Simmonds' China Blog

Sometimes I find myself crazy in love with my children.

I just found this note from Isaac, after reading it, my heart is full with love for him. I hope he doesn’t grow up or get married. EVER.

(typed just the way he wrote it, with the xoxox too!)

I Love My Graet Mom

My mom mops the floors.

My mom never scrachess the floor.

My mom never slams a door.

My mom makes me a good man. I love my Mom. xxxxxxxxxxx

oooooooooooo

Love Isaac

 

Wind, freezing temps, and no taxi’s…these are the three evils of my winters in Shenyang, China.

They plague me and rob me of my freedom, good attitude, and love towards man kind. What’s a mom of 4 kids to do when stuck outside with the three evils of winter?

Become the woman you never thought you would be! Aggressive. Selfish. Yuck!

One of the things I often notice that is totally different from any experience I have ever had in America is how the Chinese person is aggressive. They have no qualms pushing their way towards the front of the line, cutting in line is normal, perhaps in their mind even clever!

I vowed several days after arriving that I would not use any aggression to get my way.

Yeah right **read that with sarcasm**

That sentiment lasted as long as it took me to realize that I would stand in line forever if I didn’t block someone from cutting in front of me. I need to move quickly, swiftly and occasionally stop the person in back of me from sneaking their veggies over my shoulder and onto the scale!

Sweet hubby of mine, laid back, roll with the punches guy, has even been known to jab an elbow or two out to block someone from cutting in front of him!

After leaving our “annual Christmas present” hotel visit we towed our suitcase, two backpacks, and one pack-n-play, all four kiddos and headed down the block to find a taxi. We immediately experienced the three evils of winter. Wind. Freezing temps. No taxi’s.

Picture it with me. We are on the side of the street, cold wind hitting our faces, taxis, buses, and car loads of people passing us. Chinese people rolling down their windows to look at us, pointing at the children, smiling from ear to ear because they think the kids are so cute to look at. Me, wishing I could drag them out of their car and get in where it’s warm. Why don’t I get my driver’s license? I think for the billionth time.

It went on like this for awhile. We would stick our hand out and try to flag down an empty taxi, the driver would shake his head “no”. We stood by the sign that told us to wait for a taxi here, but no taxi would stop and pick us up. We checked our watches and noted it wasn’t during the taxi driver shift change.

My anger is beginning to simmer. I take my scarf off and wrap it around Daniel’s red cheeks, I ask Peter to get Lily’s out of the backpack and wrap her up too. I scold Jolie for not bringing her hat or scarf with her for the millionth time. Isaac stands by with a big grin on his silly face, he’s pretty proud that he is wearing all his winter gear.

Have I ever told you I don’t like being cold? No doubt if you have hung out with me anytime during the past few winters you have heard me bemoan the woes of winter. I’ve had 37 of them and am ready to go south. I don’t care about the first snowfall being all white and pristine. Trees limbs weighed down by shimmering ice. My heart’s desire is south bound! I’ll look at pictures if I miss it.

Peter and I are debating back and forth. We don’t know if we should cross the street. Wait where we are a little longer. Return to the hotel and ask them to call us a taxi (Why didn’t we do that in the first place?!?!?)

A taxi drops off a passenger and Peter rushes to the door, opens it and gives him our address. The driver points across the street and drives away. Can you imagine the rejection we feel? So close. Yet not close enough. We race across the street while there’s still a chance!

I’m literally pulling Lily by her coat shoulders, good thing it’s thick. Her feet drag on the cement as I desperately try to keep Daniel from sliding down my waist while also getting her across the busy street. (He’s wearing a snowsuit and the material easily slides down my coat.) My grip on him is failing but I have to, I must get across before the next row of cars come! Peter helps, but bless his heart, his arms are also full.The other two race besides us as we try to keep up with the crowd crossing together. I remind myself that all this stressing out over getting a ride home is meaningless.

When will my misery end?

We see an entire row of empty taxis waiting at the light. The light is red–now’s our chance! My spirits are lifted, we walk over now confident we will get a taxi.

One rolls down his window and I tell him our address, he shakes his head “no”.

I’m now at the boiling point and out of desperation yell back in my broken awful Chinese:“We’ve been waiting out here for so long. It’s so cold. You should take us. Take us! Take us!” Just writing that makes me feel pathetic.

I even pout. Like the Chinese women do.

He apologizes and tells me he doesn’t have enough time. Apologizes again and the light turns green, he rolls up his window. Drives away and so does the rest of the empty taxis with their red meter lights that give us false hope of a ride home.

We wait again…and wait…n wait.

Peter and I begin our debate again. Do we stand here, do we cross the street? What about going back to the hotel. Should we go to that corner? Each of us have our opinion. Neither of us know which is the better one to follow.

The three evils of winter are about to crush me.

I’m mad. I’m desperate. I’m frustrated. I’m cold. I get ear aches easily and Daniel has my scarf. Someone should scold me for not wearing my winter hat. But who scolds mom?

Two taxis pull up to the curb, both are dropping off passengers. Peter and I take action.  He carries the heavy pack-n-play and rushes to the first taxi. The driver shakes his head “no” without even hearing where we want to go. Moving on to the second taxi, Peter opens the back door (because there is a man in the front passenger seat)  and tells the driver where we need to go. The driver shakes his head “no”.

I get aggressive. It’s amazing what you find your self doing when the three evils of winter descend upon you. Along with the three evils pushing me forward to actions I never thought myself capable of doing, I want my kids to be warm. I’m tired of feeling desperate. I’m tired of debating with my husband.

I open the passenger door and at the same time holler back at Peter and the kids. “GET IN!”

I tell them I don’t care if the driver said “No” just GET IN. The driver isn’t volunteering to open his hatchback, so I encourage Peter to just shove our suitcases in. Imagine, three kids, a 6 foot tall man, 2 backpacks, and a pack-n-play trying to hurriedly shove themselves into the back of a small sedan. The pack-n-play doesn’t fit.

And then I find myself doing something I can hardly believe. I actually grab the passenger who is trying to pay his fare and pull on his arm sleeve a little. Not too hard, but enough to let him know I am staking my claim on this taxi and want that seat just as soon as his bottom leaves it. Oh my. Gasp! What has become of me?!

He gets up. I slide in quicker than I thought was possible with a child on my lap.

The Chinese passenger is now standing on the curb and asks if he can please have his receipt from the taxi. Oops, I had ushered him out so fast he didn’t have time to get what he needed! Can I claim “mother bear” for this offense?

The driver hands me the receipt I pass it to the ex-passenger and remain seated. While this is happening, Peter opens the hatchback, shoves the pack-n-play in there. I wonder what the driver will do now that I am in the passenger seat, door closed and the kids are squishing themselves in the back.

He amazes me. He asks, “Where to?” I tell him where and off we go.

The driver and I talk about children, America, Spring Festival. I wonder why he told us no in the first place and then yes in the second place, but I don’t ask.

I’m just thankful we are warm and heading home and a little scared at what has become of me.

Do Spirit filled people do this sort of thing?
Am I just following the laws of this culture?
I’m not sure, but I think I would still be waiting at the curb if I hadn’t done what I did.

It happened again.

It always seems to happen. So I imagine I must have a lesson to be learned. Or maybe I’ve learned my lesson and God is just giving me opportunities to practice. Or, maybe it has nothing to do with lessons to be learned and is just life being lived.

We took our kiddos to a fancy hotel for our annual Christmas present. It’s our way of getting out of the city without actually going anywhere but a 15 minute taxi ride away. (It’s also the kind of Christmas present that helps keep our home free of clutter and more toys) The kids get to play in the pool, I get to sit in a nice clean environment and have someone else make breakfast…sounds like a mom’s perfect Christmas present!

 

 

It was during my long awaited anticipated breakfast that it happened again. My space, the space that I really like was invaded again.

So, we’re all sitting at the hotel in the dining room next to the beautiful buffet. Jolie has her plate stacked high with bacon ’cause it’s too expensive for mom to pluck down the cash for it often and so she’s gonna get as much as she can while she can! (I know there is someone out there wanting to know how much it costs… it comes to about $9 a pound)

Isaac has three plates full of yummy western stuff sitting in front of him and I wonder where he will put it all, things like waffles and bacon await his fork and knife. My kids really like bacon.

I have a bowl of fresh chopped fruit, while Lily and Daniel are gobbling away at sausage and bowls of cereal. (I cringed when Daniel wouldn’t eat all of his cereal, it’s such a treasured treat for our family, a “cheap” box of cereal can cost us at least $4. I hated to send that bowl away untouched, but Peter wasn’t willing to put it in his pocket. It was dry, no milk, still he wouldn’t do it. I didn’t have any pockets.)

Peter has a doughnut looking thing that he says taste like nothing and puts it on the “don’t want plate” for the waiter to whisk away, let’s face it, China is not known for their doughnuts! It must really taste like nothing for Peter to throw it away. (His philosophy is food shouldn’t be thrown away; it has to spoil first!)

It’s during this wonderful family time of eating food we hardly ever get (well, I can get fruit whenever, but no one is going to wash, peal, and chop it for me, so, I’m in seventh heaven with already chopped fruit at my disposal!) when a lady walks over and stands directly behind Peter’s chair and watches us. Yup, just stands there staring at us.

I wonder, do I put my fork to my mouth or do I put it down, I’m at that halfway place and not sure what to do…there’s a piece of watermelon dangling from it and I really want to eat it!

She’s close enough to touch Peter’s chair.

It’s not unusual. It’s common. I remind myself that I need to smile and I need to acknowledge her instead of doing what comes natural to me (ignore). She begins by exclaiming how white we are, how cute our kids look and then asking “Are they all yours, all four of them?!”

I wanna eat my fresh fruit. I wanna, I wanna, I wanna…yada, yada, yada. Who cares what I want! I’ve learned my lesson from previous moments like this and so I draw her into our circle. I force myself to stop thinking about my fresh delicious fruit. I ignore my children’s stares for peace and I start talking to her in Chinese.

I won’t lie. It’s painful. The flesh is hard to kill. It hurts. But I answer her questions and when there is a pause, a long pause and it’s obvious she is not going to leave, I begin to slowly eat. She continues to fuss over my two younger ones, telling me how the milk in their cereal should be hot, not cold.

Imagine putting hot milk on cherrios!

She does say she knows it’s not our xí guàn 习惯 or “way of doing things or habit”. I don’t have the vocabulary to help her understand that it’s not just about our way of doing things, but that the cereal will turn into mush, and I’m not into eating mush or offering it to my kids. But then again, maybe it is about xí guàn…perhaps there are people out there eating mushy cherrios because they like it, it’s their xí guàn!

I doubt it though, surely there wouldn’t be, would there?! Mushy cherrio eating people?

After awhile, I give up on my breakfast and notice my kids are finished. I wanted a second of this and that from the breakfast buffet, but I decide to flee from the breakfast lady, take the kiddos back to the room. Away from the stares. The questions.

But, before I do that, I tell her I’ll meet her and her lonesome granddaughter at the pool. She’s visiting, she’s American/Chinese and lonesome. Hasn’t played with many English speaking kids since visiting grandma for the holidays. Mom and dad are in America. She cried when we left the pool. Poor thing.

I know how she feels. I miss my mom, dad and English speaking friends in America too.

The breakfast lady, she’s your typical Chinese grandma that is just thrilled to be so near a foreigner, most especially their children. She’s tickled that I can speak Chinese with her. My personal space survived and the little homesick granddaughter had an hour or two with some new friends.

I’ll get another breakfast buffet another time. Seriously, who cares about breakfast buffets that only come once a year for our annual Christmas present?
Rats. I do. But I guess I must have cared more about breakfast lady instead. Good, I’m living the better life because of it.

 

What happens when you are a foreign kid in China?

You get asked to do a TV gig!

In preparation for China’s biggest holiday, Spring Festival, Jolie and Isaac along with 4 of their friends were asked to sing alongside of Taiwan’s pop singer, Vanness or Wu Jian Hao.

China’s Spring Festival shows are one of the main ways Chinese celebrate their Lunar Calendar New Years. As one of my friends explained, “Almost every Chinese family will sit and watch CCTV’s Spring Festival show from Beijing and eat jiaozi.” As a precursor to the big CCTV show, some provinces will air their own show prior to the New Years Day which is Jan. 23rd.

This is where Jolie and Isaac come into the picture!

In our neighborhood lives a TV producer. He asked a friend of ours if he knew of any foreign children who would be interested in participating in our province’s Spring Festival show.

At first my kids were hesitant and then the mention of being paid perked them up.  After “try outs” Isaac decided there was no way he could memorize the mandarin required to sing the chorus. I explained this to the producer who refused to take Isaac’s attempt to back out and said in his most dramatic way, “He must come! His yellow hair is beautiful!”

In other words, Isaac wasn’t being selected for his singing ability, but instead his hair!

We had some grueling hours to contend with, some days spending 12 hours at the theater, but by the time we were finished, the kids had gotten used to the “hurry up and wait” game of show bizness and commented as they left, “Let’s do that again next year!”

So, what did they do?

As the singer, Wu Jian Hao, sang his love song about meteor showers, a small group of children came out from the backstage through the fog and lights and walked with him to the front singing the chorus with him, while young women danced as angles in the background. That small group of children, included my two older ones!

Earlier in the month they recorded their voices in a recording studio at the TV station, so that on the day of the live performance they could just lip sing and not forget the words, while Wu Jian Hao performed live.

 

The kids never actually met Vanness, he was only on stage for the Live performance and because of their positioning during the performance, they didn’t actually have a chance to meet him. (minus the night he arrived and practiced with the kids once at 11 p.m….the kids didn’t even realize he was on stage as he stood behind them!) They were rushed off after the practice and he was put to work on the next act before meeting the kids.

In the end, the only thing I regret is not asking to speak with or get Wu Jian Hao’s autograph. I learned later he is a Christian and now in retrospect believe it would have been nice for my children to have met the “star” whom also shared in their beliefs about Christ.

The show will air on Jan. 21st at 8 p.m. through this television station: Liaoning Satellite

You may even be able to view straight from the website after the airing!
Happy 2012 Spring Festival!

In my quest to give you a well rounded post about what we eat in China, I can’t leave out the all important answer to, “What does baby eat?”

As an important member of the Simmonds household, feeding Daniel is high on my list of things to do daily.  While living in China, I have had the privilege of feeding 3 babies; Ming Pai when he first left the orphanage, Lily through her dairy allergy, and now lastly Daniel.

 

Somehow the above cereal just doesn’t sound appealing to my taste buds, how about yours?

But, don’t just stop at Seaweed & Bone Cereal…Daniel has also enjoyed a mixture of garlic and lotus, liver, fish and all sorts of interesting combinations my western brain would have never thought of!  He seems to be no worse for the wear.

Our biggest challenge has yet to come and we hope it stays away. It seems as though our lovable guy might have a soy allergy…we live in SOY land! (Actually, did you know the US sends more soy beans to China than any other place?!)

So, I might be on a different food adventure with Daniel than I was with Lily (dairy). We’re trying to avoid soy products as much as possible while he is under two years of age, but whenever he eats Chinese food or drinks soy milk his little cheeks flare up with eczema and his bottom is no better.

Let’s hope we can keep his “China treats to eat” soy free!

 

Guess where I got to spend my Thanksgiving? Come on…one guess!

Yup, you got it…(you peaked at the title, right?)…the Chinese Government Building. It has a different name from that–I don’t know it and neither does Peter–but a lot of police and government-looking people work there, so that’s why I’ve named it the Chinese Government Building.

We were contacted on Tuesday and told we would be going to the visa office on Thursday to renew our visas. (BTW, I’m not talking about the Mastercard, Visa kind of visa; I’m talking about the one you have to have to live in China unless you want to get booted out…yup, that visa.)

Why do we have to do this on Thursday?! Don’t they know it’s Thanksgiving?!!?!

(There were other thoughts going through my head as well, but they weren’t very nice, so I won’t be sharing them.)

The fact that it was Thanksgiving day really didn’t matter since we had already decided to host Thankgiving dinner on Friday. But it was a matter of principal! I’m an American and entitled to my American holiday on the holiday, right?! Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is MINE…right?

Let me just add an insight here. Getting over my “American pride,” “entitled rights,” “what I have coming to me?” and “independence thinking” has had it’s tough moments. It slips into my thinking unnoticed until moments like this when my holiday has been taken from me. I had no idea I had so much of this thinking in me until I moved out of my home culture to another culture. Wow! Hard…humbling. I’m glad I’m going through this.

So, in a grumpy mood I packed our kids up by myself, piled them in the company van and rode with the liaison to meet Peter at the Chinese Government Building on Thanksgiving to renew our visas.

Let me also add that this wasn’t my typical week. Monday there was an unexpected water shut off, so my home was never cleaned from the weekend mess. Tuesday there was an unexpected half day of school…so, yeah, my home was never cleaned from the weekend and Monday MESS. Wednesday was my only day to recover.

I got everything done, but in the process it totally wiped me out. I think I have bronchitis and the week’s events just pushed my health further and further into the pits so that by Thanksgiving Day, I was not patient and longsuffering. My throat hurt, my body ached, and I needed to not go anywhere.

Keep reading though ’cause eventually I get perspective and it’s good! Oh so good!!!

So, here I am with my four kiddos dressed in all our winter gear feeling like Eskimo sardines packed in our company van on our way to renew our visas.  I’m totally thinking about how I’m gonna make sure our Chinese liaison never schedules another visa renewal day on my Thanksgiving again, rehearsing the Chinese for it too, when I hear that still wonderful quiet voice impress upon my heart, “Would you rather be at the PICU on Thanksgiving?”

Did I tell you about our friends whose daughter had a seizure on the morning of Thanksgiving and had to spend their holiday in the hospital?

Um…yeah, way worse case scenario than mine. I’m humbled.
“Thank you God for a different perspective. No, actually, I rather like that I’m on my way to the visa office instead of the hospital.”

Can you imagine the stress they must have gone through?!  Taking your daughter to any hospital anywhere  is stressful enough, add to that the language barrier and not being able to hold your precious child or know how to help her. The visa renewal office never sounded so appealing!

Perspective made an unhappy attitude change into a grateful one.

But, wait, there’s more. What’s that I see as I’m waiting for the official to process our paperwork?

A family of 7 walking in. Oh my, they have 5 children! FIVE children! How do they live here with so many children? How do they travel? They must have to get 2 taxis! I wonder how big their apartment is.

You see, this week I’ve had it up to my eyeballs with my apartment. I want a bigger one. I want more space, space for kids to roam, space for our stuff, sPACe. Just really want it. It’s winter outside and the kids are inside.

Conversation finally got around…no…not really finally…let’s face it, I just blurted it out, “Where are you living, ’cause I am feeling the confinement of living in a small apartment and am wondering where to move once our lease is up in April”

The mom says they are living in a 3-bedroom place at such in such complex.

Sigh…I have a 3-bedroom place. I was really hoping she would tell me of a complex with lots of four-bedroom apartments, maybe even 5…oh my!

What’s really odd is that I grew up with seven siblings. I’m the oldest which means I shared a room many times with many little kiddos and lived to tell about it. Why am I so hung up on having more bedrooms?

Then she goes on to say that they have one bathroom…she had hoped for two.

“Oh,” I think to myself. “I have two bathrooms.”

I did some quick mental math and realized she home schools her five children and lives in a 3 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment with no backdoor swinging out to the backyard. Which in my head adds up to a lot of people, in a small space, for a lot of hours together.

Perspective. So thankful I received a new one on Thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving brought a new perspective which resulted in a contentment for my home. I am so thankful for our apartment. It is warm, mold-free, and cozy. It has no water leaks, quiet neighbors, no construction noise, and just enough space for our healthy family of 6.

Contentment. Love having it!

Psalm 16:6 “The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”

In an effort to get more acquainted with one of our sweet children on our team and give her mom a night off, I decided to volunteer to do a Kids’ Camp at my home Friday night through Saturday at 5 p.m.

Emily with her overnight belongings arrived on Friday evening after our first snowfall of the season!

Our agenda was full of fun things to do such as…

A pomelo is like a big grapefruit, but not so much like a big grapefruit. It has sections like an orange that we have lots of fun pulling apart for the fruit inside. We love eating pomelos and Emily liked eating it too!

What child doesn’t like sleeping in a tent?

The three girls snuggled up for an all nighter in a tent. Until that is, Jolie was fed up and decided it was time to wake up mom at midnight and switch spots. I gave up my position next to my warm hubby for a floor between two squirmy sleeping little girls. Thankfully they stayed asleep for the most part, but I did learn that Lily talks a lot in her sleep.

I have yet to meet a person who does not like Daniel. His smile, hugs, and charm is hard to resist. After I took him out of bed this morning, he toddled over to Emily and fell into her lap wrapping his arms around her. Mind you, he hardly knows her! He is so sweet that way!!

We had our first snow fall and the girls were anxious to get outside in it! Here they are making snow angels. We had to drag Lily inside…she loved it out there!

The girls did NOT want to come back inside with me, but lunch needed to get prepared! After I made sure the girls were in capable hands (Jolie’s) I went back upstairs to help prepare lunch. Here Jolie is playing with them right outside our window. If I’m gonna have to live in an apartment complex, I praise God for the convenience of a 2nd floor apartment!

Did you ever make a doll house? I always had one for my Barbies!

Home made are the best and so this morning we pulled out some boxes I had been saving up and started making one for the girls.

To finish up our Kids’ Camp 2011 we had a friend come over, Belle, and play dress up! The girls really enjoyed showing off their dresses to us and then finished up the evening playing hide and seek with their Prince Isaac.

All in all a great Kids’ Camp 2011. So blessed to have a great family that enjoys company!

 

Seriously…another blog about food, you ask?

Why yes! Only this one involves Jolie, my 10 year old daughter.

I’m not a crafty mom. In fact, I have always hoped my friends would step up to the plate and do crafts with my kids. (What does this have to do with food? Don’t worry, I’m getting there, keep reading!)

My version of crafts is to dump a pile of crafty things on the kitchen table and tell them to go at it. Have fun. Create something. Use the glue sticks, glitter, and stickers to your heart’s content. And please, clean up after yourself.

They never do. Clean up after themselves that is. I still love them though.

So, when Jolie  asked if I would teach her how to cook, (I told you I would get to the food part!!) I cringed, I stalled, I ignored her pleas. Because, just like I’m not a crafty person, I am also not a chef.

A friend of mine  and I were recently talking about the best way to cook a turkey, and she commented that she knew I enjoyed cooking. I corrected her quickly–wouldn’t want rumors to get started!  So, to any rumors that might be spreading: No, I don’t necessarily enjoy cooking. I don’t hate it either. What I do enjoy is serving people and if serving you means I cook something for you, then I’ll cook.

The problem is that I can’t solve my issue with not wanting to teach Jolie how to cook, like I do with crafts. Dumping a bunch of cooking things on the kitchen table and saying “Go at it, have fun, and clean up after yourself when you are finished” is just not acceptable.

So, I pulled it together mentally and decided I couldn’t wait for grandma or best friend to teach my children how to cook. Thankfully, Jolie was patient with me and I overlooked the piles of flour, cocoa, and sugar all over the counter she left in her wake.

Not only did this chocolate cake turn out fantastic and boost her self esteem, but she baked another one this past weekend for our guests and saved me lots of time! Way to go Jolie!!

She then went the extra mile and had her 3 year old sister Lily join her in baking her second one! I was amazed. I avoid help from 3 year olds, but Jolie was inviting it!

She did however have an interesting system for Lily that I will close with…

Jolie had two chairs, one on the left and one on the right of her while she added the ingredients to the pan. When she wanted Lily to put things into the pan she told her to stand on the red chair (to the right of her), but when she wanted Lily to simply stand and watch, she told Lily to stand on the blue chair (to the left of her). Lily happily burned off some energy by moving from one chair to the next like it was a game and Jolie didn’t have to nag at her to stop touching the pan and ingredients inside.

Brilliant!

I think I learned more from my daughter’s cooking than she learned from mine!

 

Can you imagine not having flavored coffee creamer, Johnsonville brats, pudding, jello, an aisle of every chip imaginable, and cereal at your finger tips!?  How about your favorite cracker? (I especially enjoy Wheat Thins and Chicken in a Biscuit, but here there is none like those!)

What about the million-n-half flavors of ice cream? Sure we have flavors; how about cantaloupe, green tea, and red bean for a craving? No Thanks! I want Moose Tracks, Chocolate Mint, or Peanut butter something!

Or what about the bread aisle: bagels, English muffins, donuts, pitas, tortillas? oh my, how I miss this!

How do we manage you ask!?

In the beginning: barely.

We just survived and there was something fascinating about all those weird Asian flavors that fueled our curiosity to try other things! We loved trying everything for the first time,and some stuff was wonderful, while other stuff left us wondering what just happened!  After a few of those awful bites of what we thought was going to be really good-turned bad, you begin to want what is familiar. You crave your comfort food and begin to wonder if you will ever satisfy the longing!

**I remember once looking at a delicious chocolate covered cookie thing through the window and thinking…this is what I have been wanting! I bought it on the spot for a whole 10 cents and thought how happy my taste buds would soon be. I took one bite and much to my sorrow my tongue was coated with wax as where my teeth. It was awful. It was so like China treats. Looks good on the outside, but once you dig in more…it’s not what it seems!**

So, how do we get our Western treats while living in China, without paying the exorbitant import fees that is sometimes attached to some of our favorite foods?

We bake, cook, and figure out how to make them!

No, not the ice cream (I’m not up for that yet!) and not the chips, not even the jello, but I have made crackers, pudding, taco seasoning, breakfast sausage and tortillas.

When I first moved here I was able to budget a helper. Helpers or “ayi” are very common and not just for the rich (they cost about 11 rmb or $1.71 an hour). They will come and clean your home, cook for you, and watch your kids. It was a tremendous blessing while I was getting my feet settled on new territory. Now that our budget has to feed a family of six we have opted out of having a helper. I write all that to explain that some of us have taught our helpers to cook Western food!  And that’s how we get our Western treats to eat!

What a blessing and time saver! You just have to remind her to not wash the dishes in cold water…that’s one major difference in our way of doing things and theirs!

Most Chinese are incredibly good at rolling circles due to making jiaozi and baozi growing up, so, to roll out a tortilla is no sweat for them! Mine look like amoebas, theirs look perfectly round. Other westerners have taught their ayi to make bagels, rolls, loafs of bread, lasagna, granola and so much more. It saves the foreigner a painstakingly long time to prepare those dishes and fills their tummies with comfort food. It frees them up to study Chinese and minister to others.

Just recently a friend of mine, knowing I don’t have free time to roll out tortillas and bagels, sent me her ayi for the afternoon. Her ayi whipped up a batch of tortillas and bagels much to the joy of our family. And cleaned up the kitchen! Bonus enjoyment for me!

Take a look at those beauties…nothing like home made Western treats to eat!

What do you do when the security guard comes knocking on your door?

You greet him with a big smile and wait to see what is up!

He had a slip of paper in his hand and started to explain to me about the ting shui notice. My mind is racing, “ting shui, ting shui…oh yeah, ting shui! Stop Water.”

I nod my head in understanding, remembering that today our water was turned off without any notice from 11 a.m. until around 5 p.m.! He then tells me that the water will be turned off from tomorrow, Tuesday at 9 a.m., until... he stops and looks at me.

Takes his hand and does a little motion…like his hand is jumping over a fence and says “Hou Tian”

My eyes widen. “Hou Tian?”

He does his little hand jump again and repeats the entire sentence.

Unfortunately, I understood all to well: we won’t be having water from Tuesday at 9 a.m. until Wed. at 5 p.m. I got it. I understood.

I repeated to him what he said to me and he smiled, then pointed at the door across the hallway and said in Chinese “He doesn’t understand.” Our neighbors are our teammates. We love having them as neighbors and I assure our security guard we’ll pass on the message.

After the guard leaves I translate for Peter. He suggests we wait until the morning to get ready. I smile and think to myself, “Are we living in the same county??!! This is CHINA!!”

I then reminded him our friend had a different story.  She was in the shower washing her hair at 6:30 a.m., thinking she had until 8 a.m., and then her… water. turned. off. With shampoo  still in her hair!

No way am I going through that!

We go into action. I ask myself “What do you really want if you’re not going to have water until Hou Tian?  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been here before, filling containers for a water shut off is nothing new to me, but I’ve never had a “Hou Tian” one!

I want clean underwear. So, I run around and grab dirty clothes, throw them in the washer and think, “now, what else do I want?”

I want to be able to flush the toilet. I grab a large container and fill it with water and Peter suggests since we don’t have a bath tub, we fill the kid’s kiddie pool with water and put it in the shower for flushing the toilet. (Good thinking hubby!)

Since I’m doing a load of wash and will have to stay up now to hang laundry to dry, I decide to finish all the dishes while I wait. I also decide to have a clean kitchen floor, so I mop that. A clean table top is important too!

Thinking ahead I wonder who is going to get the showers tomorrow morning. Our water heater is fairly small, about 2 maybe 3 showers can be taken after one another. Isaac will get first dibs, he sweats a lot. Jolie had one tonight. That leaves Peter, myself, Lily, and Daniel. I’m thinking Lily and Daniel can wait until Hou Tian!

What else, what else?!! What am I forgetting?

How much water does a family of six need anyways?  I fill up a few more containers and decide we can eat out to help save on water.

Hou Tian can’t come soon enough!