On Our Way

**NOTE: The tense in this blog will change. I had written this blog initially with the intent of posting right away. However, because I was unable to link to my blog for over a week -- you will be reading in both present and past tense. Have fun!

On the plane to San Francisco and from there, we are to take a 15 hour flight to Hong Kong. I still can't believe it -- we are going to China! We are all pretty sleep deprived right now, we had to get up around 4 am to make it to the airport on time. Parker is sleeping with his head down on the little fold-up table, and Greg is have a good conversation with a man who looks like a fancy cowboy and is almost as tall as Greg. I don't know what they are talking about, but it must be good because they have talked most of our 2 hour flight. Captain just announced that we will begin to descent into San Francisco.

I cannot believe that we are on our way to China!!!! It all seems so unreal right now. But I have been very entertained by non-stop movies in our business class seats on the airplane. Business class is the way to go!

In this picture, Parker is relaxing in his reclining seat and maybe he just ordered some Haggendaz ice-cream. He has his own t.v. monitor and can play games and watch movies to his little hearts content.




Parker in his seat.






Guangzhou from high in the sky.





Arrival...we stepped off, and followed signs that were in both Chinese and English. Getting our luggage was an interesting introduction to China. We stood around the conveyor belt and pretty soon there were a few people yelling back and forth as the bags were coming out. I have NO clue what they were saying, but they were certainly animated and pointing and moving and talking back and forth. We three were the quiet Americans and just waited until we saw our bags.








Since we have never been to China we weren't sure what the customs process would be as we each lugged 3 huge bags and our carry-ons for a total of 12. I thought it might take forever, but we followed the line and simply walked through. Nice :)




Our newly assigned driver, "Kelvin," was waiting there for us with a sign and we hopped into the van that we will probably be riding in for the next 3 years. He was super nice, but didn't speak a speck of English. I said "Ni Hao." and that is about where our conversation both started and ended. Although, we did continue to communicate through mono-syllabic words, gesturing and a lot of head-nodding. All in all, I would say we did good.





Here we are waiting in the office to be shown to our apartment.



We were happy with our apartment. We made it to China! We didn't know what to expect, but we certainly slept well that night.





Please note that Parker is only upset because I am taking a picture of him and he really hates it when I take pictures of him. Sorry Parker :)

My Pre-China: List of Top 10 Things To Take

Update:  We have been living in Guangzhou now for almost 4 months and I promised an update on my Top 10 things to take to China list.  All writing in red, was written in April.

During the past week or so there seems to be a twist in my perception of things around me.  For example, usually when I buy milk, I like to check the expiration dates.  For some reason, it's quite satisfying for me to know that the milk I choose will stay fresh a whole 2 days longer than the other ones, thereby saving my family from the traumatic sour milk experience.  Lately, however, the expiration date has taken on a whole new meaning.  Now when I look at the date -- it's kind of like a slow-motion scene in a movie where the camera zooms in -- the date takes up all the space on the screen,  "Exp Jan 02 11" and all I think is. . . "by the time this milk expires, I will have been in Guangzhou for two days."  It's not about the milk anymore, it's mostly about how everything relates to our "big move."

Ah yes, the "big move."  I'm currently trying to figure out what we can live without for 3 years, and what we can't live without for the next 3 months.   Here is a list of items we can't live without.   It's based on suggestions from people currently living in China and what I found on the Web.  By the way, this list has been modified to fit my family's needs and should not be used as a comprehensive list of what a person should take with them:

(This is a picture of our current stockpile in our living room)

TOP 10 THINGS TO TAKE

1.  Deodorant - a must!  I'm not sure how this item made the list, considering we are moving to a warm and humid climate, but apparently people there must not have stinky underarms.
They have deodorant here -- all kinds, even the ultra organic kind that I use.  You just need to go to an import store to buy it and you might pay a little more.

2.  Specialty Spices (especially things like cloves and vanilla):  Just bought some more today. This is a good one.  You can find vanilla here, but I have not seen small amounts of bay leaves, and some other spices.  So bring your favorites.  You will, however be able to find most common spices like black pepper, garlic salt, parsley, etc.

3.   California King Size Bed -- hard to find, but a must when a certain person is excessive in their height.  My husband says he can make do on a queen size--but for 3 years?  I don't think so.  Not true.  The bed we were provided with was actually larger than our California King size.  My husband prefers the beds here because they are firmer and his back feels better.  I would agree with him.  However, if you want a really soft mattress,  bring your own and also if you are particular about high thread counts, bring your own linen too.  I haven't been able to figure out how to ask about the thread count and I don't know if it really matters here.

4.  Paper towels and Toilet paper -- I'm not even asking, I'm just taking some.
Don't worry about these -- you can find them here at Metro and most import stores.  Not hard to find.  Limited variety though.

5.  Shampoo  - they have it, but I understand that it can be difficult sorting through the different brands.  And one person told me that they used the shampoo there and it made their head itchy so now they are using Head and Shoulders.  I'm taking some U.S. brands, but I'm open to the idea of using the shampoo I find there too.  I'm living on the edge baby.  Still haven't tried their brands and I am still using my U.S. products.  However, I've seen tons of shampoos and conditioners even at our local grocery store (with names like Loreal, etc.)

6.  Toothpaste.  Rumor has it the flavors are different.  I have at least10 tubes ready to go.  I'm picky about my toothpaste even here in the U.S.  You can find organic toothpaste here at the import stores, but if you like a certain brand, it's probably best to bring it.  But you definitely can find toothpaste if you are not too picky.

7.  Medications, vitamins -- hard to find and probably hard to explain what you need if you don't know the  language.  I'm taking what I can, including ibuprofin, cough meds, etc.  Bring it.  It's way too difficult to try to translate the packaging.  Just bring whatever you need.

8.  Kleenex with lotion.  Lotion being the key word here.  If you really like the lotion in the kleenex then bring some, if you don't care, they have lots of tissue here.

9.  Dryer sheets:  Hard to find, if not impossible.  I've also been reading and hearing that regular terry cloth towels there are stiff.  Some reports I've heard state that soft towels are hard to find there.  This is one item I can't wait to find out for myself.  It could just be the way they are dried?  Who knows -- I don't yet, but I will soon.  Very hard to find, and if you do find it, very expensive.  I would bring these.  The towels they gave us to use at our complex were nice.  I have no complaints about them, but I also did not buy them.  I can't really say where to buy them yet.

10. Chocolate!  I am not even going to take a risk on this item.  I already have about 8 bags of chocolate chips that I plan to take in my carry on's and I plan to buy about 12 candy bars, which will be rationed at about 2 per month.  They have a lot of chocolate here now, not too common yet, but I can see that it is becoming increasingly popular.  Still sort of expensive, so to save some money -- you can bring your own.  Also, the variety is still limited -- you won't find something like "mint-chocolate chips."  Also -- we already used up all our chocolate!!!  This would make a lovely gift if anyone plans to visit Guangzhou soon -- hint, hint :)

There are more items, but I'm not going to list them all.  My more logical half (yes, I'm referring to my husband), can't understand my compulsion to gather these things.  He says we are fine with the medications alone, and he can't wait to just dive into whatever is there.  I love him for that :)  But he will thank me later. . .oh yes, . . .he will thank me later.

NOTE****I plan to follow this up with a Top 10 Things to Bring to China, once I've been there and actually know what I'm talking about.

12 Days Left!

Only 12 more days left -- and I'm not talking about Christmas!  Twelve days until we are on a plane on our way to China!  Aghhhh (that's the sound of excitement and unbelievable discombobulation)!   At this point, I am trying to figure out how I am going to get everything done before we leave.  Mainly, making sure that my oldest son Josh (18) is settled.  We have some good potential places, just hoping he will agree to them.   After that, everything else seems manageable.

I'm  stocking up on some things, such as toilet paper, paper towels, medications, vitamins and linens.  Although we may be able to find these items there, I have heard the quality may be different than what we are used to and some things such as medications, spices may be hard to find.  And even if you do find it, it could be much more expensive.  Rumor has it that a box of cold cereal could run anywhere from $8 to $15 (I will find out when we get there).  I was so happy to hear that I should be able to get white sugar (too heavy to carry on the plane).  I love to bake, but I also hear that baking is not common in China.  This might prove to be a good thing for my waistline, since baked goods call out to me like sirens to the sailors.   However, I'm taking a few spices, some "small" pans (ovens are about 16" wide) to increase my odds of being able to bake.  I say "bring it on!"

As part of our China experience, we are making sure that we get all recommended immunizations.  We are taking some pills for typhoid that must be kept in the fridge and taken every other day for a total of 4 pills.  The catch is you must drink it with 2 "full" glasses of water.  No problem, unless you don't like drinking a lot of water at once.  I only drink when I am thirsty.  This preference stems back to my high school years, when one of my teachers played a short film starring Brook Shields and Brook's glamorous recommendations for a beauty regime.  I was impressionable back then and tried to follow her suggestions to be beautiful, which included drinking 8 glasses of water every day along with using 5 million brush strokes to keep your hair silky.  If she could do it, I could do it, right?  Wrong!  All people are not created equal.  I don't know how some people do this, but unless I want to be chained to a restroom all day long, I cannot chug said "8 glasses of water."  Needless to say, I gave up all hope of being glamorously beautiful and resorted to drinking water when I felt like it.   Chugging down 2 glasses of water in one sitting today--  I used mind over matter.  I felt like a champion. Two down, two more to go.