"Just Do It!"

Ellysa got skates for Christmas and routinely rolls around our house. She has graduated to outdoors but still enjoys sailing by in her pajamas on skates.

Ahhh.... A new room accessory for Ellysa. Paige remembers the luxury of wall-to-wall carpets and can be found napping on this rug frequently!

Once a Lott's Leopard, ALWAYS a Lott's Leopard!

The cell phone is a daily accessory for Ellysa; she has F R E E D O M when she can roam and still call home.

Emily's HS Physic's class did a several month project which involed tearing apart and rebuilding electric bikes. These populate the streets and sidewalks here, but none have the long forks and fancy paint job. None of us is too brave about our"street rod", so we have committed it to a charity auction event.

In case you were wondering how to get more "UT Orange" in your Christmas decorating, have no fear, there are still a few of the models like that one on the left available. They also come in purple and neon green but hurry, these are hot-sellers here!

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To Blog or Not to Blog. Ah.... "THAT is the question". And it's one I've been asking for months now when I sit down to document more bits of this experience. I start a day with good intentions and then find myself uninspired to write or, more often, unable to rein in the emotions that swell up when I try to process "life" here. But, even with the risk of my posts sounding like "The Diary of A Mad Housewife", I have resolved to "do better" and start blogging once more.

(Sideways Thought Bar: Since I was only eleven in 1970, I am guessing that the aforementioned movie was not an appropriate film for me to see. I suppose my recollection of a (gulp) forty-year old film title reflects my current brain function. It randomly dredges up ancient memories yet cannot catalog and retrieve information from last week! Let's hear it for middle age!)


Anyway, one problem with taking a long break from this effort is that I don't know how to "re-start". It's much like my excuse for never being a scrapbooker : I find it overwhelming to go back and gather every photo I have.... so I just never tackle any "scraps" at all. In the case of this travel blog, I feel like I have failed to capture so many months of the adventure that I can't possibly retrace my memories in any just way. (Not to mention the all-too-true reference to my memory above!) But, I have heard successful scrapbookers say they the way to start is in the "present". Collect something meaningful, put it in a manageable pile and start some pages. So, with some trepidation that I may regret this public pronouncement, I am determined to begin blogging again. I'm gonna "Just Do It!"



Thanks to my friends and family who keep telling me they are looking for new blog posts. I know it is great to keep up with someone far away though this amazing (and vexing) thing called the "PC". I drink the words of my friend Cheryl on her funny, poignant, blog at: http://thedailymom-wiblogspot,com/ It literally "makes my day" every time I read it! Now our daughter Erin has stepped up to share her travel adventures from Europe to China to Chile. She's a great writer (I'm biased but it is true) and her exploits are more than a little interesting (to me anyway!) You can read her blog at:
http://groh-ingaroundtheglobe.blogspot.com/ . When I awoke this morning without an e-mail update from Erin, I went to her blog to read the details of her first experience with a significant aftershock from the Chilean earthquake. Reading her last words, "I'm safe", proved another value of a blog to this worried Mom on the other side of the world.

So, as we mark over 7 months in China, I will try to be more disciplined about this blog. I know it will be fun to read years from now. My children (and grandchildren?) will hear my "voice" in what I choose to write about and how. Maybe the pictures I manage to post will even be a small recompense for my lack of scrapbooking !

(PS: If this post is dated January 2010, please ignore that. It is really March 13th, 2010.)

Happy Birthday PEOPLES Rep. of China

According to my very un-scientific poll on Facebook, the outside world did provide news coverage and recognition of the China's 60th National Day. (That is, a few of my friends did, indeed, hear about China's October 1 Birthday Party.) Reviews of the 16 hour extravaganza in Beijing continue to be replayed here. It was spectacular. Eighty-thousand school children stood in formation holding red and yellow flowers to create an aerial view of the flag and other Chinese characters. There were dancers and singers and representatives from all 56 of the minority groups who live here. The parade of military branches was orchestrated in extreme detail as well. It reminded me of how impressed I was after the opening ceremonies of the olympics here in 2008. "We got people." is some company's motto. It could definitely be China's slogan!

Anyway, the PEOPLE'S Republic of China (PRC) is a mere 60 years old. If you're like me and think of Chinese history as being ancient and full of dynasty names ending in "ing" or "ang", this seems like a WAY TOO SMALL number. This birthday is based on Chairman Mao's declaration of the exsistence of the PRC in 1949. His powers were firmly established (with strong ties to the Chinese Communist ) and with the oust of Dr Sun Yat Sen's "Republic of China" (ROC) followers. (The ROC leaders fled to Taiwan and remain there, hence the strife between China and Taiwan.) If you want to read more (after 16 hours of hoopla, I did), follow this link to a Wikapedia timeline of Chinese history. Go to the bottom of the timeline, which appears at the right margin of the page, and click on the categories in the section about Modern Chinese History.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Chinese_history

It turns out that when the "birthday" hits a multiple of 5, (like 55 0r 60), China has a mega-holiday and review of the troops. It would be a wise financial move to invest in a company that makes Chinese flags just prior to one of these celebrations. (next one is 2014; don't say I didn't tell you so). I can only imagine Beijing, the epi-center of all of this. Shenzhen, where we live, is covered in flags! On the interstates, you can drive for miles and every light pole has 2 flags. National pride appears to be very high.

Our family arose early on October 1 in order to watch the neighborhood security force (it is sizeable to protect all of us westerners and our "stuff") raise the flag. They had announced there would be a ceremony in the last monthly neighborhood newsletter. Since the event took place at 8:00 am, we did not expect MANY residents. Sadly, we were the ONLY residents. Our guards, who normally don hawiian shirts and wave friendly hellos to us, had worked on a crisp march and chants. They even wore Chinese military uniforms. Music (the National Anthem?) blared from loudspeakers, and the staff not in the marching unit stood at a proud attention. We stood out of respect as the flag passed. (This is a behavior ingrained in me from many a Memorial Day/Fourth of July/Sports Event occasion. ) It was a small but sincere and solemn effort. I was glad we were there.

This vast, ancient yet young, and very POPULATED place, is my current home. It is not easy for me to grasp all of it's complexities but I think I should try. The world has grown so small that we are all affected by one anothers significant events. A birthday is a big deal.... just as I hoped when I celebrated my own birthday recently, may the best be yet to be....

Let Them Eat (Moon) Cake!

Before beginning this post, I went to the NBC web-site to see if there were any news stories related to it. I realized that China's holidays would not be a lead story, but I was sure there would be some references. To my surprise, the ongoing, simultaneous, celebrations of China's "Birthday" and of one of her most significant annual holidays (The Mid-Autumn Festival) were not mentioned anywhere! I admit I did not search too hard, but I didn't think I would have to. These events are the ONLY STORIES here. I wish I were more scholarly and able to do justice to the subjects. Because I am not, a brief summary and some pictures will have to do. This post will try to enlighten readers about the Autunm Festival. (I'll post later about the National Holiday. Maybe it WILL get coverage in the USA and it will be old news!)

Every fall, on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month, China celebrates the mid-autumn festival. This tradition can be traced back to 2170 BC. It is a time when family members gather for meals, especially the eating of "Moon Cakes" and pomelos (picture included - it's a giant grapefruit.). There are several legends that surround the festival and highlight our celestial giant, the moon. (Google the "Moon Featival" and read about Chang-O or the Jade Rabbit.) It is also customary to decorate with colorful lanterns and stay up with family members and gaze at the moon.

Since our family is a part of a chapter of "Families With Children From China of East Tennessee - FCC-ET" we have had the pleasure of participating in several Knoxville-based celebrations of the Moon Festival. I thought I had a really good idea of how this worked. In Knoxville, we would gather at a park on a full moon evening. Among those present, there was usually some vague discussion about what a moon-cake was. Then we would eat various round foods with our girls (eg: cookies, pizza), make paper lanterns, read a legend, and march with flashlights around the park. We also shared other tasty foods, pot-luck style and enjoyed the company of our "family" of other friends with the common China adoption experience. The togetherness was definitely "authentic" Chinese. BUT, it is the "Moon Cakes" that have made an impression on me as we experience our first Mid-Autunm festival.

Moon cakes are EVERYWHERE! There are special displays in every store & hotel lobby. Ladies in special costunes stand near the displays and escort buyers to the check-outs. Though you can get reasonably priced ones in individual wrappers, many boxes of 4-6 small cakes cost $20 -$30 USD and much higher! They are wrapped elaborately and boxed beautifully and given as gifts by everyone, to everyone. Bill came through the door day after day exclaiming "more Moon Cakes!" He and others in his office got many from various vendors.

And what IS a "Moon Cake"? It is a cookie-ish/cake-ish outer crust, stamped on the top with pictures or chinese characters. Inside is a filling which is the consistency of very thick peanut butter. It is made from lotus seed paste and tastes sort of nutty/sweet/salty. In the very center is a whole egg yolk which (apparently) has dried or baked intact in the process of making the cakes. It is - I surmise - the moon! (I opened a moon cake to take a picture for this post and it had TWO MOONS! I probably would have double good fortune if I ate it - but I didn't....)

I have concluded that moon cakes could be compared to that US holiday "favorite": the fruit cake. They must be an acquired taste - surely somebody eats them because they are produced in great quantities. We ate some of our moon cakes, then we shared them with workers, neighbors, everybody! But they seemed to multiply in our pantry! We'd give one and receive two! The only variety that did NOT multiply was the unique "Dove Chocolate" mooncakes sent by some Chinese friends who know the family weakness. Enjoy the included photos of (only some of) our moon cakes. Also, I included a photo of the MANY gorgeous lanterns installed near the entry of our neighborhood.

Enjoy the moon....it's the same one we're gazing at here in China..... Happy autumn!

Oh My Darlin' Clementine

It's been a really nice day. I began the morning happily deciding where to locate Paige's food and water bowls. After a leisurely shower, I strolled, apron and two containers in hand, to a cooking class a few blocks away. I signed up for this class through the Shekou International Women's Club. I joined SWIC soon after arriving here and it has been invaluable as a a way to network with other women/mothers/shoppers/fish-out-of-water/ such as myself.

As I stood puzzling over the very secure entry door to the lobby of the building listed in the e-mail about the class, a woman approached from the other side and let me in with a smile. My new friend, Suzie, and I then took the tiny elevator to the tiny apartment which is the "Shenzhen Kitchen, Chinese Cooking Workshop, Since 2003" According to the business card given to me by the smiling young instructor of the class, it is "One of the best cooking schools in the world",Gourmet Traveler , Austrailia 2008." I have little experience with cooking schools, (okay, no experience), but I think the business card may have been embellishing just a bit. We sat on tiny stools at white plastic tables, cooked our creations on hot plates, and probably exceeded the lawful capacity of the apartment with our enrollment of 7 plus 2 teachers. Did I mention the air conditioning was not working? They did put a fan conveniently behind me which kept me comfortable - my ingredients just kept blowing onto the other student's work . But, we had a GREAT TIME learning to make Prawn Dumplings and Fried Sesame Steam Buns.

Do not write asking me for the recipes or begging me to recreate these tasty dim sum selections. The instruction sheets listed all amounts in grams and the spoon we used to get ingredients like sugar, cornstarch, and salt out of little unlabelled jars was not a standard measuring spoon. There were also ingredients like "STARCH" and "FAT" "You mean lard?", we asked? "No, fat from meat you cut off and boil." came the reply. "Oh.....right.....huh?" Still, it was fun to make dumpling dough from scratch, roll it super-thin, stuff it with a mixture of diced shrimp, carrots, bamboo shoots, "fat", egg white, and cornstarch. Our instructors then demonstrated the art of beautifully folding the dumplings, creating perfect fan shapes and cleverly folded pouches that looked like silk drawstring bags. My classmates and I laughed, struggled and sweated to duplicate these masterpieces. Most of us, especially me, had to be satisfied with the knowledge that our ugly dumplings would at least taste the same! Seven minutes in a tower of bamboo steamers over boiling water and they were, indeed yummy!

The Sesame Buns filled with red bean paste were easier to make, demanding less artistry. They went through a process of steaming and then were fried in oil like old fashion donuts. Not likely the nutrition nazi (currently a position filled by Emily; Emily received her training under General Erin) will allow THAT to happen under her watch! Besides Suzie, my new friend from, of all places, Minnesota, I met Melanie from Belgium, Marian from France, Rebecca from Hong Kong, and two young ladies from Japan whose names I cannot spell. We left smiling, containers filled with our creations. My 15 ugly dumplings will be enjoyed as an appetizer tonight. The sesame buns may not get eaten since Dunkin' Donuts finally opened yesterday!

Elly came home from school grinning ear to ear, eager to tell me about the Awards Assembly held at school today. (I did not know about this...guilt, guilt.) Anyway, she was selected by her teacher to get an award for her outstanding attitude and humor thus far this year. She also got the award for Chinese Class (hard work and good listening). She was beaming as she told me about shaking the Principal's hand in front of the whole school. She was walking on air, all the more so because she had a play date planned with a new friend from Wales - a 5th Grader!

Back at home I was visited by a repairman offering to fix my doorbell , which had failed to chime when a representative of the neighborhood management team had dropped by earlier to leave a rent notice. This was the second repair our door chime required since we moved in. The chimer is battery powered and when the batteries weaken, the "Fur Elise" rendition sounds like it is being performed by a wounded cat. The repairment showed up on his electric scooter just as I was leaving for a trip to the grocery store. I handed him the chimer and told him the batteries were "bu hao" (no good). He motioned that he had to drive to the office to get batteries; I raised my shopping bags to signal that I was leaving. We used more sign language to agree that he could bring the chimer back and put it on my door stoop even if I wasn't home. Thumbs up - off to get eggs, bananas, Grape Nuts, and some ingredients Emily requested for the Italian Creme Cake she is planning for my birthday. (Her dumplings would have been lovely!) When I returned three stores later, arms about a cm longer than when I started, there was my doorbell chimer. I relaesed my load, pressed the button and.... "Oh My Darlin' Clementine" echoed through my house.

I laughed. Living here offers funny moments like this every day. Crazy that someday, when I hear THAT tune, it will make me think of CHINA!

To Market To Market

Picture me standing with my grocery bags on the double yellow lines. This is where I cross when I am too lazy to walk up and down the 146 steps.over the street! I don't do thisoften since a lady told me she witnessed a fatality here.

Some glimpses into our pantry in Shenzhen.

Some snack foods from Sams and WalMart.

A tiny fraction of the special "Moon Cakes" for sale EVERYWHERE in China as people prepare to eat these for the Moon (or Autumn) Festival. Ladies in special costumes stand nearby and accompany you to the register if you buy some.

More snacks from Sam's. We thought the bag on the left might be like Cheetos - it was not. The big jar is oats.

All of the rice here is sold in JUMBO quntities. This is the smallest bag I could find. Elly was struggling to hold it up and I had removed a large canister amount of it already. I try to store all grains in the freezer to kill/prevent (you guessed it!) bugs.

These are quail eggs. they are a little bigger than a malted milk easter egg. Very cute and taste great hard-boiled.

Hmmm.....Is it "The Real Thing"?

Ellysa and I outside our local general goods and groceries store. This place carries mostly Chinese items and a few imports. Two import stores are right next door and carry lots of the other items we normally cook with, eg: chocolate chips and pancake syrup!

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As I have said before, shopping in Shenzhen is always an experience. Compared to the first couple weeks of living here, I can now (usually) focus on the task of fulfilling my shopping list as opposed to being awestruck by the sights, sounds, and smells. Of course, the other day when a fish jumped out of captivity and onto the floor near our cart, Elly and I were a little distracted. And then we got mesmerized watching the frogs in their adjacent tanks, wondering how high they could jump. But the eels in this particular little market were just baby-sized - not nearly as impressive as the several feet long ones at Sam's or WalMart.

Other things, I have learned to NOT study too closely. The poultry, which is most often sold whole, always includes the head, tucked neatly beside the wing so you can look it in the eye. Then there are the trays of organs and innards which I give a blink and a swallow to and hurry on past. In the produce section, I am mostly frustrated that I can only recognize about 25% of what is sold. Even the stores that have taken the time to translate the label to english limit the effort to "Green Vegetable" (how dull do they think we foreigners are?) Plus, I get thrown off by even some of the familiar items - like the "green vegetable" that looks exectly like a green bean but is about 18 inches long. I'm thinking "Blue Ribbon" at the fair but wondering how long do you cook those things?

The packaged items are usually a little easier to navigate. If they are Chinese versions of well-known brands, there will be enough of the logo to make the item seem "normal". Even if Tony the Tiger has a thought bubble written in Chinese, I know he's saying they're "TERRRRific!" This commercial used to annoy me. Now I am happy to glance at Tony grinning at me as he slides around in my cart. I am trying to buy fewer of such import items. In part, because I can't justify the price; in part because I know we need to try other foods. I wrestle with the quality fears and try not to dwell on the tainted milk headlines that were so sad (I do still buy imported milk.) The girls have found some lunch snack items they enjoy. We're not sure of the contents or nutritional value but we're trying not to be too paranoid. Elly discovered some seaweed packets that she first had from an Asian import store in Knoxville. She would eat these salty, fishy things every day..... but Emily won't let her. (She, not Mommy, is the Nutrition Nazi of the house if the truth be known.)

Today, I remembered to have every item of produce weighed at WalMart - before I got to the final check-out! And I had enough of my own bags with me to hold everything! I didn't count out small change but, having recently mastered the many versions of coins which can add up to a Yuan, I could have done it! I then navigated myself to the nearest "travelator" (a label which seems to fit the moving sidewalk that takes you between levels at many malls and parking areas here) and found the "car park". I was grateful to NOT be on foot as the weight of my bags might have caused me to take shortcuts on the streets. I have written about the road hazards here, and I respect them greatly, but sometimes my tired arms and shoulders get the better of me. At such times, I find myself standing on the yellow lines as buses whiz by in front of me and behind me. Crossing Kingston Pike, at rush hour, between the North and South Campuses of Cokesbury UMC doesn't even seem risky to me anymore.

I hope this gives a better picture of some of the "day to day". I'll try to take my camera out more in the days ahead. I will begin a weekly Mandarin class next week. I'm also signed up for a class to learn how to make prawn dumplings. I cannot bring myself to buy the live shrimp just yet - I can't envision how you kill them before consumption - so our version will get made from the frozen shrimp I have purchased at the grocery. Tell the folks at Kroger "hello"!

(Lest you feel too much sympathy for all of the food adjustments we've made, let me confess that the new Dunkin Donuts opened a few blocks away this morning. Buy 5 get one free - we'll be there this weekend! They are located a few doors away from Starbucks, not far from the TCBY and across from McDonalds!)

Connected Again!

I am not the "techie-ist" woman of my generation - never claimed to be. I am always slow to embrace new gadgetry. I probably would have sided with those who said TV would never catch on! The thought of buying new electronics (whether DVD players, phones, PCs, or anything else with more than an obvious "ON/OFF" switch) almost never appeals to me. I cling to my exsisting models, even if they are taped together, scratched, faded, partially functional, or, as my children put it, "from the old days". If some gadget still does the basic task I needed for in the first place, then it is good enough for me. I usually never figure out how to use the fancier features on the newer models anyway. And if my old gadget is slow, so what? I'm pretty pokey myself!

So, when our old desk-top computer showed signs of serious aging, I was the family hold-out on agreeing to get a new PC. Fortunately, I was out-voted and we shopped for a new laptop before moving to China. Of course, I became the biggest fan of the new toy. I loved being able to carry it around the house and take it on trips. With the move looming, it was comforting to have a gadget I could rely on to keep me connected to the world I was leaving behind. I hurriedly signed up for Facebook and even started this blog to make communicating easier. I was SO HIGH TECH!

And then....poof....I entered the People's Republic of China and much of my new-tech world was blocked! Every time I tried to get to Facebook or this Blog, "somebody" knew it and my session would be ended. "Humf", I sighed, thinking that just when I was catching on I had to give up.
But this time was different. I WANTED the technology; I NEEDED the technology! So, I asked and searched and tried lots of ways to get around the blocks. It was a HUGE undertaking for a non-techie. I gave up several times, resigned that e-mail and Skype would have to be enough. Then a new acquintance would suggest something else or I'd get a response from one of my many e-mails to "tech. support". I'd uninstall things, reinstall things, change settings daily. I even followed instructions like "extract all files then drill down to the Config. File and copy and paste to the C:\Program file"! Me! I did all this - sweating profusely, of course, and quite certain I would disable our new laptop completely by messing with things I did not comprehend.

Then, last night "TADA!" (This is probably not what Bill Gates said when he invented microsoft in his garage.) something worked! I cannot tell you what, or how ('cuz like we used to say in Oak Ridge, then I'd have to kill you, plus, I really don't understand how!) But, I can now get to Facebook and this blog. I can view You-Tube and other content that was previously blocked as well. Oh Happy Day! I'm a Techie and I'm connected to the world because of it! I plan to start using the blog again to organize thoughts and images from our aamazing adventure here in China. I hope I don't get derailed again. I'm paying a monthly fee and I have "support" people who know me on a first name basis, so I'm optimstic.

One more thing.... Necessity has also led me to using more of the features on my new cell phone here in China. I can text using the crazy T9 feature. (Okay, I admit I am really slow.) I use the calculator feature and the currency converter on a daily basis. I even write myself memos on my phone! Now if I could only figure out which remote control to use to change channels..... hey, gimme a break.....the labels are all Chinese!!

Making Memories

Here are a few shots of some recent fun we've had. Ellysa, Isabella, Trish, and I spent a day exploring Ruby Falls and Rock City. Though both are famous TN tourist destinations, I had never been to either one. Very cool! I'd highly recommend it, especially in the company of children and great friends. Next is Ellysa enjoying one of many recent days playing with her friend, Jessica. Jessica's family, like so many of Elly's friends, have been life-savers this summer. Elly has had much-needed breaks from the apointments and the apartments to just swim, play, and have the kind of summer a kid is supposed to enjoy.

The last three pictures are of "Christmas In July", a first annual (my label which I hope will stick since we'll be back every summer) event sponsored by our TN family, Brian and Cheryl McClellan and company. Just like so many Christmas mornings we've spent in their home, we had brunch eggs, biscuits, cheese grits, hot fruit, and cheese danish. Mmmm, makes your mouth water, doesn't it? There's a photo of their girls and ours, a photo of me and Cheryl and her Mom (my "other Mothers," I call them - it's a title that should go only to Judy but, if you know Cheryl, you'd agree she wears it even better!) and there's a photo of Elly showing off a scrapbook to Brian's grandmother. "Granny", as we all call her, is about to turn 91 and she's a hero to us all.

The amazing digital picture frame that the clan gave us as a going away gift, loaded with memories of wonderful times shared with this family, will be a treasure in China. It DID start the flood-gates of crying (see post titled 'OUT of Denial'), but the memories are so special. I'll try to post more pictures soon. The blog program doesn't always let me - at least that's where I place the blame. I'm having a better day, less crying, though I still have to avoid certain subjects and eye contact with certain people. ... They know who they are....