school open house and Nathan shops on the street

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Friday 8/22/08

Our morning started with an 8am ride on the subway. I have many years of Chicago el and suburban Metra riding experience, but I have never before been on such a crowded train. Mark had warned us, and we had taken a train in the evening rush, but this was absurd. They have monitors who help pack in the people and make sure people stay in lines and let people off before boarding. This is a rush hour thing, because normally it's every man/woman/child for him or herself when trying to board the trains. The kids were squished up against us and had the height disadvantage--they were staring at butts and bellies and had no source of fresh air. I picked Emily up for part of the ride but she was just too heavy and I needed to hold on so I wouldn't fall. The train thinned out the closer we got to our destination and when we got off the train it was tolerable. Oh how I wanted to take a picture on that train. I didn't have my camera and my camera phone makes a HUGE clicking noise so I resisted the urge. Plus, not sure how to take a picture of that scene when I was in a crowd of people with zero space to move.

We got off the train and then had to walked a good 15-20 minutes in the heat to the visa center. Emily was super thirsty and did not enjoy the long walk. Today was my turn to apply for my residency visa. We had to wait about 45 minutes to turn in our forms and then we got to walk back to the train. Good times.

When we got back to our home station, we went for coffee at an Italian cafe we found near our apartment. It's really cute and I have a feeling we'll become regulars. Good food and good coffee.

The school open house was this afternoon. It very crowded and involved standing in many long lines. We did meet the teachers, and that was the highlight of the visit. Both teachers seem excellent and friendly, so we are excited to get to know them better. The class sizes are small. Nathan's class is 16 and Emily's is 17. The school buses are air conditioned and have bus monitors to help the kids. Turns out there are about 6 kids in total from our school living at our apartment complex, so we will meet them on Monday when we go catch the bus. The rest of the kids riding our bus are in the same general neighborhood. We are first pickup and last drop off for our bus. The return trip is going to be a bit longer, but hopefully with the A/C and a comfy seat, they will be ok.

There were many other new families and many countries represented. I heard some English spoken, but it was fun to watch people seek out others from the same home country. We did it too. I heard someone saying she was from Ohio and my ears tuned in to her conversation. There were lines to find out about buses, and lines to get ID cards to come and go from the school. It was a bit chaotic and confusing. The staff was very friendly, and most of the parents seemed friendly. I witnessed a few parents throwing some noisy tantrums about waiting in lines. We met a few kids and parents when visiting the classes. I will go to the welcome coffees for parents at the school. The first one is next Friday. I have new school anxiety just like the kids. I love our school in Evanston and all our friends there. Starting over is hard for all of us.

Tonight we tried to go into this fun looking Japanese place a few doors down from our apartment. It was recommended by a couple people. It has this sliding wooden low door that's about 4 feet tall. There are no signs or windows, and it's completely unmarked. We slid open the door and it was completely packed. We went in and were immediately told meio (pronounced mayo)...which means "no have". As in, we don't have a table for you. So we took the restaurant's card and left. Apparently we needed reservations on a Friday night. We left slightly disappointed, and decided to go back to our favorite cheap dumpling place (the one we call Dunkin Dumplings). It's just a couple blocks away, but right when we got there, Emily said she had a "funky tummy". Her words. Uh oh. So, we got her a Sprite, but it didn't seem to work it's magic so she and I left and returned home. Oh well. The boys said they'd bring me something to eat later. Emily seems better now which is the best possible outcome to our return to homebase. I partially carried her home, so I got some good exercise, and she was looking adorable in her Chinese gown, so we got lots of smiles and waves on our walk home. That's life in the big foreign city without a car and with kids.

Nathan's story about shopping on the street after dinner:

Me and my dad were out eating dinner alone since Emily felt sick. At dinner I was having trouble eating my pot stickers with chopsticks. A woman came up and offered me a spoon. I took it, and she noticed I was still struggling with the spoon...so she handed me a short, 2 pronged plastic fork. That was much easier.

After dinner we decided to look at movies on the street. Suddenly, someone started shouting something I couldn't understand. All the people packed up the stuff they were selling and put blankets over it. Then they crossed the street and acted as if they were normally carrying something on their bikes. Then a big white police truck passed by. As soon as it passed, all the bikes came back and the people started selling their stuff again. We ended up buying a puzzle and we bargained for it. The police do not want people to copy movies here. So that is why they don't want people to sell movies on the streets. But it still happens all over the city.

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Photos

cool drink lid machine
It seals the top of your drink with a film to make it spill proof. So cool!

Comments

[Linda]

open house
Glad the kids like their teachers. Good news about the other bus riders in your building...and neighborhood. It sounds like the school is multi-national, but is it an English-speaking one? Nathan: Great description of a Chinese street moment!

[Papa]

Nathan's blog
Great job Nathan! You should be a guest writer more often. We love to hear what is happening in your own words. You write very well, just like your mom.