Mystery package

There are a few shopping websites that we have been told about by our peers. Of course, I love shopping, so I had to check them out. I've been a taobao(dot)com junkie for the past month, searching for items that I've not been able to find in stores here in Wuxi. At one point, NZ tried to set up an account so we could purchase some tamp  er, personal care items THAT DO NOT EXIST IN CHINA AND CHINESE WOMEN ARE CAH-RAZY FOR NOT USING THEM! for me, and I also wanted to get some mesh fresh food feeders for Sal, since he loves gnawing on frozen bananas and avocado through them.

I also looked at baby care items, like strollers and highchairs to see what's available here. Sal has been being lap fed, or propped on his boppy pillow, and it's not cutting it at meal time anymore. He's a squirmy little sucker. I looked at Bumbo chairs, clip on high chairs, space saver high chairs and the like, and couldn't decide what to buy.

In my quest to minimalize our posessions, I am looking for items ( especially baby items) that can serve more than one function, or can be grown into. The last thing I want to face three years from now, is having to sell or give away a ton of baby items we used for all of 3 or 4 months. I was spoiled back home by being able to borrow items from Sal's cousins. We returned them prior to our move, and I admit--I miss some of those luxuries! Namely, the baby bathtub and the swing! The swing doubled as a feeding chair during it's borrowed use. Not while in motion, of course. That would have been realllllly messy.

Yesterday, NZ got help from our tranlator in finishing out the registration process so we could buy things off taobao. I emailed him links to the tampo personal care items and the mesh food feeders I wanted to buy. He came home telling me that the order was successful, and we should expect them in a few days.

Anyways, in the ongoing saga of my taking-forever-to-get-here iPhone, we saw that after 2 weeks in Shanghai customs, it's finally made its trek to Wuxi via UPS. Surely it would arrive today, right?

Our intercom system rang at about 9:30a this morning, and I could tell from my video monitor that it was the delivery man.

YES! My phone!

Wrong.

A box of the above mentioned personal care items--but not the brand I had asked for. But, you know when you're desperate, any brand will do. I had brought over a couple of months stock, just in case, figuring that it was overkill, because surely they would have tam--ns here, because what woman doesn't use them? but they really don't exisit, like, at all in the stores. Seriously.

I thought it was weird that they weren't the brand we had ordered, but whatever.

Then around 3:00p today, we got rung again. I looked at the monitor. Delivery man.

My iPhone?

Nope.

Instead, we received a big ol box.

What the?! My mesh feeders? In a box that big? But then again, this is China, and things don't always make sense. Maybe the box does contain my feeders.

But inside the box was a knock off BUMBO chair.

Yes, the bib says" I watch the Baltimore Ravens with my daddy".

Huh?! We didn't order that....and where the heck are my mesh feeders? How'd we get this?

We think we figured it out. Since I had browsed the items we received in the past, I must have somehow saved them in a cart ( unknowingly--obviously...the whole site is in characters). When NZ purchased the items from the links I sent, he also purchased whatever was in the cart that I had browsed.

He tried to look up the transaction history to see what else we may have unknowingly purchased, and well....all he can tell is the RMB amount we spent. Which, is about the equivalent of $60 USD..So I couldn't have gotten in that much trouble...but, today's delivery might not be the last of the surprises.

I'm going to lose sleep tonight over what the delivery man might bring tomorrow.

But, I guess we lucked out, cause Sal seems to love his new throne.

Gee, thanks mah, You shouldn't have!

mmm, nectarine..sooo good once it hits my lips!

We decided that although a mistake, the BUMBO-like chair was the right choice for us. He can sit up in it. It is mobile and light weight and he can eat in it.

But for now, his mama is going to stay away from taobao until we figure out what else she spent dad's money on.

Will work for Mexican food!

Yes.

We miss Mexican food.

More than we probably should.

Our waist bands may thank us, but our mouths are watering at the idea of a big ol burrito & carne asada tacos from the 'Mo back home.

With tortillas being hard to find, and $6 USD per dozen, NZ and I set out to make our own. 30 minutes later, we had a dozen for about $1 total. Winning!

What's NZ's next culinary challenge?

Making pico de gallo.

Stay tuned.

Decisions, decisions

Decisions, decisions...

What toy should I play with next?

Just another day in the life of Sal.

It's much too hot and humid to go on our afternoon walk today, so he's enjoying some quality time with his toys while I make a mess for our Ayi to clean up slave away in the kitchen making lunches.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th of July to everybody back home!

Here in Wuxi, they've been lighting off fireworks every single day since our arrival. I like to pretend they are giving America a birthday month (just as my friends and I would claim birthday months, which later slowed down to birthday weeks as we got older, and then eventually, we remember that yesterday WAS our birthday, lol).



Our balcony seat view to fireworks

The picture above was taken 2 nights ago, around 6:30p, while the masses were walking on the greenbelt below our building. Right in the center veranda, a man lit off a million fireworks. IN THE MIDDLE OF EXERCISE HOUR! WITH LIKE A BILLION PEOPLE WALKING!!! No one flinched, except for us, up on the 25th floor. We shot off the couch like a bolt of lightening.

I grabbed the camera and we watched in amazement from our balcony as schrapnel came up towards our windows.

Best seats in the house.


Wuxi walks in Wuxi.

As for our actual 4th, we met up with a few ladies  from our complex for breakfast, and then NZ went to work. Yep. Work. On the 4th. Something is wrong with that. LOL. Sal and I were treated to a little tour of our neighborhood by our new friends, &Wuxi (the cutest dog on earth) .


Buying produce

 I learned where to buy the best cereal, fruits and veggies (without going to an import market), and where the best dumpling restaurant in Wuxi was located. It felt good to get out and explore, and I am getting my bearings as far as feeling more confident in venturing out on my own. It was sweltering this morning. I have no idea what the temperature was--it really didn't matter--it's the humidity. Texas heat/humidity ain't got nothing on Wuxi!



Sal was less than impressed with the heat.

Babyfood on a dime

I've been dead set on making my own baby food since before I ever got pregnant. It was homemade babyfood and cloth diapering...those were my "musts" as a mom. I realize that not everybody has the time, patience or desire to do either of the following, but if you only knew how easy it was ( and cheap!) you'd probably try it just to see if I'm lying.

Part of my baby food making is out of necessity right now, so I am super glad it was something I wanted to do long before a move to China was in our future. If baby food making isn't your thing, then I'm sorry, this post will most likely bore the life out of you.

So, first things first, we purchased a blender at Carrefour. There were not many to choose from ( nor are the directions in English) so I went with the one that looked the simplest.

Two buttons. Mince and Crush.

Nice. Easy.

 I can totally run this machine! Another feature I initially liked were the small cups that you could blend single servings into, but after my first batch, I decided that the full blender was the way to go.

Why make just one serving when you can make a zillion and freeze them?

I bought  pears, broccoli and carrots this week.

Here's where living in China makes preparing baby food even more economical. I paid 4.11 RMB (64 cents) for 4 giant carrots, 2.99 RMB (47 cents) for 3 pears and 5.44 RMB (85 cents) for a head of broccoli. I was able to get 20  one ounce servings of carrots, 7 servings of pears, and 10 servings of broccoli from this bounty. The breakdown??

3 cents per serving of carrots

7 cents per serving of pears

9 cents per serving of broccoli

Not bad, right? Compare that to at least $.99 per jar of prepared baby food, and the savings add up quickly.

I thoroughly washed both the carrots and pears, then peeled and rinsed again. I chopped the carrots and sliced the pears into chunks the same way I would if making an apple pie. I have a microwave steamer that I use to steam. I fill a bottom reservoir with water, then I spread out the fruit or vegetables on a steam tray, put on the lid, and nuke for 10 minutes. From there, I pour my steamed food  into the blender, add water and blend till smooth.

Easy as wash, peel, chop and steam.

Once blended, I pour into ice cube trays, then let them freeze and set overnight. Once frozen, I pour them into gallon size ziploc bags, labeled with the food type and date they were prepared. They will stay good for up to 2 months, but I am sure we will power through this batch in a matter of a few weeks.

I currently use two ice cubes worth of food to equal one serving, because my ice cube trays here in China are 1/2 ounce each. Apparently ice is not as loved over here, and just finding an ice cube tray was a whole day expedition. When I finally found some that were bigger than the size of a dime, I jumped on them and bought four. I'll have to stock up on American size trays next visit home. I guess ice is no exception--in America, everything truely IS bigger!

So, there you have it.

Making baby food is EASY. It's HEALTHY. And best of all, it's CHEAP!

US Olympic Trials

June 2012. Olympic trials. Gymnastics. San Jose.

It was on my calendar and I was soooooo going to be there.

Made preliminary plans to meet up for a mini reunion of sorts with many of my former UCDavis Aggie teammates to watch history go down.

And then....

We moved.

To China.

And so the story goes that I did not get to attend the Olympic trials (which occured this weekend) this year, as I had looked forward to for the past year and a half. 

I'm very thankful for my friend/former teammate/roommate who kept me up to date with the results, as even those have been difficult to come by over here. I'm thrilled with the men's team selection, and also very excited for Gabi Douglas for not only making the women's Olympic team, but for coming into her own, peaking right on time and eclipsing Jordyn Weiber who hasn't lost a u.s. all around title since 2008 for the top berth. She's that feel-good Olympic story that I think will win hearts across the world, and her gymnastics is not only top notch, but she has the entertainment factor that is rarely seen in female gymnasts anymore. 

This is the first time since arriving to Wuxi that I have really missed home. Did I mention, I reaaaaallly wanted to go to trials? 

Just as I sat in my living room at 1:00a to watch the Beijing  Olympic coverage 4 years ago, I'll be staying up late again to watch the London games and cheering on team USA from China. I can't wait! 

I have Olympic fever.

Help!

On a bright note, the 2015 world championships will be held in Naning, China and I already told NZ that we're going. That will more than make up for missing trials. Three years and counting....

One Month In

In our first month as Wuxians? Wuxiites? --whatever you'd call us, we've managed to learn quite a bit. By no means have we got it all figured out. I doubt we ever will. Some things have worked just the same as we were accustomed to, and others, well--let's just say there's a learning curve and the need for a high level of patience around these parts.

An open mind is also like, totally necessary.

Here is a top 10 list of things we've learned this month:

1. Papa johns has our address linked with our home phone number. We only had to struggle once with the pronunciation of our address, and now all we do is call, and 45 min later our lukewarm pizza arrives at our door by way of the bike delivery guy.  We've called them at least once a week since moving in. 

  

2. When shopping for produce at the markets ( Carrefour , metro) you must get your produce weighed and priced BEFORE going to the checkout counter. I had actually read about it prior to our first shopping experience, and we did really good on our first trip..I felt so proud of us for not being those dumb americans at the checkout holding up the line...that was, of course, until our second trip when a lone avocado made it to the checkout counter without first being weighed and priced..boy oh boy did we get an earful at the checkout register. Needless to say, that avocado did not make it home with us.

3. There's a whole lot of honking that goes on. Each honk has its own meaning. There's the " I see you" friendly double honk; the "get out of my way" multiple long honks, the "I'm right here, and I'm not moving" long single honk, and then there are a handful we're still deciphering. When lane lines are just suggestions, and you've got a woman walking down the middle of the street texting (between busses, mind you), honking is a way of life. It works for them. I'm so used to honking in America meaning one of two things. Either, "hey, @$$hole, you just cut me off", or "heyyyy, there's my neighbor". Such is not the case here. Chinese people definitely utilize their horn to its fullest capabilities. 

4. Fireworks. Daily. No kidding. Morning (7:00a wake up call, anyone?), noon and night. We had some let off just across the canal tonight. Someone had reason to celebrate something. It's like the 4th of July here everyday. 

5. Lost in translation. Read the "store name" at the top of the stroller add. 

6. Texting. Our bank, UFH (medical clinic), and many other places we deal with all offer to text us confirmations. This my friends, is extremely helpful. Especially when were dealing with a language barrier and difficulty translating addresses etc. We've depended on NZ's phone for everything. My phone is still stuck in customs. The update today was that we might see it by the end of next week although it's been in Shanghai customs since Tuesday. I'll believe it when I see it. Anyhow, back to the whole texting confirmation thingy...we love it. Our Chinese bank will notify us when any charge is made with our card--that doubled with a dynamic verification code each time we use the card, would help alert us and the bank to any credit card fraud that could potentially occur. 

7. The sidewalks have directional braille to assist the blind navigate a straight course. However, they must take care not to get snipered by the uneven sidewalk, missing tiles and random scooters that might also be on the path to their destination. I think the Braille is great and all, and perhaps when it's time to cross the street, they're better off not seeing every car, bus, scooter and rickshaw headed their way. I, on the other hand, have to get over my fear of playing human frogger each time we cross. 

8. Special cleaning powers...not mine. Our ayi's. I never knew how shiny marble floors could be until she started cleaning them. She also does dishes, laundry, irons, picks up dry cleaning and makes faces with Sal who adores her already.  I'm in love. 

9. Expatriate love. We've been fortunate enough to have met a few other expatriates who have shared every ounce of knowledge they have since they'd arrived here in Wuxi. We're still having to learn things on our own, but their advice is much appreciated and we've been able to cheat the learning curve on a few things with their shared knowledge. 

10. We can make a home anywhere. Right now, Wuxi is home. Of course there are some things we miss, like our family, friends, conveniences (Target, I miss you!), and our bed (oh how our extra firm feel-the-springs-through-the-mattress is no match to our tempurpedic that we left  back in the states), but all in all, things here are similar, yet not quite the same. We've gotten enough to get by, and in time, we'll muddle our way through new challenges until we've got this town mastered. 

Bring on month two!