Zhuangxiu Blues

Loading all the flooring into a van

"Zhuangxiu" (zhoo-ong shee-oh, 装修) literally means "to fit up", as in, to fit up a house. Or as we would say, remodel. In China all the apartments are concrete boxes, so when one wants to zhuangxiu an apartment it involves a lot of jack hammers and obnoxious drilling. 

Two weeks ago, the family two floors above us started this process on their apartment. And if the loud noises and constant shaking from the jack hammers isn't enough, our stairwell is filled with clouds of dust and cigarette smoke from the construction crew. Not to mention the level of activity going up and down the stairs has increased dramatically causing Samson to bark loudly and often. Poor Atalie can hardly get a nap in, and I feel like I'm going crazy with all the noise. 

This is just one of those things that is part of life in China. Thankfully, the construction is limited to working hours and there is usually a two hour break for lunch around noon. It could be worse. But it still drives me crazy. My amazing Ayi went upstairs and asked them to be quiet between 12-2 so Atalie could nap well at least once per day.

The amount of stuff that comes out of the apartment is amazing! We've seen woodwork, flooring (with the nails still in it), and bags of debris piled up downstairs everyday. Some of the salvageable things they probably sell or use in another apartment they own. The bags of debris will sit there until they arrange for it to be picked up. It's unbelievable the amount of mess it creates as they cart it downstairs. And they don't clean up after themselves. 

How they get all that debris down the stairs

We're surviving. Today is supposed to  be the last day of construction. Then it's just a matter of time before another neighbor decides their place needs some

updating 

Success can mean many things

Yesterday I accomplished a huge task. It was inspiring how well it went and the short amount of time it took. What was it? A shopping trip. To a French grocery store several miles away so I could buy imported food (pasta, canned veggies, granola bars, salsa, etc). And I did it with Atalie strapped to me in the Moby wrap (by far my favorite baby product, I couldn't survive without it). I don't do shopping trips requiring public transportation with her, it always seems so risky. Will I make it back before her nap? What if she's fussy? How can I carry all my groceries and her...on the bus?!? But I resolved to stick to the list and only get the things I can't get at my neighborhood grocery store, said a quick prayer for strength and joy, and went for it.

We took the bus 20 minutes to get there. Got my shopping done in record time - I was focused, trying to get home by nap time. I thought all was lost afterwards as we waited 15 minutes for the bus home. When it finally showed up, people were pouring out the windows (not really, but it was a very full bus). There was no way I was going to get on there with Little Miss Muffet strapped to me. And then, as the heavens parted and angels sang, a taxi pulled up to the curb. Had I been in a musical I would've broke out in song about perfect timing (or something like that). The taxi driver zipped me home. Atalie fell asleep about five minutes before we got back, but, another miracle, I was able to TAKE HER OUT OF THE MOBY AND SHE STAYED ASLEEP!!! Cue another song and dance. Birds were chirping, other woodland creatures danced and I got to take a nap! Just kidding, those last three things did not happen. Bummer. I would totally pay to see woodland creatures dance. Actually, in my concrete jungle of a city, I would just pay to see woodland creatures! Ha. 

Still, this is not a typical scenario. Oh, and I lucked out as she had a blow out right before we left. Can you imagine dealing with that on a bus? I don't want to. In the Moby wrap? Double gross. 

So, I felt pretty accomplished yesterday. Oh, and we have food to eat. Extra bonus. *fist bump*

Um, is she not the cutest? This is after I got her home and put her down. I love how she inches to the top of her crib and snuggles between her seahorse and lovey. Pure sweetness.

Ramblings...

So, I have like a million thoughts roaming around my brain. Honestly, I could probably write several blog posts right now about all the things running around in my head. But I won’t because I don’t really have time to write more than one blog post and because I’m not sure you will want to hear all that babble. 

I’m thinking about Mother’s Day and after reading this blog post and the follow up posts and comments, my heart felt so confused. Not in a bad way. Rather, in an uncomfortable way that was pushing me out of my “box” and into new territory. I resonated with that blog post so much. How can we honor mothers yet not exclude other women? (I’m not wanting to start a dialogue on here, just asking the question that is in my head) And then, on Mother’s Day, in a country that doesn’t celebrate it, our church did. And they asked all mothers to come to the front. Not just stand up, to come up to the front. My heart sank. I sat there (yes, I sat, I know I’m pregnant but I did not go up) thinking “Is anyone hurt by this? Why does this bother me so much? How can something meant to honor such an important person feel wrong?” So yeah, it was weird. My heart was heavy the rest of the day. And then, after church I ate lunch with a Chinese gal who shared with me that she had to “get rid of” her second pregnancy because of the one child policy. She already has a daughter. When her daughter was two, she got pregnant again. In her own words, “I had no choice, I had to get rid of it. It was so hard to do because to me that was my baby, it was life. It hurt me. Now I try really hard to not get pregnant because I don’t want to have to do that again.” My heart broke again listening to her struggle. She didn’t share with me so I could pity her, she was factual in her retelling yet also graceful. I’m not even sure why she told me, I guess because she was asking about my pregnancy and we were sharing stories. Let’s just say Mother’s Day touched my heart in a way it hasn’t been touched before (maybe because God is shaping it into a mother’s heart?). 

The nursery is currently in an uproar. Ok, it’s not that bad - but it’s not even close to ready. We have one wardrobe full of all things baby and it’s somewhat organized. I had to get it organized because my friend graciously threw a baby shower for me & Peanut a few weeks ago and I needed to make sure I had space to put all the wonderful gifts we got. I’m ready to start getting that nursery ready! I have also been really wanting a rocking chair or glider for the nursery and thought I wouldn’t be able to find a comfortable one without breaking the bank, however, last weekend I was hired to photograph a maternity session for a couple expecting their first later this month and they had a glider in their nursery! I was so excited about it. And they got it on Taobao!! Why didn’t I think of that? Man, Taobao really does have everything (as my husband always says). 

Pregnancy is still going well. I don’t have a new belly photo for you…hmmm…I should do that today. Baby girl is super active and rolls and tumbles all the time. She also gets the hiccups almost every day. It’s cute. I’m liking this stage of pregnancy much more than the first trimester. 

I think that’s enough rambling for today. I’ll try and post some pictures of the baby bump later this week. And I have a few other posts I’ve been wanting to get up. Hmmm…get the nursery ready or blog? That is the question. 

China Winter Blues

Ice sculptures in Harbin, a city in northern China (photo credit: Reuters/Aly Song)

Winter in China is hard. Ok, winter can be hard anywhere I guess. But I feel it's extra hard in China (for me). January was actually pretty mild. Towards the end of the month we even had one day where it hit 70F! I know! Now? It's back to near freezing with constant precipitation. It tried really hard to snow the other day, but it didn't stay around for long. I'm a firm believer in if it's cold then it should snow. Nanjing does not agree with me.

We live south of the Yangtze River, which means there is no central heating in homes and most buildings. Hotels and some nicer restaurants will have central air, but for the most part people heat their homes with standing heat pumps that are really inefficient. In all honesty, most people don't heat their homes because they don't want a high electricity bill - we are not most people. We usually have our heat pump (called a kong tiao) going all day along with two space heaters we move from room to room to take the edge off. Our home is comfortable and we've figured out to keep it warm (except the bathroom, the bathroom is always cold), it's when we're out in the elements (on our scooter - yikes!), or elsewhere that the cold creeps in. For example, Sundays when we go to church. We meet in a new building. It's all concrete and tile, not a single insulated wall anywhere. Last week when we got there, the outside door was open into the hall we meet in - letting all the cold air in. They have heating, but will only run it on Sunday which means it gets turned on about two hours before service starts. The room we use for our English service has high ceilings, tiled floors and one wall of windows. In other words, it doesn't get warm. One week, it was warmer outside than inside the church! But this is normal in China, it's just hard for us Westerners to get used to.

Class was similar. December mornings spent sitting in a cold classroom were almost intolerable. My opinion is the tile floor makes it worse. Even if you have the heat pump running at full blast on high, your feet are still frozen. I started bringing those one-use hand and foot warmers to stick in my shoes (they made a huge difference). 

The funny thing is, temperatures get lower in the winter where I'm from in the States than they do where I live in China. However, I feel it's colder here because of the lack of indoor heat. Call me crazy, but I guess when you go from your nicely heated home to your car (which has seat warmers) to a heated office building you don't "feel" the cold as much. 

In other words, I'm ready for Spring. 

National Holiday (signs of fall)

It's National Holiday in China this week (国庆节), which means that our city is being flooded by tourists.  Yesterday, I went walking with my friend and we had the added bonus of maneuvering around tourists slowly making their way towards Purple Mountain, with the occasional map thrown in.  Since it's National Holiday, we don't have class this week - yay!  Currently, the Hubby and I are at Starbucks, and there are people everywhere.  The crowds are the main reason we don't travel during this time (though many others obviously choose to), however the crowds come to us so we choose, as much as possible, to stay close to home.  

National Holiday means it's October, which means that fall is slowly making it's way in (and likely in two weeks time will be headed back out).  The weather is gorgeous now.  About two weeks ago it finally started cooling down (and by cooling down I mean it's not in the 90's anymore).  Today it's around 80F with lots of sun and a nice breeze, coaxing even more people outdoors.  I'm thankful to finally be able to wear jeans.  I feel like I haven't worn jeans in four months...oh wait, I haven't. 

This time of year also means it's orange season.  I have no idea why that's a fall fruit, but over here it is. It started at the end of August with the green oranges (I have no idea what they are called, I just know that they are green), and soon the tangerine-like oranges will be out.  Fruit in China is awesome and there is an abundance at certain times of the year.  My favorite is buying fruit from the guy with his cart at the subway stop.  Yesterday on my way home I bought a pear and some apples, and then about a block later found the 米变花 guy (mi bian hua - it means rice or grain that changes into a flower, i.e. popcorn) and bought puffed rice and puffed wheat.  When I throw those together with some milk it reminds me of my favorite Kashi cereal, just instead of 7 grains I only have 2.  Needless to say, fall is starting to feel like fall and I'm thankful that the heat is going away.   

On a random side note (and because I feel I should include a picture in this post), we have been hosting Duck Dynasty nights at our place once a week.  Friends from across the city flock to our apartment for a night of entertainment and fun.  When I make popcorn or cookies everyone is happy, happy, happy.  Ok, I'll stop now.  But I feel you all should see this picture.  

Going back to the topic of fall, Starbucks here may not have Pumpkin Spice Lattes, but they do have Salted Carmel Mochas (and I might be enjoying one now as I type).  And I am determined to track down some pumpkin in the next couple weeks - both canned and an actual pumpkin, if I can find one. 

What are the signs of fall where you live? 

A day in the life...

Our beautiful city on a somewhat clear day

Today as I was rushing out the door to class, answering questions for the Ayi and trying to remember my plans for the day, I was thinking how every day really has a flavor all its own.  And this blog, meant to capture those moments, has been sitting idle as I try to grasp how to write down in words what our lives here are like.  Then it hit me - just write about one day.  One day full of language barriers and cultural differences that absorb our lives.  One day can show a lot (and in my defense, this post might be several days put together).  

On Tuesdays, Ayi comes.  She's our house help and I have her coming twice a week to help out with washing dishes (we don't have a dishwasher), dusting, sweeping, mopping and cleaning the bathroom.  She is a huge blessing!  Especially now that I am in language class, my capacity to clean my house has dwindled.  Knowing that I can host others anytime without stressing over the fact that I haven't mopped the floor in two weeks, well, let's just say it's liberating. 

7am - We get up and get ready for the day.  Ayi is supposed to come at 8, however, she has been coming around 7:30.  We had to have our friend call and ask her to come no more than 5 minutes early; 5 minutes early is fine, 30 minutes early is not.  I make coffee, jump in the shower and make sure I have Ayi's task list for the day ready to go.   

Construction going on in our complex to replace
the sewer lines has disturbed our sense of harmony. No
more afternoon naps for me!

8am - Ayi shows up and gets going on dishes.  We retreat to the office to get some work done.  Sometimes it is email or I do homework for class.  Usually we also use this time to read the One Year Bible.  On Monday, Wednesday & Friday I have class from 8 to noon, but on Tuesday and Thursday, class doesn't start until 10:30 so I have some extra time at home (which is heavenly).  

9am - Ayi interrupts to show me the sink is leaking.  Then we notice that the TV & computer screen seemed to have been cleaned with pledge...hmmm.  How to address this?  One of the difficulties of having an Ayi is communication.  Not only the language barrier, but also the cultural barrier.  How do I correct her without making her lose face?  (If you don't know what face is...well...that's another post)  I proceeded to ask her if she used pledged to clean the TV.  She said no, and then showed me the glass cleaner.  After trying to articulate why she can't use it, which I didn't do so well, I finally had to just tell she can't use it and showed her how I would like her to clean it.  This also happened with the rug in the office.  She kept moving it in order to vacuum it, which involved pulling it out from under the couch and putting it back without the nonslip mat underneath.  Today, she took the nonslip mat and folded it and put it in the spare bedroom.  So, as much as I didn't want to correct her twice, I went and got the nonslip mat and asked her why she put it in the other room.  I did not understand her answer.  At all.  Instead, I played charades and showed her how I could slip on the rug and fall if the mat was not underneath it.  I wish I could've gotten it on video.  Anyways, it communicated my point. 

10:30am - I bike the 20 minutes to class.  Did I mention it's 90F degrees outside?  And I bike uphill - both ways!  I know, I'm saving these stories for posterity's sake.  Today, just after entering campus, I rode by a kitten that appeared to have just been hit by a car.  It was sad.  Sadder still, there was a Chinese student who stopped to take its picture.  In my class are students from the US, Kazakstan, Pakistan, Iran, Korea and Vietnam.  The Koreans have terrible pronunciation and at any given time, only about the half the class knows what's going on.  Our teacher is moving us through the book really fast.  We have about 6 weeks left & 9 lessons left to go.  I have a feeling we are just going to plow through regardless of who is keeping up.  My favorite class moment is when our teacher asks, "Do you understand?" To which half of us will respond with blank stares or a resounding "no."  However, unless someone asks a specific question, she just chuckles and moves on.  没问题!

12pm - I head back home for lunch.  Traffic isn't as crazy as it is in the morning (especially at 8am), but I'm still dodging bikes and pedestrians and trying to stay out of the way of the city buses (which kind of go wherever they want).  And now it's hotter and I'm thinking I might need to shower again when I get home.  Once home, we have lunch - usually tuna sandwiches or mac and cheese, and then spend time working, doing homework, language tutoring, staff or business meetings, etc. Afternoons are usually pretty busy and it's unusual to find us both home.  If it's Monday, Wednesday or Friday I try to sneak in a nap, too (but usually fail) - four hours of class really drains your brain!

What's a blog post without a picture of Samson?

5pm - Time to start dinner, what to have?  Right now, bird flu is a big deal over here so chicken is hard to find.  When I do cook, I usually cook Western food.  Nachos are a staple for us.  Though right now finding tortilla chips has become an issue.  Surprisingly, refried beans, salsa and tortillas are easy finds around town at various import stores.  I'm becoming a pro at cornflake chicken, but that's hard to make happen when they're pulling chicken off the shelves.  I guess it's pork.  And asparagus just came in season!

7pm - We have friends over on Tuesday and Thursday nights for study time.  We love having them over!  During a recent camping trip, several friends were worried about the Hubby because they have noticed that we "always eat sugary food" and there was no sugary food on the camping trip.  Ha!  I think I need to stop feeding our friends cookies and pop when they come over to visit!  I promise we don't eat that much sugary food.

9-10pm - Our friends slowly leave and we collapse on the couch.  We made a new rule recently regarding TV time - no TV after 7pm.  It has actually helped us sleep better, I think.  Though sometimes we do break down and watch a TED talk or the NBC News podcast at night before bed.   We also recently bought a used Xbox, so I have a feeling the TV rule is vetoed until the novelty wears off.  This is our wind down time, unless we play cribbage, then we get our game on (and, for the record, cribbage is one game I usually win). 

That is pretty much a typical day.  Sometimes there are grocery runs, stops at the market for fresh fruits and veggies (mangos are in season - yum!), fabric market shopping, business meetings, or any other array of things that require time because something went wrong.  It's also a long day when we take the subway across the city, but luckily that's only once or twice a week.  Every day has new surprises (like today when Ayi tried to take all our homemade cookies) and every day we are thankful for the opportunity to explore and experience this city!

The dog dilemma

Some of you may have seen this picture show up on Instagram or Facebook recently...

We have been saying for a few weeks that we want to get a dog...and then yesterday the opportunity presented itself.  I was waiting with my friend for the Hubby to show up with some other friends so we could all go get lunch.  I had just picked up a package my mom mailed to me (that adventure deserves its own post) and was hanging out in front of a fruit stand.  The owner had this really cute puppy that kept coming over to play.  He was really cute (the puppy - not the fruit stand owner), and kept antagonizing the other dogs walking by, wanting to play with them.  

After standing there awhile and laughing with my friend about the puppy, the fruit stand owner walked over and started asking my friend questions like, "where is your friend from" and "how old is she."  My friend graciously threw in that I was already married. :-)  Not quite sure where the conversation was going (and understanding most of it up to this point), the owner then offered for us to buy the dog if we were interested.  This sort of shocked me, I mean, it was his dog.  Didn't he love his little cute, playful puppy?  I laughed it off and didn't really take it seriously.  It was, after all, well loved by his owner and had lots of people to play with at the fruit stand.  This puppy, unlike others, wasn't in need of "rescuing" from peril. 

The Hubby showed up about five minutes later and I relayed the story to him as a humorous guess-what-happened-while-waiting-for-you aside.  Immediately, he went over to the fruit stand owner to talk about the dog.  I wasn't really in "let's buy a puppy" mode and didn't expect the Hubby to be so adamant about working out the details of a dog sale right there on the street.  Luckily, we had to eat lunch and so told the owner we would come back after discussing it over noodles and fried dumplings. 

Apparently, even though we both have been talking about getting a dog, we aren't on the same page with the whole puppy thing.  I am not too keen on getting a puppy.  Potty training and shoe destruction aren't something I want to be dealing with.  However, the Hubby is thinking that we needed a puppy to train it correctly and teach it to ride on the scooter (yes, that was his argument).  And the puppy is really cute...

After cordially discussing the finer points of puppy parenting, we landed on an agreement.  We'll go back next week (this week we are too busy and won't be home much to train a puppy), and take the puppy to the vet.  If the puppy is healthy and the vet can sort of guess for us what kind of dog it is (how big will it get? personality? etc), we will adopt him.  If the puppy does not pass the test then we will take him back to the original owner.  

So, my question to all of you - based on that adorable picture, what kind of dog do you think it is?  I'm guessing Chihuahua mix?  Would you take it home?  He is really cute...until he poops on your pillow or eats your favorite slipper.  Just sayin'. 

Food: What I've been making

**UPDATE 10/15 - Links added in for ones I have!**

**I was going to add links to all these recipes, however our Internet is running super slow and so you are lucky you all got the link for the first one. Boo. Sorry! If it gets better in the next few days I will add the rest of them in. If you have links to any of these recipes, please leave them in the comments! Thanks.**

Yes, I thought it was time for a post about food. With all the changes in what is readily available, I've had to remake my "go to" meal list. Not a bad thing, but definitely time consuming. These days, I've taken to Pinterest to help me find simple dinners & desserts - and it has not disappointed (though I have yet to try most of those). Here's a rundown of the successful & not-so-successful recipes I've attempted...

Cheeseburger Soup. Or otherwise known as the-most-expensive-soup-I've-ever-made. Why? At the time I made this (just over 10 days in), I still hadn't found the best place to buy hamburger and ended up paying almost $10 for one pound. Yikes! Add to that, $5 for 8oz of cheese and $3 celery and you have one expensive recipe. However, I am willing to forgive myself because 1) I was desperate to make something I knew & loved and 2) it turned out excellent. 

Pasta. Seriously the easiest meal to make here. Penne and spaghetti are cheap & I can get a large can of Hunts or Del Monte pasta sauce for around $3. Just throw in some sautéed veggies & hamburger (no longer the expensive kind thankfully) and you have a meal! Sides for this have included garlic sautéed bok choy, bread, steamed asparagus, and corn on the cob. The corn was excellent, but it has since went out of season (I think, because I haven't seen it for a few weeks). However, just yesterday we found asparagus and I know there's no way that is in season here locally...so, not sure how that works.

Speaking of veggies, I buy most of mine from the supermarket (because when I'm there on the second milk run for the week it's fast and easy). However, the last few weeks I have started going around the corner to a couple of fruit & veggies stands/trucks that sell great stuff. I had to go to several different places to get exactly what I needed, but it was good produce. 

Let's see...what else...

Stewed tomatoes. Yup, I did stew my own tomatoes. Which is much cheaper than paying $4 a can. I actually have about 25 tomatoes in the fridge waiting to be stewed. I need to get on that!

Pasta casserole. Did I say pasta was easy? Well I used some of the aforementioned stewed tomatoes, some butternut squash (at least I'm pretty sure that's what is was), some onions & mushrooms and made a GIANT casserole that fed us for five days (at least). This was a "go to" in the states, however usually I use zucchini & brussel sprouts. I could not find either, so I swapped for the mushrooms & butternut squash. It worked perfectly. 

Taco salad. So easy. There's an amazing import store in Shanghai called City Shop & they deliver to Nanjing on Fridays. I got a big container of fresh greens from them for $1.50 (like two of the pre washed salads you buy packaged in the states) & found decent tortilla chips at Carrefour.  Add in a jar of salsa from City Shop and taco meat (I brought over my own seasoning) and voila - awesome taco salads. Delish.

Apple cake. It just sounds good. So yummy. I got "green" apples from the market (I don't think they were Granny Smiths, they weren't sour enough) and whipped up a yummy loaf of apple cake. It was so good! I didn't have vegetable oil & the recipe called for applesauce, so I also made applesauce and used it to also substitute for the oil. Making the applesauce was also easy. Just peeled, cored & chopped the apple and cooked it on the stove with some sugar and water and then mashed it up. Simple! Who knew? Although I was a little disappointed mine looked more brown than the yellow I saw in all the pictures of homemade applesauce on Pinterest. The cake was a huge hit with everyone. Even our Chinese friends loved it!

Meatloaf. Yup, another "go to" in the states. This one I only substituted the type of BBQ sauce I use (yes, I put BBQ sauce in my meatloaf). It was a little runny, but tasted excellent. 

Orzo with Parmesan & Basil. I think this is the Hubby's favorite side dish. It's just so yummy! I was excited to find that City Shop had orzo & I found a block of Parmesan at an import store. So happy to find Parmesan cheese! 

Cookies. So far I've made no-bake cookies & the amazing Wallace cookie.  No-bake was an easy choice before I had an oven. The Wallace cookie was made possible by a local friend having butterscotch chips at her bakery! Yay! 

So there you have it, a little run down on the yummy foods we have been eating over here. I feel like we hit our stride a few weeks ago making life a little less chaotic and cooking a little more feasible. I'm so thankful for all the helpful friends who have advised where to find things and what to look for.  There are also a few helpful blogs that have aided me so far. 

Oh, and another blessing - we got a free oven! Ok, we're just borrowing it, indefinitely. One of our friends here knew a family that went back home to the states and let her keep their oven "until they return". She doesn't use it (she's Chinese, they don't really bake) and so offered for us to have it. I'm not sure when her friends are coming back, but it sounds like they left awhile ago. The bonus is that it is the biggest size you can get here, almost full sized (one large cookie sheet fits snugly side-to-side). Extra blessing! 

If I lose my hearing, it won't be from loud music...

It will be from weekly occurrences of very loud, very long fireworks displays, like the one in the video below.  We experienced this display right outside our back gate while waiting for the bus.  It was very, very loud.  The amount of black smoke pouring through the sidewalk from the firecrackers actually had me a bit worried.  It's a little hard to see, but there are lots of flowers also on the sidewalk in the middle of the fireworks.  The people setting these off were opening a new store and fireworks are typically used in the ceremony whenever you buy something new - a new car, new store, new apartment.  I think they are also used frequently at weddings.  I've had it explained to me that fireworks are good luck and help to ward off any "evil spirits".  An interesting cultural perspective!  Although, I would guess that today many people do it because it's fun and awesome to light off fireworks - and any excuse is usually a good one.