Living the Normal Life

On Seeing the Pandas

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 06:49:00 +0000

Somehow, we have managed to live in China for 9 years without seeing the famous Sichuan Giant Pandas. Thankfully, this summer, we were able to rectify that. The Pandas are great! We got up early so that we could see them before they fall asleep around 10am. They are so cute and funny. We enjoyed seeing the adults play around on their "playground" equipment. We also saw a baby who was still in an incubator. We ended with an incredibly graphic informational movie about how pandas mate and give birth (probably wouldn't take Ellie and Sara to see that again, but we had no idea how much information it was going to give). We also saw the lesser known "red pandas". The poor red pandas - they look more like racoons than bears. I'll post a picture so you can see our family with the Giant Pandas.

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:54:00 +0000

Learning another language

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:32:00 +0000

We've been here almost 9 years, but I'm still learning Chinese. I am happy to say that I have continued to progress each year that we are here, but sometimes I am overwhelmed by all that I don't know. Today was a good day. I felt very efficient. I was working with a real estate agent on finding an apartment for friends of ours that are coming soon. I actually was able to say all that I needed to say - which almost never happens. The only word that I needed to look up was "mold". Living in this dry climate, we don't have much reason to use the word "mold" often. But, this apartment has some and I wanted it cleaned up before we rent it. So, now the word "mold" - fa mei - is imbedded in my mind. Language is funny like that. The weirder the word, the more chance that you will remember it. So, now the word "mold" can be added to my ever-growing list of strange words that I will remember forever like: gu piao (stock certificate), tang shi (Tang dynasty poetry),zheng rong (to have a face-lift)

Starting again...

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:30:00 +0000

We have not been writing on this blog for almost 2 years, but I hope to get it up and running again. Hopefully, you will be able to check back every week or so and see an update!

International Children's Day

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 15:17:00 +0000

June 1st is Children's Day here in China, as it in most of the non-American world. Because Sara started to attend the 幼儿园 you er yuan (Chinese kindergarten) for the spring semester, we knew that she would probably need to be involved in a program. Ellie was in a program at the same kindergarten a couple of years ago, and dressed up like a frog for her class. I remember that day being very hot with nowhere to sit and including a lot of speeches as are prevalent at all Chinese functions. Also that the sound system wasn't working. Anyway, this year I went with rather low expectations...

So you can see - Sara's class was dressed like soldiers. Well at least part of the class was. For some reason another part of the class got to be dancers... I'm a little worried that between dressing up like she is in the Red Army and all of us singing the Chinese national anthem together that we might have accidentally done something to lose our American citizenship. I guess we will find out next time we return to the US. (Which BTW is fairly soon, as we have just found out that Laurel's brother, James, is finally engaged and that his and Emily's wedding will be taking place in October. Congratulations James and Emily!)

The morning went about the same as last time, but at least we got there early to get a front row spot to watch from. Laurel was smart and had us bring our own folding stools this time. It didn't really help, though. Poor Ellie was almost crushed from all of the people trying to see. I didn't have room to unfold my chair, and Laurel's broke in the middle of the performance. My favorite part of attending these programs is watching the parents get so involved in taking pictures and video of their children that they actually are out in the middle of the stage area getting close-ups and struggling for the best picture taking spots. Parents are the same all over the world, I guess. At least if they have enough money to afford a digital camera...

I don't really know yet if Sara will be one for public performances. She didn't seem to get into it very much as her class marched on stage and pretended shooting their guns. But of course she is in the youngest class at the school, and none of the kids really looked like they wanted to be there. Some of them had to be forcefully drug kicking and crying to their teachers to perform. At other times Sara has definitely been the showgirl of the family. This particular day her favorite part was the snacks and yogurt.

Dolphin Bay, Feb 07

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Sat, 19 May 2007 15:28:00 +0000

Some video from our week of vacation this past February. We stayed at a place called Dolphin Bay which was a family resort on the Gulf of Thailand just south of Hua Hin. Lots of kids there. Lots of swimming. And lot of fun.

My wife made me wear the dork helmet while we rented motorcycles. And yes, I am not that proficient on one, although I quickly figured out what I was doing.

Seeing the pink dolphins really was pretty cool, and very unexpected. They were much more impressive than the monkeys.

I got to play golf one morning, and we had massages one afternoon, but other than that it was all swimming and beach time. And we ate a lot of seafood.

Ocean Park HK video

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Sat, 19 May 2007 14:19:00 +0000

Ellie had to have a little bit of minor surgery done while we were in Hong Kong, so her reward for being so brave was a day at Ocean Park. We debated about going to Hong Kong Disney, but after reading about some of the problems they have had there, as well as the long lines, we decided against it. I think we made the right choice, because we definitely couldn't have had a better day. We had a blast! We rode the Log Jam ride, a roller coaster, ferris wheel, and a bunch of other kid rides. We saw otters, seals, fish, and more. Beautiful day as well...

Winter & Spring Pics 2007

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Sun, 13 May 2007 10:26:00 +0000

Here are some pics from January in Qinghai and February while we were on vacation in Hong Kong and Thailand.

Ellie eating roasted mutton on a skewer in the tents that the local people set up every night

Our dinner sometime next year...

Sara bundled up for the Qinghai winter.

One of the few times you will ever see Ellie not smiling in a photo. Must have been a long day.

Playing on one of the ice sculptures in front of the Culture Park near our home.

Taking the ferry from Shenzhen to Hong Kong - Sara stretched out sleeping.

The entrance to Ocean Park in Hong Kong. We had a wonderful day there at the end of Jan.

Ellie's first roller coaster. She was a centimeter too short, but they let her ride anyway...

Laurel in the tram at Ocean Park looking out across the bay.

Some people at our hotel in Bangkok were doing a photo shoot - with our kids right beside.

On vacation at the beginning of Feb. with friends in Thailand.

Kicking back out on the boat. We saw pink dolphins on this ride...

We also went out to "Monkey Island". The dolphins were a better show...

One of the better photos I've ever taken (in my opinion).

The most common thing to see in Thailand... stray dogs. They seemed to like me.

Ellie at dinner after a long day of swimming.

The beach at the hotel. It was a wonderful place with great swimming pools, decent food, very family friendly, and fairly cheap!

Normal life clothes

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Sun, 06 May 2007 11:37:00 +0000

This past week, I was in charge of our annual foreigners clothes-swap. The clothes-swap is a great thing - because on the first day, we turn in all the clothes that our kids have out-grown or that we adults have gotten tired of. Then, on the second day, everyone comes back to choose clothes for their kids or themselves. It is very difficult to get American/European style clothing here, so this helps everyone outfit their kids in styles they prefer. Unfortunately, this year, there was very little in the older childrens sizes. Ellie was a little sad that I couldn't find much for her, but I did get her one skirt and for her, that was better than a roomfull of pants.

This year, the women's room was the most popular. I think everyone gets tired of the clothes they bring over here - so we swap! It is funny to walk around town and see another foreigners dressed in the clothes that you previously were wearing.

At 11am, all the foreigners are welcome to invite their househelpers to come and choose clothes. For many househelpers, this is a highlight of the year. Several days before the swap, my househelper told me all the things she was going to look for at the swap. Her son, sister and husband had all put in orders for things that they wanted her to look for. Her son is especially fond of the American tennis shoes that she has found for him in the past. My househelper later told me that when she got home from the swap, she was surprised to find her son was waiting eagarly by the door to see what she brought him. (I guess he is usually out playing basketball on Saturday mornings- not at home waiting on his mom.) At the end of the morning, the left-over clothes are gathered up and given to poor people in the countryside.

All in all, the clothes-swap may sound a little funny for those of you who can run out to Old Navy to buy clothes, but over here, where there is no Old Navy - it certainly is a fun way to get bigger sized clothes for our kids and different clothes for ourselves.

--Laurel

Down time

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 06:54:00 +0000

Well, our Kiwi friends have all departed. We had a wonderful 10 days together and can't wait for them to come back again. More on their visit hopefully soon...

We leave Monday for Xi'an, China and then Tuesday we will head to Hong Kong. Hopefully there will be no problems with the flights, as the New Zealanders had quite a lot of trouble with theirs.

And I also hope that the internet is working a lot better in Hong Kong and Thailand then it is up here in Xining. It is maddening. Anybody currently trying to send us email please know that it might not be received for quite a while. I found a great article explaining what it has been like for all of us China netizens. Check it out for a laugh.

Our old laptop finally died. I needed it to last just one more week so that I could transfer all our docs to the new laptop before we travel, but of course it didn't make it. So I took the hard drive out to put it in our portable hard drive case. I was able to get most of the data over, including our Outlook files, but some of it seems corrupted somehow. Another task to waste time on...

It was great having a team here in January, although a little cold. Normally we are just waiting to be able to go south for warmer weather, but this year we were very busy. Perhaps we should schedule visitors every year in Jan.

Mid-January Already

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 09:08:00 +0000

Well, internet traffic is still sporadic at best. If you can manage to stay up late enough it gets better early in the morning, but it's not worth it. I had planned to post a video from Christmas morning with the kids opening packages and other pics from Christmas, but it just doesn't feel right anymore...

We will be busy the next 10 days or so because we will be hosting several friends from New Zealand, including our business partner. We have many exciting things set up to do, including some English teaching and sight-seeing. But the main thing is that we are hosting a seminar out in one of the counties on how to start a small business. We are excited because we hear that over 100 people are interested in attending.

Shortly after they leave we will be heading out of the country for vacation and seminars. We will try to blog when we can.

This picture is from Christmas day... It is a tradition here in Xining for all of the expats to go to the park on Christmas afternoon to skate and sled. This year they had drained the lake in the park so we had to go to the river. Here in Xining they have these chairs on rails that you can rent along with mini-ski poles so you can slide around on the ice. It's a lot of fun and we have never missed a year. This year some friends loaned us skates so Ellie and Sara both tried ice skating for the first time as well. Though I think it was difficult enough for them that it won't happen again anytime soon.

Internet trouble

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 16:55:00 +0000

Sorry for the lack of posts lately... The earthquake in Taiwan has really messed up the internet traffic all over Asia - even in northwest China. It's been difficult to check email, surf the web, chat on Skype, or anything else. They say that it will take up to 3 weeks to get service back to where it was, but that it will get a little better each day. Hopefully "they" are right. Then we will be able to post Christmas pics and other fun stuff.

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season...

Chinese Christmas Cantata

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 05:56:00 +0000

This will be a test to see whether I can figure out how to post videos to the blog using YouTube... Hopefully it will work. Please leave some comments to say whether or not you were able to view it. Our internet connection here in China is not good enough to ever make YouTube work very well.

This video was taken at the annual international school Christmas program on the 16th. Sorry that you are not really able to see Ellie, because she did a great job this year. If you have good eyes you can spot her in the row of angels. She is the 2nd from the right just to the left of the shepherd with the big dark hat. And Aaron was in it this year as well because the director was looking for some people to be in an adult choir. Look for a bald head on the back row in the middle...

A Christmas Story by Ellie

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 08:03:00 +0000

Just a Note...

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 15:18:00 +0000

We hear through the grapevine that some of our friends and family are starting to read these posts. In case you aren't familiar with blogging - you can leave comments about any or all of these musings simply by clicking on the "comments" link at the end of each post. That way this page will start to be 2 way communication, and a lot more interesting for everybody. I know that some of you can write a whole lot better than I can... The comment section is also a place where you can ask questions or suggest future topics to post about. You can also leave me a note saying that you visited my Amazon wish list and purchased such and such an item...

And don't worry - I moderate the comments and can edit them if needed before they actually get posted on the web. So you won't be able to get us in trouble accidently... Happy posting!

We like taxis...

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:36:00 +0000

The word has come officially... our request to purchase a vehicle was denied "for many diverse reasons..." Since we are now business people and making many trips out of town to research possible business ventures, we had come to the conclusion that it might be more convenient, economical, and professional to have our own little van. Taking the bus when I'm traveling by myself is not really a problem and you sometimes get to have some good conversations. It's just that I have been traveling almost once a week which gets pretty tiring. Plus, the bus is just not good with the kids. It's a long trip, there are numerous unexpected delays, it's freezing cold, it's crowded, there are people getting sick in the aisles, etc.

Since I've already done the research on the vans, I thought I would post a pic for you all... These little minivans are everywhere in China. You can buy a brand new, top of the line one for about $5000. You can get a used one for pennies. They get about 42mpg and you can get them fixed everywhere. This particular brand, Wuling, is a GM subsidiary and supposed to be one of the best. The negatives were that they have a tiny engine and that there are no safety features in an accident. Of course there is a new highway all the way out to where we usually go, so you don't have to go up and over the pass anymore. So I wasn't worried about the small engine. And I figured that my defensive driving instead of placing our trust in the hands of strangers that may or may not have ever driven before would nullify the lack of air bags.

In the grand scheme of things it's no big deal. We debated back and forth whether having our own transport was a need or an extravagance. I never really knew for sure... Plan B will be just to rent one whenever the whole family is going out of town. Of course on Tuesday morning when I'm putting on all of my long underwear and gearing myself up for the long bus ride I might be more bitter about it.......

Winter in Xining

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 15:30:00 +0000

It got cold today.

Before it was kind of chilly. You needed your heavy coat and a hat - especially in the morning. But if you were out in the afternoon you might not even need to zip up. Today was definitely a long underwear day. That's how I know whether it is cold or not. Since I am not a weather/temperature junky like so many people seem to be these days (meaning I don't check the forecast twice a day or have an outside thermometer or a digital thermometer for every room in the house) the way I know if it's cold is by sticking my head out the window. If I think to myself that there is no way I'm going out there without long johns, then it's officially cold in my book.

Chinese people, on the other hand, will wear between 3 to 5 pairs of long underwear every day from October to May. So obviously they have a different system than I do. Must be like the Fahrenheit/Celsius difference. Or is it Fahrenheit/Centigrade? What exactly is the difference between Celsius and Centigrade? I think I need to stop now and Google that...

BTW... I found out that one reason that it has seemed colder lately is that Laurel has been secretly turning down the thermostat in our flat. If you know her at all, you have to be wondering what she's worrying about... And if you said money, you would be wrong. One of her greatest fears in life is that we will all die during our sleep from poisonous gas. Even though there is a built in gas detector on the heating unit and a separate gas detector plugged into the wall, this is still a great fear. I think something along this story line would have made a great Raymond episode... (Which is what we have been watching lately... since we have been missing Amazing Race Asia).

Don't worry... I will let Laurel make fun of me a little bit on the next post...

Thanksgiving 2006

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 03:10:00 +0000

We had a small group for Thanksgiving this year, but we still had a good time. And I think most all of us were thankful... The girls would have been more thankful if there were other kids there to play with - our group these days just has two other children, both baby boys. There was no football to watch, but somehow we all managed to hang out together for about 7 hours just chatting and enjoying each other's company. The turkey was deep-fried Chinese/Cajun style. Meaning in a rigged-up Chinese pot with Cajun seasoning. And boy, it was delicious! Laurel was very kind and even made an extra pumpkin pie just for me to keep and eat for myself at home.

Our Cats

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 13:25:00 +0000

We have talked about getting a cat for the last few years, but it never seemed like a convenient time. The talk starting getting serious about a year ago, and we decided that maybe after we returned from the States in July that we could look into it. At first we thought that we would buy a cat in Beijing from a reputable vet there to make sure that it was healthy and received all the shots that it needed. But we couldn't quite figure out the logistics of such a purchase - too much 麻烦 - ma fan (troublesome). So on our return we decided to risk the local pet market, which can sometimes be a scary place. Since I had made it known from the beginning that I wanted nothing to do with it - Laurel and the girls went looking on their own. By that time we had talked ourselves into getting two cats since we were already going to the trouble of getting one. How much more work could two be? We wanted to get females since apparently they are less of a problem for people with cat allergies (like me), but that was a problem as well. Apparently the local vets don't do very well spading females - usually botching the entire operation. So we were going to have them fixed for sure, we decided to get males.

Anyway, to make a long, boring story short (the purpose of this post was just so you could see a picture) we now have two cats in the house. Laurel and I wanted to name them Beijing and Bangkok, but the girls wanted Speedy and Spider. Somehow we ended up with the names BJ and Spider (the black one). For a while Laurel would sit with the cats in her lap every night and go on and on about how she loved having them. Lately they have been pretty wild, though, and there's not as much love going around. But she says that we should always have pets of some kind, that we are a pet family. Even I, who have never had a cat and never liked them very much, have grown to enjoy our two cats. Especially BJ, because he acts more like a dog then a cat. If you come and visit us he will probably jump right up in your lap, flip over on his back, and want you to rub his tummy.

Normal Life

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 14:20:00 +0000

One of my favorite movies is Tombstone, and there are many lines that I really like in the movie. But my favorite and one that has stuck in my head since I first saw the film is a line that Doc Holliday says to Wyatt before he dies in the sanitarium at the end of the movie. After listening to Wyatt whine about his life he says, "There is no normal life, Wyatt. There's just life." Most people think that we live some adventurous, exotic life overseas, but to us it seems pretty normal, and hence the title of this blog. Our lives are a lot different than the average American family - speaking a different language, eating different foods, never driving a vehicle, traveling to other countries a lot... but this is the normal expat life. The life of a home owner, a commuter, an aristocrat, a public figure, a cancer patient, etc.... these are the kind of lives that to me would seem foreign and exotic. But I guess that everyone's life seems pretty normal to themselves when they are wrapped up in it. This is why the questions that people ask us about living overseas are sometimes so hard to answer, though. Because they address what to us is normal as if it were exotic. It would be like asking the average American why they drive to work everyday. As if there might be any other way that one could get to work...

And you probably thought that I got the title from Watchman Nee...

Amazing Race... Asia Style

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:45:00 +0000

Every January during Chinese New Year you would think that either a plague, a coup, or a financial crisis was hitting most of China. Because almost every waiguoren (foreigner) in the country is trying to get out at the same time. I don't know why this is - perhaps tradition and perhaps just because everybody else is doing it. But it's amazing to see the flights leaving the country in those preceding days - they are full of expats like us. It is not uncommon to see other expats from Xining in Thailand, Cambodia, or Singapore or another SE Asia country - everybody enjoying some vacation and sun and western food at the same time. This year we will be heading to Thailand for a conference and then to a few other cities in Thailand for vacation. Maybe next year we will go back to Singapore because it was one of Laurel's favorite places. We met up with Singaporean friends a couple of weeks ago that said they could maybe find us a place to say. That would be great.

And if you didn't know... there really is an Amazing Race Asia. We watched the 2nd episode just tonight on the may/may not be illegal (but don't tell us) over the internet TV. Amazing Race is one of our favorite shows and this version is just like the US one, but all of the contestants are from a SE Asian country. And the budget is a little smaller so it's not quite a worldwide contest. They must be required to have a homosexual couple on the show, but it's interesting that at least in the Asia version they are being labeled as "best friends". We're pulling for the Indonesian brothers that every time they show on screen are eating.

Today's pic is of the KC cousins in a pumpkin patch. I wish we had big pumpkins around here. Carving jack-o-lanterns is one part of Halloween that I miss.

Breaking the fast

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 15:39:00 +0000

Every year at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan there is a large celebration for a few days. There are many minority groups in this area of China, but one of the largest in Xining is the Muslims, mainly Hui people and also a few Salar. The first morning of the celebration almost all Muslim men in the area will go downtown to the largest mosque for their worship service. The city closes the main street for many blocks as the crowds spill out of the mosque and onto the streets. I thought I would share a picture of this year's crowd taken a few weeks ago. They say that every year over 100,000 men gather for this service just here in Xining.

Welcome and Introductions

noreply@blogger.com (expatAaron) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 15:07:00 +0000

This will be about the 4th blog that I have started in the past 2 years. We'll have to see if this one gets more than a post or two before I lose interest. Since blogger routinely changes my password and steals my accounts, I will not spend much time posting now in case it all disappears. Just wanted to say howdy to the world from China.