A step up from my cartwheel.

Xiao Sun is our friend Zhango Hao's driver. He is the one that used to be an acrobat at the circus and took us to the kiddie circus a few weeks ago. Last night he was able to get us tickets to the acrobat show he used to perform in. It was unbelievable. The performers could do things with their bodies that were totally awe inspiring and completely unnatural.
There was no photography allowed but here is the link.

http://www.era-shanghai.com/

If you are unable to translate it with your brilliant mind or google here is an English version.

http://babelfish.yahoo.com/translate_url?trurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.era-shanghai.com%2F&lp=zh_en&.intl=us&fr=ush-mail
Just for entertainment sake, me doing a phenomenal cartwheel.  Why haven't they snatched me up yet? 

Lots of love.
S

What I Miss the Most

Maybe I don't miss it the most, but there is defiantly a void in my life without it. Cold cereal. I am not opposed to a hot breakfast; in fact I think it is better. But I like to have the option. If time is short or I just don't feel like cooking or better yet, I want to sleep ten more minutes; cold cereal is a great stall tactic. I just can't seem to go back to sleep after telling Matt to light the fire and cook some eggs. Especially when there is no guarantee our gas stove will light. Once it is lit, there is no low or even medium only full throttle, hair scorching high. In fact my forearms are hair free and silky smooth, nice!

It is not that I can't buy cereal. It is that I can't bring myself to spend $10 for a box of imported cereal that is so small I would have to ration the portions. Even then, I'm still not sure everyone would get a bowl.

Lily is our cold cereal junky. She came in my room yesterday and said the only thing she wanted to eat was Cheerios. She is past longing for Trix or Lucky Charms she just wants bare bones Cheerios. Sorry girl, how about some eggs?

Here is a box of Frosted Flakes I can buy at the grocery store for a mere $9.00. Not likely.

Got etiquette?

I have been asked to teach the youth boys at our church some etiquette. I however don't have great etiquette so I had to go searching the web for some creative inspiration.

Here is what I came up with:

• Shrek 2, dinner scene with Fiona's parents and Shrek. I thought it provided a good example of what not to do.

• Etiquette quiz. Here is the link if you want to gauge your social graces. http://www.quizmoz.com/quizzes/General-Etiquette-Quizzes/d/Dining-Etiquette-Quiz.asp

• A bundle of do's and don'ts for everything from personal space to table manners.

• Of course I'll end it with food.

The tricky part is incorporating American manners with Chinese. Some of the boys are foreigners but not all. The American etiquette rule is often the polar opposite of the Chinese. Table manners for example. Chinese eat ' buffet style' using chop sticks to get individual bites from the serving dish. (If you are a germaphobe, this is not the country for you.) In the States that is only okay late at night, with your sisters and an ice cream container.

Another example would be entering and exiting anything. It is a mob scene. There is no holding the door or letting people exit the elevator, metro, bus, store, etc. before you try to jam your way in. We have spent our children's short lives telling them to say 'excuse me' when they bump someone or be curious and let someone go before you when you open a door. Not here; we smash and cram through the crowd like everyone else. There is no regard for personal space or manners.

Overall, this is not a country that understands 'common courtesy'. I realized that my first weekend here, when the fireworks started at 6:00 am. It is solidified everyday, when I'm tripping and pushing through crowds (with a stroller and four kids) and people are cutting me off or pushing past to get out the door first.

I guess when you grow up surrounded by 12 million people you do what it takes to get where you're going.

I'm not even going to mention the spitting. That is a post all on its own.

   

Address

Several of you have asked for our address.  My sister Mandy has mailed us a package and the easiest thing to do is copy the address to a word processing program and print it out.  You have to be firm with the post office clerk and assure him/her that once it makes it to China they can read the address and take care of it.

Richard & Stacie Chen
上海市梅岭南路320弄14号1304室
Shanghai, China 200062

Just in case you can't copy and print and are desperate to send us ranch dressing mix or cold cereal; here it is in pinyin, or as close to English as it gets.

Richard & Stacie Chen
320 Meiling Nan Road, building 14, room 1304
Shanghai, China 200062

Can't wait for the gifts to start rolling in.
S

Pulling Up My Bootstraps

It is still raining but I am over my pity party. Much thanks to all of you that told me to keep my chin up. My dear friend Cassie mandated that I tell her something that I truly love about China. It got me thinking and I came up with the following list:

• I love running here. It is very different and sometimes challenging with all of the people but it is the only time I am alone (that is minus children and husband). It is also how I have figured out the neighborhood and beyond. My runs typically end up longer than intended because I get lost. Which is great, I was averaging five miles at Mandy's, now I'm between eight and ten. Not bad.

• I love these buns they make at our market. They have an unbelievable flaky crust and then are filled with either sugar or salt and green onions. They are truly divine and cheap; seven for less than a dollar.

• I love the market. It is as Chinese as you can get. I love all the people and the crazy food (most of which I consider inedible), the livestock, all of it.

• I also love noodle shops.

• Lastly, I love the unity of our branch even though we are very spread out and I haven't really connected with anyone, it will come.

• Oh, I almost forgot, relatives.

We also had a great weekend. Rich has a childhood friend that has been a huge blessing. He has done so much to help us get settled. He has a car and driver that he has 'lent' us a few times. It is a huge adjustment not having a car. Buying toilet paper, milk, rice, anything heavy or bulky is a one item shopping trip if you don't have a car. So we took advantage and loaded up.
I have discovered the 'Chinese Rich' is far more talkative than the 'American Rich'. I don't know if it is because it takes so much longer to say things in Chinese or if he is more comfortable speaking it. Either way, he is everyone's friend. He was sitting up in the front seat chatting away with Xiao Sun, the driver, and discovered that he used to be an acrobat in the circus. Better yet, he wants to take us there now and use his 'influence' to get us in. Great, so off we go to see lions and tigers and bears (oh my).

It ended up being the 'Happy Circus Show' which is the children's circus but it was still great

Animal activist cannot approve of the circus. The bears were cute and the clowns seemed to love them but the lions and tigers were angry. I think the trainers were relived when the cats were back in their cages and the raw meat buckets they had strapped to their backs were removed. Coincidentally, there was a tiger trainer killed at the Shanghai Zoo the same day. Glad we picked the circus.

These pictures do a lousy job showing you just how amazing these clowns were.  They could jump and flip and juggle all while standing on the back of a horse.  Not a slow horse either.  They were quite impressive and it was very upsetting when I am clapping and yelling my praises and everyone else just sits there.  I asked Rich why Chinese don't applaud; he didn't know.  It was such a shame when the guys did these incredible tricks and everyone just sat there.  I guess if that is what you're used to, you feel appreciated anyway.  Not me, I want a standing ovation for jumping jacks.

Rich also had his moment of fame when he was pulled onto the stage to do a little trick.

After the circus we did our shopping at a grocery store that I consider pretty safe.  However, they had something there I had not yet seen.  It is called a 'Happy Smiling Pig Face'.  I don't know what is more disturbing, the fact that people eat it or that they make it grin at you.

How would you like to open you cupboard and see that ugly mug staring back at you?  And then, be like, 'You know what sounds good?  Some pig face. Yup, that'd hit the spot.'

Look how happy I am holding that swine.  I could kiss it!

Then it was off to dinner with the benevolent friend and his family. They were nice enough to insist on an American restaurant, yeah for Tony Roma's.

Lily is great.  Regardless of language barrier or five year age difference, she is going to be your friend.  Lucy is Zhang Hao's daughter and knows a little English and Lily is picking up Chinese faster than anyone so they shared french fries and are now good buddies.

That sums up the last few days.  Love you all!

S

A Little Frustrated

I hate laundry. I hate it when everything is fully automated. So I really hate it here. I assumed a small apartment meant less work and more time with my family. That assumption would be accurate if I didn't have their laundry to contend with. Shanghai is not a clean city and the apartment seems to attract dust, dirt and an unbelievable amount of lint. If something hits the floor it is headed for the hamper, which is always overflowing. I've already posted pictures of our very small washer, my only ally, since a dryer is conspicuously missing. We make progress but it is slow and when the sheets need washed, like they did this week, forget it. My kids loved all of the forts that I made in an attempt to dry everything. The constant rain didn't help but I hesitate drying clothes outside, even when the sun is shining. There is grime in the air that seems to seek out anything clean and cling to it.

On to better things. Actually, I have been in a bit of a funk this week. I think the combination of rain, children, housework and homeschooling have me down. I love my children and I don't mind rain or housework. I don't love homeschooling. As flawed as our public education system is, it is leaps and bounds ahead of me. I'm organized in everything but time. A schedule is something I have never mastered so keeping a homeschooling schedule is ridiculous. I bought a 'self-taught' curriculum with the idea my children would want to do math, write papers and read the encyclopedia. What I fool I am.

The sun is supposed to come out on Sunday and Rich is looking for a mini-trip for us to take. Time to see some of this country we came half way around the world for.

Catching Up

We have circumvented the system and I am able to access our blog. Much thanks to Natalie for getting us this far.

I have so much to add and was waiting for that big chunk of time to add it all at once. But I have come to accept the fact that a big chunk of time in my world is five, maybe ten minutes. So little updates are the goal and hopefully I will eventually get it all in. Otherwise, this will be it. That being said we are headed to Nei-Nei's for dinner. I'm sure it will be an adventure. I have learned to eat a snack before hand.

Pictures & Noodles

Strangers want to take pictures with our kids all the time. People pose with them on the metro, in the park, in the market, everywhere. It is not that they look so different from the 'norm', because they don't, it is because there are four of them.  Our friends with four blonde kiddos have it worse. People always want pictures with their little ‘Barbies’.

Here is your inside glance of genuine Chinese noodle shop. This one had some extra flare, a stray cat that kept jumping up on the tables. Of course, my kids thought we should take it home as a pet. That is just what our 900 sqft apartment needs, cat hair and flees. Our friends, the Lees, had never been to one; I think they all left hungry.