Untitled from Easternjourney.com on Vimeo.

Our helper was unavailable all week so that meant I was doing 1.5 – 2 hours worth of dishes each day. It takes a while to wash everything because we either run out of counter space for the drying dishes or we run out of hot water.

Dishes cannot be washed at night because we need to reserve the water for bedtime bath, showers, etc. Yes, winter is here and we’re adjusting our daily life to fit the season.

I’m pretty sure over the last week there was a 15 minute window of time where the sink was perfectly clean and empty.

Where are all those dishes coming from?

Paula Dean’s Chicken and Dumplings
Boilermaker Tailgate Chili
Grandmaw’s Veggie Soup
cornbread. cornbread. cornbread.
pear crisp
rolled apple strudel
chai concentrate
blueberry muffins
blueberry pancakes
yogurt muffins…

When we went to San Xia Ren Jia on Saturday is was close to 80 degrees, but by Thursday it was 45 outside and 58 inside. We enjoyed a mere 4 days of fall weather.

The colder weather has officially put us in thermals and pants on bottom with a thermal, long sleeve turtle neck and sweater or fleece on top. Schäfer has been fascinated with Hubs earmuffs.

I wondered how Schäfer would survive being inside for 7 days straight. I had planned on doing Tot School everyday, but time flew by between singing, reading and free play.

I have loved the stacks and stacks of books we’ve read each day – probably 15-20 (some of them are 60+ pages). In one sitting, Schäfer read the entire OT. Then, the next day, he read the entire NT.  OK, so it was a kid version, but still. That’s a lot of stories!

Right now, Schäfer is really into Buzz Lightyear because they met at Disneyland HK. Sometimes he’ll ask to color a Buzz so I’ll print one from the internet. Right now, coloring isn’t so much about adding color as it is talking to whoever is on the page and creating a story to fit the lines he is drawing. (We’re holding off on the Toy Story movies.)

Our big, fun, exciting news from the week is that Jie Jie came to live with us for six nights and seven days. I think she got a little tired of Schäfer at some points, but believe me – Schäfer did not get tired of her.

She’s an amazing eight-year-old to come and live with foreigners. She was a trooper and seemed to like our foods.

This week, we also got to experience Jie Jie’s life: Getting to the bus by 7:30am. Coming home from school at 5:10pm. Eating supper. Doing homework. Taking a bath. And then to bed. Jie Jie seriously has very little free time.

The hardest day was on Monday when an enormous ink explosion occurred in her backpack. Ink was all over her notebooks and clothes. It was one of those moments when I knew she just wanted her Mom.

I did my best to get the ink out of her clothes. We cleaned off her textbooks and tried to salvage whatever notebooks we could. Unfortunately because of HFMD, I couldn’t run to the store and buy a new backpack so we loaned her one of our backpacks.

(We just love her parents and would completely trust Schäfer in their care as well.)

We wanted to say thanks to Amy, Beth and Katie who sent a most unexpected care package. Schäfer absolutely loved growing the foamies.

After all the foamies were finished growing, they spent hours driving around the living room taking turns being the driver and passenger.

That’s basically been life for the past few days. Schäfer is doing great and we don’t see any more sores in his mouth so I’d say he definitely had a mild case of HFMD.

1. faster. Buses tend to stop for any potential passenger along the way until all seats and the aisle are crowded. Then, it will stop for another half dozen people. Not so with the train.

2. cheaper – enough said.

3. bathroom available.

4. If nobody is standing,  you can walk around.

5. no tv. On buses, you and your children are subjected to movies you’ve never desired to watch including violence and nudity. The movie selection is played by digital files set up by the bus company. Providing an alternative DVD isn’t an option.

6. The train stops for no water buffalo.

7. You can generally buy a sleeper bunk on a train for short as well as longer distances. What a difference it makes.

8. The train doesn’t take sharp winding bends at high velocities.

All in all, traveling by train in China is not unlike traveling as a passenger by RV in the states. I remember taking many a road trip laid out on the upper bed of our Winnebago RV watching the open road pass before me.

When I saw other children sitting there too, I thought “Schäfer must have wanted to wrestle. He started a big wrestling match and all the kids got into trouble.” (These days, Schäfer loves to jump on top of anyone and wrestle – whether they want to or not.)

Teacher Xiong explained that there was a little boy in their class who broke out with Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease so he has exposed all of his classmates to the virus.  I needed to immediately take Schäfer to the large hospital downtown to be checked out.

As we walked by the classroom, Teachers Liu and Chen were already busy sterilizing everything.

When I told Schäfer that we needed to go home quickly because we had to get to the hospital, he replied, “I don’t want them to pull down my underwear and bite me!” (Meaning, he didn’t want a shot.) I assured him there would be no shots.

Then, he was generally excited about going to the doctor and being good so he could get a sucker – just like in “How Do the Dinosaurs Go to the Doctor”.

Teacher Liu had already called Hubs so he was ready to go to the hospital once we got home and put the bicycle down.

Upon arrival at the hospital, we ran into another little girl from Schäfer’s class. She had already seen the doctor. She was fine, but her parents were going to keep her out for a week as a precaution. I agreed that this was a good idea so we swapped numbers and planned on a play date while the kids were out of school.

We then went to the front counter and paid 4.5 kuai (70 cents) to see a doctor.

We made our way to the 4th floor pediatric ward and found a doctor.  She looked at Schäfer’s hands and pointed to some small red spots. She took off his shoes and socks. She pointed out several small red spots on his feet. Then, she asked him to open his mouth where we all saw small red spots.

Yes, our son has Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease.

The doctor told us to go home and rest for 7 days. There is no medicine necessary. He might get a fever. Otherwise, the virus will fade away and Schäfer will never get it again because he’s been exposed.

I asked if we needed to return in 7 days to get a note saying he was in the clear and could return to school. She said that would not be necessary. The virus would be gone. He could go back to school.

We were thankful to be in and out of the hospital rather quickly. The pediatric ward was filled with many sick kids receiving IV’s. I was so afraid we were going to catch the flu.

So, for the last couple of days, Schäfer has been cooped up in the apartment. He has generally done well for a boy suffering with extreme cabin fever. The recent rains and drop in temperature outside have made it easier to keep him in. Unfortunately, we did have to cancel on two play dates and one birthday party.

His red spots have continued to stay small. Thankfully, nothing has blistered or looks anything like the examples of crusted whelps we found on the internet.

While I was holding the baby, Schäfer walked over and asked, “Is that my mei mei?”

Melt my heart. I explained that this little baby was Tian Ayi’s.

He asked again, “Is that my mei mei?”

It was wonderful to see him have such a positive response to another baby in my arms.

…

One night during supper last week, we had this conversation:

Me: If there was a little boy or girl who had no parents, could they come live with us? Could Mommy be her Mommy? Could Papa be her Papa?
He: Yes.
Me: Could they live with us everyday? Can you share a room?
He: Yes.
Me: Would you share your toys?
He: Yes.

We’ve come such a long way from him only wanting Raffe.

On Sunday afternoon, we headed off to a place we’d never before visited: the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute.

Over the past 20 years about 6,000 sturgeons and other “peculiar fishes” have been released into the Yangtze and Pearl Rivers.  In 2009, scientist succeeded in artificially breading the first born minnow.

Schäfer and Jie Jie check out a stuffed Sturgeon.

The museum is comprised of several buildings including this Yangtze River Exotic Fish Rehabilitation Center.

In addition to viewing the Chinese Sturgeon, we enjoyed a tropical fish display, seeing 4 crocodiles, and feeding hungry goldfish. We also watched a film about how local scientists have developed their breeding technique since the 1980’s.

Get em’ Fighting Sturgeons!

Before we even got to the boat, Schäfer was already having a great time!

This boat was taking many a passenger up the Yangtze to several tourist spots.

Of course, we can’t be around this many people from Yichang without Hubs running into someone he knows. The Yichang Hiking club was taking off for a two day hike. One of the hikers also rides in a bike club and recognized Hubs.

Schäfer loved looking at all the boats floating and being built.

Hubs and Schäfer pretty much stayed this way for 2.5 hours while we made our way up the Yangtze. Our final destination was the San Xia Ren Jia or “Home of the Three Gorges People”.

The people of the Three Gorges were excellent at navigating these river boats through the Yangtze rapids.

Fried fish are a common local snack.

Of course, tea eggs are always available.

The weather was perfect. In fact, I’d say it might have hit in the 80’s. We were all in too many layers.

This scenic spot represents life in the quiet Three Gorges as it once was.

A traditional Yangtze River boat.

A Yangtze boat with a fishing net. In the back are additional bamboo fishing nets reaching out from the river bank.

One of the many canyon streams emptying into the Yangtze.

Schäfer enjoyed the view from Papa’s height.

The end of the canyon had several small waterfalls. Gorgeous!

Trekkin’ with Papa!

The band was playing in preparation of a marriage ceremony performance.

Beautiful minority Tu Jia ladies sang traditional wedding songs.

The groom was a “volunteer” from the audience. (I think they originally wanted to select Hubs, but with some artful dodging he escaped the selection.) The bride was a local Tu Jia woman.

At the end of their “ceremony” they shared a shot of bijiu (liquor), but instead of drinking it they brought it to Hubs and I to drink. At first I thought, “It’s 11:30am, surely this is water.” I asked and they confirmed that it was liquor. Then, they offered it to Schäfer! We politely declined.

Sandra sits in a traditional chair which was used on the wedding day to transport the bride to the groom’s house.

The end of the canyon emptying into the Yangtze.

While at San Xia Ren Jia, we also hiked through the Shadow Play Cave. Who doesn’t love dark spaces with Christmas lights?

Since the last time Hubs visited San Xia Ren Jia, they have added this Ba minority fortress. Hubs has doubts as to the authenticity. Either way, today King Ba welcomed us in his home.

In the upper room of the fortress, these two gentleman were playing traditional Chinese instruments. We sat down and stayed a while.

Chinese Traditional Instruments with Karaoke from Easternjourney.com on Vimeo.

Eventually, Schäfer was invited to play along with them.

San Xia Ren Jia’s claim to fame is this rock, often seen in photos of the Three Gorges. It’s supposed to look like Teng Ren the Buddhist monk from the “Journey to the West.”

While waiting for the boat back downstream, Hubs and Schäfer skipped rocks on the Yangtze.

The boat ride back to Yichang took a mere 45 minutes thanks to the current. We sat on wooden stools on the upper deck so we could watch the sleepy river villages pass by.

What a great adventure on the Yangtze.

Tonight, we stayed home and made pizza.

It was delicious.