Thursday 8/19/2010....was the day my new Ayi was coming for the first time. The only major thing I wanted to get accomplished the first day was showing her what we liked for dinners and taste her cooking for the first time. I had texted Mr. Yang and told him to hold on to the papers printed out by my husband for me in both English and Manadrin in the morning after he got to work since our printer is STILL not set up. Sidenote: It took Suonllen a week from when it was delivered to start to unpack the box, but hey, the Wii is more important when you have a 9 year old boy bugging you every second he's awake to get it unlocked and set up so he can play the 50 million games you can buy 3 for 10 RMB! Seriously, can't you chill and play the XBox??? That was handled this past weekend on Saturday...see the blog for more details on how AWESOME it is for gamers here in China! Anyways then after we finally do get the box unpacked, there are electrical problems in the room we are setting it up in. Javier came running into the room one day saying, "Daddy just got SHOCKED!!! there was sparks and everything mom! He tried like three times to get the computer to work and each time he plugged it into the surge protector, it blew!! It was kinda cool but I don't think Daddy is going to work on it anymore tonight..." AAHHHHH, T.I.C. so I had to wait for the repair guy from the staff at the complex to come and try and make it work right...turned out it was just the surge protector? Damn, American plugs! but wait, it was made in China!!! just laugh it off and realize, THIS IS CHINA and it will get fixed and set up when it's time for it to happen, so stop trying to make things happen! they happen when they are ready...hence, Suonllen had to print out my VERY detailed "Duties and Job Descriptions" that outlined what was expected of our new Ayi. I was so on it! I took this suggestion to make sure I am very detailed in telling her what I want done and how, even down to having different colors of cleaning rags for different rooms. We do not want a rag used on a toilet to then be used on the kitchen counter do we? Well, according to a few other Intel Ladies of Leisure, that had been done. So I took all the information I gathered from ALL the other ILOL and wrote it all up two nights before she was to start so Suonllen could print out both copies so in case she did not understand what I had written, I could look at my version and then try to do charades or translator or something to explain what I was trying to say. BUT all good plans do not always work out. Wednesday, Suonllen had been so busy at work, he did not even open the email I sent to see to print it out. So of course I told him, PLEASE do not forget to do in on Thursday am and send it back with Mr. Yang so I can have it when Ms. Ping comes. Suonllen says, "Can you remind me?"and my loving reply was, "Ahhhh, NO! that is why I sent it at three o'clock in the morning on WEDNESDAY!! because I was doing it then and knew I would not remember to ask you to print it out! I figured it would be first thing in your inbox in the am"...my hubby who is trying so hard not to freak out on me since he has had time to adjust to China and I have not just said,"Ok, I'll figure it out." Anyone who knows my husband, I was kinda ready to rumble after my smart ass remark but no, not this time.... That poor husband of mine, has not time to even open emails until the afternoon on some days, so he sent himself a alarm on his phone to remind himself and that's how we had the papers this morning when Mr. Yang texted at 8:15a? telling me he had them. I told him to take a break and come back at 1:45, Ms. Ping was coming at 2 and we would need to go shopping. THANK GOODNESS FOR TEXTING! he said, "Ok" and communicating with a translation program on the phone has brought Mr. Yang and I to a little bit of understanding and some times some humor... I was gathering my stuff up to leave and at 1:50 there was a knock at the door. of course it was Ms. Ping, ontime is early here for work and I was of course running late dreading the rain that was pooring down. BUT what I learned in Oregon goes the same here in China. If you do not go out in the rain, the days are going to pass you by. This morning of course it was BEAUTIFUL outside! Sunny and shining bright, I could see across the bay and see parts of Dalian that you usually can not see because of fog. I was a little dismayed when all of a sudden, the room was dark I was sitting in and when I looked at the window, the storm clouds were moving so fast it actually looked like a movie where they speed up the clouds to show the dramatic effect of a storm and passing time. I swear it looked EXACTLY like that at 1:30 and I took it as a sign of impending doom...ok, I didn't but it did cross my mind to have her just clean and forgo dinner tonight. NO, Let's do this! She said my name, ALMOST PERFECTLY! you could tell she had been practicing the past to days! I of course complimented her and thanked her for saying it right! Ms. Ping had noticed three boxes that were stacked with packing papers and such that I had unpacked this morning and she pointed at them and said something to me in Manadrin, "ok, you help me take them down?" No, she wanted to take all by herself. Again, still having a hard time letting people do things for me, I let her take one, but she grabbed the second one and I dragged the biggest one to the elevator, but not leaving with out my manadrin survival book and my phone. We were on our way...
Left the boxes out in the rain by the trash bins and ran to the van for shelter. We ran to the car and I told Mr. Yang where we needed to go and we were on our way. It was really coming down! the first stop was Sunny's and I decided to show my Ayi a few things that we bought from this import store. She did her best to pay attention and look at the labels of the things I showed but because I did not buy them(I had already had most of those items) I was not sure it was understood that if I needed those items, those are the specific brands I wanted. Oh well, on to the Butcher. I wanted to pick up some Pork, Chicken and Beef and Shrimp. I should have brushed up on measurements, they do not use pounds here but kilos. Did I pay attention in math class on the unit about conversions? UH, no...at that time I never thought I would leave AZ, kinda like learning Spanish. I learned it to pass the class and then quickly forgot it and now when I am with the husband's family, I am ACTUALLY quiet because they are all speaking Spanish!. Anyways, it took about a half an hour at the butcher. So frustrating for both me and my Ayi as well as Mr. Yang who came it at one point to find out what was taking so long! We then went to the JinMa for fruits and veggies, and Shrimp. That last item at the JinMa made me nervous. This is the place where they have no refrigeration for the meats...no WAY! but when we got to the market, the shrimp were still moving so they had to be fresh, right?? I told the Ayi it was ok to buy with heads, just no cook or eat with heads! not sure if that translation went through, we'll see when she cooks them for us. All in All shopping was EXHAUSTING!!! it took about 2.5 hours! and I decided then, I was going to give money to the Ayi and let her shop and cook what she wanted. It was not worth the time to try and micromanage where and what she used for our dinners. Next time I'm gonna send her with Mr. Yang and hope for the best! At least until I start taking Chinese classes again and I can get a few words out to say what I want! We got home and the Ayi immediately started cooking, and let me tell you, it was good! Thank Goodness! Suonllen even commented saying her cooking was good. I am not sure if I should be upset or relieved. HE ALWAYS has something to say on how it could be better when I cook and that's why I stopped cooking. But he had nothing to say with her except her rice was a little watery...that I can live with and I think he could too! Now, just have to start explaining how I like things cleaned when she starts cleaning....oh but there is always another day!
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