A Day To Remember

November 11th,  Remembrance Day.  Just because we are in China doesn't mean we have forgotten.  In fact, throughout this Jammy Day, I have frequently thought of how lucky we are as Canadians to be able to come and go freely from our wonderful country.  If so many people hadn't fought (and continue to fight) we would not be able to embark on such a magnificent journey to explore this very different part of our world.  Thank you to every person - including but not limited to Canadian, Australian, British, American, French and even Chinese  - who served in some way to ensure those who followed in their footsteps would enjoy personal freedom.

Yesterday was a very busy day.  In the morning we went to Global Doctor for our flu shots as well as the last of our Twinrix vaccines.  It was an ordeal to say the least.  I'm glad that's over for a while.

We took Tim to work then headed to the Sheraton to pick up our friends - all five of them!  It was interesting getting everyone in the van together but we managed.  From there we came to Eastern Venice and left a very brave Chris with the four oldest children to look after while Jessica, baby Nicholas and I went to have a first look at their new apartment.  Unfortunately they were unable to find something in the same apartment complex as us but they are only a ten minute drive away in New World Garden.  Their apartment is gorgeous - very bright and spacious with a huge fridge that I am incredibly jealous of them for having.  Since Jessica was able to get a good look around it was time for her first trip to IKEA to scope out what they might want for furniture, mostly for the boys' rooms.  When we got to the store we were heading up to the third floor on one of the two escalators and noticed the funniest thing.  The second escalator was stopped and about fifteen IKEA employees, with their blue and yellow shirts on, were sitting on it from the top to the bottom.  They were cleaning it!  It was very strange to see and I asked Jessica if she was going to take a picture of it.  She was a little shy to but I told her that once she was here for a bit and had people taking all kinds of pictures of her kids, she wouldn't care.  So she did.  The workers noticed us and as we rode the escalator up to the third floor they smiled and said, "Ni hao".

When we got to the top of the escalator I had to scoot over to another section of the showroom to get a shopping cart to put baby Nicholas's car seat in.  Jessica waited with him at the entrance to the showroom and as I approached with the cart I noticed about twenty people gathered in a circle.  I knew exactly what they were doing.  I got a little closer and as Jessica if she was all right in there, seeing as how she was completely surrounded.  She said she was but brought Nicholas over to put in the cart.  The crowd started to disperse and we were able to start looking around.  Lots of people stopped as we shopped and had a look at Nicholas.  I only had to ask one person not to touch but one other lady grabbed a hold of me and the cart and yanked us backwards so she could see him.  She sort of startled me.

We had a great time at IKEA.  Jessica was able to have a good look around and we even managed to get her signed up for an IKEA Family points card.  When I motioned to the lady at the desk that Jessica wanted a card she directed us around the corner to some forms and pencils.  The name of the fairly long form was written in English, but unfortunately everything after that was in Chinese.  Jessica looked at it and said, "She expects me to fill this out?".  Unable to find anything in English to help us we went back to the lady with pencil and form in hand.  She was able to tell us where NAME was in English and said, "Dian hua" which I knew was phone number.  After that all she wanted was some ID and we were on our way with the card.  Apparently the rest of the form wasn't all that important.

The most surprising thing about our trip to IKEA was that I came away without anymore chocolate bars.  Good restraint I would say!

By the time we were done shopping it was 4:30 and Tim needed to picked up from work.  We retrieved him then went home for IKEA hot dogs and leftover Chinese food.  Chris managed to survive the afternoon quite well, apparently with a lot of help from my Nicholas.  Tian Ye joined us for supper and although he handles it quite well, I think he probably finds five kids a little overwhelming.  He used to say that one would be enough but after five months with us he's now saying that maybe none would be better.  Ha!  We are great birth control for China.

After everyone left last night Ryan went to bed but was awake a couple hours later.  He and Nick both had slight fevers and Tim and I had headaches, likely due to the needles.  The four of us sat on the couch watching television until 11pm then Ryan came to bed with me and Tim slept in Nick's bed.  Ryan was up at 4:30 and stayed awake until just before Tim got up.  Thank goodness because if he had still been awake a few minutes later he would have wanted to help Tim get ready for work then would have been an even bigger crank for the day.  He and I ended up sleeping until after ayi got here around 8:30.  Nicholas only woke up after ayi went in and opened his curtains and started bugging him.  I told her that he wasn't feeling well so I think she felt a bit bad for getting him up.  Maybe.  Who knows for sure.

Celine and Caroline stopped over for a visit today and I had my massage late this afternoon.  Aside from a little laundry that's about all we did.  We were pretty lazy.  It's going to be another crazy few days so I must get to bed.  I enjoy the busyness though, it passes the days.  Only ten more sleeps until we leave for Canada!