Our shipment sails in

So just a quick note about our shipment. All 13 boxes arrived. Everything works or is in good shape except for some mold-- I wonder where it all has been sitting for 3 and 1/2 months. Anyway, featured to the right is a star appropriately made in China which was given to us at our Nathan Clifford going away party. We promised that we would try to bring it to all the new places we go. It graces our entry way for the first time tonight. It does feel a good piece of Americana.

10-10-10

We could not have a blog about China and not have a post for today. I am sure this was not big news many other places, but today was considered a good luck day here. So much so, that government registries were kept open extra hours this week to accommodate all of the couples seeking to be wed this day.
On our way back from our hike this morning we witnessed a stream of cars driving past, all decked out with bows, streamers and hearts from a wedding that took place locally. We are so removed from the day to day lives of the people who are from here, it felt great to witness a big life/social event even though we had no connection to it. It felt so familiar, it took me back a bit. We have been so focused on what is different and unfamiliar most of the time, that it was great to witness something that was the exact same thing we would at home.
Shekou is pretty small, and like any place, we are starting to recognize people and they are starting to recognize us. I was in two shops today, and the proprietor remarked "You live here" as much a statement as a question. They see me walk or ride by each day on my way to work and pass by when we are out shopping.
I think this marked the beginning of a new stage in our living here. There is a strange kind of acceptance you feel when folks notice you like that. At first, we were noticed because we were western, and as such, an easy mark. Everyone had a deal for you or scam for you. Things are a bit different now.
When you shop in most stores here, you are generally expected to haggle for the price. The shopkeeper will have two starting points, one for Chinese, and one for weiguoren (foreigner literally "people outside"). You can guess which is higher. The negotiations are now starting much lower (but I am sure not as low as prices for Chinese) and so it is more difficult to decide where to stop. If you fire back a price that is too low, the game is off and there will be no discussion. It is almost like a trust thing, if the shopkeeper starts close to the real price, they are showing a sort of trust. If you go too low, you signal there is no trust and the bargaining is over or they won't come down on price very much. It seems to make things a bit more tricky.
Of course you still have to keep your eyes open...
I don't have a pic from today, but here is one of the Hong Kong skyline, taken from our hotel room last weekend.

Not too much, that's how I like it

So, this post is a little less travelogue and a little more introspection. Just a warning up front. We have had a five day vacation for the Chinese national holiday and ventured to Hong Kong (wonderful sites, hikes, western food and shopping), but Vic said as we rode our ferry back to our new home in Shekou, "I miss Chinese food." And the kids and I all agreed! What? No Ben and Jerry's here in Shekou or organic pesto pitas or good margaritas or.... So what gives?
And I just had that same feeling while I was hanging out our laundry on our back deck. We have a dryer, but the ayi never uses it and so I really haven't either. So here I am clipping up Renata's skirt and Luca's shirt and I realized how I have in our home in Maine outsourced and/or rushed through all of the little parts of a life. I have been living like I have a to-do list that is never done, so every morning has begun with a push toward the middle part of the never ending list. Each evening ends with me too exhausted to complete more things, so I veg out with a book or a movie or DVD to "escape". Escape what?my own life?? Of course, I have read a nauseating number of books and articles on getting energy back in my "busy, purposeful life". I even take a little pill every day for it. I am forever trying to figure out why I am so tired.
I just think that there is TOO much-- too much food, too many commitments, too many products, too many birthdays to get the perfect gift for. Where the hell am I rush to, really? How is that a purposeful life, if I just want to escape it? Of course I have considered that I am just a slacker and I can't keep up-- with the household chores, new courses for work, good, healthful cooking, the kids' events, our friends and family, Patch, managing money and investing wisely. I think I have wanted to play this life game for a while, but I have in the past 3-4 years realized that I can never feel like I have won. Or even that I am in the top tier of winning.
I like this slower, simpler life. It suits me.

For all the tea in China

Shangri- La, indeed. Just a couple shots from our lush eastern Shenzhen hotel. The tea is a big ball of dried flowers in water and it tasted like a big ball of wet flowers.
Otherwise very lush accommodations-- incensed infused jacuzzi, pure white bedding, and Luca is modeling above, nice big fluffy robe.

Not Really a Buddhist Monastery

So we have this guidebook to sites in Shenzhen and if you haven't gleaned from the rest of the posts that we have created, there really is not much culturah in Shenzhen. The city is only 30 years old and if anything did exist before 1979, it has been "paved and" someone "put up a parking lot". For real. For folks who know me, you know that I have had an interest in Buddhism for a long time. So you can imagine my delight to read that there was a Buddhist temple on the eastern side of the city. So we took a cab from our lush hotel and ventured to our first Buddhist temple. As we approached the entrance to Fairy Lake, I wondered aloud-- and to Vic's delight-- if there would be only vegetarian fare and if we needed to cover our heads in honor of the great Buddha. Just inside the entrance to the park is a large tour bus. We are beseeched to come aboard, but I have a higher calling, of course, and I decide we will walk to the Great Buddha of Shenzhen. Our first idea that maybe this wasn't a temple was the first pagoda we reached housed various botanical flowers. Nice, but not Buddha. By now there is sniggering from V. and complaining about the walk from R and L. Now, annoyed and determined, I press on to the next spot of Fairy Park, a giant beautiful building -- featured in the photo. When we climb the 108 steps to the top of this pagoda, we are able to view the expanse of Fairy Park. Let's see, there are paddle boats, a golf course, greenery in the shape of China, ice cream shops, more meaningless, but pretty pagodas. And a big fake Buddha.
All right, all right, I say to my laughing family, let's walk out of this park. On the way out, we happen upon stone sculptures of the Chinese zodiac. That is Vic in front of his zodiac symbol, appropriately the Goat.
Maybe there will be a Buddha in Hong Kong...

Our first visit to Hong Kong

We were told that if you wanted a respite from Shenzhen that Hong Kong was the place to go. I honestly thought that, "How much different can it be than Shenzhen? We are only 45 minutes apart by ferry and it is China..." So, I was wrong. Hong Kong, if you haven't been, is this awesome mix of Europe and Asia, old and new, English and Mandarin, green spaces and dense urban areas. A cheap and easy ferry ride from Shekou, where we live, but seems like a different continent. Folks are very diverse-- not just Asian and the food is reflected in that. We went to a great English pub for pitas and chicken and chips and the waiter understood us. We went to an English bookstore. $7 for a People magazine was a bit steep, but I bought it anyway:) Because the area in which HK was developed is mountainous, the shops and streets are built going up. We learned that the longest outdoor escalator is here in Hong Kong. A very cool peak tram carries you up to the Victorian Garden, the region that original British colonists inhabited. Chinese natives were not allowed as far up the mountain, except for the servants who had to travel 3rd class. Same old, same old story of colonization. At the top of the mountain are various trails, Victorian architecture, and the ever present Starbucks. Both pictures featured here are taken from the peak. We walked down on this long green path-- outstanding really for such an urban environment. Streets have British names like Wellington, Queen's Road, Shelley Road. Traffic passes on the right, not left. You should consider coming....

Transportation in southern China

So here are just a few of the ways that folks get around town here in Shekou. To the left is a the mobile flower guy that I have a little softness for. He sits on the stoop in front of our apt most days next to his bike of trees and plants. He speaks no English and I speak no Mandarin, but he and I have made an agreement of sorts that come Christmas, he will supply our first "living tree". He rattles on about the great qualities of various plants and I nod appreciatively. When I ask, "Dou shou xian?" or "How much?", he pulls out his calculator and looks at my freckles and gives me the Western increase. I shake my head and I type in half the price and he laughs. So far no tree, but we are getting there. I like his perserverance and product quality. He likes my interested face, I think... To the right is one of the infamous red taxis. Infamous only to our family because we usually get in one with a driver who wants to kill us and can't read my Mandarin signs. Fortunately, Vic has perfected the words for right and left-- yo and suo -- in the right tone. With strong gestures, we usually get to our destination.

Beneath and left is a shot that Luca took from his school bus. We never knew that anything can be carried on a bike. We are trying to discretely capture a family of 4. This fella in the photo is a recycler. Recycling is done somewhat haphazardly, but with determination, here in China. Read: folks can make a living off recycling paper, metal and plastic, but they have to peddle their service around town. Fortunately, Chinese have mastered the whole work ethic here. No slackers around...




This is the school bus in front of our apt complex that brings R and L to school every day at 7:30. Kind of fancy actually.