Hi all,
The long awaited updated that I've been promising. So sorry for the delay. We will do our best to keep this updated.
It’s been almost 3 months since we left, and Christmas is around the corner. It doesn't feel very Christmassy due to the hot weather, but we have a tree up and neither Bailey nor Spencer have knocked it over (yet). The other day Spencer even told Bailey not to touch it when he was rubbing up against it.
OK, where to start? I guess from day 1?
By some miracle, the flight went much better then expected. Our little junior traveler was a super star, and slept quite a bit. He played, ate, watched movies and kept busy. The longest part of the journey was the wait in Hong Kong for our flight to our new home in Guangzhou. It went well, but a +25hour journey is not in our near future plans. But maybe one of you wishes to attempt it and come out this way?
Upon arrival in GZ, we were taken to our wonderful home. Bailey arrived on a later flight and was safely delivered to us around midnight. It's true what they say, you really can have anything delivered here!
Spencer is going to daycare on the compound where we live. And by compound I mean the gated community of, oh, 10 000 people. Daycare is in Chinese, with a bit of English every day. The providers do speak some English which is helpful. He's not speaking Mandarin yet, but does come home signing songs that we have no idea what he's saying. Very cute. In the first week they started potty training him. So he went from only a diaper to wearing children underwear in less than a week (school days only). We work on it at home too, and he's doing ok. Potty training here is not what it is in Canada. The kids have open flaps in their pants and just go where ever they are. Parents hold the children over bushes or just wait on the street, its crazy. To clarify, daycare trains him as we do. No open crotch pants for Spency!
We spent one of our first weekends in Hong Kong. There will definitely be more to come as we didn't have enough time. It’s a vibrant city with an almost 360 degree skyline. Being able to speak to people in English was a nice break. We'll def go back as it's only a 2 hour train ride away. We just got back from Thailand - Bangkok for 4 nights, and Koh Samui for another 4. Fantastic trip. Delicious food. Friendliest people ever.
We spend our weekends exploring the city. There’s top notch malls on one corner, and grungy alleys at the next. The contrast is quite amazing, but nice to have both. You can find anything here….or a version of it….but you never know if you’re getting the real deal or not. Put in your orders for the 4G – only $100!
All of our stuff arrived about a month ago as well as our car so now I can drive to work instead of taking a cab, and it's great on weekends. Taxi's are cheap, but there aren't enough of them, so its common to wait and wait and wait and even when you do get one to pull over you sometimes have to fight off the others because they might try to steal your cab.
Driving is a little nuts. There are really no rules on the road. There are a few traffic circles here, but no one uses them the way you may think. Basically everyone drives on whatever lane they want and go where ever they want. Its common to see people backing up on highways or driving very, very slowly. Things like headlights and turn signals are a concept they haven't figured out yet. Luckily people drive slow, so it's not as dangerous as it sounds. You just have to shake your head at it.
Driving is a little nuts. There are really no rules on the road. There are a few traffic circles here, but no one uses them the way you may think. Basically everyone drives on whatever lane they want and go where ever they want. Its common to see people backing up on highways or driving very, very slowly. Things like headlights and turn signals are a concept they haven't figured out yet. Luckily people drive slow, so it's not as dangerous as it sounds. You just have to shake your head at it.
Language is, and will be, the biggest challenge for us in the city. Practically no one speaks English and our level of Mandarin is pretty basic., but we manage. :)
Food wise, there is a lot to see and taste, but a lot of it makes you want to run. The other day we saw a woman sitting in an alley with a pig leg in her hands. She was shaving the hair off of it. We bought a chicken at the grocery store the other day. It still had its head and feet, and Kale had the pleasure of cutting it off before cooking it. Now the good thing is if you find food you like, you can get it very cheap (if you're not too picky) - a plate of food can cost you 6-7 RMB (equals about $1cdn). So, if you can eat something and not be sure what it is you can save some money. You can also get chicken feet packaged like beef jerkey - anyone want some?
The weather is great. Its a little chilly in the mornings and evenings, but would only require a light jacket or sweater. This last week has gotten a little chililer, but still about 20 degree midday.
The pollution has its good and bad days. Sometime the sky is clear and blue, and other days you can smell the burning plastic. Lovely.
That's it in a nutshell.
We miss friends and family (we have plenty of room for a visit...hint hint hint) but at least we have email, FB, and Skype.
Big hugs to all! Please keep in touch!
xoxo
