Organized Chaos

We have had a busy couple of days here in Shenyang.  Yesterday the boys and I left in the morning and went to check out a couple of the other apartment complexes.  No, we aren't moving already!  A new friend from the USA who has been reading my blog is moving here with her young family and is trying to decide what area they may want to move to.  So to help them out a little, and because I'm nosy curious, I thought we would have a look at some of the other places expats call home in this city.  I won't go into great detail on here but after looking around a bit, keeping in mind I didn't look absolutely everywhere, I still think we made the right choice in moving to Eastern Venice.  In my opinion it's the nicest area to live here, especially with kids.

We were going to visit Cristina after lunch and it was only 11am so in the meantime we stopped at Carrefour and I bought some groceries and sushi for lunch while the boys waited in the van with Tian Ye.  From there I decided we would get Tian Ye to drop us off at Cristina's building which is right next to Ti Yuan Jie, or the pedestrian shopping street.  They have been working on it since we got here and it looks like they are just about done.  We made our way back to the mall where we bought the kids' shoes and stopped to watch the fountain they have on the main floor.  The kids love it.


This mall has lots of fancy stores on the main floor, like Rolex, Cartier, etc.  After having a quick glance at a $15,000 watch, we made our way up to the seventh floor and the kids' area.  They played for a bit at the mini-playground then we went to look at the toys.  I never thought I'd appreciate shopping Canadian shopping as much as I do when I go to a toy store here.  There is a sales person every few aisles and they watch you like a hawk, following you around all over the place.  If we touch a display toy they immediately come behind us and put it back exactly the way it was before we got there.  The boys know to be gentle with the toys and wouldn't break anything but I always get a little paranoid in these fancy toy stores.

Luckily Cristina called and had arrived home so we walked to her apartment.  After we were there for a few minutes another Bib Wife (as we are now called!) arrived with her five-year-old son.  We all went down to the playroom and the three boys had a great time in the ball pit.  They played while the three of us chatted and we stayed for over an hour.  Once the boys seemed to be getting tired we decided it was time to go home and Cristina came with us.  Last week the Shenyang Michelin plant accomplished an important goal so they held a dinner last night to celebrate.  Since Daniel and Tim were going I invited Cristina to come and have supper with us.  The night before I had also asked Sue is she would like to come over as well, if Sonny was going to the dinner.  She wasn't sure so I told her just to let me know when she found out.  I didn't hear from her throughout the day so I assumed she wasn't coming.

When I started preparing supper Cristina asked if she could help and I told her the best thing she could do was to keep the boys out of my hair while I cooked.  She did a great job!  They boys had the bouncy house up and she threw balls at them while they played.  Then she had Nicholas started a game of basketball and Nick was quite surprised at how well she could dribble the ball.  He came into the kitchen to get some water and told me that she was really good at basketball, but he was better since he got more points.  I'm not sure what counted as a point but he thought he had the most.  During all this Ryan, who was extremely tired, managed to hurt himself several times and wanted me to hold him while I was trying to cook.  I was able to get things finished and we sat down to eat, with Ryan crying on my shoulder.  I spilled a whole glass of water and it was quite chaotic for a bit.  Poor Cristina!

The boys ate a little bit then I put the television on for them so Cristina and I could eat in peace.  As we were sitting there Sue called, wondering if we were still having supper!  I apologized and told her that I assumed she wasn't coming since I hadn't heard from her.  She was confused and I understood why.  When I had called her the night before I forgot that she had company then her phone was cutting in and out so both of us only got half the conversation, but I thought she heard me when I said to call and let me know.  Anyway, I told her come on over as we had lots of food so she did and brought with her an oreo cheesecake.  The three of us sat and talked while Sue ate her supper.  As we were talking Ryan came over and climbed up on my lap and within about five minutes he was sound asleep.  It was only about 6:15 and he hadn't really eaten much but I put him to bed.  Then everyone, except me, had cheesecake (although I did try one bite and it was delicious!).

A little while later Cristina had to go but Sue stayed and helped me do the dishes.  After that Nicholas showed her his baby book pictures then it was time for him to go to bed too.  He was really tired after being up at 5:30 in the morning so he went to bed very easily too.  Then it was time to relax!  I had a glass, well three glasses, of red wine while Sue and I sat and talked for a couple of hours until Tim and Sonny got home.  Once Tim and I were alone we had to tell each other about our busy days so by the time we were done it was too late to blog.  We decided it was time for bed and which point Ryan got up and wanted his supper.  He was a little out of sorts so it took a while to get him fed and back to bed and it was almost one in the morning by the time we were all asleep.  That only lasted until 4:30 when Tim got a call from work.  I don't think he went back to sleep but I did.  I vaguely remember him saying that he was leaving for work but I haven't a clue when that was.  I'm not even sure when the kids got up but at 8:10 Ryan came to the bedroom carrying milk and asking me to get the cereal down for him.  I thought I had better get out of bed.

When I did get up I noticed a missed call on my phone.  It was Celine and she was in need of emergency babysitting.  I quickly got dressed, threw some shoes on the boys who were still in their pajamas and we went over to get Caroline.  When we got back Ayi was here and, again, it was quite chaotic for a while.  I was trying to get things put away so Ayi could clean and in the meantime Mother Hen Nicholas watched over Caroline while I watched over him.  Ayi was somewhat enamored with Caroline and obviously thought she was finally going to get a chance to touch one of these white kids since mine run from her when she comes near them.  Nicholas had other ideas.  When Ayi came close to Caroline he stood in between them and held up his hand to stop her.  A couple of times Ayi managed to get around Nicholas when he let his guard done but when she tried to hold Caroline's hand or get her to come to her, Caroline would slap her hand away.  I guess none of the white kids here like how close some of the Chinese people get.

Eventually Ayi left, without getting everything done I realized later, then Celine showed up to get Caroline.  She said she had to go out again this afternoon so I offered to keep Caroline again.  In the meantime the boys and I had lunch then made spaghetti sauce.  We invited Paul over for supper tonight and Tim said we would have lasagna.  I have had the stuff to do it all week but have been putting it off so I guess he figured this would me to do it.  He was right!

Now Caroline is back and the boys are keeping her very busy.  She has a baby walker, the kind that is now illegal in Canada, and she's having a great time chasing Nick and Ryan around in it.  I thought I had better write my blog now since I don't know if I will have time tonight.  Busy, busy, busy.  I must go make the lasagna and catch up on some emailing, maybe.  Sorry if I'm a little slow getting back to everyone!

Have a great weekend!