It’s hard to nail down a “normal” day in China. No two days look quite the same, and while
there are interesting moments, and weird phenomena,
most of the time, my day might look a lot like yours (that
is if you are a stay-at-home mom) : )
I wanted to briefly give you a little glimpse into our lives
in China so
far.
Dan teaches classes five days a week, and typically is at
school from 9:00- 4:00. This varies
from day to day depending on His work load and class schedule.
Days here seem very short.
The sun rises around 6am and
sets at 4:00 pm.
I must say… it’s really hard to get used to it getting dark
so early, and I’m told that pretty soon
it will start getting dark around 3:00pm. So much darkness can easily discourage the
soul, yet I know the One who is the source of Light, who shines His light into
my heart, enabling me to keep joyful.
Abigail goes to preschool three days a week. She leaves at 9 in the morning and returns
around 2:30 in the afternoon.
Her class is all in Korean, and while at first was a bit
overwhelming for her, she now loves it!
I catch her every once in a while singing a Korean song or saying a
Korean word. I’m hoping she will pick up
the language and teach her mom!!
Most of the children in the preschool are South Korean, but
she also has
several friends who are international and speak English.
Lydia is busy doing what most almost-two-year-olds are
doing, playing with toys, spilling her drinks, getting into the snack drawer
way too often, making sure that mommy has plenty to clean up, and waking up in
the middle of the night to climb in our bed.
I, of course, am still just a mom, whether in the USA
or a thousand miles across the globe, my occupation has not changed. I’m a wife and mother and all that comes
along with that. Recently I started
homeschooling Abigail on her days home from the preschool, so now I’m a teacher
too. I’m a student of this culture and language, and find it hard to make time
to study! Whenever we venture out of our
little hiding place atop the hill (YUST CAMPUS) overlooking Yanji, I bolster up
all of my courage and rack my brain to try to remember what little Chinese I
know in order to get around.
It’s interesting how doing a simple task like going to the
grocery store can become an adventure complete with challenges and excitement.
I will say that when we go out with our two little girls it
is more challenging than exciting.
First we wait at the top of the hill for a taxi. They often come to and from the school
picking up and dropping off students so we are lucky if we can happen to get
one at the right time. Many a cold,
windy day have we stood atop the hill waiting for a taxi to no avail….. well
then we must make the trek down the hill to the main road to find one. This trek usually takes about 10
minutes. Not so bad, but when the wind
is blowing and its COLD, it can be 10 minutes of misery!!
Once a taxi is procured, we tell him the desired destination
to which we would like to arrive safe and sound. We realize that putting ourselves into a
Chinese taxi is putting our lives at risk.
Our children are not put in safe car seats, or even wearing seat belts. No,
these such precautions are not available to us. So,we hold on to our children
and I try to not to suck wind every time we barely miss another car,
motorcycle, large truck or pedestrian.
The horn is frequently, should I say, almost constantly used by drivers
in China, while
blinkers and brakes are rarely used. : )
I have to empty my brain of all traffic laws learned in the
states for these do no apply here!
When we arrive at our destination, we pay the taxi, which
usually is between 5- 12 yuan ,this is about 1-2 american dollars.
So now we have arrived downtown, and most of the time we go
to the large supermarkets, you could compare them to a walmart but maybe not
quite as large.
Now the staring begins.
An Asian man with a white female and their two mixed children are quite
an interesting spectacle to the Chinese.
While I may be able to endure the blatant staring and
pointing, our children have not yet become accustomed to it.
Abigail once asked me “Mommy why is everyone looking at me?”
I tell her it’s because she’s so beautiful.
Lydia
on the other hand doesn’t take it as graciously as Abigail, not being able to communicate
her frustration in words she does in tears.
Several times we have had a major meltdown in the middle of
the grocery store which is not fun at all.
Of course everyone stares at the foreigner with the
screaming child to see how she will handle it.
Eventually she is pacified, and we move on.
Many times the curiosity of the Chinese can be a bit
unnerving and I’m not sure as a parent how to handle it. My kids are touched, hugged, and picked up by
strangers, their hair is stroked, and they get accolades on how cute they are
in Chinese.
I can imagine for a 4yr old and a 2 yr old, this can be very
scary, especially if it is a toothless grandma!
Moving on….
Arriving in the supermarket I grab a shopping cart. Two
security guards stand at the entrance making sure that nobody with a large
purse or backpack gets through. We must
either check these in at a booth at the front or put them in a large black bag
that is sealed by a clerk and unsealed at the cash register when we check
out. This is to prevent shoplifting…
which I think is pretty smart, however annoying to have to wait in line to
check in your bag.
Shopping at the supermarket is somewhat familiar and
comfortable since I can look at everything without harassment or pressure to
purchase it and everything is priced. This is not so at the markets. Large outdoor or even indoor markets look
very much like what you might call a flea market back in the states. Every seller has their own booth, cart or
stand. Close to our school it is very
common to see farmers from the countryside come in with their donkeys, mules or
cows pulling a cart with their vegetables or fruit.
The market is where you can
bargain and haggle to pay the price you want. These markets may have everything
from clothes and shoes to curtains and material, dvds, purses, wallets, sports
equipment, toys, home décor etc.
Going to the markets can be fun but also a huge step out of
my comfort zone, this is where my Chinese has to come out and also the
bargaining. I am not a bargainer by nature, thank goodness my husband is. : )
We are so blessed to be able to communicate somewhat between
the two of us.
Sometimes we will run into a Korean-Chinese seller who
speaks Korean, and Dan will be able to converse with them about the product and
price. With our powers combined we make
a pretty snazzy team. If I stop by a
booth and start looking at the items I will most likely be accosted by the
seller, and some are bolder than others.
I ask “ Duo Shao qian?” (How much is this) and they will reply with most
likely the highest price. This is my lot since I have a foreign face.
I will try to get the seller to come down a little, Dan will try to get them to come down a lot! :)
The thing about markets is that although you might be able
to find something for really cheap the quality is questionable. This is always
our challenge. Many things will bear the
label of big brand name but this is almost always a knock-off. We have already had our share of failed
purchases. Things that just don’t last
past a week.
Buying something of quality will cost more for sure and
sometimes may cost more than what we would pay in the states. Thankfully we
have discovered Amazon China!
This blessed website provides many a good product at a
decent price. We can order everything
from milk to a microwave with free shipping! YAY!
Shopping draws to a close and whether we are in the
supermarket or out in the bargaining markets we always have to purchase with
the mindset of only buy what you can carry.
This part is a challenge, especially for us Americans. We are so used to pulling a car into the
parking lot of a large grocery store filling our cart with whatever we
want/need. All we have to do is get it
in the trunk of our car and take it home.
Here we have to limit ourselves to what we can carry. This makes it so that we will have to go
shopping more often since we can’t get as much at one time.
It is also not possible to get everything we want at one
store. Western food is not readily
available here but a few stores carry a few things that we enjoy. For
example, things like bacon, mozzarella
cheese, tortillas, butter, and cream cheese usually cannot be found at the
local supermarket. Thanks to the
information of other westerners in this area we have found a few shops that
carry these items.
I must say that since living here I have learned how to make
things that I cannot buy in the store, like my own salsa and sour cream and my
own salad dressing.
Making things from scratch is fun but a lot more time consuming
and a lot more work for sure!
There are those days when I just wish I could get a frozen
pizza, such a quick fix for a meal right?
Gone are the days when I could buy cookie dough already made or crescent
rolls in a can. No canned chicken noodle
soup or kraft macaroni and cheese. No ready made pie crusts, or boxed cake mixes.
Oh well….this is part of it. I have to remind myself that these are small
insignificant things that we have “sacrificed”.
Besides I stay much healthier by staying away from
prepackaged and processed foods right?
So it’s actually a bonus!
Well, this is a good description of our adventures in
shopping…. I would love to share more about our other adventures but it will
have to wait….
Until next time,
Zai Jian! (Goodbye!)
