Laundry Day

Well living in China makes you plan ahead. No longer can I put in a load of wash and put in on my back in 2 hours. I only brought one long sleeve underwear top, which I was wearing day and night. Needless to say it was getting rather grungy. It was finally warm enough yesterday to peel it off and throw it in the wash. The washing machine was sort of tricky to figure out since it is all in Chinese. One of the other foreign teachers showed me which buttons to push and how many little lights should be on to clean the clothes. I accidentally choose the 4 lights instead of the 3 (as he told me) and it went thru the cycle twice. The very small washing machine, which is the size of 2 drawer filing cabinet, was FULL with just the stuff you see in the picture. Good point being you will never lose any socks in it. You hang everything out to dry, so you have to be patient enough to wait for the heater to come on or for the evaporation part of the water cycle to work. I should have bought and brought some pretty Victoria Secret underwear for display because the hanging contraption sure looks unfeminine with all my comfortable cotton Jockey panties. I am also missing my nice “Bounce Sheet” smell. The machine washes in cold water (so much for making my too big jeans shrink) but did a really good job. I might be because I chose a laundry soap that had the one English word “Attack” on the bag so I figured it might do the job.

Side note: As an experiment I mailed myself a 3 pound padded envelope with a Wired Magazine, a shirt, Lipton pasta mix, and of course 3 Twizzlers (didn’t know then they would have been replaced so quickly) a week before I left. It cost $12.95. I just got the package yesterday. The post office said it would take about 4-6 weeks but it must have gotten on a “really fast boat to China” instead. Yippee, I am having pasta for dinner tonight!

Wouldda Never Guessed......

Well it wouldn’t be something I would be willing to drive across the causeway for yet, as I have done many times for Willies Weenee Wagon or Dunker Donuts, but it was good! Sit down Nicole and Zac because I just had my second meal of tofu and YES, I actually knew what it was and asked for it (rather I pointed at it..) The above pictured meals are from the canteen below our apartments. We decided to take a picture after Ricky, the Australian foreign teacher, and I had already eaten more than half of our servings. Oh, and I am getting better and better at the chopsticks which is an absolute survival skill because all I have in my apartment are spoons and chopsticks. The TOTAL cost for both very filling meals ended up being less than a dollar. Yesterday a couple a female students took me to their canteen to eat and I ended up having a very good light glassy green, vegetable/pork dish. It sort of had the color of cooked celery but did not taste like it. The students said they would take me to the market one day and point out the vegetable.

According to my trusty pedometer, Nathan (another foreign teacher) and I walked 7 miles to the local fruit and vegetable market. It should have only been about 2 miles but we got lost and had to call our translator, helper, and all purpose Chinese savior, Roger, to give us directions. I bought some bok choy (they have a different name), apples and a couple of bananas. They say you can wash the fruit in soap and be ok – but I figure after just being here 4 days I should stick with the fruit I can peel. I was going to cook something up last night for dinner but I was so tired I crashed and didn’t wake up until 3:30am. Give me another week and I might be able to sleep normally.

Object of Attraction

That’s my apartment on the top floor (sort of center of picture with the AC units attached to the windows). It is two windows with the open curtains and YES that is snow!

Went to the Wu Mae yesterday (think Super Wal-Mart) it was about a 30 minute van ride (but they have a free red/white/blue bus you can catch across the street about every hour). We were lucky this time because our ZUFE Foreign Affairs office took us the first time. They were helping us to outfit our rooms, because no one had used them as apartments before. This building used to be a hotel so my apartment consists of 2 hotel rooms that have been converted into a 2 room apartment. One room is a sitting room with couch, coffee table, dinning table with 2 chairs, small 4 foot refrigerator, closet and the extra bathroom that was converted into a kitchen. The kitchen is supplied with a hotplate, microwave, toaster, coffee pot-like contraption that boils your water, a sink and a really, really small clothes washer. They also supplied a contraption that you can hang your clothes on to dry, an iron, ironing board and a mop. There is something else in another box – but I haven’t opened it up yet. My guess from the picture is either a rice cooker or a vacuum cleaner.
Even though the multilevel Wu Mae is located in a small suburb of Hangzhou it was PACKED. I have nothing to compare it to – to give you guys an idea of the crowd level. The crowd did not bother me but the level of scrutiny did. I know you guys are thinking store officials – nope. It was the other shoppers. I was everybody’s ‘double take’. I sort of expected some of them to look at my appearance but what was more unnerving was that they were soooo interested in what I was buying and what I had put in my cart. It was sort of like having a new conscience and decided that at least it kept me away from the candy aisle. I am hoping I will build up a level of immunity so I can have a candy bar once in a while. My sister who had also lived in China for a while had warned me but I had no idea how it would affect my people-pleasing and other personality insecurities. I have decided I would NEVER want to be a famous person. How do they stand it? All paparazzi should be punished by having to do shopping in this type of standout situation to give them a taste of what feelings they cause in others. I am sure I will be stronger and better when I learn to deal with lots of people looking over my shoulder but for right now I will get Nicole and Zac to sneak me a couple of candy bars in the next care package.

Substitutes - Bring in the Second String!

I was 2 pounds over weight in my luggage, which cost me an extra $ 100.00 it was probably because I horded a 1 lb package of Twizzlers and other perceived ‘star players’ in my life. Ever noticed that if a major player on a sports team gets hurt and the coach has to send in one of the so called second string that sometimes he/she get even better than even the first string player? Well living and shopping in China for the ‘first string’ staples items such as food and household items is sort of like looking for my undiscovered second string players. Sorry “Twizzler team” but the discovered second string candy quarterback is called Meijue and it is my new star player. I do have to put up with the annoying manual dexterity challenge of opening the multi-wrapped goody to FINALLY get to the yummy gummy strawberry. Do I foresee a problem with being over weight by again because of horded Meijue?

So now after my VAST experience of living in China for 2 whole days I have come to the sweeping conclusion that I will be successful in this adventure if I am open to TRY the new substitutions. I am lucky that I have some good ‘scouts’ like Roger, Ms Sun and Ron (who got the huge 2 Twizzler finder fee). Watch out Mrs Chambers I may be trying something different the next time I am at Willies Weenee Wagon.

Last night my neighborhood crew threw me a “Going to China Party”. I probably should explain a little about our great but very unconventional ‘hood’. The ‘Hood’ or ‘Court’ as we call ourselves is a very eclectic group consisting of a welder, marina office manager, flight attendant, lawyer, a couple of teachers and artists. The more daring of the ‘hood’ dressed up as what they perceived to be stereotypical Chinese. Basically it was flip flops with socks, colorful silk bathrobes, along with straw steamer baskets tied with ribbons to their heads. The menu (of which I was ONLY one forced to use chopsticks with) had only one authentic oriental dish which was a great hot & sour soup - the rest was typical scrumptious Southern food: Shrimp Creole, jalapeño cornbread, coleslaw, salad, and of course lots of desserts. There were a couple of really creative items added to our fare. One wasa "Chinese Happy Meal" with chopsticks, a bag of cooked noodles, a can of water chestnuts, and a toy, but the"Redneck Fortune Cookies" triggered the most laughs. They split Oreo cookies and layered typed ‘fortunes’ into them. Here are some of the more publishable ones: Absence makes the heart go yonder, A day without sunshine is like Night, Dyslexics of the world – Untie!, A waist is a terrible thing to mind, Start every day off with a smile and get it over with, and my two favorites: Today is the dawn of a new error and A woman’s guess is much more accurate that a man’s certainty. What catchy phrases would you put in your Redneck Fortune Cookies?

Dealing with the "LASTS"

Only 3 more days till I leave on my China Midlife Adventure and I am dealing with the “Lasts”. Last Willie Wee-nee Wagon Hot dog, last bag of donut holes from Dunker Donuts, last fried shrimp from the Crab Trap, last meeting with the YaYas at Spankys, last blueberry muffin at Sweet Mamas, last gossip with the friends, last meal with Nicole and Zac, last 6 am walk with Rosie and the dogs, last phone call with Gail discussing Survivor, last Friday night movie with BJ. I have been telling myself that I am not going to China for eternity but just for a year. This adventure is leaving my comfort zone of predictable events and things. And boy am I predictable. Mrs. Chambers at Willies knows before I say a word that I will have a ‘bulldog no pickles’, fries, and a diet coke, the lady at the donut shop knows that I always have a large diet coke ‘light on the ice’ with a bag of donut holes. Gail always knows that I forget dates and times and calls to remind me. My friends quietly accept my flaws, quirks, and failures and deal with them as needed. I guess I will soon see how I will deal with my new unpredictable life with no safety net of friends to catch me.

Still Getting Ready

I have an extremely nice and informative contact in Hangzhou that is currently teaching at the same school and he has given me lots of hints as to what to bring. Toilet paper, neosporin, vitamins and the spices that you crave. Guess I will have to ask him about garlic - I can't live a year without that spice! I know I will end up craving something I don't have (Willie's Weenee Wagon, Crab Trap Fried Shrimp, Twizzlers, Chocolate, People Magazine, good parmesan cheese and most of all family, friends, and my dog) but it wouldn't be an adventure without things being different, right? And I am expecting things to be WAY DIFFERENT.
Medical tests are done- just waiting for the Chest X-ray to get back. After been poked 2 times for the blood tests, my arm now looks like I am a junkie. Boy I hope that the Chinese will accept all my medical stuff cause I sure don't want to do them again. It probably would be a lot cheaper to do it there but I sort of like knowing what is being done to me and why. Plus, the new young doctor that took over the local family practice is really cute and very pleasant.

China Prep 2006

Only 2 more weeks till I leave on my China "Midlife Adventure". I will be teaching at the Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics in Hangzhou China. Hangzhou is located about 2 hours train ride SW of Shanghai. I am scared to death. I feel just like I felt 33 years ago right before my son popped out and I realized that my life was going to change forever.

Hum......Clothes for a year......If I was a tiny little thing that could fit into Chinese size clothes it would be easy- just buy it there. But as many women in the online mating sites say I am a "Rubenesque" type and since the TANG (look it up) woman is no longer popular in China I will probably have a hard time finding large enough clothes. I figure my size ten shoes will also pose the same availability problem. I am attempting to get everything I think I will need and want into 1 large suitcase and 1 carryon. Computer and techie stuff will go in my backpack. My bedroom is a mountain range of clothes with "maybe piles", "for-sure piles" and "time to get rid of them piles". My son's girlfriend has been nice enough to critique my outfits so that I am no longer wearing "horrible pleated front pants" and my favorite white socks and sneakers. Most of my real friends are way too nice to tell me to wear boot cut jeans because they make my fat butt look a least a LITTLE skinnier. Also she is way nicer to me (and much less embarrassing) than the people on TV that tell other people how to dress.

I have not spent all my time pondering over what sweater to take, I actually have been productive enough to get my plane tickets, Z visa, and shots. Tickets and Visa were expensive but if I can hang in Hangzhou for the full year I should get reimbursed for the tickets. I still have on my list the Chinese physical and blood work to make sure I am not a TB, AIDES or STD carrier.

Biggest question I get from people is "Do you speak Chinese"? No! -- I am LD (dyslexic as you will soon notice from my spelling mistakes) and lack the ability to quickly learn languages. I figure with a little electronic translator, my college students (that want to earn extra credit) and my computer I should be able to get by. I foresee lots of embaressing mistakes being made.