Don't Forget Your Belongings!

I'm pretty sure God is punishing Bill and I as we both ate meat on Good Friday and not many things went right on Friday. I'm really wondering why we can't switch out all the past days of not eating meat for this one day??? Friday afternoon Bill found out that the paperwork we were going to have completed in Hong Kong for him to get a Z Visa was completed incorrectly and that he should probably go to the US to get the Z Visa. This process will only take 2 days to get the visa so he was not a happy camper. Neither was I as we already had plane tickets, hotel rooms, plans made on things to see/do while we wait for the visa. It's a pain in the rear and now our weekend away in Hong Kong has been cancelled. :-( Next thing Bill comes home from Wuhu and walks in the apartment empty handed. Ummm, Bill you were gone for a week, where's your suit case? Yep Bill forgot his suit case in the taxi! So after a couple hours calling our real estate agent and having her try to contact the taxi company and find the taxi driver Bill finally got his case back last night around 9pm! Whew, that is something he'll never do again. There are even signs in the taxis: Well, we all know bad things typically happen in 3's, I can't think of the 3rd bad thing today so I'm hoping today only has 2!

Spring Rolls!!!

This morning I opted to skip the EAS Crafts morning and head to Accent Mandarin for a Chinese Cooking class on Spring Rolls! I love food. One of the best things of living in England was the ability to eat my way through cities and countries. I'm a little more cautious with my food choices here in China as I've heard so many horror stories and I have nightmares about my dog Brewer ending up on my dinner plate. Bill's quite adventurous and has been traveling here for a while now so snake, chicken feet, and all those "weird" foods don't seem to phase him. I stick to chicken, tofu, pork, and veggies. We both love spring rolls in the US and I've never made them from scratch at home before so I figured I should give it a go! Plus I really would like to learn some Chinese cooking techniques! Spring Rolls are considered Chinese Dim Sum and are typically eaten in the spring. Spring here is during the Chinese New Year festival, so we were told we may not be able to buy spring roll wrappers anymore this year until next year. We made 2 kinds of spring rolls today... salty and sweet. The "salty" variety included: ji cai(it's a green vegetable that was chopped very finely, it reminded me of chopped spinach but it tastes nothing like it), dried tofu, bamboo shoots, pork, ginger and scallions. It was quite fun because we actually had to mince the pork by hand. There was only 1 other student besides myself so we each got a piece and chopped it up finely, then chopped some more, added the ginger and onions. Then we added some seasonings to the pork and let it marinade while we chopped the veggies, stir fried them up and then added everything together. Once they were assembled we fried them in the wok. The very important part here was to heat the oil up to smoking then turn it off for a minute or two, then turn it back onto to a low/medium heat so that the rolls just turn golden yellow/brown. The sweet variety that we made was with red bean paste and black sesame seeds. Black sesame seeds here are typically mixed with sugar and are very sweet. They can actually come as small discs and served as dessert, these were ground up a little bit and we mixed them with the red bean paste. Picture refried beans but red colored and sweet tasting! This is what the red bean paste looks like. All in all it was a really fun time and now I know how to make spring rolls at home. I even got to bring a half dozen home for Bill to try!

My First Ultrasound

NO I'M NOT PREGNANT!!!! I'm just going to be applying for Chinese residency in a few weeks and needed to go through a medical evaluation that consisted of an ultrasound. It's logical right, you are going to live here we should check out everything about you. A woman from Fragomen (the law firm helping us process the paperwork) picks me up at 8:45am from my apartment, she speaks minimal English but enough to say "Are you Annie?". Yep that's me! Ok lets go! Away we go in her sporty red Peugot. As soon as we get in the car she turns on some Mariah Carey and Tina Turner mix. Interesting, I wonder if she does this for all her American clients. We end up going to the Suzhou International Travel Health Center in what we call SND, the other side of town. We live in SIP. We walk in this place, I get out my passport, some man makes a copy then the lady shuffles me over to registration. A lady in a sea green outfit with a white nurse hat takes my picture on a camera and makes me sign some blue sheet that's all in mandarin. I really hope I didn't sign my life away! The receptionist then hands the lady with me a blue sheet with boxes and stuff on it. The lady motions to me that we need to go and I better hurry, she's not wasting time!!! We head to an elevator back and just in case your'e wondering in the elevators in this building there is "No SMOOKING Allowed". Not a typo on my end - a typo on the translation end! (I tried to take the picture non-descretely but I know that didn't happen.) I also spotted 3 other of these exact same signs throughout the building. All with the same incorrect spelling. I was laughing very very hard inside! Alright so now there are about 7 different rooms, we walk in the first one, a man, again in a sea green long lab coat yells something in Chinese. The lady tells me to take off my shoes and coat and stand on this machine. She grabs my purse and coat. The machine takes my height and weight, then I have to sit in a chair and get my blood pressure taken. The machine is just like the ones in Wal-Mart we used to mess around with as kids! The man then gives my blue paper a red stamp and hands it back to the lady! Whew passed that test. Next room - there's a line, oh quick run down to this room instead no one is getting blood drawn. WHAT NEEDLES?!?!?! Yep - 4 vials of blood were drawn. What for? Beats me, all I know is I HATE needles and I"m pretty sure that Qtip that you pulled out of the iodine to swab my arm with looks like it's been used for the past year. NO JOKE! Now I want to puke. Ok done, with the blood - I'm pretty sure the nurse lady told me to hold the cotton ball on my spot for 5 minutes. I threw it away after I walked out of that room. No bandaids are given and don't bother to wipe off the iodine you smeared ALL OVER my forearm! Next room, hurry, get behind the curtain! What, an ultrasound? Seriously, I had to lay down on this green papered bed that had probably not had the paper changed in at least 3 months, lift up my shirt so some lady, again in a scary sea green gown, can goop up an ultrasound machine and start rubbing it around on my stomach. I'm not pregnant... I told you that!!! She then throws me a handful of paper napkins and opens the curtain. The race continues onto the next check. There's a line at the ECG door so we run down the hallway to the eye exam. I sit in a chair read some numbers. I'm not sure if I"m suppose to read them in mandarin or english. I go for english! The lady keeps asking me something, I'm pretty sure it's if I wear contacts or not. I just not and smile. Oh and wait - I was suppose to put the metal spatula over one eye when I did the test - RE-DO!!! Is this 1950's/60's horror movie over yet? The last test was the ECG - yep really had a bunch of stuff stuck to my chest - 3 devices and then clamps around the wrists and one on the right ankle... I can't even explain what was going through my mind at that point. I had this urge to laugh and it would've been a good pee your pants laugh but I held it in. Back in the No Smooking elevator. Crap, I thought we were done - now I have to go in the X-ray room this is even more Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde than I want to experience this morning. The man in his sea green lab coat pushes me up against some X-ray machine runs out of the room and pushes some buttons (Or at least I assume he's pushing buttons because there is a lot of beeping going on) and then opens the door. I guess I'm done now? I leave the room after I grab my blue sheet with all my red stamps, assuming I passed them all and hand them to the lady who brought me here. She hands me my purse and jacket which she's been holding it the entire time while running me from room to room and runs to the reception to turn in my blue sheet. ALL DONE! Back in the car now and on the way home. Whew! That was an exhausting morning. They really run you between rooms it was insane. Now I need a shower to wash off all the iodine, ultrasound goop and sticky ECG crap!

Wuxi Flea Market Day Trip

Today the EAS organized a bus trip to the Wuxi Flea Market. Wuxi is a town about an hour drive northwest of Suzhou and there were about 40 women that went on this trip. The Wuxi Flea Market is a sight to see! I'm told there is a small flea market in Suzhou but Wuxi's doesn't even compare to Suzhou's. So we went to Wuxi! Scooter(e-bike) parking between the buildings: The market is about 9 different buildings that are all 3 floors each!!! Luckily the activities organizers had been here a few different times so they put together a handy dandy cheat sheet on what each building and level contained for us so we were not left to wander on our own. I do have to say this place was very overwhelming for the first time! I even came home empty handed which is shocking I know! If you can think of an item you need you can probably find it here: Shoes, underwear, household cleaners, crafts, decorations, vases, antiques, tea, candy, plants, signs, clothing, purses, bedding, construction equipment, helmets, electronics. You name it you can find it!!! There are even local food stalls/vendors on the outside main level which is fun to see. Here are some pictures of the market items and surrounding area: Mom and Auntie Lori, I will take you here only after I learn how to barter with the Chinese because that is allowed here. Oh, and you two will have a time limit!!!

How many Chinese people does it take to setup a sofa?

WE FINALLY HAVE A COUCH!!! And with that, the question of the day is: How many Chinese people does it take to setup a sofa? Answer to follow... I joined the EAS(Expat Association of Suzhou) and today I was attending the 15th Anniversary AGM(Annual General Meeting). It was a meeting/luncheon/overview of what happened in 2012 and what's to come for 2013 at The Renaissance Hotel in Suzhou. There were 59 women and 1 man in attendance, when we arrived and checked-in each individual was given a really nice bracelet as a gift. There was a table for event sign-ups and a raffle with many prizes so naturally raffle tickets get purchased! We took our seats and the meeting began, then lunch was served which was a fabulous buffet of Asian and Western mixed foods and then the raffle began! Guess who got lucky today??? WINNER WINNER I came home with a coupon for brunch at the Kempinski Hotel in Suzhou and a certificate for a manicure and pedicure at a local nail spa! Hey, things are looking pretty good today. Towards the end of the event I check my phone and have a text from our real estate lady that our couch has arrived and the delivery worker's are sitting at our main gates of the compound! DOUBLE WIN FOR ME!!! I head out after the AGM, get home very excited to get the couch into the apartment! As soon as I get home I move the chairs out of the way. (We had some sitting chairs in our bedroom that we moved into the living room so we could watch TV and it'd feel like a living room at least.) Here's the before picture of the living room with the chairs. By the time I get the chairs moved the elevator is dinging, there's knocking at the door and in walk 3 men and 1 woman with a part of the couch! I probably could've managed that 1 part myself but... Yep it took 4 worker's to move the 2 sections of the couch! They plop it down get the second piece and then ask for 100RMB($16 USD roughly) with the couch in all the packaging lying in 2 pieces in the middle of the floor. Ummm, I hate to be rude but aren't you going to set it up I ask? They agreed and whew, now we have a couch and you know what I'll be doing for the rest of the evening! Ahhh, relaxing, starting to feel a teeny tiny bit like home. But not really.

A few pictures

So a few of my past posts have included rants about how many choices there are for certain items and that I have no clue what is what. I figured a visualization was in order! Here are 2 pictures, one of the milk choices and another of soy sauce. Both of these pictures come from a local convenience type store near our neighborhood center. If you think this is bad.... head to Wal-mart and check out the rice, flour and vinegar aisles. Things just got a whole lot tougher! Milk choices: Soy Sauce:

Metro... We Made It This Time!

It has been 2 weeks since the black taxi fiasco to try to get to the Metro grocery store so I convinced Bill we should try again just not in a black taxi! He agreed as he was really in the mood for a gin and tonic and it has been rumored that this store has the cheapest prices on gin(Bombay and Gordons) and even wine at reasonable prices as well! Do you like how I bribe Bill to go to the grocery store with me by telling him there is cheap booze??? hehe WE MADE IT THERE! I was so nervous on the way there, I sat in the front seat of the taxi, Bill and Gary(Bill's co-worker) were in the back, I had my phone out with the maps up and the location pinned and I didn't even need it as our taxi driver knew exactly where to go! We got there, did our shopping, had a great time getting booze and some other items, then came home. We even lucked out and caught a taxi home that was dropping another man off. Getting a taxi leaving this place can be very very tricky but we lucked out. Finally something went smoothly in this strange land. Our purchases consisted of: Gin & Tonic, Whisky & Ginger Ale, and Wine. We got a few other items but mainly booze to keep us grounded here! Happy Weekend!

6 Chicks and a Dick

Yay, it's finally Friday here! I've calmed down after the Thursday towel heater fiasco. When Bill got home last night we decided to go to Zapata's (the local Mexican joint) for fajitas, Corona's and Quiz Night! Some other expats were going and as it turned out Bill was the only male with 6 females, hence our team name! Here's a picture of some of the group. It was a pretty fun night and our team ended up tying for 3rd place. Only 1st and 2nd place winners get prizes so we need to aim for that next week if we decide to make this a weekly thing! When we got back to the compound last night the police were out in full force. That's full golf cart force! hehe

The Towel Heaters

As with any new apartment/house you will find things here and there that don’t work or need fixing. And that’s normal, I know this. In the last few weeks we’ve had some light bulbs that have gone out, towel rack heating not working, figuring out how to use the heating/cooling, water pipes missing and not connected to the sinks. Oh ya know standard stuff! :-) This story is about TOWEL HEATERS! For those of you in the UK you know what these are and you LOVE them. For those of you that don't know what I'm talking about here’s a picture. Did I mention already that I love them? The pipes heat up and you keep your towels on them and when you get out of the shower you have nice and toasty warm towels. So ours were not working, the bathroom has no heating, warm towels would be really really nice! Plus this apartment has never been lived in so it’s DAMP and SMELLY and I’m really looking forward to these towel racks being turned on so my towels in the bathroom will dry. Because right now there is so much stinky smelly moisture the towels don’t dry out all day or overnight and I’m really sick of taking a shower then grabbing a damp towel to dry off with! So back to it, 2 men come today, look at the racks, turn the knobs, start screaming at each other in mandarin.(Chinese people do not speak softly, makes me look quiet compared to when they talk!) One guy goes outside and starts screaming from out there - I go outside and he’s pointing at the pipes under the boiler that are just bare and empty and sawed off. Then he’s motioning about a bigger boiler and connections etc. Well this is all my interpretation. I nod, I smile, I know exactly what he’s saying. “You have a small boiler, you need a big boiler, you can not have heated towel racks.” Seriously, I’m bummed. I tell myself it’s okay, it’s fine, they’re just towel racks. I call our real estate lady, Cici, because I want to know if the boiler is the reason and if I interpretted these guys correctly. She calls me back.... Yep - the landlord did not want to invest anymore money into the apartment or pay for underfloor heating so she opted for a smaller boiler. But wait there’s a solution, we can ask the landlord for some floor heaters that you plug in to heat the bathroom since it gets cold. Really, a space heater instead of a heated towel rack?!?!?! UGH. And of course she didn’t want to “invest more into the apartment”. She hasn’t told us that 4 times already. I don’t know, it seems trivial to be angry over towel heaters but it’s the cumulation of all the shitty things our landlord has done since we’ve moved in. If you can't tell by my tone we’ve had some issues with our landlord to say the least. She’s a “business lady” as our real estate agent told us. So our brand new never been lived in apartment is scarcely furnished with minimal pieces even 1/2 a waredrobe(closet for you US folks). Yep 1/2 a closet- we have this large closet area in the master bedroom and well the wardrobe only fills up 1/2 of one wall. It’ll fit Bill’s clothes and we’re not even going to talk about my clothes or my shoes! So we asked for another becuase the other apartments we saw had 2. Nope, she’s not willing to spend anymore money in this apartment. Ugh, okay fine we’ll buy a cheap dresser and toss if off the balcony when we leave. Next onto the office, the desk is a tiny metal strip - yep you can fit a laptop on it and that’s about it. Bill’s not sure where the docking station, monitor and all his books/manuals, other office type materials will go. We asked for a book shelf - cheap Ikea is fine as we told her. Nope sorry, not wanting to invest anymore into the apartment. Oh come on you’ve said no to everything else how about a patio set?!?! hehe We have this great balcony, can I have 2 chairs and a small table? I’d really enjoy sitting outside in the morning to drink my coffee, and in the afternoon I can take a nap and hang with my sasparilla! Nope again not anymore investing. Okay but here’s the thing... we WILL NOT take this old dirty microwave. WINNER WINNER she agreed to get us a new microwave. WHEW. If this hadn’t been agreed to we would be looking for a new apartment. So now I find out the towel racks don’t work because she bought the cheap boiler. I’ve kind of had it with this lady what else is next. Oh and we still don’t have a couch... she says it’s coming at the end of the month. Wonder if she’s going to change her mind and not want to invest in a couch.

The Language Barrier

One of the most challenging things with moving abroad is the language barrier. Simple tasks such as telling a taxi driver where to take you, purchasing food at the grocery store, asking where the bathroom is, and even ordering a coffee become major hurdles and you feel like you're jumping through hoops of flames to accomplish them. Buying food at the grocery store seems like it should be an easy task. I mean you know what most of the fresh fruit and vegetable items are and even packaged goods you can typically tell what is what. That still doesn't stop you from standing in the milk section staring at 10 different cartons wondering what each one is. Is it 2%, 1%, Skim, Long Life milk, goat milk, cow milk, soy milk, raw milk, fresh milk? I have no clue! I've stepped into almost every single grocery store and convenience store in search of the "perfect" reasonably priced milk that I will choose to buy for the next few years and have yet to find one. Every time I get to the milk section my mind goes blank, I stare aimlessly for what feels like hours only to walk out empty handed more confused than when I started. The other day I thought I was buying blueberry yogurt due to the pictures of blueberries on the outside of the carton, but today when I went to eat that yogurt I realized it wasn't just blueberry. It was blueberry and Chinese yam yogurt. Chinese yams... really in yogurt?!?! Actually the yogurt didn't taste all that bad, very berry-licous. I guess one of the benefits of not overanalyzing what you purchase is that you get to experience things you wouldn't have tried otherwise. As I continue to "stock" our kitchen here I can guarantee you there will be plenty more food posts coming up! Oh and for those of you that are curious like I am... here is a link to the Chinese yams: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioscorea_opposita

The Squatter

Yep, I encountered the squatter today! I've been in China now for almost 3 weeks and I've avoided public restrooms at all costs, up until today. A grande coffee at an expat event before my Walmart excursion was not the smartest idea. The first thought that went through my brain when I stepped into the restroom was "DAMN it's a squatter". I'm not quite sure why the Chinese think they're a good idea as I find them very complicated. First off you've got to place your feet on the appropriate foot grids and maintain balance while pulling down your pants, making sure they don't contact any floor surface as you're not quite sure what has touched the floor. Next, you assume a squatting position like a competitive ski jumper and stick your ass out as far as you can. Man I knew I should've stuck with yoga - chair pose could come in handy right about now! Once you're in that ski jumper ass out pose use one hand to hold your pants and prevent yourself from peeing on them while maintaining your balance and hopefully not touching the stall wall with your other hand. Oh yea and then look around realizing there isn't any toilet paper because you were suppose to grab that out by the sink where you wash your hands?!?!?! Thank goodness for kleenex mini-packs. Really wish I was a man today, however at least I got that out of the way as I'm sure I'll be encountering many many more in the next few years. I'm going to yoga tomorrow at the gym I hope we work on chair pose.

Buying a blender

Today I set-out with 1 task in mind, buying a blender! I didn't think that buying a blender would be too hard of a task but boy was I wrong! Bill and I know that breakfast foods are going to be very challenging here. Milk and cereal prices are outta this world. We're talking $7 for a 1/2 gallon of fresh skim milk and $10 for a box of cereal. No Thank You! They also have a ton of long life milk (ultra high temperature/processed milk) which I think tastes horrible. Even the soy milk is long life soy milk. Eggs are reasonably priced but you can only eat so many eggs before you really start worrying about your cholesterol. So anyway, fruits and veggies from the "wet market" are widely available and I see a lot of smoothies for breakfast in my future as long as I can get a blender! I head over to Times Square which is about a 2 mile walk from our apartment. Yes it's called Times Square, No it does not look anything like Times Square in NY and secretly a part of me always hopes if I show up there I will magically be teleported to the real NY Times Square! That hasn't happened yet but I'm going to keep wishing! Alright, back to the story, I get to the electronic section - picture a huge Macy's, where salespeople come up to you and ask you what you're looking for and explain the products to you. They do this here in Chinese, I nod, I smile and I keep looking at the 20 different models of blenders they have on display. Within 5 to 10 minutes of some lady yaking at me in mandarin I've made up my mind and point to the one I want. The lady runs to another person has a conversation, goes to a back room, comes back and starts speaking to me. I have no clue what she's saying so I point again at the blender I want. She keeps talking, I point again... "yi" I say. Yi means 1, I only want one and I thought I heard an "er" in there... er means 2. She starts writing on a piece of paper, goes and grabs a calculator and types in some numbers that are lower than the price advertised. "Okay, okay, hen hao" I tell her - (Hen hao is very good) heck I didn't know bargaining at department stores was allowed but I guess I just got a deal on a blender! She then hands me a piece of paper and I stand there waiting and looking at my blender. She finally points to an aisle and down a hallway and my light bulb goes on! In China you have to pay at a cashier and then you can get your item. So I find the cashier, hidden in a back corner of the store and pay only to return to the blenders to find the lady gone and my blender not on the shelf anymore! Finally after a few minutes she reappears with the blender in a box. Now she holds up a sign and keeps speaking to me... the sign has the #2 on it so I'm hoping/guessing it means 2 year warranty but I have no clue and at this point I just want my blender at home so I say xie xie (thank you) and away I go! Whew, that was challenging, what would normally be a 15 minute process turned into an hour adventure and now of course there is the task to get back home. Yep, no taxis in sight so I start walking figuring I can hail one on my way, just my luck all the ones that pass me are full! As if people don't stare enough, here's a silly western woman walking 2 miles with a blender! :-) It was all worth it though as I made myself a fabulous smoothie when I got home! I drank it so fast I forgot to take a picture. The next item up for purchase is an e-bike so I'm not stuck walking with anymore electronics!