Herbal Treatment

Well I pulled my back out about 2 weeks ago and was laid out. I couldn't even hold the baby. Thankfully I had a lot of people praying for me and Dad answered, so I'm all better now. I did try to get some relief from a few Chinese remedies which led to some interesting experiences.

First of all I had a massage which started out like any massage, but gradually became more and more like some kind of ancient torture. After rubbing vigorously on my lower back the doctor pushed his thumb into a pressure point in my hip (well I think it was more like my hiney...) That just about shot me off the bed. Then he pushed in on a few more spots down my leg... oh and then he did the other side. He also did this thing where he pushed down on my back and held my leg up and kind of bounced it??? Then to top it all off and he pushed down really hard on my lower spine and released quickly. It definitely loosened all the muscles up, but the next day I was so sore. It felt like my back was bruised and I could hardly stand to lay on it. It didn't really do the trick... so I laid on the floor for the next few days.

Last week my best friend Dora said she wanted to come and give me a treatment. Dora is a traditional Chinese medical doctor and has taught me a lot about what they do. She has also whipped up some really interesting things for me to take including mule skin cooked with other herbs and sticks. A lot of the medicine is cooked in water and then you just drink the "soup". When she called she knew that I would not be willing to take anything like that because I am still nursing Grace... and she also knew that I would not be willing to have acupuncture because I am so afraid of needles. So she came bearing Moxa.

Moxa is a herb that is widely used. As she began to tell me about it I wondered if it was safe, and she assured me it was since it is used on pregnant women all the time. I check WebMD and sure enough it is even used in the States from time to time to help breach babies turn around. So the adventure began. She had these 2 sticks that resembled cigars, only they were wrapped in white paper with green writing on the outside. She said she needed to light them, but we didn't have a lighter so she lit them on the stove. The not so wonderful aroma of moxa proceeded to fill our home as we walked back to the office.

Dora showed me how to find the points myself and then she held the burning sticks about 2 inches from my skin. The first point was on my abdomen just below my belly button. It did exactly what she said it would do... it felt very warm, but not only at the point but also inside. It moved to an area near my side. I could feel the warmth on the inside but my skin was still cool. It was really interesting. Then she held the sticks near a point just above my ankle, then on my back. I was amazed! It was really great but I think next time I want to go outside because the smell of the smoke almost overtook me.

When I lived near the Chinese medical hospital we used to always smell the moxa, but we didn't know what it was. We thought someone was smoking mariguana. I couldn't believe how it filled the air and noone ever seemed to notice. Now I know why... it was just someone getting a treatment.

Thank you Dora for always loving on me! You're the best!!!!

Scrabble War...

Future Scrabble Champion!!!

Matt and I have an ongoing battle to see who will win at Scrabble... usually he does. This week we have played almost everyday and I have had some of the best tiles in Scrabble history. All week I have been kicking his tail and then right at the last moment he hits some triple word score with a tile worth 8 or 10 points and wins... and by 3 or 4 points which makes it even worse. I must admit that I am a pretty bad sport about it too. I just hate it... he always wins and he can always think of Q words that don't need a "u"... who does that?
Well today I waged war once again. Immediately I started drawing great tiles and I won the draw which meant I got to place the first word (very strategic in this game)! It was a beautiful sight as the board began to fill up. Once, Matt spelled some word and got 38 points or something and I thought I was through, but I came back, and YES I whooped him! Final score 247 to 236. Have a look at that board! For today, I am queen of the hill.

Oh, the Bakery

Check out those cakes! I am always amazed at the detail, I mean look at those horses and that is all icing! The wedding cake below is the eyecatcher in the front window - I'm sure it's pretty stale by now. Oh yeah, I also give this bakery extra kudos because the owner has given me dough several times so that I could make pizza, bread sticks, etc. Friendly, talented people : )

Mania!

We are currently in the midst of the National Day Holiday which officially lasts 3 days; however most schools and businesses take 7. Matt has no class this week, but we decided to stay put in lieu of traveling along side 1.3 billion others. Tonight we thought it would be fun to join some friends at a local food festival, so we loaded the baby up in her Kelty Kidpack and headed across town. We were supposed to meet our friends at a busstop, but we arrived first and had to wait a while. There were so many people! It was like an antbed that some little kid stirred with a stick. Unfortuneately it was too much for me and we never made it past the entrance of the alley that led to the food :( There were people all over Gracie, some were coughing and others were just prodding her with their finger. The worst part was that she as eye level with most of them so I was really having to work hard to keep her from being inspected. It was a bummer!

My teacher offered to let me have class this week, so I took her up on it. I plan to take off a day or two at Thanksgiving and Christmas instead. Yes, Matt will be in class dreaming of turkey while I am at home hopefully cooking some. Even if the school did allow a holiday for the foreign students they would have to make up the days on the weekend. That's how it works. If you want a week off then you'll have to go to school Saturday and Sunday. For the current holiday Matt made up a class this past Saturday and is expected to have another make up class next Sunday, but that's our Sabbath, so he's going to opt out of that one.

Yesterday I decided to write out my daily goals in hopes of getting myself back into a routine. I haven't been very disciplined this past month, but now that class has started back I have to get it together in order to get everything done. One thing Matt and I both want to do is spend more time listening to inspirational radio broadcasts each day. For the past few days we have enjoyed listening to Tony Evans over lunch and I even caught up with James Dobson this afternoon while I was folding clothes. It's good to hear familiar voices and listening to meaningful broadcasts way outweighs watching King of the Hill (which we finally ran out of) and Monk. We do love to watch Survivor though, so we download and watch it weekly!

Oh well, not much else is going on at present. Send us a line or two if you get the chance.
Blessings, Jenny

Happy Birthday to Me!

That's right, I am officially another year older. Here in China most people consider themselves another year older on January 1st... but not me. Case in point, we were told our former babysitter was 18, but later when we were discussing Gracie's birthday with her we found out that she doesn't turn 18 until December. Actually, most Chinese pretty much count themselves as one when they are born. I guess that makes pretty good sense. I mean we are actually 10 months old when we enter the world. Still though, I think I'll wait until next September before I start telling people I'm 33. Of course I could do like Billy Bob, he celebrates his birthday twice. Once on his international birthday (his actual birthday) and again on his lunar calenday birthday... or maybe it is his lunar calendar birthday and then his international birthday. Either way, that's a good way to get a lot of attention and a bunch of presents!

I actually celebrated my birthday twice this year. Some friends had a party for me Sunday which was in essence a Mexican food fest, and then I celebrated again Monday with some other friends. So Sunday we chowed on some homemade tortillas, fajita fixins, bean dip, salsa, pico, and corn chips. E made a pinata and filled it with Chinese coins, jujube candies, and minature Dove bars. To top it off 3 muchachas served my cake wearing painted on mustaches and singing Happy Birthday in Spanish. It was Fun-Fun!

Monday we did the traditional take everyone out for your birthday dinner. You heard me right, here your friends don't take you out to dinner, instead you take them out to celebrate your birthday. We went to a fancy place near our home and ordered about 13 dishes. One of my favorites was the black chicken soup. Are you wondering how I knew it was a black chicken? Well, because it's feet were still attached and sticking up out of the soup, and they were black. And yes, the head was still attached as well. That is one thing I had to get used to... having the head on everything being served. Only the chicken and the fish were lucky enough to stay in tact for this meal, and our buddy Mark feasted on the fish head after we had disassembled its body. The food was really good!

I also racked up on presents this year... from my Chinese friends I received 2 bunches of flowers, a scarf, a handmade cell phone cover, videos of my province, and a case of milk. From the Meiguo pengyous I received lentils and brown rice (YES!), snickers, cheetos, cranberry sauce (Yes, Yes, Yes!!!), a vase, handtowels with a Grace logo, UGA glasses, a candle, a frame, roses from my sweetie, and a balcony full of plants!!! Then I got a new corduroy LLBean shirt, a magazine, and a cool bag along with two wonderful cards from America!!! It was a great birthday! So far I am already enjoying the flowers and the milk!

Happy Birthday to me, or as we say here, "Sheng Ri Kwai Le".
Adios my friends,
Jenny

Kinder wheels

They do a lot of things differently here in China and sometimes I have to gasp. I remember when I first arrived we took a minibus to our campus and there were no seatbelts. Of course it had to be raining. I thought my knuckles would never regain their true color. Anyway, that was the first time Gracie rode in a car without a child restaint. Now we are very accustomed to jumping into the back of a taxi with her on our lap, but I still often direct the taxi drivers to be careful or slow down... not that they really listen to me.

You may think this is careless until you take a second look and see all the little families cruising around on a scooter or motorcycle. Sometimes Dad will be driving and mom will be balancing on the back with baby in arms. Or maybe a small child will sit between mom and dad, but my favorite is when a child stands on the foot rest of a scooter between the driver's legs. All of the above are quite common. For a twist and little more adventure I noticed that one mom had purchased a little wooden stool and her 2 or 3 year old daughter was actually sitting on the footrest between her legs. Now imagine all this taking place in the busiest intersection in Atlanta or Dallas. Yeah, and here they don't even pay attention to traffic signals or traffic lanes. And of course no one would even think of wearing a helment. Don't worry, I won't be teetering little Gracie on any two wheelers for a long time.

Tired Out!

It’s late and I have no idea what I’m going to write about tonight, but this new website keeps blocking me out of my blog page, and since I have the opportunity, I thought I would catch everyone up…

1st day of school… Tomorrow is the first day of school and Matt will be waking up bright and early, putting on his school clothes, and I’m sure I’ll be pushing him out the door with breakfast in his hand at 10 til 8. He’ll have class 16 hours a week and I will be hanging out at our pad with Gracie. We were not successful in finding a babysitter so that I could begin classes, but we did find a tutor who will come to our home and teach me 3-4 days a week. We haven’t nailed down my schedule yet, but we’ll start class later this week. Our friend Naomi is going to come over and try the babysitting thing out. She doesn’t have any children and is a little nervous about being responsible for our little bundle of joy, but she is willing to see how it goes, and I’ve promised to show her the ropes. I’m confident that she will do a great job. She really loves Grace and seems very comfortable around her when she visits. I’ll never be more than one room away, so I guess nothing too much can happen that I can’t help her handle.

Our vacation…. was GREAT! We went to Yangshuo, a suburb of Guilin, which is famous in China. It is also a tourist trap, but we were thankful for all the Western food and street vendor who catored to our foreign needs. We ate burritos and pizza and french fries and apple pie…yummy. We also woke up to a beautiful sunrise coming up over the mountains, and were able to enjoy it from our balcony. We had the best view from our 5th floor hotel room, and that made walking up and down those stairs every day well worth effort. Check out the photo!

We took this boat ride down the river to enjoy the scenery and had some unexpected side trips along the way. At one point we were all told to get off the boat, and the driver hurriedly pulled back out into the river leaving us all on the shore. He told one of our crew that the police were coming and it was illegal for him to be hauling passengers down the river. I’m sure if the cops had seen us they’d have wondered how the foreigners ended up stranded on the side of the river… the guy finally pulled back up a couple hundred feet downstream and told us to get back on and hurry up! On that little boating excursion we bargained for rocks, our friend rode a water buffalo, and we had a photo op in front of the same spot found on the 20 yuan bill.

Gracie made a lot of friends while we there. She loves other babies and can’t keep her hands off them. This little girl in the attached photo was thrilled with Gracie’s enthusiam. They laughed and talked their baby language for about 5 minutes. It was adorable. What is not so adorable is that Grace hasn’t slept through the night since we returned over a week ago. She doesn’t want to go to bed either. THat week of sleeping with Mom and Dad and being held for most of her naps has completely spoiled her. So, I’m tired!!! Tired out!

I think I better sign off now and go to bed. Tomorrow I will be flying solo and I’ll definitely need my beauty sleep to make it through the morning. For your enjoyment I have added a view photos this time. The sign you see was posted in the squatty on the train… joy, joy!
Love to all! Jenny

Back from GanZhou

We survived our first trip out of town and it was fun! Visiting our teacher’s home meant loading a train with our bags, baby, and stroller, fighting for a seat, and riding 5 hours south. It all went without a hitch – our Dad is soooo good. We saw lots of neat things while we were there… for starters we had a great view of the old city wall and river from our teacher’s home. After lunch we took a stroll along the river walk and discovered the coolest little bridge. It was supported by a long line of boats and jostled accordingly. We were very impressed with the parks and pagodas too. On day 2 we visited the oldest part of the city. The original streets were still in tack, although refurbished. The homes were one story with large rooms and the traditional hole in the roof for lighting purposes. One family allowed us to come inside and have a look. Surprisingly there were several patriarchs living there; a couple of over 100 years old and another lady over 90. Wow! The stories they could have told. All in all it was a fabulous trip, Gracie did well on the train and we had a great time bonding with our teacher and her boyfriend.

FUNNIES!!!

I called this one…

Did you know that it isn’t good to watch t.v. while eating? Well, it isn’t because if you are watching t.v. you cannot digest your food.

Girls are easier than boys.

Often people ask if Grace is a boy or a girl. I usually just say she is a girl, but sometimes I am bamboozled by the confusion, especially when she is wearing a cute little sundress. I have in this case asked the person what they think… hinting by asking them to look at her clothes. For friends I usually explain that in America girls wear pink and boys wear blue and this is a distinguishing factor when they are very young.

I asked my teacher about all the confusion Chinese people have with determining if a child is a boy or a girl. Her answer made me scratch my noggin…

Girls are easier to raise than boys. If you have a boy you may want to raise him as a girl by putting him is girl clothes or letting him play with girl toys, that way he will be easier to raise. Therefore, people are never quite sure if a baby is a boy or a girl by what they are wearing. Huh? Well that explains it. Surprisingly none of them seem to have gender issues.

The Sky isn't falling, but our windows are....

Yesterday afternoon Matt was trying to open the bathroom window and it fell out. Thankfully he caught it before it plummeted 6 stories to the lakeside walkway below. He struggled with it for a few seconds before I suggested that he just maneuver it back through the hole and let someone else come and put it back in. We called the repairman… actually our contact who speaks English and she called the repairman… and he came this morning to have a look. He announced that he would return this afternoon.

I am not sure what constitutes afternoon, but he returned with a fellow worker around 5:00. They inspected the window and the hole where it had come from. I pointed out that the frame was bent on the outside which puzzled them, so one of them left, for tools I think… the other proceeded to the kitchen to repair our faulty plumbing. I showed him how bubbles and other bits of food and gunk make their way out of the extended accordion tube that connects a pipe from our sink to a pipe that is cemented into the floor. It isn’t connected though, it just rests in the bottom pipe, which means there is no seal, so when suds back up they come right out all over the inside of the cabinet and sometimes onto the floor. It’s pretty gross. He didn’t have any tools, but I watched as he took the extension tube out and inspected it… then he started unscrewing the other pipes… I had to leave. Later he wanted me to inspect his handy work… I created a lot of bubbles and poured them down the drain…. and apparently he fixed the problem, for now anyway.

The other guy returned with a screwdriver??? They talked a little while then left with the window in hand. I asked if they’d fix it today… they said yes and said they were going outside. I thought they might be planning to scale the outside of the building… but I never saw them again. So for the second night in a row we have no window in our bathroom.

Question of the day: How many tools does a Chinese repairman need to get the job done?

Answer: Apparently, none.

Hair Salons in China

3 Things I Love… 3 Things I Hate about going to the Salon in China

3 Things I Love include…

#1 – It is very affordable. It costs a total of $1.25, and since that is what it cost 4 years ago, my guess is that inflation won’t affect this perfect pastime – that’s good news in a city where it costs twice as much to eat out as it did in 2002

#2 – For at least one hour someone is tending to your needs… which include a good old fashioned dry hair wash, a rinse & dry and a massage from the top of your head to the tips of your fingers. You just get more than you bargain for… and in this case that is a good thing. I love that the hairdresser turns a bottle of Herbal Essence or Pantene upside down and forms a fist size blob of shampoo on my dry head, then squeezes just enough water from a bottle to get the suds going, then washes and washes and washes, and usually adds some more shampoo somewhere in between.

#3 – The massage! Especially on your shoulders, arms and hands. It is quite different than anything you might get at One Fine Day. They always do this thing where they shake your arms then tickle your fingers… then sometimes they cut off the circulation by grabbing tightly around your wrist – only to release their grasp and run their fingers down the palm to create that little tingle.

3 Things I Hate include…

#1 – The process of kneading the soap through my long hair, which always means my scalp will be thoroughly scratched and pounded. I haven’t yet figured out why they bunch my hair into a ball and push it into my head with great force. It even makes a clunking sound…and then there is the karate chop – and oldie but a goody I know, but I’m not sure I enjoy it on my head.

#2 – They rarely use conditioner. I cringe at the sight of a bamboo comb coming toward me, then after a few minutes the pain and agony are over and I relax for the next stage of my treatment…. the massage, ah.

#3 – Something always gets popped that just shouldn’t… like on my recent visit the lady was determined to pop my funny bone!? I cried “Ouch”, but that didn’t work, so I finally reached for her elbow and proceeded to pop hers. She thought that was mighty funny. There are also a lot of pressure points that sometimes feel they get a little too much pressure. I am always concerned that my temples may implode or maybe I’ll have lasting indentions on my cheeks or eyebrows.

————————————————————————————————————

If my descriptions were not vivid enough for you then you should definitely hop a plane to China for a visit. I can take you to a local shop that will even turn on the AC just for your visit. Of course, the sad thing is that your 10 yuan probably doesn’t even cover the electricity it takes to run the AC. I always feel like I should pay more, but tipping is not something people do here.

Gracie Report for July

She did it! Grace pulled up in her bed today all by herself! For the past 2 weeks she has been pulling up on us and even pulled up on her walker once, but today she finally pulled up in her bed. I think she was even trying to climb out. She’s definitely her momma’s daughter.I am amazed at how quickly Grace has learned new things this month. She turned 7 months old on the 8th, and has perfected sitting alone, crawls wherever she wants to go, and has even started humming along when we sing or play her little piano. It is soooo cute.

I need to childproof the apartment very soon. We have already pushed all the pictures and little things to the center of the entertainment center and coffee table because Gracie is quite mobile in her walker and thinks she needs to touch everything in her reach. I had to pull her away from the shoe rack this afternoon and promptly wash her little digits. That’s the other problem… everything that makes it into Grace’s hand eventually makes it into her mouth.

Lin Lin, her babysitter, told me today that Gracie has gray hairs. I smiled and explained those were the natural highlights God gave her – just like her momma. We also inspected her little toes. Her feet are an exact replica of mine… short toes and all. Other than highlights, toes, and luscious lips… Gracie still favors her daddy.

Salad Art

TGIF! What an exciting day it has been. We began the day with 3 hours of Chinese and a test, our second, and once again it was all in Chinese characters. I was so happy that I understood everything, and Matt and I both passed. We were only a few points shy of an A!

We ended our day with a date. It has been so nice to go on dates again. I took going out for granted, but now I cherish every moment alone with Matt; especially away from home. We rode our bikes together for the first time, dodging taxis, buses and other bicycles along the way. We decided on Pizza Hut because I really wanted a salad. I got my salad and Matt got his pepperoni pizza. I even had a piece of pepperoni for the first time in 2 years… and oh it was gooooood!

Making a salad in China is no simple feat. I think some people must go to some sort of salad building seminar in order to perfect their salad structures. It is very important to get as much as possible into the bowl and along the rim because you only get one trip to the salad bar. There was a very serious salad artist at Pizza Hut tonight. She began when we were being seated, she was about ¼ of the way done when I made my salad, and about the time we were ordering desert she finally finished her masterpiece. She carefully placed carrot sticks along the rim, all jutting out about an inch beyond the edge. Cucumber slices were positioned atop the carrots, then watermelon, pineapple, etc. All the small things like corn and peas went on the inside. It was a site to behold. I wish I’d had my camera. My salad was not so complicated, but it would have been an embarrassment in America.

We ended our date with a trip to Wal-Mart. Matt was very happy to find some coffee beans (hope they taste good) and I was just happy to be shopping without Gracie. She is so cute and of course everyone wants to touch the foreign baby. She hasn’t met a stranger yet, so that really ags them on. I usually have to wash her hands about 5 times during a visit to Wal-Mart. It’s very hard to shop when you’re trying to make sure your child is not sucking the germs off someone else’s hands… yuck!

So, we got our fill of American food, shopped til we dropped at Wal-Mart, and rode our bikes back home dodging cars, motorcycles, and other bikes. It was, as always, an adventure. On our way home we even saw two little boys running around buck naked. They didn’t have a care in the world. They were just having a ball – hineys shining!

Ah, China. Love Y’all - Jenny

Trip to the Women's Hospital

A new experience….

I went to the Women’s Hospital today with a friend to see if they could check my ovary because I have been having some pain in that area. It was quite the adventure. As far as I know, no one has a personal physician here, but some do have connections. My best friend Dora is a post-graduate at the Chinese Medical School and is now practicing in a local hospital. She had a classmate working in the Women’s Hospital so that made our journey a lot less troublesome.

When Dora and I arrived I saw many people wandering around the lobby. Some were sitting and waiting while others were lined up at one of the many windows. The hospital services were listed on a large board in the front lobby, so we found that a sonogram was merely 38 Yuan which is about $5. I knew from previous experience that if I had a major problem this would help them know it very quickly, so we made our way through the “assembly line”. First stop was at a window where my name was entered into the computer and I was given a handy credit card of sorts for future inquiries and a paper notebook in which a doctor may record any diagnosis and treatment. It is the patient’s responsibility to keep up with the medical history. After paying 9 Yuan for the registration and booklet we went upstairs to consult with a doctor, who would have to write the order for a sonogram. Dora called her friend who took us directly to a doctor on duty. The doctor was very friendly and listened intently as Dora explained my concerns. Within a few seconds I had the doctor’s order for a sonogram. Next stop… the pay counter. I paid my 38 Yuan, got my receipt and we headed to the 4th floor to the ultrasound department. I was told to drink obscene amounts of water, which I had already started doing, and then Dora’s friend showed us where to go once my bladder was full. Through the doorway I saw about 8 women in a line waiting. I was told to go back to the waiting room until I was ready… so I downed my 4th bottle of water and announced that it was time! We reentered the room to find 2 lines. I chose to get into the line with a very pregnant woman. You see there is no private sonogram room, everyone watches as you get your sonogram. So, one after another, the ladies slipped onto the table, received the sonogram and got up for the next patient. It was really kind of neat to see the pregnant ladies getting a sonogram. I could recognize all the little body parts and remembered clearly the first time I saw Gracie via sonogram one year ago.

When it was my turn I crawled onto the table and the tech instantly started searching around to find my ovary. I was surprised that from the table I could not see the monitor, which means all those sweet little pregnant ladies could not see the picture of their unborn children… what a shame. I told her I wanted to see, so she turned the monitor around so that I could. No cysts, no problems. Halleluiah! Why the discomfort? Who knows – they said not to worry about it. OK.

I was amazed at the lack of privacy the women had in that hospital, but maybe even more amazing was how comfortable I felt. After a good month of old fashion culture shock, I guess I am finally back to normal – at home in China!

Love to all - Jenny

July 7th, 2006

Oh the fun we’ve had! In the past week Gracie has learned to crawl and has also managed to sit herself up in the process. So, the baby girl is now mobile. Thankfully she hasn’t mastered it well enough to shoot across the house, but she has no problem getting from one side of her play mat to the other. She also likes to play steamroller… one of my all time favorites! Our little girl is growing too fast. She learns something everyday. I’m just waiting for her to learn how to take a nap… in her bed!

We’ve been having some electrical problems lately. It is quite common for the power to go out and for things to break… so we weren’t too surprised when our door bell broke. You may be thinking “No Big Deal”, well when you live on the 6th floor and the door bell is the way you allow someone to enter the security door at the bottom it becomes a BIG DEAL! So, Matt had to trek down several times to let friends in, then one day he went some where and didn’t take the keys. When he returned Gracie was sleeping, so there was no way I could go down to let him in. He suggested I throw the keys out the window, so I did. Guess what – yep, one bent. And of course it was the key to the apartment. 90 degree angle; and when Matt tried to bend it back it snapped in two.

Finally a repair man came to fix the doorbell, which looks like a phone on the wall. When someone comes over they push our apartment # from outside the building and it rings obnoxiously loud until we answer, then we are supposed to be able to push a button and unlock the door downstairs. Our nanny was here so we asked her to tell him to make it ring a little softer so it wouldn’t wake the baby… They went into the baby’s room to look around??? Not sure why, then they came back out and he announced that we needed to line the curtains. Huh? Guess he thought we were asking for his advice. Thankfully he fixed the bell, but it still blares the little tune every time someone pushes our number.

Just for laughs, some naughty little girls thought it would be funny to push the foreigners’ bell and run… but Matt happened to be on the stairs and busted them. It was pretty funny, especially since that sounds like something I would have done at their age.

By the way, we did take the repair man’s advice. I had a black curtain made (it has a shiny lining to reflect the sun). Now Grace’s room is really dark during the day. She is sleeping a little better, but she still hates to take a nap during the day. At night, however, she sleeps well. By 7:30 she’s out! Last night she was sleeping peacefully and Matt and I were watching a movie. We heard a loud sound and Gracie started screaming. I wasn’t sure at first what had woken her… then Matt noticed that some nearby neighbors were shooting fireworks – at 10:00! It sounded like someone was shooting a gun. We had both forgotten how much Chinese people like fireworks. They shoot them off for every occasion it seems. I don’t know what was going last night, but about 5 minutes after we heard them on the front side of the building they started going off in the back as well. Grace didn’t mind so much once she was on Mommy’s lap.

We hope everyone out there is having as much fun as we are, if not, come for a visit! It’s always an adventure in our neck of the woods.

Love to all - Jenny

June 29th 2006

What a week it has been – our teacher must think we are very clever because we have learned to write about 150 characters in our 5 days of class – a little overwhelming. Actually we have been burning the midnight oil writing them over and over and over. I’d say we remember about 35 of those – which mind you is more than I learned in two years when I was here before.

We found a part time nanny to watch Grace while we are in class. Her name is Lin Lin and her English name is Connie, but I call her Lin Lin. She is 18 and from a neighboring county. Her parents are farmers and I think she may be one of the first of her family to go to school. Her English is amazing, she’s incredibly gentle and best of all – she’s a sister! She is a blessing to us and I believe this job is a huge blessing to her. I would add a photo, but we have no idea where our camera is…

Losing things…. Not exactly. Apparently the thieves in this region are quite talented. My mobile phone was stolen right out of my pocket one day on the street – we hope that our camera has not met the same fate. Unlike the phone, that I can live without, we really need the camera! We have checked every conceivable place it might be, but it hasn’t turned up.

On the upside, we got good news today from our Chinese teacher. She explained that we are Da Pang Zi – which means big and fat, which is much better that Tai Pang Le – which just means too fat. So we feel much better now knowing we are just big and fat!

I was at the store the other day where two ladies were discussing how fat I was, so I defended myself by saying I had a little baby, then I amused them by saying that my house is on the 6th floor while making a running action. If I weren’t motivated to lose weight before – I surely am now.

Mosquito alley! Oh my goodness, I have never seen such a horde of mosquitoes. Matt, Grace, and I look like they have had a feast. Every time we go into the stairwell they attack and a few find their way into our apartment. Little do they know that that is going to be the last of them… First of all, I am on the hunt. To help me I have a new toy, which some may call a weapon. Matt found this tennis racket that is a shocker – just turn it on and push the button and ZAP! It even has a handy little light to search those boogers out in the dark. At night we sleep under mosquito netting, Grace has a special net over her baby bed, and we have a mosquito net tent on our bed. It is a bit romantic, kind of like camping in your bedroom.

Ah, to make up for all the trouble I found a man today at a bakery to give me dough. He asked that I come back tomorrow morning; I guess that is when they will make a new batch. As far as I could understand I think he is going to give it to me – I asked how much for a little and he showed me with his hands how much he thought a little was and said he would give it to me. Sounds good to me – so tomorrow morning before class Matt or I will go fetch the dough – I hope! Then we plan to have pizza for lunch! Yummy.

I’m loving China again! Almost being run over didn’t even make me flinch today. Halleluiah! I pray I find our camera so I can post some photos soon. Until next time –

Jenny

June 22nd, 2006

Well this has been a very good week. Grace has another tooth busting through her bottom gum and that has made her a little fussy off and on, but really she is doing well. Matt and I had our first date tonight… since Grace was 6weeks old. We also had our first Chinese lesson today and learned a lot - even all the strokes in order to write the characters. We don’t have it down yet, but Shu Ting (our teacher) said we made beautiful marks. These strokes however, are not characters, only parts of characters… so, yeah we got a long way to go. But I think it was a good first day.

Well a sweet American girl offered to watch Grace for us so that we could have a night out. We took her up on it. We went to McDonalds. You know it reminds me of those stories of some guy taking his prom date to McDonalds for prom… really though, places you’d never eat in the States become gourmet in China. Its just because when you are trying to decide what you’ll eat each day you must choose between Chinese food or Chinese food, and so you usually eat Chinese food.

Bad food story… Matt and I were at Wal Mart (don’t get too excited, it carries Chinese stuff) and decided to grab a few things for dinner. MAtt got some prepared potatoes & something. So we get home and I cooked a dish and put our food in bowls ready to eat. I knew there was something strange in the potatoes, but I couldn’t really tell what it might be??? I ate a potato, I thought, but after a few minutes I discovered some pork with that one inch piece of fat still attached… that’s when I realized I had eaten a huge piece of fat… YUCK - and I don’t even eat pork, or at least I didn’t. I am still gagging thinking about it. Today at lunch I found out that what we have been ordering as sweet and sour chicken is actually pork… I guess the other white meat fooled me real good. Ha, I know my friend Judi is either laughing her head off or gagging with me.

Back to the date. After eating a hambaobao and some fries we went bowling. It was great! We left one and one - first game Matt had me by 2 pins, second game…. drum roll please - me 148 & Matt 103. Yes!!! Dad, I hope you are reading this! I had a little cheering squad in the next lane - several ladies clapped and smiled each time I knocked down more than half the pins. How encouraging!

Well, guess I should study my Chinese before going to bed. We’ll be hitting the books hard tomorrow. Our teacher assured us that she would bring the workbooks for children so that we could begin writing our characters. This is so much fun!

June 17th, 2006

Ah! Back in the land we love. Although I didn’t love it so much earlier this week. I’ll tell you all about that in a minute. But let me start at the beginning. We were crazy trying to get out the door and on our way to the airport. The van was loaded – thank you Red Oak family for letting us use the van – and we were still finding little things, like my piggy bank full of quarters that I forgot to deposit and Grace’s toys. We were sticking stuff into every place you can imagine. We got to the airport in plenty of time despite our delays and the attendant was very pleasant. She did all she could to help us get our 11 pieces checked without too many extra charges. And she checked it all the way to the mainland. So, Matt, Grace, and I with our 6 carry-ons lumbered through security. We were warned that Matt would not get through with his guitar because of new regulations, but they never said a word about it. All the officers cooed at Grace and that was that. In L.A. they shooed me through ahead of everyone because I had a baby, and in Hong Kong – same thing. I think we only had one question about our carry-ons, and they just wanted to know if we needed to check our luggage. I guess they thought that was all of it and we had forgotten to check it… when we told them no they said ok. Once we got to the mainland we had to get all our bags and go through customs. We weren’t sure how we would manage, but a nice guy helped Matt teeter one bag on top of another and we filled 3 carts. The only question the customs officers asked was if we had a video camera, the professional kind. We really got some looks when we rolled up to recheck those 11 enormous bags, and the man behind the counter asked if they were overweight. Matt said yeah, but we paid in the States. That was good enough for him. Let me just say that that has never happened before. Even with just 2 bags I always had to pay for overweight luggage. And I mean you only get 40 pounds in country. We had 11 bags, at least 6 weighing over 50 pounds, and not a hitch. That is favor! Oh, and on the flight from L.A. to Hong Kong we ended up getting the bulkhead because Gracie’s seat wouldn’t fit in the seat we were assigned. We got the bulkhead for the rest of our flights too.

When we arrived in our city it was raining and cool. I had anticipated the heat wave so I dressed Grace in a cute little outfit. Of course I was harassed by all the ladies in the airport. “Too cold! Not enough clothes!” But they were enamored with the little lao wai (foreigner). There were no seat belts in the mini van so Gracie rode on my lap. The driver was very kind to drive carefully, which is very unusual. The taxi drivers have put my heart into my throat several times since then. Anyway, we got to our apartment building and it was pouring. We wondered how we would get our bags up to the 6th floor since there’s no elevator. The school called some locals to come help and in no time our living room was filled with heaps of luggage. I wanted to beat myself for bringing so much stuff.

It took quite a while to get everything unpacked. Our apartment is really nice – it has recently been renovated, but we didn’t have many hangers and there was no furniture in Gracie’s room. We also had to do a lot of shopping the first week because we needed things to set up house. It takes an extraordinary amount of time to do anything here. So, we decided we would try to have one victory a day. Now we have AC, a water dispenser, a dryer, a microwave, a mini oven, a baby bed, and a walker. Oh, and we got some shelves for Grace’s clothes and hangers for ours. Our house looks more like a home now.

Gracie is finally sleeping in her own bed again too. She slept with us the first week. The first night the balcony door didn’t lock, so that was too creepy to let her sleep alone. The next 4 nights we had to huddle in front of the only fan in the house to keep somewhat cool. Then the guys who installed the ACs made a big mess and I had to wash her bedding. Finally, this past Tuesday we decided it was time to let her cry it out. And boy did she. Actually though she did better than expected. Tuesday was actually the roughest day I have had yet. Bad China day we call it. It was raining – again – and we were going to meet some folks for lunch. We were late because we couldn’t get the stroller in the taxi, so we had to walk. Then I almost dumped the baby onto the street trying to get the stroller onto the curb. Not real easy with an umbrella in one hand. All I can say is that it is a good thing I didn’t have a return ticket that day. The dirt, the pollution, everything was getting to me. Culture shock! Thankfully our friend Billy came over that night and brought us dinner. He reminded me why I love this place so much. He is now Billy Li MD – and we are so proud of him. He hasn’t changed much – a constant in an ever changing city. Some of you may remember Billy Bob. He did an internship at Ellis County Diagnostic and was also in our wedding. He’s a mess!

We also experienced our first bout with constipation during that first week. Did you know carrots can cause that? Well, since they have jarred carrots here (one of the 3 things I am willing to feed my baby) she was eating them everyday. Oh, about day 4 of no poopies I called my nurse friend who checked the internet for a remedy. Caro syrup… it works. I was pretty concerned so I asked her what to do if that didn’t work. “You have to go up there and get it out” ‘How?’ “With your finger” ‘Yikes! I’m not doing that to my baby – it will traumatize her!’ But when she strained and nothing came and she strained again and again and cried and curled her little lip I knew I had to help her. I remember my neighbor saying she used a thermometer and someone else saying they used a Q-tip. I chose to use a Q-tip and I helped her get some out. Gross, I know. When she poopied on her own the next day we had a little parade and Matt and I both wanted to change her. Now she takes a dose of apple juice everyday to keep things moving.

Being here with a baby makes things a lot different. Matt bought a bike, but since Gracie isn’t big enough to ride on the back we can’t go on rides together. I did borrow a bike from a friend and have been on one excursion across town. It is difficult not being able to go about freely. We take the baby out daily for lunch or dinner, and we plan to stroll around the campus today, but we can’t get around too quickly. Everyone wants to touch her – they play with her hands and of course she sticks them right into her mouth. A few people have taken her away from me, but I keep a pretty tight grasp on her. She is a magnet though and we know she will be key to us making new friends. Before it was easy to make friends who spoke English, the danger in that is that is what they usually want to do – speak English, when we really need to speak their language. Of course we are willing and happy to be friends with as many people as we can.

Oh, Grace can also sit alone now, although you have to get her into the sitting position. She is almost crawling too, she can get onto her knees and rock, but she only moves backward. We bought her a baby bed, her very first one, and as soon as we get the mattress situation solved she’ll be sleeping in it. I am sure she’ll be pulling up within a month as soon as she has something to hold on to. Are you wondering about the mattress? Well it has one, but it is just a board covered by a cute little piece of Pooh fabric. I bought an egg crate and cut it to size, but now the cover needs to be altered to fit. Our bed also had to be adjusted. The first few morning Matt and I would wake up and ask one another how the other slept. “Like a rock” More like on a rock. I will never understand why the Chinese like to sleep on such hard surfaces. I mean the mattress is brand new and it looks normal, but it feels like cement. The funny thing is that one of the corners had the mattress cover unzipped and folded down so one could see the inside – like it was super comfy or something. I guess it has some high quality filling?

Well, that is about it. We are hopefully going to be able to start classes this next week. We think Dora will be able to keep the baby, but we haven’t nailed that down yet. If not, we have another young lady in mind. I think that will work out ok.

I’ll try to make short updates about once a week or so… so come back for more.

Until then – Bless y’all! Jenny

P.S. – They don’t have any grits here! Or dryer sheets!!!