(no subject)

Finally, I have some pictures to share. It turns out that I just need my own laptop when it comes to editing and uploading my photos. Now that we are settled in, I've been able to get back to my old faithful computa'.



This is our apartment building. I snapped this picture from the taxi as we were pulling up to it for the first time. It is amazing how quiet our apartment is, considering that we are in the middle of a bustling city. I suppose this comes from being so high up off the ground. Yes, all the windows in our home open wide. We've had many strict talks with the kids about never, ever opening a window. Fortunately the windows are high, about 4 feet off the ground, so the kids can't reach the latches without climbing on something. Hopefully we'd notice if they attempted such a thing. There are at least 11 buildings in this complex, not all of them as tall as ours. There is a guard at the front and a fence all the way around the complex. There are also guards who patrol the area, and every time I've left our building there has been one right outside the door. I feel very safe here. The guards have already realized that I don't speak Chinese but Chris does therefore they always direct their questions/comments to him. They are super nice guys.

Behind the cut you'll find pics of the inside of our new home. ( Remember, we've just moved in so things are not all tidy and perfect  )

It's very humid here, although not *too* hot. It's strange to be sweating like a pig, yet not feel too overheated. I went out with Sai-Ling and Marianessa today to Wal-Mart. It was my first outing without Chris to depend on. I had a great time. We took a taxi to Wal-Mart and ended up walking home. I need to remember next time I go shopping that I have to carry whatever I buy all the way home! On the way back, we walked through an underground shopping mall filled with all kinds of cool kids. The clothing styles here are so different but not at all what I expected. The girls (teenagers and young adults) mostly wear dresses and high heels all the time. I can't imagine wearing heels just to hang out. The dresses these girls wear are not very casual, either. They are flowy, frilly, ribbon-y and sparkly. (btw, Marianessa is the Anthropology professor's wife. They have two kids, ages 4 and 1. We get along pretty well so far. That's a good thing.)

The kids fell asleep pretty early tonight, without eating dinner. While I was at Wal-Mart I bought stuff to make a spaghetti dinner. I thought the kids needed some "normal" food for a change. They sell Hunts spaghetti sauce, although it is pricy by Chinese standards because it's considered an import food. I got home and cooked up the noodles. Next, it was time to heat up the sauce (I just have one pot) but I suddenly realized that I had no can opener! It didn't matter because everyone was asleep by then anyway. I ended up eating plain noodles and a peach for dinner. Ah well. Chris had gone to eat with the group and I called him to see if anyone had a can opener (that reminds me, we both have cell phones now, which is a first for us. Whenever I make a call to another cell phone, instead of ringing, there is music. Today when I called Chris the music was "White Christmas" by Bing Crosby, lol) Anyway, when Henry(Chris' boss) heard we needed a can opener he went out and bought us one. They really are trying their best to take care of all our needs.

I'm sorry my entries are so long lately. I just have so much to say and I'm not able to pop online all day long like before whenever the fancy struck me. I like it here much better today than I did yesterday. No crying today!

(no subject)

I'm so utterly exhausted. We went to Pizza Hutt for dinner tonight (and we had McDonalds for lunch. We're really going for the whole authentic Chinese experience, aren't we?) I learned today that Sai-Ling's name is Sailing as in sailing a boat. That is her English name. Pretty cool, hmm? Chris had told me that Chinese people often picked very unique English names for themselves and now I've seen it for myself. Anyway, Jesse and Sailing took us to Pizza Hutt. It is a very upscale place, not at all like the buffet dumps I've seen back home. We ordered from the American menu. However, there were many Chinese options, including a seafood pizza topped with octopus. Speaking of "weird" food, today when we were at Wal-Mart we saw that they had live bullfrogs and soft-shell turtle for sale in the meat department.

The boys all fell asleep during dinner, but we were able to get them to eat first. This is the first night they've eaten dinner because they keep falling asleep. The jet lag seems to be affecting them the worst. They all woke up before 4 a.m. this morning and would not go back to sleep. I finally got up with them which explains why I'm so dead right now. Chris mentioned to Sailing and Jesse that we need to buy a DVD player. He also mentioned that we wanted to look for some specific DVD's tonight. We had a misunderstanding and they thought we wanted to buy the dvd player tonight. Long story short, we ended up dragging three sleepy boys through what seemed like miles of underground shopping mall. Sailing knows her way around Nanjing so well. I didn't want to parade the boys around in public again today, as we'd already done that to them once when we went to Walmart this afternoon. It was frustrating and Chris didn't even buy a dvd player because the place they took us to was too pricey. I know none of this is making sense because I'm feeling delirious.

I have so much I want to write about, but I never seem to have the time to sit down at the computer. I also forget to take the camera with us every time we go out. Frustrating. So, when we were out this morning, the boys got mobbed by people. I had the mistaken idea that since we were coming to a major city, the fact that we are foreigners wouldn't be such a big deal. I figured a city of 6 million was used to seeing foreign people. I was very, very wrong. Everywhere we go people stare and point at us. The boys have their heads petted several times a day and some people even try to hold their hands or pet their cheeks. Petey does not like it and he's usually the center of attention because his face is so cherubic. He asked Chris to teach him how to say "Don't touch me." in Chinese. Petey practiced it until he had it down, so now he feels more prepared to defend himself. I wondered if it was rude of him to say it, but then again it is somewhat rude of people to take such liberties with him. Of course, I realize this is a completely different culture. Jesse has tried to explain that no harm is meant and that the kids are like celebrities, lol. I understand all that, I just don't like to see my kids in uncomfortable positions. Today the boys and I were sitting waiting for Chris as he talked to a salesman. Suddenly we had a crowd of Chinese people all around us. They were talking, petting, pointing. Petey's got teary-eyed which made the crowd laugh (but not in a mean way.) One of the ladies asked me a question, which I guessed was "How old are they?" I just held up my fingers in front of each kid to indicate their age. It's amazing how often I'm resorting to rudimentary sign language since we've been here.

I'm not complaining. My dad told me it would be like this (he saw it when he lived in Korea.) It's just hard to be the center of so much attention. I'm used to blending into the background and people not really noticing me. Here EVERYONE notices me. I can always tell when people are talking about us and I've even noticed people following us around stores from floor to floor. I sometimes wonder if they are listening, trying to practice their english and figure out what we are saying. Speaking of English, it is an odd sensation when your own language sounds out of place. When I speak, it sounds so blatantly different. I can almost hear how weird I must sound.

Ok, enough for now. I need sleep very badly. I'll post pictures tomorrow, I promise. If you have any requests of something particular you'd like to see, feel free to request it.