China Mis-Adventure

So today I went to get our school calendar laminated. Easy enough, right? But the thing is is nothing is easy in China. Unless you want to get some stinky doufu... that's a little joke. Seems where ever I go stinky doufu is there to greet me. Phew-wee!
So anyway, I went to get my stuff laminated and it was kkkkrazy! First of all the lamination isn't what you think of in America. They had these huge rolls of laminate, but no heated element to squeeze all the stuff through... the rolls were basically just there and they cut hunks off to match the size of whatever you want laminated. Then they stick it on. You have to specify is you want the front and back laminated or they will only laminate the front. They do actually have a roller of sorts that they use, but don't use well.
I was in a hurry today seeing how I had guest arriving this evening, no food in the house, and still plenty of tidying up to do. My calendar has been taking a beating and I knew if I didn't get it laminated today then I wouldn't have the chance again until next week. So I went off to take care of business. I arrived at the shop around 2:30.
At first everything seemed to be going quite well. Then they wanted to take everything to the back and stick it in the roller. This seemed reasonable to me. I thought it was a heated deal that would seal it up better - not so. What actually happened was the paper on the back of the laminate got stuck on the edge of the laminate from the other side then sealed into the two pieces. It partially covered some of our numbers and caused great huge wrinkles in other areas. When they brought it down and asked if it was ok I just cried. Yes, I literally cried. I had a hard day today and this was just the pin-prick that let the air out of my balloon. I worked hard to bring the needed items from America for our school room and now in a matter of 20 minutes I felt defeated. I know it is only a calendar, but it is the focal point of our morning.
We carefully peeled the laminate off the front of the messy numbers and they re-did each one. They hand laminated the rest. It took 3 hours.... 3 hours!!! Then they tried to charge me $40 US which is highway robbery. I only had 100 yuan on me so that is what I gave them. That is about $15. I just cannot believe how hard it is to get something done here. Done well anyway. I got a meter of laminate from them (10 yuan = $1.50) so that I can just do the job myself next time.
Sweet ladies invited me for dinner. Bless their hearts - they wanted to satisfy their customer. I enjoyed visiting with them anyway. I guess overall they did a good job.... after all, it was made in China.

The Teacher and The Patient

We have returned home and with us lugged a 50 pound box of books and Kindergarten curriculum. For the past week we have been trying to figure out where to put all the stuff that did occupy "the office" so that we can transform it into our "school room". Gracie is very excited about all this... she loves doing school, or at least she has loved the idea of it. The other day we were talking about our school room and she asked if I would be the teacher. I said yes and she replied,"And will I be the patient?" Oh child, I guess you will be.

So, we will begin Kindergarten next week, just in time to see St. Patrick's Day on the calendar and talk about our Irish heritage and why folks decided to give this St. Patrick such an honor. Gracie turned 4 in December, but we just can't wait til Fall to learn to read. I am wondering how much Kindergarten we'll be able to accomplish and if 1st grade will be in our sites for next year? For now - one day at a time. I am so looking forward to teaching my baby to read! And she is so ready!

More to come...

Don't Knock It Till You've Tried It....

Ha! Ha! So how do you know when you have reentered our lovely city here in China? When you see small children squatting and taking a poo on the sidewalk. Only this time it was my small chile. Yes, Gracie christened the airport sidewalk out by the taxi stand on our return to Wave City last weekend. She kept telling us she had to go, but since she had actually gone a few hours earlier we didn't think it was an emergency and she agreed she could hold it. Our driver, who we told to bring 2 cars, which means vans - because as far as we knew that was all he had, and we told him we had 16 pieced of luggage, brought a van and a small car. So we waited about 30 minutes while the men arranged and rearranged the luggage to fit in the one van. Gracie had had enough of waiting and announced that she had pooed in her pants. Oh no!

Well, at least it was 2 am and there was noone about so I just went ahead and stripped her down, but before I could get her jeans back up she made it known that she was not finished! There was no where to go, so she just squatted right there on the sidewalk and pooed til her little heart was content, then Mommy poopy scooped it all up with a wipe and threw it away. She was so sweet, apologizing profusely. "So sorry Mommy" I told her it was ok and that I was just thankful we were in China where she could just go on the sidewalk. With a sigh of relief she agreed, "Me too!"