Signs you're in China...

The following signs are some of the best ones that we have seen on our travel throughout China. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

 

5-Star Ratings and Polite Conversation

Anyone who travels or talks to people that travel knows that one of the most popular topics to note and discuss after a trip is the state of the bathrooms. Whether you are staying in fancy hotels and marvel at the impressively outfitted commode, or traveling to a third world country and peeing in a trough, it is a rare thing to not comment on the facilites you have encountered. The Lundy family certainly fits that mold, and have appreciated some of the best and worst during our travels in the last couple of years. I recently had a new and unique bathroom experience that has prompted me to take a moment to capture a few of our favorite toilet-themed memories, but I'll come back to that...

We knew, of course, that we would need to be prepared for some rough potty-stops when we moved to China. Jeff and I had both visited China for work and had experienced the China-standard squat toilets. For those of you that haven't had the pleasure, allow me to explain. Traditionally here, they do not use the standard Western-style stool that most of us are accustomed to. Instead, they squat over an opening in the floor. Nicer bathrooms have a porcelain ring with foot pads directing you where to stand and a flush feature similar to a Western stool. Kayla, bless her, has adjusted to these toilets quickly and is a regular potty-pro, tolerant of even the roughest of conditions. McKenna, at just under 4 when we first arrived, has had a slower, and more difficult learning curve. The first issue is maneuvering your clothes - this is easier if you are wearing a skirt, but you still have underwear to deal with. For an adult, this can be a difficult question of positioning, but it is complicated for a small child. McKenna often can't pull her pants around her ankles and still straddle the hole - the clothes are too small to cover the span. Therefore, a simple potty break often requires a fair amount of undressing. (And if you are a 4-year-old who has to go, it can exceed the amount of time and movement your bladder can manage. McKenna and I speak from experience on this front.)

Next, clothes properly positioned, you must assume the squat position. Actually, once you get accustomed to it, this is not too bad. For you ladies who have "hovered" over a less than clean public stool, squatting is less strenuous on your quads and an easier position to hold for any length of time. McKenna, however, has never quite gotten the hang of it; and I have yet to find a good way of supporting her. For this reason, I rarely escape these trips without getting pee'd on. In fact - I will offer this recommendation - do not accompany a small child to a pit toilet with open toed shoes - it never ends well.

Finally, getting back up to a standing and fully clothed position without anything touching the floor can feel like mission impossible. If you think public bathroom floors in the US are nasty, well, you ain't seen nothing yet. Another unusual, and rather unpleasant, feature of the Chinese ladies room is the fact that they don't flush anything that didn't originate from them. So used toilet paper is stowed in the garbage. This is a bit...well... icky even if the bathroom is well maintained and lightly used; and a well maintained and lightly used public bathroom in China is a rare thing. I leave the rest to your imagination on this front.

Things get fun when you leave the big cities and head out into "real China." We have learned that communal troughs are the norm in most places; if you are lucky there are small dividers demarcating individual space and providing at least a small amount of privacy. Usually there is a trickle of water running down the length of the trough, but not always. In many places, the trough is actually just a shute, headed for the back of the building. What has made Jeff and I nearly laugh out loud is the fact that many of these public facilities charge a fee for the pleasure of using them!

Of course, discussing the state of the bathrooms is a regular part of China adventures, and as those of you who have worked in GM's test groups will understand, Jeff and I have been known to apply a "GMUTS" rating to them. But one of the funniest sights came from our first trip to Beijing, in May 2009. During our visit to the Forbidden City, we happened upon this sign:
It was the first and only time we have seen an official government-sanctioned star rating; and of course we had to evaluate it for ourselves. It was on par with the average "modern" (porcelain floor ring and flush) bathroom, but except for the sign it wasn't anything to write home about.

And so, we get back to the event that prompted me to record this topic. Last week, the Lundy family ventured out to Nanjing to do some China sightseeing. Needing a pit stop, I ventured in to a public bathroom downtown. It was of the communal-trough-with-doorless-divider variety; and while waiting for an open slot, I was befriended by a young boy (I'd guess about 4 or 5 years old) who wanted to practice his English on the only Western in sight. We traded "Hellos" and "How are you's?" and then my turn came up. I went through the various stages of getting into position (refer to text above) and then was startled by a little voice from the edge of the divider saying "You're pretty."

And so I challenge each of you to fill me in -- what exactly is the proper response to this lovely compliment when you are squatting over a trough with 15 other ladies and your pants around your ankles? And how exactly do you extricate yourself smoothly from this scenario at the end of your task?

Spring 2011

It's been a while since the last post, and we have been quite busy with work, school, and trying to cram as much travel as possible in.

In August, the girls returned back to school. Kayla started 4th grade, and McKenna started Kindergarten. They continue to excel in school don't complain about it too much. With Yew Chung being an international school for primarily Expatriate children, the turnover rate is quite high (as many parents are on 2-3 year assignments). This year, Kayla's good friend Claren returned with her family back to Australia. The girls spent a lot of time at each others houses and they both were not looking forward to having to separate. Kayla is missing Claren and continues to keep in touch through email. There are a couple new girls who arrived, one from England and another Japan and they all are spending more time together and Kayla is helping them with the transition to Yew Chung.

We caught some great days in Shanghai in September (which is an excellent time to visit Shanghai in addition to April-May). The 1930's architecture of the Bund area near the river continues to impress and with new roof deck bars and restaurants opening it is an active and fun place to hang out and enjoy the city lights. A couple of our favorites: Ritz-Carlton roof deck bar, Lost Heaven roof deck patio, Stiller's roof deck, New Heights roof deck. (Yes there is a pattern there).

In October we travelled to South Western China (just north of the Vietnam border) to Yunnan Provence. Yunnan is home to a large majority of the Minority Tribes in China. We spent time in the Stone Forrest near Kunming, hiked through local villages during the rice harvest, visited Tiger Leaping Gorge & Shangri-La. We were there about one week and it is impossible to include here all of the amazing sights, scenery, & people we saw there. Probably the highlight for me was walking near the rice fields watching the farmers cutting and thrashing the rice by hand. No mechanisation at all and felt a bit like travelling back in time to what it must of been like in the US in the early 1900's I'm guessing. We also dropped into a local temple and was treated to tea by the temple caretaker (above). Quite a memorable experience!

We celebrated Halloween and Thanksgiving at home and invited some of our close friends to join us for the festivities. Both holidays are uniquely American and it is particularly entertaining to watch the other non-American foreign kids embrace Halloween to get free candy. I think that we had maybe 200-300 kids come to the house for candy (because we had American candy: Smarties, candy corns, etc. hand carried in- thanks Ed & Adam!). US Candy is the best (German Kinder eggs a close second).

We took holiday vacation during Christmas time (which is not celebrated in China) and flew to New Zealand for a two week Camper Van spectacular. We rented a camper van and drove over the South island of New Zealand from Christ Church across and down the West Coast to Milford Sound, Queenstown, and back again (camping the entire way). NZ is an outdoorsman Mecca. Mountains with glaciers to oceans & whale watching within a very short distance. Unbelievable outdoor opportunities. We spent Christmas on a overnight cruise through Milford Sound in the South Western part of the Island sharing a British Christmas with some Germans, Australians, British, & Americans. Kids enjoyed the "crackers", but the British Christmas cake should be avoided (like fruit cake - just not as good). Here is a brief montage of NZ: Beautiful Christchurch architecture, climbing Redwoods, Whale watching...no whales but dolphins...too rough and a lot of really sea sick people, seals at the campsite, ocean 30 ft. from camper, spectacular sunset, new screensaver, playing in waves, pancake rocks, one lane bridges shared with trains (really?), 3 walking suspension bridges, 2 glaciers, kayaking, so many sheep, wine, drenched by waterfall, bungee jumping 10 yr old (not mine, but McKenna cried that she couldn't do it at 6), stars, couple thousand pictures, 4 happy campers.

Unfortunately, in February an 6.3 earth quake hit Christchurch again and leveled many of the buildings and severely damaging many others. Much of the church steeple shown here has been completely destroyed since this picture was taken in December.

Early February was China's traditional "Spring Festival" which is a week long holiday that marks the beginning of the New Year based on the lunar calendar. As we have learned from experience that one should never travel in China during a Chinese Holiday (crowds), we went to Boracay, Philippines for some warmer weather. The week consisted of basically sitting in a beach chair, drinking beer, and basically doing nothing. It was everything that I hoped it could be. We were joined by a couple of our friends: The Peats and the Ihlens. We used the time as a last hurrah with Lars and Anna as Lars has accepted a new job and will move with the family to Paris.

So that pretty much brings us up to date. Obviously, we have done a lot of travel, but our philosophy is to travel absolutely as much as possible to take advantage of the opportunity that we have by being located on this side of the world. I think we have given it our best shot.

Summer 2010

Well, summer is officially winding to a close as we start our new school year. Our summer plans ended up changing unexpectedly and quickly at the beginning of June, when Rebecca, Kayla and McKenna returned to the US to allow us to address McKenna's recurrent UTI's. The doctors we were working with here in Shanghai were all great, but we were getting some inconsistent lab results and decided any further testing and diagnosis would be much easier in the US. So, Rebecca took a leave of absence and the girls returned to Michigan and bounced between Grammy Pammy and Papa's house and Ms. Teresa and Mr. Dan's house (Thank you again!!!!) We are so blessed to have such loving and supportive friends and family. For those of you that were following our McKenna saga on Facebook, please know that she is doing fine and that we are using antibiotics to temporarily control the infections. The hope is that in the next year she may outgrow, or at least partially grow out of the condition. We hope to be able to postpone any further actions until next summer or until we move back to the US at the end of our assignment.

Anyway, after reducing the trip planning time from 6 weeks (originally we weren't supposed to travel until mid July) to 6 days; getting everything ready for our 8 week summer break was a whirlwind of jewelry shopping, work, packing, and saying goodbye to friends who were leaving Shanghai this year. And then suddenly, we were in Michigan. The girls did fantastic on the flight, and we made it through the airports and customs with no issues. Grammy Pammy picked us up at the airport, and 3 hours later we were in Kohls (no joke - 3 hours..., you can't pass up a good sale :) )

Over the next 5 weeks, we spent countless hours in doctor's offices, waiting rooms, hospital labs, administrative lines, on hold waiting for the appointment desks, etc. But we also got to to see Lizzie and Jared get married (beautiful); ride horses (thanks Sarah!); go speedboating, tubing and jet skiing (thanks Gavin family!); ride on Papa's sailboat and go camping in the motor home; go up to the farm to spend time with Grandpa Wayne and Grandma Betty; attend Monica's baby shower (Monica looked great and the baby is beautiful!!!); visit all of our friends in Brighton including school friends we hadn't seen in 18 months; have a great BBQ with the McLean clan (thanks Tracey for hosting); and just really enjoy extra time with the people we love. While unplanned, it ended up being a great time.

The downfall of all of this, for all of us, was that Jeff had to stay in Shanghai alone for this time and continue working. We have learned that we really do not like being apart. The girls missed Daddy terribly and Jeff was frustrated by the distance and time between us. Mid-July he finally took the flight we were all originally scheduled to come in on, and joined us in Michigan. We joined the rest of the Scramlin clan in Hillman, and attended Erin and Jared's wedding (another beautiful day!); and then headed to Nebraska to visit with the Lundys and attend Jeff's 20th high school reunion.

We had a great time in Nebraska, and after weeks of running around like over-scheduled crazy people, it was wonderful to soak up quiet time in Alliance. The girls enjoyed swimming in the city pool, playing with Grandma and Grandpa's dog, Missy, and the fact that Grandma and Grandpa's morning coffee at Dairy Queen guaranteed that they got to eat ice cream every morning at 10:00! Jeff and Rebecca had a great time at all the reunion activities and Jeff thoroughly enjoyed not only catching up on what everyone was doing, but watching their reaction when he said that he was now living in China!

While we were in Nebraska, Jeff's brother Brian and his family joined us from Norfolk, NE and his brother-in-law Earl and niece Tara surprised everyone and drove out from Forrest, VA. The mini-family reunion was fabulous - it had been 6 years since we had seen Tara! We packed in two big barbecues, some games of pool at the Eagles club, and the guys played golf. We also got to spend some time with the families of two good friends - John Hall and Janice McCall Kresin. The three families met up at Fort Robinson State Park for jeep rides, stage coach rides, mammoths, pony rides, buffalo tacos, old fashioned pictures, and horseshoes. Fun was had by all!

The last week in Michigan flew by, and then, suddenly, we were back in China again! The weather here is HOT. Really, really, really hot. We are thankful for our air conditioning and the Vizcaya pool. We are enjoying seeing our friends and neighbors and meeting new neighbors. There has been a big influx of Ford families this year - 14 Ford ISP families, primarily from the Detroit area just arrive in the last few weeks. After a week of summer camp, school started this week for the girls. We can't believe how big they are getting! McKenna started Year 1 (kindergarten) and Kayla is now in Year 5 (4th grade). They are old pros at the morning routine and the bus now, of course, and the first day went off without a hitch. We are sad to see summer end, but the school year promises to be a fun and exciting one, and after our great summer break, we are look forward to the year ahead.

Easter Break - March 2010

China does not celebrate Easter, but this year Easter weekend coincided with Qing Ming (Pronounced "Ching Ming" - Chinese Tomb Sweeping Holiday which is similar to our Memorial Day in the US). We took this opportunity to travel to Xi'an (pronounced "She-on") and visit the famed Terra Cotta Warriors housed there.

A local farmer dug up pottery fragments digging a well in 1974 and ultimately around 8000 life sized pottery warriors and horses, are believed to have been buried as part of a Chinese Emperor's mausoleum over 2,200 years ago. Probably around 2500 warriors, horses, and chariots have been painstakingly restored over the last 36 years. Only a small portion of the total site has been uncovered, and much of the remaining site will remain buried until technology advances are found to allow better preservation of the paint on the soldiers as they are removed. Most of the extremely bright colors flake off during the excavation. We took about 4 hours to tour the site and museum with a tour guide. The whole thing was quite unbelievable. At the end of our day we met the local farmer who originally found the site and who now works at the museum. Kayla was excited when he signed her Xi'an picture book just as we were getting ready to leave.

Xi'an itself is an ancient city and we spent one afternoon riding atop the city wall on tandem bicycles. The weather was good and the kids were excited to "pedal" with us. McKenna couldn't really reach the pedals so she mainly just went along for a ride. Kayla was able to help though. The city wall completely circles the city and is around 8 miles long. We did it in about 1.5 hours then found some ice cream.

Other activities we enjoyed included watching kite flying in the park, visiting an ancient pagoda, and walking through a Muslim mosque and outdoor meat market. We saw our share of Cow liver & hearts heaped up on tables for sale. Needless to say, we opted for a Japanese restaurant that night. I'll take sushi over goat intestines any day.

A Great shot of the girls

Air pollution index raised from "Marlboro lights" to "Silk Cut"

We recently read a website (webzilla.com) that equated the pollution index to the brand of a pack of cigarettes smoked during a 10-minute walk in downtown Shanghai. In other words a ten minute walk in downtown Shanghai currently has the same effect as smoking a pack of "Silk Cut" cigarettes and is approaching the levels of "Benson & Hedges". You don't have to be a smoker to understand that no matter the brand, the smog here is bad.

Most mornings the smog hangs low over Shanghai as a result of the use of low grade coal as the primary fuel for cooking, heating, and running the factories. Close to 70% of China's electrical power is generated from coal, and most of it appears to be blowing right into the cities that they support. Much of the pollution consists of particulate matter, including concrete dust from the massive number of construction projects, ash, etc. For reference, particulate matter usually ranges from around 60 to 200 (Dec. 26th it was 175). For comparison, US cities usually range from 10-30. So Shanghai has around 10-15 times more particulates than a typical US city. In addition Sulfer Dioxide and Nitrogen Dioxide are also significantly worse, due primarily to the extensive use of coal fired power plants.

The most noticeable effect of the pollution is the thick brownish haze that coats the city. There are some clear days when the wind blows the smog out, but in the year that we have been here I can count the number of clear days on two hands. Additionally, we never see the deep blue sky that we are used to in the US. In fact, that was the first thing we noticed while on vacation in the US this summer was the blue sky.

Another effect that we notice often is that anything which sits outside overnight is coated with a fine layer of dust (like charcoal). You cannot walk in bare feet outside, because even a few steps will have the bottom of your foot blackened from the soot. As a result of this, we have become very regiment about removing our shoes before walking through the house. The car windows must be cleaned every morning as well to keep them clear.

It took some adjustment to get used to the levels of pollution. For Jeff, he no longer wears his contacts and wears only glasses now as the air is causing too much irritation in his eyes. Additionally, he discovered that the smog exaggerated his seasonal allergies and needed Claritin to fight back. For a while he suggested that he was allergic to China, but it really only turned out to be the smog.

The 20 million people who now live in Shanghai are also contributing. I recently learned that the number of people who use their own personal vehicle to commute to and from work is around 15%. This number is growing rapidly as the people are buying more vehicles at a incredible pace. GM sales were up an unbelievable 60% this year! This year will mark the first time in which China will sell more vehicles than the US, somewhere around 13 million vehicles.

All of these factors combine to contribute to the poor air quality. Hopefully, we will see improvements during our time here, but I would be very surprised due to the rate of growth. For now, we will take every vacation and holiday opportunity to get away from the city to get some fresh air.

Daily Life In Shanghai

Attached in our blog are some great photos from the typical Chinese Tourist hot spots as we have begun to explore inside and outside of Shanghai. After re-reading some of these it kind of gives me the impression that we are all on an extended vacation here. Some of the next blogs we will write will get into our typical daily experiences. Some are quite surprising.

Grocery Shopping: A couple of blocks from our house (walking distance) is a French shopping store called Carrefour. This all purpose store is a lot like a Super Kmart. It has clothes, appliances, food, and all other sorts of things. The first floor is like a mall with flower stores, shoe stores, a Pizza Hut, and Subway. Take an escalator to the second floor and you enter the grociery store. One of the things that is most evident when entering, besides everything written in Chinese, are the crowds, especially in the evenings. Lines can quite long.

A quick note on lines: In the US, people tend to be quite orderly in lines. Line up and take turns. In China, not sure if it is because of the sheer number of people or what, but if you wait in line, you may find yourself waiting forever. Pushing is not uncommon, and I seen my share of Grandmas who have moved in front of me in line because I didn't move fast enough. I am becoming more aware of these sneaky ones and I am no longer afraid to box out Grandma if she gets to assertive.

The scariest thing in the store is the meat department. The butcher area has pork, chicken, beef, snake, turtle, frogs, and other 4 legged creatures no doubt. Plucked chickens are stacked in coolers, and the beef are sliced up in front of you with raw meat unpackaged in the the coolers. People pick through the meat like produce. It's not clean, and it smells. We don't get our meat in this store as a result. Instead we buy imported meat, typically from New Zealand or Austrailia at specialty meat stores. The picture here shows live turtles and frogs which are considered a delicacy.

We do shop at Carrefour for most staples like, bread, juices, milk, eggs, etc. They also have a nice import goods section where we can get cereal (about $10 per box), Chips and salsa, & pickles. Availability of import food is not guaranteed, so foreigners tend to stock up when they see things that they like, because it may be a while before it comes around again. For instance, this week, we could not get tortilla chips (grrrrr!). The imported food is expensive, but trust me, it is worth every penny.

Another interesting note is that no one store has all the food we want. Not like the supermarkets in the US, where you get everything in one place. Here you begin to learn that there are 3 or 4 shops that you need shop at to get everything you need. Part of it is the fact that we are more particular about what we eat and the other part is availability.

One recent frustration that I had at Carrafour was that I went in with Kayla to purchase an electric scooter. As usual the place was packed and many people were buying scooters. I found the one I wanted and after about 1/2 hour of trying the clerk took pity on me and found someone who spoke english to tell me that the one I wanted was already sold to someone else. No big deal, I just picked another one. I knew that I needed to take the tag off the bike and pay for it then return for the bike, however, after I waited in line at the checkout for another 20 minutes, only to find out that I was in the wrong line, I finally gave up. Kayla cried the whole way home. The next day, Rebecca tried, and found out that you had to pay at the cosmetics counter. Not very intiutive.