The Waiting Game

Have you ever waited for something for so long that it starts to feel like it will never happen?

Like Christmas--it seems like you wait forever, 

it comes, and then 

it's over.

Why does this happen? It's like I'm always looking forward to or looking back at something and the actual something passes by without being fully enjoyed.

Miss A was born a week after her due date and only after being induced. I got to the point where I felt like I would just be pregnant forever. 

This time, though, it would be different. This time I had already had a baby (only 17 months ago). This time I walked everywhere to get that baby out. This time, we packed our bags at the beginning of December. This time, we knew our little boy would come early. Wrong.

He's never coming either.

I guess I'll just be pregnant in China forever.

Here's our boy on his due date! On Friday he measured in at 8 1/2 pounds.

Mister gained a little sympathy weight this time. Or maybe he's just getting ready to help out Santa Clause...

This little one can't wait either! She just doesn't know she's waiting. :)

This isn't completely true. Our doctor wants me to get induced no later than tomorrow. We plan to actually head in to the hospital Christmas afternoon!

In the meantime, we will try really hard to enjoy the joys of waiting.

Like a little more sleep than a newborn gives you 

and the crazy feeling of a baby moving around inside you

and a little more sleep than a newborn gives you. :)

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our humble nativity. :)

A nurse would ask her terminal patients if they regretted anything in their life. 

There were a few different answers, but a common theme was this: they would spend more time living in the moment.

I very obviously needed to read this General Conference talk this week. (It's a really good one for the New Year, too.)

Chinese Children

Chinese children are pretty weird. (At least from my US-raised perspective.) Here's the thing:

-they go to school for 10+ hours/day during the week
-they take extra classes on the weekend (like history and language)
-when they're not in school they're doing homework
-the little ones are crazy (running around their English school, sitting on each other, getting completely out of hand)
-they like to eat weird things--like dried squid and chicken heart for a snack
-they (want to) wear pink when they are boys
-they wear very trendy split pants so they can relieve themselves anywhere (young children)

Chinese children are also pretty cute.

-They sing English songs with their cute accent
-When you ask them "how are you?" they answer "fine sank you, how are you?"
-They are entertaining (a little girl on the bus sang a song about all the things she loved "wo ai...wo ai...wo ai...")


Although not a Chinese child, we have a pretty weird one of our own. :)

she finds unique ways to carry her baby

putting things in her shirt is way fun

she's very good at hide and seek

and playing dress-up

she likes to feed herself

or just use her food as makeup and hair gel

she watches Curious George with her dad

Her style is one-of-a-kind

(one leg out of the pajamas)

oh so fasionable

She begs to get on the little rides, but cries when they start moving

She loves shoes

a lot

She likes to work

She may be a little odd, but we sure love it and think she's pretty darn cute! We're enjoying these last few days before our family of 3 becomes 4.

Bringing a White Elephant to China

Sometimes I feel bad for the Chinese. Holidays are what get me through the winter--and they don't have many. No Thanksgiving. No Christmas. No Easter. None of the great holidays we celebrate! They may not get to celebrate exactly like we do, but gift giving is an integral part of their lifestyle.

It's actually a pretty big deal from what I understand. There are certain expectations for the type of gift you should give depending on your status, the relationship, the occasion, etc.

-Our friends received a large paint-by-number when they hosted a dinner for a Chinese couple.
-We got a huge cake, you probably remember, when our neighbors came over for dinner.
-My tutee's parents (my employers) gave us a beautiful Chinese style blanket for our soon-to-come son.
-Our friend's husband was expected to give a large sum of money for his employee's wedding present.
-When a gift is given, it is often expected to give one in return. (We were told to bring lots of gifts from the US so we wouldn't be caught empty handed in a situation like this.)

In the spirit of Chinese culture and our own Christmas tradition, we had a White Elephant gift exchange with some Chinese flair!

Almost everyone packed in our apartment for the White Elephant exchange.

Some of the gifts:

-chinese style electric hand warmer (think quarterback hand warmer, but fluffy)

-toilet golf

-socks, scarfs, hats

-chinese animal slippers (shown in the middle of the above picture), mouth covering, and phone chain

-Chinese spinning top

-Chocolate

Here is Miss A showing off the lovely mouth covering (these are very popular here, seriously). In the back you can see the toilet golf gift. Mister found this on Tao Bao-who thinks of these things?!

The Chinese children don't go without either--at least Miss A doesn't. Almost every time we go out she gets some sort of gift. Her stash from strangers includes: 2 regular balloons, 2 flower shaped balloons, countless pieces of fruit, little packages of gummy food things, a heart shaped "diamond" ring, crackers, candy...the list goes on.

Did this baby get humongous all of the sudden? 1 week and 5 days until our little guy's due date!

We thoroughly enjoyed this Christmas tradition. It will never be quite the same as it was this year in our Nanjing, China home.

Brown Paper Packages

It isn't as inexpensive to live in China as we had planned, but some things cost much less. 

Christmas trees are one of those things.

We got our beautiful (dirty) $5 package in the mail a few days before Thanksgiving. We made it until the day after before busting it open.

Miss A doing what she does best: "helping"

 It isn't just Christmas trees that are inexpensive. We have an account for China's online "Amazon" called Tao Bao. If we need something, it's the first place we look. We might be able to find similar prices in one of the little street shops, but Tao Bao is just as cheap and so worth the time saved.

As you can see, this isn't the grandest tree ever, but it's perfect for our little home! It came with decorations (including pink, purple, and blue garland and little Christmas cards that all said "Feliz Navidad").

I don't really understand how it all works. We always get our orders within 1-3 days, but from different people at different times. Sometimes two or three different people will drop off a package in one day.

People even call us to make sure our order is right before sending it off. It's great.

We found the perfect Miss A-free place to put the tree.

You know how getting a package is always exciting, even when you know what it is? Well, here it is even more exciting. Most of the time there's an extra surprise in the box! Miss A has a collection of little plastic balls from the baby orders we've made.

But it doesn't keep all of the babies away!

We didn't use all of the decorations that came with the tree, but I'm pretty happy with it. Notice the garland wreath made out of a hanger? :)

36 weeks...

Thank you, China's Tao Bao, for starting off our Christmas right.

A Not-So-Oriental Thanksgiving

The literal translation of turkey in Chinese is "big chicken." This holiday--was a "big Thanksgiving"!

We didn't have turkey on Thanksgiving day, but we sure did celebrate. Football video games (since the actual games weren't on in our time zone), KFC chicken, homemade sides, dessert, and friends. We left without a single bit of homesickness.

I made homemade green bean casserole (seriously!) and my mom's sweet potato casserole. 

Some of the boys and the babies. Miss A loves playing with her favorite friend.

On Saturday we had turkey.

and more turkey.

Our branch ordered turkeys from the wonderful US. They were too big for Chinese ovens, so the cooks had to cut them in half to cook them. They were de-li-cious.

100+ members and friends came to celebrate Thanksgiving with our branch. We were stuffed and entertained with a branch talent show.

It looks like a real Thanksgiving dinner, right?

On a day like that, I can see why some Chinese think we are a fat people. 

But it is so worth it.

Hope you had a great holiday! 

Chinese do Girl Talk

Example #2: I am no Chinese host.

We have very friendly neighbors. Getting to know them a little has helped me feel less secluded and alone while mister is gone all day.

The neighbors across from us have a little girl who is almost 2. Her parents work and her grandparents take care of her ALL day. Her grandpa knocks on our door every few days to say hello to Miss A.

The neighbor next to us is our age. She works during the day and studies with her boyfriend at night. She wants to get in to an MBA program in the US so she likes to come over and practice her English. She is so nice.


I really love our neighbors, but there is a problem. Navigating the social world of the Chinese is a lot like talking to a girl.

-A girl will say "Are you hot?" and she means "Please turn on the AC."
-A girl will hint at something she wants and hope you get it.
-A girl will sometimes simply expect you to read her mind

In the Chinese "language" there is rarely an action that is not designed to get a specific reaction. So, what is my kind neighbor expecting from me when she brings over some food she has made? What is the real meaning behind the words "oh, my English is not good."?? What should I do when our neighbor gives Miss A an orange???

Maybe I'm too aware, but I kept feeling like I should reciprocate...with no idea how to do so the right way.

Then, we (mostly Mister) had a brilliant idea.

"Let's invite our neighbors over for a lovely American dinner!" we said.
"This will be a great way to give back for the kind things our neighbors have done for us!" we said.


I spent the day preparing chicken crepes (my mother-in-law's delicious dish). Without an oven, I had to plan perfectly so the meal would be warm just in time. A few minutes before 7 o'clock (and a few minutes before I had everything ready) our neighbors came in.

They dropped off a cake.
They left.

We got the table set and sat down expecting them to be back in a few minutes.
We waited.
and waited some more.

At 7:45 they came!
With enough food in their arms to feed us all. Wasn't I supposed to be feeding them??

This is what was left of the delicious food they brought over. I was too frazzled to remember to take pictures before we ate. :) Also--the crepes were eaten. They told us it "tasted like KFC".

We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, but definitely didn't "pay back" for all the things they had previously done for us.

Orange (our neighbor's English name) and her boyfriend with the beautiful cake they brought.

What am I to do now?? I guess I need to learn--as men all over the world have:

Sometimes, even when you try, you just don't get it right.

Red Tape

Posts have been sparse due to the announcement of the new leader of China. Our VPN was often blocked these past two weeks.


You know the term "connections"? The thing that gets you tickets to a sold out football game or reservations at a booked restaurant? I don't have them. Especially not in China.

This week I have learned how very inept I am at navigating the Chinese culture.

Example #1: I have been to the hospital 5 times this week. Five times. (Bus, subway, hospital, bus, subway, home. Travel time: 2 hours each day)

Good news: We think everything looks good! My bp is back to normal and my iron is better. There are a few tiny concerns, but we're working on taking care of them. (Almost 35 weeks here)

This whole thing was crazy...it probably wouldn't have been so frustrating if it didn't have to do with making sure I had a place to deliver my baby! Now that it is over maybe I can look at it as a learning experience?

Here's what you need to know (if you ever plan on delivering a baby in China.):

-They don't do appointments--you show up during a time frame that the doctor is scheduled to work, take a number, and hope to get in.

-Sometimes, she decides not to come to work on the day she is supposed to.

-It costs 1 kuai to see the doctor this way.

-There is this place called the International Department that lets you actually schedule an appointment. It costs 300 kuai.

-Taiwanese doctors are very blunt. This doesn't mix well with a hormonal pregnant mama.

-They also tell you to drink lots of soy milk.

-It takes five trips, constant communication with the hospital staff and your insurance company, and a paid online assistance company to get your insurance figured out.

-You have to give lots of blood. Literally.

It's really not always this hard to get things done here. If we talked to the right person first we would have been able to take care of everything with no hassle. We didn't know the right person so we had to navigate the maze that is

the red tape.


Example #2 to come.

Miss A survived this crazy week and is so excited to be down to one nap during the day!

Fresh as Can Be

A lot of the time, grocery shopping makes me anxious. It all started when I found out Walmart price matched...

I tried to make things easier on myself and not be too annoying to the employee who had to ring everything up. I put all of the price matched items together. I had a list ready in case the cashier had questions. I even put little sticky notes with the new price on every single item. No matter what I did, when I got to the front of that checkout line it was the same.

I don't know what it was. Worry about the overworked and underpaid cashier? Maybe guilt for getting two generous weeks of produce for $15? Whatever it is, China hasn't made it go away. It just has given me new reasons.

Would you like to see my "grocery store"?

Welcome to the entrance! Those various bins you see on the ground to the left? Those contain live fish, water snake things, and other creatures of the sea.

There are five different vegetable booths inside with most of the same things. We know one lady always has red bell peppers and another special orders beets for us (needed thanks to my Venezuelan doctor's order to drink a carrot-orange-beet smoothie every day)

We made the mistake of getting meat from these guys our first time. They grabbed the meat with their bare hands, threw it on the scale, put it in a bag, and gave us our change--all with those same meat-juiced hands. mmm. We now order from a booth next to this one with a "refrigerated" section and a much more sanitary girl (who speaks English!).

The Chinese love to have meat that is fresh--needless to say, I do not buy our chicken meat here.

What a clean little place, hmm? Looking at this picture, I told mister I would have never imagined myself actually shopping here. Ever. Thanks to our sanitization system, we have yet to get sick!

I'm a little hesitant to buy beans or rice out here...I don't know if I can be that adventurous.

In addition to markets like the one we shop at, trucks sell produce on the streets. The truck prices are usually better, but the selection is smaller. Can you guess what fruit we bought this week?

I can always walk down the streets to find out what is in season! Cabbage and radishes? Here's to hoping I can find some great recipes...or that our market will still have some variety as it gets colder.

Despite my apprehensions about going to this fresh market and buying produce on the street, I sure do love this place.

I spend way too much some time keeping a mental list of all the things I am excited for when we get back to the US. This little market will be on the other side of that list: the What-I-Miss-About-China side.

I didn't think I'd have anything over there. Here's to change. :)