Some other unfortunate events

Rainy, cold days --one after the other have made life depressing

I did say some unfortunate events last time. The other several are the weather, the hospital situation, my blood pressure and a friend in jail (which I will talk about next time).

I spoke a bit too soon when I said the weather was awesome. It was, but then it changed to being horrible. I guess compared to freezing Chicago right now, temperatures in the low 50's shouldn't be so bad. However, it is also raining everyday and as we are in the south so there is no heat in any building including our own. This was a problem that I thought was easily fixable. I had David go buy several space heaters thinking that would do the trick. The problem is that only one large heating unit and a small heating unit can run together at any given time. Otherwise we blow a fuse. Figures. This is China and if things work out too well it just wouldn't be China. So we are pretty cold here. Due to the concrete nature of the building we live in, it is actually colder inside than it is outside. I need to get an inside thermostat and then I can say with certainty what the temperature is inside. We wear our coats in the house most days though. I did buy a dryer (a very rare thing here) so that helps a ton. Putting damp clothes on in the cold only adds insult to injury. Our helper who does most of the laundry pretty much refuses to use the dryer because it uses too much electricity (lan fei dian she says, literally wastes electricity). So I usually put the clothes in the dryer after they have been hanging on the cold and rainy balcony for a day or two.

The weather is a current national problem. The whole country has been experiencing bad weather and it has led to national chaos. Right now is the start of the biggest holiday in China -- the Lunar New Year. The holiday when everyone goes home for a few weeks. This national holiday causes huge problems every year. This year there has been cold weather and freezing rain all over the country. So for days, the trains have not been running at all and thousands (as in numbers like 80,000 in Guangzhou) have been stranded at the train stations waiting for a train that has been canceled. Getting another ticket is unlikely since they are sold out through the holiday. The buses aren't going either and of the ones that have tried, several have slid off the icy roads causing both injuries and fatalities.

So other things are that my blood pressure is up a little and we still have no spot in a hospital in Hong Kong. The crazy thing about Hong Kong and having babies is that you need to book a room in a hospital as much as 9 months in advance (as soon as you find out). As of right now, most hospitals are booked up for the next 9 months. I imagine this can do no more than help the hospital get a good guesstimate since the precise date of labor and delivery can not be accurately predicted (the stats are that 80% of babies are born between 38 and 42 weeks -- so anywhere in the range of two weeks before or after the due date which to me would seem like a very broad base on which to make scheduled "bookings"). The midwife at my Dr.'s office says that they will get me in when the time comes and not to worry too much. It still is a bit nerve wracking not knowing what will happen in the event of early labor or an emergency. So we have been checking out hospitals in Guangzhou as a possible back up to Hong Kong. So far two are quite nice -- Clifford Hospital and the VIP Birthing Center. We really need to figure this out soon since my blood pressure is in the upper 130's over the upper 80's and sometimes reads above 140/90. So we might need to decide within the next week or two even though I am not due until the end of the month.

Unfortunate events and bus rides

Last week had some unfortunate events. One was when someone smashed the windows to our car and stole our portable DVD player (a Christmas present from my mom). I guess you can say it was our fault. We hid the DVD player in the pocket of the seat, but the case was visible. It was really more of a present for Michaela as she uses it during car rides. She was pretty upset. But kids get over things quickly. We were on our way to a day of social events in Shekou (where all the expats round here live -- about an hour and a half away). I was most disappointed about forgoing our trip since it had been about two weeks for me without any social interaction in English. Since we hadn't had the DVD player for more than several weeks and had only used it 3-4 times at most, it wasn't hard to get over not having it. I just pretended we never had it in the first place. What was amazing was the price to replace the window. It was only around 20 us dollars and they had it done by the time David got off work. David and I had just been discussing (the night before) why we don't pay the monthly fee for parking in our parking garage. David said the price is too high and as there is abundant street parking, there is no need for the parking pass. We might want to rethink that now though.

As I was bummed about not joining the the few activities I participate in, I decided to take the bus down to Shekou that evening so I could at least participate in the book club that I belong to. After all, I had already read the book (A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini). It had been a while since I had taken that bus or any bus in China at all (we have our own car so David usually drives). I really had forgotten how insane the buses here are. It took about two hours and the best reference point I have for this experience is a plane ride during which there is severe turbulence for several hours straight. The difference, however, is that these buses have no seat belts and passengers are made to keep themselves in their seats through their own sheer strength and will (which over the course of several hours weakens significantly). I think the average person might find this sort of experience exciting as a one-time event. I don't really recommend it for pregnant ladies like me. So I don't think I'll be making a habit of this bus route. The price is very appealing though. It cost me 10 RMB for a one-way ticket to Skekou. The taxi ride home by comparison was 200 RMB.

Favorite things about being back in Shenzhen

Some things I enjoy about being back here in Shenzhen:

1. These little rides are everywhere --dirt-cheap fun. For some reason there are two of these animal rides outside of every pharmacy in China (regardless of which chain of pharmacy it is). It costs 1 kwai (about 12 cents) and lasts at least 3 minutes maybe even 4 minutes. It moves up and down and plays several Chinese children's songs. Whenever we are on a long walk, these diversions make the trip bearable for both of us.



2. The weather is awesome right now. It is 60-75 degrees and sunny almost every day. There are great parks (think as nice as Grant park in Chicago - no joke!). So there is no shortage of places to wander outside.

3. There is a play area (Michaela calls it a play-yeah) in every major department store here. It costs about $1.50 for an hour and, if your child is old enough, you can just leave and wander around the store for whole time. They are perfect for 2-6 year olds. I have no idea why they don't have more of these in the States. Even when Michaela was little, I'd go in there with her and let her crawl around and touch the brightly colored balls and mats. It really is a ton of fun.


4. Funny signs -- no shortage of those here.

5. McDonald's. I've just spent 6 months in the States during which I ate McDonald's a total of one time. Since being back in China, I average about twice a week at least. Something about seeing the golden arches gives me warm fuzzies here. I just want to go in and get something, anything. In Longgang (where we live) there is this new one pictured above. It is very rare to see a McDonald's counter in China with so few people cluttered at the front. Most of the time, I wait for an average of 5-8 minutes just to order my food. This one just opened so it isn't so busy yet. The front of the counter is advertising that it is now open 24 hours. Yipee!

Well, we are back in China now and it is about time I started this blog thing up. I am so happy that I am able to get to this website to post. I wasn't sure about that when I signed up for this blog back in America. So it has been about two weeks back here and very hectic. The original idea was to get an empty apartment so that we would buy some furniture to fill it. Since we are planning on moving back to the States in a year and buying a house, it would be nice to have some furniture to start with. This might seem obvious to those of you who are from the US, but in China, almost all apartments come fully furnished (usually in very poor taste I might add). So the idea was a good one except that David's idea of empty and my idea of empty are a bit different. I figured just empty rooms, but as it turn out, it means, nothing -- no kitchen, only a toilet and a sink in the bathroom, no washing machine, no AC/heat, no hot water. David took care of some of this stuff, before I came, but it really is an overwhelming task to get absolutely everything needed to make an apartment livable. So we are at about 80% in my opinion. There still are no cabinets or counters in the kitchen, no mirrors in the bathroom and no furniture for the baby room. But we have TV service and internet now so we are feeling connected to the rest of the world at least. And with all the craziness, I forgot about our 9 year anniversary today. David reminded me yesterday and seemed happy to discover that he remembered and I didn't. Overall, it has been a wonderful 9 years and I feel happy and proud to have such a great husband.