Shopping and more shopping!

Last night the kids had a better sleep (once they finally went to sleep, around 11pm) so I managed to get some much needed rest.  I wouldn't exactly say I felt energized this morning, but I did feel good enough to brave a shopping trip with the boys.  Nothing here is a simple trip to the grocery store.  It always seem to be a big expedition - especially with kids. 

I texted Mr. You to pick us up at 12pm and wasn't sure if it was going to work.  We had tried texting him before and just got an error but it turned out we were using the wrong number.  Then I wasn't sure if he would understand my message which was simply "Venice 12:00".  Around 11:30 I took Nicholas and Ryan out to burn off some energy on the playground and of course I got the usual "nan hai zi hen leng" (the boys must be cold) from the other adults because they were just wearing t-shirts.  I shook my head to say "No, they aren't cold" but one of the women had to feel Ryan's arms just to be sure.  We "chatted" a little and they were all very nice.  I find that it is no problem finding people who are willing to talk here, just a little tough understanding each other.  I hope to start my Mandarin lessons soon so I can do more than tell them how old the kids are.

At 12pm we went to the gate and sure enough Mr. You was there waiting for us.  I told him Mai de long (Metro) and he understood me!  When he went around the corner I pointed to the corner store and said, "zher, he shui" (here, drink of water) and he stopped so I could run in and get a drink for the kids.  Now, at this store there is no parking so he just stopped in the middle of the street and I opened the side door and jumped out.  Not a good idea!  I almost had my toes run over by a car coming in the other direction.  It probably wasn't considered close by Chinese standards but it shocked me.  We've driven so close to people standing in the street that if the window had been down I could have reached out and picked their noses.  Great mental picture, eh?

Anyway, I got the water and some ice cream bars and we continued on to Metro.  Our landlady had agreed to reimburse us for a vacuum cleaner so I decided today was the day I would buy it.  This is good because now I can vacuum, but bad because now I have to vacuum.  The kids helped me pick out a fancy one and we grabbed a few other hard to find items (like paper towel) and went to the check out.  Mr. You had come in the exit and was waiting there to help us pack and take out the stuff.  Very helpful!

From here we went on to IKEA (here it is pronouned "icky ya") and Mr. You offered to come in but I told him we would be fine.  We made a run for the bathroom because both kids had to pee and found that they had western style toilets.  "How nice is that?" I thought but Ryan didn't agree.  He flat out refused to use it, even though he had to pee so bad he couldn't stop dancing.  At our apartment he doesn't mind sitting down to pee but apparently he has gotten used to standing at the squat toilets because I couldn't convince him to go.  Nick finished his business and came into the stall we were in and convinced him to go by showing him the neat flusher.  Thank you, Nick!

After this we decided to eat before we shopped.  IKEA has a cafeteria style restaurant inside the store so we grabbed a tray and some food.  Ryan picked a cinnamon roll, Nick chose spaghetti and I went for rice and veggies with a chocolate mousse for dessert.  We all got soda to drink and the total bill was 62RMB or about $10Can.  Not too shabby!  We went to the drink area to get our sodas and that's when the staring and chattering started.  I'm getting quite used to it now but as we made our way to a table, I started to feel like we were lambs just released into a forest full of wolves.  The dining area is quite large and I wanted to sit by a window which meant we had to walk halfway through it.  I don't think there was anyone at any table that didn't stop eating and watch us.  I half expected the overly loud music to come screeching to a halt like it does in the movies.  We sat down and ate a very nice meal but I couldn't wait to get out of there. 

Just outside the door to the restaurant is the children's section and once we got into that I knew I wasn't going to get a chance to look at much else.  They have a lot of their toys out so the kids can play on them and mine did.  They had a great time and received more attention, but only in bits and pieces.  Finally I dragged them away from that area and headed toward the exit and the lamps I went there to buy.  Along the way I found a few other things we needed and lots of stuff that I wanted, but I resisted most of it.  The lamps were for our bedroom as the landlady had said she would reimburse us for those as well.  As we went through this part Ryan started to lose it because he was quite tired and I ended up strapping him into the cart, screaming and hitting me, which attracted only a little more attention than we had been getting already.  I got out of the store as quickly as possible so I could get him for a nap in the van.

When we got outside and had everything piled into the van I told Mr. You that we wanted to go to YooHoo.  He didn't think this was a good idea and started pointing at his watch and chattering "ta men ba ba, Michelin" (the boys' father, Michelin).  I knew what he meant since it was 3:30 and he thought we had better be heading to Michelin to pick Tim up.  I told him it was okay, that I would call Tim and let him know that we would be late.  Nice of him to be concerned though.  In the end, Tim ended up getting a drive home with a co-worker who lives near us and we went on to YooHoo.

You will recall that this was the store that I went to on Saturday where I couldn't find Mr. You once I was finished shopping and had to have the poor cashier talk to him on the phone while she pushed my groceries all over the mall.  Well, this time he wasn't going to take any chances that those events would be repeated.  He drove directly into the underground parking and let us off by the escalator.  When we came back after our shopping was done, he was right there waiting for us.  I guess everyday is a learning experience for all of us.

When I shopped at this store on Saturday I bought two lovely t-bone steaks for a great price - only about $10Can for both.  So today when I went back I asked for three of them since Ryan and Nick had eaten one between them.  I didn't even look at the price until I went to the checkout when I realized that either they had been on sale last time or someone had made a mistake last time.  These steaks were about $16 each!  Needless to say we won't be having steak as much as I had hoped - pity.

We made it home at 5:30, around the same time as Tim and while he made some supper I had to get the vacuum cleaner out of the box.  Not because I was really eager to use it, but Nicholas wouldn't leave me alone until he had it out and was able to do some vacuuming.  I've never seen a four-year-old boy, or anybody for that matter, so excited about a vacuum cleaner.  It didn't last long, as I suspected it wouldn't, but there was a little part of me that hoped he would always want to do it.  Sigh.

So it was another busy day here.  Tomorrow I don't think we will go anywhere except outside to play and maybe for a picnic.  We will just have to wait and see!




Nicholas and our fancy new vacuum



My new lamp (x2)

Cool IKEA dish rack