What is their secret?

Ok so we know the Chinese must have some TCM ( traditional chinese medicine) trick to making their kids good travelers! What is it? A tea? Some herb? Give us your secret!!
See evidence below.

Our kid


Their kids




Our kid



Their kids


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You know you are in China when.....

• You hand your child a drinkable yogurt and his response is, "I really hope this isn' t Yak's milk"
• On your walk home from work your shoes start getting shined against your will. The shiner insists you pay him 100RMB. You are screaming no, stop ,in all the Mandarin you know but he negotiates you down to 5RMB. He takes your 5RMB but lets you know that the "Big Boss" pays 100. You walk away confused but with shiny shoes
• You know what the Big Boss means and it becomes your husbands new nickname whether he likes it or not
• You realize it' s much harder than you think to retrain yourself to put toilet paper in a trash can instead of the toilet. Go ahead, try it, test yourself
• It's 95 degrees out and very humid when you realize you and your family are the only ones sweating. Everyone else seems totally comfortable. Can you say "stinky, sweaty, Americans"
• You realize that food here goes bad much faster than at home, and it makes you wonder.....hmmmmmm
• You get really excited when the grass at the park is not roped off and you get to play on it! 
• You pay $8 for pasta sauce and $16 for a Louis Vitton purse
• You do your grocery shopping at a wet market stall called " The Avocado Lady"
• Before going out you check the weather and the air quality index
• You see cats all over here because they are considered good luck and dogs....well......
• You realize there are two prices for everything here. The foreigner ( Tai Tai or Laowai) and the local price. Trust me, you are not getting the better price.
• Seeing a man selling watermelons on the steps of Dolce and Gabanna looks totally normal

The END

2nd date continued

We also found our favorite marriachi band. :). Same grand opening!

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We had our second date!

2nd date. We stumbled upon a grand opening. Lots of fun.

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Beijing Etc.

Where to start!! Well we took a trip to Beijing and that was a lot of
fun. Ok well the kids will tell you they had fun and we have great
pictures but it was quite a working vacation! We realized how spoiled we
are here in Shanghai and how many western comforts we have. The water park there was amazing, they transformed the Olympic aqua park into
this fabulously fun water park. Kids loved it and John did some crazy
demon drop slide. He said there was no line to the slide, which in China
is a really rare thing. He climbed into the capsule and the man locked
the door and a loud countdown started before the plank beneath his feet
retracted. He realized why there was no line to this slide and we
laughed as they must have been thinking look at that crazy American
riding the slide everyone knows NOT TO RIDE.



We have all learned
to understand that the green light here to walk across a street does NOT
mean that it is safe to walk. It simply means that there will be less
things that will hit you , it' s really a ratio thing. So walk when it's
green , but still watch out out for scooters, bikes, cars, buses, well
you get the picture.
I have continued to watch our kids adapt as
the other night Gavin slurped down a bowl of noodles with chopsticks
while holding the bowl close to his mouth.



We are learning badminton and
Savannah is taking up Tai Chi all on her own. At the museum the other
day Gavin got pushed out of the way by a grandmother wanting he
grandchild to have a turn at a laser display. He got really mad and said
why is the "Chinese culture so mean". I explained that a lot of things
Americans do are perceived as mean. He got over it and decided to go
back for another turn only this time when he was done he screamed for
his sister with elbows up and full defensive mode waited for her to get
up to his spot before he would let go of the laser! He had figured out
how this thing works! We have learned a lot about tolerance ,
difference, similarities, such great life lessons for all of us!
Gavin had discovered that women can smoke, apparently he was not aware of this until our move but it continues to surprise him.
Savannah
generally enjoys being moderately famous. Gavin avoids it except now
and then when he steps out to make sure he is just as famous as her,
when he wants to be.
Gavin continues to give the same answer
when people ask what they can mail him from home: corn dogs. So if anyone
can figure out how to ship corn dogs half way around the world feel free
to let me know.
John and I are starting to understand that not all white people in China are Americans; which is apparently a new insight for us!
Until our next update! Bye!



Photo of a typical alley




Bugs etc.9

Love this video

This is a good visual summary of what our days are like here!

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Pet and more

We have a pet. A Chinese pet. We think.
Our driver gave our son a grasshopper in a little cage, or we think it' s a grasshopper but we aren't sure since we don' t speak Chinese and of course he doesn't speak English. One friend pointed out that perhaps we are confusing the gift of a pet for the gift of a snack. I did ponder the idea and cannot completely refute it as I have seen many pet like things served around town as dinner. So, I guess we should say we have a pet, a rescued pet.
In other news I can tell you that if a woman is forced to go more than 10 days without a flat iron (or hair styling product of choice), she may have a minor breakdown on day 10 sending her husband out into China traipsing about the streets in hunt of either a flat iron or a converter for her flat iron. If that husband finds the flat iron , the wife will be magically transformed into an agreeable human and he will be mystified but grateful. This is all hypothetical of course, I'm just saying it could happen.
Finding napkins in China has proved to be very difficult. They are difficult to purchase yet very easy to come by in restaurants. We have stooped to becoming much like those ketchup and barbecue sauce hoarders in the states. Mr. Washam has kept our napkin stash quite healthy, although I wander if this behavior might get into hoarding of other items and perhaps not subside upon our return to the states. We shall see.
It's been two weeks since we started this adventure and Sav has now realized she is not in Chicago and wondering when this vacation is going to end! Gavin just keeps telling us what a great opportunity this is. We aren't sure if he really feels that way or if it' s because we have said that over and over to him. Either way we continue to reinforce the idea because it works in our favor.
If you call and hear a really loud screeching in the background don't be alarmed it's our rescued pet/snack.
Goodnight/Goodmorning