July 28, 2013

Today again started at 4am, with Lucas yelling through the apartment for me that he was scared. He came into my room and cuddled with me for a few minutes before we got out of bed. This morning we had to meet down at the gate at 9:00am for the bus from school. Today was the day we were going to meet the rest of the newbie crew and do some shopping at the market.  Since we were up so early, we had a leisurely start to the day, with cereal for breakfast (today it was fruit loops because Lucas said the cocoa puffs were too chocolately for him….I don’t get it either). We got ready for the day, went on a little walk to take out some garbage, and Lucas played for a bit before it was finally time to head down to north gate to meet the bus. At this time, we took yet another load of stuff that was left in the apartment to the trash to discover that the bin had been emptied already!!  Here, you don’t have to pay for garbage or recycling, there are cans throughout the community and, evidently they are emptied quite frequently.

The bus came at 9:00 and we were the first ones on, aside from Joyce and Zhao from HR and Kyra the principal. I met a few of my colleagues and once everyone was on, we headed to the market, which I found out was the Metro again.  My thought was, “I don’t know why we would go there again, there wasn’t even any food.” Then they said that the Metro was like a costco or a cash and carry, though I didn’t quite get it. Once we got there, we went over to another sloped escalator, and it all came to me….the store was downstairs!!!  We had only a few things on the list that had come up since our last trip to the market, so we strolled through the Metro and found them all!!  We also had the opportunity to check out the live seafood (side swimmers, crabs and LOTS of fishies). Lucas asked a lot of questions about the non-living seafood. He wanted to know what everything was. We also had the opportunity to ask where the toilet was (cesuo zai nar) and to discover the differences from western toilets….there were some normal toilets, but the TP was in the common area instead of the stall, and there were also the squatting pots, which basically are toilets that are level with the floor similar use to when you are camping. It was also very dim in there and there was the strong smell of incense burning. After we purchased our items, we took them to the bus and went back to walk around the mall for a bit since we still had a half hour left.

Once everyone was on the bus, we headed back to our apartment. There was another trip to a market with fresh foods, but since we were pretty well stocked up, we decided not to go. Kyra told us on the trip back to our apartment that the groceries were always in the basement of structures. Interesting…We had a dinner planned for later in the evening and Kyra offered for Lucas to go over to her house with her teenagers during our staff dinner later. Lucas didn’t seem interested (though I wasn’t surprised) so I thanked her and we headed home. We had time to have lunch, pancakes and fruit, and play some more before we started thinking about the dinner arrangements. After some contemplation, Lucas decided he would rather go to Kyra’s house with her kids than to the Chinese Restaurant for dinner. I called Kyra and got directions to her house, then looking at the clock, it was 4:30 and we HAD to get going in order to get a taxi to the right place and get Lucas there before I had to meet the bus. We got ready, ran down to the street, then took a taxi towards the mall, stopping it when we were in the right place before the mall. We ran around the corner and down the street to Kyra’s complex to meet her son. He gave me directions to where I needed to go, I gave Lucas the biggest hug and kiss and for the first time, I left him with someone else in Beijing. (Of course he had his ID tag on). By this time, it was almost 5:30 and time to meet the bus, so I ran down the street, around the corner and down another street, when I heard someone calling out. It turned out, he was from the school, also waiting for the bus. As I talked with him (Daiju) several others joined us there (Cory and his family, Ruta, and a few others). We waited for bit until the bus got there, chatting and acquainting ourselves with each other before our Peking Duck dinner at the restaurant.

We were on the bus only a few minutes when we got to the restaurant. We were led through the restaurant, past the kitchen and upstairs to the dining room for our party. There were so many people!  A lot of administration and then all of us newbies and several newby families. When we sat down, there was a selection of soda, tea, and Chinese beer for drinks. We were then served dumplings, soybeans, and some small tortilla-like flats that you put meat, sauce, cucumbers, and leeks into. Then came more food: many meat dishes, tofu (but with pork sauce), a broccoli dish, an eggplant dish, and a portabello mushroom dish. They were all wonderfully delicious! This was my crash course in chopsticks, which I admit I was not able to use effectively prior to this trip, but since you do not get silverware, it was time to learn. Looking around the table, I was not the only one fumbling my way through this, though most the others were children. I was able to eat all of my food without any huge blunders, and felt pretty good about my chopstick success!  After the food, came the rice. Kyra shared that the Chinese always serve the rice last. Unlike American Chinese food where the rice is a main part of the dish, in Chinese cuisine, the rice is an “if you have room left over” thing.  Since I had none, no rice for me. After a delicious meal and a wonderful time with my colleagues, it was time to head home. As we walked through the downstairs of the restaurant, there were many people eating and smoking (definitely not used to smoking in restaurants). Then it was back to the bus. We walked a way down the street to where we were parked, past a little shop where Kyra said this family lived and made windows. The shop was about 12 feet long and 8 feet wide, with their window making supplies on the lower floor and a loft-like area above where they slept.

Once we got to the bus, it was back to pick up the kiddos. Lucas was standing there with the other and was SO excited to see me, even though I was only gone for 2.5 hours. It was already 8:00, which was 1-2 hours later than he had been going to bed, so he looked pretty tired. We cuddled on the bus home and were the last ones to be dropped off. Shortly before we got to our apartment, Lucas said, “Mom, is it ok if I sleep until we get there?” I told him “of course!” and he was out in less than a minute!  And boy was he SOUND ASLEEP!!! When we got to our gate, I carried him to the apartment, sound asleep, all the way up the elevator and into our apartment. I laid him down in bed and he slept through the night, no problem. At this point, I too was exhausted!!

Things I took for granted: Non-smoking restaurants

Things I learned: The market is always in the basement. Smoking is allowed almost everywhere. There are no serving spoons…you just use your chopsticks to get your food which you place on your small saucer-sized plate.