ddotTodd

A Cold Front Came In

N: Renovation

Since our arrival in mid-august, we have been fortunate to be living in one amazing apartment.  The owners are currently in America, but when they first heard of our difficulty in renting an apartment last February, we talked about house sitting upon our arrival.  It has been pretty fantastic.  They packed up most of their belongings, cleared out their office, put thing in storage, gave us keys, and set their place up to be our home until we found some place new.  This blessing has given us the freedom to look for our own place without a significant time crunch (they return in Jan/Feb).

We are still house sitting but we started renting our own place October 1!  It is a great location, small complex, and has no other non-Chinese living there.  The last month has been spent making some renovations to make it more suitable for S and to give it our own touch to make it OUR home and not just a rental home.  What really makes this place great it our landlord.  She speaks a little English (she is an English teacher at the university where we study Chinese) and also understands that we won’t destroy the place in a manner similar to what temporary students might.  We have a two year contract at a fantastic rate.  She also gave us the go ahead to paint, renovate the bathroom, and do any work that we think is necessary.  We, of course, have to pay for those things, which we are willing, and she is also willing because she understands that it will improve the home’s condition.  Also, we trust her.

The place is 3 bedroom (office, master, and s's), one bath, dining, kitchen, and livingroom.  The laundry drying room is connected to the master.

K is out selecting fabric for curtains.  I bet we'll have them finished (put together and made) in a couple days.

Things we needed to change in the apartment:

*Install a bathtub for S

*A sink in the bathroom – to replace the one taken out to make room for the tub

*Add water/drain to add washing machine in bathroom – currently in dining room

*Patch holes in wall, fix up laundry drying room, fresh paint for whole apartment

*Replace kitchen spicket with a kitchen faucet, move water source BELOW sink rather than above

Some pictures of the place - prework:

  
  all the rooms have these built in wardrobes.  Fantastic stuff.

Renovation is messy work in China:

Another note: overalls are just about the greatest thing for S.

 

Learning Chinese is still pretty cool.  I got a message from China IKEA recently about some good deals…

K: These Shoes were Made for Walking

Our primary mode of transportation since our return to China has been our bikes. We go everywhere on our bikes – school, the store, friends’ homes, our favorite restaurants. We even installed a kiddo seat on the back of N’s bike and S loves to zip around town behind daddy.

We bought our bikes more for recreation than for transportation during our first year in China when we were both teaching full-time and had very few expenses. They’re GIANT road bikes, and they’re fast, light and spiffy. We have taken good care of these bikes by parking them in guarded bike lots, making sure they’re locked, and/or carrying them upstairs to our apartment. We’ve been very grateful this year that we made that investment when we did and having had our bikes for almost four years, we’re not unaware that we’ve had a good run of it.

Yesterday my bike was stolen from the third floor landing of our stairwell. After carrying it upstairs, I neglected to lock it. I got comfortable. I felt safe. And now I’m sad. I know there are bigger injustices in this world, and as I’m reminded by everyone, both Chinese and foreign, when I tell them I “lost” my bike, this is life in China. But this “the way things are” explanation doesn’t help.

Once during college I had something stolen. Some kid smashed my driver-side window and yanked my CD player. I remember feeling sad then too. Grieved that distrust is the rule and honesty the exception; that selfishness and greed are insatiable gods. But in my reflections on human nature and my recent albeit superficial wound, I’m comforted that my most valuable treasure isn’t here where thieves steal, and that someday I will live in a land where honesty, integrity, and looking to others’ interests are the rule, where there are no exceptions to that rule.

But for now, these shoes were made for walking, so I guess that’s what I’ll do.

N: Laundry

S doesn't have a free ride around here.  This was taken a couple days before he turned one.

The file is large so give it some time to load if you have a mediocre connection.

N: A Toddling Todd

Taken just a couple days ago.

K: My Kid Waves in Chinese

On Friday mornings from 8:00-10:00 I go to character writing class with N. Which means S has a babysitter. N and I call her "Wang Jie" (Big Sister Wang) and to S she is "Aiyi" (Auntie). S’s Chinese name is Qingze which means “clean/clear/pure pool of water.” To Aiyi he is "Qingqing" (an affectionate nickname). Aiyi speaks only Chinese.

Today when I came home from class, Aiyi and Qingqing said their goodbyes.

“Zaijian, Qingqing.” (Goodbye, Qingqing.) And S looked up at her from my arms and waved.

My kid can wave in Chinese. I’m a proud mommy today.

K: “Now YOU smell the flowers.”

S’s favorite book is Pat the Bunny by Dorothy Kunhardt. What a classic! First published in 1940, it’s probably easier to count the number of us who did not have a copy of Pat the Bunny than those of us who did. And as it is with all classic literature, there is much to be learned from the reading and rereading and rereading… and rereading of this favorite.

“Paul can smell the flowers. Now YOU smell the flowers.” And mimicking mommy, S presses his tiny little nose into the pages of the book.

Over the weekend we went outside to play in the courtyard of our apartment complex. There are flower beds in the center of the courtyard where bright colored roses are blooming.

“Look S, mommy can smell the roses. Now YOU smell the roses.” And while mommy spots him, S bends over and presses his tiny little nose into the petals of a rose.

There are many roses in the flowerbeds and S is an equal opportunity sniffer. He successfully bent over to smell several roses (without help), and then it happened… He tumbled. Face first. Into a bed of rose bushes. N came running, I scooped him up, S came up hollering, and I honestly don’t know who was the most traumatized by the experience. Blood oozed from the scratches on his face while daddy removed a thorn from his scalp and mommy hunted for further injury.

S recovered emotionally even before the bleeding stopped, and his scratches are healing very quickly. But we’ll probably practice some more with Paul and Judy before we stop to smell the roses again.

“That’s all. Bye-bye. Can you say Bye-bye? Paul and Judy are waving Bye-bye to YOU.”

K: Shep's 1st Birthday!

Shep is one!

S turned one on Saturday. In the afternoon we had about 20 folks over for a party. S had a great time being the center of attention, opening a few gifts from parents and grandparents, and eating a yummy menu including Shepherd's Pie and Carrot Cupcakes. There is a new photo album called "Shep’s 1st Birthday" in the column to the left of this post. Enjoy the photos!

K: Adventures in 4th Floor Living

In China buildings are tall. In China tall buildings do not include elevators until they are more than six stories high. We currently live on the fourth floor of a six-story building. We have lived as high as the fifth floor during our residence in China and we have never minded the height. It’s quieter up here; we get more light through the windows up here; the drains in the bathrooms smell less up here. On Friday, I minded the height.

We have an amazing and wonderful stroller. It’s a BOB. For those of you who don’t speak stroller, the BOB is the Cadillac of jogging strollers. It was a very generous gift to us. The BOB can take any bump in the road (or off the road) and keep baby sleeping… well, like a baby. It can turn on a dime. It has shields for rain or shine and an ample undercarriage for storage. We LOVE the BOB. On Friday, I didn’t love the BOB.

On Friday, S and I had to be at the university to meet N for the 2009 academic year opening ceremony at 3:00pm. So at 2:30, with plenty of time to walk to the campus on the beautiful day that Friday was, I left S (safely) upstairs while I carried the BOB downstairs; I can’t carry both baby and BOB simultaneously. I went back up to get S and our stuff and back down to load up the BOB. Having gotten it loaded with baby and stuff, we were almost to the gate of our complex when I realized we had a flat in the front wheel. Not just an I’ll-push-it-to-the-corner-and-get-the-nice-bike-repair-man-to-pump-it-up flat, but a rubber-flopping, rim-bending flat. So we turned around and I took S back upstairs where I left him (safely) while I went back down to get the BOB. BOB and I went back upstairs where I retrieved S, who hates to be left alone and was thoroughly confused by this series of comings and goings.

We were back down and out in the warm sunshine before I realized I had not a fen on my person. (Note: a fen is the smallest unit of Chinese currency and is so small it is usually neglected when making change; clerks round to the mao, the next smallest denomination). Back up we went where I collected bus fare. Then, at 2:45 with neither time nor breath to spare, we descended for what I earnestly prayed would be the last time and caught the bus just outside our front gate.

S loves to ride the bus; he waves and points and smiles and he is loved in return. On Friday, he was loved so well that the bus attendant gave us a free ride.

K: The Swing of Things

Today begins the second week of life as we know it here. N is in bed with a nasty head cold, but if he weren’t, he’d be in intensive reading class now having already completed his oral Chinese class this morning. He will repeat this morning routine all week adding in a listening class as well as a Chinese characters class. Being the traditional student in the family, N goes to class from eight to noon Monday through Friday.

Many of you have asked and probably more of you wonder how I plan be a formal student of Chinese with S in tow, and my very inadequate response was, “I don’t know yet.” I’m oh-so-very happy to report that the foreign student department at our university is extremely accommodating and that I am taking classes for two hours each afternoon Monday through Thursday one-on-one with the teachers. On Friday mornings S will be taking a Chinese class of his own as he stays with a national sitter and I go to Chinese characters class with his daddy.

We also spend regular time with Chinese peer tutors as we clarify and implement the new material we are learning in class.

Oh, and Happy Labor Day. Take a break from the swing of your things. Xiuxi yihuir! (Take a break!)