Thoughts On My Chinese Language Skills

My Chinese language is beginning to come back. The words are starting to flow out a bit easier, and now I’m even starting to think in Chinese a little. There are four different tones in the Chinese language, so even though I may say the correct word, but use the wrong tone, I’m not understood. Language is such a huge part of one’s personality and being. When you can’t express your thoughts, people do not have full conversations with you, just a couple of sentences here and there. When we are with a group of people, I can understand a lot of what is being said, but by the time I form what I want to say in my mind, the conversation moves on to another topic. I just end up listening and not speaking much. Hopefully, my brain and tongue will continue to remember what I learned years ago. Then I’ll be able to be converse more soon.

It rained a lot today, with heavy thunder and lightning. In fact, the electricity went out around 7 pm. It worked out well, because the kids were tired – so we called it a night and all went to bed early.

The boys: Kevin’s favorite Chinese food is ‘you bing’ (a type of flakey, layered flatbread that is fried). Justin’s is rice with soy sauce and fried/scrambled eggs. Brian eats a bit of everything.

Posting My Blogs

I'm finally posting again. It took a while to find a place to be able to get on the Internet. One of Kenton's high school classmates has an electronics shop and two internet cafe shops. We are in the electronics shop, and they are letting us use their personal computers. Kenton is on a computer beside me, while the three kids are sitting and watching Tom & Jerry on a large TV screen to the right of me.

A couple of days ago, we went to another Internet cafe, but it was so crowded. They was no way we could get online and have the three kids with us. Most of the people in the cafe were teenagers and young adults playing games online.

The boys: In the electronics shop, the boys have picked out some movies that they want to buy. Brian and Justin chose Cars, and Kevin has chosen a Discovery CD.

Walmart Playground

We went shopping once again. This time to buy a new television and washing machine for my parents-in-law. We checked prices in a couple shops, then ended up going to Walmart to purchase one. Yes, prices are the lowest at Walmart. In the afternoon, an uncle came to visit for a couple of hours.

I made spaghetti for dinner. I had packed a bottle of Prego mushroom sauce (the kids favorite) and a small can of Kraft parmesan cheese. My father-in-law ate a small bowlful, but my mother-in-law didn’t like the parmesan cheese taste.

The boys: At Walmart, Brian fell asleep, so Kenton walked around with him while he slept. I took Kevin and Justin to the large indoor playground. It is a mix of Chuck E. Cheese, Pump It Up, and Gymboree playgrounds. Kevin and Justin (and I) had a fun time running around. They especially liked shooting the foam balls with the stationary air guns.

Wu Family Get-Together

Today we spent the day with family. Seven of Kenton’s uncle and aunts from both sides of the family came over for lunch. They enjoyed looking at the kids and kept saying that they were handsome boys. My mother-in-law cooked many dishes, and two of the aunts helped also.

The weather is the hottest it has been since our arriving in China.

The boys: Brian fell asleep before the luncheon begin, and Justin fell asleep shortly after eating. Kevin then got all the attention from the patriarchs.

McDonalds - Scare Of My Life

Today was a shopping day. Kenton and I, the boys, and my mother-in-law went to several shops, one of them being Walmart. There are two Walmarts in Dalian now. There weren’t any three years ago. I was blown away by the gigantic size of the building. The entrance was like a two-story tall building with huge marble columns. Inside, everything is still located on one level. There is a lot of space to walk around. There is also a really nice indoor playground for the kids to run around in. The price signs are the same design as the ones in the states. The huge Walmart sign design is the same also, except that it is red instead of blue (red is a lucky color in China). It was comforting to be able to shop with signs in both Chinese and English. It was also convenient to again push the kids around in carts while shopping (we forgot to bring our stroller to China). This is by far the largest Walmart I’ve ever been in.

For lunch, we ate at McDonalds, which was located within the Walmart complex. Everything looks and tastes exactly as the McDonalds in the States. There are different menu items offered here though. In addition to chicken nuggets, there are these crunchy, spicy chicken wings. There is also some kind of drink with pieces of fruit at the bottom and cream at the top. It comes in different flavors - peach, melon, mocha, and something else. One of the side orders is sweet corn. And instead of apple pie, they serve Sweet Taro Pie. This pie has a light purple filling with small pieces of taro. I absolutely love this pie! I wish they would put this on the menu in the States.

The boys: At Walmart, Kevin got a transformer toy, while Justin got a target practice set for two. After we finished eating at McDonalds, the kids wanted to play in the small indoor McDonalds playground. The playground was about 60 feet away from where we were sitting, and I said they could play for five minutes. They started running towards the playground while I threw our trash away. Kenton went to call our driver, and his mom sat and watched our things. About 30 seconds later, I went to watch the boys play. I watched Kevin come down the slide, then Justin, and was waiting for Brian. No Brian. I asked Kevin and Justin where Brian was. They didn’t know. I searched that small playground several times – still no Brian. I told the boys to stay in the playground, then ran around the McDonalds looking for Brian. I couldn’t find him. Then I started asking people if they had seen a little 22-month-old dressed in red. No one had seen him. Kenton came back and I told him that Brian was lost. The look on his face was the same fear that I felt. His mom hadn’t seen Brian either. Over three minutes passed while Kenton and I ran around in different directions looking - and still no Brian. I don’t know what a heart attack feels like, but I would imagine it was close to what I experienced. My chest felt so tight, I couldn’t breathe, and my heart was pounding so hard that I thought it would pound right out of my chest. Brian was nowhere in McDonalds. Kenton decided to run outside to look for Brian and I ran into Walmart to look for him. By this time, I was crying – I couldn’t even think straight. I just knew I had to find him. When I walked about 20 feet into Walmart, I saw this little cute thing in an Oshkosh red onesie walking back towards the front door, looking around for someone familiar. He was about 100 feet away when I first spotted him. I’m so glad that he was dressed in something that stood out. I ran towards him, then squatted down and put my arms out to him. He ran into my arms smiling and said, “Mama, Mama.” I lost it then – I was sobbing so hard and hugging him so tight. I’m crying now just thinking about it. We walked back into McDonalds, and Kenton hugged the both of us. Kenton’s mom wiped away a tear or two also. The reunion was short-lived - Brian wanted to go down to play in the playground.

Restaurant Beside The Sea

Today Kenton and I and the kids went to the ‘Kai Fa Qu’ (Economic Development Zone) outside of town. It is a huge area with lots of new developments and businesses, along with theme parks and tourist areas. It is like another town in itself.

We went there to meet five of Kenton’s classmates from high school. We met at an upscale seafood restaurant beside the sea. The restaurant was huge and beautiful. The main floor was for open seating, but the many floors above were private rooms. We were led up four flights of stairs. The stairs were made of marble, and the walls beautifully sculpted with various forms of seashells and starfish. Large jade sculptures (about two feet high each) were set on stands in the corner of the stairway. Our room was quite spacious with a very large round table set for 12 in the middle. Two of the walls were padded airwalls, while the third wall was all glass. We had a magnificent view of the sea, with seagulls, fisherman boats, and large ships in the skyline. A couple of classmates had brought their wives, but we were the only ones to bring kids. Our lunch reunion lasted for over 5 hours. There was a lot of story-telling and laughter. I could understand a little over half of the conversation, but was kept busy feeding and entertaining the boys anyways. It was a very pleasant afternoon. After our meal, were drove around the area. Dalian is quite beautiful – today’s drive was especially scenic along the seacoast. I took lots of videos.

The boys: The boys fell asleep in the car on the way to the restaurant. We had to carry all three sleeping boys up to our eating area. After waking up and eating, they were ready to leave, but we were able to keep them entertained with different games. They also entertained us with running around the room in circles, laughing/shrieking while playing tag. I think we are over the worst of the virus. Brian still has diarrhea, but is almost back to his normal self. Justin is still fussy at times, but also doing much better. He keeps begging to drink soymilk, but the different brands of soymilk here have a much stronger soy taste to them. He is so used to Silk and 8th Continent with vanilla that he won’t drink the brands here. Hopefully we’ll be able to find some kind of soymilk that he likes.

Mahjong

Kenton and I played mahjong with his parents for a couple of hours today. It was a lot of fun. Mahjong is basically rummy, but played with cute colorful small tiles. There are three different suits – sticks, circles, and thousands - each from one to nine. Then there is another suit, each with four tiles. The tiles in this suit are: 'south,’ ‘north,’ ‘west,’ ‘east,’ ‘white face,’ ‘rich,’ and ‘red middle.’ The object of the game is to get three of a kind or three in a row (i.e. 4, 5, 6) of each suit (a set), along with one pair of any suit. The game is set up by ‘building a wall’ in the shape of a square – 16 tiles across and 2 high. Each person takes turns drawing and discarding a tile. If you are the first to get your four sets and a pair, you win.

The boys: Justin and Brian are getting better. They still were feverish a couple of times during the day, but are now eating and drinking a little bit here and there. Brian is becoming more active again. Justin is still quite fussy and whenever is feverish, he repeatedly says, “I want to go home.”

During the mahjong game, all three boys kept wanting to ‘help.’ They would help ‘build the wall,’ discard tiles, and add extra tiles to our hands (Brian).

I had brought about a dozen paperback books in the ‘Magic Tree House’ series for Kevin to read. He had never read them before, but beginning today, is really enjoying the different stories. I figured that a dozen books would be plenty for the trip – wrong. He’s already read half of them – all today.

At In-Laws Home

My parents-in-law have spent the last month or so remodeling their home. They have fixed up the bedrooms and built an additional small suite (bedroom and small kitchen). When they talk about all the work that was done, it reminds me of the remodeling that we’ve done in our home. We are so fortunately to have friends that were willing to help remodel our dining room, living room, hallway, and foyer.

The boys: It was a long night, with Justin and Brian waking up many times having to use the bathroom and/or throwing up. The day was spent mainly tending to the sick boys. Brian’s fever finally broke. Both boys get a bit feverish intermittently, and are still dealing with diarrhea, but are no longer throwing up anymore. I suppose it is due to the fact that their little stomachs are empty.

Beijing to Dalian

Today we flew on Air China from Beijing to Dalian to visit Kenton’s parents. The improvement with this airline from 16 years ago is amazing. Everything was neat, clean, and professional. It was a pleasant flight.

A friend of my brother-in-law drove us to the airport. This friend, who used to work a 9-to-5 job five years ago, decided to start his own business. He was successful with his first company, so decided to begin another one, and another one. He now has 5 very successful businesses, three nice apartments (each that cost in the $300,000 range), and an Audi that cost $80,000. He also just came back from Hainan, which is a resort island in the south, bringing several business associates for vacation. He’ll be purchasing another apartment soon. Everything is done in cash - no need to borrow from the bank. The growth in businesses and business opportunities is amazing. People are becoming very wealthy almost overnight. China is being compared to the Gold Rush in California years ago. People within China and from many other countries are rushing in to strike it rich.

When we arrived at the Dalian airport, the kids had to use the bathroom. I was dreading having to use public toilets, but they needed to go. I was shocked to see a squeaky clean and modern public restroom. Again, I am comparing everything to 12-16 years ago, and keep being pleasantly surprised.

Kenton’s best friend met us at the airport, and drove us to my in-laws home. We had called my in-laws on the drive to their house, so they were waiting outside their home for us when we arrived. It was a joy for them to meet Brian for the first time, and see how the other two boys had grown.

The boys: Brian has had a fever for almost 24 hours now. Justin’s fever finally broke, but he still is warm to the touch. Both of them are dealing with diarrhea and throwing up. We have been through many changes of clothing and many diapers since yesterday. We’re having Justin wear Brian’s diapers (yes, we’re back to two kids in diapers temporarily). Justin complains bitterly and begs for his underwear, but we just can’t get him to the toilet in time each time. We’ll now play the waiting game – waiting for this virus to pass …

The Forbidden City

We went to see the 'Gu Gong,' (translated means 'former palace') which is the Forbidden City. It is said that this palace is one of the largest and best-preserved in the world. This huge complex, built between 1406 to 1420, is around 178 acres. Twenty-four different emperors lived here. It is so beautiful as you walk in. We walked along the polished pathway in the middle which is where the emperors used to walk. I could imagine the pomp and ceremony, along with the power that existed many years ago. There is so much that I could write about to describe the symbolism of the buildings and items within the city, but you can look that up elsewhere on the internet. We only explored the outer courts of the Forbidden City today because we needed to do some errands, i.e. exchange money, buy tickets, etc.

We found a bank (after going to several) to exchange our American Travelers Checks into 'Ren Nim Bi' (Chinese currency or RMB). Our dollar to the 'yuan' (Chinese dollar) is currently worth about 7.5 RMB, but with the exchange rate we got about 7.2 RMB for each dollar. It took over 5 hours for the whole process - I won't go into detail, but let's just say that it was a frustrating experience. There were long waiting periods to first speak to a teller, then a supervisor, then a manager, then someone at headquarters. Then being sent to the main headquarters of the bank (on the other side of the city). I'm afraid there are going to be a lot of frustrated foreigners during the Olympics next year. Anyways - Kenton was able to exchange our money, finally. The boys and I were at Starbucks for the most part waiting. We decided to stop dragging them around from bank to bank.

It is amazing how Starbucks is the same here as it is back home. The boys and I found a cozy semi-private corner and stayed there for hours. The prices are the same as in the States, which is fine on an American salary, but expensive for a local salary. I couldn't believe I paid 18 yuan for a small bottle of apple juice. I could buy four times the amount of juice in a supermarket (which I did later that day) for one third the price. People from all countries came in to patronage the coffee shop. What amazed me the most was the service. Whenever a patron left their table, two employees would quickly come and clean up. The table would be spotless and ready within 15-20 seconds. When a group of about 15 Europeans finished up and left, four employees quickly came and cleaned up. The tables and chairs were returned to their proper spaces - again, all done within 15-20 seconds. An employee would walk by and check on us every 10 minutes. The private sector in Beijing seems to know customer service.

We will leave in the morning to fly north to Dalian, Kenton's hometown. We'll come back to Beijing to shop and sightsee for a couple days before flying back to the States next month. I may or may not be able to post daily, but I'll try.

The boys: The boys did pretty well waiting at Starbucks. We played games together, did puzzles, ate crossaints, drank juice (anything to keep them entertained) - then came the daily 5-6 pm whining/crying/meltdown (they're still dealing with the time change). Justin and Brian were finally able to sleep some there. We then had dinner at McDonalds. I'll write more about that later.

It seems that all three boys ate something that their stomachs weren't used to. Justin has the worst of it. He began a fever in the evening, and has had a high temperature. He's also thrown-up a few times. I've been up most of the night checking on him and comforting him.

Brian has gotten quite attached to his uncle (Kenton's brother). When he is fussy, he'll calm down as soon as his uncle picks him up.

Kevin doesn't want to leave the hotel we're staying in.

The Great Wall

We went to The Great Wall today. What an experience! We left our hotel at 8 am in a rented van. The vans here are called 'mian bao che' (bread car), because they are shaped like a loaf of bread. We arrived after riding for almost two hours - of which half of that time was spent in a traffic jam at the entrance of the Great Wall. We went to the most touristy part of the wall called 'Badaling.' We began with everyone walking, then ending up carrying Brian and Justin most of the way.

Brief history: Portions of the wall were started around 221 BC during the Qin Dynasty, made with loose stone and dirt. Then around 209 BC, during the Han Dynasty, the wall was improved on. Red willow reeds and twigs layered with gravel and water made the wall stronger. During the Ming Dynasty, the walls were connected into one large wall, and made even stronger with brick and earth. The wall was built for protection against enemies.

We walked/climbed about one and a half miles one way. We went as far as the fourth watchtower. It was so crowded at the steepest part before the fourth watchtower. And it was so steep that I had to use the railing to help pull myself up. I thought I was going to die at times carrying Brian while climbing to the top. It was so steep - I'm guessing around a 60-65 degree angle. Kenton carried Justin and was struggling too. Eventually we made it. The boys ate popsicles at the top, and we took several pictures.

Then going down ... oh my! It looked like the wall was a vertical drop. At first, I was truly frightened as I pictured myself tripping and falling with Brian. We took it step by step though, again holding onto the handrail the whole time. What an experience!! My calf muscles were starting to ache halfway down, and my arm muscles were so tired with holding Brian. There is a Chinese saying 'Bu dao Changcheng fei hao han' (which means "You're not a real man if you haven't climbed the Great Wall)." Well, I guess that I am a real woman now! What an adventure!!

The boys: Kevin had been looking forward to climbing the Great Wall for months, and he finally did it. He struggled and complained at times, but completed his mission. We told him that he was a real man now. Brian climbed for a couple of minutes at one point. He pushed his little legs to go up step after step. You could see his legs shaking from the effort. People kept commenting about such a little kid climbing, and a few cheered him on. Justin walked down most of the way clinging onto the handrail with both hands. He thought it was so much fun! Kevin would switch between running down and screaming on the parts without steps, and sliding down on the handrail. Kevin is asking to climb the Great Wall again ...

Beijing Summer Palace

We started our morning before 4 am, when the kids woke up. Our bodies are so mixed up with the time change. China is 12 hours ahead of our time at home (EST). We had to wait for the hotel restaurant to open at 6:30 am for breakfast. Breakfast was a full spread of fruit melons, Chinese breads, boiled eggs, vegetable dishes, 'mei zhou' (Chinese breakfast soup), and juices. Breakfast is included with the hotel room, so we're looking forward to having a delicious meal every morning.

Today, we went to the 'Yi He Yuan' (which means Garden of Restful Peace). This garden park, known as the Beijing Summer Palace, is over 700 acres with the majority of it being Kunming Lake. There are thousands of structures, such as pavilions, towers, bridges, and corridors throughout the park. It truly was beautiful looking over the lake. There were dragon boats, sailboats, pedal boats, the famous marble boat and long bridge. The lake is surrounded with weeping willow trees that sway back and forth in the breeze. The pavilions and towers around the lake make it a picturesque place.

We tried to go down the famous Long Corridor, but there were so many people that we opted to just sit and rest off to one of the sides. The corridor is painted with beautiful historic scenes all along the corridor's ceiling. Hopefully I'll get around to posting some of our pictures soon.

For dinner, we went to a 'Qing Zhen Cai Guan' (a Chinese Islamic restaurant, which literally translated means 'pure truth food restaurant'). We walked for about 15 minutes from our hotel to the Xuan Wu District, a section of Beijing where there is a large Muslim community. It was very interesting to see the blend of Chinese and Islam cultures. I so wanted to take pictures of the people and buildings, but was carrying a sleeping Brian. In fact, all three boys had to be carried during the walk - they were so tired, and they slept through the whole meal. The food was full of different spices - some that I recognized were anise, fennel, red pepper flakes, coarse sea salt, cumin, cilantro, and garlic. Each bite was packed full of flavor. The restaurant we ate at was run by people from the Hui ethnic minority group. I definitely want to visit this district and eat their food again before we leave.

The boys: In the morning, while we were waiting for the hotel restaurant to open, we had the boys take a bath. The bathtub upstairs is made of wood and is much taller than a typical-sized porcelain one. I believe that these tubs have been popular in Europe for years. They had a lot of fun and are looking forward to taking many more baths during our stay. For breakfast, they each ate a plateful of watermelon. Justin, who usually doesn't eat much, ate 7 eggs. He ate just the whites, but kept going back for more. At the Summer Palace giftshop, Kevin got a Chinese fan with pictures of Chinese opera masks. He is enjoying his stay so much that he told us, "I don't want to leave China."

In China

We finally landed at Beijing International Airport at around 2 pm local time (2 am EST). The kids did pretty well, considering the 13-hour flight. After going through customs, we found our luggage easily. Something different from US airports here, were the SmartCarts (carts used for luggage) were free - good thing, because we don't have any Chinese money yet. Kenton's brother and friends met us with a van and car, and brought us to our hotel. I noticed that the traffic was much heavier than three years ago and that the sky was grey with smog. I don't remember smog on our last visit. The driver said that there wasn't any smog on windy days.

Our hotel accomodation is a large suite with two levels. There are beds and bathrooms on both levels, with stairs within our suite to get to the upper level. There is a huge window by the stairway that which covers both levels. Kenton's brother used 'guanxi' (which translated means backdoor connections) to get us this place. There are designated hotels for foreigners throughout the city, which this is not one of.

We went across the street to eat at a restaurant. Restaurants here usually have private rooms in addition to the main eating place. We ate in an upstairs private room set for 10 people with Kenton's brother's family and a close friend. The food was very tasty, and the dishes were set on a large LazySusan turntable. The meal was a wonderful way to end our first day in China.

The Boys: Kevin and Justin were kept busy on the flight with purchases from the airport. Kevin got a Tamagotchi pet and Justin a Diego painting book. Brian kept walking and running up and down the aisles playing with another boy his age. Kevin made friends with two brothers from Ellicott City, whose seats were in the row in front of ours. On the ride from the airport to the hotel, Kevin was looking at the city and said, 'I'm glad we're here in China.' Justin was so tired that he kept saying he wanted to go home. All three kids fell asleep after a few minutes for the rest of the trip. Later at the restaurant, Kevin ate roasted chicken with rice and 'bing' (flatbread), while Justin only ate rice with soysauce. Brian slept through the whole meal. Kevin and his cousin went and got ice cream bars for dessert.