Xi'an

Back in April, when Anna & Jim were visiting, we spent a long weekend in Xi’an to see the Terra Cotta Warriors.  I am so glad we were able to fit this trip in as we not only learned a lot, but we truly astounded by all of the clay warriors and horses!  For those that do not know much about this, as we did not before going, these sculptures date back to around 209 B.C. when China’s first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, had the soldiers built to accompany him during his eternal rest.  They were discovered 40 years ago and remains are still being recovered.  Along with the soldiers, there are horses, chariots and weapons.  The amazing thing is that each soldier is clearly unique.  Their facial expressions are all different and they are positioned in according to rank.  This was definitely a site to see and I am glad we didn’t miss it!

This street was crazy!  Lots of food stands, interesting (aka disgusting) smells, stores and people!  This was definitely not the best place for someone with a heightened sense of smell/sensitive belly finishing up their first trimester!  Oh well, I survived! 

This is what we get for following the guys ... we were stuck.  Of course we could have turned around, but what fun is that?!  Instead, we climbed through trees/plants to make our way out!

Dumplings!

We sure are going to miss dumplings when we leave China!!!  They are so delicious; my mouth is actually watering as I write this post!  When I came to China last May for my pre-visit, another Parker expat living in Shanghai took me to their favorite dumpling restaurant.  They taught me how to eat dumplings properly so I don’t burn my mouth and I fell in love! 

As it turns out, that same restaurant opened up in Wuxi this year!  We discovered it after the Christmas holiday and it quickly became our favorite Chinese restaurant (even though technically it’s Taiwanese).  I guess it wasn’t hard to do because there is only one other Chinese restaurant that we actually go to (unless there is a work dinner).   Instead, if we are going out, we prefer a Western restaurant or Thai, Indian, Korean, Brazilian, Italian, Mexican - basically anything other than Chinese.  Granted, I do eat Chinese every day for lunch at work, so it isn’t that I don’t necessarily like the food, we just miss the comforts of home!  However, now that we are about to leave and all of my coworkers suddenly want to take us for a farewell dinner, I am requesting dumplings!  I need to get my fill! 



The Restaurant - located on the top floor Center 66



These are the best - they are filled with pork and crab!  Yum!

A different style of dumplings - these are vegetarian

Ava loves them too!  I think she eats as many as me!

One thing we will definitely miss ...

While there are some interesting aspects of China that we will probably never understand, they sure do know how to create an indoor playground!  This is one of our favorite weekend activities, especially on a rainy, polluted or super hot/humid day, and will be near the top of our list of things we miss about China once we return home!  Ava even recognizes the mall it is in and gets all excited to play when we arrive! 

It is fairly clean (granted, it's still rather new) and kids are required to wear diapers - although keep a look out because every once in a while you will see a little butt run by so you'll have to say something to one of the workers! 

The first few months, we primarily stuck to this section of the play area.  It is perfect for those just starting to walk until about 18-20 months.

This is a great area too if you want to pretend you are at the beach for a little while!  If only we could hear the waves the crashing!

This is the "big kid" section and I honestly don't know who loves it more - Ava, Ryan or me!  We all have so much fun in this area and there is so much to do!

Ryan and Ava having too much fun!

Ava's Birthday!

Ava had a wonderful 2nd birthday celebrating with a few old friends, some new friends (my coworker's children) and of course Bruce and Jason.  Unfortunately Norm was sick so he could not make it :( 

 

Ava's homemade birthday cake!

  Of course I learned how to sing "Happy Birthday to You" in Chinese 5 days after Ava's birthday! :( Oh well, I am prepared for Ryan's birthday!

Playing at the playground - she LOVES to spin!



 
  

Learning a new sport!

My coworkers were so sweet to buy Ava birthday presents - especially since Ryan & I only had one small gift for her (which was plenty for a 2 year old)!  She got a teddy bear (named Bruce), some traditional Chinese outfits (one of which she is wearing in the pictures above) and this awesome Dragon necklace which represents the year she was born! 

We were also surprised with a package in the mail from her Uncle Shawn, Aunt Tiffany, cousins Jordan and Landen!  She was so excited to get mail and really enjoyed opening the box to see what was inside!  She'll by styling at the beach this summer in her adorable new swim suit!
 

She loves her new dragon necklace (represents the year she was born)!



Playing with her birthday present - sidewalk chalk!



Saying Good-bye

Saying good-bye is never fun, especially when it is to someone who has recently come into your life and been like family since Day 1.  Bruce has been like a grandpa to Ava and she is going to miss him dearly.  She asks about him daily and gets such a big smile whenever we see him! 

Best of luck, Bruce, as you move on to your new location in China!  Once you decide to settle back down in the UK, we will be visiting you and your family!   



They look innocent enough, right?!  Get these 3 together and there is definitely trouble!



It's all about Ava!

It is hard to believe that Ava is 2 years old already!  She is growing into such a sweet, smart little girl – Ryan & I truly feel blessed to be her parents (most of the time)! J 

She will not have her 2 year appointment until we are back in the States, so we don’t have too many stats to share.  She did jump on the scale while I was at my last Dr’s appointment though; therefore we know that she weighs about 27 lbs!  And she has 16 teeth – all that are left to come in are her 3 year molars. 

She has hardly stopped talking since she turned 18 months and is starting to put 3 word “sentences” together.  She also loves to sing.  You will often hear her singing, “Wheels on the Bus”, “Ba Ba Black Sheep”, “Row, Row, Row Your Boat”, “Old MacDonald”, “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” or “Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes”!  It’s quite adorable!

She has known her animals, most body parts and colors for a while now.  She recently learned basic shapes (square, circle, triangle, heart and star) and can count to 10 – when SHE wants to do so.  She recognizes most numbers: 1-9 and is working on letter recognition too.  The other day while we were out, she surprised us being saying “P!”  Sure enough there was a Parking sign with a big “P” on it!  We have learned not to underestimate how much she can learn and she really does surprise us with something new almost every day!

She is a pretty good eater and loves cheese (would eat it morning, noon and night), spaghetti – although prefers pasta with pesto sauce rather than tomato sauce, pizza, sausage, ham, shrimp, salmon, corn, green beans and broccoli!  Plus, almost every kind of fruit out there – especially berries, bananas, apples and oranges!  We introduced her to pure carrot and apple juice while in Hong Kong and she loved it!  It will be nice when we have our juicer back in Michigan! 

She loves to help out – cooking, cleaning and doing laundry.  However, picking up toys is not always her favorite, but after a time-out or two, she tends to listen better!

Most recently she has stopped using her pacifier (or “wa woo” as she calls it).  We were going to wait until we got back to the States and she was adjusted to the time before figuring out how to get rid of it, but on our way to Japan, she accidently dropped it out of the car window.  She got such a sad look on her face and of course Ryan and I were worried about sleep the next couple of nights!  She did great though!  She still asks for it once before nap and bedtime, but we remind her that she dropped it out of the window.  When she says “other wa woo dada” (she knows we have more than one), we tell her that she’s a big girl and doesn’t need it anymore!  Thankfully she has accepted this answer and goes to sleep on her own without one!  Now we’ll see how she does when her baby brother or sister arrives and has their own "wa woo"! 

Now that we have made Ava sound like a little angel – here’s the other side of our sweet baby girl!  While she is the apple of our eye, she is NOT an angel by any means.  We are definitely getting into those terrible twos and boy is that fun!  She will scream when she doesn't get her way and just plop down where ever we are (sidewalk, store, etc).  Usually we let her do this and tell her to get up when she's ready to act like a big girl, but man is that embarrassing some times!  I am sure it will get worse when we get back home because, honestly, the Chinese allow their kids to do a lot more than we would at home – or perhaps we get a “free pass” because we are Americans and everyone is so in love with Ava here!  For instance,

1.    She is free to run around restaurants – in fact, the waitresses will pick her up and take her behind the bar!

2.    Nobody seems to mind if she goes on stage while people are singing – they will even let her sing in the microphone!

3.    Restaurants don’t seem to care that she throws her food on the floor or drops her silverware every 5 minutes!  We don’t even have to leave a tip to apologize and they still welcome us back with open arms the next time we show up!

We will gladly take any advice another parent has (as long as it has been successful)!  Otherwise, we will continue on as is and hope for the best!

We have a few small gatherings planned for the next couple of days, so I will post more pictures from her birthday on Sunday!

Our Wuxi Family

We are really going to miss our fellow Parker Expats also "living" in Wuxi when we return home!  They have made living in China so much easier!  We enjoy dinner with whomever is in town at least once per week and do some local traveling with them as well!  It is definitely nice to be able to have an English conversation with someone and share some of the crazy stories - plus they give Ryan a little outlet away from me and Ava! :)

Since most of them "come and go" - for instance, 4 weeks in China, 3 weeks in the US - this was one of the rare moments when we were all in Wuxi at the same time!  Ava was quite excited as she is usually asking for whomever is not here (of course)!  She goes through her list ... "Bruce?", "Norm?", "Jason?"!  Now Alex has been added to the list because he was here for 2 weeks.  She'll have to wait until we are back in the US to see him again though!

Life in China ...

Even though we mainly post fun stories about living in China and traveling around Asia, it is important to note that life in China is not always easy! 

1.  Sure, it's kind of fun to go to the underground shopping in Shanghai and see how low you can get the prices for fake items such as purses, wallets, jerseys, etc.  However, did you ever think you would have to worry about buying counterfeit meat, eggs, milk, soy sauce, formula, etc, etc, etc????  It's actually pretty scary!

2.  Be careful where you eat too because as much as the government likes to control things here, there doesn't appear to be much regulation with regards to food / restaurants (if you didn't gather that from the above issues).  Therefore, restaurants do not close if they fail an inspection - I guess I should just be happy that there is an inspection process, although I don't see these signs in all restaurants so I am not sure they are required in all cities / restaurants.  Anyway, for those that did have an inspection, they will either get excellent, pass or fail.  If they fail, it is not necessary to close your restaurant - just post the sign so customers know the results!  The Pizza Hut in Wuxi got a "Pass" - wonder what the different levels actually mean?!

3.  The pollution is not always easy to deal with either - and we miss seeing stars at night.

4.  Sometimes what you think is the simplest of tasks (going to the bank to pay a bill) turns into a huge headache!  You may end up going back and forth several times - wasting much time - trying to figure things out.  It can be pretty frustrating, especially when you have a 2 year old "celebrity" with you and everyone surrounds you to touch and try to pick up your daughter!  Thankfully my coworker Rose has been a blessing and has helped us with so much to minimize these headaches!  They are inevitable though ... sometimes we just don't bother with things because it is not worth it!

5.  Getting around with Ava is not always easy.  Sometimes I wish we could hide her with a blanket so people will leave her alone.  Every once in a while we get so fed up that we tell people it's "wu kuai" (5 rmb = about 80 cents) when they take her picture!  It's actually quite funny to see their reaction to this!  Ava has become accustomed to saying "No!" to people when they look at her, which is kind of sad, but I think she gets sick of it too!

6.  At times it can be difficult to get to things we would like to see online.  Luckily we have a VPN so we can get to Facebook, U-Tube, Netflix, our blog, etc, but it doesn't always work ... and the Internet (which is supposedly the fastest we can get) can be sooooo slow!  I hate to complain about this though because it really isn't a necessity.  It just makes life being 1/2 way around the world from all of our friends and family so much more bearable when we can see what is happening in their lives!

Anyway, a Parker colleague of ours also living in China forwarded this article to us.  We thought it was interesting!

http://www.cracked.com/article_21051_the-4-strangest-things-nobody-tells-you-about-life-in-china.html

Overall, we are having a wonderful experience and are so glad we took this opportunity!  We just wanted to let you know that it isn't always easy ... even if our blog may make it seem that way!

A new adventure in 2014 ...

So let’s see who actually reads our blog … besides our parents!

Ultrasound pictures from our appointment on April 28 - measured at 13 weeks, 6 days!  Heart rate was 167!  I cannot remember what that supposedly means - boy or girl?  It seems that Ava's was similar, but I am not sure!

We’ve decided that we need to make a onesie that says “Made in Thailand.  Developed in China.  Born in the USA!” :)

I have learned a few new things about China while being pregnant: 

1.    Some of the food (especially the oils and excessive garlic) really stink!  There were about 2 weeks when all Chinese foods sounded awful.  I actually think this was part of the reason that returning to China after Hawaii was so difficult. 

2.    The driving is really awful.  For the first 6-8 weeks I felt sick every morning on my way to work and every evening on my way home.  Also, I can no longer read on the shuttle bus so I am going thru fewer books the second half of the year.  Guess it’s better for me to talk to people anyway.

3.    The Chinese are overly cautious (in my opinion).  The few coworkers that know I am pregnant cannot believe I am still running, traveling - especially flying - and basically continuing with my normal routine – besides drinking of course.

I have seen a Belgium Doctor in Wuxi and I absolutely love her!  If it weren’t for the lack of technology in Wuxi, I would probably have gone there for my 12 week ultrasound as well, but she highly recommended we go to Shanghai instead.  Therefore, off to Shanghai we went earlier this week.  And what an ordeal that was!  It was easy and everyone was nice, but it made for such a long day.  Because of my crazy work schedule these past few weeks, and the popularity of the hospital, I was limited on appointment times.  I was lucky to get one at 5 o’clock though on one of the last days during the window I could have the ultrasound done.  Unfortunately, they said that the ultrasounds finish at 5, so they suggested we get there by 4 to get registered, have the ultrasound done and then see the Doctor.  With the travel times and train schedules, this meant that we needed to take a 2 o’clock train out of Wuxi just to be safe.  So … with an exhausted 2 year old (we were traveling in Nanjing the day before so she went without a nap) our schedule was as follows:

1:  Leave Work / Leave Home and take taxi to train station

1:20:  Arrive at Train station and wait for train

2:  Get on train for Shanghai

3:  Arrive in Shanghai and get taxi

3:20:  Arrive at Hospital and register

4:  Get Ultrasound which was of course awesome to see the baby, but Ava cried the whole time as she wanted to be on the bed with me

4:15:  Wait for appointment

5:15:  Finally find a play room 2 doors down from the waiting room where Ava can play (why didn’t they tell us about this when we first arrived?!)

5:45:  Finally go in and see the Doctor.  Tell him that I don’t need blood work because I did it in Wuxi.  That I don’t need this and that because I will [hopefully] not be back at this hospital again

6:  Finish with Dr and check out

6:15:  Find Taxi back to Train Station

6:45:  Arrive at Train Station and buy tickets for next train to Wuxi

7:30:  Take Train back to Wuxi

8:30:  Arrive in Wuxi and take taxi home

8:45:  Arrive at home after another day of no nap for Ava … and we get to wake up early to catch an 8 am flight to Hong Kong tomorrow!  YAY for grumpy 2 year olds!

Needless to say, I am so glad this is my only appointment in Shanghai!  In fact, if all goes well, this will likely be my last appointment in China.  We will wait and do our 20 (ish) week appointment when we are back in the US! 

Happy Easter!

We had such a lovely Easter celebration here in Wuxi (way better than Thanksgiving which still frustrates me)!  The Wuxi International Club hosted an Easter Brunch at the Double Tree Hotel and it was fabulous!  The food was absolutely delicious, the company was of course entertaining and the kid’s activities (playing with bunnies, going on an Easter Egg hunt and painting Eggs) were perfect!  It is always so much easier when Ava can have a good time as well as me and Ryan!

Besides the Easter brunch, we also colored Eggs at home!  Ava really enjoyed it and was upset when all of the eggs were colored. 

Of course we missed being with our family during this holiday and enjoyed seeing all of the pictures on Facebook!  Even though we were not there in person, we were with all of you in spirit! 

Giving the bunny a hug!

and a kiss!  lol

checking out the bunnies

Easter Brunch with our PDN coworker, Alex!

Easter Egg Hunt!

checking out her goodies

Look - an egg!!!

painting eggs

Family Photo Opp

Happy Girl in her pretty dress!

Visitors!!!

We had our first non-work related visitors recently and it was so much fun!  Anna, who previously did the same Global Program I am doing now (from Sweden to Michigan), and her husband, Jim, came to China for two weeks!  We spent their first weekend in Shanghai.  Day 1 was pretty crummy weather – rain – so we did what you have to do on a rainy day … went shopping!  Luckily the 2^nd and 3^rd day were much better so we could explore the city more those days.  Unfortunately the pollution levels weren’t great so that was unfortunate because you can get some great pictures of Shanghai on a clear day.  Oh well, we did lots and lots of walking and saw as much as we could see while we were there.   



Enjoying the scenery at Yuyuan Garden (Shanghai)



Getting a drink at the Ritz and enjoying the view (on a clear day it's way better)



Our Visitors, Jim & Anna!



Catching up with a great friend!



Taking the tunnel under the Huangpu River (going from Puxi to Pudong) - it was WAY different than what we expected!



After a weekend in Shanghai, Jim & Anna went to Beijing for 4 days with a full itinerary.  Then, we all met in Xi’an for a weekend (a separate post on Xi’an soon) and brought them back to Wuxi with us for a week!



Taking a short break from our hike!





Exploring Turtle Head Peninsula (went for a hike to find this tower overlooking the city)

The garden at Turtle Head Peninsula was huge - we could have spent hours and hours there, but again, had to get home for Ava's nap.  Of course we decided to come down the hill/mountain a different way than we came up, so we got a little lost.  Oh well, we were only about 20 minutes late for our ride and got to see more of the garden this way - and get more exercise :) 

It was fun showing friends around Wuxi and introducing them to the places we like to eat and showing them where we shop and spend our free time.  Many great memories were made and we look forward to hopefully seeing them again soon in either the US or Europe!

Also, it’s not too late … we have about 8 weeks left in China (although 3 of those weeks we will be traveling outside of Wuxi/China) … so plan your trip to visit us NOW!  Or, plan to see us when we return home in June!