A Day After A Night of Fireworks

Sydney's teachers shared the following pictures with me today. They were taken a day after we were bombarded with firecrackers and fireworks all night. Notice how at no point in time did she let go of her pizza.

Lantern Festival

Our apartment complex threw a Lantern Festival today with dragon dances, singing, dancing, food and toys. Sydney didn't partake in much of the activities. She was busy chasing the dogs that were at the party and playing with the rabbit that I bought her. The dragon dances were also a big hit with her. Unfortunately, it was very cold and windy today so we were not able to be outside too long.

It's Finally Over

As it turns out, Chinese New Year celebrations last 15 days. But there are only 3 days that warrant a tremendous amount of fireworks and firecrackers -- New Year's Eve to ward of the evil spirits for the new year, the 3rd day after new year's day to ward of poverty and the last day of the holiday. The 3rd day was the Sunday on which there were 7 hours of fireworks and firecrackers, and of which I complained about in an earlier blog. Warding off poverty seems like an important and necessary thing to do so it is forgivable that there was so much racket that night. Today is the last day of the new year celebration and it is known as the Red Lantern Festival. Everyone hangs red paper lanterns in their homes and outside of stores. And yes, fireworks and firecrackers have been going off for the last 2 hours and I expect it to continue for many more hours. The fireworks are still pretty lame for such an important day.

Dallas Visit

We will be in Dallas from March 8th - March 16th. If you are free that week, we would love to see you.

My Pretty Girl

I had Sydney's portraits taken a couple of weeks ago and I just got the pictures today. She seemed to really enjoy herself in this photo session, and a result, I now have these great pictures.

New F-ing Office

The F-ing office was actually a temporary office while our new building was being completed. It is now completed and it is a nice office space. I now have walls and a door, and large windows. Thankfully, I have a thermostat in my office that works well. The prior office didn't have an effective heating system so I spent my days there working in my coat and gloves, as were other people. The cafeteria in our new building will be catered by a French company but it won't be up and running for a couple more weeks. In the meantime, my company is providing shuttle buses to take everyone to the cafeteria in our old building, which is only 2 blocks away. But the temperature outside has been in the 30s and I am grateful to have the shuttle.

I'm still only going to come out here a couple of days a week because it is still at least an hour commute to get here. Until I know how good the food in the new cafeteria will be, this will remain the "F-ing Office".

When the Help Are No Longer Helpful

Let's start with the driver:

I fired my driver a couple of weeks ago. It hasn't been an easy or successful arrangement for lots of reasons, including him not picking us up one morning because he had to exercise in that morning, but the last straw was when it was freezing outside and our former driver refused to turn on the heater in the car and instead rolled down the window because he thought that Sydney was sick and he was concerned that Sydney would get him sick. She wasn't even sick so I don't know what he was talking about. I had decided to fire him right then. But then he went on to advise me that I need to just dress Sydney warmer so that we didn't need to use the heater. At first I wasn't sure that I understood him because my Chinese is still pretty remedial. So I called my friend Sam, who is fluent in Chinese, and unfortunately, my understanding was correct. I demanded that he turn on the heater when Sydney was in the car and he did turn it on. But then he started griping at me, in very rude and condescending tone, that Sydney wasn't dressed warmly enough and it was my fault that Sydney was cold. He even held up his leg to show that he had on 3 pairs of socks to Sydney's one pair. Sydney was dressed in jeans, a sweater, a coat and a hat. And yes, one pair of socks.

I sent an email to his boss and fired him but unfortunately, they didn't have another driver available for me until after Chinese New Year. The new driver was supposed to show up today at 1pm but he didn't so I terminated my contract with the rental company. I am now scrambling to find another car and driver so that Sydney won't need to be waiting out in the cold for a taxi to get to and from school.

Now on to my Ayi:

She is still doing a phenomenal job cleaning the house and an ok job with taking care of Sydney. Ultimately, I trust her to be alone in my apartment and have all of the utensils accounted for and to be alone with Sydney without her being locked in the bathroom or sitting in front of the tv all day. And in the end, it is all that matters. HOWEVER, she is still driving me insane. For a while there she kept asking Sydney if she wanted to go home her, or if Sydney wanted to sleep in ayi's room, or if ayi could sleep in Sydney's room. Sydney always replied no. But then the ayi started trying to talk Sydney into saying yes and the longer she pressured Sydney, the more confused and hesitant Sydney looked. Sydney doesn't want to do what the ayi is asking but she also wants to please. I thought it was unfair and selfish for the ayi to put Sydney in that position. I finally had to ask the ayi to stop asking Sydney those questions because it was stressful for Sydney. She said ok but I can tell that either she didn't understand or didn't believe me. But she stopped asking, and that's all that matters to me.

I told our ayi that we are returning to the US at the end of June so she tried to talk me into staying for another year. One of her arguments was that the US is a very violent place where everyone shoots each other. She saw in the news last year about a multiple shooting. I agreed with her that people sometimes shoot each other in the US but since it wasn't the government doing the shooting like in China, we'll take our chances. She also thought that there was more pollution in the US. I just ignored her at this point.

Our ayi showed up today with gifts for Sydney for the new year. One of the presents was a Mickey Mouse puzzle. Sydney loves to work on puzzles and she LOVES Mickey (but not as much as Elmo as she is often to say, "Sydney loves Elmo more". Sometimes she says this after she says, "Sydney loves Momma." How can I possibly compete with Elmo?!?!) so it was a very considerate gift. But when I saw that the puzzle had 300 pieces, I thought she was just asking for it. And sure enough, when I returned from the grocery store today there were 300 puzzle pieces skattered throughout the living room. When the ayi was picking it up she said that she didn't realize that they were so many pieces and that they were such small pieces. I didn't have the heart to show her the front of the box where it clearly said 300 pieces and it was pretty obvious, at least to me, that they would be very small pieces. But it was still very considerate of her to think of Sydney.

I would love to find another ayi to watch Sydney for me but since we are switching drivers and I only have another 5 months here, I am going to keep our ayi.

If They are Not Gone by Now....

Sydney and I returned to Shanghai yesterday, and apparently, we returned one day too early. People were setting off firecrackers and fireworks continuously from 6pm until 1am!! They were so loud that it sounded like they were being set off right outside our window. Of course, it woke Sydney up several times and I didn't get to sleep until after 2am -- I needed an hour to calm down enough to sleep. It is a Chinese custom to set off fireworks around the lunar new year to scare off evil spirits. The lunar new year was on Thursday, February 7th -- 4 days ago -- and they are still setting off fireworks. FYI, if the evil spirits are not scared away by now, they are not going anywhere. Don't they realize that children and frustrated expats are trying to sleep?! And if they are going to keep us up, then the least that they can do is make the fireworks interesting to watch. Even Sydney yawned at them. If I am up at 1am, I want to see fireworks in the shape of red dragons screaming through the sky, or in the shape of a rat chasing a golden pig (the zodiac sign for last year), or even one with multiple colored lights. But shooting up red fireworks, one after another is a waste of fireworks and a good night sleep. This city really bugs me.

Weekend in Hong Kong

We arrived in Hong Kong yesterday and will be spending the weekend here before returning to Shanghai on Sunday. As usual, we are having a good time in Hong Kong --- sane, civilized, logical, English speaking Hong Kong. After checking into our hotel, we went to the grocery store to pick up some provisions --- milk and fruit for Sydney, wine and diet cokes for me. There is a Toys R Us around the corner from our hotel so we stopped in to get Sydney a new toy for the flight home. The straps in her stroller were barely able to keep her in as she tried to grab everything that she saw. Somehow we managed to leave the store with a package of balloons and a sketcher.

We spent the afternoon today at Ocean's Park, which is an amusement park with games and rides for kids of all ages. It was a blast!!! But you will have to take my word for it because the battery in my camera gave out when we arrived at the park. I bought a disposable camera to capture the magic moments --- you wouldn't believe how much I had to pay for it.

There is a section of the park call Kid's World that is dedicated to kids Sydney's age. We rode all of the rides, some of them multiple times, and ate junk food all afternoon. There is a Panda exhibition with 4 of the cutest, cuddliest panda bears. Sydney was so excited and happy watching them eat and roll around. There are shark and dolphin tanks, a raging river ride and a roller coaster, as well as live shows such as the dragon dance, kung fu demonstration, etc.

My only complaint about the park is that they have souvenir shops located every 20 or so steps. As a result, Sydney and I spent a lot of time engaged in exasperated conversations involving these words: "MINE, MINE, MINE," "I like it," "Pleeeaaase," "No," "What did I just say," "Let go of it," and "Do you want a time out".

We arrived at the park at 10am when it opened and there were many people there with us. By noon, the park was so crowded that Sydney had to stay in the stroller. We did go on a Saturday over a holiday week so I was expecting the worse. Even so, it was a bit frustrating navigating around the crowd. It didn't help matters that Sydney was taunting me with "Mamma, slow. Mamma, slow".

After 3 hours, Sydney fell asleep in her stroller so we left to return to the hotel. After a short rest, we went to IFC mall so Sydney could run around and to stock up on books. I'm hoping that Sydney will be tired enough for an early bedtime. She hasn't been going to sleep before 9:30pm all week.

Happy Lunar New Year

It has been a bit crazy here the last couple of days. In the evenings, the police would cordion off several of the streets around our hotel and thousands of people would gather to enjoy the cool, breezy night and new year decorations. As with our Western New Year Eve celebration, Sydney and I were in bed by ten. However, I did make it through dinner this time around.

People were dressed in the traditional "ao dai" and my parents were unsuccessful in persuading me to don the traditional dress. Sydney, however, didn't fare as well, as you can see below. I personally don't like to dress Sydney up in costumes for photo ops, other than for Halloween; however, I have to admit that she looks adorable in the ao dai.

Year of the Rat

Tomorrow is the lunar New Year, which Vietnam celebrates, and it will be the year of the rat. The Chinese Lunar Calendar is based on the cycles of the moon, and the beginning of the year falls somewhere between late January and early February. The Chinese have adopted the Western calendar since 1911, but the lunar calendar is still used for festive occasions such as the Chinese New Year.

The rat is the first zodiac sign so it will also mark the beginning of a new cycle. There are several stories on the origins of the zodiac sign. According to Vietnamese legend, when Buddha was preparing to leave the Earth, he summoned all of the animals to him to say goodbye. Only 12 animals (rat, ox, rooster, monkey, dog, dragon, snake, horse, pig, rabbit, sheep and tiger) showed up to see him off so Buddha appointed each of them a zodiac sign.

According to Chinese legend, the twelve animals quarreled one day as to who was to head the cycle of years. The gods were asked to decide and they held a contest: whoever was to reach the opposite bank of the river would be first, and the rest of the animals would receive their years according to their finish. All the twelve animals gathered at the river bank and jumped in. Unknown to the ox, the rat had jumped upon his back. As the ox was about to jump ashore, the rat jumped off the ox's back, and won the race.

Just Hanging Out

Another day, another couple more bowls of pho, and more hanging out and people watching .....

Angkor Wat

I took a late afternoon flight from Saigon to Siam Reap and only gave myself an hour to get through immigration and take a elephant up to Bakeng Hill to watch the sun set over Angkor Wat, which I hear is just breathtaking, before going to hotel. Well, that was the plan. Thanks to a flight delay, I missed out on the elephant ride and sunset. Instead, I had a fantastic dinner at the restaurant Madame Butterfly, which was listed in my guide book as a very expensive restaurant. The entire meal costs US$6.5o. I had planned on calling my parents to check in on Sydney and then getting bed early since I haven' t been sleeping well. Again, that was the plan. The reality was that I couldn't dial my Dad's cell phone from my cell phone or from the hotel phone. Nor could I reach my hotel in Saigon. I was up all night worrying about it, although I'm not sure if I was more worried that Sydney was driving my parents crazy or the other way around. I'll find out in a couple of hours.

Siam Reap is located about 3 miles from Angkor Wat, and the main industry is tourism. As a result, most of the people here speak English and all prices are quoted in US dollars. There are many luxurious hotels available that are affordable. I stayed at the Angkor Palace Resort and Spa for $134 a night, and it was a beautiful hotel --- very reminiscent of our hotel in Phuket. While there are 1 million people living in Siam Reap, you wouldn't have guessed it because Siam Reap looks and feels like a small village. The town center runs about 3 blocks, and there are no traffic lights, street signs or paved roads in many parts of the city. We had to share the roads with oxen, ducks and monkeys at times.

Since I only had until 3pm today to take in the sites, I hired a driver and guide from the hotel. The driver costs $30 for the entire day and the guide costs $15 for 4 hours. I typically don't use a guide because I haven't had very good experience with them. They typically feel compelled to talk non-stop because I'm paying for their time or they just recite facts that they memorized from Frommers or they would steer you to the places where they were most familiar. Unless they look like Brad Pitt and have the storytelling talents of David Sedaris, I'd rather go it alone. The guide I had didn't meet any of my criterias and had all of characteristics that I wanted to avoid. He was a very nice man and knew many facts but he couldn't provide an interesting narrative. He just pointed to things and said "This is ________" or "That is __________." To fill the silence, he pointed out spiderwebs and informed me that they were made by spiders. The only reprieve I got from the constant chatter was when he excused himself to pee on a tree. I thought about getting myself purposefully lost in the crowd but I knew he would find me. They always do.

After about 45 minutes, I tuned him out and trained myself to mumble "Mmmm," or "Okay," or "Oh" every couple of minutes and hoped that they were timed appropriately. I didn't always succeed because he would repeat himself whenever I didn't react as he thought I should have. I have confess that I didn't learn much about these sites. The temples that I visited were erected in the 12th century and were dedicated to the various Hindu gods. The history of the Kings and the building of the temples are written in the stones in sanskrit but unfortunately, they haven't all survived through the various wars. The temples are practicing temples and contain various statutes of buddhas and incense for prayer. The religion in Cambodia used to be Hindu but now it is about 90% Buddhists. Angkor Wat is the only temple that is also a masoleum.

I first sight that I visited was Angkor Thom, which was a city near Angkor Wat and is survived by two important temples, the Banyon and Bunyeon temples. The Bunyeon temple was under construction so I didn't see much of it. Once you get through the gates below, you have several options to get to the temples. You can walk but it's crazy to do so because of the sweltering heat. You can take an elephant to the temples for $10 or a car and driver like I did. Or you can hire a cyclo driver, which is what most people did.

Entrance into Angkor Thom

These structures flanked the road leading to the entrance gate

Elephant Terrance is also a structure within Angkor Thom.

Angkor Wat is really amazing. It is also a practicing Buddhist temple but it is the only one that is also a masoleum.