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We went to EtonHouse's Open House today. It was nice and I think we've half made up our minds to enrol minibeanie at Eton come Fall.
Firstly, we like the school grounds. It is safe, green, has plenty of open space for children to run around and the class rooms are huge. Each classroom has its own child-sized washroom, play and reading corners, cushions & toys.
A plus point is its international staff. This point goes beyond language, there's also the cultural divide (if the management is Chinese) that I've so often encountered in the normal course of life here. For instance, it's beyond my understanding why the Chinese typically do not turn on their heaters in their restaurants/schools/wherever during their winter.... Yes, they have heaters in their premises but they just don't use them! As a result, I have heard stories of children in full winter gear while IN their classes.
As for the International vs. Chinese syllabus dilemma in Eton, first off, I'd definitely like minibeanie to be exposed to Chinese; after all, he does get plenty of English at home. However, there are a couple of factors in favour of the International syllabus though. A recent change in its curriculum means that Chinese gets equal airtime as English. In practical terms, this means that if the English teacher talks about birds one day, the Chinese teacher will talk about the feathered creatures the next day.
And the second factor is the pupil to adult* ratio. As mentioned in my previous blog, the Chinese division has significantly bigger classes. Now, class size and pupil-adult ratio may not be a big thing when the child is 5 or 6, but for a 2-3 year old toddler who may not be toilet trained, able to dress himself or have 2 left feet on even surfaces, an extra pair of hands and eyes is vital to the child's safety. In Finland, daycares for 2 year olds are 4:1 (someone please confirm?). At Eton, I was given the assurance that the maximum ratio for the International division would be 6:1 and 10:1 for the Chinese division.
Ok, time to hit the sack... we haven't fully committed to a decision but I think I know where it's heading ;) On Wednesday, we'd be leaving for Beijing for the long Dragon Boat Festival holiday!
* teacher + teaching assistant
minibeanie is 1 year, 10 months & 1 day old
microbeanie is 24 weeks in utero
In my earlier post, I said I'd write about my experience at the newest maternity hospital here. Angel Hospital (安琪儿妇产医院) is billed as an ultra modern and luxurious private maternity hospital in Chengdu. It started its operations late last year with a media blitz - billboards on pedestrian sidewalks, bus-stops, back of buses... probably in print and tv medium as well, just that I'm not aware of those.
It felt like entering the lobby of a hotel - marble flooring, a vaulted ceiling surrounded by Corinthian columns and a massive chandelier. A bevy of svelte ladies in smart uniforms greeted me; 1 of them addressed my concern and ushered me to the reception on the second floor. No, not to fill in the official registration papers as I expected but to make a payment to see the doctor. That done, I was ushered into a room where my blood pressure & weight were taken by a junior doctor apparently. This nice lady doctor then ushered me to another room to see the senior obstetrician who answered whatever questions I had and assessed my medical condition. As I had requested for the 4D ultrasound scan, I was brought to a waiting area to wait for my turn at the sonographer's lab. The scan done, I was brought back to the obstetrician's office where she insisted the fetal heartrate be heard using the doppler EVEN though a while ago, the sonographer had seen and heard the heartrate. "I just want to hear it for myself," she said. So for the second time that day, I had the yucky gooey lubricant smeared on my belly :P
As I made my appointment for the next visit, I was vastly surprised that the date and timing were entirely at my disposal.
Is July 4th ok?
- yes, that's alright.
what about 10am?
- You can come in anytime.
huh...?
- we're here for you.
My contact numbers, date of appointment were all scribbled on a piece of paper. No centralized database existed as far as I could see. And definitely no computerized system for scheduling. And there was certainly no patient's reference number or card. It felt like I was buying a McChicken.
The next stop was the urine test. I was given a plastic cup with a lid to pee in. The ladies' room did not disappoint. Swanky, new, all marble EXCEPT that the cubicle didn't have a ledge for the cup. The junior lady doctor then brought me to the lab counter where specimens were deposited. No sticker with my name on the cup.. it was just placed on a printed form which I supposed mentioned my name and stated that I'd paid for the lab test. 20cm away was a similar cup of pale yellow liquid. The possibility of someone committing mischief or making a mistake is kind of high, isn't it?
Finally, as this was my first visit, I was given a tour of the wards. Most were single bed rooms with a nice sofa and plasma tv. The suites had an adjoining room with a bed and a kitchenette with a small dining table. It was luxuriously beautiful and felt more like a hotel than a hospital.
Yet somehow, it missed the mark for me. Despite all the marble and cherubs spouting fountains, I couldn't shake off the feeling that underneath all the glam, there wasn't much substance down there. Sure, they may have great obstetricians with years of experience and have bought the latest technology but do their internal processes work seamlessly to provide the best medical care especially in an emergency? In Information Science, the success of a company depends not on its individual parts but on how well each part is integrated with each other: people, technology, process, culture etc.
Finally, I had a nagging concern: what if there was a medical emergency with the mother or newborn? I didn't see any neonatal wards and there was only one neonatal specialist listed on Angel's prospectus - the great majority were obstetricians/gynecologists while the rest were midwives. Nice plasma tvs but Angel Hospital will not be my first choice to birth in.
Today marks the anniversary of the 8.0 earthquake that devastated so many lives in Sichuan. Read the blog's posts on the earthquake here.
According to China Daily, more than 87000 people are dead or missing and by an official estimate, more than 5000 children. I feel so blessed that we escaped unscathed from the quake.... if we have a moment to spare in our busy schedules, let us pause, reflect and pray.
minibeanie is 16 months old today. While he has limited his verbal communication to grunts (and babble that only he could understand), it was amazing that we are nonetheless communicating. The grunt "ugh!" accompanied by a heave of the shoulder signified "yes" to the question I was asking. And if he really really wanted the banana/teddy bear cookie/watch Sesame Street, it would be a vapid bounce up & down :D
He's also keen to exert his growing independence by wanting to feed himself. Hence, I've adjusted my mindset on 2 fronts. #1, it's ridiculous to expect him to use a spoon - fine motor skills is still somewhere in the distance. So, he now feeds himself most of the time with both hands a la Tarzan. #2, the natural consequence is that he makes a royal mess each mealtime. (the Baby Bjorn rubber catch-all bib has paid itself back many times its Euro 11 investment!) I've therefore stopped being anal because I'm hoping that with all this practice he'll soon learn how to feed himself and besides, my capable Ayi, who comes 3 times a week, simply makes all the grease and crumbs vanish :)
On the Chengdu front, it has been nice. We visited a couple of hotpots recently. One of which was 粥底火锅 ; basically, instead of a broth, everything's cooked in a base of porridge. At the end of the meal, the porridge steeped full of flavours and nutrients is eaten. Wonderful... if not for the lack of baby chairs in the restaurant so I guess the chances of us heading back there is rather slim :P
We also tried a fancy restaurant, 8 Trees, owned by a Singaporean. It boasts of a good selection of wine and a menu with entries like foie gras etc. But we went for its selection of Singapore food - chicken rice in particular. It was good! ..... but they've only got the taste 90% right. The chicken was juicy and done just right. But the rice wasn't aromatic enough and the defining chili lacked that garlicky punch. It was ok by chengdu standards but at SGD44 (ok, we also had a Thai beef salad that was way off the mark & a glass of house red), it must be the most expensive chicken rice meal we had. Again, I don't think we'd return. Not just because of the chicken rice but because they didn't have baby chairs!!! What's with these restaurants?!
Eating out with a toddler has now made me view restaurants entirely different. Obviously, imho baby chairs should be de rigeur but if they've got baby-friendly utensils such as melamine plates, that's a huge plus. And a really big plus will be if they've a play area in the corner for parents who wish to indulge in a little coffee after the meal. No no, I don't mean parents drinking their coffee in the play area but little tykes being let loose there; thought I'd clarify that. And I'm already beginning to look at McDonalds' and KFC in a different light ;)
minibeanie is 1 year & 4 months old
It was a horrible start to any day. I woke up to check on minibeanie's temperature (for he had been running a fever the past 1.5 days) at 7 in the morning and was shocked to read 39.4. That number jolted DH out of his sleep and we decided that a trip to the hospital was called for. We would normally have gotten him to the clinic but this being a weekend, it was closed.
I was dreading the hospital because it was after all a Chinese hospital; let's face it, Chengdu was not Beijing or Shanghai. My apprehension was fully justified on reaching the hospital. It was over run by people. Chaos reigned. I managed to locate the reception cum information desk by virtue of a nurse behind a counter being surrounded by hordes of pushing Chinese all asking questions at the same time. I managed to elbow in and finally got my question across and was then directed to a registration booth down the hallway. I registered, got a card for Y9 and was given a thermometer. After 5 agonizing minutes, we gave the thermometer back to the nurse and was told 38.1. There was a collective sigh of relief.
As it didn't seem like an ER situation, we were then directed to the "Children's clinic #1" - a room further down the hallway. We gave our form to the attending nurse who then lined it at the back of a row of forms by the window. This would be our queue. There were 2 doctors facing each other in the room. Little patients and their caregivers would be standing or sitting on the 2 stools facing the doctors.
Calm cannot be used to describe the scene in and outside of the clinic. There were simply too many people around compounded by screaming parents calling after their wayward shrieking kids, crying babies in obvious discomfort and the general population who must talk with raised voices.
We waited patiently for our turn (half an hour, I was told). About 2m behind us stood a security guard which was rather perculiar I thought. DH said it was because we were the only foreigners. minibeanie appeared to be in good spirits. He was entertained by dada's silly antics and the occasional teddy bear cookie, his all time favourite. It was such a relief that he seemed his normal self.
After half an hour or so, it was our turn. The doctor noted the symptoms, listened on the stethoscope, pried open a very reluctant baby's mouth and diagnosed it as upper respiratory infection. Over all, the lady doctor was professional. If she seemed brief it was because the clinic was run like a sausage operation in a non too pleasant environment. She seemed kindly enough and even switched to English when I was struggling with Chinese medical terms.
After that, we took the form with the scribbled prescription (it's a universal fact that doctor's handwriting is illegible!) and headed out to get our medication. First a visit to the cashier where I paid Y54, followed by another queue at the drug counter to get the fever and diarrhoea medications. Finally at 10, we spilled out of the hospital to a bright but slightly chilly day. Relief!
Today, minibeanie had fewer rummy tummy episodes compared to the past 2 days :) Let's pray that he's on the mend. We were told that diarrhoea could last for up to a week and the fever for 3-4 days. It's strange how we left Chengdu in t-shirts and shorts 2 weeks ago but return to long-sleeved fleece sweaters. Thanks to the change in temperatures, it's now the start of the flu season.
minibeanie is 1 year, 2 months, 2 weeks & 1 day old
It's been a week since MIL's arrival. She came with DH's cousin who also acted as a translator. So far, things have turned out better than expected - they haven't been too shocked culturally and neither have we killed each other :D
In the past week, we've probably exhausted all our usual restaurant haunts (which also goes to show how many we know). Hotpot, Sichuan, Cantonese/Sichuan, Japanese Tonkatsu, American, more Sichuan.... I've even ordered home delivery from the down-to-earth local eatery just round the block which they seemed to like. And to my delight, they have even taken to dumplings (饺子) eaten with vinegar & soy sauce. This is evidenced by them actually buying a pack of frozen dumplings from the corner convenience shop for lunch on their accord!
Nonetheless, a fix of Western food is always a nice reprive. Last night, I made roast beef & roasted vegetables a la Italiano for dinner and judging by the mood & second helpings, it was a welcomed change.
Last Saturday, we decided to do some touristy stuff so we rented a car & driver who took us to the nearest panda facility in Chengdu. Despite a couple of marked enclosures on the map, there was basically only 1 enclosure within the entire park where those adorable bears were found. Sigh. That aside, the pandas were awfully cute. How can anyone think otherwise? Those pear-shaped lumbering frames especially when they are sitting are the epitome of huggable, squeezable cuteness. But what stole our hearts that afternoon were the tiny hapless cubs in the nursery and the dude who lounged in the 'jacuzzi' for ages while silly tourists gawked & clicked pictures.
Today, we went to the WangJiangLou (望江楼) park right across the river from where we stay. We call it the bamboo park because of its clusters of tall, willowy bamboo. [It is DH & minibeanie's fav haunt on weekend mornings, mainly because mummy usually (ok, make it always :D) decides to sleep in on weekends. Usually, DH parks themselves in 1 of the few tea gardens there, have his favourite 竹叶青 green tea and read his book if minibeanie allows it.] Anyway, so all of us went there today, had our teas in a tea garden by the river and altogether had a nice walk even though it got rather sweaty at the end.
minibeanie is 1 year, 1 month & 2 weeks old
[Tuesday, 20 May]
At 11pm last night, minibeanie had just gotten an early night-time feed and I'd emerged from my shower. Time to unwind, watch some tv and read my mails. It was not to be however. At 11:22pm, I got a call from the Singapore consulate that there have been news that a 6-7 Richter aftershock is likely to impact Chengdu and they advised everyone to leave.*
Can they predict earthquakes, I'd wondered? Nonetheless, it was safer to err on the side of caution, we thought. So then, the all too familiar evacuation process kicked in - frantic gathering of minibeanie's milk, baby food, spoon, bottle, diapers, change of clothes etc. We picked up the sleeping baby who was probably very puzzled what the fuss was all about, and made our way out of our apartment. It was probably midnight but all the locals were already out and pitching tents in the open. People were still dressed in their pyjamas with drowsy children hoisted over their shoulders and blankets draped around them.
Telecommunication lines were not working again. We trudged along hoping to get a taxi but it was a futile attempt. It was deja vu all over again where exactly a week ago, some Finnish friends & I were walking on the same road with bags of stuff hoping to get a ride to safety. There was an air of panic in the humid night even as some locals were pulling out tables for an all-night game of mahjong. Every car on the road was either heading for its refuge or being parked by the road side with its inhabitants camping in it. However, despite the almost carnival feeling from some quarters, I wasn't feeling the least bit jolly. Eventually, we got to Shangri-La, 400m from where we stayed, and got a taxi.
It was past 1am when we reached a friend's home. Again, we slept on the ground floor just in case we'd to make a dash. I almost wished the aftershock would come to get it over and done with.
The night passed without any incident. Apparently, at 2am when I was still awake, there was a 5.1 aftershock but it passed without me noticing it.
* Subsequently, it emerged that Chengdu was not in any danger of aftershocks after all not unless one's staying in a structurally unsound building (duh?). The power of media on a jittery population?
At precisely 1428 today, it will be exactly 1 week to the 8 richter quake that decimated so many towns and snuffed out the lives of so many people. Flags will be flown at half mast and 3 minutes of silence will be held.
I feel incredibly blessed to have been spared the catastrophe. Let's pray for those who have lost their loved ones or homes.
A couple of days ago when there were rumours circulating that Chengdu's water supply had been contaminated with chemicals from a chemical plant that had exploded, people in the city began a run on the shops for water and all liquids. As a result, our 'commune' of 9 adults and 5 children stockpiled a massive amount of milk, yoghurt and juices. Now that the rumours have been put to rest, we have donated the everything that we didn't need to the Red Cross.
Tomorrow, I'll give away minibeanie's stock of diapers and a few packets of formula milk powder.
These are the items needed for the earthquake survivors:
Water purification tablets
Water filtration equipment
Antiseptics – e.g. Dettol and other domestic antiseptic liquids
Pesticides (anti-mosquito)
Medicine (antibiotics/penicillin,antibiotic cream for skin application
oral antibiotics, cephalexin, levofloxacine, injectable antibiotics, e.g. cefazolin, cyprofloxacine, anti-diarrhea medicine: Immodium, Pepto Bismol, Paracetamol (or Tylenol), ibuprofen)
saline: sterile saline for injection: 500ml glass bottles 0.9% NaCl
IV set: tube that drips fluid into veins
Syringes with needles: 2cc, 3cc, and 5cc
bandages, clutch materials
swabs (squares of gauze) for cleaning wounds; sterile and non-sterile
alcohol.l for cleaning wounds: Isopropynol 70%
iodine for cleaning wounds
medical tape
suture material: surgical thread and needles (in individual sterile packets with needle on)
Lidocaine: for local anaesthetic
Vitamin B injection (comes in ampules)
Dexamethasone for injection – useful for treating people in shock: comes in ampules of 10ml each
Oral glucose (specially good for kids)
Oral electrolyte (Crystals are easier for transport)
Disinfectant, bleach, Dettol
Soap
infant/baby formula
diapers/nappies
sanitary towels for women
tarpaulin sheets
anti-mosquito materials
Food (oatmeal, other cereals, soy powder, dry noodles, salt, sugar, dried foods ie. mushrooms, mu'er, fruit)
Money more than anything (to buy supplies locally (medicine; fresh fruit/food; water)
Tents/shelter
It's a scary long list but here are some ways you can help:
MercyCorp
Chinese Red Cross Foundation
minibeanie is 9 months, 3 weeks & 2 days old
To continue where I left off... I grabbed the essentials from my apartment which basically consisted of minibeanie's milk, 1 bottle, a couple of diapers, jars of baby food and a change of his clothes. We then faced the challenge of making our way to our friend's home. Hailing a cab was extremely difficult as there were markedly fewer cabs on the street and lots of people needed a ride. We walked to a busy intersection in hope that it would be easier to get a taxi. I was sure we looked quite a picture. I'd minibeanie in my baby carrier in front of me and a heavy backpack, my friend tugged along 2 tired blond kids and her husband who had by now found us, towed a trolley luggage. It was getting to be 9pm and we were still waiting in the streets.
Meanwhile, the sense of emergency in the city was palpable. A convoy of military vehicles with their sirens blaring passed us by a hair's breadth when we were crossing a road. Then, heavy vehicles with lifting equipment, ambulances & fire trucks thundered by. There was a sense of foreboding - something bad has happened.
Finally, a kind taxi driver allowed us to hitch a ride with his existing passenger and we reached our destination late in the evening. It was the closest I felt to a refugee - not just the grime and dirt but the sense of uncertainty and unease. Is the apartment safe? When can we move back? Will there be more quakes?
That night, all of us slept on the ground floor of the 2-storey house. The plan was that if we needed to evacuate quickly to the open, there would be less ground to cover. Most residents (crap, just as I was writing this, there was an aftershock. And although it was nothing like the first one, my heart started racing) that night slept in the open amphitheater under tents.
True enough, there was an aftershock that got the 3 womenfolk of the house up and wondering what to do at 4+ am. [At that moment, DH in XiAn, 900km away, got woken up by a shaking bed] We headed back to bed after deciding that the worst of the aftershock was over and it posed no danger. The menfolk of course slept through it blissfully unaware.
minibeanie is 9 months, 2 weeks & 6 days old
Where do I even begin?
On Monday, May 12, at about 1440, I had put down minibeanie's half empty bowl resigned to the fact that that was all he would be eating. And that was all I remembered because the next thing that I remembered were the walls of my 2 storey apartment swaying accompanied by a terrible rumbling sound. I was rooted to the floor in shock. It felt surreal. I actually remembered thinking, "this can't be happening, it's almost cool... no wait, this is terrible."
When something you assume as immovable as a room starts to move, the very foundation of your being is shaken. It was a terrifying sight to see the 8m wall behind me move left and right. In my paralysis, I actually analyzed that it was either an earthquake or a badly built 30 storey building; if it was the latter, I would be so screwed.
A few terrifying seconds passed before I could rouse myself to do anything. My AYi clamoured down the stairs with fear written all over her face and asked what should we do. I had no idea. She didn't even know if Chengdu was in an earthquake zone. Fearing that the ceiling or walls would collapse, I unbuckled minibeanie out of his rocker pronto and dived under the dining table. In my fear, I actually recalled watching a documentary of Japanese school children being told to head under their tables when earthquakes struck.
My AYi had the opposite reaction. She wanted to see what the neighbours were doing so she headed for the door. Things were falling around us. Our water dispenser with nearly 15 liters of water toppled as did the Chinese screens on the 2nd storey study. But I was rooted under the table and prayed, "God, please let the tremors stop." Never had I prayed so fervently.
After what seemed like a very long time, the swaying and tremors did stop and so did the awful rumbling & crashing. It was then I got out from my refuge and headed for the lift landing with my AYi but not before having the presence of mind to grab my baby carrier and keys. The lifts were not working - not that I'd have contemplated taking them anyway. There were scores of people in the stairwell. Everyone was relatively calm. When we finally got out of the building, relief gave way to thankfulness and the realization of what had actually happened. Most of us were visibly shaking like a leaf and I was in my nightie.
I united with a Finnish friend & her 2 boys - they had ran down from the 19th floor without their shoes and the boys only had their t-shirts and underwear on. We waited in the street for close to 5 hours then decided that we would seek refuge with a Finnish family. When we were finally let into our condo at 7pm, I ran up the stairs to get a couple of essentials.
It was eerily quiet in the compound. No children running, no one coming home from work, no baby strollers around. I think I took 10 minutes to pack and I felt every minute. Every sound was magnified and all senses were on high alert. Just as I closed my kitchen door to the wash area, there was a low rumble, my kitchen began shaking and I heard the glassware clattering. Great, I'd brought down my apartment with the kitchen door.
I later heard it was a 5.2 aftershock. The first quake measured 8 on the richter scale, nearly 1000 times bigger than the aftershock.
Click on image to get a bigger picture
Geology, Engineering contribute to Quake Damage
minibeanie is 9 months, 2 weeks & 6 days old
Having a baby is like having a puppy in the house. He's not house trained. He chews on everything including his own shoes, socks & even daddy's stinky pyjamas. He takes scraps of food off your hand. He slobbers all over the sofa & licks your nose when you're sleeping. Who needs a pet when I've minibeanie? :D
It's truly amazing how much & fast he grew in the past month. In the one month that we arrived in Chengdu, he has learned how to sit from a tummy position and how to pull himself up. This morning, still groggy from sleep I noticed that he was standing by my pillow holding onto the headboard. Whhaaaa....? Ok, this is a new milestone that the little rascal has now reached which means we're fast running out of options on how to keep him safe.
minibeanie's also extremely curious about what we're eating. DH & I were having a little breakfast of toast with cheddar when he was clamouring all over us to reach for the plate (or food?) To quell his curiosity & appetite, I began to dish out little bits of bread with melted cheddar. That got the little rascal sitting quietly at least for awhile :)
Still on the topic of nibbling off our plate, yesterday, on the rare chance to make it out of the house as a family, we headed to Haagen Dazs for high-tea. Halfway through our mango sorbet & green tea ice cream, minibeanie woke up and started getting bored. (yup, he seems to have the attention span of a fruit fly these days) Thus, we decided to give him a snack of banana that was on our platter. So there we were, starting a production line of me mashing the banana and DH delivering the payload to an eager puppy-eyed baby. At least, he wasn't demanding for the ice cream ..... at least not yet!
minibeanie is 8 months & 4 days old
We got the ADSL connection today yippee! Finally, we are in Chengdu (成都 <-- and I also finally learnt how to write in Chinese on my Mac ;) Things have been terribly stressful lately but I think I can say with some certainty that the worst is over. We got to Chengdu on Saturday evening with 12 pieces of checked-in luggage weighing a little more than 100kg. The group of 6-8 customs guys eyed us suspiciously as we were wheeling the trolleys out. "What's in them?"
"Clothes." (in a tired & innocent voice not without a touch of irritation)
"Clothes...?"
"Yes, we're moving here."
And with that, I with minibeanie strapped in the babycarrier in front of me, just pushed my overflowing trolley past the customs guards still trying to make sense of what to do. Needless to say, DH was relieved for his hordes of electronics for which he would have to pay duties otherwise.
We got to the apartment and finally put minibeanie to bed. By then, it was 11pm & the last meal we had was hours ago. DH was sent on a food-hunting mission and it was funny what the modern-day hunter came back with. He returned with 6 pieces of KFC's crispy chicken & 2 cups of Pepsi. That night, we sat on the floor by the foot of the bed*, eating with our fingers on an overturned cardboard box. Fried chicken never tasted so good! :P And we loved the numbingly hot Sichuan pepper huajiao (花椒）powder that came with it. Welcome to Chengdu!
The next 2 days were spent at Carrefour stocking up on the essentials - 2 bowls, shower cream, wok, condiments, water, rice, bottle brush (every time we travel, we leave it behind!), detergent & oh yes, toilet paper. Now that the dust has settled a little, we are breathing a little easier :) There are teething pains with the new apartment, wardrobe shelves missing, clogged bathroom etc but I think we'll get them fixed eventually. For now, I can at least make mapo doufu (麻婆豆腐 - which I have!) & settle into a routine with the family :)
* we were afraid minibeanie would wake up & we wouldn't hear him from downstairs
ps. wikipedia doesn't work here! And for some strange reason, I couldn't view my blog!
minibeanie is 7 months, 1 week & 1 day old
Tomorrow our little family will begin a new chapter of our lives in China. We shall finally be on the flight that has taken such a long time in coming. I can't remember when I haven't been planning the move, packing & traveling; the stress, both physically & emotionally, that began after Christmas has been awful. And if anyone thinks I have been sitting on my arse eating bonbons for the last 3 weeks in Singapore, I have to say, she has no idea. Thus, in this regard, if I haven't informed anyone that we were in fact in Singapore or not chatted enough, I'm sorry that there wasn't time.
Griping aside, we'll arrive in Chengdu late evening where we'll head to our Waterfront apartment to meet our relocation agent. From then on, it should take about a week for our airfreight belongings to arrive. Yes technically, airfreight shipments take a day to arrive but guess if there is bureaucracy involved. I'm also hugely glad that we shall be grounded for awhile. No more traveling!!!
minibeanie is 7 months & 3 days old
Over the last week, we visited 10 apartments in various complexes, checked out a couple of supermarkets and burned holes in our tongues with the Sichuan pepper.
On the topic of house-hunting, we narrowed it down to a new condo built by Keppel. We liked the design of the duplex but were not able to start negotiating proper because one owner was in Shanghai and the other gave an unrealistic furniture budget. How frustrating. Anyhow, we would just have to sit tight and continue negotiations when we are back in Helsinki.
Thankfully, huge supermarket chains such as Carrefour have reached Chengdu. I now know where to get LavAzza & Illy coffee for our moka pots, rice porridge for minibeanie and Betty Crocker's Brownie mix for that quick dessert :P However, there's a huge premium on imported stuff, and in many cases, as expensive if not more so than in Finland. I guess they will remain luxury items and we should try to have more tangyuan (glutinous rice balls usually filled with black sesame paste) which have a gadzillion brands as opposed to brownies and ice-cream. Yes, you read correctly. Apparently, ice-cream is either not a big thing or is a 'foreign' product. We were very surprised to find only a tiny selection of ice-cream even the local ones. But the strangest thing of all is that one just couldn't find tofu in the supermarkets!!! In the land of mapuo toufu, I would expect aisles of tofu; instead, zilch. Apparently, locals buy their tofu from local markets or neighbourhood stalls. What's surprising then is that manufacturers do not seem to have mass produced tofu. I find that incredibly hard to believe when supermarkets seem to be filled with locals and not expats. Surely then, there's a demand for tofu in the supermarkets? I hope to be corrected on this issue :)
Foreign food aside, there are lots of exciting new local produce to be tried. My mum bought some Mala Ganchang (dried sausage spiced with the ubiquitous sichuan pepper) and LaRou (dried meat) that looked and smelled wonderful. I promise to buy them when we finally move here ;P I've also invested in a couple of cookbooks that have pretty yummy pictures and promising recipes with not more 5 steps :D Let's see if they taste anything like what we've been having in the restaurants!
minibeanie is 5 months, 3 weeks & 1 day old
We have been in China for nearly 5 days and minibeanie is still living in the Finnish timezone ;) He poops at 2pm when he usually poops at 7am in Finland; goes to bed at 2am here when his 'usual' time is 8pm in Finland and appears drowsy when we wake him up at 9am in Chengdu to feed him :P
In between minibeanie's feed & naps, here are what we have been up to...
Szechuan Hotpot
Apparently, minibeanie wanted to try!
JinLi Street
Once the commercial heart of the old kingdoms, this ancient street has been fully restored in traditional Sichuan style. Little stalls selling traditional handicrafts and local snacks line the street. It was an enjoyable stroll in the cold winter night. I don't know why exactly but minibeanie caused quite a stir. I don't know if it was the sight of a rather tall laowai pushing a funking looking pram or if it was just how adorable minibeanie was, regardless, we were stopped every few meters by locals gushing, "how cute!" and "what a good boy he is!" Some even wanted to take pictures with him! He had fans ;)
minibeanie is 5 months, 2 weeks & 4 days old
On my new year eve post, I toasted to adventure. And adventure was what we got on our flight to Chengdu. What was supposed to be an 18 hour travelling time for Helsinki-Munich-Beijing-Chengdu, already an arduous journey in my opinion with a 5 month old baby, turned into a more than 24 hour trip. The Air China Beijing-Chengdu flight was delayed for 6 hours due to bad weather and it was made worse by the lack of information when it would actually take off. Apparently, Chengdu wasn't the only destination affected. Our first encounter with China was actually a very angry mob at the Air China ticketing counter where several folks had missed connecting flights and meetings. Very high octane and decibel exchanges :P
When we *finally* got onto the Chengdu bound flight, there was tremendous relief that we were finally on our way. However, when we disembarked on the tarmac, we were amazed that it was a rather small terminal. (For Finns, the airport was really similar to the Rovaniemi airport) We took pictures of the sign that said "Chengdu" with an arrow and of the Air China plane. When we tried to get out of customs, we were told that no, that wasn't Chengdu after all; we were in fact in Dazhou :D At this point, you were probably thinking that we boarded the wrong flight and although that would be quite a story, we were thankfully at a transit stop. The Chengdu flight (same plane) left half an hour later and after 45 minutes, we were finally there. By then, it was nearly midnight and all of us seriously jet-lagged.
Poor minibeanie was a little confused with his sleeping and eating habits.
minibeanie is 5 months, 2 weeks & 1 day old
What a whirlwind of activities the past week had been! After weeks of weighing 2 options, only to have the 1 that we were really excited about shot down and then haggling on the terms of the offer, we finally accepted it. So, it is official. We'll be spending at least the next year in Chengdu, China.
In fact, the ink is hardly dried when we had to prepare for the pre-visit where the contract is officially signed and an apartment found. The challenge lies in flying with a 5 month old baby and ensuring that he has enough milk & playthings to keep him entertained and happy. All in, we now have 7 pieces of checked-in luggage nearly maxing our 70kg baggage allowance. And by the way, that doesn't even include the Stokke pram that the airline allows for infants.
The flights are tomorrow but ironically, none of us have our passports! :D DH & minibeanie's are still at the Chinese embassy's - where apparently a 1-day visa takes 3 days. I think there had been some heated words exchanged between DH & the travel agency in charge. As for my passport (no visa needed, thankfully!), it's sitting somewhere in the mother-of-all-Finnish bureaucracies - the Immigration Police. These incompetent, pencil-pushing technocrats 'debate' with a pulla (bun) on 1 hand and a cup of coffee on the other, whether to extend an immigrant's / resident's residence permit for another 2 years. Meanwhile, they are at liberty to hold your passport for up to 6 freaking months without a guarantee on when you'll see your passport again. At the risk of sounding elitist, no mitigating factors are considered. Not my degree from Finland's most established school, not my relatively well paying job, not the fact that I have a son who's Finnish, not even the fact that I've stayed here for more than 4.5 years. Did I mention that I HATE the Immigration Police?
Sorry for digressing :P yes, so tomorrow we'll leave for Chengdu.... but not before DH getting my passport and I heading to the company clinic for some vaccinations. Fingers crossed and prayers said that minibeanie will behave himself for the 3 flights and 18 hours.
minibeanie is 5 months, 1 week & 5 days old
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