Smart Growth

Living in this city is different from our home in Virginia in so many ways it is hard to even make the comparison. But one thing that we notice all the time is the energy efficiency of walking to school, riding the bus and living within walking distance of pretty much every thing we need. So I LOVE the Shekou version of a parking lot: This is actually only one small part of this covered bike lot...it goes on in the other direction for a LONG way! Dart also thinks that "green buildings" are the wave of the future:

Hard Life

There is no pool at the school, but just around the corner is a four star hotel with a really nice pool that you can buy a pass for. We think it is pretty nice. The part I like is that you can have a lovely person come right out to the poolside and give you a foot massage while the boys swim. Oh yeah....

Song Dynasty

The boys are really enjoying school! The whole 6th grade broke into four groups representing different dynasties. They had to come up with a flag, a cheer, a motto and interesting facts about their dynasties. These will be the groups in which they do intramural sports and other activities for the whole year.
Jaya was chosen to be the spokesperson for his group, the Song Dynasty, as they display their flag with a dragon and the Chinese character for "Song".
(I'll steal the camera from Dart and take some pictures of Taj's activities so I can update you on his fun stuff soon!)

Market Day

Up the road from us is an open air market that really boggles the mind. There is EVERY kind of meat that you can imagine (yes, there are dogs) and live animals, as you can see! Let's just say that you DON'T want to wear sandals or flip flops to this place.

There is also a veggie section to the market which is very nice...MANY types of vegetables, some of which I don't recognize. We mostly get our fruit from a stand by our apartment, and our ayi does a lot of our shopping, so we don't go often, but it is an adventure here.

Smitten!

Okay, as promised (or threatened) here is more information about the new kitten. We named him quicksilver in Mandarin, 'cuz he is gray and really zips around the place. The Chinese for this is:



水銀猫 -- which sounds like ShuiYinMao (quicksilver cat). Our nickname for him is "Chairman Meow".
I have never been much of a pet person, but I am totally taken with the little guy. He is hilarious -- pouncing on every little thing, curling up and purring in our laps, sleeping on the boys at night, and generally keeping us highly entertained.

The Chairman

I have not blogged in a couple of days because we have been so busy with the newest member of our family. We adopted him off the street and took him to the vet to get wormed and get shots and now we are COMPLETELY SMITTEN with our kitten.

I have to go to work but I will of course be bragging about him OFTEN so stay tuned!! He's meowing to be fed...

Confessions...

One of the most amazing things about living here is having an "ayi". This technically means "aunt" but it is used as a term of respect for older ladies or women that help around the house.

Ayis are hired by most teachers, and they are amazing. They cook, clean, do laundry,iron, shop, and take care of just about anything you need. It is mind boggling-- I come home tired after a day at school and this is what awaits us:

The laundry is done, the beds are made, the dishes are clean and put away and if the boys have come home early (or were at home all day on prep days) they are fed. I feel sorta guilty, but boy, I am getting over it REALLY quickly!

We feel especially lucky, because our friends Ron and Nicci who lived in Shekou for 3 years recommended their ayi, Yu Mei, and WE LOVE HER. She is so lovely with the boys, and is teaching them some Chinese. She is fabulously efficient and a good cook.

We will ALL have to work hard to not become completely SPOILED.

Climb Every Mountain...

There are some "mountains" in Shekou, which we look at (or not - depending on the day's air quality) on our way to school. Dart and the boys climbed it the other day and got some lovely views. (I didn't go because I am still sunburning so easily from the meds I am on-- that really bummed me out.)

The path was essentially just stairs, which they counted as they climbed: 859 steps!! Taj and Jaya stressed that the steps were not just regular steps, they were steep and slanted, making it extra challenging. Despite the heat and the climb, they loved it! (although you wouldn't guess it from their expressions here!!)

Living the High Life

One thing that takes some getting used to, at least for those of us who didn't grow up in the Big Apple, is the sheer quantity of PEOPLE and how they are all right here, stacked up together in high rise apartment buildings. These towers of people are EVERYWHERE you look...

We are lucky, because in the neighborhood between our apartment and school, it is pretty sparse and we have big shady sidewalks, so we never feel crowded or claustrophobic!!

Beach Boys

The school sponsored a trip to the beach on Saturday for the new teachers. It was GREAT! You can tell our boys had a blast.

The day was hot and clear and there was a nice ocean breeze. You can really see the rise in wealth for many Chinese families: they were enjoying para-sailing, a HUGE zip line (probably 100 metres long), nice open air restaurants, and souvenir shops.

We thought the container ship was a fitting South China contrast: recreation and industry always side by side in this hard-working and increasingly affluent nation.

Adults Only

So, we were sitting having an early dinner with friends at our favorite place down the road and Taj, who has finished eating, asks if he can go across the street to the Toy Store.

We say "Fine, just go with Jaya so you can cross the street together." So they cross and we are chatting with our friends, a lovely teaching couple from Georgia, and we distractedly note that the kids have returned very quickly and have a rather peculiar look on their faces.

I suddenly realize that we have just sent them to visit a store whose first three letters (starting with S) are hidden from view!!! NOT KID FRIENDLY, if you get the gist.

Our friends thought this was the funniest thing EVER and we were all, including the kids, cracking up for the rest of the night every time we'd think of this. Our boys were VERY cool about the whole episode, we thought.

Lost in Translation

In A-BEST, which is a local department store, this is the sign you see as you come up to the 3rd floor where they sell: you got it -- brooms, pillows and smokes. We nearly fell down the escalator laughing. Now we love to say, when we drop or spill something..."SWEEP THE THING!"

Happy Feet!

Today, after orientation, the entire new staff of QSI was treated to a SEVENTY minute "foot massage". What this really means is a neck, back, arm, hand AND foot massage!!

As you can tell from Dart's and our other colleagues' expressions, it rules. Here is the lovely young man who was my masseur.

This gives "Happy Feet" a whole new meaning.

Patching the Sky

This lovely lady is NuWa, a Chinese goddess, whose statue is just behind our school. I did a little research about her, and she is responsible for so many things and there are so many versions of her feats, that I will try to distill it to what is (somewhat) consistent between the different tellings. First, she is NOT a mermaid, she is a goddess with the tail of a serpent.

"As Goddess of Creation, she molded yellow mud into a figure in her likeness, the figure then came alive and was the first human being. She then created more figures, both male and female, and these too came to life."1

She is also credited with saving the world from destruction, as we see her in the above pose, by patching the sky after a great battle between the God of Fire and the God of Water. She then further protected the world by taking giant tortoise legs to hold up the sky.2

What can I say...Girl Power!!

This is by no means a scholarly or comprehensive report of the MANY MANY other feats and powers attributed to her!!

Because I teach classes in plagiarism, I was compelled to cite my sources. :-)

1http://emperor.heavengames.com/gameinfo/heroes/nuwa

2http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N%C3%BCwa

China Olympics

Night before last we were trying some new dishes in a local seafood restaurant and the opening ceremonies of the Olympics came on television.

It was great...we were all watching together and you could FEEL the pride these folks have in the spectacular show their country gave the world.

On our walk home, many restaurants had big TVs out on the sidewalk and all the diners were watching together. It was very communal.

Here is one of the fish dishes (and it was SOME fish!!) Jaya and I shared. It was DELICIOUS.

Paint the Town (or just our room)!

Our bedroom, we discovered on arrival, was bubblegum pink. It really felt like sleeping inside a cartoon.

So we asked the school about painting it and found out that they pay for painting if you want white...otherwise the tab is on us. We chose white.

The painters arrived not long afterwards. They had very cool brushes: more like two dozen small brushes woven together.

They were a bit "enthusiastic" with the paint, but in the end we ended up with a very nice non-PeptoBismol bedroom!

Go Fish!

Well, we got fish, in true Chinese fashion, as fish are very popular here and goldfish border on sacred. Sounding like a Dr. Seuss rhyme, we got one mini-catfish, 2 red fish and 2 blue fish. Oh...and two goldfish.

Their portraits for your enjoyment:

and last but not least....Al G. Eater:

I will say here that we are particularly fond of Al, because he survived a near death experience. The day we got him, he started floating upside-down with a huge bloated tummy. After much consternation and Google searching and a trip to pharmacy up the road (where Dart had to use a pharmacological translation dictionary and THEN find a substitute for epsom salts), we put Al in a special "epsom salt" bath overnight, bringing him back from the brink of death. We love Al.

Dude...

I don't know if I really need to say ANYTHING for this photo.

Cookin' With Gas!

Here is a shot of our little kitchen, which is great despite its small size; I am enjoying its compact usability.

There are no ovens here...the Chinese don't really bake, so our toaster oven is all we have for baking. We'll make do, although Taj LOVES to bake and is a little bummed!

Another kinda funny kitchen thing: they have a few skillets and saucepans at the local Walmart, but about 35 different kinds of woks! I LOVE our wok...I use it for everything now.

Juicy Fruit

All around town there are "mobile fruit stands"...guys with bicycles with built-in tables on which are tons of lovely tropical fruits.

This is a sampling of what we had for breakfast the other day: mango, a type of lychee (little brown ones), plum and mangosteen (the white center).

It is making our resolution to eat more healthily easier!!

This is one happy gardener on the balcony off our living room.

Dart has really gotten it looking so great, and without a car, it has been a bit of an adventure, getting soil and plants and tools home.



A few days ago, Dart came home on Taj's new bike, with a kid from a nearby nursery carrying a huge bag of soil on his mo-ped! It was quite a sight, and Taj got it "on film"...


The next adventure is getting the fish bowl and live fish home...

There are two neighborhoods outside our compound gate. If you go left, you hit the "expat" area with McDonalds, Starbucks, Subway and Papa Johns. If you go right, you hit a more "local" neighborhood, which appeals to us far more!

Last night, at a tiny little corner dive 2 blocks from our apt., we used sign language and pointing to have one of the yummiest dinners we've had EVER. You pick your veggies and your meat (raw) and they cook it and bring it out to you with rice. It was truly DELICIOUS, and as you can see, Jaya enjoyed it a bunch!