• September 26, 2008 - Shoes
I am constantly amazed at the shoes I see women wear in China. Truly amazed. On so many levels.
First of all, they seem so dangerous. I personally have fallen down multiple times in China just walking down the very poorly constructed or maintained sidewalks. It's not uncommon for there to be huge holes, loose tiles, and various rubbish in your path. To even consider walking on these treacherous sidewalks in any shoe with a heel, causes me to shudder.
Sometimes China seems like the Leave it to Beaver life of the American 50's when women wore stockings, pumps, and a dress to shop for groceries. I see ladies in the supermarket wearing dresses that we'd wear only to a wedding or other fancy dinner party. They are too dressy even for church -- dresses with layers of chiffon over the skirt or pearl embellishments on the bodice. It makes me feel quite slouchy in my denim capris, Chaco sandals and a t-shirt.
 
For me, I'll stick with flats -- sturdy, well constructed flats that keep me walking without blisters.
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• September 8, 2008 - Recycling in China
• September 4, 2008 - One Useless Thing I've Learned While in China
Chopsticks are great, but they have limitations.
For example, they do not spread peanut butter well at all.
This lesson was learned while we were living in hotel rooms before we got this amazing new apartment.
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• August 20, 2008 - Twins
Jenn once asked a great question about twins. How does China handle twins in a one child policy system? Twins are a very fortunate event and one of the few loopholes around the one child rule.
Did you know that Africans have the greatest rate of twins? And Asians have the least? So for a Chinese family in a one child policy system to have a set of twins is an amazing and rare blessing! And Chinese people see it that way as well. She is very, very fortunate mother to be blessed with twins on her one and only chance at childbearing!
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• August 11, 2008 - Our New Apartment -- The Kitchen
My kitchen is pretty nifty. Especially for a Chinese home.
Here's an inside shot of the refrigerator. Why? Well, some of you are so curious about everything. Why not?
This is a nice shot of my oven.
But this one is much better, don't you think?
The oven can hold a 9x13 pan, and it's tall enough to bake loaves of bread without the bread touching the top of the oven (been there, done that). It's sort of a glorified toaster oven, but it heats up super quick and cooks efficiently.
Although this may look like a dishwasher, it isn't. It's a sanitizer. It simply heats the dishes to kill germs. We don't use it. I just store dishes inside it.
A kitchen related tidbit -- In America, we eat on plates and serve things out of bowls. In China, we eat out of a bowl and serve things on plates.
See that cabinet in the corner? You'll never guess what it is.
Do you know yet? Probably not.
Push this button. Once for each person you have to feed.
Pull out the drawer at the bottom, and you've got premeasured rice! This is a rice bin. You pour your rice in the top. Very handy!
Under the gas burners are drawers for storage. These are great! You can cram so much more in them than a cabinet.
This is another glorious picture. A hot water heater in the kitchen. I've lived in some apartments without hot water in the kitchen. (I would carry it in from the bathroom in a bucket.) I've had other kitchens with tiny hot water heaters under the sink. You can get one sinkful of hot water, and then it's all gone. But this is a gas hot water heater. That means limitless hot water! As the water passes through, it's heated up. The heater doesn't store water. Glorious, I tell you! Truly glorious!
Six years in China and this next feature was a first for me. Strange place for another faucet, over here in the corner.
That's not just a tray there. It's hiding a HOLE!
Under the cabinet is a huge pottery vat to hold water. This is for those (not too uncommon) times when the water is turned off. Kind of tells you something about how frequent it is that someone would install this kind of thing.
I know that you'll want to know why. Honestly, I don't understand it. I just know that the water in China is frequently turned off There's usually some general explanation about working on the water pipes. Why it's so frequent, I really can't comprehend. All I know is that when you've got no water, this big tank is a godsend! As a matter of fact, we're without water right now! :-)
Yep, in our first month here, the master bathroom has flooded twice from the floor drain--sewage. Nice. Real nice.
But I guess we're better off than the downstairs neighbors. They have sewage running down three walls of their home.
Obviously the entire plumbing design of our side of the apartment is flawed and has to be redone. So we're without water until tomorrow night (altogether about 55 hours). Our across the hall neighbor is kind enough to let us get water to fill up our tanks and buckets.
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• August 8, 2008 - Our New Apartment -- Unpacked & Cluttered
So many of you commented on how big the new apartment is and how "clean" and "uncluttered" it is.
Was.
Now it's not so uncluttered or so big after we filled it with our things. But on the bright side, now it's "home" and not just an apartment. So it's all good.
First on the tour, the homeschool hallway. This is what you first see upon opening our front door.
I don't mind that our homeschool things are out in the open. I think it sets a good tone for our family. We are all about learning. And being in the middle of the house has turned out to be super convenient.
The office is just off to the left. See the map of North & South America? It's over there, behind the bookcases.
This is our view of the front door when we're sitting at the homeschool table. I'm using that little bit of top wall for hanging schoolwork.
Here's the dining room.
We cannot drink the tap water, so we buy these 5 gallon water bottles. They are delivered to our home within ten minutes of our call. Each one costs about $1.50. Worth every penny when the alternative is boiling all your water. I had the stand custom built for this particular spot. It's some sort of pressboard laminate, I guess. Not very fancy, but it's sturdy and very affordable.
The door to the right of the water machine leads to the squatty. But before the actual squatty is this room. Yep, that's my fancy washing machine. I love it. It heats the water so you can wash with warm water! That's quite a luxury here.
The living room.
The office-- my desk in particular.
The craft cabinet beside my desk.
The guest bedroom. We do have a guest right now.
Off of the guest bedroom is where we hang our laundry. Remember, we're on the second floor. So we use the balcony area for both drying clothes and for storage.
And I'm sure you're wondering how we get the clothes up there? Do we use the ladder? No. It's just there for storage. We use this nifty tool. You may have seen or used one in a clothing retailer.
You put the hanger (right below the hook part) into the grooves at the top of this tool and lift it up to the rack suspended from the ceiling. Sprite thinks this is great fun, so I try to enlist her help everytime I hang up and take down laundry.
These racks below are wonderful for unmentionables, dish towels, and socks.
I'll explore the kitchen for you in its own post. Until next time.
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• August 6, 2008 - Torching Pigs' Feet
• August 5, 2008 - Airing the Tummy
This post is about a Chinese peculiarity -- Shai Duzi -- to air the tummy. (That's my translation. This kind of term is not found in the dictionary.)
Shai is a verb meaning to bask or to dry in the sun.
Shai is used for blankets or other laundry hanging out to dry or to freshen. You can also shai dark skin (a very unfavorable thing in Asia).
When hot, men often shai duzi -- air the tummy/belly/abdomen. (Note, only men do this. I've never seen women do this!)
It's totally acceptable and is seen almost everywhere. Just pull up your shirt to expose your belly button! It matters not if you're fit or flabby. It's all about being cool -- temperature-wise that is. I'm not sure I'd consider this suave behavior.
 
This below was a totally clandestine shot. Sprite helped me capture it since she was sitting on the aisle.
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