Start Now For Next Year

Halloween comes a few days early in China.  Since it is such a big deal here at our housing complex, they have it on the Saturday before.  It's a big party with a costume parade, haunted house, and trick-or-treating.  I'm not a big fan of celebrating Halloween not on the 31st, but it was kind of nice to have the whole day to prepare.  It took a couple hours! 

Ghost Rider.

Bellatrix.

Nerd.

Even though she looks terribly cute, and she got a lot of laughs, this was not what she was supposed to be.  She wanted to be a goth.  I ordered a dress pattern online and got it, but it was the wrong size.  Much too wrong for me to alter it.  Unfortunately I didn't notice until it was too late to get another one.  She was disappointed, but she was cool with winging it last minute.  

Dementor.

Tonks.

Enemies.

Trick-or-treating.

In Chinese, trick-or-treat literally means "knock on door and ask for candy".  That's funny.

Eat Our Toes While We Sleep

We got 5 big pumpkins this year! It was almost just like home.  The insides smelled different, it was a different color, and very sticky.  So we didn't save the seeds.  I wasn't sure if I wanted to take the time if they tasted different.  But other than that, it was perfect!

It sure is easier when everyone does their own cleaning out and carving.  I cut the tops off, helped a bit with cleaning out, and carved a little for the boys.  Such a different experience with older kids.

Represent

International Day!

There was a carnival of sorts after school.  Each county had a booth or two (or 5 if you are Korea :)) with games or activities.  They flipped shoes into a bucket, banged on drums and gongs, did calligraphy, had a chopstick race, played hockey, sumo wrestled, hula hooped, knocked down cans with bean bags, dressed up in traditional clothing, and got their faces painted.  Oh, and played darts.  Right before it was Dare's turn, I asked her if she knew how to throw a dart.  She said no, so I showed her briefly.  She gets up and hits the bullseye.  The only bullseye of the whole day. 

USA!

I thought this was a funny picture of all the American stuff with a Chinese coke.

Sometimes You Have To Buy Two

I'm really trying to decorate my house.  I'm bad at it.  I'm perfectly capable, I'm just bad at actually doing it.  Either I can't decide on what I like, or I can't find what I like for the price I like.  Anyway, I went to a furniture store trying to get some help.  I was with a friend and I told her I wish I could go to a super rockin' garage sale and find stuff to use to create my own cool things.  Then she said, "We should go to the Garbage Man."  So we did.

There's a guy, The Garbage Man, who collects stuff and sells it.  It was awesome.  Very dirty, but awesome.  It could take you days to look at all his stuff.  We needed to bargain a bit.  Not my favorite thing to do, but we went with this older lady from the ward who has lived here for lots of years.  She has her picture on the wall at this store!  Haha!  She was able to get us some good deals.  If I learned anything, it's that I'll always need to go to The Garbage Man with Sister T.

A lot of the stuff has a Chinese feel to it, but not everything.

Next time I'm going to buy that gold Buddha.

Here's what I got.

This was the most expensive thing I bought.  Apparently it's old.

As we were leaving the guy in charge brought us over jade bracelets.  Even if they were a tiny bit small, and he had to force them on, he did.  Then he went away and brought back those beads I'm wearing.  He just kept wrapping them around my wrist.  Then he left again and brought back a handful of chopsticks.  I guess we spent enough money to earn free take-aways.

Next Best Attribute

Ever since I learned how to play tennis in Jakarta, I've become a fan of watching it too.  I know, it's weird.  But there's nothing wrong with watching sports, right?  I've also become a fan of Serena Williams.  She's pretty awesome.  So when I saw her picture on an advertisement for the China Open, I decided I was going.

It was not an easy thing to do.  I had to navigate through Chinese websites and maps and addresses.  I figured out to the best of my ability that Serena and Venus were playing doubles in the tournament, and that was my best chance to see her.  Even when I was in the taxi on the way, I still wasn't sure I was going to the right place, at the right time, with the right amount of money.  But I did it!

This lady was out front.  I didn't buy this time, but I will next time for sure.  Those red things are the hawthorne berries I talked about before.  They are candied.

The girls went with me.  They gave me confidence in our adventure, but also anxiety because they depend on me for... well, everything.  There's always the question:  How will we get home?

BA brought a book. :)

We got there before they started, so we saw the end of the first match.

That girl in the orange was the one who ended up going against Serena in the final.  Jelena Jankovic.

She gave autographs.

Yay!

Serving.

They didn't win.  It was disappointing.  But one cool thing about it was that Serena got so mad when the losing match point was because she double faulted.  She slammed her racket on the court multiple times until it broke and started flinging pieces everywhere.  Then she chucked it.  See that guy in the pink tie?  He is holding it behind his back.  That part was awesome.  The losing part sucked.

Smokestack

So there is a system used to measure the pollution in the air, and it lets humans know if they should go outside or not.  It has become a habit for us to check the AQI once or twice a day.  Sometimes we check it hourly.

All I know is what AQI means.  Air Quality Index.  I don't know how it works, and I don't know how they measure it.  I've never had to worry about it until now.  And all it is is a number to me.

I'd say out of my four months here, 75% of them have been between 100 and 200.  That is, according to the US government, unhealthy for sensitive groups to unhealthy.  And according to Beijingers, it is totally normal.  The other 25% of the days have been beautiful (below 100) or awful (250 and above).  For the most part I don't stress about it.  It's just another thing I deal with living overseas.  The kids' school won't let them play outside if it is above 150, and I won't play tennis if it is bad.  No big.

This particular day was a Saturday.  We really wanted to go to the second hand store near us to check out the Halloween stuff.  The AQI was between 350 and 400.  It has only been that bad maybe one or two other days since I've been here.

Since we really wanted to go, and since the air was so bad, we decided we'd wear masks.  They aren't the most effective masks ever, but I'm sure they were better than just breathing the air.

The pollution sucks for sure, but our lives aren't full of masks and coughing fits.  I feel like there is a reason to stay inside in just about every place you live.  In Salt Lake it was because it was too cold.  In Phoenix it's too hot.  In Jakarta it was too humid.  If only we could all live in San Diego.  There are lots of beautiful clear days in Beijing.  And I think we enjoy them even more than we would otherwise.

Lucky Egg

We had our first moon festival in China!  We've been celebrating it for years, but this is the first time it was an actual national holiday where we live.  It was awesome.  The kids got a few days off of school, and Nate got some time off work.  We spent the days hanging out outside in the beautiful weather.  Some of the time was bad pollution, but most of it was good.

On the day of the Mid-Autumn Festival, we had a super awesome Chinese dinner.  By Nate.

And then we made moon cakes.

These moon cakes are not, I repeat, NOT traditional.  I wanted to make something that we would actually want to eat.  So mine are basically a sugar cookie with a filling.  The filling was various dried fruits and jam.  They were yummy!  Much better than red bean flavor with an egg yolk in the center.

Then we went outside to look at the moon.

  

This guy has nothing to do with the moon, but he has been our pet spider for a while, and I thought I'd share.  He lives right outside our sun room window.  He's probably about the size of the palm of my hand.  And his web is incredible.  And "he" is probably a she.

My neighborhood is like spider world.  They are everywhere.

So Official

Our car is coming soon, so Nate and I had to go get our driver's license.  I met him at the embassy, and we went with a group of other people.  Luckily, embassy people don't have to take the real test, which I've heard is pretty brutal.  We just have to take a quick eye exam.  It was a pretty hilarious experience.

We drive up to a medical facility.  I couldn't tell if it was a hospital or what, and I hope I never have to find out.  We walk in and there is this man sitting in a room.  He is awesome...

His shirt was not quite white, and the V-neck went a bit too low.  He was wearing a rocking necklace and his Buddhist beads were huge.  I love that guy.

So after waiting in line for some other people to go, Nate was up.

Then it was my turn.  I walk in the room and I go to the chair and sit down.  I guess that was the wrong thing to do since he started yelling at me.

Real quick... even though he is yelling, he's not really yelling.  His voice is loud and he sounds like he is mad, but he's really not.  It's a strange phenomenon with the Chinese language and people.  It's something I'm sure I'll get used to.  Maybe too used to it?  If I go back to America talking too loud and with too much passion, now you know why.

Anyway, obviously I didn't know why he was yelling, because I can't understand him.  Finally he used charades and I stood up.  He needed to evaluate my height and weight.  He just estimated.  It was awesome.  Then I sad down.  I put the cover (that hasn't been washed) over one eye.  I looked at the chart and he pointed to a picture.  The chart was the kind that have the E's in all different directions, and you have to be able to see which way it is facing.  I did one, got it right, and then he started yelling again.  He wanted me to switch eyes.  After one E!  I did, and he pointed to another E.  I have a bad eye.  It's my right one.  So it took me a second to decide which way I thought it was facing.  Well, I didn't have to think too long, because the other guy in the room told me.  He pointed while the doctor guy wasn't looking.  And that was it!  I passed!  It was all so hilarious.

So after a trip to the embassy, a trip to the medical center, getting my height guessed, and an E for each eye, I got my drivers' license.  We got it a few days later, and it was a piece of paper that was laminated.  I could have made it at home.

By the way, he guessed my height at 165cm.  Which is 64.96 inches.  5'5".  Exactly right.

Unripe Mangoes

I actually don't know what this place is called, except for that everyone calls it the Flower Market.  I'm sure it has a real name.  I should probably learn it.  Anyway, there is a place near our house where you can get flowers and other outdoor things.  We tuk tukked the whole family there one day.

There are all kinds of fish and turtles and other aquarium pets you can buy.

Apparently these aren't the kind you eat.

Or maybe they are.  Just not this one.

Or maybe he is.  Just not yet?

Flowers.

Big pots.

And there's those guys too.  Whatever they are.

Those are the flowers we bought.  I just loved those round mums.

We also went to this awesome Taiwanese restaurant.  But since I almost killed every one of us on the way there, I can't really see us going back anytime soon.  Or at least until we get our car.

Ninjas Love Noodles

This is a noodle shop in another village nearby.  That guy is making noodles with his hands.  It is nothing short of miraculous. He rolls the dough out quickly but carefully.  When it is the right softness, he breaks it into parts and begins to stretch it.  He pulls it, then folds it in half, pulls and folds.  He keeps that up until it is thin like noodles.  All in a matter of minutes.

Plus, they are delicious.

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Since I drove home, one of the girls took pictures.  I'm not really sure why the picture above was taken, but I like it.  The one below is cool too.