Buzzer No Work

While we were away on summer home leave, we've had some things break around our Shanghai house. So now that I'm back, I've got a short list of things that need to be fixed. One of them is the house buzzer at our garden gate, which poses a big problem. Because when the workers come to fix things, they buzz the non-working buzzer and then leave, because I don't answer... because I don't know they are there. So I call the management office and tell them to come back and they say, "You no home," to which I reply, "I am home, my buzzer no work. If you fix it then you will see I am home". It then takes another week for me to get them to come back. And the vicious cycle continues...

Well, now I taped a sign OVER the buzzer itself. But unfortunately I can't write Chinese characters. So I wrote: "BUZZER NO WORK. COME TO DOOR" with an arrow. I figured that even though the workers can't read it they will get the basic idea from the arrow and the fact that the sign covers the buzzer. So now I got them to my front door. But instead of knocking, they start yelling. I don't respond to yelling in Chinese because there is a lot of yelling around here already and I've learned to block out loud Chinese yelling.

Finally, I look out the window and sure enough they were calling to me. I showed them how to knock to get me to answer. Hopefully, they will knock the next time. Sigh... I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow and ruin my sign...

From the Back of a Van

One of our favorite things about living in China is being able to buy copy DVDs of newly released theater movies before they are even released on DVD in the U.S. Oftentimes, the descriptions on these copy DVDs are not proofread, just poorly translated by some guy who speaks a little English, we presume. Would it take that much time and effort to have an English translator do it correctly is always the question on everyone's mind here.

This DVD was even funnier to us, because not only is the description on the back poor Chinglish, but the visual on the front is "hilarious" (according to my husband). Angelina Jolie is not an actress in this movie, she is the writer-director. I hardly think she would approve of this ridiculous photo of herself looking like some kind of vixen. This is a war movie, not a porno flick. We are constantly amused and it never gets old!

The real one from the U.S.:

The cover of the copy DVD in China:

Sh*t Happens

On Friday morning I was looking forward to going on a tour and talk at the American Consulate in Shanghai through the American Women's Club. It had taken a week to get clearance, and I had made arrangements for the boys to be picked up at the bus stop since I wasn't going to be home before school let out. Well, the best laid plans don't always work...

Our master bathroom toilet had been running slow, and that morning, it clogged, and overflowed. I called the management office and told them the problem, explaining that this wasn't a "plunger job," knowing that they would send a guy with a plunger. (See, the Chinese think we're stupid and that we wouldn't have tried using a plunger before calling them. This is typical of most problems. Just because we don't speak their language means that we are stupid.). So, at 9am, the maintenance man shows up, yup, with a plunger. I rolled my eyes at Matt as I opened the door for him and let him in. Five minutes later, he was convinced that it was more serious that a plunger job, so he left. The management office called me and said that they would be sending over a "professional" at 10am. At 10am, the doorbell rings, and I opened the door to find "the professional" - the same guy from before, only this time he was armed with a wrench!

Eventually, the professional did show up with an electronic vibrating "snake" that shook the whole house and sprayed nasty toilet water all over the bathroom. After a half hour of this, and a lot of discussion and yelling back and forth in Chinese, they finally gave up, said "bu hao" and went to lunch. Well, I know what that means... "very bad." By this time, I had kind of figured that out.

After lunch, some guys came back and started digging up my side yard. The sh*t really hit the fan when the pipe burst in two places and literally covered the Chinese guy with sewage. He laughed and went back to work. Only in China!

Before the explosion... thankfully it didn't happen while I was taking this photo!

Needless to say, this was a whole day affair, so I missed my chance to go to the American Consulate, but at least my toilets are working, my garage is clean and organized (as this was going on, I decided to organize my garage!) and my bathroom is disinfected and spotless - I put my new can of Comet to good use!

Just Another Ordinary Day in Shanghai

This woman is very comfortable walking around the neighborhood in the middle of the day in her PJ's.

We never get tired seeing how much junk one can fit on his bicycle...

Tyler chased this guy down the street to try to get this shot...

Every man gets a job, even if it's spraying toxic chemicals all over the place.

Chinese girls love wearing short, short skirts... Tyler and Gavin always notice because that is eye level to them. T took this photo.

Back in Time to Yangshuo, China... Karsts and Farmland

The boys and I took our first trip to the China countryside at the end of February. We went with two other families, with kids of similar ages. It was a great trip, because while the kids kept each other busy playing tag and cards, I was able to take in the beautiful scenery of Yangshuo.

The draw of this area of the country are the mountains called "karsts," which is landscape or terrain that results from the weathering of bedrock that is soluble in water (in this case, limestone). This type of landscape develops slowly over tens of thousands of years or longer. An interesting feature of these types of landscape are the caves that are formed beneath. We were able to go into one, and although it was lit up like the glitzy Vegas strip, it was quite impressionable!

Among the karsts, there is plenty of flat land. Farmers grow miles and miles of crops. I was so overwhelmed by the hard work that these people do each day. Old men digging up huge parcels of land with just a shovel, no farming machines in sight. Women carrying heavy loads of materials in buckets balanced on bamboo poles on their shoulders, no trucks in sight. Small children too young to go to school, out weeding in the fields; shouldn't they be playing?

We stayed in a nice little inn by the Li River called the Snow Lion Mountain Inn. It was rustic, but clean, and had modern Western bathrooms (no squatty potties, phew!). We were the only guests in the whole inn, so we had the run of the place, which was fantastic! The food was delicious and really cheap. The forecast was for rain all weekend, but happily, we didn't see a drop all weekend. To top it off, Sunday was sunny and quite warm.

The charming Snow Lion Mountain Inn.

Breath-taking karst scenery. This is the Li River near our inn.

Inside Silver Cave with its psychedelic color-changing lights. This cave was accidentally discovered about a decade ago by some children who were playing in the area.

Taking a break... being a world traveler is tough work.

The town of Yangshou with its karst background. Beautiful!

The Chinese 20-yuan note has a scene from the Li River on the back of it.

Here it is... the scene from the 20-yuan note. But it's not as peaceful as it looks on the note because of the loud motors on the many boats which go up and down the Li River with sightseers, which I guess would include us.

The boys on our Li River boat cruise.

Impressions Sanjie Liu show. The stage is the Li River and lights light up the karst landscape beyond. The 600+ actors in the show are local farmers and fishermen. They perform in this show every night of the week!

Here we all are on the bamboo rafting trip. It was peaceful, quiet and beautiful (no motorized boats in this area).

One of the crazy Chinese rafters. As usual, a cigarette dangling precariously out of his mouth...

On top of Moon Hill, one of the karsts that is famous because it has a half-moon shape carved out of its top.

Our little world travelers with Ding, our local guide.

Chinese Fashion: Pajamas in Public

Some Chinese people like to wear their pajamas in public. The fashion statement began "as a matter of practicality because people lived in cramped conditions with no clear line between public space and private place," a Chinese sociologist tells the South China Morning Post.

There was a crackdown in Shanghai on people wearing them in public last year because the 2010 World Expo was in town and Shanghai wanted to "look its best." I guess they didn't think people looked their best walking around in their pajamas?

Well, I've seen a few dudes still walking around in them - on crowded streets and in the crowded supermarket.

Quite subtle, right? I also dig this guy's hardcore slippers. That's my driver in the car behind pajama-boy. I think even he was a little surprised!

This person is at least wearing practical shoes.

Escape to Hong Kong

Hong Kong is still part of China, but in a way, you feel like you're not in China. The people there are snobs about mainland China. The ones we talked to like to think that Hong Kong isn't really part of China. Because of this, the city feels a bit more international and English is spoken more abundantly.

We stayed in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong which overlooks Hong Kong Island where all the buildings are lit up beautifully at night. What a view! I tried to capture it, but I'm not good with the light settings on my camera. I aspire to take a class to learn... hopefully I will before my China adventure is over. I hate the photo opps that I'm missing because I don't know how to use my expensive camera correctly!

We went to Hong Kong for four days, but unfortunately, Gavin had a stomach flu and threw up all over the place (literally) for two days of it. However, we managed to get out and about a bit to catch the major sights. My favorite was going up to Victoria Peak and overlooking the tall buildings of downtown Hong Kong. A few years ago, I saw a photo of my grandmother on Victoria Peak taken in the 1980's, and it was fun to think that my grandmother had walked in this same place this far away from home.

Alas, shopping is probably the sport of choice in Hong Kong, but we didn't get to do much of that this time. But, we'll be back!

Atop Victoria Peak overlooking downtown Hong Kong.

Waiting for the tram back down from the Peak.

Only 8,065 miles from Hong Kong to New York.

Taking the "Mid-Levels Escalators" - this is the longest outdoor covered escalator in the world. Since Hong Kong is very steep and hilly, this escalator is a great way to get up and down the streets of Hong Kong without breaking a sweat!

Dinnertime!

The Night Market - where you can buy just about anything your heart desires...

View of Hong Kong Island from our hotel at sunset.

Bright, colorful lights at night.

Bright lights, big city.

Kowloon Park - a beautiful oasis in the busy city.

The Star Ferry.

A fun day with an old friend... meeting up with Matt's former high school classmate, JJ, who now lives in Hong Kong.

The boys became fast friends.