An Ending with a Bang: Part II

The Chinese New Year celebration has ended!  People are back. The shops and restaurants are open and the streets are filling back up with people. We are happy to see friends and neighbors back home and life returning to normal. Notice the before and after pictures.

We really did enjoy the grand finale of new years though! Usually people send out paper lanterns and set off fireworks at midnight. Our family wasn't quite up to staying up that late. But we enjoyed sending out our lantern the next night.

After 20 or so days, the fireworks have finally wound down. People in China view firework safety much differently than they do in America. Speaking as someone who is very edgy around fireworks, its a bit much for me personally. The general public has easy access to HUGE fireworks. Some that I've seen here are as big as city firework shows in the States. People set them off anywhere. The middle of the street is common place to set them off. However, this does not stop the flow of traffic. Even the sparklers have a bit of an extra bang here as you can see in the picture below.

This is a video that our neighbor made. It was taken on the street right in front of our apartment. This shows the craziness of the fireworks. Check it out. Trust me its worth watching.

An Ending with a Bang!

Yesterday ended the 15 day celebration of Chinese New Year.   The last night of the celebration is marked by sending out floating lanterns and of course more fireworks! I'm not so sure how safe a tradition is with paper lanterns and fireworks all filling the same night sky at midnight, but they've done it for quite some time so it must be alright. But more on firework safety later. This was definitely the biggest (and loudest) night of the entire celebration. I can't say I completely understand the concept of having two weeks off from work and school and then having your biggest night of festivities the night before life starts again, but believe me there was no shortage of people participating in the fun.  We celebrated by attending a big local festival.

There were lots and lots of lighted inflatables, lanterns, and floats.  There were dances, parades, and performances. It was probably the most crowded place that I have ever been! There were soooo many people!  

Anytime we would stop to look at something or take a picture for ourselves, a crowd would very quickly form around Bella. People gathered all around asking for pictures or to hold her. One could have easily thought she was a ride or attraction at the festival. We probably should have charged, we could have made a pretty good dent in a plane ticket for a grandparent visit. haha (kidding of course).

Like any good festival, there were lots of special treats. Philip even found some cotton candy! The pictures below are some of the ones we found most interesting. First, they melted down rock candy. Then they would pour the melted candy out of a spoon into these beautiful shapes. Then the hardened candy would be eaten off a stick. Isn't this peacock amazing!

Next, a picture of blown glass candy. Using methods similar to blown glass, this woman blows into a hot liquid form of cotton candy until it hardens into these detailed shapes.

More on the end of Chinese New Year and firework safety (or the lack of) coming tomorrow...

New Friends

A few days ago, Philip was out buying food and met a few friend. Philip exchanged phone numbers with him and was barely in the door before he started receiving text messages. The guy was very eager to get together with us. He beat us to punch and invited himself to dinner before we had the chance.

Spending time in China during college, Philip and I both had the pleasure of hosting many Chinese college students in our homes. Coming to China now as adults and as a family has been very different in many respects. Tonight, we hosted our first friends over for dinner in our current stage of life. We were a little uncertain of cultural expectations of hosting and knew that communicating primarily in Chinese would be difficult. But we were excited to embrace the challenge and make new friends.

I made baked ziti pasta and garlic bread for dinner and strawberries and peanut butter cookies for dessert. I wasn't exactly sure how many people to prepare for though. Text messaging had been very difficult because Philip does not read Chinese characters and this man does not speak very much English, and at one point there was mention of him bringing friends. I think the conversation went something like this:

Man: Do you have Chinese friends?
Philip: Yes. I have friends, but I always like to make more.
Man: Okay, I will introduce you. maybe bring some

We have had experiences in this culture, with expecting a crowd and only a few people showing up. However, we have also prepared food for two people and had them bring 8 others with them. Being a good host in Chinese culture means that you provide more food than your guests could ever eat or want and then some. So, I planned to ere on the side of caution and make lots of food. My solution was a big thing of pasta. Easy to make. Left overs heat up well.

Our friend came bringing only his girlfriend. Also, true to Chinese culture they were sweet to bring us a nice gift. There was plenty of food. We said "cheers" as we banged our cups together with each sip of coke. The five of us had a very nice night. After dinner, we planned to play board games. But they were not interested in that. Instead, we spent the evening talking. We started with the usual introductions of what do you do for work  and where are you from. Then we moved on to typical chinese introductions such as do you rent or buy your apartment and how much does it cost. Haha. Then we moved deeper into talking about ourselves and our families. We exchanged lots of pictures and stories. Our language was definitely stretched to the limit, but we were really encouraged by the amount that we could say.

Our little entertainer was happy to fill any awkward moments of silence with a dance routine. She had a good time with our new friends and showing off her moves. We made plans to get together with them again very soon. And they also mentioned that they would really like to introduce us to some more of their friends from work.

No time for pictures. Bella working with all her might to reach our friend's ipad. 

Spanish + Chinese + English = Spchenglish

We are currently full time language students. That means that our goal is to spend 30-40 hours a week studying Chinese. After a full day of language learning, there are some days that the brain just turns off. We catch ourselves doing really silly things, making ridiculous grammatical errors in English or just simply not being able to recall the right words in any language.  I realize that I am trying to learning a new language and keeping up with errands and chores of living in a new country while continuing to be a wife to Philip and mother to a busy body one year old ... oh yea and grow a new life inside me.  So, on those days, my response is to enjoy a good chuckle at the silly things done by a non-functioning mind. And I just accept that "mommy's brain is fried" and move on.

Recently, we were eating dinner and I said something to a lady in the restaurant. I got strange looks back and I looked at Philip for back up in communicating. He laughed and asked if I knew what I just said. No. I had no idea. Apparently I said "It is (English) muy (Spanish) pianyidiar (Chinese)." All working together to say "It is very cheap." We had a nice laugh at my Sp-ch-english.

It is interesting though that when I can't recall a particular vocabulary word, I find my brian searching for the word in any language. Sometimes when my Chinese fails, me my mind will pull up words from high school Spanish class that I never could have recalled on command. I have found that this is true even with a non-verbal language. I studied sign language in college and the same thing will happen. No Chinese or Spanish will come out, but I realize that with out my permission my hands are somehow forming the signs for the word. Occasionally even baby sign will make an unintentional appearance. Looking forward to the day with my mouth says what my brain is thinking.

House Helper: Ai Yi Love

This is the wonderful, sweet face of the woman that watches our Bella girl while we are studying language.  Bella calls her Ai Yi which means aunt, but is a common name for children to call adults in that age bracket. Having never really left Bella much before, I really wasn't sure how this situation was going to work out at first. We study language at home with a tutor and we really needed Bella to play with Ai Yi without much interruption. Ai Yi speaks NO English. In fact, she speaks a thick local dialect which makes communication hard for even native Chinese speakers (but especially beginners like us). She has almost no experience with young children. Clearly, not the ideal situation. But despite all these things, it has been wonderful!!

Bella connected with Ai Yi right away! They get along so well and have fallen into a nice routine of play, snacks, naps, play, and a little sesame street peppered in. She is so cautious and careful with our Bella. Since she has never taken care of a little one, she tell us that "it is a big responsibility and she takes it very seriously." She always follows our instructions very carefully. And each day we see more and more improvement with the language barrier.  Although we are grateful that our language teacher is here everyday also to serve as a back up means for communication.  We are so excited that we able to say more and more to her without help.  Bella is not speaking any Chinese words yet, but Ai Yi tells us that she can tell Bella understands more Chinese the longer they spend together. Ironically, the Chinese Bella is able to naturally pick up while we work so hard at studying will be the local language that Ai Yi speaks and not the Chinese we are learning. However, the languages do have many similarities and Bella will be able to transition to standard Chinese easily. Ai Yi is also learning a little English from Bella. Sometimes we will hear  "Sesame Street is brought to you today by the letter H" on the TV and then we will hear Ai Yi say "H...Hippo." Ai Yi likes it when Bella wears her pants really high with her shirt tucked in. We always love to see our little Steve Erkle waddle in the room after our day studying.



Ai Yi was gone all last week for chinese new year. We all missed her very much! Of course, who wouldn't miss the woman who so wonderfully cares for your child and does laundry and dishes during nap time?!

The Half Time Show: 20 Week Ultrasound

I am 20 weeks pregnant today (20 weeks and 4 days to be exact). More than half way through!  Getting pregnant while nursing and still recovering from sleepless nights with our first wild women was quite the shock, but now we are anxiously counting the days until our next little treasure arrives. Today we got the "half time show" or the 20 week ultrasound.

It was an adventure from start to finish. I think that when we told our taxi driver that we wanted to go to the labor and delivery hospital, there was a communication error. Both times we have gone there, our drivers have driven crazy. I don't just mean typical asian cab driver crazy; I mean crazy. Today, we flew down the roads and sidewalks, went the wrong way on one-ways, and even cut off an ambulance to get to the hospital at top speed. Lesson learned: I need to figure out how to say 'this is not an emergency'.

The big question everyone was eagerly awaiting was weather our little baby two is a boy baby or girl baby.  Unfortunately, baby two was not quite ready to reveal him/her self in that way. He/she obviously values modesty and wanted to keep those private parts private even for our ultrasound. However, we were able to see that our precious baby is a growing, healthy one. And we got to see him/her calming sucking his/her thumb. A sweet picture to melt the mama and daddys' hearts.

I have to say that we were also thrilled at the prospect of a calm baby. People have asked if I can feel the baby kick yet. And yes, I do feel him/her moving around, but nothing like Bella. Bella was a ball of energy from the get go. I felt her jumping and climbing around in my belly constantly. We love our wild girl! And we love baby two wild or calm, but balance could be nice lol.

I have joked that the real reason we weren't able to find out the gender is because we weren't prepared. A couple days before our appointment, I got very concerned that even though we long ago decided a boys name, we have yet to decide on a girls name. Philip calmly reminded me that "on monday we were not having the baby, just finding out the gender." As someone who likes to be very prepared in advance, his answer hardly satisfied me. At 20 weeks with Bella, I had purchased all of my maternity clothes, finished the nursery, researched all the latest and best baby products, and of course compiled a list. But we got no closer to determining a girl name... This is what you get for not being prepared (kidding of course)  ;)

I'm not sure how much Bella understands about becoming a big sister at 14 months. But in my short time as a parent I have learned to never underestimate the capabilities of a young mind. So, we talk about it a lot. We read about babies. We talk about being a good helper and big sister.  Bella gladly gives mama's belly gentle pats, hugs, and kisses. Again, I have no idea how much she understands, but I love the sweetness of my loving girl regardless. (There is a sweet video of this, but my bare belly is not comfortable on the internet lol).

Prenatal care in East Asia has its major differences. We have found a very nice hospital and wonderful doctor locally. Our doctor even speaks English and has experience dealing with other 'crazy' foreigners.  Nevertheless, as I'm sure foreign medical care would seem to anyone from any country, it has been... different.

We make an appointment with our doctor by calling his cell phone a couple days before we'd like to come and tell him what time we want to see him. When we get there instead of telling us whats on the agenda for the appointment, he asks us if there are any labs, tests, or ultrasounds that we'd like to have done. I guess there isn't a set regiment, he will do whatever you ask because after all you are the one paying for it.  Also, before labor you chose a delivery package to pay for. There are different package choices based on your birth plan. The packages also have different choices for the type of room you'd like to recover in and the number of days that you'd like to stay. Types of rooms range from a standard hospital room to a hotel suite looking thing with a living room, couch, big screen TV, and a lazy boy rocker and extra bed for the father. The usual length of stay is 4 nights. Picking your birthing package is a little bit like planning a painful vacation with a priceless souvenir to bring home. However, another notable difference would be cost. I'm not sure how much the vacat... I mean birthing packages are, but our appointment and ultrasound today only cost $19 USD before insurance.

It is a lot less common for a woman to have a vaginal birth here, most have c-sections. I suppose because of this, there isn't a big rush or demand for the labor rooms. So, you can go to the labor room when you are dialated only 1 cm!  Of course, you wouldn't want to go too early because it would count against the time in your package. The hospital is modest, but nice and fairly clean. Some of the equipment isn't as modern as you would find in the States, but the price certainly reflects those differences. I think many would leave behind the bells and whistles for affordable health care in the States. Like most buildings here, it does not have central heat or air. All the pregnant women walk around the hospital in their coats. One floor of the hospital is dedicated to infant well care. Since in this culture they don't have routine doctors visits, only clinics or hospitals for the ill and injured. This floor will provide care for the newborn after delivery and also provides a place for well care check ups over the first year or two of life. The waiting room, has a giant wonderful play area and ball pit for little ones. I am sure that Bella will really enjoy this while visiting her little brother/sister.

 We will be returning in one month. And hopefully have exciting news on the gender after the next ultrasound.

That's MY Foreign Baby-Doll!

Bella really enjoys playing outside in the afternoon. She has made LOTS of friends in our neighborhood. One afternoon, she was playing outside with our house helper and became playmates with a little girl that is not quite two years old. The little girl follows Bella everywhere. When our house helper told them it was time to come inside. Bella's friend got really upset. She started yelling, "Why are you taking away my baby doll? Don't take away my baby doll!" Our sweet house helper asked the girl's mom why she was calling Bella her baby doll. The Mom laughed as she told our helper that her daughter has a baby doll at home that looks a lot like Bella. The doll even has "odd color hair" and a binky (pacifiers are not common in China) like Bella. The doll apparently has batteries and moves! So, the little girl literally thought that Bella was a battery operated baby-doll. HER baby-doll in fact! haha I can assure you that if that was the case we would have gone through a LOT of batteries by now. :)

We have heard the phrase "Yang WaWa" often since then. We were told that it means "foreign baby doll".  Bella has what we consider a pretty good English name, a Chinese name, and even a Chinese nickname "Xiao Hong" which means "little red." Many of our neighbors know at least one of Bella's names, but who are we to name our child lol. We were told that they'd prefer to call her "foreign baby doll." At least it brings a smile to our faces.

Just kidding!

They called me what?

                  

Ugh!

Y2K: Survival Training for Chinese New Year

We just finished our first Chinese New Year in the mainland. Chinese New Year is the biggest holiday of the year. It is all about family, food, and fireworks!! A few thoughts on our experience...

Family: Many people travel back the "home land" during this time. They either go the village or town that their parents live in or that their parents came from. For us, this meant that our city of about 14 million people empties out! Nearly half of the residents leave for the new year. It is a ghost town. Streets normally shoulder to shoulder full of people, are completely empty. Weird!

Food:  With so many people traveling, it is no surprise that being off work is a normal expectation. Our favorite restaurant is closed for a whole month! Our favorite grocery store is closed for two weeks. The post office is also closed for two weeks. Our house helper usually makes us lunch while we are studying language. She is off for a week. And seriously missed haha. We usually eat dinner at a little local restaurant like the ones in the picture above. We eat out because our family loves local chinese food! We really enjoy spending the time out and about among the locals. And eating out is much cheaper for our family than cooking American food. But clearly, during chinese new year, local food is not an option. This is where our Y2K preparation came in handy :). We needed to stock pile food and supplies for the time the stores are closed.

Fireworks:  Fireworks is probably the one word that can sum up Chinese New Year.  They love their fireworks! They have no restriction on where or what or when they can be set off. The first big ones to go off by our apartment happened at 2 am serval nights before the new year. It was totally unexpected. I literally jumped out of bed. Heart racing. The next several nights were lots and lots of fireworks at all hours of the night. We didn't get much sleep. New Years Eve is the big kahuna night for fireworks though. It sounded like we lived in a war zone. The bangs and flashes of light from our window were literally non-stop until about 4 am. Bella and I had been up so much the nights leading up to new years eve that fireworks or not, we were passed out. Daddy couldn't sleep though, and not being able to hear the TV through the bangs and booms, got lots of reading in that night. We hear that the fireworks will continue through the next week. They are becoming white noise though, no big deal.

The Straw that Broke the Camel's Back: My Camera

The past year has been a wonderful year, one crazy, wonderful year. We have moved MANY times. Our biggest move of course being moving to the other side of the planet. We moved to China about one month ago with our 13 month old and a new baby on the way. We all had many adjustments to make. We have loved home and we know with out a doubt we are in the place we are supposed to be, however, this does not mean that these changes were with out stress. I feel like I have kept it together pretty well over the course of packing, moving, and adjusting (of course it doesn't hurt that I have the most wonderful, helpful, loving husband ever), but I recently experienced the "straw that broke the camels back." I'm sure there are other hormonal women out there that can relate to the idea of handling many big stressors without much problem and then SNAP. Its that tiny, trivial incident that happens and    opens the flood gates. When it happens, to you its a much needed emotional release and to the rest of the world you are officially a crazy person. Last week my "snap" moment came. My camera got stolen out of our diaper bag. It is seriously unfortunate to lose all the pictures we have taken since we got to China and to have what I consider to be the worlds best camera stolen, but lets be real. It was a five year old point and shoot camera - hardly the end of the world. Never the less, the flood gates were opened. My husband put in a good effort to comfort me, but in my irrational state I informed him that "most of family would not get to see our baby #two until he/she is 2.5 years old, and now they would never even get to see a picture our newest addition." Dramatic? Indeed! Of course, we will replace the camera. We even found a camera to borrow until we buy a new one. And there will be many, MANY pictures of both our sweet babies. This was simply my opportunity for a long overdue melt down and at 19 weeks pregnant I can easily and guiltlessly push some blame on the pregnancy hormones. However, we did decide to start this blog. I am by no means a "blogger" or have any interest in accumulating hits (I think thats the right term). I simply wanted a means of sharing little stories and pictures with our family and friends. I wanted to share the little moments of our life with those we miss and want to be connected to.