I know you're wondering where 26 came from. Truthfully? Thin air. I'm not sure 26 is the right number, but I do know that 10 won't be enough and 26 seems like a good place to land. Driving here is really… well, amazing. Let's start with turning right. (Come, on, Beth. Of course you can get 26 posts out of driving if you're going to nitpick like this!) Just trust me, let's start with turning right:
Have you ever approached a red light with a single car sitting in the right lane? You turned your blinker on a while back, but they must not have noticed and didn't move over so you could make the turn. Ever wanted to just pull around that person on the left and turn right in front of them? In Shanghai, that dream can become your reality.
Very recently my driver was taking me to the grocery store and he knew I was in a hurry (as it turns out, this is only a minor incentive for the described right-turn strategy). We approached a light that we ALWAYS turn right at and it was packed - 3 cars across, 4 cars deep. Without hesitation, we head for the left lane. Naively I think, "Is this new store in a different direction?" No. As we approach the light, we turn to the right, cross 3 lanes of traffic, and drive naturally onto the highway entrance ramp.
Other possibilities for turning right:
- Cut into the bike lane. You may have to do this fairly early if there is a cement barrier between the car lanes & the bike lanes. Also, watch out for bikes. You don't want to have an accident.
- Squeeze between the car in the right lane and the cement barrier - very slowly so that you do not bump or scratch either car - until you get through to the street you want to turn onto. If you are irritated that the person in the right lane has not left enough room for you to squeeze through, it is appropriate to honk repeatedly, even if they have no room to move out of your way. Continue honking until they inch away, the light turns green, or by some other miracle, you make it through.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Big McDay
Today is a big day in the McHousehold. Our crate is coming! It's going to be a long, tiring day, but I know we'll be happy at the end to sleep in our own beds. I've got plenty to do, so I'm going to keep this short.
Another reason this is a big day is that the doctor cleared C to go back to school today! He was very excited this morning and knows he can come home early if he gets worn out. I hope today is a good day for him.
I am trying to get back into the plan of posting pictures. Look for some later this week!
Another reason this is a big day is that the doctor cleared C to go back to school today! He was very excited this morning and knows he can come home early if he gets worn out. I hope today is a good day for him.
I am trying to get back into the plan of posting pictures. Look for some later this week!
Sunday, November 13, 2011
One Giant Complaint
Let me just start by saying, C is doing great. We are home and he is happy and feeling good. Regardless of what you read below, I have not lost sight of my thankfulness for God's care of him and our family over this last week.
That said, I feel like I have settled into a new can't-believe-we-moved-to-china low. There is something truly horrible about trying to get something done here. It's like nothing I've experienced before. At least not on this level.
It's about the refrigerator - and really it applies to everything else. The first time the repair man came to look at my frozen refrigerator, he told me I had it on the wrong number. It didn't matter to him that I have an engineering degree and have had problem-solving beaten into my brain. It didn't matter to him that I have tried all of the numbers. It didn't matter to him that I wasn't happy with his solution. That was his assessment and that's all I got. At that point, I knew I was in for the 4 visit rule.
Here's where things start to get bad. You all know that C was in the hospital all week (which means I was too). I'm tired. I'm emotionally spent. I've run out of gumption for the time being. Sigh. When you're out of gumption is absolutely the worst time to try to get something done in China.
I stopped by the office on Friday afternoon when I was home to pick up K from the bus. I asked them to have someone come on Saturday afternoon and look at the fridge. Saturday rolls around and a neighborhood worker comes by, not the GE (maybe?) repairman that came before. This is a bad sign. I call the office and explain that we do not need to start from square one. I need the supplier to come. They say he will come Sunday between 3 & 4pm. Fine. (Side note: this 1 hour time frame is pretty shocking as most repair appointments around here seem to be very vague: i.e. "tomorrow morning", "later today" - worse than the cable company!)
Sunday rolls around. It's after 4 and I'm at a birthday party with K. Matt calls the office to ask where the repair man is. I'm not sure they gave him an answer about that, but they did tell him the guy would come today before noon. I bet you can't guess where this is headed...?
About an hour ago (around 10am) I called the office to ask what time I should expect the repair man. HE'S NOT COMING TODAY. HE'S IN PUXI (the other side of the river). I absolutely went ballistic. We have waited at home for 3 days for this guy to come and nothing!!! I had an extensive argument with the office girl. I told her they were going to have to work this out for me. If the repair man can't be here when they say he will be, then we need to forget the repair man and the office needs to buy me a new fridge. (Of course, as I was saying these words, I knew it would never happen.) She tells me he can come tomorrow and I say - I WON'T BE HERE!!! I CAN'T WAIT AROUND EVERY DAY FOR SOMEONE WHO NEVER COMES!!! She says, "He came yesterday and no one was home."
More ballistic. I know some of you are wondering at this point if I swore at the girl (admit it, you wanted me to). I didn't. But I can hardly say that I kept my cool. After shouting at her at least 7 times that HE. DID. NOT. COME. TO. MY. HOUSE. I finally get out of her that after Matt called to ask where the guy was, he showed up at the office and THEY SENT HIM HOME. They thought we didn't want him anymore.
REALLY????
REALLY????????
I'm not sure what the worst part of all of this is. That my fridge still doesn't work? That after 3 supposed appointments today would have been the 4th visit if they had all happened and my fridge may have been fixed today? No, I think it's the completely beaten down feeling that I have right now. I think there are 8 more things wrong with our house right now that I am terrified of asking to be repaired because I can't face any more of this. Yes, that's the worst part. I'm not generally a fearful person. Sometimes things intimidate me and I have to work up the gumption to give them a try. But I'm out of gumption for now. And I'm not sure how to fill up when I keep getting beaten down.
Somebody please throw me a bone...
That said, I feel like I have settled into a new can't-believe-we-moved-to-china low. There is something truly horrible about trying to get something done here. It's like nothing I've experienced before. At least not on this level.
It's about the refrigerator - and really it applies to everything else. The first time the repair man came to look at my frozen refrigerator, he told me I had it on the wrong number. It didn't matter to him that I have an engineering degree and have had problem-solving beaten into my brain. It didn't matter to him that I have tried all of the numbers. It didn't matter to him that I wasn't happy with his solution. That was his assessment and that's all I got. At that point, I knew I was in for the 4 visit rule.
Here's where things start to get bad. You all know that C was in the hospital all week (which means I was too). I'm tired. I'm emotionally spent. I've run out of gumption for the time being. Sigh. When you're out of gumption is absolutely the worst time to try to get something done in China.
I stopped by the office on Friday afternoon when I was home to pick up K from the bus. I asked them to have someone come on Saturday afternoon and look at the fridge. Saturday rolls around and a neighborhood worker comes by, not the GE (maybe?) repairman that came before. This is a bad sign. I call the office and explain that we do not need to start from square one. I need the supplier to come. They say he will come Sunday between 3 & 4pm. Fine. (Side note: this 1 hour time frame is pretty shocking as most repair appointments around here seem to be very vague: i.e. "tomorrow morning", "later today" - worse than the cable company!)
Sunday rolls around. It's after 4 and I'm at a birthday party with K. Matt calls the office to ask where the repair man is. I'm not sure they gave him an answer about that, but they did tell him the guy would come today before noon. I bet you can't guess where this is headed...?
About an hour ago (around 10am) I called the office to ask what time I should expect the repair man. HE'S NOT COMING TODAY. HE'S IN PUXI (the other side of the river). I absolutely went ballistic. We have waited at home for 3 days for this guy to come and nothing!!! I had an extensive argument with the office girl. I told her they were going to have to work this out for me. If the repair man can't be here when they say he will be, then we need to forget the repair man and the office needs to buy me a new fridge. (Of course, as I was saying these words, I knew it would never happen.) She tells me he can come tomorrow and I say - I WON'T BE HERE!!! I CAN'T WAIT AROUND EVERY DAY FOR SOMEONE WHO NEVER COMES!!! She says, "He came yesterday and no one was home."
More ballistic. I know some of you are wondering at this point if I swore at the girl (admit it, you wanted me to). I didn't. But I can hardly say that I kept my cool. After shouting at her at least 7 times that HE. DID. NOT. COME. TO. MY. HOUSE. I finally get out of her that after Matt called to ask where the guy was, he showed up at the office and THEY SENT HIM HOME. They thought we didn't want him anymore.
REALLY????
REALLY????????
I'm not sure what the worst part of all of this is. That my fridge still doesn't work? That after 3 supposed appointments today would have been the 4th visit if they had all happened and my fridge may have been fixed today? No, I think it's the completely beaten down feeling that I have right now. I think there are 8 more things wrong with our house right now that I am terrified of asking to be repaired because I can't face any more of this. Yes, that's the worst part. I'm not generally a fearful person. Sometimes things intimidate me and I have to work up the gumption to give them a try. But I'm out of gumption for now. And I'm not sure how to fill up when I keep getting beaten down.
Somebody please throw me a bone...
Friday, November 11, 2011
Good News!
Great news, everyone! We are going home in the morning! C has made such good progress and we are ready to bust outta here. If that wasn't enough, we got word today that our crate (most of our worldly possessions) will be ready for delivery on Tuesday. Nothing like Christmas-come-early to push away the bad memories from the previous week.
Thank you all for your prayers on C's behalf. We know that God is busy at work in our lives!
Thank you all for your prayers on C's behalf. We know that God is busy at work in our lives!
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Firstborn Update
Thanks for your prayers and well-wishes everyone, we are steadily improving here. There is a marked improvement in C's behavior today. He is up walking around, pushing his IV cart himself. He spent about a half an hour on some fun workbooks this morning and talked to friends and family on the phone.
The doctors were able to examine him and assess his pain levels this morning and he is feeling much less pain than yesterday. He was able to have a liquid breakfast today and we look forward to giving him some solid food tomorrow.
I will keep you posted on his progress. Please keep praying! We don't want him to wind up with Pnemonia or any other complications. More to come...
The doctors were able to examine him and assess his pain levels this morning and he is feeling much less pain than yesterday. He was able to have a liquid breakfast today and we look forward to giving him some solid food tomorrow.
I will keep you posted on his progress. Please keep praying! We don't want him to wind up with Pnemonia or any other complications. More to come...
Welcome to China
Just a quick post to share that we have received our formal welcome to China in the form of an all-expenses-paid visit to the hospital for an appendectomy! Not exactly the welcome we hoped for. Unfortunately, it wasn't me (been there, done that), it was my firstborn. It's so hard to watch a child go through a painful struggle and I'm sure this isn't the only one we'll face in our lives.
The good news is we had a very good surgeon and the operation was minimally invasive. The appendix did not rupture, but it was about the size of my thumb and very red. It contained a stone almost 1cm in diameter. Pretty scary stuff, but the surgery was successful & we are now working toward a similar status in the recovery phase.
Please keep our family in your prayers. I am continually reminded to put my trust in God. He has blessed us so much already through our new friends and neighbors who have been looking after us here.
As a side note, one of the peculiarities about Chinese hospitals (at least to westerners like me) is that the families tend to do most of the patient care such as changing clothes, washing, bringing food, and feeding. The section of the hospital we are in is more western-style than most, however I can see that I am expected to do a lot of these things for my son. It is also a bit more challenging to get pain meds here, although the surgeon has given us a get-out-of-pain-free card to make sure Carson is comfortable. I just have to strongly remind the nurses of that every so often.
Right now he's resting and I should be too. Sleep when the baby sleeps, they say. Who are "they" anyway? And did they every actually have a baby? I guess that's irrelevant to my current decision to blog while the baby sleeps. Maybe I should re-evaluate & get some rest. Good night!
The good news is we had a very good surgeon and the operation was minimally invasive. The appendix did not rupture, but it was about the size of my thumb and very red. It contained a stone almost 1cm in diameter. Pretty scary stuff, but the surgery was successful & we are now working toward a similar status in the recovery phase.
Please keep our family in your prayers. I am continually reminded to put my trust in God. He has blessed us so much already through our new friends and neighbors who have been looking after us here.
As a side note, one of the peculiarities about Chinese hospitals (at least to westerners like me) is that the families tend to do most of the patient care such as changing clothes, washing, bringing food, and feeding. The section of the hospital we are in is more western-style than most, however I can see that I am expected to do a lot of these things for my son. It is also a bit more challenging to get pain meds here, although the surgeon has given us a get-out-of-pain-free card to make sure Carson is comfortable. I just have to strongly remind the nurses of that every so often.
Right now he's resting and I should be too. Sleep when the baby sleeps, they say. Who are "they" anyway? And did they every actually have a baby? I guess that's irrelevant to my current decision to blog while the baby sleeps. Maybe I should re-evaluate & get some rest. Good night!
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Ice Cream & Chocolate
Some of you may know that I have an extra stomach just for ice cream. I can always seem to fit ice cream in no matter how full I am! I LOVE it. Sadly, there isn't a lot of ice cream where we are. I can find it at the store, but the selection is meager. The import store seemed to have a good selection of Ben & Jerry's when we visited this summer, but I haven't seen any since we moved here. They do have several varieties of HagenDaaz, but none of them to me are worth spending $12 to try a pint!
Yes! That is the ACTUAL PRICE!
As a result, I've turned to chocolate. It's also more expensive than normal (because I'm buying imported chocolate!), but at $3/bar it's easier to justify taste-testing. My absolute favorite so far is the Ritter Sport Praline. Yum! Of course, Toblerone is always dependable. And there are others I haven't tried yet. I'm still watching for the Ben & Jerry's to return, but I'm starting to think that's just a summer treat :(.
Yes! That is the ACTUAL PRICE!
As a result, I've turned to chocolate. It's also more expensive than normal (because I'm buying imported chocolate!), but at $3/bar it's easier to justify taste-testing. My absolute favorite so far is the Ritter Sport Praline. Yum! Of course, Toblerone is always dependable. And there are others I haven't tried yet. I'm still watching for the Ben & Jerry's to return, but I'm starting to think that's just a summer treat :(.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Marketing
Re-posting with a picture!!
_________
I realized the other meaning of marketing today. Market-ing (like Krogering) is shopping at the markets! Today I was finally initiated into the life of a Shanghai Tai tai. From the source of all online knowledge (Wikipedia): "Tai tai is a Chinese colloquial term for a wealthy married woman who does not work." Let me tell you, I was working it today!
I went to the fake market with my neighbor, who needed to have some new pants made. It was incredibly enlightening to watch her "negotiate" (haggle isn't even the right word) her price with the vendor. They insisted things like because she was tall or bigger than the average chinese person they would have to buy extra fabric, so it should cost more. Or, my favorite, "This is high quality! You can't buy in US!" HILARIOUS! So after a little observation, I found my grove. A couple hours later I was the proud owner of a new "Cath Kidston" purse (no clue about the brand as I am brand-name-naive), a cute grey leather clutch, a cute "Kate Spade" bag, a pair of "Diesel" slip on tennis shoes, and, the piece-de-resistance: a Nick Lidstrom Winter Classic throwback jersey (for M). And all for about $85! And the best part - I had SO MUCH FUN!!
It is important to note that anything in quotes is that way due to the uncertain nature of the actual brand ;). It is, after all, a fake market. An interesting tidbit about the fake market: there are copies & there are fakes. One is ok and one is not. I'm not really sure what the difference is, but some of the merchandise is hidden in walk-in rooms behind fake doors where you pay separately. Everything I bought was legit - at least in the Chinese sense of the word. We'll see how long it all lasts!
_________
I realized the other meaning of marketing today. Market-ing (like Krogering) is shopping at the markets! Today I was finally initiated into the life of a Shanghai Tai tai. From the source of all online knowledge (Wikipedia): "Tai tai is a Chinese colloquial term for a wealthy married woman who does not work." Let me tell you, I was working it today!
I went to the fake market with my neighbor, who needed to have some new pants made. It was incredibly enlightening to watch her "negotiate" (haggle isn't even the right word) her price with the vendor. They insisted things like because she was tall or bigger than the average chinese person they would have to buy extra fabric, so it should cost more. Or, my favorite, "This is high quality! You can't buy in US!" HILARIOUS! So after a little observation, I found my grove. A couple hours later I was the proud owner of a new "Cath Kidston" purse (no clue about the brand as I am brand-name-naive), a cute grey leather clutch, a cute "Kate Spade" bag, a pair of "Diesel" slip on tennis shoes, and, the piece-de-resistance: a Nick Lidstrom Winter Classic throwback jersey (for M). And all for about $85! And the best part - I had SO MUCH FUN!!
It is important to note that anything in quotes is that way due to the uncertain nature of the actual brand ;). It is, after all, a fake market. An interesting tidbit about the fake market: there are copies & there are fakes. One is ok and one is not. I'm not really sure what the difference is, but some of the merchandise is hidden in walk-in rooms behind fake doors where you pay separately. Everything I bought was legit - at least in the Chinese sense of the word. We'll see how long it all lasts!
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