Author: Louanne

Kiki came for the last time this morning and we got some cute photos. She has been watching the news and Beijing is having serious crackdown at the airport. Two weeks ago a woman got on a flight in Beijing (bound for some other Chinese city) with a bottle full of gasoline and tried to light it on the flight. So they are very serious about security now. She said that on the news this morning they said that any liquid medicines for you or your baby must be given to the flight attendant and if you need it during the flight they can help you get a dose. So Kiki wrote us a note in Chinese for the security line that basically says, “This is liquid pain medicine for our baby who is growing a new tooth. We will give it to the flight attendant to hold during the flight.” Then we will be hoping for the best for Nadia in case she decides to crank out another molar while we travel 🙂

This afternoon we went over to a giant bookstore to look for some Chinese learning books. Mike’s teacher gave him her 20% discount card and we got some great stuff for great prices. The prices are already better than America, so the discount card just sweetened the deal. I was also able to finally find some Olympic stuff for VBS this summer. Every other Olympic store has been sold out of the items that Kaye was looking for.

Nadia was being super-cute in the bookstore, so I had to whip out the camera. Click on the first photo to see the whole set.

We went to Wal-mart and picked up a cheap carry-on bag to bring all our goodies home. We also picked up a couple more pairs of shoes for the cute girl. I can’t get over how inexpensive the kids shoes are here. Now Nadia should have enough to carry her through the summer and fall, at least. It just depends on how much she grows. The trip is winding down and I am going to start packing us up tomorrow. We will have to leave for the airport fairly early because it’s at least an hour away and because of all the added security issues.

P.S. As great as the trip has been (and it has) we are ready to be home. I am dying for a fresh salad with all the fixin’s and some chicken enchiladas from Pappasitos. My list could be much larger, so I will just say I am missing all things Fort Worth today.

Today Kiki took me on a field trip to the Silk Market. I really wanted to go and Mike thought I might have a good time with Kiki, so I asked her if we could go shopping instead of our traditional tutoring. CTG had warned me that the place was overwhelming. The guide books said it was best to go during the week early in the morning to avoid the crowds. The place was madness, mania, overwhelming….whatever word you would like to use. Everywhere we went people screamed, “Lady! You want to buy children’s clothes?” or “Lady! You want to buy a jacket for your husband?” Just fill in the blank for what they were selling in their stall.

I was on a mission to find specific gifts and I was ready to bargain. Having Kiki there as a reference point for pricing and to help with the bargaining was also great. She told me that several shop keepers told her in Chinese when the transactions were over that I was a very good bargainer. The transactions were all very fun and some of the conversations were more entertaining than others. Most of the people there understand enough English to be following your conversation. Our last stop was at a clothing stall near the exit and I saw a really cute skirt, so we stopped. Here is the conversation that followed. SG = Salesgirl. All numbers in yuan. And I would like you to know that all of this occurred with me wearing a big smile on my face. It’s not good if you are mean or angry about it.

L: I like that skirt. Do you have my size?

SG: Please step in here and I will measure you…..yes I have your size.

L: How much?

SG: grabs calculator and punches in 450.

L: Foreigner PRICE!

SG: Okay because you have pretty Chinese friend I give you Chinese friend price. 390.

L: (In Chinese I say) That’s too much.

SG: What’s your highest possible price? (hands me calculator)

L: 110.

SG: (all drama now) No….that’s not enough.

L: Okay. Xie Xie. (thank you – and I start to walk away)

SG: Wait! (then she puts her arms around me and whispers) I’ll give you secret friend price 190.

L: No, 110.

SG: Oh please 180.

L: No, 110.

SG: Okay super secret price 150.

L: No. 110. (at this point I am ready to start laughing at all the girls facial expressions and antics!)

SG: Okay 110.

Now while all this is going on Kiki is behind me working a deal on a skirt for herself. We get all done and she asks me what I paid and told me I did good against the girl. Then she told me they asked her to please not tell me that she was getting hers for 90. HA HA!! So I didn’t feel bad at all about standing firm with the girl. There were a couple of things that I wanted and knew the price was inflated, so Kiki had me totally low-ball it and in many cases they agreed after much DRAMA and banging into the calculator trying to get me to change my mind.

One stall that had little girl clothes had the cutest Polo dress that I knew was a knock off and they girl gave me the starting price and I said no. Then she said, “Polo. Good brand.” I said, “Knock off!!!” She took 10 yuan off the price, so I sorta stuck my head out into the aisle as if to say, “I see this dress in 4 other stalls right here.” The girl started laughing and gave it to me at the price I asked. Only one guy seemed to get annoyed by my bargaining and I knew that he could understand me so I said, “You didn’t have to take the price I asked for.” And Kiki told him not to be angry and then he told her I was a good bargainer and to come back in 10 minutes for my item 🙂

All in all, Kiki and I had a great time and I feel that I did very well with the prices and got some really cool stuff. I had a little pearl bracelet made for Nadia at a stall the flight attendant recommended. I got myself a few things and quite a few more gifts for people back home. Kiki acted really impressed with my bargaining skills and laughed multiple times at how I held my ground.

Then in the afternoon I had my last Chinese Painting class and Jenny taught me how to do the traditional fish. Mike and Nadia came up to the school with me and everyone just loved her. Mike’s teacher got to meet her and gave her a little stuffed animal mirror thing. They wanted to get some photos of our family up at the school before we left this weekend. Once we were through she said that I did good and all the times she has taught this she has never had a student paint a fish that looked like a fish the first time. She said animals are harder than flowers because they must have some life to them. I felt very proud of such a compliment. Here we are after class.

Nadia kept us up most of last night after breaking in her 1st molar. She was so miserable that it was heartbreaking. I was glad we have baby meds and teething tablets for her, but she had a terrible night of sleep. This morning while Mike was at school she sat on my lap or snuggled up next to me on the couch for almost the 2 hours. That is totally unlike her and I knew she felt bad….if she is awake, she is usually MOVING! She was asleep at 6:30 tonight, but that’s cool because we are trying to get to sleep earlier. I am saying a prayer that another tooth doesn’t come out during our long day of travel on Saturday.

Yesterday we just relaxed a bit and then headed out to do some more shopping. Nadia only lasted about 2 hours and of course by that night we knew why. I took some photos from the cab ride. This one cracks me up! “Rude Tobacco” looses something in the translation.

Today Mike had school and once Nadia was up from her nap we headed back over to the New York House for one last “best burger ever” before we go home.

We went to the Lotus for a last round of groceries too and then came right back home. The wind was blowing like crazy. I did get a photo of the magnetic escalators for the ones who were asking. I got some weird looks and Mike was correct in saying I must have looked weird taking a photo of something that the Chinese see in their day to day life. We hear classical music every morning from the school next to our building and I snapped a photo of the kids doing their morning exercises.

And here is a photo of what I am calling “The Mini Food of China.” The Ritz cracker is there as a frame of reference for the size of the ice cream drumstick. These are Disney and marketed to kids and I can eat 4 at once 🙂 We found the Kiddie Cheese at Wal-mart in the very small section for cheese (cheese isn’t popular here). It comes in these tiny little cups that are supposed to be a serving size for one child. We bought strawberry, but Nadia didn’t like it by itself. I thought it tasted like flavored Philly Cream Cheese (just not as sweet as in America) and so I put it on a roll and she liked it much better. The little spoon in the cup came with it, and that is common…tons of foods here in China come with them. I wonder if that’s how they stay so skinny? Kids still get snacks, but they are small. Oh and I forgot to tell you that I found another flavor of Ritz last week: Milk! Milk is a popular flavor here and we had already tried some cookies that were milk flavored, but not the Ritz. They are tasty like the others, but nothing beats the Orange ones.

And yes Nadia “needed” more clippys when we were out shopping Sunday 🙂

Silly girl playing around.

First things first – we are claiming today as Nadia’s first sentence day. I was taking some video at the aquarium and when I walked back over to Mike and Nadia she said, “Hi Mama!” Is that cute or what? I guess I should also take this time to say that Nadia’s speaking has just exploded in the last week. She is really saying a large variety of words now and can identify many more things. It’s a relief when she is hungry and thirsty that she can actually answer us now about which item she wants. For example, “Do you want rice? Or yogurt?” She will nod or say “No” now, which is really great. Then we are not trying to give her stuff that she is just not interested in at the moment. It’s really cute all the new words she is saying and how she is associating sounds with objects and photos. I am also convinced that she has gotten taller since we got here based on how her clothes are fitting.

Today we relaxed at home in the morning and then after Nadia’s nap we got ready to go. Nancy from the school met us on the bottom floor of our apartment building and we caught a cab over to the Beijing Zoo. We also wanted to see the Aquarium in the zoo, which they claim is the world’s largest in-land aquarium. We got to the zoo and while waiting to buy tickets this lady came up and put this cool pinwheel in Nadia’s hand. Nice salesmanship, right? Nadia probably would not have been upset if we took it away, but it was very cute, so I asked the lady how much. She said 5 kuai which is about $0.70. So I gave her the money. All the Chinese behind me probably paid less, but I wasn’t worried about it. I should also say that I asked 3 different Beijingers if they had been to the aquarium and they all told me, “No, it’s too expensive.” It’s $14 a person, but it’s only $1.40 to get in the zoo. Mike and I expected it to be great because $14 to get in to something in Beijing is pretty steep from what we have seen.

We went into the zoo and looked at some of the animals on our way to the aquarium. We needed to get in there and get seats for the dolphin and seal show at least half an hour early. They had some pretty cool birds at the zoo that I have never seen before. Some had the most gorgeous colored feathers. We also saw the red pandas that aren’t really pandas. Nancy said that the character for them is little panda. They looked like reddish raccoons to me and they were so cute! We also saw some beautiful tigers and female lions. There was also a jaguar that was making a whole lot of noise, but he was really pretty. Nadia wasn’t really aware of what was going on during this part, but she was having a great old time waving to other kids and playing with her pinwheel. We saw the use of the split pants walking through the zoo. Many people just had their kids walk up to a tree or the grassy area and go.

We got to the aquarium and had time to go through the Rainforest section of it on our way to the pavilion for the show. There were a lot of cool looking fish in there and we have the photos to prove it. We got in for the show and there were a lot of people already seated and ready to go. We saw a bunch of kids with these LED dolphins and star fish and Mike thought Nadia would like one, so I ran down to grab her one. Of course she liked it. And she immediately found the button on the back to make it work. It came on a Beijing Zoo lanyard and you can change the batteries. Very, very cute for a souvenir. Once the show got started it kept Nadia’s attention on and off. She is not quite old enough to appreciate how cool it was, but big enough to watch the flashy parts. She got very interested in the people in front and behind us though. At this point waving at people is more exciting that dolphins and seals.

I really enjoyed the show and Mike got some amazing shots and I took some really good videos. I think once we are home I will try my hand at the Movie Maker software and make an aquarium movie. I really wanted to see the dolphins, they have a special place in my heart since Jess and I swam with one back in 2003. These three dolphins were really big! It reminded me a lot of Sea World, but not quite as flashy. And we couldn’t understand anything that they were saying. Nancy translated some of the jokes for us, but otherwise we were just observing the show. The seals came on next and they did some very cute tricks that really entertained the crowd. They also seemed like really big seals compared to ones I have seen at other zoos. After the show ended we looked through the other parts of the aquarium and the biggest part was the coral reef section. They had tons and tons of beautiful fish in there. I really enjoyed getting to see the wonderful displays that they had and all the colorful fish.

We left the aquarium and wandered over to see the elephant house. Now I am by no means an animal rights activist, but now I understand why I have heard people complain about the housing of the animals at the Beijing zoo (except for the Pandas). The elephants were really in some small rooms when you consider the size of them. The tigers were also in small cages, but there was an area for the tigers and lions to go out in where people could look down and watch them run around. After the elephants, we walked over to see the Pandas. They are really cute, but very lazy since all they do is eat all day. Each little area just had one panda and a boatload of bamboo for them to eat. The little baby panda was sleeping, but the other two were eating and eating and eating. In the gift shop I got the cutest Panda umbrella and some post cards. After the panda we tried to see Monkey Hill, but an employee told us it was gone. It was 5 pm by then so we called it a day and took a taxi back to the apartment.

Here is Nancy, Nadia and I with the Panda Umbrella.