Shrugging My Shoulders: March 2013

2013/03/29

our new ride

I'm going to tell this story in true Jill fashion...with way way more back story than you need to get to the point. :)

Last Saturday I went out to run some errands. We had heard there was a place down our street that sold fresh milk (all the other milk here is UHT/shelf stable) so I went to try to find it. TADA! It's about a dollar a bottle (about one pound) and you just bring your bottle back each time.

When I came out of the milk place, I saw an old man on a tricycle and I thought, "Hey, all of us could fit on that one." but the thought was displaced by thinking about all the other things on my list.

I saw that a new bakery had opened on our street sometime while we were gone. Whole wheat sliced bread is hard to find, and whole wheat sliced bread without sugar or random raisins (not enough raisins to be a raisin bread, there are just a few random raisins throughout the loaf) is almost impossible. But not on this glorious Saturday. [Another random piece of information: the bread from bakeries like this one is sold in packages of 5 slices. James and I tried to decide...why 5? Most families here are 3 people...mom and dad each eat two and kid eats one? or grandma and grandpa are living in the home too and everyone gets one? No matter the reason, 5 isn't a great number for sandwich-making]

Then I had a short list of items to get at the store...and they were all in stock! (also something that doesn't happen all the time). When I came out of the store I saw an older man on this electric tricycle:

I immediately thought, "I think we could make that work for all four of us!" I asked the man where he bought it and how much it cost. He was the perfect person to ask! He said, "before I tell you that I need to tell you the negative aspects of this vehicle. First, you have to park it somewhere you can recharge the battery....and he went on. Then he told me all the great things he likes about it. It was like reading a product review.
I went home and told James about my great finds and showed him the picture of the trike. Our biggest problem is still that we don't have a safe place to park it at our complex so we had to make sure it would fit in the elevator so that we could bring it up to our apartment at night. We researched it online and tried to find the measurements. We still weren't sure based on what we saw online so we took our tape measure and went to the shop the old man told me about in the "buy any kind of bike you want" district. You can't tell so much from the pictures, but it goes on way beyond what you can see...it's like the mile of cars in Norman. only bikes. :)

We found it easily thanks to the nice man's directions. We were hoping they would have a few models to chose from , but there was only the one. We measured it and sure enough, it would fit in the elevator! They had two colors, red or silver. We chose silver. We paid the $415 dollars, got our free rain poncho and air pump and were on our way....after we were cautioned by the nice salesman that it would take 2 hours or so to learn to drive. He said we should go to a big, open space to practice. We didn't heed that advice, but James got us home safely. And it was.so.fun!!! Seriously. best ride through this city I've ever had. In fact, every time I/we are on it, I can't stop smiling.

Here is James taking it up to our apartment the first time we brought it home.

And here is our first excursion as a whole family on it. You should also know that generally, electric trikes such as this as driven by old people. Specifically old retired men driving their wives around. The fact that we are young, white, and a family of four riding one gets stares. lots of them. and comments. We don't really mind since we get stared at anyway. And all the comments we've gotten to our face as well as those we have overheard have been positive. Mostly people keep telling us what a great idea it is for taking our whole family.

And, if we didn't have to be able to bring it into our house, we could have upgraded to the SUV version of the electric trike:

So that's the longer-than-it-needed-to-be version of how we got our new wheels. We are so thankful and having a blast cruising around town when we're not feeding babies, changing diapers, going to class, or sleeping in every 3-4 hour interval we can get.

2013/03/16

Money, Money, Money, Money

Dating in China can be kind of rough.

...After being introduced to her boyfriend’s parents, his news was grim. ‘I can’t marry you,’ he told her bluntly. ‘My parents expect me to marry a girl of my own class.’ But, he reassured her, he was quite happy for her to be his mistress, and his multimillionaire father had agreed to put aside the funds he would need to support her....

Read the whole article here.
http://www.aeonmagazine.com/living-together/james-palmer-chinese-youth/

2013/03/12

travelling with an infant and a toddler

I DREADED the day we had to board the plane. I, of course, dreaded the good-bye aspect of not knowing when we will be in the States again, but I dreaded holding a child on our lap for 20+ hours of travel. I dreaded being so tired after already being so tired and knowing that a good night's sleep after the travel wasn't really an option either.
When we arrived at the OKC airport (at 5ish am, after going to sleep after midnight) Ann had already pooped out of her diaper into her pants. We weren't even on a plane yet. (things get better from here)
We went through security so easily and made it to the gate in time for Catherine to have time to play.

We arrived un-eventfully in Chicago with plenty of time to get to our gate, feed kids, and get ready to board to the long flight. We had to check in at the desk to verify our documents and that's when I got the seemingly bad news. We couldn't be seated together because their aren't enough air bags on any one row. The god news was that she could seat us across the aisle from each other.
After we boarded we found out that it was actually great news...in order to be seated across the aisle from one another we had gotten bumped up into economy plus. When we sat down we didn't have other passengers around us so we just kept waiting for them to board. And we waited. and we waited. and then they closed the doors and we realized....We actually have this much room!

Ann and I had 3 seats.

James and Catherine had 3 seats.


Catherine took full advantage of the extra space.

Even with the extra room, traveling with the kids is still exhausting. Below is us in the Beijing airport waiting for that last leg of travel. I must say, the Beijing airport is moving up in class and style. First, the bathrooms now seem to always have toilet paper, hand soap, and paper towels. Maybe this is true in other places in Beijing too, but it certainly wasn't common five years ago and isn't common in our city yet. Second, they had an indoor play are for kids. It was great and Catherine made some little friends. Third, it's the most breastfeeding-friendly place I've ever been. seriously. They have nice, clean nursing rooms at almost every bathroom. They have a nice comfy chair and are painted like a kid's nursery.. It was seriously impressive. Props to you, Beijing!


And here we are...on the plane that brought us home. We boarded on time, and then sat on the runway for almost an hour. All 4 of us slept.I should have taken of my coat. Mom wearing a coat, holding a sleeping child wearing a coat=SWEATY.

2013/03/10

top ten things in America

We have been back in our China home for almost a week. We are SO SO SO very glad to be back in our own home. It was great to be with family and friends, but the lack of stability in our life and living out of suitcases while waiting for then trying to adjust to a second child was a challenge. However, America was GREAT. Here is my top ten list of things I enjoyed in America (in no specific order):

grandparents. We wouldn't have survived this trip with out them. Catherine stayed with both sets of grandparents at different times during our two months home and LOVED it. We also loved it and probably wouldn't have survived the first week of Ann's life without them. It's funny how in roughly 30 years time certain people (grandparents) can reduce the number of times they use the word "no.". :)
health care in English. Even in the midst of labor I had the thought, "why did I think I could do this in another language???" We are so thankful to the midwives

Yvonne,

Crystal

Duck Dynasty. I had seen some facebook posts about this show but had never seen it. The first episode I saw I wasn't convinced that it was worth my time, but the more we watched the more hooked I got. James and I DVRed and watched every episode we could. Belly-laughing at/with those guys was the perfect ending to a day. But, something tells me that series will not be one that makes it to the local DVD store.
freshly ground nut butters. American grocery stores were wonderful. Having a car to transport the things I bought at the grocery store was wonderful. The freshly ground nut butters were spectacular. Dark chocolate peanut butter, almond butter, and cashew butter freshly ground into a size of my choosing for a very reasonable price was just what this 9 month pregnant lady needed. (yes, I said needed)
car seats. Although sometimes a hassle to move them from one car to another, it was really nice to have Catherine strapped in and contained in the car and not have to hold her squirmy little body every time we wanted to go somewhere. (Please don't judge, car seats just aren't used here)
chai tea. While we stayed with James' parents I found this in the fridge. Maybe it existed in Oklahoma grocery stores when I lived there previously, but I had never seen or noticed it before. The concentrate means this lazy mom doesn't even have to wait for tea to steep and the caffeine free version is great since I try to avoid it while nursing.
my husband. I'm so very thankful that this item on my list is with me in China too. But seriously, James is great. He was patient and kind when I was pregnant and cranky. He held our wiggly daughter for the bulk of the flight from China to the US so I could be more comfortable. Catherine peed on him 3 times. It was so fun to hang out with "nothing" to do while we waited fr the baby. He was a great support during labor. He has continued to be patient and kind throughout sleepless nights, breastfeeding problems, and all the transition to a family of four. I cried 9 out f 10 of Ann's first days. There were many days early on where he was the only one in our family who hadn't cried. I am so thankful for his steadiness and commitment to me and our family.
cool greens I actually only got to eat there twice, but I could have been happy to eat most of my meals there. It was delicious, healthy, and reasonably priced. Their kids meal offered things with actual nutrition and not just deep fried fats and starches served with a toy or coloring book. Sadly, I don't see this chain opening up in our city any time soon.
Cows. James and I are now in the cattle business. This is our cow and she's expecting some time soon. She was our Christmas gift from James' parents and when she gives birth, we get to decide whether to increase our "herd" or sell mom or baby or both. Truly a gift that keeps on giving :)
living with the Stewards. It is not often in life that as married lady with kids that you get to live with your best friend when she is also a married lady with kids. The Stewards were so so so wonderful to us to let us move in with a toddler and later, also an infant. It was so fun to watch our girls (attempt to) play together, to watch her oldest son be so kind to Catherine, and just to get to see up close how another family operates. It was great to "compare notes" and to learn from someone I already respected so much. I was most challenged by the time Dara spends in the Word despite having 3 kids under 5, volunteering at her son's school, being involved in the women's ministry at her church, and many other obligations. I make excuses for not spending the kind of time in Bible study that I'd like to, but seeing someone just make it priority and organize life around that priority was encouraging and challenging. It was also nice to enjoy meals together and laugh together and catch up for a bit. and hard to day good-bye when the time came.

I could make a longer list of all the other things we enjoyed, but it's taken me weeks to get this posted so this abbreviated list will have to do for now. And for all the folks we connected with that I didn't personally mention...thank you for taking time to meet with us, have us in your home, and/or take us to dinner. We'll return the favor when you visit us on this side :)

2013/03/09

China's urban women

While we were home I got to share some about China at a women's tea. I tried to share some about young, urban women in China.

Below are some of the articles I referenced when sharing if you're interested in further reading about the issues women are dealing with here.