Warning: Novel ahead.
It may be too long for most to read.
And it will have terrible grammar.
It has officially been two weeks! In many ways, I still feel like I have been
here for two days. Many things are still
not resolved:
-still trying to get my phone working
- waiting for twin beds for the kids
- still have no idea how to call a driver and go anywhere on
my own
-still waiting for our Taobao account- like amazon in US -
to be set up so we can order a few necessities online.
But then there is the list of things that we have
accomplished and it is nice to see some progress:
- Resident Visas are submitted and in final processing (this
is a huge headache and requires hiring a specialist to make it through the red
tape.
- hired an Ayi. Ayi means “aunt” in Chinese. It is basically a mother’s helper. It is extremely cheap to hire this type of
help in China (roughly around $6 an hour in USD) and very common. You can hire for any amount of hours. We decided on three days a week. Our Ayi cleans the house, cooks dinner, and
does some shopping. I have also asked
her to talk to the kids in Chinese so they can practice. The woman we hired speaks no English.
-The kids are registered in school and officially started
this morning.
Some items from this week…
SCHOOL
The most exciting is the kids starting school. They were so excited and Ainsley said, “Finally,
I can meet some friends!” I have not
seen Will hop out of bed faster EVER. I
had forgotten how exciting the first day of school can be. Thankfully, I have these patient kiddos to
remind me. Normally we have a few simple
traditions around the beginning of school. This time traditions only included receiving a
father’s blessing (This is always such a blessing in our home and the kids are
always reverent and anxiously waiting for their turn). We have been racing around for two weeks (and
the same was happening before we left Utah trying to get ready) and were still
trying to decide what school to attend as of last Thursday. This, along with a quick bout of the flu
mentioned later, killed any normalcy around starting school.
Our original plan was to enroll the kids in a full Chinese
school. We found only one that was
willing to consider our family. They are
on break until September 1st and we were struggling to get any
information. Moving also comes with its own
challenges and since our arrival, Will has developed a speech impediment. It has been tough as a parent to watch him
struggle with this and to know that it is a direct result of our choice. Again, so grateful for the gospel and knowing
that we have a Heavenly Father and he is aware of us and has a PLAN. I keep reminding myself that he knew the
challenges we would face when we prayed about this decision to come. Now it is time to have faith in Him.
So, after some intense praying and some sleepless nights,
Marcus and I both felt it would be best to choose the international school that
would be in English. The Chinese school
would require Will to retake Kindergarten (which we felt okay about since the
language would be completely new) and Will was not thrilled about. We also discovered that the girls would be on
a different campus from Will and that concerned us. The school does not have a translator so our
son would have no way to communicate a problem or concern.
The girls were a little disappointed to go to the English
school but that was short-lived. We
toured the school campus on Thursday and they were sold. It is comparable to a new high school in the
US. They have a brand new gymnasium and
theater (both high school sized because the school does go all the way through
high school). Their school is so darn
nice! They each have about 15 kids in
their class (half the size of their classes in the US). It really is a unique opportunity for them
and I am sure they will love it. They
are riding the bus for the first time ever.
They are also having school lunch which is a first for us. (I was so thrilled to have one meal of the
day taken off my plate!). We told the
girls that we can look into the Chinese school at the Winter break and transfer
then.
Marcus and I are relieved to not have to worry about school
for a bit. The Chinese school was going
to take a ton of work on our part and we have so much transition going on right
now that this decision has taken a big load of worry/concern/time off of our
shoulders for a few months. Yeah!
Another really great thing about the school is that the
director is in our branch. He is Mormon
also! The kids were thrilled to
recognize him and feel more at home because of this. I have actually found it very interesting
that several of the members of our branch are involved in the schools
here. There is another member that is
the director of another international school here and then some teachers and
even a school counselor. Our district
president is also the director of another international school.
THE AYI
Monday, yesterday, was the first day we had our ayi
come. I had interviewed two candidates
the week before and had chosen one on Saturday but the lady didn’t call to tell
me she was indeed coming
.
Background:
Sunday night we invited a young family over for some peach
cobbler. (The cook in me has to throw in
here that I have a wonderful recipe for cobbler so I was feeling like we could
maybe pull it off but the peaches in China are different. It was disappointing. The peaches are great fresh but they don’t
cook the same. They also have a white
flesh. So there you have it.)
Paige had been taking a late nap and I had let her sleep
because her sleep schedule has been crazy and I knew she needed the rest. While the cobbler was cooking Paige woke up
and threw up all over the bed.
Awesome! The poor girl was sick,
sick, sick. The couple we had invited
over have an 11 month old boy so I am sure they were thrilled but they were
very gracious. I ended up holding Paige
upstairs while people ate cobbler downstairs.
Paige continued to throw up for a couple of hours. She finally settled down and we both had just
fallen asleep around 1am when Reagan ran out of her room looking for the bowl. She joined the sick party for the next couple
of hours. I finally climbed into bed
around 5:30 in the morning.
Next thing I know, Ainsley is waking me up saying the Ayi is
here. It was 8am. AHHHHHH.I was so grateful that we had hired
someone, and that she was here to clean; however, I was not prepared. Our internet was, of course, down so
translation was a huge issue. Reagan did
her best to help me. It was a stressful
day and my mind was so foggy from the lack of sleep. The kids wanted to lay around and watch TV
(but of course that requires internet right now) so it didn’t happen. I finally let them use the kindles. Once Paige fell asleep I crawled in bed
also. And the Ayi cleaned. We managed to tell her not to worry about
dinner (to save the translation hassle, plus she didn’t bring her bike that day
to go to the market) and apologized many times once Marcus came home. I am so glad we picked her. She is kind to
the kids and worked with them on speaking Chinese. She was so patient and did a wonderful job
cleaning on a very chaotic/non normal day in our home.
One last thing about having the 24 hour flu. We took a trip to IKEA the second day we were
here and I picked up two basic bowls for cooking to get us through until our
shipment arrives with our kitchen supplies.
I never thought about sickness.
It was very interesting having both bowls in use and wondering what we
were going to do if a third person joined the mix. Also, what to use in the kitchen for
meals? Mentally, it was a new challenge
because I am a germaphobe and we don’t have a dishwasher. I was sure wishing I had a can of Lysol too! We survived and as of yet, no one else has
succumbed.
HOUSE
The house is still a bit frustrating. The size is great. The layout is great. The problem is getting the landlord to fix
things. We still have a broken toilet seat,
a broken air conditioner in one room (each room has its own except the kitchen
has none), the doorbell doesn’t work, and one of the burners on the stove
doesn’t work (there are only two). This
morning the other burner on the stove quit working as well. We are also still waiting on the twin beds
for the kids.
On our side of things, we are still waiting on the bed
cushion for our bed (this is a huge deal when you are laying on a bed that
feels like a box spring) and we need to figure out a solution to our “hard as a
rock” couches. All very superficial,
except the stove, but mentally and physically a big deal to this very pregnant
woman. I sometimes (okay, daily) would
like a comfortable place to sitJ.
The more exciting part of the house is the pets. We discovered a gecko the other night. It is a little guy. I saw it and then Ainsley saw it so there was
someone to back me up on this. Ainsley
found frogs outside our back door. And
Paige gets the award for finding the first huge cockroach. I think we have now each found our own of
these wonderful creatures (large and small) but Paige found the first.
Sometimes in the middle of the night she will wake up
hungry. One night she had gotten up
around 4:30 and Marcus brought her downstairs for a spoon full of peanut butter. He left her in the kitchen sitting on a
little IKEA stool and suddenly we hear screaming from her. She was hysterical. She kept screaming that a spider ran over her
foot. I suspected it was a cockroach as
there were a few dead ones when we moved in and was able to confirm it later
that day when one appeared and she could identify her spider. Poor child never got to eat her peanut butterJ haha.
A few days ago our friend Chrizelle and her son Joel took us
on a hike in the mountains. We had no
idea we had mountains nearby. It was
such a hot day. We left at ten in the
morning. It was just a short walk from
our house. By the time we reached the
trail we were drenched in sweat. All of
us. I have never seen my kids so sweaty
and honestly, never felt so sweaty myself.
By the end Paige’s entire ponytail was dripping from the sweat. It was about a two mile walk. While we are on the trail Chrizelle quietly
asks me if the kids are scared of snakes.
Aughhh. No but I am! She had a little chat with us about China
having snakes and if we see one to just slowly back away and choose another
direction. She then told us that she
will get up and come running on this trail and one morning there were some
runners ahead of her that were running barefoot and all of a sudden they were
jumping and hoping and squealing. There
had been snakes on the trail. She said she just turned around and ran the other
way (but she laughed too). So that is
China for you, house pets whether you want them or not and poisonous snakes. Come visit soon!
This is what happens when you take a camera lens off in 100% humidity
Reagan opted for an over-the-shoulder bag this year. Can't believe how quickly she is growing up.
And Paige will not be left out.
Waiting for the bus.
Their bus. The third day of school I told the kids to walk home when the bus dropped them off (I wasn't going to meet them - it is not far from our house). The bus aid made them wait for 5 minutes and tried to call us to get approval for them to come home. Crazy safety measures for a country that has no car seats, no bike helmets, and bike riders on the freeways with the cars.
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