Day 10 in China on Spring Break

It's a great day for shopping today! I went to the bank to change some money from American to RMB, but forgot my passport, CRAP! so I pulled as much money out that was allowed and we were on our way. Vicki, another Intel Lady of Leisure had just arrived and she was going to go with me and Asia downtown. Gave me a little more confidence than going at it alone. My goal was to remember where the purse place was that I bought at last time I was here. I know I have to go in a certain way in order to get the McDonalds and then make the left to walk directly into the shop. You see, it's in a place called Victory Plaza. It's like and underground mall in winding tunnels under the streets. There are several entrances and you can end up anywhere if you do not pay attention to signs(which are all in CHINESE! LOL) So I navigate by landmarks... Last time I tried to find the purse place, I did not go in the same way and could not find my landmarks and it took us a half an hour to find the place. This time I was confident and we went right to the place without a problem. so EXCITED!! yay me! So we walk up to the girl and I smile and point to the back hallway between other stores, she instantly knows what that meant. We wanted the back room stuff!! Vicki was so funny, she was like, "how did she know? what did you do?" The woman also recognized my current purse which I bought from there, I think that helped! Finally we get to the door, it's unlocked and it's like going to and underground play ground for women! AHHHHH, Vicki, I have to say, was a bit overwhelmed, which I spotted and told her to take her time and if she could not find a purse here, we were in big trouble! Started the process and picked out some amazing purses...after two hours of looking and deciding, I was ready for negotiating.

I had already had the experience before there of them trying to get me to pay more than what I knew was fair on our previous trip (six months ago, I had a chinese girl with me negotiating on my behalf and I know I got a good deal- side note: You see last time I was there, we had a set price, I had to come back the next day because I did not have enough money. The second day, no chinese girl with me so they tried to talk up prices and I pulled out the card that showed what we agreed on the day before..oh, ok. Then I threw a loop in and asked the price of a smaller purse, she quoted me twice as much as the big ones from the day before! I was like, ah HELL NO! so i continued to negotiate and go back and forth, while my husband looked on like, "lady, you have no idea who you are dealing with!" another man in the shop was giggling and gave the thumbs up to my husband as he watched my negotiating expertise! ) That was the beginning of the love of the american woman who would not budge and the chinese woman who thought she would not budge. So eventually we agreed on a price(a little more than I wanted but I threw in a wallet so it was acceptable) and the rest is purse history. I told her to give me cards and I would be back and tell all of my American friends about how good of a shop she had as well as good prices! We were all happy!) so here we are six months later I am going to find her shop again...so I was ready and already had a price in my head I would pay for each.....and so the game began!

You have to understand, I love the thrill of the deal. I will get what I want, and in China, where I do not speak the language, it does not matter! I pulled out may phone with every single Chinese Application on it and looked up the phrases I knew I would need but could not remember. Had to use, "du sha chien" (how much?) and "tai quay la" (to expensive) spellings are not correct but you get the idea. I told them, give me a price for all of them together and I did not want to hear how one was better than the other but I wanted the bottom line...She gave me a price and was only 300 RMB away from what I was going to pay so I negotiated it down to the price I wanted and of course the sales girl acted wounded and agreed after my persistance. I was happy, they were happy and of course there was the thrill of a sense of achievement of getting done what I wanted to and not feeling totally screwed or stupid in the process...during the two hours we spent there in the back room, Asia had been sitting on a stool the whole time talking with the sales girl practicing English and Chinese back and forth. While I was shopping, I noticed one of the older ladies talking to another older lady and looking at my boobs. I had on a VS bra and ladies you know they do wonders for holding things up. When they noticed I saw them, she proceeded to pic up her boobs and motion to them being up more and larger, I died laughing! No modesty here, but it was pretty funny! She knew she was caught, didn't care and then motioned to mine and smiled! I said in English, it's the BRA! and showed her the straps of it to make sure she understood, and we all laughed...In the end, Vicki thought she was not going to buy anything and I told her she needed to pick a purse to get her by until she could decided on what she really wanted. She came to China with NO PURSE! I asked her which one she liked the best and then began to negotiate for her, because we were "good friends and loyal friend" they gave a good price to Vicki, I told her to counter back what she wanted to pay(she had to convert to $ before she could decide) and they agreed, again acting wounded but because we were good friends, and I told them we would be back, they were willing to give a deal. They gave us all a phone charm as gifts and thanked us again and even walked us out to show us how to get out(grant it, it was the wrong street because I said yes, without know the actual name of the street we entered on but we appreciated the effort and thoughtfulness of the sales girl. We also bought some water bottles because we were so parched from the last two hours and when I went to pay the price, we ended up getting a deal on those too! It was turning out to be a great day!! So, we basically had to backtrack and try and figure out where we needed to go to get us out where we would know where we were and have lunch and then on to the next stop, massages/facials and just plain relaxing in the downtown massage place I knew and trusted...

We had lunch at PizzaHut , and before you say, yuck! you have to know this is like a gourmet pizza hut with many diffent foods and not just pizza and pretty ok with the exception of the greese! but we were starved and willing to eat anything. Next stop, the Tai Dian, for great massages. Asia and Vicki seemed so happy and ready for that! We all had the hour Chinese massage and hour foot massage, I paid extra an had a facial as my foot massage was taking place. Vicki informed me after watching my facial, next time she was doing the same. We all had our body massages at the same time and all felt great afterwards. This placed differed from the other massage place in that it has actual ambiance, sooooo relaxing and it smells good and fair prices too, just have to go downtown to get it. We then drove back to Campus Village where Javi spent the day with Matt(Vicki's husband) and their three kids after doing grocery shopping with all the kids. OMGosh! Matt was a brave man! I told Javi to help and supposedly he was a helper and not a hinderer when they were shopping. I honestly do not know how Matt did it! I was ready to kill Suonllen and both my kids and they are older when we went grocery shopping! Anyways, Javi was in heaven because he did not have to shop and look at purses all day and got to have a cheese crisp with real tortilla and chedder chese! (Remember they Diemerts just got here from the USA and brought some food staples with them! Smart people!) We left campus village, dropped the kids off at home (Asia was going to have left overs-her stomach has been upset and then go to bed) I was going to meet Suonllen and Sheree and Chris out.

They were eating a German Restuarant in 4 color city, which is in down town DDA(the area we live) and I could not have been more happy! SERIOUSLY!!! GERMAN FOOD? Hell yeah! So I ordered the Snitzel and was happy as could be! We hung out a little bit at the "NAGGING WIFE" and then called it a night since we were planning on going out tomorrow night for one last night before we go home, can do it saturday night with getting on a plane the next day. We will see what tomorrow will bring, until then...

Day 9 in China on Spring Break

It is hard to believe that it is Wednesday already and we only have three more full days here before we leave on Sunday am. I started every day like I always do, walk into the computer room and see what everyone back in the States is up to, maybe even catch a few online to chat. We had decided to try an additional VPN service because it is supposedly faster than the one we are using. Well, I do not know if it was the combination of having two or just my luck but the computer would not go online! The only way I could get on was through my phone and it was sooooo frustrating! I can only do limited things with it. I finally felt what it would be like not to be able to call home, not to be able to see what everyone is up to or tell everyone what we did the previous day. To be honest, it freaked me out! I thought no flippin' way was I coming to this country for 18 months(my husband will already be here 6 months when we get here) if I can't get on and live vicariously through my friends and family back in the States while they live through me here...I called Suonllen, and he was like, "I'm busy, it worked when I left, I don't know what else to tell you!" so alone I felt here. I did not even know how to reboot this damn mac because I am used to my laptop, not my husband's computer. So I texted Suonllen and asked him and he called me back to tell me how, which I did and low and behold, after I returned to the computer, it was working again! I can only conclude my threatening posts and rants via my phone made someone aware of my fury! LOL...

So the only thing we had planned today was to meet Big Daddy for lunch at Intel. The kids are totally what I call, "Science Brains" so they wanted to see where Big Daddy does his thing, we all had bets going about his desk and what shape it would be in! Pleasently surprised and none of us were willing to wager anything so it was all good. But before we went to see his cube, we had lunch in the cafeteria. Intel does amazing things in terms of lunches for their employees back in AZ, really inexpensive food and good too! China is no different EXCEPT all of the food is Chinese! Yum! REALLY?? could I at least find one or two western meals? Ok, yeah, there were three but they still looked like they had been prepared the Chinese way, it was too funny! the Western section of the line was only one little kiosk and the rest was all the differnt chinese food you would expect to find at chinese buffet...BTW-what is up with a plate of Cherry Tomatos? I know tomatos are considered a fruit because of the seeds but do I really want to eat a plate of them for a side dish or is it for a dessert? Things that make you go hhmmmm? Now I am sure you are thinking she is such a hater of Chinese food and she is going to live there for two years? WTH? no I am not a hater of Chinese food, I actually do like it and as a matter of fact can cook it and did in fact eat some when we were at Intel. Dumplings are going to be my safety food I think. BUT I am not a fan of eating the same thing day after day, I don't do it at home, why the heck would I do it on vacation? We topped off our lunch with some ice cream that made my day, I love those stupid "Drumstick" things!

We chilled the rest of the afternoon which was nice and then Suonllen called asking me what I wanted for Dinner, he knows me so well...I told him we should have gone to the butcher(yes they have those here seperate from the grocery store) and gotten some ground beef because I was really wanting a hamburger for some reason, missing a variety I think because I usually do not do hamburgers that often. So my husband, who wanted to avoid another meal fiasco, found another place that caters to the westerners and we went. Kids had some chicken tenders(that were really chicken breast strips, yummy!) Suonllen and I got the fish and chips and a burger to share....Well, I passed on the fish when we realized there was not tarter sauce? who eats fried fish without tarter sauce?? Not me so another mental note of something to add to the list of things we bring over when when come for good! BTW- I also had a pina colada there, sooooo sweet, it was good, just different. I am going to bring some coco loco too so when I do feel like a pina colada, it will taste of home or the ones from the Dominican Republic. So on the shopping list several things go today, boy how that list is getting long!

It's amazing the things you miss when they are not readily available to you! I am not a big drinker or even a big burger eater but them not being available is making me want them more? Maybe that is just human nature, huh? oh well...until tomorrow!

Day 8 in China on Spring Break

Wow all of that deep thinking yesterday has totally motivated me today. First up, ZUMBA. Thank God my sister talked me into going 3 months ago! I actually love it and the hour of working out flies by! I am so greatful that I am going to be able to take the class and become certified to teach, because their is NOTHING like it here in China. Mental note: video some more of Lisa's classes because she ROCKS and I can only hope to be half as good as her in motivating the room! After doing Zumba and getting cleaned up, we headed over the the famous "Shama" to see our friends we met on Nov 08 on our preview trip to see if we could live here. Janelle and Len and their kids, Reese and Alanna. The kids are looking forward to playing with some other kids and I am looking forward to some mommy to mommy time as well as catching up. The Shama is were everyone wanted to be initially and I have to admit I did too and was soooooo pissed off when we found out that our friends got the last 3bedroom unit because the next floor 3 bedroom was out of the budget for a family of four and that's why we ended up where we did, (in China they raise the prices for rent the higher you go). But again, everything happens for a reason, gotta have faith and let it go. The Shama has great amenities but with those amenities, can be a few drawbacks. It's nice that when you want to order food from a restaurant, there is staff there that can help you to make sure you get the right food BUT it also could hinder you from learning the language knowing you can have someone else do it. It's located around an area called the 4 corners, where there are bars within walking distance and many restuarants. However, because there is so many expats there in the building, you can't sneak in and out with out SOMEONE noticing you. Me, I like my space...the place we are living now, HAS TONS OF IT! OVER 3000sq ft in CHINA? yep that us! We can add to it and personalize it if we want and it feels more "homey" I could go on and on but do you really care? probably not. We were able to let the kids play and catch up which was nice, always good to bounce fears and concerns off of someone who is already living here, Thanks Jen!

They were leaving for a home leave tomorrow so Jen had some errands to do and Asia and I decided to brave the JinMa Market alone and shop for some clothes or something. Javi stayed and played with Reese and Alanna while Len watched them, Thanks! Javi had a great time! Asia and I went to JinMa and I learned not to let her talk...She is new to the whole negotiating thing and she needs to watch her momma work. She distracted me a little and I am sure we payed a little more than we needed to for a shirt and some bras but it was still cheaper than in the US. Best deal was a pair of jeans for 20RMB, Less than $3 US. NICE!!! Happy with our purchases after trying to find a pair of boots for me, with no luck although one woman tried hard and I will some day buy some shoes from her for it but not today. She was very nice and accomidating. We headed back to the Shama to pick up Javi and head home. Big Daddy would be home soon!

We decided to go to the "Spaceship" to show the kids a poplular sight and also see the big "OX' with a Chinese baby on top of it on the mountain since it was such a nice day. It was COLD up on that mountain. The spaceship road was closed so we could only get so close so we'll save that for another day...We decided to head to An Sheng(a mall) for dinner. What a frickin' disaster that was, not for Suonllen and Asia but for me and Javi. Suonllen picked a place he had been to before (I told him all I wanted was so dumplings so I did not care where we ate). When we sat down, we looked through the picture menu, no dumplings and nothing Javi would eat. Javi decided he wanted Subway, ahhh the old favorite and standby in case of a jam, and we said we would get it for him. Instead of going to another place, Asia and Suonllen ordered food and Javi and I watched them eat. I tried to make things better for Javi but trying to order him a smoothie at the food court(which by the way had all the same kinds of food, CHINESE!!) and ended up getting a HOT strawberry drink instead of the slushy frozen one he wanted. I asked if they could add crushed ice and they said no and looked at me like I was crazy....oh well, we will get some ice at the restaurant where Suonllen and Asia had ordered food, rght? WRONG! they did not understand me when I asked for a cup of ice, or they did and took the top off of Javi's drink to let it cool since they did not half ice? Which ever was the case, the drink is now sitting at home in the freezer so we can blend it into a smooting at a later date! LOL We left the mall with a sandwich for Javi to eat at home and a brownie for Asia to top off her meal(the noodles she ordered were too spicy so all she ate was fried rice!) What did I eat you ask? a peanut butter and jelly! which I never do but we were out of leftover dumplings at home and I did not feel like another meal of Chinese style food!

Ok so I thought I would adjust to chinese food all the time but am seeing that more than likely I am going to have to cook once in awhile! or teach the maid to do it so we can have NON-Chinese food! LOL....always something new and exciting, right? until tomorrow...

Day 7 in China on Spring Break, a "Down Day"...

It's Monday and the maid comes tomorrow so of course I am doing some straightening up now...I decided to take a "down day" and not do anything, plus the driver has his monthly meeting so if I wanted to go somewhere. I would have to brave a cab ride by myself with the kids. Not much to report here but it's good sometimes to do nothing. I am glad I am still going to be able to do this while here in China. Although, I am sure they would consider it "Wasting Time". During the day today I spent many moments thinking about how much my life would change when we are here. I realized that I am going to loose a LOT of my INDEPENDENCE...I have always been one to go out and do what I needed to in order to get things done. I don't like to rely on anyone, it's been my experience that people always let you down in one way or another. Because of me feeling that way, I have always tried to do what I can when ever I can to help anyone out who may need it, not be that person who always lets you down when you need them. My expectations of others are high which I have realized in my 30+ years is because I would hope people are good and treat people the way I do, such is not always the case. I also realized that most recently I have met several friends and reconnected with old ones that I really do not want to loose because of my move to China. It has made me less excited as I was say over a year ago when I was less involved with many of my friends. I am still excited but also thinking I need to make sure I am better at keeping in touch with them as opposed to how I was in the past, the "low maintenance friend' i.e. no calls, no notes-just when I see you, I see you and when I get a call and talk to you, I talk to you...no worries, right? Well now, I am going to have to call or write in order to keep the good friendships. I used to be a huge planner until I had kids and realized they often throw a monkey wrench into the plan. I then adapted and went to the opposite end of the spectrum by doing everything on a whim. We'd go on vacations and decide that day what we were going to do for the day. This has been a bone of contention for my husband who had to plan our entire two week trip to Europe because I like to wing it. You can't really do that in another country. That trip by the way was great! But Here, I am going to have to plan ahead when I want to do anything because I have to see if the driver is available or need to make sure of the hours of the places I may want to go, etc., etc. If Suonllen and I have a disagreement or I don't feel like dealing with something, I can't leave the house and just go...which is what I do sometimes in AZ, learned behavior from growing up I think. I guess God is putting me in this situation to maybe realize it's ok to rely on others from time to time, you have to work on relationships more to continue to have good friends and maybe just plan things out once in awhile! or stay and deal with the disagreement even if it's easier to just ignore it. Not really sure what's in HIS PLANS for me or for us here in China, all I know is I have to faith that it will all work out and there is a BIG picture that we do not always know. Kind of a deep thinking day today, tomorrow will visiting friends and maybe another outing on our own....until then.

The first 6 days of Spring Break in China 2010

We arrived in China on Tuesday morning at about 10:30a although we left AZ on Sunday night, hard to believe you loose an entire day. The day was nothing extraordinary because Suonllen planned on going back to work allowing us to sleep until dinner when he got home. Of course, I had to put stuff away before I even thought about laying down which caused some drama or me being overly tired caused it, whatever...We had dinner at a place that had a pig in the logo and because we don't know the real name of the restaurant, we are just going to call it the "Pig". I found out the next day, that's what other expats call it too! Food was good and I can tell it's going to be challenging here for Javi and myself. I can only eat Chinese food so many times in one week! Poor Javi is so picky, I am going to make sure I pack lots of comfort foods that are too expensive here(so Suonllen doesn't freak out if I have to buy one or two before our next trip home)....

Second day in China...Suonllen is at work and it's our first day exploring with for me and the kids. First, we went to the kids school and met a few teachers, both the deans of the secondary and jr. high...Asia was pretty psyched about seeing it, she is so obsessive compulsive about some things. Seeing the school has been on her to do list since we first showed her pictures in Nov. 2008! We also went to the SOS clinic so they knew where to go if they felt ill (Intel opended this clinic for only Intel people and their families, all the other expats are pretty jealous! LOL). Worked on learning some words from our driver, Sun Wei. Super nice guy and just as eager to learn English...I am not sure if any of those words are going to sink in...

I did some damage today at Ikea with the kids, 2,218RMB was spent or about $325.94...to be exact if you are thinking Dollars. I went to pay with the Amex and of course they did not take that and I did not have a Visa or MC with me, only my debit cards and I was not willing to go there! So thank God Suonllen had given me 3,100 RMB in case, because "in case" happened, I called him to let him know so he would pull more cash for going out tonight. So the majority of it was spent on the kids but I got a bench with Cubbies for the entry way for all the shoes, solid wood 549RMB or $80.43, not bad and it's something I think will be of use in the US. At least I do not have to look at all of those damn shoes when we come in, and we'll have to make room for the rest of the families shoes when we get here...Got both kids what ever Duvets they wanted so they could decorate their own rooms, Asia did black and while and Javi(my little man) did RED and BLACK! even got a faux red rug to throw by his bed, Asia my money saver got a White one that was on sale!

I think I am going to have something made of our room, wasn't feeling anything there. I really want to do an Asian styled in RED - you know like the satin fabric with the dragons and cherry blossoms on it? going to find fabric and have it made and I bet it will be less than Ikea which is pretty cheap most of the time, right? Tomorrow is a another day we will be on our own until Suonllen is off on Friday...Will be neat to see what adventure will come tomorrow...

Today is Wednesday and it's St Patricks Day...I am on day two of doing Zumba to a video and have decided I need to get more footage of my favorite Zumba instructor, just in case I can't teach at the Inn Fine Gym as I plan. So tonight we planning on going out to see what St.Pats day is like in China...

Another Intel Wife, Linda, offered to take us out and show us where things were at so when we get here, I will have head start on shopping. We went to Jin Ma and were amazed at all that could be found in one place. From an entire floor of their "Home Depot" selection to the bottom basement level of meats, fish (unrefrigerated-ugh no way will I buy there!) to snacks and staples. Clothes, although in Asia's sizes, but an ample amount of them. I was so overwhelmed, I ended up not getting the few things I wanted to! Next trip there I guess.

We decided to have lunch, were going to go to the "Pig" but then we realized we had already eaten there last night for our frist dinner. It's not really called the "Pig" but has one in it's logo and since we can't read the symbols, "pig" it is...the other day I called it "the Dog" but was reminded it was not a dog but a pig! HAHAHA glad, since I know there are places that serve Dog, Koreans love it I guess..eewwwwww! Anyways, we went to a dumpling house. Poor Javi, he doesn't eat dumplings but I made him at least try one since I am worried he is going to melt away to nothing over here since he is so picky. We did order him sweet and sour pork, which he liked. The dumplings were amazing! We got two orders of fried, shrimp and pork and then one order of steamed pork. And yes we had dumplings to take home and they will probably get eaten for dinner. After lunch, we decided we had had enough...we had all been up since 4A.

We went home and all took a nap. Suonllen was going to pick up food from the Real Eddies (can get western style food) for the kids on the way home since we were going out. Well we ordered it, but I did not pick up the phone when they called to confirm the order so the kids got Subway sandwiches instead.

Out for the night. we went to the Brooklyn bar and met with Sheree and Chris. Other Intel employees who are together. We had a great time, they informed me they had name for the Intel Wives who did not work, which was most if not almost all of them. They call them CATS, not because of what you might think if thinking about the term "cougar" but because the wives LIVE THE LIFE OF A CAT! They get up when they want to, do what they want to, take naps, hang out, go for lunch and work out. Notice I left out, take care of the kids, clean the house, do the laundry or shopping! The Ayi takes care of all of that and basically the CATS just chill! I asked them if they had heard the term yet, "LADY OF LEISURE"? they had and I informed them that I was responsible for that one because that's what I though my life at China would be like without having to work but now I like the CATS label much more!!
So after the Brooklyn Bar, we went to the BOBO bar, uuuhhhhh! Way to smokey! I really do not want to die of lung cancer and we were out of there! We went to a third Bar, but I can not remember the name. That night was fun! We had Baby Guiness and other Green drinks...Over all, St. Pats Day was like it was in the US except every once in awhile, we didn't understand what was being said...one more day and Big Dady will be off with us....

I am pretty sure I either mixed up the day's of day time activities. We got here on a Tuesday, so techinically that was day one, right? St. Pat.s day was Wednesday day two, Thursday was Day three and now day 4 is Friday....whew! not that that is straight!

Suonllen is off today and we took our time getting up and out the door. We decided to go to the Zoo to show the kids a little of the city. We arrived at the Zoo after eating lunch and guess what? yep it was Chinese food! Javi is starting to hate it I think!

The Zoo looked DEAD! there was no one there! Suonllen took the Driver and went to see if they were open, they told him they were so we got tickets and in we went. WELL, they may have been open but they forgot to tell the animals to show up...except for the babies! That's all we saw! Some baby tigers, a baby leopard, some lemers and some flamingos oh and don't forget the Chipmonks! What a waste of money...

We then decided to show them Olympic Square and then on to the Wal-Mart so we could go to the electronics place for some converters and DVDs to record the videos I made of Zumba class before I left. The kids got to see how different things are here!

We called it an early day and went home. Suonllen took a little nap and we then headed out for a different dinner, we told Javi more Chinese food but Surprised him with the Real Eddies. He had a cheese pizza and was probably the best thing he had here in china and was the most expensive too! I have to find a way to get Chedder cheese here, you can buy things at the real Eddies in the downstairs market but the Cheese was rediculas, 68RMB for a small and I mean small block of Cheese...Yikes! We were ALL tired so we went home and decided to forego another night out on the town...there is always tomorrow right?

Here we go, it's Saturday. We were so tired from going out on Wednesday and Thursday night, we could not do it last night, we went to bed at 9:30p on a Friday! I, of course, woke up this morning at 5a because of that...So here is it Saturday and we planned a late start. Started out a Rainy Day schedule, changed to a Snowy Day schedule and then within the next few hours was just plan Cold Day schedule. We had the driver be here to pick us up at 11a but of course being on Dominican Time in China, we got downstairs around 11:30a. So we were off to get our massages, we were going to be brave and try a new place in the area where we live instead of driving down town. It was recommended to us by some other Intel people so we trusted it would be safe and there would be no chance of a "Happy Ending" we had the kids with us after all. The plan was to have Javi play his DS while we were getting massages. We thought he would be too young to get a massage. Well, appearently no! We were all given clothes to change into after being led into a back room...uuht oh? So we all changed and picked our places amoungst the five massage tables and drank the tea we were given and assumed the possitions. REMEMBER, none of the people who were going to be massaging us speak english and none of us know more than a hello and a few choice words in Manadrin. They bring a book over to Suonllen and show him options available to us, all in Manadrin, which we do not read. But they do show him by motioning, head to two. We say yes and then Suonllen also says, by motioning around his face I want a facial. They say, "ok".
Well as you may now, my back is REALLY messed up from High School cheerleading. The pain of a massage begins for me. Javi is constantly giggling and the first thing he says to me, "MOM, this feels REALLY GOOD!" aaahhhh crap! I am going to have to watch him when he gets older from talking girls into massaging him! Asia is laying there quietly until I ask her about her shoulder(she has a constant knot in it from softball) and she squeeks out, "THere WoRkinG on it nooooW!" little bit of pain in her voice too! But she says she's ok...Not a sound coming from Big Daddy and of course I am dying and moans and groans are coming from me bacause there is no words I know to say pain! Of course I endure the same thing I have the last two times I have had massages in China, They lift up my leg to the sky to show my tattoo on my ankle to everyone in the room(only this time I had on some clothes :-) yeah!) and then when they get to see my back and see the Chinese letters on it, they look at me like, you have this on your back but don't speak Manadrin? then they proceed to all talk and laugh for at least 30 minutes! This was the first time I had ever had a male do my massage and of course I was worried about the kids and did not want anything finding it's way to being even close to my happy ending spot or my kids, so I was not relaxing that much and he was going to town on my back! Yikes was I in pain! All the man kept saying was, "bu hao." He said this over and over many times. There was a time, I think that it was a little to close to my va-jay-jay and I stopped the massage around that part of my leg. When the massage appeared to be done, the man who was massaging me went over to my husband and told him, my back was "bu hao" showed him several areas and then proceeded to show him another picture in the book asking him if Suonllen wanted me to have a specific service(all the while I am still facing head down and have no idea what is going on!) Suonllen being the smart husband of 14yrs, askes me not just agrees for them to do it to me. I was shown the book and said what the hell? If it is going to make me feel better, right? What was it???? CUPPING! They placed 13 yes 13 glass jars on my back! after working it with some type of tool, kinda a scraping feeling all over all my aching areas of my back...This is the stuff I never thought I would do! See pictures!....it did not hurt, it was just uncomfortable, wierd feeling. Suonllen and the kids said my skin rose up about an inch and a half into the cups when they put them on! Now I have 13 circle bruises and I am sure they will be there for awhile! We went shopping and to an arcade after that and I am sure people could see bits of the top bruise by my neck and thought, "WOW American husbands are tough on their wifes! or maybe she deserved it, I'm sure! " LOL then we went to dinner and saw some of our American friends who were like, "WOW what kinds of hicky is that?? too funny! We later went dancing at a club in a hotel and yes we found a spot that did not play a lick of Chinese music! HIP HOP and R&B, great tunes and it was a great time. I am sure my bruises showed but I did not care, had to take a shower from all the smoke even though they told me to wait to shower until the next day at the massage place but I figured, 2a is the next day right? Oh the adventures to have in China...

So it's Sunday and Suonllen decided he wanted us to go to the Real Eddies for Sunday Brunch with a Linda and her husband(he works at Intel but I can't remember his name right now?) She is the one who took us to JinMa Market and showed us around before we went to the dumpling house. We arrive at Eddies and meet another Expat who is friends with Linda and her husband. He has been in China for 2 years already and is teaching English to kids at a school. So we order and I am pretty excited because I am going to have a waffle and crepes, french blood coming out at breakfast time I guess! The bacon here is AMAZING! not fatty at all or at least if there is fat, it is way out weighed but the meat part of the bacon. Had some of that while I was waiting for my food. Javi was having some pancakes and he was grinning from ear to ear because he knows he's going to enjoy this meal! Asia tried some of the pancakes and also ordered a omlette, ham and cheese...gobbled that up. I was told that the waffle iron was broke so I continued to wait for the crepes and had some fresh orange juice, the fruits by the way are so good! They are naturally sweet and so fresh! Then after waiting quite awhile I was told the crepes could not be made either for some reason. I order some eggs over medium, gamble I know but we'll see. When my eggs arrive, they looked great! BUT they were over HARD! I knew it was a gamble but at least they were cooked, so I ate what I could. I guess one of the biggest lessons to learn in China is, WE ARE IN A DIFFERENT COUNTRY! and you can not expect all the comforts of home! The Chinese people are very very nice and try to accomidate you to make you happy because they are so service oriented. That is something Americans are not always aware of, I think. Make the customer happy, or do the best you can to do that. In talking with the other Expat, he said he always has a story of the day from teaching. He told us he asked all of his students, "what were five things you should not waste?" and can you guess what the number one answer was?

RICE.....I realized then after thinking back to what I had seen the day before as we were being driven downtown and we passed construction workers on lunch break, all of them had big bowls of Rice as their lunch. Can you imagine eating rice ALL the time? I am so spoiled that I do not like to eat left overs from a dinner the very next day maybe even two days later! and here they are eating rice every day, not just because of the culture but because it is cheap and sometimes all they can afford....gave me a new perspective on how lucky we are to be able to have a variety.. the other four things that should not be wasted were: WATER, PAPER TIME, and MONEY. WATER is a universal answer I think, Asia said the same thing when we asked her the same question before we heard what he said the Chinese students said. PAPER, you know how much paper towels are here? $7 for like 1500 tri fold sheets...I know I use paper towels at home like crazy, but unless I bring them here, not going to happen! $7 WOW!! I wonder if we put that kind of price on them in the USA would we waste as much as we do? TIME...hmmmm I think that is a hard one to judge. I happen to like my time to be my time and what I may think is a good thing to do may be viewed as wasting? I like to take naps for instance, would they consider that wasting time? I dunno, but I am not going to budge on that one! Maybe just be more aware of what I am doing with my time so they do not consider me a wasteful American. The last one, MONEY...I think I am definitely guilty of that! How many times have I bought a new outfit because? Here it is not uncommon for them to wear the same clothes several days in a row! Not even trying to hide it by spacing them out to every other day but same day after day....and I am thinking I need to go shopping for a few more pairs of jeans because I have only like 6 I really like? This goes back the the question I hear in my head of Big Tom's voice saying, "Do you NEED it or WANT it, Michelle?" and am I teaching my children right by not saying the same things to them each time they ask for something? Javi was telling me he NEEDED a new toy, REALLY??? so now after reflecting on all of what I experienced on Sunday, I am going to try and make a few changes....however, rest assured, wearing the same outfit three days in a row will not be one of them! LOL...

BTW- Asia's answers were: Water/Paper ie. Resources, Food, Animals, Fuel and Money. not in that order but kind of interesting to see differences. And to be fair to her, she was placed on the spot in front of strangers to represent her age group...GOOD JOB BABYGIRL!