered to your door! The leasing agent had given us their catalog when we were here in August and we’ve done it twice already and the food has been pretty good. And no dishes to wash! Especially since the dishwasher doesn’t seem to work. Or else we just don’t know how to make it work, since it’s naturally all in Chinese. Like the washing machine. Heinz asked me if I had figured out how to use it and I said “Well, I just turn it on and hope for the best.” And he said “So? That’s how I’ve been doing laundry for years!” Men. Our option for learning how to use the equipment in the house is to take a picture of the control panel, e-mail it to the agent and have her translate it for us. Too bad the camera cable is packed…

So Barney arrived home yesterday from his 7 day quarantine. He seems perfectly fine, he isn’t even smelly, and Heinz and I laughed because the agent said he had received 2 walks a day. When he saw us he probably thought “well, here we go again, the people who never walk me!” (When we were in KL our house sitters positively spoiled him with multiple walks a day, mostly to the local dog bakery. The big joke was that when we returned from KL, I thought he would be so happy to see his family again but I swear he would have said “not you people! I want to be with the people who treat me like an only child again!”) It’s going to be quite hard on him because he’s still basically under house arrest for 23 days. And we’re still not exactly sure what the requirements are for the home quarantine, simply the directions “do not meet other dogs.” There’s also a license issue that we need to be sure we understand (something about them only issuing so many a year, and not issuing any more this year?) Even when we can get out it will be a bit difficult to walk him to the degree that we did in Indy (when we were able!), our neighborhood outside the compound at first glance doesn’t exactly seem to invite a pedestrian stroll, but we’ll figure it out. I’ve seen 2 golden retrievers and one Mastiff in the neighborhood so maybe we can have playdates with some of those dogs here eventually. He definitely misses his buddies from the ‘hood back home! One thing he will definitely learn to love, I think, is the heated floor we have in the living room. Even I want to lie down there sometimes as it starts to get colder! In the meantime I am trying to teach him to relieve himself in only one part of the yard. Wish me luck with that!

Regarding the heated floor, Viv has sure gotten to like it. The other day we were up in the kids’ room and she needed her diaper changed so I was going to do it up there but she said no and pointed downstairs. Okay, so we went downstairs and I went into the dining room, where I keep the downstairs diaper stash and I turned around and she was waiting, spread-eagle on the living room floor!

Yesterday we also had our required physical exams as part of our entry into the country. Only Heinz and I had to do it, which was a relief after all the craziness with Viv’s swollen lymph node before we left and the wonder that it was going to cause problems if she had to have an entrance exam, too.  (BTW, all of her tests have come back negative and I actually think it is starting to shrink on it's own.) It’s quite an efficient set-up. There is a sign-in station, and then about 8 other stations where they check all vitals, eyesight, draw blood, do a thoracic x-ray and a thoracic sonogram. It was during the sonogram that the tech said “blah, blah, blah, gallstone, blah, blah, blah.” So apparently I have an asymptomatic gallstone. Hereditary? What d’you think, Mom? It will be interesting to see if we actually get a report back with health details or just a certificate that says we can stay in the country because we’ve been deemed healthy enough. Does one get kicked out of China for gallstones? Will keep you posted on that too. Might need a place to stay for 2 years if I do get denied!

So we’re settling in and finding our stride. We’ve had some bad days and some good. It’s a big city and has all the issues that go along with big city life: personal bubbles, also a very American concept, are not widely regarded here; queues are not widely adhered to, and the shopping carts have those funky wheels that turn every which way, making it a real challenge to push straight. Shopping is an adventure. But a woman with a stroller, 2 kids and a number of grocery bags is a universal symbol of distress, I think, and countless people have been more than willing to help us through some tight spots, finding a table in a crowded cafeteria, getting out through shopping turnstiles designed to keep the shopping carts in. I found this list on one of the expat sites and am trying to internalize it with varying degrees of success each day:

1 - Retain your sense of humour
2 - Remember that most people are basically good, and actually do want to help you. (Their idea of "help" may differ vastly from yours however, which is why (1) is so important.)
3 - It is better to be honest and open with people and be surprised if this is not returned, than to believe the worst and have your suspicions confirmed.
4 - Try everything available, within reason. Although possibly not stinky tofu.
5 - We all have 'bad China days'. The good news is they pass and there are some pretty damn good days as well. Try not to lose sight of that. 

Most of those points are applicable to anyone at anytime in any culture, but particularly relevant for me here and now.

We miss you all and think of you often, sending all of our love and best wishes to you from halfway around the world.