Mandarin musings...

Ni hao! So I am picking up dribs and drabs of Mandarin although our lessons have not been sorted out yet. I reckon I have over 50 words, but am still not remotely able to have a conversation! Imagine trying to communicate with only the following words at your disposal when you wish to say; open a bank account or go to the dentist…!

Hello, goodbye, thank you, tomorrow, birthday, I/me, you, want, lunch, good, bad, crazy, toilet, crying, beautiful, road, car, driver, fried dumplings, this one, (English) school, Chinese, bank, money, boss/old man, a glass/cup of, big, small, cold, the bill, a receipt, no, yes, ok, wait a little, minutes, come here, let's go, people, cat, moon/month, rain, RT Mart, left, right, straight on, a pair of...and numbers to 100, (with a small time delay!)

Thank goodness English speakers can be found, nevertheless I find it cripplingly embarrassing to have to ask if anyone speaks English all the time, and miming to fill the gaps when I am so used to being able to get around most parts of the world I have visited with more than just a few words at my disposal.

Here is a clip of Laura teaching us some Mandarin, or is she??!

 

That's some quality bluffing!!!

Other musings (apologies if I am already repeating myself):

•             My favourite street name to date: Longdong Avenue *snigger*

•             Chocolate doesn’t seem to be a very popular flavour here. I have been caught out quite a few times with things that look chocolatey, but are actually made with red bean. They make all sorts of desserts with beans too, sweet dumplings and ice lollies for example. The other common flavour I have had near misses with is coffee. We chose an ice cream from a menu for the children expecting it to be chocolate, but it was coffee. Thankfully it was very mild and they both liked it. (Anything for an ice cream!)

•             A popular bread topping here is Meat Floss, I can’t tell you how much this offends me, it’s probably not massively dissimilar to jerky, but I just feel nauseous every time I see it sprinkled on a roll or loaf of bread http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rousong

•             Weird crisp flavour of the week: Sour plum and melon, no, I couldn’t bring myself to buy them…one day, just for you guys I will try them… Also Tortilla chips that were labelled Ethnican flavour…hahahaha, no idea what that is!

•             Fireworks/firecrackers are a regular background noise, no idea why, but they go off frequently in the morning, afternoon and evening, weekday and weekend…

•             I have been challenged to find some particular chopstick rests by my bestie Kate. Can you believe that despite looking in almost every shop I have been in, I have seen only one very plain set. Thousands of chopsticks though… ;)

•             Bodily functions: while I knew about the spitting, I actually find that less bothersome than the awful hawking up noise that precedes the actual spitting. I was also quite surprised to see a toddler needing a wee being held over the small drain of a drinking water fountain in the middle of a supermarket, although I know that the outcome could have been far worse!

•             Autumn is coming and the leaves are starting to fall, the temperature has dropped a little to the upper 20s rather than low 30s but the mosquitoes are still on the rampage. Very happy that compound living means that someone else sweeps the leaves off the drive daily (I do my own doorstep, I’m not that work shy).

•             We had our first typhoon warning; while the rain hammered down and the wind howled, it was otherwise uneventful.

•             Every time we go through the barrier in and out of the compound the security guards salute us. I LOVE this as I never took a commission and really enjoy the novelty…BUT I have to hold my arm down against the instinctive need to return the salute! The children often salute back which seems to entertain the guards.

•             We may have people that go to the shops in onesies  in the UK, but the Chinese are way ahead of them. It is completely normal to go out in your pyjamas. Whether popping to the shops or running errands, it is not uncommon to see people in their nightwear!

•             I have discovered that the smell that makes this house most feel like home is that of burnt toast lingering in the air when I come back in from the school run!

More to follow soon, with pictures :)

 

Air Quality Index (AQI) and getting a fitness routine back

A quick post to precede another much longer one!

Shanghai Air Quality - I check this link several times a day and certainly wouldn't go to exercise outdoors unless PM2.5 (one of the most damaging indicators) was green or low yellow. Last Monday it was a lovely low green reading, so I strapped on my (new replacement) Garmin and went out on my first run as it was time to get back on the horse fitness-wise, so to speak.
At least 2 months off from exercising and rather too much junk food has led to an increased waistline and general tetchiness on my part due to missing my regular endorphin fix.
I decided to just set off and use common sense to do some sort of a 3 mile loop. I found it a great way to be pretty nosy as I don't move quickly and had plenty of time to take in the sights along my route. Here is the Garmin link but it didn't sync up properly with the map, I was on the roads, honest! I know it is an appalling time, but it's a start...

http://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/591291625

Run report:

• 25 degrees, 78% humidity. More than enough, thank you, for 9am
• 3 miles covered
• One lady gutting a fish on wall outside a block of flats.
• One bloke dumped from an e-bike, throwing up at an intersection.
• Several people tending roadside 'gardens'. They grow crops on the verges between where they live and the road.
• Spitting - while I am not keen on all the spitting here, on this occasion I was grateful as I felt the need to clear my throat occasionally and had no qualms about joining in with the locals.
• Several locals bemused by the puffing, puce 'laowei' wobbling round the local side roads.
• Discovered another market (referred to here as wet markets, they sell veg, meat and fish) and also a hotel we didn't know about
• Disorientation, one count, but eventually worked out where I was and made it back.
• One near miss with an e-bike (or silent death as they are known) as I didn't hear it coming from behind. Very quickly corrected my route to run towards the oncoming traffic as we all know we should. That only affords minimal protection here as they use the scooter lanes in both directions and at night don't even bother with lights. Plus a couple of days ago in heavy traffic I saw a few cars zip down them too.
• Massive desire to jump fully clothed in the swimming pool at the end but I managed to resist and went in to the gym to do another 30 mins of weights.

I really felt like I had seen a bit more of what I expected in China as opposed to the shiny Westernised malls and that felt good and was interesting.

The following day I fancied a swim, but couldn't be bothered to walk the 10 mins to the other clubhouse when we have an indoor and outdoor pool about 150 metres away from the house, but they aren't open. The outdoor pool isn't technically open either, but it is still maintained and it is accepted that people use it at their own risk. So, I went for a 30 min swim in the outdoor pool, much to the amusement of the garden maintenance team who obviously consider 26 degrees far too chilly to swim outside. It was perfect actually, and a nice sunny day.

On Wednesday I went to a Legs, Bums and Tums style class (first session free!) with a very entertaining French lady called Pascal. While it was a good class, I knew it wouldn't suit me long term, so the next day I tried the Boot Camp. Several people had reported this to be 'full on' and really hard, so I was interested to see how it would measure up. Bear in mind I have done very little exercise for a few months other than some bike riding, so I was already feeling my legs from the run and some other muscles were making their presence felt following Pascal's class. Boot Camp was excellent and just my cup of tea. My legs were jelly by the end of it and I knew I was going to struggle to move the next day! The only downside is that these classes are really expensive compared to the UK £8-10 per session. I have decided it is far more important to me to attend these sessions than having an ayi (maid/cleaner etc) so will clean the house myself and save the money for Boot Camp!

Sure enough on Friday morning I was too sore to go to the Spinning session I had hoped to go to at the school and, thanks to Laura having come home in sports kit on Wednesday and failing to bring her uniform home that night or Thursday, I decided to go in on the bus to retrieve the uniform (and more importantly her shoes) before the weekend and then walk home to stretch off my aching limbs. I actually came back via a supermarket and walked the 1.5km home in the drizzle with a good weight in the rucksack including a badly packed watermelon jabbing me in the back!

It was obviously all a bit too much for my system as I then went down with a cold and have done nothing for the last week (ok I went for a fun swim today, but that is it). Now it is school holidays so my opportunities are limited, but I will throw myself back in as soon as they go back to school! These extra 5kgs need to be got rid of...

Will be back with the next post tomorrow hopefully as it is largely complete :)

 

Moon cakes, mosquitoes and mmmmmm.....Bank Holidays

On the morning of Tuesday 2nd September, once the children had been dropped at school, I dashed over to RT Mart which is very close to the Holiday Inn and bought two large, heavy bags full of (mostly) food to see us through the first 24hrs in our new home and lugged them back to the hotel. It was a full on experience first thing in the morning! I have yet to pluck up the courage to take pictures in a supermarket as it is a real eye opener for a westerner. The meat counters are largely open with customers sorting through cuts of raw meat with their bare hands. There are live things for sale such as turtles and bullfrogs. The assault on the senses is many fold as there are strong smells and all this is accompanied by the guy on the fish counter shouting something over and over, it is quite overwhelming, but if you don't join the fray, you don't get food! It is of course possible to only buy imported packet food at extortionate prices, but where's the fun in that?!  My favourite moment, once I had sharpened my elbows and shoved my way to the front of the queue for the fruit and veg weighing station, was the chap weighing and labelling the items looking incredulously at my tiny little bag containing (amusingly for him) just the one bulb of garlic. Everyone else had about 20! I'm sure it tickled him all day, the way he reacted :) Glad I am entertaining the locals with our stingy garlic consumption!

 

We packed up and set off for our new home. Once there, we did a couple of bits and then headed off to Metro (like Makro in the UK) to do a bigger, bulk food shop, plus Adrian was very keen to pick up several mosquito assassination methods. We decided to try two different UV lamp things, costing £6-£8 and a 'zapbat' (well that's my name for it anyway). It is a nifty bit of kit, it looks like a tennis racket and has pins that extend so you can plug it in and charge it. You chase your prey, hold a button and fry the victim with sparks and a 'crack' noise...very satisfying! We made it back in time to unload the shopping and then collect the children from the school bus which they now take every day. The stop is a 5 min walk from our house.

 

That evening we had our first family meal in our new home. Traditionally Adrian and I celebrate a move with fish and chips and champagne, we made an exception on this occasion since we were really missing home cooked food, so we had pasta bolognese and cava, it was heaven after two weeks of hotel food/eating out!
Afterwards I took great delight in stacking the dishwasher, rather than washing up, 10 days later that novelty still hasn't worn off!!!

 

I mentioned on a previous post that we had spotted two geckos on the inspection, unsurprisingly Laura wasted no time catching one and it was well over a week before one dared show itself again!

 

Laura the gecko catcher

James's room                         Laura's room

 

 

 

'Our' car a 2.4L Audi A6 and the children and WJ gatecrashing a neighbour's game of football with his ayi (maid)

WJ outside our house

We then had two days to settle in and for me to turn 2 weeks of Adrian's washing round before he set off for the UK on Friday morning to sort out his 'Z' visa.

 

We laughed at poor James one evening as we had been zapping mozzies periodically and he had picked up the zapbat. There was a loud crack and Adrian and I both said, 'Wow, you got one James?' Such a bad mother, I couldn't stop giggling when he said tearfully holding up his hand, 'No it was my finger, it really hurts'. Even though he had seen several mosquitoes electrocuted and exploded, the silly whatsit  stuck his finger on the bat and pressed the button and now had a sore pink finger tip. My inability to control my giggles did NOT go down well with the injured party!

 

On the Friday evening, to distract the children from Adrian's absence, I took them to a nearby plaza (shopping centre) and we had a look in a few shops which enabled Laura to single out some potential birthday presents. They were papped at Hipanda (love that shop!) and had a go on the ubiquitous 'wobble boards' as the children call them. In most big supermarkets and malls they seem to have free trials of exercise machines similar to power plates, and massage chairs. It also seems to be accepted/the norm to go into toy shops and play with things, thankfully. Plenty of locals around us were switching toys on and fiddling with things, so I relaxed my repeated 'Don't touch! Look with your eyes, not your fingers!' admonishments. In actual fact, on a later trip to a sports shop I was surprised to find a long, widened area with a special surface deliberately provided for you to try out scooters :) McDonald's for tea made for happy children and I couldn't resist trying their current special version of an apple pie. The standard one here is red bean, but the special is chocolate with a coconut filling. It was actually pretty good!

 

 

As you can see I also did the paperwork to get a Tesco Clubcard here, Tesco is in this same plaza  and we popped in to buy Mooncakes for WJ. He had given some to us on Thursday evening to eat as a family before Adrian left, they are traditionally eaten during the Autumn Festival (similar to American Thanksgiving/our Harvest Festival - families sit down together to eat). They have pie pastry and all manner of fillings, savoury and sweet. I have seen meat, red bean; one tasted very 'chestnutty' and another of pineapple. They are something of an acquired taste, the children tried them, but weren't keen on them.

 

 

On the Saturday we went to the Expat Show over in Puxi, we had a fun few hours tasting free food (and wine!) and acquiring freebies. We saw a tiger dance (I was corrected that it wasn't a dragon!) and we all had our Chinese names painted on fans. Laura was really entertained by her Chinese name being Lao La which means she is pretty much called Lola here. Her best friend in England is called Lola so she's chuffed to bits! They also had a sit on/in the bike and sidecar that they use for tours round town...

 

 

 

It was such a good few hours, it wiped them out! WJ very impressed the show was free to get in and that all the 'stuff' we had come away with was free too :)

 

On Sunday we decided to entertain ourselves in the compound and give WJ Sunday and the next day off (Autumn Festival and a Public Holiday). It should be fairly easy to entertain oneself here, we have so far found 4 pools - 2 indoor, 2 out; a basketball court, a football field, a sports hall, 2 gyms, 3 playgrounds and 2 small soft play areas. I understand there to be a mini golf too, but we haven't found that yet. Failing that you can scoot/bike round the fairly quiet compound roads. So, we spent the afternoon at our nearest outdoor pool with Noha, Yara and Tinos.  How amazing to be in an outdoor pool crawling distance from home. It feels like we're on holiday and yet this is where we live!!! Brilliant way to spend our first BH weekend here (and took the edge off Adrian being back in the UK at the Minety Beer Festival!) 

This is the outdoor pool in phase V.

 

I haven't mentioned yet that Ikea (1km) away is a significant employer locally, both local and ex-pat, and I have already taken to referring to our part of the compound as 'Ikeasville' as everyone round us seems to work there. Consequently the number of Scandinavian tenants is very high!  

The following day (BH Monday/Mid-Autumn Festival) was another beautiful day, about 28°C so we made a beeline for the pool again. We had to come back promptly as we were having some security devices fitted to limit the chance of break in. Due to the security here, we feel this is unlikely, but these devices are a prudent and simple measure:

 

 

In case you can't work out what that is, it is a baton of wood dropped into the area where a sliding UPVC window would open and prevents it from being forced from the outside (we hope!)

 

Later on, we went exploring in the main part of the compound. We are in phase V over the road, the original development phases I-IV are all on one site and share Clubhouse I. Phase V have (the new) Clubhouse II nearby. Sounds great, only they have already moved II to winter hours which are quite restrictive :( We played basketball for a while and then headed back before mosquito o'clock. The children have been getting eaten alive at school so now I am dousing them in repellent before they leave each morning and keeping them dosed up on anti histamine to stop them scratching their myriad bites as dirty nails and many weeping bites are an infection risk made in heaven. I think I have stopped the attacks now, just need the existing bites to heal. I am told this is the worst time of the year and it isn't like this year all round, I seriously hope that's true! If you are stupid enough to nip outside at dusk without repellent on, you will quite honestly get about 30 bites in 10 secs, it's carnage! (That btw is the voice of bitter experience, we all look like we have chicken pox from the knee down.)

Outdoor pool in Phase I-IV

 

 

The above is one of my favourite signs, frequently spotted. I have decided it means no more than 15 trumpeters to gather at any one time in this location ;)

 

On a happy note over this weekend, despite Adrian being in the UK, both children came up to my separately at different times to tell me they really like Shanghai, apart from the 'wenza' - Mandarin for mosquito, which was good to hear.

 

It didn't take long for Laura's birthday to come round, I learnt another new word, 'shēngrì' = birthday! Thankfully insider info had tipped me off to bring packet cake mix with me from the UK as it is apparently cheaper than buying the individual ingredients. Even if this offends me slightly, what I hadn't considered at all was that I would not have any scales or a mixer with which to make a cake so actually the packet mix was a godsend. Thanks to the ubiquitous Betty Crocker and her frosting and some M&Ms I managed to scrape together a birthday cake. Present shopping was quite enjoyable due to Chinese electronics prices being a fraction of those of the UK. One of the presents I found in Tesco was a blue robot that I could see lit up and moved and made some sort of noise. What I didn't know was it moved around sideways and spun and played Gangnam Style loudly. As you can imagine it was a huge hit! And all for 38RMB (under £4). 

 

 

 

During the day a duo of workmen came to fix the blinds on the stairs, I took this picture briefly in horror and then hid as I couldn't watch. The chap on the top is stood on a single step of an 'A' frame set of steps and is balancing about 15ft in the air above a very hard floor and a long fall if he slipped...eeeek!

 

Anyway, back to the main business of the day: Laura's main present was a pack of 4 'Digibirds', or 'twitting birdies' as she calls them, which still makes me snigger as she makes it sound rude. These birds sing and tweet individually or you can pair them so they sing as a choir. (Yes, I absolutely DID play with them once she had gone to school!!!)

At her request we went to McDonald's with Noha, Yara and Tinos in the nearby Wanda Plaza as we had done the previous Friday, and then went back to our house for birthday cake.



Outside Wanda Plaza on Laura's birthday with 'twitting birdies'!



Cake with Yara and Tinos :)

 

 

 

The next day I had a lunch appointment organised by the BISS Opportunity Group (PTA). I was pleased I had put on a smart top as the venue was very swanky, I took the below on the drive in:

 

 

The hotel has a rooftop terrace with an amazing view and luckily the skies were nice and clear. Here is a panorama across the Huangpu river (which is VERY busy with all sorts of cargo and ferries):

and the rooftop terrace:

 

It was a stunning venue and I met a few more people and had a good giggle discussing our various Chinese medical test experiences and just generally having a good chinwag over a glass (or two) of prosecco and some pretty good food.

  

This post's random observations: 

• Food shopping is a challenge and we are finding our way, trying new things and discovering if they are 'yummmeeee' or 'ew, gross' (hear that said in Laura's voice!!) Both children have done pretty well with chopsticks, Laura was picking up peanuts with them not long after we arrived :) Tesco is about 10 mins in the car, there are veg (and dodgy, unchilled meat) markets 5 mins away on foot. It can be hard to find recognisable western food, the bread in particular is mostly brioche (thank god for Tesco baguettes!)
• Most western style dairy produce is rare and comes at an extortionate price. Ham is interesting, no idea how it becomes 'chicken ham'. (Nor do I want to know!)
• Unusual foods spotted so far:
• Cookies with seaweed
• Chicken and gristle kebab
• Fish sausage
• and my current favourite...Elaborate bacon!
• (Adult) Toothpaste flavours discovered so far - jasmine, lemon, orange and lotus! I picked what I thought to be mint, but it isn't quite right. I think it may be lemon-mint!
• The number 4 is considered very unlucky by the Chinese due to 4 'sì' and death 'sǐ ' sounding similar. To be honest, to the Western ear they sound pretty much the same :( I have so far to go to even hear the difference, let alone mimic it...) As a result there are no house nos. with 4 in our street. The sequence goes 31, 32, 33, 35 etc. I have also noticed that not many car registrations or telephone numbers have a 4 in them for the same reason.
• I have had trouble locating bleach in the supermarkets, I have found some, but it doesn't appear to be the strength I am used to. More worryingly, childproof caps are not in evidence as far as I can see. I have bought various disinfectants, toilet cleaning products and bleach 'lite' (as I shall call it) and every single one has a simple screw cap...
• On the subject of cleaning, I have heard tales of local ayis who have had to be educated regarding hygienic cleaning methods. Apparently it is not uncommon for the same cloth to be used to clean the bathroom toilet and sink and surfaces (*gag*!) and then they will head into the kitchen to continue cleaning. This is why, despite this house having been 'cleaned' by the compound ayis I was particularly keen to get my (gloved) hands on some bleach and start throwing it around!
• It is quite normal for people to have a nap at the table after lunch. In food courts I have often seen workers and students finish their lunch and lay their head on their bag/arms and have a catnap, alone or together. Odd for us to see, but makes perfect sense!
• It is not advisable to drink the tap water here so we have a water chiller/dispenser in the kitchen. The mahoosive great bottles are only 20RMB (£2) and we are encouraging the children to drink as much as possible because of the heat/humidity (averaging around 28 -30°C and 85-95% humidity). I'm please to report we are already nearly halfway down our 3rd (19 litre?) bottle in 11 days!!!

• Finally for all my musical friends. The reason I will never forget the head teacher's name at BISS...he is Mr. Horne and is referred to using the title Principal. The minute I realised that made him Principal Horne, I knew I would never have trouble remembering his name :)

 

A house tour!

I know I am long overdue an update but it's been a busy few days! I have been jotting things down and will do another post asap...

In the meantime, here is a video of our house so you can see where we live:

Nearly there...new month, new home :)

Some random notes from the last few days:

• James and Laura have been blowing us away with snippets of Mandarin, one morning on the drive to school last week, after no more than 3 lessons, James pointed at a billboard we were passing and said "Look, that means small! It says 'xiao' " He then identified a specific character at the beginning of a line that looked like this:

小

 

Sure enough I checked later and it is exactly as he said...clever clogs!

• Female friends will be amused to learn that when I packed clothes and shoes to last the first 6-8 weeks until the air shipment arrives, I didn't bother to research the climate one jot (or ask Adrian). 'It's hot', I thought, I won't need anything but sandals. Hmmmm, we are not a million miles from monsoon areas so consequently we have seen a fair bit of rain and I only have one pair of canvas shoes, the rest are strappy sandals...doh!

In case I haven't mentioned it before, there have been some truly random music clips floating around. The Benny Hill theme tune played frequently in the Crowne Plaza foyer, we have been subjected to an instrumental version of Winter Wonderland far too many times in the Exec Lounge at the Holiday Inn and I swear one of the children's programs has the Steptoe and Son theme tune as one of its jingles!

I bought a shiny 'tat' parasol the other day for just under £2 as nearly all our umbrellas are black and this is slightly defeatist when trying to ward of the sun's rays. It is 'chavtastic' ;)

• Our first job today was to pick up the Medical Reports. Interesting reading...we both have 'slightly fatty liver' noted - ewwwww! I had the additional Cardio notes of Sinus Bradycardia and Sinus Arrhythmia which made me slightly nervous, but having googled both, am no longer worried. I knew about the Bradycardia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradycardia and the other http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/nursing/practice/resources/cardiology/function/sinus_arrhythmia.php doesn't seem to be a concern.

• We went to the house this morning to do the inspection. On the way in we saw a rather large snake sunning itself on the road. While I assumed this was normal, from WJ's reaction and immediate reporting it to Security, perhaps not! Maybe they just fancied it for lunch!?! (Sorry!)  So, we arrived at the house and while it wasn't immaculate, it was good enough and we agreed to do the inventory and take the key. Hooray! 

• We had an 'on the bus, off the bus' experience today. WJ asked to talk to Adrian while I wasn't about and he told Adrian that tomorrow we would have a new driver, but was struggling to explain. Adrian asked a member of the hotel staff to assist with translating and while we didn't understand why, we understood that we were getting a different driver the next day. We were going to Ikea to do a 'house' shop and sat at lunch really depressed as while we have only known him just over a week, we really like him. He is kind and tolerant of the children and really looks out for them. He seems good natured and thoughtful and does his job really well. He doesn't just sit there and drive the car, he runs off to fetch umbrellas if it starts to rain and he has argued the toss on our behalf/stood up for us with other locals so we both took it quite badly as we already have a very good rapport with him. I was pretty anxious as Adrian goes back to the UK next week and I am happy I know how to get around with WJ and didn't fancy starting to get to know someone new 3 days before being on my own with the children for a fortnight. We did a supermarket sweep round Ikea and grabbed as much as possible before we needed to pick up the children and went to find WJ. I started to tell him we were sad about the situation and he fished out his phone. He had prepped some text up and translated it and it said his boss/the company had changed their 'attitude' and he was staying with us. I was so relieved I all but hugged him, Adrian arrived a few minutes later and WJ jogged up to him to share the message and Adrian did actually hug him! So pleased, still haven't got to the bottom of it, but as long as he stays with us I don't really care!!

• Delighted to report that two (exceedingly cute and likely to be chased and poked a lot by Laura and I!) little geckos were spotted during the time we spent at the house today. I am chuffed to bits because a) they are soooooo cute, b) anything that eats mozzies is a big friend of mine.

 TOMORROW WE MOVE IN :)