Curt is not exaggerating!

This blog entry is from Abbey...

One of my duties while I am here in China is to update Curt’s blog. Obviously, I have been slacking. Actually, we have been very busy. Today was the first day that Sam and Aly and I did not leave the hotel grounds. The kids had fallen behind on their homework and their daily journals. I was behind on some of my personal bills, paperwork and of course behind on my blog updating responsibilities. We have caught up on most of our work, but we had some fun today also. I hope you all enjoy my perspective on life in China. I’ll share Sam and Aly’s perspective with you as well.

As most of you all know, Curt tends to exaggerate. Well, after being in China for nearly 10 days, I will tell you that Curt has not been exaggerating (much) in his blog updates. It is truly a different world here in the Far East.

My first experience in China was rushing frantically thru the Guangzhou, China airport, after a 15 hour international flight, in search of a restroom. I rushed into the bathroom and pushed open the stall door to find…yes, a stinky hole in the floor. Other than reading Curt's blog entry about his hovering over the "hole" experience, Curt did not properly warn me about the holes. He could have politely reminded me before we deplaned that I should use the aircraft toilet. Little did I know that the cramped and somewhat smelly airplane toilet would have been a pleasure to use in comparison to the horrendously smelly hole in the ground. After looking down at the hole and exclaiming something similar to “you have got to be fricking kidding me!” (As you can see, Curt has requested that I refrain from using profanity on his blog). Aly barged into my stall to see what all the clamor was about. She proceeded to laugh uncontrollably as she saw me attempting to use the hole. I am glad she was amused. I was not. I was tired and anxious after 20 hours of international travel. I was certainly not expecting to find this. Fortunately this restroom had toilet paper, soap and paper towels. At the time, I did not realize that it is unusual to have all of the above available in a Chinese wash room (as best I can figure, that is how restroom in English translates in Chinese). I have learned to always carry hand sanitizer, tissue and antibacterial wipes with us whenever we leave the hotels. I am proud to report that I did not fall in. It took Aly about a week before she finally gave in and used a hole. We were an hour from our hotel and I refused to have our driver take us back to the hotel so that Aly could use the hotel toilet. We have left several parks and museums to head to the hotel toilet for Aly’s benefit. She will no longer receive preferential treatment now that I know she has conquered the “hole”. Aly & I are now both official members of the “Squatters Club”.

Yesterday, the kids and I went grocery shopping. We were already pressed for time before we walked into the store, because we spent 20 minutes looking at Christmas decorations at a local stand outside Ole’ (Chinese grocery store chain). Curt’s driver dropped us off in front of the store and would return one hour later to pick us up. Since he speaks no English and I speak no Chinese, I had no way to notify him that we may need more time. After Sam contemplated which Christmas decorations would be perfect for our hotel room (and also, would fit into our luggage for our trip home), we had only 40 minutes to shop for our very short grocery list. Side note…I am happy to report that we now have a small Christmas tree on our dining room table and a large Merry Christmas sign with a large Santa taped to our balcony sliding door. We also have some homemade snowflakes, candy canes and gingerbread men (part of what we spent our homework breaks working on this afternoon). Sam and Aly’s Christmas elves arrived in China just a few days ago as well. So, we are feeling surrounded by the holiday spirit in our new home for the next 4 weeks. Back to the grocery store….we walk into the store and look for anything familiar that is on our list. No luck. We wander aimlessly for 10 minutes up and down the aisles. Cart is still empty. I notice Sam holding himself. Of course, he has to use the restroom. I pull out my handy dandy Chinese/English dictionary. I look up the word restroom. Nothing. I look up the word bathroom. I find a grocery employee and point to the Chinese word for bathroom. He points and directs us. We walk in that direction looking for a door or a sign. We find ourselves heading toward the toiletries aisle. I realize he thinks we are searching for toilet paper. I find another grocery employee who walks us to the toiletries aisle and points to toilet paper. I instruct Sam to hold himself again (which of course he refuses to do now that someone is looking at him – but he had no problem holding himself as he hopped thru the store). Then I point to Sam and say very slowly “my son, he has to go to the toilet”. I give up on that employee and find another. Can you guess? We end up in the toilet paper aisle again. Now I am frustrated. Sam is about to pee his pants. And, we have no groceries. The driver will arrive to pick us up in 7 minutes. Finally, I run to any employee I can find and point to my dictionary. Finally, I found a young woman who pointed us to the “toilet” sign. In the 5 minutes we had left, we found a few things on our grocery list. Then we rushed back to find the driver patiently waiting for us out front. I was ready to head back to the hotel and pop one of the Chinese beers I had stumbled upon in the grocery. That was just one of the frustrating Chinese translation issues we had yesterday. Another reason we decided not to venture outside the hotel today.

So, now do you understand why Curt, in his initial blog updates, was infatuated with bodily functions? I know that I now have a better understanding.

Actually, we are having an incredible time. It is just fascinating experiencing this culture. The Chinese have been truly hospitable. As Curt has mentioned, there are always 3 or 4 restaurant servers just watching our table at any given time in the event that we need something. Last night, Sam dropped his fork at the dinner table in the hotel restaurant. Before Sam or Curt had time to pick up the fork, one of the 4 wait staff assigned to our table rushed over, picked up Sam’s fork, and replaced it in less than half a minute. Amazing! It was a bit uncomfortable at first being “watched” so closely, but now we are use to it. Not to mention, tips are not accepted. That makes it even more uncomfortable. One of the restaurants we visited specifically noted on the menu that tips will not be accepted. Again, a bit uncomfortable at first, by now I am use to it.

Sorry to ramble on, more to come tomorrow. Miss you all. Wish you could be here to share in our experiences. Truly an experience of a lifetime! Abbey

p.s. photo from first weekend of sightseeing of Curt and kids at temple in Keyuan Garden - many beautiful parks, gardens and temples