wedding traditions

On the way to church last week we noticed about 20 expensive black cars with roses on their hoods. I had Julie on speed dial. She told me it was a wedding party. The first car carries the bride and groom in a white car, then everyone else trails behind in expensive black cars.

Sharpening Knives

You see people fixing things on the street in

China. Sometimes the HOA of a complex will hire someone that sharpens knifes as a service for the tennants.

$1300 for sea cucumbers at local supermarket

Maybe I should buy one for a stretch exercise.

The Ayi tries speaking to Jack in English...

I found this cheat sheet of English phrases lying around the house one day. It was the Ayi's attempt at speaking English with Jack...so if Jack rattles off "I want to shit you." or "I going to piss you." you'll know why.

Please tell me this is a fad only in China

I am no fashionista...but do people actually wear this stuff and look good?

Ice cream is expensive in China

You have to really love ice cream to buy it in China. The tiny one scoop Hagen Daas servings are $4-5. The medium size containers are $13-$15.

Diddy Rees' Competition

You can customize your very own creme puff in China. You choose a topping for the outside (i.e. chocolate, vanilla, etc.), then you choose your pudding flavor or whip creme filling. I have to admit that it doesn't hold a candle to a build-your-own ice cream sandwich.

When will be coming home...

Last year we booked our plane tickets to come to China in about June....this year I thought we should jump on it early, and I started looking online in November for return tickets home. Much to my surprise there were some that were available at the beginning of June, then there was nothing until October! After a little drama - and a conversation from Michelle and Michael, we looked into going home via another route. Thailand! Yeah - it is one of my bucket list countries. We leave China on Aug. 20th and arrive back in the US on August 31st.

Gavin's DNA Strand

Gavin is still obssessed with the human body and draws and models things whenever possible - this is his version of a strand of DNA.

Sam famous for his mad basketball skills

I am hearing from other parents in Sam's class that Sam is amazing at bouncing a basketball.

Jack and Chinese people

I am not sure why Chinese people want to take their picture with the boys....especially when it involves grown men. Jack yells - "LEAVE ME ALONE!" To anyone coming within 5 feet of him now.

Jack

He is growing up! He is talking a lot both in Chinese and in English

Chinese instrument

This is a traditional Chinese instrument played by taping little picks to your fingers. It has a cool sound more like a harp than what I would have thought.

Mau Mau

Jack has a little friend named Mau Mau. This is Jack on his little front wheel loader.

After school classes

The boys are now enrolled in afterschool classes: drawing, clay, karate, and acting.

Snip heard around the world

Jack finally got his first hair cut shortly after his second birthday....it was more like he was getting shorn than a haircut. He looks so much like Gavin now you would mistake them for twins if they weren't so far apart in age. Jack's hair is very curly with hair growing in all directions.....his adult hair cuts should be very interesting going forward. The Ryan gene gets us again!

Boys loving one another

Sam has always been a late sleeper, and Gavin is always trying to wake him up. Gavin has had a rough couple of weeks - a split open head, pink eye, a cold, a hurt finger....he was in pretty rough shape. On this morning he outslept Sam. Sam was pacing in front of his door begging me to wake up Gavin, and bring him crepes. When I told him no, I heard Gavin invite Sam in to eat crepes and snuggle with him. It was a sweet moment!

Hospital Pharmacies in China

We had to visit the pharmacy in the basement for Gavin's pink eye perscription (it has been a rough month in the life of Gavin Ryan). I found it interesting that the hospital has 2 pharmacy windows - one for Chinese medicine the other for Western medicine.

Temporary Glasses

Most kids in China wear glasses. My theory is that reading character-based languages are very tough on the eyes....and there is probably a lot of it. This little girl is being fitted for glasses, and these were her temporary glasses. It is very fashionable in China to wear fake glasses both with and without the lenses. I hope that style never reaches our shore! It looks so ridiculous.

Ted Kennedy's worst nightmare

When seeing a doctor - you just cue up in a long line and she sees everyone rapid fire....there are often 5-10 other people in the same room...but I think that I would rather pay .80 cents a visit than $80-100! It wasn't very sanitary - there was no washing hands between patients.

Gavin's face whenever he encounters a smoker....

Trip to the Chinese Emergency Room

We hired a teacher for the boys, and her second day of work she shut Gavin's finger in our front door which is like a steal trap. I have never heard Gavin scream like that. It took him over an hour to settle down. Over the next couple of days the swelling didn't subside. I thought for sure that he had broken it. Then I spoke to my friend and she convinced me to have it looked at to make sure that there was no infection in the break....It couldn't hurt to take a look, right? It is something we hope Gavin keeps for the rest of his life. So after a couple of hours in the Emergency room in a Chinese hospital room we found out that Gavin didn't break his finger. The bill for the XRay and the consulation - $20 USD. We also took him that same day to see the eye doctor - that visit was .80 cents!

Huge American Pizza

I went out to an American pizza place with a friend, and the pizza spanned the entire width of the table. Wow! It was huge!

Gavin splits his head open

Here are the boys playing on the playground equipment earlier this year....a priviledge that is no longer allowed. Gavin fell down on the playground and hit his head on a bench. The cut was pretty bloody, and they were begging me to take him to the emergency room. The cut was only about a 1/2" wide, and had already stopped bleeding. It was with great negotiation that I as culturally sensitive as possible explained to him that I would not be taking him for stitches. I left the school that night knowing that everyone thought I was the most neglectful, terrible mom. The next day I brought Gavin to school. They gave me a very hard time about dropping him off - telling me that he couldn't stay at school because he couldn't do any physical exercise....and I was thinking are you kidding me. I just made him run a mile to school. I didn't tell them that. Instead I pretended that I didn't really understand what the nurses were telling me, and I dropped him off to his teacher who was completely unaware of what had happened the night before. The school called me and asked me to pick up Gavin after lunch because they were afraid that he'd reopen the wound. I complied, but in my head I just thought - are you kidding me....do you know what kind of things he will be doing at my house. Trust me, he is safer as school! Saddest part of the saga is that the entire school is now prohibited from using the playground equipment....when Gavin got his cut by tripping and falling against a sharp wooden bench.

Friend from Shanghai comes for a visit

I have a friend from Shanghai that came to visit. The first time I met Min was in Los Angeles, I had put a post on a Chinese website, and she responded wanting to help the boys learn Chinese (for free). I thought that she was an absolute nut case - but when I met her for the first time, the moment I saw her face it was as if I immediately felt that I knew her and we were best friends. We have been friends ever since. I was so happy that she and her son Jonas visited us in Beijing!

Update on Gavin's eczema

Gavin has had a rough go with eczema since we've been in China - I have tried many things. This is Gavin's face as I put mineral rich mud on his skin.

I did a lot of research prior to Tommy coming for Chinese New Years, and I did everything that everyone on the eczema forums recommended (coconut, flax seed, fish, and hemp seed oil, pro biotics, yeast killers, vitamins, hemp lotions...etc.). I don't know which things worked and which didn't, but he has been itch free for about 2 months now. It has been awesome!

Induldging in Chinese Medicine

One of my new years resolutions is to indulge in Chinese medicines. Today was my first venture - cupping. They do this in fancy spas in the US too....but I don't think that they charge $3 for it.

In theory our body traps bad air and with cupping it pulls out the toxic air. In theory where you ache the most is where the bruising is the darkest.

So this is my back with the cups. Next month I am going to bring Gavin with me - both to watch and take pictures of the process from beginning to end.

Gavin jumping rope

Do you see how blurry this picture is? This was taken right after school when Gavin was showing me for the first time that he could jump rope! Yeah, Gavin!

Of course now he is absolutely OCD about jumping rope, and stays after school for an hour jumping rope with all of his friends. I can barely get him to go home at night!

The latest ayi opening a can for the first time

Our current lady is a bit lazy, but I think that I have whipped her into shape. She at best is a mediocre cook, and I have yet to determine if I want to train her, but she is nice and kind of growing on me.

I was making chili and I asked her to open a can of tomato paste....I looked over and there she was opening and closing the can opener making her way slowly around the can. I showed her how to use a can opener and we both had a good laugh.

Trying out Ayis

After Chinese New Years I tried out several Ayis. The first ayi I tried claimed that she had worked for a Beijing University professor. Her cooking was absolutely terrible - when dinner was a plate of fried oninions with 3 pincky-sized peices of meat I knew she'd never worked as an ayi before. I realized the next morning when I found the leftovers stored in the cupboard that training her was beyond my language capabilities, I had to let her go. Needless to say the cockroaches returned!

Post Chinese New Year's Madness

The holidays in China have been too long. It started with Christmas, and then it was quickly followed by Chinese New Years....and the Chinese celebrate Chinese New Years for an entire month. Often nannies do not return after Chinese New Years - and thus was the case with my ayi. So it has been a month of recouperating from the holidays...hence no blog posts. So it is time to play catch up!