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It's been a long time and I have several good reasons. First, we are moving home in less than 3 weeks..Second, my computer died and was in the shop (story there of course) and finally, I hosted back to back birthday bashes for my summer babies (more stories) and have been go-go-go with school related end of year activities.
I have about 20 minutes so I'm going to crank out an update of sorts but it will not likely do justice to the past couple weeks.
First the birthdays.
I had a Chinese cooking birthday for Miss Emily and it was a smash hit. I found the place in City Weekend (the mag I write for) and tore out a page for future party potential. The party guests were Emily's female classmates as well as several other VIP non-class friends. 16 girls were invited and 16 girls said yes and showed up! Unprecedented stats. I expected at least some girls to either say no or no show. I had aprons and headbands made at the fabric market for the occasion--because I could. Totally good prices too and custom made! Emily chose the fabric and the girls loved them. I
had a little hiccup on the day of the party and realized I was short 1 set. I had to race to the market and get more made. I tried to phone first, but it was not good. The same woman who sold me the aprons, and with whom I had easy communication in person was not getting what I was trying to say (I had been there before, needed another set today, blah blah). She had no idea who or what I was saying and passed the phone to another man in the shop. He spoke some English and we agreed I should come to the market in person and explain my plight. 12pm on day of party I zipped over to the fabric market. Party was at 4pm. The woman remembered me upon my arrival and our communication was once again fine. Must be my gestures that go along with my bad Chinese! So she hooked me up, charged me a bit more which was fair and agreed to deliver the aprons/headbands to the party at 4pm. She called me at 3pm and informed me the delivery was being made early. Impressive.
The kids made dim sum
dishes (dumplings, fun buns stuffed with bean paste, custard and meat, wantons) and 4 other dishes (fried rice, stir fried beef, sweet and sour pork and green beans with garlic). We feasted after the dishes were cooked and finished it off with some American style cupcakes from a bakery called Sweet Ever After that makes phenomenal cupcakes. Seriously good and also delivered to the party with candles.
Nathan hosted a laser tag party and invited the boys from his class plus a few other best pals. They also all came and Emily and her friend (a sister of one of the boys) were there to give a female perspective on the whole laser tag scene. Emily "like those vests were like so hea-vy. They really hurt my shoulders." The vests were large and especially large when you are a petite little girl. She was a trooper (pun intended) and blasted away at the opposing team (enemy in more official lingo) for 3 out of 4 games. The fourth game she sat out and played Foosball with her daddy.
Next the funny "only in China tidbits"
My computer broke...well this time I didn't drop it, but
it was getting sicker and sicker and finally I had had enough and called Tony the Computer guy. Funny aside--I was at a retaurant with my Dad and Mark during Dad's last visit to SH and we were waiting for Tony (from Santa Barbara to meet us). I called "Tony" in my phone but inadvertently called Tony the computer guy...so I changed his info in my phone to "Tony Computer". So I called Tony Computer and he was over in less than an hour. He took my computer away, assessed the issues and we agreed on a price by text message (after some translation help from his friend--Tony's English is a little worse than my Chinese but not much). I will miss my guy Tony. I have shared his info with other friends who are staying in town.
In other tech related news, Nathan's new itouch from Christmas croaked suddenly last month. I finally called Apple support and asked where I could take it in SH for under warranty repair. The dude at the call center forced me to participate in the diagnostic phase of the support call--even though I explained I am not a doofus, I tried "turning
it on and off" and it was dead, dead, dead. So, I played along, answered his 10 questions to confirm it was in fact dead and then finally, after a long hold, he gave me an authorized service center location. I said "are you sure they do iTouches?" and he said "yes ma'am". Yes, he ma'amed me AND turns out he gave me bad info. A train, a fifteen minute walk and a long ride in a smelly elevator later, I learned that the location only serviced computers. Eye rolling and gasping sighs ensued. I know it was not this random service center's fault or concern but I was just at that annoyed customer state. I was given an address to another location and the assurance that this place really did service iTouches and so off I went. I sat in a waiting room developing second hand smoke related asthma symptoms (from the smokey smelling people sitting near me) and finally I was next. The guy tried plugging it in, doing hard resets, yadda yadda. It was dead. He sent it in to Apple, they will call me when my new one is ready. Yay. Success. Eventually. It's funny, while
I was sitting waiting for my turn, I tried to imagine the ways I could explain the situation in Chinese but when the guy saw me, he said immediately "hello, please take a seat" and so I was in English speaking hands and didn't have to work my Mandarin magic.
Emily was asked to do a kids' cooking photo shoot with a really fun chef at a Spanish restaurant in Shanghai called El Willy's. Tapas. We were in the kitchen (so small) and Emily helped Chef Willy make cherry gazpacho and rice pudding. She had a great time and was a natural poser. The camera loved her. Hoping to get the professional pics from the shoot.
More Lasts and more goodbyes...
Nathan passed his next level Kung Fu test. Not sure what level he is but we pick up the certificate and patch in a week. And the next level involves a stick. This past one was sword. He loves it. So glad.
The kids both had field day last week and I volunteered all day. I was at a water relay station and it was fun but tiring. I had to scream instructions to many groups
of grade 2-5 (mixed up and assigned to a teacher). Both kids came by my station which was fun. I also got a free lunch in the lovely cafeteria AND a new t-shirt. It’s all about the free stuff.
Emily gave a great report on Mars and role played the part of a travel agent. I loved her interpretation and passion for being in character. She gave out biz cards and had a classmate introduce her before she began her presentation.
Tomorrow, I am heading to a photo shoot (sounds more glamorous than the reality of standing against a wall and having a few quick shots taken) for the magazine's editor's letter--the goodbye shot! My editor is also leaving the magazine (not Shanghai) and my article about repatriation is in her final issue. I was flattered and excited to be included in the inside cover shot. I have some nice pages for my own memory book from my published writing and photos in Shanghai.
The kids both had last music lessons. Emily wants a lady teacher next time--but she is going to keep up her guitar and her quest for musical stardom. Nathan has improved so quickly
in his piano study--it's quite amazing how far he's come. His teacher was scary strict--no praise, just lack of diatribes if he did not make errors during lessons--so he was a little stressed by her, but he did practice a lot. Emily's teacher was a tad too relaxed (typical rocker dude) but his focus on teaching only hip, rock and roll songs kept Emily engaged and interested. Mark and I hope to see him perform at a club in SH before we move home. He's really good!
I helped with both class parties and am still in the midst of finishing Nathan's class memory books. It is a lot of work but i think it will be a nice keepsake. Emily's party was today and we made goodbye books for the six kids leaving our school and/or China. The moms and dads whose kids received the books were touched as was Emily's teacher who also got a book of letters from the kids. I had fun using her laminating machine--she has her own in the class. I want one of those things. I would laminate EVERYTHING. The party today was an ice cream sundae party. I delegated all the
food and snacks out to other parents and just organized the event. I also got a great class gift that I want for myself--a lovely pink and silver necklace from a local jewelry designer. I felt warm and fuzzy when the teacher gave me a gorgeous bouquet of flowers and thanked me for my efforts all year. So sweet. I had fun. Emily's class was great and I giggle to myself each and every time they call me "Miss Suzanne". I so prefer that to Mrs. Slaven (no offense to my wonderful mother-in-law who owns that title after many more years in the Slaven clan than I).
Finally...
We were planning to take a last China Adventure trip. Someplace where minimal English would likely be spoken, where the beds would be hard and the sheets perhaps scratchy. We played the Thailand is on sale card and are off to Phuket (not Bangkok!) for a week in the sun. Total no-agenda vacation. Mark's first real vacation in 2 years. He's worked nonstop and this trip is our family's tribute to Mark. Father's day falls nicely within this window, as does Dragon Boat holiday which means Shanghai will be abuzz and
perhaps ablaze with firecrackers and festivities. We are going to a bargain priced hotel and we are using miles to get there. My favorite type of trip, cheap and nice. Not always possible, but this time we are pulling it off. It's a decompress week before we do our mad pack up, ship out and fly home.
Thanks for all the support and encouragement. I have heard from old friends and family as well as brand new blog friends and all messages are received with gratitude and appreciation. I am trying to look forward and not back. I have not done it all but I've done a lot. And there's more to do.
K, this blog took way more than 20 minutes and was done over a couple sessions with a timeout error resulting in some lost blog bits that may be rewritten in the future. In case you were wondering. Regardless, I had fun recording these past events and I hope you had fun reading about them.
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Elaine
non-member comment
enjoyed your blog
I can't tell you how much I enjoyed your blogs. I really looked forward to every one of them. I hope you have a good trip home. Elaine