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 :)