A John Deere Expat Picnic

This past Saturday, the 30-some expat families that work at John Deere

got together here at Warner Garden for a picnic and get-to-know-you.  

The employees already know each other, 

so this was the opportunity for the spouses to connect.  Some have been here

for a couple of years, and some arrived just a week or so ago.

We are beginning to feel like seasoned expats since we have been here 2 months.

 It was a potluck, so the Mexican families brought great food, and

the Chinese families brought great food,

and the American families brought great food AND desserts.

Chocolate chip cookies!  Brownies!

(I finally bought a package of chocolate chips this week--$8, and they look all chalky.
They get hot during shipping and lose a lot of their quality.
Guess that will be something we bring back in our suitcases when we visit the U.S.)

I made chicken enchiladas with homemade tortillas.  I found sour cream

at an import store along with a can of green chilies and a can of cream of chicken soup.  

Alice has been begging for this dish, and I finally found all the right ingredients.  

And they were very good.  The pan was totally cleaned out!

 One thing EVERYONE appreciated was the pizza from Papa Johns.

There is one here in TEDA, about 15 minutes away.  Have I mentioned

that there is also KFC, McDonald's, Subway, and Starbucks?

The menus are more than slightly different from the U.S. though;

some familiar menu items, some not.  A pastry at Starbucks probably
isn't a bear claw--more likely it's fish with squid ink.
And I'm sure you'll taste the difference.

And, speaking of unfamiliar food, there are at least 5 varieties of pears that I have never

seen before.  One Chinese sister at church gave each family a bag of these

pears last Sunday, and we ate some on the ride home.
(And there is always the dilemma--do I dare eat this without washing it?
Don't worry.  We washed them.)

They are dense and crisp, almost like an apple, 

and not as sweet as the pears at home

but definitely refreshing and delicious!

Flying the Coop

Possessing birds in a cage doesn't satisfy the need for a pet.

Sure, you can talk to them, and listen to them chatter,

but the personal touch is missing.

So we let them out the the cage this week.

 

 The green one is definitely young.  It kept hitting into the windows and the walls as it

really didn't know where, or even how to land.

We were afraid it would be mortally wounded, and thought it was a failed attempt.

But the next time we let them both out at the same time,

they flew together (running into each other sometimes)

and the young one learned.

They now are let out regularly, 

(after we make sure all windows and doors to the outside are securely closed.)

If we are holding one of the birds, 

the other one flies over and lands next to it.  

They are buddies!

And we have real pets--

and a couple of happy daughters.

What a surprise...

Some of the furniture in our furnished apartment is obviously second hand;

some pieces don't match each other.  The microwave is a small one with a simple

dial for a timer.  (I really miss my own microwave!)

The landlord didn't put out a lot of money in providing the necessities,

except in one instance.

The toilet in the family bathroom.

It's electric!

Notice the remote control on the wall.

Sure, during the winter the heated seat will be nice.

 For some reason, this toilet thinks you want to have a light shining on the contents.

However, if you ever need to use the WC in the middle of the night,

you are guided by the soft, bluish glow emanating from the cracks (if the lid is closed).

 I just want to know WHO or WHAT is going to be air dried!

And if you have someone in the family who forgets to flush,

this is the model for you.

 My last question:  Do they mean the toilet is intelligent

or does it mean I am intelligent for using it?

We saw some of these toilets for sale at a local hardware store, and 

I about dropped my drawers!  

$1000!

Living in the City

Moving to the city has been an adjustment for us--probably a bigger adjustment than moving to a new culture.  We now have to use an elevator, and  

the security of the building is such that we have a special elevator key.

To go up to our apartment, we have to hold the key pad up to a sensor, which transmits which floor we live on, and the elevator takes us to the 3rd floor.

If we have visitors, they have to call on the intercom system,

we unlock the front door, and they go get on the elevator.

We have to guess when they are ON the elevator, then call it up to our floor.

Secure.  Makes me feel safe, even if a bit cumbersome.

It was just this week that we realized that we cannot 

just pop over to see someone else in the 

building--we have to go through that same ridiculous process.  

No leaving goodies on the doorstep here! 

  

One afternoon this past week, our intercom rang--a British-sounding gentleman was

asking to come up.  Kevin was home, so we called up the elevator.

The gentleman (who is the principal of a just-getting-started international school)

profusely apologized as he handed us some felt pads for the legs of our dining room chairs.

Seems he could hear the chairs scootching in and out during our breakfast time,

which is a couple of hours before he wanted to be awake.

The funny thing was, that very morning, Alice had been imitating the chairs we could hear in the apartment above US, and scootched her chair back and forth.  

Maybe we should take the extra felt pads and pass them on upstairs.

The view from our front door--quite a bit different from our Cedar Falls' view of a magnolia tree!

See that skinny white door?  That's the garbage closet. There is a small trash can (about the size of my old kitchen trash can) where the three apts on our floor put our trash.

Fortunately, it is emptied a few times each day. And they use a black plastic liner,

so it doesn't usually smell. It's kind of nice not having to walk out to a big dumpster. 

 And we visited Home Depot last weekend.  After the Wal-Mart fiasco (they wouldn't take a credit card),

we took lots of cash, and sure enough, they wouldn't take VISA either.

But with the area rugs we were able to purchase, and at least one picture to hang on the wall

it's beginning to feel like home around here!

Command Central...

With three phones, a couple of internet boxes, and a Vonage box, 

this is now command central.

I guess it would be more accurate to include the computer with its video chat

and Skype, but you already know what that looks like.

The gray phone is our home phone.

Feel free to call it if you want international calling charges.

The black phone is our Vonage-connected phone.  With a Cedar Falls, Iowa, phone number,

you can talk to me right here in our apartment in China like it was a local call.  

But please, only call during American evening hours.  

(Email me for the phone number--and be patient when I'm answering.  All the buttons are in Chinese characters and kind of weird--I haven't yet memorized which is the call back button, which is the speaker phone, etc.).  And it takes a moment to recognize which phone is ringing.

Then there is the little black iPhone.

We knew we needed cell phones here, but negotiating the Chinese system was daunting, at best.

First you buy your phone.  Anywhere.  Kiosks, stores, etc., but beware of buying a cheap knock-off.  

You don't want to buy an iBone or an iFone.

Then you decide which phone carrier.  Good coverage but no support for data?  Why would I buy a smart phone and choose that carrier??  (But that one is the major Chinese phone company.  Good thing we found out before signing up.)
Then you buy a SIM card.  (Allows the phone to work with the carrier.)

And you buy a phone number.  There were several to choose from.  I was lucky and got one with an 8

in it, and it wasn't even more expensive than the others.  ("8" is a lucky number, 4 is an unlucky number).
If you decide later that you want to change carriers, you have to buy a new phone number.  No transferring numbers here!

Then you choose a plan.  All the phones here are prepaid.  How many MB do you want to download each month?  How much talk time?  Any texts?  Then if you pay the monthly fee, your phone works.  And it's easy to tell when it's time to pay again--there's no ring tone.

And did I mention that all this is in Chinese?

So I'm not actually sure what our contract says--who knows? We might have sold our first-born.  (Sorry, Catherine!)   Every once in awhile I get a text in Chinese characters, and I have figured out the part that says 96 (RMB).  So I know it is time to pay up again.
 By the way, that translates to about $18 dollars a month.

That kind of makes up for the fact that the phone cost 4999 RMB to begin with.  (roughly $900).

Which brings me to the rest of the story.

I now feel like a "ten cow wife".

When we saw how expensive these phones were, I just figured I would go with a cheap one.

But a couple of the other wives had iPhones, so Kevin bought it for me.
He didn't want me to feel like a "Samsung wife" or an "AnyCall wife".

Such a sweet guy!

Quick Trip to Beijing...

The trouble with pre-planning a weekend getaway?  Mother Nature often doesn't cooperate.

Recently, we had district conference to attend on Saturday afternoon, 

so we thought we'd throw in some sight-seeing in the morning. 

 Funny how Beijing, in traffic, in the rain, looks so much like Tianjin, in traffic, in the rain.  

 We brought one umbrella with us, just in case, 

but soon we had purchased 3 more, plus

two ponchos, from street vendors, as we entered the

Forbidden City.

I was impressed with how immense the place is, with courtyard after courtyard.

 Pretty amazing granite carvings.

Bright, intricate paint.

 And a light drizzle.

Papa Bailey and his ducklings...

 Boy was I surprised when we walked through one doorway

and into a forested garden. 

So beautiful.  So unexpected!

The path leads to a museum of porcelain

and we got to see Ming Dynasty stuff, etc.  

Now those names mean more to me.  Gorgeous vases, dishes, and statues!

 And just to prove that sometimes it stopped raining...

 And then it started again.

 I wonder if there is ever a time to see the Forbidden City without 2 million other people?

(And there were probably fewer people there than usual because of the rain.)

Or at least we'd like to go when our feet aren't cold and wet.

Pets. Etc.

When the pet discussion began, we knew dogs, cats, and any type of rodent (hamsters, gerbils, etc) were out.  Goldfish would be okay.

But suddenly, parakeets became the choice.

Especially when we learned that two birds, the cage and

the food came to just under $10.

 I'm okay with that.

They liven up the place, especially during the day when

I'm here by myself.

Even if they don't last, it has already been worth it.

 Etc.  

Ellie and Alice are going to a fall camp-out with their school; 

three days in the mountains.

Ellie came home with a bunch of old cardboard last week--

she'd volunteered to make the cue

cards for her group's skit.

Until I reminded her that we don't have our stuff--

what was she going to use for the lettering?

We brainstormed.  

Cut out paper letters and glue them on?

Wow, would that take a long time!

 We were going to Home Depot on Saturday anyway,

so we looked for paint.

No such thing as spray paint.

No pint or quart paint containers.

Only gallons--Behr Paint, $80.

Then I remembered that when we moved into the apartment,

there was a small plastic bucket with a brush in it, 

and something that looked like cream-colored paint--all wrapped up in 

an old grocery sack.  Yucky!

(They must have done some repainting in-between tenants.)

All we had to do was buy a 40-cent small brush.

And it worked well. 

 I was SO glad that I had resisted the urge to throw that messy bucket away (twice!).

Every once in awhile, my hoarding instincts actually pay off.

[And the weather this week has been clear, in the 70's, and the patio

has been a fun place to be!]

Getting to Know My Oven

With two international moves, and using two "foreign" ovens, I just have to ask the question,  is it really so hard to make an oven that heats to the temperature that it is supposed to?

At home (in Iowa), I let the bread raise in a warm oven, then

turn it up to 350, bake for 30 minutes, and the bread is perfectly done.

 China Bread attempt #1

 Golden brown on the outside, doughy in the middle.  Really, really doughy.

I ended up throwing it away.

Attempt # 2

 Someone lent me an oven thermometer.  

No wonder the bread wasn't baking right-- it was really only 250 degrees. 

(And yes, I did have the right conversion for Fahrenheit to Celsius.  180 C should be 350 F. 

 I have to set my oven at 200 C to achieve 350 F).

The oven takes 30 minutes to get up to 350 degrees.

And I should mention that working with a different yeast, I had put too much in.

It was too yeasty. I threw it away.

 Attempt #3

Right amount of yeast.

Finished raising the bread on the counter so the oven could preheat.

Got the temperature right.

And realized our oven bakes from the top.

The bread tasted good, but the top was too dark, with a thick crust.

 Attempt #4

Success!

Right amounts in the ingredients.

Put the baking shelf at the bottom of the oven.

Got the preheated oven just right.

And the family enjoyed fresh bread for dinner.

Now, I can't wait for my wheat mill for some 

whole wheat flour

and my own loaf tins! 

Spring Break, Texas-style

I was looking through my blog history and found several drafts that had never been published.  Don't know how that happened, but even though they had a date, they decided to act as if all were done today.
So I hope you don't mind a walk down memory lane!  

This is from Spring Break, March of 2010.

The memories are still great!

Alastair in Lily's kennel...

Soft, warm air so we can soak up the sunshine and enjoy Catherine's back yard.

Getting to know Dutch, the anxious dog (whom Lily did NOT like)..

And Catherine helping me figure out a cross-stitch pattern for our Young Women to use for a Virtue project...

It was a great spring break (though we missed Elizabeth, who was on a CRUISE to the Bahamas!)

Thanks for letting me walk through some memories.

It was a Happy Birthday!

November, 2006

Wow, another birthday has come and gone! We didn't even have birthday cake, because 1) I'd eat it--and I don't need to eat it and 2) wasn't it just 5 or 6 months ago the last time I had a birthday? That's what it seems like!

THANKS for all those cards and phone calls from around the world--it makes me feel special.


And thanks to my mom for a lovely blouse (faux brushed suede). How did she know I needed a solid-colored blouse for our choir number at stake conference?

Thanks, Catherine, for the fun DVD's (musicals + romance + comedy= my favorite genre!).

And a hug and kiss for Kevin for the under-the-cupboard CD player/radio. Now the big BLACK boombox can go elsewhere and not clutter up my countertop! I'm so happy!

Order! Order! Order!

Fall, 2009

I don't know what it is about fall that makes me want to declutter and organize, but for some reason I can be more ruthless right now in my decisions about what goes and what stays.

That faded, worn pillowcase set we've had since we were married? OUT!

And so on. Don't ask me to make these same kinds of decisions at other seasons of the year. That is when I turn into the hoarder... "but I might need these some day!" Or, "but they were given to me by one of my third graders back in 1976--I can't get rid of it!"

There you have proof that evolution is not true. If it were, I, like the squirrels and other animals, would prepare for winter by hoarding, not by taking sacks and sacks of things to Goodwill.

And oh, do my closets look nice!

Relaxation, Bailey-Style

Summer, 2008?

For some reason, sitting around and doing nothing has never been part of the Bailey lifestyle.

Volunteering at Tianjin International School...

A couple of weeks ago, I began volunteering at the girls' school, which has students K-12.

On Wednesday afternoons, the elementary students have "clubs" that they go to.  These are interest groups that enrich the school experience.  There might be a cooking class, or a science class,

or... a music club.

The only problem is, they didn't have a teacher for the music club.  The teacher is coming in January,

and the teacher filling in didn't know how to read music.

I just happened to be at the school when Diane found out about this need, 

and she volunteered on the spot, since she plays the piano.

Then she turned to me, and said, "you play too, don't you?  Let's do this together."

And so we have.

And we seem to make a good team.

 We work with the glockenspiel with the 2nd to 3rd graders.  

I've never done it before, but it wasn't hard and we've managed to keep the kids 

involved and happy.

 But then the 4th-5th graders wanted to do the hand bells.

I've SEEN hand bell choirs on TV.  That's as close as I've come.

So being handed several suitcases full of bells, with 

stickler rules about not touching the brass (hence the white gloves for everyone),

and we're working our way through learning 

how to use them.  It's tough when the 5th graders know more than I do about something, and they KNOW that they know more.   But we are actually making music.

And of course, there's no pressure. 

 Just a Christmas concert in December--but we only have to do one piece.

Another thing to mark in the category of "I never thought I'd be doing that..."

We're missing having a pet...

This move has been the hardest on Alice--at least as far as I can tell.  She was very attached to our dog Lily, hugging her as she fell asleep, talking to her when she had a problem, appreciating a little friend who was always there.

So it wasn't more than a week after our arrival when the questions began:  Can we get a pet of some kind?

What about a gerbil?  Or a rabbit?  A hamster?  A DOG????

In my travels around the city, I had come across a pet market--it happens to be part of the plant market as well, 

and it was the plants that I went looking for.

So, on a Saturday, we went to see it, and

 it was about as good as going to a zoo.

There were all kinds of puppies just wanting to be picked up and cuddled--but the shop keepers wouldn't let anyone not

 intending to buy to touch them.

There were cats and kittens, rabbits, hamsters, chickens, turtles--big and little, snakes, lizards--even a komodo dragon, baby alligators and tropical fish of every kind.

All the animals and reptiles were in small cages, and the fish were in dishpans on the ground.

Very chaotic but interesting!

And then we found the bird section.

 Whatever kind of bird you wanted, it was there.

Including the sparrows that looked like they'd just been captured, as

well as the magpies.  (Yes, there are magpies here in China.)

You can buy parrots and macaws, parakeets, love birds, canaries, ducks, geese, pheasants,...

And you can buy the food for them--

not some little pet store canister, but in bulk.  

Now the girls have their hearts set on getting a pair of parakeets. 

We're still thinking about this one.

We've a Holiday Today!

Today is a national Chinese holiday, Mid-autumn festival, a time to go out and look at the full moon with your family.  And of course, there are fireworks.  Any excuse is a good excuse to bring out the fireworks. 

We're just glad to have a day off from school and work.

  About a month ago, elaborate, expensive boxes started showing up in grocery store displays, and we were curious.  What are they, and what are they for?  The answer?  Moon Cakes.

 It is the tradition to give each other moon cakes for this holiday, and apparently, during the month leading up to the holiday.  

Our realtor gave us this box, containing 6 or 8 moon cakes.

(We later found out we should have turned in the gift to John Deere, since it is "influence".  Too late.  We'd already eaten them, or thrown them away.)

 Each cake is lovely to look at, but just about every cookie I've ever tried in my whole life is better than this,

including cheap store cookies.

The Chinese don't do dessert-type things very well.

The filling inside is typically red bean paste or a fruity paste (the type of fruit isn't really recognizable).

So moon cakes are really just the Chinese version of

fruit cake--looks a lot better than it tastes!