reminders of how temporary life can be

Northeast of Nanjing xi rd.

Living in China- China grants very few non-chinese citizens permanent resident status, so its always been assumed living here would only span a short amount of time. (By "short" we mean a minority of our lives.) So we trod on day to day, knowing that one day we will will leave all of this behind and return to the US (aka the promised land, land of milk n honey) Its not like we dislike China- it is just different. We purchase less big ticket items, since we won't be able to bring them home (furniture, crib, etc) and  try our best to purge un-needed stuff every year, (ok some of us do) knowing that one day I'll move back to America with the same 2 suitcases I came here with. 

Last night we handed our rent money to our landlord, who lives next door. We also mentioned we'd need some furniture moved out to make space for Baby. Dear friend of ours were giving us their awesome sofas and we wanted the old sofa out. (Old sofa= sags really far down, has tassles, etc) The landlord replies, 

"Why do you want to change the furniture? Your going to have to move in Sept anyways when my son takes over the apartment." 

Pause.

A month prior, we had inquired if the landlord's son (whom we knew was getting married this year) was going to want our apt, which is all too common here. Two of our friends recently were booted for the same reason- Chinese families purchase apartments for their son to take over when he gets wed. We  wanted to make sure we wouldn't have to move with a newborn...

So there we were, staring at the tasseled sofa, taking in the news. I'm 8 months pregnant, can't lift anything, and I have a hard time bending down in my big-bellyness. If we wait until after Baby is born, we are two nervous new parents with a baby, sleep deprived and trying to figure how to live day to day. Then the landlord walks out looking at our artwork- "What is this? Art? its just fabric on a frame? Does it look good? Hao kan ma?" And then he leaves.

Maybe this is what I get for complaining about the furniture? We knew we wouldn't live here forever, but we loved the area and the spacious apartment. And life goes on- we'll have to move in the next few months. Just today I was considering what that really meant:

-Running around after work visiting apartments, asking tons of questions negotiating renovations; and trying to size up the landlord in 5 minutes and negotiate some more. And then argue about the furniture and negotiate some more.

-Then packing up everything in boxes, labeling, and moving to new place

-To unpack and clean and re-build systems. Re-learn the neighborhood, grocery shopping, buses, metro...

Its not the end of the world, but not exactly what we needed right now. Baby, please don't come out until we can have a proper home!

Pros of moving/my hopes:

-4 burner stove that works

-Bathrooms with windows, for air

-An open kitchen, for easier hosting

-A big balcony, for BBQing!

-A big refrigerator

-Beds with storage underneath

-Furniture that is sturdy

-Air conditioner that is effective in each room.

And if the next place doesn't have all these nice things, that's OK with me. Its only temporary.

Jendow vegetarian

Last weekend we joined some friends for dinner at Jendow vegetarian buffet about 10 minutes outside Xujiahui.

Tofu pretending to be beef jerky!! Lots of spices!

Here's a review I wrote for Smart Shanghai:

"The restaurant was a bit tough to find- its really more like 10 minutes outside Xujiahui, a well lit sign welcomes you (but number was not lit, english is tiny, and we passed at first)

After walking about 200 meters through empty cemented area, we found it- large and inviting. There were about 8 buffet tables, japanese style, chinese style, soups, desserts, all well labeled in english and chinese specifying if it had eggs and/or dairy.

For drinks you could mix your own tea, (lavender, mint, peach, etc), Mango smoothies, alcohol "free" beer, qingdao beer. For dinner there was simulated sashimi, and sushi rolls (which I rather liked, and were quite visually convincing!) "beef" and "pork" jerky- hot pot, tofu "eel", tons of mushrooms and veggie dishes to sample and experience.

"Sashimi that had really authentic coloring and fish flavouring

The tofu eel

For dessert a chocolate fondue tower beckoned, not to mention the hagen daz ice cream (4 flavors!), New zealand egg-free ice cream, tarts, pastries, mousse, tiramisu.... need I go on?

Our party of 6 tried as many dishes as we could. Not sure how the "enzyme" shooters went down?? They insisted on collecting the bill and such at 8pm- it seems they close down by 9pm? Next to a temple, there were several monks there, otherwise the place was pretty empty. Bring your coat when going to the restroom. The service was good and the presentation was wonderful. Its 168rmb per person- all you can eat and drink, so a bit pricey ($25 USD) but a really interesting experience.

Snowy city at night

The view from our apt at nighttime. The sky is that color from light pollution...gah

That tall building in the center is where my office is!

Qingpu/Sheshan- anniversary

We headed to Sheshan, erg what ended up being Qingpu for a night away from home for our 3rd anniversary. It was a nice break from the cabin fever of CNY (cooped up for 1 wk w/o ayi, snow, or Pizza to go) It was quite in the middle of nowhere, about 10 minutes from the mega mills outlet ("This almost feels like America!). We had a nice lake-side view from our room. 

Swimming is awesome when you are 7 months pregnant!!! I felt so weightless! Aaaah. We got burgers, watched some cable TV (another treat), and spent one evening not talking about budget, baby stuff, and work drama. It was great! And the next day we woke up to an awesome brunch, then walked around the lake, only to find an library with English magazines, and we sat reading by the lake- so peaceful! They even had a designy magazine, Surface, alongside the standard, Times, Newsweek, english reads.

In the future, we noted we could take the bus from the end of Line 2 to the hotel- about a 25 minute ride, and pretty much a straight shot, passing the outlets. We also learned that "au ta let ta" Outlets means still really expensive stores, all bunched together with only starbucks, kfc, or MCD's to eat. The newer mall branch had NOTHING to eat. NOTHING. not even a 7-11... and there were about 30 people in line at Starbucks, line out the door and into the cold. 

We had a good time! I was glad that baby let me sleep too. 

test post

Testing out email blogger, so I can post via even without a VPN. Take that, Firewall of China.

7 months and counting

Since China ushered in a new Premier a few months ago, the entire city and country had heightened security, both in person and virtually. In addition to the typical firewall (facebook, blogs, google docs) They fully blocked all of Google at times, and many VPN services including our own. After 2 wks stateside and many hours trying to troubleshoot the great firewall of China, my personal tech warrior T got my VPN going again! For a while I was wondering how long we could stay in China- with the internet being my gateway for work (product research, sharing images with clients, etc) I questioned how much longer I could go. There were days I couldn't send or received emails, except through Yahoo, my spam acct from some 15 years ago...

And here we are! Me and baby. 20 pounds more, trotting through the gray cold city, dodging dog poop and wondering when spring will arrive.

I can finally let out a sigh of relief! After many phone calls, emails with health insurance, hospitals, doctors, we can really focus and pray for our little one, knowing at least the medical service side of things will be ok. We had an ordeal going through 3 international clinic/hospitals talking to 4 doctors. 

baby!

Parents!

Now we spend our evenings going thru stacks of baby/parent/for dummies books learning all sort of interesting, semi-gross and amazing things about how God created bodies to birth. Wow! I have never been so in awe of the human body as a work of design, engineering and art all rolled into one!