Busy, busy, busy
Sep. 10th, 2006 03:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizzybennetSuddenly, life has gotten much too busy for my liking. I prefer to have a lot of free time on my hands, no obligations. I suppose this is the natural consequences of signing up for outside activities (like TKD). I'll get used to it and I'm glad we have stuff to do, but sometimes it is just too much. Yesterday we spent all day running around. All day! I collapsed into bed at 10:30 and was asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
The day started off with an early morning trip to Wal-Mart with Mariannette. Her son's b-day party was yesterday and she wanted to have a bbq. Since Chris' birthday is tomorrow, we decided to make it a joint venture. I went with her and we split the bill. As we were checking out, people were standing around us gawking at how much food we were buying (almost two buggies worth). I know, it seems bizarre to them, but still I can't get used to people just standing and staring at us. Chris says I have to get used to being the minority and that I understand. But still, if I were to stand around and stare at a lone minority in America it would be considered very rude. What if I were to stand so close to them that I could peer into their wallet to see how much money they had, or obstruct their way from getting their groceries from the cashier? No, that just wouldn't happen. But, as Chris always tells me when I complain about such things, I just have to accept that life is like that here. So, I shall.
After the Wal-Mart trip, the family and I went to Skyways to pick up a chocolate cake for the party. The understanding I had with Mariannette was that I would get a cake and she would get a cake. The cake from Skyways was small and could feed 10 people at most. She told me she'd get another cake. She didn't. At the party, everyone just got about 2 bites of cake. And that was after someone knocked the box on the ground, smashing the magnificent cake all over the inside of the box. It was painful to witness, particulary since it was pretty pricey by Chinese standards. Needless to say, Chris is not satisfied with a sliver of chocolate cake for his birthday and I have to go get another cake tomorrow. I promise to post a pic of it so you can see that I'm justified in my remorse.
After Skyways we went to run a few errands. That ended up taking a really long time. After yesterday I will not (ever) go to the shopping district --with kids--on a Saturday. It took us half an hour just to find a taxi to get home. As soon as we got home, I had to throw together a potato salad and we left for the bbq.
The bbq was at a really nice park. There are several bbq tables lined up together. Maybe there were 40 tables? Each table has a bbq pit in the middle and benches all around. The idea is that you can sit around it and cook kabobs. We brought hotdogs and hamburgers, but we still were able to make it work. The people who run the business have hot coals already to use, you just bring your own food. We'll definitely have to go back there, just as a family. We had a great time and met an interesting fellow. He is a medical student from India. He was at the park with a group of friends he'd met online through a discoteque forum (The Scarlet). There was a lot of ex-pats in that group. Also we saw a public disturbance as the guys who worked there tried to get an older lady to leave. She was going around picking up empty bottles and I suppose he thought it was bad for business to have here there. She wouldn't leave so he tried to physically remove her. She tried to bite his arm when he wouldn't let her back in. It's so intense to see such things on a regular basis. I wonder if I will ever grow accustomed to it?
After the party we had to hurry home for our playdate with Ms. Nurse and her son. It turns out her name is Yun. The english translation of her name is Beautiful Cloud. I love Chinese names. Chris told her my chinese name, which is Tian Yu. It means Heavenly Jade. She thought he said Heavenly Corn, lol! She entered my name into her cell phone as my Chinese name, so I wonder if she will start calling me that? We met at the playground and then walked up to our apartment. As we were headed upstairs, she told me that she was very nervous. Of course, I thought there was no reason for her to be, but I would have felt the same about going to her house. At first the kids didn't play together, but then they discovered the balloon. Balloons have universal appeal :) The kids all jumped around hitting the balloon into the air. I'm glad they found something in common, so perhaps next time they'll not be so shy together. At least it's a first step towards making friends, right?
I'm so glad it's Sunday. Rest. I love rest. The kids haven't made it in bed before 9:30 once this whole week. We'll have to do better this week.
The day started off with an early morning trip to Wal-Mart with Mariannette. Her son's b-day party was yesterday and she wanted to have a bbq. Since Chris' birthday is tomorrow, we decided to make it a joint venture. I went with her and we split the bill. As we were checking out, people were standing around us gawking at how much food we were buying (almost two buggies worth). I know, it seems bizarre to them, but still I can't get used to people just standing and staring at us. Chris says I have to get used to being the minority and that I understand. But still, if I were to stand around and stare at a lone minority in America it would be considered very rude. What if I were to stand so close to them that I could peer into their wallet to see how much money they had, or obstruct their way from getting their groceries from the cashier? No, that just wouldn't happen. But, as Chris always tells me when I complain about such things, I just have to accept that life is like that here. So, I shall.
After the Wal-Mart trip, the family and I went to Skyways to pick up a chocolate cake for the party. The understanding I had with Mariannette was that I would get a cake and she would get a cake. The cake from Skyways was small and could feed 10 people at most. She told me she'd get another cake. She didn't. At the party, everyone just got about 2 bites of cake. And that was after someone knocked the box on the ground, smashing the magnificent cake all over the inside of the box. It was painful to witness, particulary since it was pretty pricey by Chinese standards. Needless to say, Chris is not satisfied with a sliver of chocolate cake for his birthday and I have to go get another cake tomorrow. I promise to post a pic of it so you can see that I'm justified in my remorse.
After Skyways we went to run a few errands. That ended up taking a really long time. After yesterday I will not (ever) go to the shopping district --with kids--on a Saturday. It took us half an hour just to find a taxi to get home. As soon as we got home, I had to throw together a potato salad and we left for the bbq.
The bbq was at a really nice park. There are several bbq tables lined up together. Maybe there were 40 tables? Each table has a bbq pit in the middle and benches all around. The idea is that you can sit around it and cook kabobs. We brought hotdogs and hamburgers, but we still were able to make it work. The people who run the business have hot coals already to use, you just bring your own food. We'll definitely have to go back there, just as a family. We had a great time and met an interesting fellow. He is a medical student from India. He was at the park with a group of friends he'd met online through a discoteque forum (The Scarlet). There was a lot of ex-pats in that group. Also we saw a public disturbance as the guys who worked there tried to get an older lady to leave. She was going around picking up empty bottles and I suppose he thought it was bad for business to have here there. She wouldn't leave so he tried to physically remove her. She tried to bite his arm when he wouldn't let her back in. It's so intense to see such things on a regular basis. I wonder if I will ever grow accustomed to it?
After the party we had to hurry home for our playdate with Ms. Nurse and her son. It turns out her name is Yun. The english translation of her name is Beautiful Cloud. I love Chinese names. Chris told her my chinese name, which is Tian Yu. It means Heavenly Jade. She thought he said Heavenly Corn, lol! She entered my name into her cell phone as my Chinese name, so I wonder if she will start calling me that? We met at the playground and then walked up to our apartment. As we were headed upstairs, she told me that she was very nervous. Of course, I thought there was no reason for her to be, but I would have felt the same about going to her house. At first the kids didn't play together, but then they discovered the balloon. Balloons have universal appeal :) The kids all jumped around hitting the balloon into the air. I'm glad they found something in common, so perhaps next time they'll not be so shy together. At least it's a first step towards making friends, right?
I'm so glad it's Sunday. Rest. I love rest. The kids haven't made it in bed before 9:30 once this whole week. We'll have to do better this week.