Christmas is a comin'

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve! I can't help but have mixed feelings about the holidays this year, especially since we'll be spending it without family. It's Dean's 2nd Christmas, and at 17 months old we think he's going to get into the groove of opening presents very quickly. I'm really looking forward to his excitement and giggles when we first rip into the packages under the tree.

We bought an artificial tree and lights at Walmart in Shenzhen. The tree is 6' tall and the lights are colored LED's that twinkle. It took 2 strands to make it around the tree, but they aren't designed to plug into each other, so the top half of the tree does one pattern of blinking while the bottom half does a different blinking pattern. At first, Matt constantly tried to sinc the lights so the tree would look uniform, but Dean always manages to find the control boxes tucked into the branches. He clicks a few times and then the lights are off dancing in different patterns again.

We decorated the tree with homemade ornaments. Around Thanksgiving I met a new friend with 2 young boys, and her apartment in the same complex we live in has an oven. Oh, what a luxury! We only have a gas burner in our place, but I digress... Sarah invited us over to make salt-dough ornaments the first weekend in Dec. We baked them in her oven, and then the following Saturday she came over to our place with her boys and together we painted the ornaments using Folkart paint from my office. When they were dry, we tied ribbon on them and hung them from the tree.

As for Christmas gifts, we were fortunate to have both sets of Dean's grandparents visit us in the month of November, and they brought lots of gifts in their suitcases. Matt's parents came first and they brought the gifts unwrapped, thinking they could get gift paper here to wrap the presents. No luck! So the gifts are wrapped beautifully in Shenzhen Daily newspapers and black trash bags. We warned my parents that we couldn't find wrapping paper, so they wrapped the gifts in advance. We eventually found very small rolls of paper with holiday Disney characters on them at Walmart. When I say small I mean there's hardly enough on the roll to wrap a shoebox, but we're making it work.

It's surprising how many Christmas decorations there are around the city. I'm told it hasn't always been this way, but that the influence from once British governed Hong Kong is the cause, particularly in the past 5 years. The Coastal City mall next to my office put up elaborate sleighs and snow-themed decorations throughout, some with moving parts. My favorite "scene" is a set of 3 penguins that dance and strum guitars while singing. It's something you would expect to see on a Disney ride. The Garden City mall near our apartment, on the other hand, took the decorations in a different direction. There's a giant pink bunny standing just inside the entrance surrounded by red poinsettias. Move over Santa, the Easter bunny is taking over.

Speaking of Santa, I saw him last night at the Coastal City mall. He is the skinniest Santa I've ever seen! Tall and scrawny, with dark black sideburns peeking out from under his white "hair" and beard. I hope to take Dean to the mall tomorrow to get a picture with him, and we might need to borrow Sarah's oven to bake extra cookies to set out.

Ahhhh that new car smell

Simon, the head manager in our Plaid Asia office, just bought a car last Saturday. This is a really big deal for him. No one else in the Asia office owns a car, and I'm not even sure that any of them have ever driven a car, either. Most people take the bus or a taxi to and from the office each day.

Cars here are very expensive luxury items. They cost more to buy in China than in the U.S. Gas costs over $4 per gallon and parking - if you can find a spot - will set you back big time. The parking deck in our building costs over $120 US per month, plus people also have to pay monthly fees to park their cars in the decks under the high rise apartment buildings all over town.

Simon's car is a brand spankin' new black Volkswagen Passat with leather interior. I told him today I wanted to see it and he jumped up from his desk and said "want to go now?! I need to put something in there this afternoon anyway".

On our way down to the garage he informed me that the car was really smelly, and he thinks the smell is bad for his health. I laughed when I opened the door, sat down in the passenger seat, and took a deep breath of "new car smell." It was pretty powerful, but nothing a few weeks of driving with the windows down won't cure.

Instead of leaving the windows down, Simon cut up an onion and scattered pieces in the back seat. He said he read online that onion is known for absorbing odors. I've never heard of this and I think he's crazy (which I also told him), but I'll let you know if it works. Seems to me he's just trading one smell for another, and he needs to track down some baking soda instead.

Our address & phone number

Oh man. I messed up. I sent change of address cards out last June with the wrong address. Homer Simpson says it best: Doh!

Our apartment building is #8. Our apartment number is 17C. On the cards it says we live in Apt. 17-C, which is right, but without the #8, the mailperson can't figure out how to deliver mail to us.

If you send us mail (please do! Especially Christmas cards!!) be sure to address it to apartment 8-17C.

Also, I left off 4 digits of our China home phone number. Double Doh! If you want to call us, you'll need to start it off with 86 (the country code for China), then 1755, then the rest of the phone number.

If this is too complicated, you threw away or lost the change of address card, or you never received one (maybe I wrote your address wrong - who knows at this point?!) just email us. It's the digital age anyway.

Thanks!

Beware of HKG hustlers

Mom and Dad Adgate arrived in China last night after 24 hours of travel. This is their second trip here (they visited last June), but their journey from the Hong Kong Airport (HKG) was full of surprises.

We discussed via skype last week all the ways they could get to Shenzhen: ferry if their flight didn't get in too late, private hired car driven by a guy named Chester, bus, or metered taxi. In the end it seemed to make the most sense economically speaking for them to take the bus or a cab to Shenzhen Bay Port border crossing. This is also known as Shenzhen Wan Ko An in Mandarin, which I explained and spelled out for dad.

I got a text message from mom around 8:40 pm saying their plane had landed, which made me giddy, anxious, and very ready to see them. Two hours later, instead of a text to let me know they were through customs and ready to be picked up on the Mainland side of the border crossing, I got a phone call from dad saying they had been hustled at the airport into hiring a private car, had just paid a small fortune to get out of said car on the side of the road, and they had no idea where they were. Ack! Panic set in. Private car hustler was not one of the options we discussed last week.

Fortunately, they weren't completely lost. And they are experienced travelers. They were close to a bus station where they were able to catch a bus and eventually a shuttle to a different border crossing. I called Mr. Wong, the most wonderful driver in Shenzhen - maybe all of China - and begged him in Chinglish to pick me up and take me to the Honggung Customs location about a half hour from our house (Shenzhen Bay Port, where they were supposed to come through, is 10 minutes from where we live).

We met up about 11:20 p.m. Mr. Wong and I helped mom and dad navigate through a sea of hustlers and panhandlers, and we arrived safe and sound at the apartment around midnight. Wheh!

I'm very sleepy this morning, as I had to leave the house at 7:30 a.m. for work. I'm on the way to a printing factory where I will spend the day reviewing and approving / giving the OK for production of boxes for 6 new Paint craft kits. I'm already looking forward to going home to spend time with my family.

Catch up

Ahhh dear blog, I have neglected you once again. Time to play catch up!

October was a blurry balancing act between traveling for work and visiting with Matt's parents while they were in town. The time flew by! The Langford's were able to make it to Beijing, about 3 and a half hour plane ride north of Shenzhen, for several days during their China visit. With Dean in tow, they visited the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, ate Peking duck, and made friends with a lot of strange men and women who wanted to have their photo taken with a blond-hair blue eye foreigner baby.

While they shivered in the cold northern China air, I was sweating it out on the tradeshow floor of the Canton fair tradeshow. This is a biannual show (April and October) where people from all over the world come to find Chinese suppliers to make their goods. The suppliers set up booths of all shapes and sizes. Some looked like a picked-over yard sale or a toybox threw up in them, while others held good-looking things of all shapes and sizes that stirred something deep inside me, making me feel like I'm long overdue for a shopping trip. I saw a lot of stuff I don't need, like skillets with cool designs on them and Christmas decorations galore, but just because I don't need these things doesn't mean I didn't want them! I don't get out much, or rather ever, for shopping these days unless it involves the grocery store. Even that is minimal since we found an online grocery store selling import items like raisins and Del Monte canned vegetables. With a $20 purchase, they deliver free to our door within 3 hours after ordering. It's pretty nice, especially when we're out of toilet paper and diapers. Matt can only fit a small amount of these bulky items in the scooter seat, and my bike basket certainly doesn't make the cut.

The last weekend in October I was able to join Matt, his parents and Dean on a weekend getaway to Guilin. This city is well known throughout the country for its beautiful mountains. It was quick and easy to get to, less than an hour plane ride away. We thought we were heading to the countryside, but after we got there we found out it's a small city of 5 million people. We enjoyed a cruise on a riverboat down the Li river, saw a show with Chinese acrobats and dancers, and took in the views from a huge underground cave kind of like Ruby Falls in TN before heading back to Shenzhen. It was fun to get away from Shenzhen and see more greenery than we normally do.

Halloween was nonexistent for us this year since it's not celebrated in China. I wanted to at least carve a pumpkin for Dean, so I went in search of one at the local grocery store. The biggest whole pumpkin I could buy was only slightly larger than a softball, but we made it work. Dean enjoyed my masterpiece of art for at least 20 minutes before throwing it on the ground, causing the face to shatter into 3 pieces. If there had been a chance to dress Dean up in a costume, I would have made him go as Bam Bam from the Flinstones.

Matt's parents headed back to the U.S. on the 6th of November. The next weekend we bought tickets to see a concert in Hong Kong - the Flaming Lips. We saw them play in Atlanta once at the Tabernacle and it was such an energetic, fun show to attend. I was nervous about going because we've never left Dean alone all night with his Ayi Ms. Yiao. I know she loves him and takes great care of him, but I couldn't help but be wonder if the two of them would still be there when we returned on Sunday. I took Dean's passport with me just for peace of mind that he couldn't be smuggled out of the country easily.

As it turned out, I had nothing to worry about. We had a really fun time at the concert and even got to meet/shake hands with the lead singer, Waynne, before the show. He was staying at the same hotel as us, and we ran into him on the way out the door. He asked where we were from and what we were doing in China. We told him that we'd seen his band play in Atlanta once. His response was "oh, uh, yeah... I remember that show... It was really loud..." I got the feeling this is what he always says when people say they've seen him in concert before in some random city.

We were both giddy with excitement, and even though we'd just finished a playful argument about who would be "stuck" carrying the camera all night, neither one of us thought to ask for a photo with him until we'd walked away. Bummer! Maybe we'll run into him again at another show and we can say "we saw you live in Hong Kong!" I think we have a good chance he'll really remember this show.

When we arrived home on Sunday around 3 in the afternoon, Dean barely looked up from playing with his toy. He basically said, without words "hey guys, I see you're home... Man this toy sure is cool... I wonder if it will fly if I throw it across the room..."

This past weekend we enjoyed beautiful weather in the park right next to where we live, and on Saturday we went to a picnic. I emailed my friend Jess about it, and rather than retype, I'm going to copy and paste what I told her about it right here:

"We've met a few people and had good times here in Shenzhen, but it's still not the same kind of bonding like what we have with friends back home. We went to a picnic on Saturday with a bunch of families with little ones around Dean's age. It was all foreigners there, but we were the only ones from USA. The others were from Belgium, Ireland, Columbia, and a couple other European countries I think.

We took Dean's Radio Flyer wagon to the park and no one had seen something like it before. They were amazed, and had fun taking turns pulling the kids around. We also had a kickball and frisbee with us, and those were considered foreign as well. One guy was so amazed by the frisbee... can you imagine having never thrown a frisbee at our age?!

Anyway, we had a good time at the picnic, but even among the English speaking foreigners I still felt like such an outsider."

It's tough being away from the U.S. now when the holidays are upon us. We're experiencing so many adventures and new experiences, but sometimes I don't want to have any more "new". No more excitement. No more adventure. No more mystery meats. I just want to eat comfort foods like mashed potatoes, green beans and a cheeseburger hot off the grill. Or in the case of this week - mashed potatoes, green bean casserole and turkey. Lots of fresh baked turkey. Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Good luck, Will!

I got a note from my dad last night by email and it made me sad in a surprising way. The email was an update on my youngest brother Will's search for his first job. Will interviewed with a mining company in South Carolina last month and he was really excited about the prospect, but they are either dragging their feet with the hiring process or they've found someone else. He was also offered a position kind of in his field of Geology, and he's decided to go for it. Here's what dad wrote:

"Hey, Don't know if anybody is keeping you informed about Will.  He left yesterday morning in the Jeep to go to Midland, Texas for training.  It is about 1200 miles and he spent the night last night in Plano outside of Dallas at Kit and Needie's house.  He has about 350 miles to go today.  The truck is not ready yet but the guy in Texas was tired of  delays and wanted Will there asap or not at all so he left out.  We will figure out how to switch vehicles later.  I think he may be in training about a month and then perhaps moving to Pennsylvania.  You guys are spreading out all over. Love, Dad"

Hope you don't mind that I shared that, dad!

My first thought after reading the note was "Not Pennsylvania - it's so far away!" Which is pretty ironic given that I live in China right now. But I know we will return to Atlanta in the future, and knowing that my little brother probably won't be living there when we return makes me very sad. It also makes me suddenly feel older. Andy is very settled in New Orleans with a wife and baby of his own. I have a little one running circles around me. My parents are truly empty nesters.

I'll miss Will poking his head in on skype calls when I talk to mom and dad, or knowing that he'll be home for the holidays - all of them. I have never been to Pennsylvania or even known anyone from there (that I know of), so it seems so foreign. Again, probably kind of ironic for me to say, but I can't help but think it. Pennsylvania is a strange new land for an Adgate to venture into.

Mom and dad, I guess this is what you get for exposing us to the world - we've scattered like seeds on the wind. I'm glad you have wings and you're always ready and willing to use them.

Beijing & Dongguan

So much for all the speculation on typhoon Megi. We are safe and sound in Shenzhen. As of Thursday evening the storm was on a path set to pummel us. Sandbags were in place everywhere, like in the lobby of our building and local restaurants, in preparation for hard rains and possible flooding. Fishermen were told to empty Shenzhen Bay and secure their boats, which made the water extra calm and a little eerie. Hong Kong elementary schools were even cancelled Thursday and Friday in anticipation of strong winds.

On Friday the typhoon took a bizarre, sharp 90 degree turn to the north of Hong Kong. We never saw dark clouds or even a drop of rain here. It seems as if the typhoon in the South China sea succeeded in blowing away all of the pollution and haziness we normally have in the city, leaving behind pure blue sky and sunshine. Instead of intense waves and flood waters, this morning I saw an amazing sunrise. As the sun rose over the mountains of Hong Kong (our apartment overlooks Shenzhen Bay and the New Territories island of Hong Kong), the sky held a candy apple red fireball which exploded into oranges, pinks, and rich shades of buttery yellow, then melted into a cool turquoise blue tickled with a few feathery clouds above us.

Matt, Dean, Tic Toc and Grandaddy Langford are on their way to Beijing this morning to do some touristy exploration. The capital is about 3-1/2 hrs from Shenzhen by plane. They plan to visit the Summer Palace, Tianamon Square and the Great Wall while there. Matt plans to take lots of pictures, so hopefully I'll have some good ones to post by the end of the week. I'm a little jealous that my baby boy gets to see these wonderful historic places in China before I do!

While they are off playing, I'm in a car for the next 2 hours heading to a city called Dongguan. I'll attend the Canton sourcing fair for work this Sun-Wed with the team from ATL plus several of my Plaid Far East colleagues. We'll meet with existing vendors we do business with as well as search out new suppliers for manufacturing. The show is also usually a source of inspiration, especially for Halloween and Christmas. Buyers come from all over the world to place orders now for 2011 products. I expect to see a lot of trinkets and dust collectors, but hope to stumble on some cool new ideas in the mix.

All About Dean

I haven't talked too much about Dean lately, so this post is dedicated 100% to him.

The little guy is now 15-months old and bursting with personality. He's starting to talk and his vocabulary consists of the following words: wow, hi!, ohhhh, daddy, mama (when he's clingy and upset), uh-oh, mmmmm, nummie nummie (for yummy yummy), eye (watch out--that one comes with a bonus eye poke) and a phrase that sounds kinda like "over there?" but comes out as "obbar dare?"

He can also say at least 1 word in Mandarin. If you hand him a cell phone he will hold it up to his ear and say "whaaah?" in an attempt to say "whey?" which means "to speak" in Mandarin. This is what people here say when they answer the phone, the same way we would use "hello?" It wouldn't surprise us if he knows more than this one word in Mandarin since his Ayi knows only a handful of English words, but we haven't heard any others clearly enough to understand quite yet.

The little guy is also fascinated with how things work, especially buttons like those in the elevator of our building (he knows where the number 17 is). Shoving stuff in holes is another favorite hobby (no drain is safe) and he recently learned to flush the toilet. He loves climbing on and off anything he can reach. Furniture, beds, toys, drawers, and boxes make up his indoor playground.

He can give a high-five, knows where his hair and belly button are, and is always ready to cuddle up on the sofa with a good storybook. He eats just about everything we put in front of him but is still super skinny, and he prefers eating from chopsticks over a fork.

I took this video of him last week playing with a stethoscope from a Dr. kit (hopefully it will post correctly - it's my first time trying a video using our China VPN). The stethoscope once belonged to his cousins Elizabeth and Will, and it's now one of Dean's favorite toys.

Dinner at Senor Frogs

We took Matt's parents to dinner this evening at a new restaurant two doors down from the Cheers bar near our apartment. It's a mexican restaurant called "Senor Frogs" with a squiggle over the n. The place opened about a month ago, and tonight is the first I've seen any real signs or menus. Previously we ordered off of the equivalent of a paper napkin with chicken-scratched food items written in ball-point pen. Bummer, they don't have white cheese dip, but their chicken quesadilla is pretty darn tasty.

We ate outside and enjoyed occasional bursts of extra strong wind due to the typhoon heading our way. At one point it blew over a sign next door and a large potted plant. We chatted with a few other "expatriates" from the U.S. about the coming storm and what to expect. We were reassured that the building we live in is very strong and built to withstand typhoon strength winds and rain. A guy name Paul told us we might see the glass windows in our apartment bow and flex in the wind, but we shouldn't worry because this is normal (he might have been pulling my leg, not real sure there). In any case, we were advised to not open any windows during the storm. (Duh! Who does that?!)

We also found out that the Cheers bar does a big Thanksgiving meal every year with deep fried turkeys and all the fixens'. I'm so excited! We were hoping to find a place that would serve a good meal, but thinking we'd have to go to a hotel to find it. Our back-up plan is still a duck with the head still on.

Dean was a little celebrity tonight as always, being passed to various extended arms from the Chinese women that work the bar. He was given a free bowl of chicken soup and also munched some nachos. We laughed about how when he's older, we'll have fun stories to tell about the ladies that oooh and ahhh over him here. We never have to worry about feeding or entertaining him when we go out.

Shenzhen Daily Highlights

On a plane now (though I won't be by the time I post this...), and just received a copy of the Shenzhen Daily newspaper. It's a small 16-page paper that publishes an English version in addition to Mandarin Chinese every Monday through Friday. Matt often buys it for about a quarter from a man with a newstand / snack shop set up about a block from our house, but since I'm flying on Shenzhen Air, I just scored one for free.

Today's paper has a few interesting articles worth sharing. The first is a misprint at the top that would be perfect for late night comedy: "Woman, 125, nation's oldest. Born in 1985, Lou Meizhen from Bama County in Guanxi has been named the country's oldest person."

Oops - I think they meant 1885.

Also on the front page is a photo of 2 men holding lit torches in honor of the Asian Games, which are similar to the Olympics, but focus only on participants from this part of the world. They kick off Nov. 12th and I'm sure will be the talk of the town, kind of like the World Cup was a few months ago.

Page 4 of the paper includes a brief mention of Super typhoon "Megi" (which means "catfish" in Korean). It just pummeled the Philippines and may or may not hit Hong Kong - we're waiting anxiously to see which path it will take. It's strength is estimated to be about the same as a category 4 to 5 hurricane, and even if it turns south on one of the non-Hong Kong paths, we're likely going to experience some serious winds and torrential rain storms toward the end of this week.

I feel giddy with excitement about the typhoon, the way a kid in Atlanta gets when the man on the nightly news predicts a chance of snow for the following day. Will it come our way? I'm supposed to travel into the heart of Hong Kong Wed through Fri to attend the "Mega Show" - will I be able to go? Will our 17th floor apartment sway left and right in the wind? Could we be told to evacuate the city and go further inland? Hainan, an island an hour plane ride southwest from us already advised 140,000+ people to evacuate.

After the typhoon write-up, there are a bunch of boring articles in the middle on topics like property taxes in Shanghai, China Walmart farming processes, AMD chip processors, China GDP rising, and tourism in a city called Qindao.

The last page of the paper includes a photo and synopsis of the 2010 Scream awards that aired in the U.S. last Saturday, a blurb about the new 3D Jackass movie, and an article with the headline "Georgia mom sues Tyra Banks". The first sentence reads "A Georgia woman is suing Tyra Banks for US $3 million after she said her 15-year old daughter appeared without her permission on an episode of Banks' talk show about teen sex addicts."

Great. Next time I meet someone new in Shenzhen and they ask me where I'm from I can now say proudly "Georgia, USA - you know, the place where that woman is from that's suing that ex-supermodel over the teen sex thing?!"

And there you have it, the highlights from today's paper.

Avoiding Strike 3

The missing Langford luggage was retrieved - hooray! Matt's mom, dad, Matt and Dean traveled about an hour by bus yesterday to Kowloon (downtown Hong Kong), ate a late lunch of dim sum, and did a little shopping before heading to the HKG airport to pick up the bags.

I'm traveling in northern China right now, in a car on the way to a factory outside of Nanjing, which was once the capital of China. There's a very large old brick wall that runs around the city, and we can see glimpses of it every now and then. It's amazing to see tall elegant archways where once the wall was solid, but now cars pass through freely underneath. Everyone else in the car - there are 6 of us total - is really quiet right now. I'm not sure if they are tired or just not in the mood to talk, but I've taken to typing this blog to fill the transportation time in the car.

I think I just accidentally offended the owner of the factory, Mr. Chan. I asked Simon, who is Chinese and VP of our office, if he could share any history with us about the area where we were traveling. He deferred to Mr. Chan, who speaks very good English.

Mr. Chan explained that Nanjing used to be the capital of China and is the only city in the country with an ancient city wall still intact around the perimeter of the city. In response, I said "oh yeah, like the Great Wall!"

Strike one.

Clearly, a city wall is NOT like the great wall, as it protects 1 city instead of an entire country. Duh!

I then asked how long it had been since Nanjing was the capital of China.

Strike two.

Mr. Chan quickly put me in my place when he exclaimed "I don't understand how an American can not know this. Beijing became the capital in 1949. China is a world power and people should know this important information..."

In my defense, I knew that Beijing became the capital 61 years ago. I learned it very recently because that is the reason National Day is celebrated on October 1st. What I didn't know was that Nanjing was the capital up until that time. China has such a long history, I figured they had time to bounce the capital around to several different cities.

I'm now remaining silent, hoping to avoid strike 3.

Reinforcements have arrived

Matt's parents - Dean's Tic Toc and Granddady - arrived safe and sound in Shenzhen around 10:00 this evening. We are so excited to see them!

Their luggage didn't make it on the flight to Hong Kong, so they are very limited on clothes. Hopefully they'll be able to track them down quickly! We have a washer but no dryer, so it takes extra time to do laundry at our apartment. Also, they tell us there are lots of tasty surprises packed in their bags. I love reinforcements. There better not be a single thing missing from the food bag when it arrives...grrrr...

I have to leave tomorrow for a grueling 4-day work trip away from home, and next week will be very busy due to big sourcing shows that take place every October in Hong Kong and Dongguan. It's tough to be away from Dean, but I know he's in very good hands.

25%

Today marks 6 months since we arrived in China. We've completed 25% of the 2-year contract we signed. When I say we, I mean it. Even though Matt's signature technically wasn't on the paper, he to be 100% on board with this move. It took a lot of persuasion, coaxing, and the occasional begging from me, his loving and devoted wife.

After we visited in April 2009 and I asked him how he felt about making the move, he said on a scale of 1 to 10, he was at about a 5 as far as wanting to go through with it. 50% in favor, 50% against.

In the end he gave up his job, his friends – his entire social world! – his outdoor sports, and more so we could “have an adventure” together living and working in another part of the world.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my husband?! Even Aaron, a guy Matt befriended in Shenzhen, told me last night I “got a good one”.

Recently Matt was asked by someone he used to work for about what his favorite experience has been so far in China. He passed the question on to me, and for a moment I was silent. Long, lonely days, culture shock and frustrations communicating, missing my grandfather’s funeral, the constant question mark hanging in the back of my mind about whether this move was a good decision or not, the guilt of taking Dean so far away from his grandparents, the feeling of being a million miles away from so many loved ones… these thoughts flooded my mind and I could think of nothing else.

But then I remembered this one time on the trip over together when we visited Splendid China, a cultural “village” kinda like a theme park without rides. As far as we could tell we were the only foreigners in a park full of schoolchildren on field trips.

A line of boys about 8 years old in school uniforms walked past us, and when one of them noticed we weren’t Asian, he said “hello!” Another followed, and then another, and suddenly we were surrounded by chirps of “hello! Hello! Hello! How are you TOO-day?! Hello! HELLO!” They were so excited to use this English greeting. A couple even snapped impromptu photos of us smiling and waving at them as we passed.

Matt made hand motions to ask one of the boys if I could take a picture of the two of them together, and in an instant a whole flock swarmed to his side.

For me at least, that moment was a turning point that sealed the deal for my desire to move to China. We were like celebrities! The locals were so warm and welcoming, and seemed excited to meet us.

Matt agreed with me that this was a pretty cool experience, and before we knew it we were rattling off a slew of other thoughts:

Matt – “Buying my first roasted sesame duck on the street was awesome…”

Emily – “Yeah, all the new food experiences are amazing! Except duck feet and pig knuckles...”

Matt – “…and riding a scooter through the streets of Shenzhen is fun…

Emily – “...don’t forget your nun chuck experience!” (note to self, must post a follow-up blog about the nun chuck incident)

Matt – “YES! THE NUN CHUCKS! Oh yeah, and remember the guy that approached us in that noodle bowl restaurant? When he stood in the shadowy entryway with his bald head and robes billowing in the wind with the kung-fu music playing out of the machine in his hand?!??”

(OK, so I embellished this Matt quote just a little…

We later were told this guy was a professional beggar, not a kung fu monk)

Emily – “…YES! Hilarious…. and you know, seeing fishing boats come in with the fisher men and women emptying their nets while the sun rose – especially watching this one lady wearing a straw hat and pearls – was pretty cool…”

Before we knew it we were both smiling. Living in Shenzhen, China has been such an amazing experience so far. We still have good days and bad, and we still miss our family and friends terribly, but we both look forward to more new experiences in the days/weeks/months to come.

On the Road Again

Monday morning at 6:30 I left the house for an overnight business trip to visit a factory in Heibei province - a 3-hour plane ride north of Shenzhen and close to Beijing - with my colleague Euan. After the plane, we drove for about 2-1/2 hrs and arrived at the factory around 2:30. Nothing like an 8-hour commute to work!

We were at the factory for several hours, then another 30-minute commute to the hotel and finally relaxing in the room around 9 p.m. It was a very long and exhausting day.

Unfortunately this is the norm for factory visits in China. Plaid works with factories spread out all over the country, which is roughly the same size as the U.S. Their transportation infrastructure is still developing though, with airport hubs spread far apart, limited mass transit options, and terrible traffic on the roads. It often takes a really long time to get where we’re going.

Just last week Matt and I read a news article about a shortage of pilots the airlines face due to future expansion and growth. The article predicts China will need to add 70,000+ new pilot jobs and over 96,000 other airline staff within the next 20 years in order to keep up with the demand and growth of the airline industry. If you’re in the airline industry and looking for work, now might be a good time to consider relocation options in China.

We live in an area with a fairly high percentage of foreigners, and it’s not uncommon to see men dressed in airline uniforms pulling behind them a small black rolling tote and catching a Shenzhen airlines bus to the airport. I recently met a woman from Slovakia with 3 children and a French pilot husband. On the Monday flight, the voice over the intercom from the flight deck had a distinct English accent – definitely not a native of China.

It’s great that the airlines are recruiting a lot of foreigners with experience, but I worry a little about this huge deficit. Will the Chinese airlines sacrifice quality for quantity? If they become desperate for workers, will they start cutting corners on training or flight time requirements for pilots?

It is interesting to me how many small airline options there are here vs. the U.S. Each region, or province (there are 22) seems to have at least one brand of airline specifically associated with it. Shenzhen is the hub for Shenzhen Airlines and most flights we take departing from here are on this airline, but I’ve also flown on Xiamen Air, Shanghai Air, and China Eastern Air (guessing that last one connects several provinces on the east coast of the country).

OK, enough rambling about air travel. I want to mention here that I love my job and I am so thankful to be employed. My heart goes out to the group of Plaid employees that were laid off last Friday. It was devastating news to hear and it makes me so sad. Many were friends with long tenure at the company, and I will miss their smiling faces when I’m in the Atlanta office again.

To anyone reading this – I urge you to run to your local craft store and buy A LOT of Plaid goodies, like Folkart paint, paint brushes, stencils, Mod Podge, cute wood surfaces, and awesome jewelry!!!!!!! You know you need to stock up for entertaining kids at the holidays anyway… and I don’t want to see any more Plaid jobs in the U.S. (or potentially our China office) eliminated! It’s a sad day when people who are smart, talented and good at what they do have to go looking for a new job due to this economic slump the U.S. still faces.

Fever

Last Thursday morning, the day we flew back to Hong Kong from Phuket, Dean woke up with a fever of 101. He was cranky and a bit lethargic, with a slight red rash. We were nervous traveling back since the customs process in both Hong Kong and Shenzhen require a temperature reading.

We gave him Motrin and hoped for the best. Either the medicine worked or the customs agents didn't care or notice, but we made it through fine. That night, the fever spiked. I started panicking when Dean woke at midnight with a temp of 104.

Matt kept a clear head and called the hotline for the international clinic we joined. He couldn't get through to the Beijing after hours center, so he called the U.S. extension, which routed him to Hong Kong, which eventually forwarded his call to an on-call Hong Kong Dr. traveling for business in Beijing. The whole process took about 15 minutes, during which I kept telling myself to remain calm and not call my mom. I knew tears would be inevitable, and would only cause her to fret and worry something terrible on the other side of the world!

Thankfully the nurse instructed us to start alternating Tylenol and Motrin every 3 hours, and it worked to bring the fever down to under 101 for the rest of the night.

The next morning we took him to the local clinic and the Dr. said it is probably a passing virus. Or Malaria or Dingo Fever caused by a mosquito bite in Thailand... but probably just a virus he picked up somewhere along the way that will run its course over a few days.

Thankfully this morning he is nearly fever-free at 99.2 degrees Fahrenheit, and based on his perkiness we can tell he's feeling much better. Also, we learned that we can dial the local clinic after hours and they will automatically put us through to the on call Hong Kong Dr. rather than play skype phone tag around the world. This could make a big difference if we have a real emergency in the future (anything involving blood is what I consider a "real" emergency!) I still hope we never have to experience a hospital visit in Hong Kong.

Phuket, Thailand

We just finished celebrating another holiday in China: October 1st was China’s National Holiday, which is kind of like the 4th of July in the U.S.

The National Day of the People's Republic of China (PRC) - “guóqìng jié” – kicks off a “Golden Week” holiday where the majority of factories and many small businesses shut down.

Wikipedia describes it pretty accurately… Three days of paid holiday are given, and the surrounding weekends are re-arranged so that workers in Chinese companies always have seven continuous days of holiday. These national holidays were first started by the government for the PRC's National Day in 1999 and are primarily intended to help expand the domestic tourism market and improve the national standard of living, as well as allowing people to make long-distance family visits. The Golden Weeks are consequently periods of greatly heightened travel activity.

This holiday can be a frustrating time for our U.S. office. It falls during a busy time for product development and causes big delays in receiving samples, price quotes, and shipments of goods. The Chinese government has considered eliminating the arrangements for extended days off in the past, but for now the holiday remains. Read more about it by clicking here.

Since we don’t have family to visit in China and we didn’t want to fight mass quantities of Chinese travelers, we decided to leave the country and explore a new destination: Thailand.

We booked flights to Phuket, an island in the southern part of Thailand. We spent the night before our flight at a Hong Kong airport hotel; since it’s connected to the airport by a walkway, we figured it would be easy to roll out of bed and start a relaxing vacation.

Wrong! We’re so bad about running late for things, and even though we were practically sleeping in the airport terminal, we still almost missed our flight due to forgetting luggage in the room, standing in the wrong check-in line, and other misc. delays. We checked in at 8:20 for our 8:55 a.m. international flight. The woman behind the counter told us we needed to run… or rather “hurry! HURRY!” shooing us away from the counter. We sprinted through the airport with 14-month old Dean in arms and made it with a few minutes to spare.

The first couple of nights in Phuket we stayed at Kata Beach Resort, which is about an hour south of the airport on the southwest side of the island. Our taxi driver, who we hired for 500 Baht (about $16), misunderstood us when we left the airport and took us to Karon Beach Resort and Spa. It was beautiful, with doorways made of giant dark wood circles and brilliant purple orchids everywhere, and they greeted us with fresh fruity beverages plus chilled hand towels. We didn't realize we were in the wrong place until the woman behind the counter couldn't find our reservation.

She quickly sent us on our way to the correct hotel, less than 2 miles away, via a hired a Tuk Tuk. Seemed strange to us that we could travel almost 50 miles via taxi for 500 Baht, but a couple more in a sketchy rickshaw cost us 200 Baht.

After finally checking in, we ate lunch at the hotel restaurant and headed back to the room to sleep the afternoon away. Traveling can be so exhausting, especially with a baby in tow (plus, we just like to sleep!)

We tried to go to the pool around 8 p.m. but discovered it closed at 7. This was surprising to us, but I guess it’s the norm at most resorts in Phuket. We walked down to the beach and there were people setting off fireworks in the sand right next to a table of fireworks for sale. The fireworks scared Dean at first, but we calmed and reassured him. After the 3rd boom, he was curious enough to watch with big, round wide eyes as the fuse lit and the rockets zoomed into the air. This was his first time seeing big explosions of light in the sky. Every time the boom went off, he gripped my arm tighter, but then said “wow!” in the sweetest little voice.

We also saw two big paper lanterns almost as tall as Dean floating like fireballs in the night sky. I’ve never seen lanterns like these, but they made me think of UFOs. You light a fuse, which acts like a hot air balloon to lift the paper lantern into the air “for luck”. They are supposed to carry away bad luck, sins or worries. I think the paper might catch on fire at some point and burn up the entire luck lantern. Or maybe it's like a helium balloon, and it eventually lands again as rubbish?

After the beach trek, we crossed the street for an authentic meal at a local restaurant. We feasted on wonderful Pad Thai noodles and Tom Yum soup, plus shared a non-alcoholic fruity beverage served from a pineapple. When we got back to the hotel it was late – around 11 pm – and we crashed into bed.

The next morning Dean woke at 4:30 a.m. alert and ready to go, so we took a walk around the property. Here he is checking out a gold statue in his PJ’s:

After that first day it rained every day, sometimes hard and for the entire day, so it was pretty dreary outside most of the time. Ahhh... perfect weather for sleeping and eating.

We changed resorts after two nights and moved to the JW Marriott resort in the northwest part of the island. I think this is most beautiful resort / hotel I have ever experienced, and it’s really affordable. Here we are at the check-in counter after each receiving a Thai lei of fresh flowers.

The only problem with the resort was that we felt really isolated, with few options for dining other than room service and an overpriced steak house. There were also no good local markets within walking distance, and taking a cab to get anywhere decent started at 1700 Baht (about $56.00). We quickly learned that there’s a taxi mafia – you can get from the airport to your destination for cheap, but you’ll be paying double or triple to get back!

On Monday, the rain let up for a little while and we had our biggest outing of the trip: an elephant excursion. It was a very “touristy” thing to do, but it was a lot of fun.

Dean and I fed watermelon to 2 baby elephants.

Then the 3 of us loaded up on our elephant and took a 30 minute guided tour. We learned that elephants used to live wild on the island, but there is not enough undeveloped land left for them, so all that remain on Phuket are now domesticated.

Matt was completely against the elephant excursion because he feels it’s wrong to exploit animals in this way. One of the guides explained that elephants can live up to 70 years, and the majority of those used for tourist means today were originally used in the logging industry. The Thai government banned logging in 1989, which left these gentle giants out of work.

It makes me sad to think that the elephants will never be free again, especially considering the elephant is the national symbol of Thailand.

Another thing that was a bit depressing about the trip is that we visited 3 different beaches, and all were so polluted! Trash like plastic and glass bottles, candy wrappers, misc. plastic tabs or bags, and random shoes were everywhere.

Pretty much every day we either played in the pool or at the beach (often in the rain), slept a lot, and noshed on authentic Thai food or hamburgers with french fries (so nice to have that “western” option). Then we headed back to Shenzhen. Overall the trip was relaxing, and it was wonderful to spend time together with my two favorite boys.

Big Bones for Lunch

I consider myself a pretty adventurous eater. I like to try new things and flavors, and the occasional mystery meat, but I'm a total wimp compared to Matt. Duck brain and bills, livers from various beasts, finely sliced pig ears and chunky knuckles, chicken toes, fish eyeballs, fins, and cow stomach are just a few of the items he's tasted since moving to China.

Yesterday at lunch I had another opportunity to pass on a Fear Factor eating experience. Matt and I were invited to join the office in a round table lunch in honor of Joyce's last day at work (she's getting married soon and will join her husband's business after the wedding), a welcome to new employee Carina, who's filling Joyce's position, and a celebration for Euan's 30th birthday, which according to the lunar calendar takes place on Sept 27th this year (the mystery of the lunar calendar will have to be revealed in another post, another day. I still don't quite get it).

The lunch consisted of standard fixens' like "sour" cucumbers, eggplant, mystery livers, spicy beef, sauteed mushrooms, green beans, a thin broth soup, and white rice. We washed it all down with hot daisy tee to drink.

The meal contained a bonus, though! At the bottom of the soup serving bowl hid 9 very large bones, I think from a cow. After we'd consumed the majority of the food on the table - about the time you would order a dessert at a typical American restaurant - the serving staff scooped one large bone into a bowl for each person at the table. They then brought us each a plastic glove and small straw sealed in plastic.
Mavis demonstrated how you pick up the bone (hand covered in glove) and gnaw off the tiny chunks of cartilage remaining on it. The grand finale, or "dessert" if you will, came when she inserted the straw into the open end of the bone to suck out the marrow! Based on Matt's facial expression, I passed once again.

New Commute

Last weekend I bought a bike. I've been wanting a set of wheels for a while now. We looked into shipping our bikes from home over here, but it would have cost several hundred dollars and just didn't seem worth it. Matt's been saying for a while now that I should get a scooter, but I'm not convinced I really need that much power to get me where I'm going. Besides, I like being a passenger rather than a driver on his hog.

The main reason for getting a bike is so I can commute to and from work. I also like the idea of getting a little workout in without having to spend time in the gym. I don't have a gym membership because I don't see myself making time to go, yet I sure would love to lose the last of this post-baby blubbery roll lingering around my middle section.

The bike is plain white and lacking gears, but that's ok, because it's really flat here. Unlike Atlanta, there are no hills between my house and the office. I bought the cheapest one available at Decathlon, a 2-story French sporting goods store that's very similar to Sports Authority. It cost about $80, and is identical to at least a third of the bikes parked beneath our building.

When I told my coworkers about the purchase, they were surprised and worried. "It's not safe to ride a bike in Shenzhen!" Roger exclaimed. "It will get stolen if you leave it in the car garage!" Mavis lamented. "Your face is SO red." Kathy stated the first day I rode it to work.

While I won't deny any of the above, I'm not discouraged. My first day riding the approximately 4 miles to the office it took about 35 minutes to get there. I passed a woman selling grey chickens (live and flopping on the sidewalk with their feet bound), an elderly Asian man playing a flute under a tree, and a fleet of middle school aged boys in blue school uniforms. It was exhilarating!

We will never truly fit in here, even if we learn fluent Mandarin. Our eyes and skin scream foreigner and elicit impromptu chirps of "Hello! Hello!" whenever we go out in public. But riding this bike, I'm able to blend just a little into the masses, which in my book is pretty darn cool.

Mooncakes

This past Wednesday was a holiday in China known as the Mid Autumn Festival. Red Chinese lanterns were hung around our complex as decorations for the holiday. Dangling from the trees, they lit up at night and cast a soft red glow through the palm leaves. They are were only around for a few days, but they gave us a glimpse into what it must be like to celebrate Chinese New Year here.

Last Friday evening there was a DJ set up in the middle of the complex, in an area we like to refer to as "the circle". It's centrally located among the 9 high rise buildings of the complex, and different colored bricks on the ground define a circle pattern that looks like a bulls eye from above. A balloon arch surrounded the circle and a dancing yellow tiger shook hands with kids and held babies for photo ops (he was really a young Chinese boy in a costume resembling a cartoon version of a high school tiger mascot).

We think this was in honor of the Mid Autumn Festival celebration, but we couldn't read the banners hanging from the trees or ask the Chinese people around us what was going on. It didn't matter though, as we felt welcome. Volunteers passed out candy and glow sticks to Dean and the kids dancing around us. We stood for about 20 minutes listening to Chinese music – or rather, tunes that sounded familiar, with all the words in Mandarin. We heard a rendition of “Flying Purple People Eater” as we were leaving. I sang along in English and hummed the parts I didn't know. It was one of those moments where Matt and I look at each other in amazement and laugh about how surreal it is we live in China.

Like the Dragon Boat Festival we celebrated in May, the Mid Autumn Festival has a special food associated with it: mooncakes. It’s a tradition to enjoy this food with tea while gathered together with family. On a clear night, you marvel together at the fullness of the moon in late September.

I had a tough time describing what a mooncake is to my mom on Skype earlier this week, so I looked it up on Wikipedia. Here's a pretty accurate description I pulled from the definition they give: typical mooncakes are round or rectangular pastries, measuring about 10 cm in diameter and 4-5 cm thick. A thick filling usually made from lotus seed paste is surrounded by a relatively thin (2-3 mm) crust and may contain yolks from salted duck eggs.

Wikipedia failed to mention how disgusting they taste.

To give you a feeling for what they taste like, here’s my idea of how to make a mooncake: Boil an egg for an hour so the yolk in the center is really firm. Discard white part of egg. Mash up some leftover kidney beans from dinner. Roll the yolk in salt, then cover the egg yolk with the mashed bean mixture. Make a pie crust without any sugar, and wrap it around the bean mixture. Use a carved wood block stamp to make a beautiful impression in the top of the “cake” to fool innocent people into thinking it must taste wonderful because it looks so pretty. Add preservatives, and insert into an even prettier box decorated with metallic accents, glitter, and lyrical poetry. Pass your gift to the unsuspecting victim and marvel at the speed with which they spit it into the trashcan.

I’m exaggerating, but really, who puts a salted duck egg in a pastry?! Where’s the chocolate pudding, jelly, or Bavarian creme version? Or marshmallows? Give me a moon pie over a moon cake any day of the week.

Fortunately, not all mooncakes contain the egg. I tried 5 different kinds, and only one was edible to me. It was a fruit-filled version which Dean quickly claimed.

We wanted to buy a box of mooncakes for Dean’s Ayi, so I went to the local grocery store and was amazed at how many different options there were. There are so many brands to choose from. The packages range from cardboard boxes to tins and even elegant carved wood boxes, but all look beautiful and inviting, like the giftable Christmas food aisle at Target in December. I picked a red tin with pretty embossed pink flowers on the front. Hopefully the cakes inside were good.

I wish I'd had my camera on me to take pictures of the grocery store displays. By the time I finished picking out a box, I started wondering if you could judge how bad a mooncake would taste based on how elegant and elaborate the package is. Do they make up for terrible tasting cakes with over-the-top packaging filled with glitter, glitz, and holographic bling?

The Plaid Far East office was closed three days in observance of the holiday, Wed-Fri. This sounds great, but we all worked last Sunday and today and tomorrow. So you lose a weekend and a half, but you get three days off in a row.

Fortunately, there is another holiday coming up next week that lasts from October 1 – 7. The office is closed during this time as well, but we will work weekends to make up for 2 of the weekdays.

In the end I get 4 vacation days out of the mix. Sounds wonderful and I am not complaining, but I will not have Thanksgiving or Christmas off of work. Or at least, not unless I take them as vacation days, since these are not celebrated in Shenzhen. It's kind of like we're celebrating the holidays early this year.

I’m told there will be some Christmas decorations up at the local mall or some stores in December, but if we want to see anything done up the traditional way, we’ll have to head to Hong Kong. I’m really hoping we can find Asian Santa. Dean can’t miss out on having his photo taken with Santa Claus! I've already started searching on the internet in my spare time, but no luck tracking him down yet, except as a guest celebrity at Hong Kong Disney. I'll be sure to post more details when I track Asian Santa down.

Chinese Names

Mandarin characters and the way words sound are very different from English, so our attempts at pronouncing Chinese names are usually pretty brutal. To make it easy when dealing with foreigners, it’s customary for the Chinese to use an English name. For example, the Plaid Far East staff is made up of Simon, Euan, Kathy, Roger, Mavis and Joyce (plus soon-to-be Cathy, a new hire starting this Sunday). 

Sometimes the English name sounds like their traditional given Chinese name, or sometimes it’s assigned by a teacher in school. In the case of Euan’s new baby boy Zack, the name came recommended by a coworker in our Atlanta office when she saw the spelling of his Chinese name. Occasionally the name is selected because the person believes it’s popular and attractive, or it is the name of a well-known celebrity. 

Most of the time when we meet people, their name is what we would consider easy to pronounce and fairly common in the U.S. Other times you encounter someone that’s a little off the mark, like a guy who applied for the recent opening in the office. I couldn’t help but snicker when I saw “Knight Jam” at the top of his resume. Clearly he did not have a native English-speaking friend assist him in the name selection process.

A few years ago I (Emily) was given a Chinese name by my coworker Euan. He debated about it for over a week, telling me it was a big decision for him and not something he could give me instantly. In the end, he decided my name should start with Lang, since this is the beginning of my last name, and it is Chinese tradition to call people by their last name first. Lang is the surname of a famous Chinese volleyball champion who competed in the Olympics - - - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lang_Ping - - - and I think a famous ping pong player as well as a pianist (side note - Lang Ping’s English name is “Jenny”)

The second name he assigned is Ting, which has many meanings depending on the accent marks or characters used when it’s written. The two that were most influential in his decision were “to listen” and “graceful”. He also thought it just sounded good together with Lang. 

So my Chinese name is Lang Ting, which can be interpreted as “well-known gracious listener”.

Matt was recently given a Chinese name by the bartenders at Cheers. I wasn’t there when it happened, so there may be details leading up to this that I am unaware of, but he is now known as “Da Lao Hu”. The English translation for this is Large (male) Tiger. By default, Dean has been assigned a related Chinese name of “Xiao Lao Hu”, or Small Tiger / Tiger Cub. At 14 months old, this is a good descriptive name for him, but when he’s older he will need a name that fits him better. 

It’s good I already had a name assigned so the bartenders at Cheers could not lure me into the Tiger family as well. My coworkers tell me the name “Mu Lao Hu”, or Female Tiger, takes on the same meaning as the word “Bitch” in the English language when it is used to describe a woman.  

I’ll stick with Lang Ting, thanks!

It's Sunny Outside - Grab an Umbrella!

Today was a beautiful sunny morning, but by early afternoon it was dark and thunder rolled across the sky. It's the rainy season in southern China, and we often feel as if we live inside a storm cloud. My coworker Roger loves to inform me almost daily of the latest typhoon or tropical storm brewing off the coast.

It makes sense to carry an umbrella on a daily basis since the weather is so unreliable right now. However, swarms of people carry open umbrellas when the sun shines in Shenzhen.

One of the first times I left the office for lunch, my coworker Kathy accompanied me with umbrella in hand. As soon as we stepped out into the beautiful sunshine, she popped it open and held it over my head. I looked at her like she was crazy! I didn’t want or need a shade over my head for our short walk.

She told me it would protect our skin from the sun and prevent unwanted tanning. It didn’t matter that we would only be outside for about 3 minutes while walking to a local restaurant. Fair skin is desirable here, and she is a very fashionable woman, so she avoids all exposure to the sun when possible.

My favorite fair weather umbrellas are made of a shimmery iridescent material with lace and sparkly rhinestones around the edges. They remind me of Victorian parasols. I’ve never seen anything quite like them in the States. I told Matt I would love to have one and he found a kiosk in a local mall selling them for 300 RMB, or roughly $45 a piece, but I don’t want one that bad. I’m not even sure they’re waterproof.

I'm getting used to seeing sunny-day umbrellas, but it still amuses me every once in a while, especially when I see drivers of scooters peeking out from underneath them as they zip on by.

Goodnight Hong Kong

Dean’s usual routine before bed is to take a bath, drink warm milk, brush teeth, read a bedtime story, wave goodnight to the world outside, and curl up in the crib.

Tonight we were winding down the routine by reading Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown. I could tell he was getting very sleepy, and I lowered my voice in the cool, dark room. As I read the words “Goodnight mittens”, Dean began waving his tiny hand in the air in front of the book, as if to say goodbye. He hesitated as I turned the page, and then began waving again to say goodnight to the characters and objects in the story. When it was time to say “Goodnight room”, he pulled the book to his face and kissed it good night.

After the story was over, we pulled back the curtains hiding the large windows in his room and waved goodnight together to Hong Kong Island, the boats in the ocean, the bridge crossing the water, and the lighthouse outside. When we were done and the curtains were closed, he gave me a giant wet kiss on the cheek, then reached for his bed, where he quickly snuggled up with blue blankie and a soft elephant toy.

That was it. I haven’t heard a peep from him since, but a part of me wishes he would wake up right now so we could read that story over and over again.

5 months in

This morning Dean woke at 5:30 a.m. ready to play. After trying a few unsuccessful techniques to coax him back to sleep, we decided instead to head to the roof of our building to watch the sun rise over Hong Kong island. Check it out!

Thank goodness for timers on cameras so we could catch this rare family shot.

The little guy is officially 14 months old now and looking much less like a baby every day. Last night I put shoes on him (another rare occasion) and we went out for a nice dinner at an Italian restaurant called Grisinis. He stuffed his cheeks with bread sticks and cheese gnocchi, my new favorite dish to eat there.

Today marks five months since we departed Atlanta bound for Shenzhen. We’ve come a long way, baby, in so many ways. I’m excited I can now post pictures to this blog, and I’ve got to get some of it out of my system. Here are several fun photos representing a few highlights we’ve experienced in China since moving here in April of this year:

4/14/10 Arriving at the Kempinski Hotel exhausted and ready for bed, Dean was immediately snatched into the arms of the woman who checked us in. She was giddy with excitement to hold him.

A few days later visiting Hung Fa Temple, we felt like celebrities when swarmed by Asians eager to have their photo taken with a foreigner baby. I reported previously that Dean received his first kiss from Tamar, an adorable Columbian baby girl who lives in our complex, but I forgot about the complete stranger in this photo that kissed him on the lips! We're really stockpiling juicy stories to tell future girlfriends.

In May, Brian and Will visited us and helped Matt tackle full-time dad duty while I was on a business trip. They were our first visitors, and since we didn't know much yet about the area where we lived, they explored a ton of new places on foot. Here they are taking in the view from our balcony.

On the aforementioned business trip I attempted to eat a duck foot. I consider myself very adventurous when it comes to food, but this was over the top. I turned the photo to black and white so you can’t see how green I am. I managed to chew it, but it refused to go down my throat and instead ended up in my napkin.

Also in May, we hired Ms. Yiao, Dean’s Ayi, with help from my coworkers since she doesn’t speak any English, only Mandarin Chinese. We discovered new ways to communicate, like Google Translator and a constant game of charades. She's working out great.

In June, Matt bought a scooter and became a little more mobile around the city.
And Mom and Dad Adgate visited for 2 weeks.

In July, we took a wonderful but quick trip to Atlanta for 2 weeks. We celebrated Dean’s 1^st birthday...

and then it was on a plane again, and we settled back into life in Shenzhen.

August was all about work for Emily, but towards the end there was some relief. Diana traveled to Shenzhen for work and stayed with us for a few entertaining days afterwards. Here we are posing with a candy maker in Splendid China, a fun place Matt and I discovered on our first trip to China together in 2009.

Two days after Diana left, Kim arrived in Hong Kong for work and stayed with us for a week afterwards. This is a shot of Kim and Matt in a cable car on their way to see the world's largest outdoor statue of Buddha.
Here we are in Kim’s hotel lobby, the amazing Kowloon Shangri-La.

And that pretty much brings us up to speed, since Kim headed home last Monday. I can’t wait to find out what adventures the next 5 months will bring us.

Technical Difficulties

I am SO excited to be able to access our blog from a computer using a VPN, but I can't figure out how to insert photos without messing up the HTML code beyond repair. Grrrr. I hate it when technology wins.

Back to old faithful - the cell phone method - for now.

On another note, today is my Grandma Adgate's birthday (Dean's Great Grandma). Wanted to give a quick shout-out to her to have a very happy day!

9/13 update to this post: Matt, the technical guru that he is, figured out how to copy and paste photos into previous posts. Hooray!

Lazy Saturday

It’s a very rainy and dreary Saturday morning here in Shenzhen. I just put Dean down for a nap after a Skype call with mom and dad and I’m catching up on doing a few odds and ends, like transferring photos from our camera to our computer and learning how to use the VPN Matt set up. It should allow me to be able to post pictures and videos to this blog.

Up to this point, all blog entries had to be typed on my cell phone keypad and posted through the internet, or I emailed them to myself and then copied and pasted into a tiny web browser window. It’s a pain, a bit tedious and takes a lot of time, but my cell phone routes through a U.S. server and therefore gives us open web access.

The great firewall of China monitors very closely what we can and cannot view, and blogs are on the DO NOT VIEW list along with Youtube videos, Facebook and many news sites.

When we first moved here it was so frustrating to receive an error message from Google saying we could not view material on the topic we searched. Even subjects like “Hong Kong” are often blocked. Somehow Matt stumbled on a way to search using Google’s Canadian version and that worked for a while, but I guess someone (or something?) caught on to us and blocked us from accessing that as well. I’ve learned a few ways to get around, like using other search engines or trying many, many different words for the topic I’m searching, but it’s still not the same as having full web freedom.

The VPN (Virtual Private Network) is like a tunnel to a U.S. server. Matt could tell you all about how and why it works, but the way I understand it is we’re redirecting our internet connection to bounce off of satellites in the U.S. instead of China via a paid subscription.

OK, so here goes – a few of my favorite pics from the first week in September:

9/3/10 Kim and Dean look out from our living room. I imagine Dean is telling her in baby talk all about the boats he watches go by every day.

9/4/10 Matt and Dean on the balcony of the room we stayed in at the Dameisha Beach Sheraton. Thanks Kim for hooking us up!

9/5/10 Dean and his buddy Anson, my coworker Mavis’s son.

Welcoming my coworker Euan’s baby Zack Ma into the Plaid family. These are all of my coworkers, plus a few significant others and Kim, who was in town visiting from Atlanta.

The Chinese don’t do baby showers before the baby is born, but it’s a tradition to gather friends to welcome him into the world after turning 1 month old. We met for lunch at a delicious Chinese restaurant and gave red envelopes with money in them as gifts. I also passed along some of Dean’s clothes that are now too small for him. The style is very different from what babies here wear, but Euan’s wife Joyce seemed very excited about them.

We have no plans for today or tomorrow other than relaxing and enjoying our time together as a family. I love lazy weekends.