We've spent a fun few days here. Jiajia has been combining our holiday with some work - she visits the factory outlet markets here every month to stock up on the latest brand fashions. JD and I have been spending at least part of the day walking round with her, meeting her various contacts there who have been really thrilled to finally see JD after all the photos. None less so than "Mink Lady" [centre] who treated us to a nice meal alongside her business partner and her son [right and far right]. And JD has quickly got the hang of wandering into total strangers' shops with a beaming smile and leaving ten minutes later with free stuff (grapes, candy, toys, etc!).
Jiajia, JD and I fly to Shenzhen today - our first time away as a nuclear family, and JD's first time to fly. That's assuming the chaos at airports round the country has subsided by then [see Kunming airport "riot" above]. Apparently the air force are randomly commandeering airport runways for a countrywide military exercise, causing huge delays and cancellations to hundreds of commercial flights! Only in China, right?
Jiajia bought some new rugs for our bedroom the other day (off the internet, of course) and after getting them laid down I started to roll up the old ones to dispose of. But then I had a brainwave and realised they were just the right size to attach to our stair railings which JD has been managing to climb up recently! With a 3m (10ft) drop the other side, we've been a bit nervy of letting him roam alone around the balcony. But, with the old carpets cable-tied on and hoovered clean, we now have a climb-proof guard although, as you can see, he's already trying to tunnel through! So the World Cup is finally over. I've only really watched England's matches (until they made their early exit) but I've been following the results of the other teams as each of my classes at school had a sweepstake to give the students someone to cheer for (China didn't qualify). But tonight was the final, so I decided to rouse myself at 3am to watch Germany v Argentina. We had a noisy rainstorm about half way through the match which woke Jiajia and JD, so we all watched the second half (and extra time) together. Jiajia provided the best entertainment ("Why can't they just make the goals bigger?", "Why does the red guy keep stopping the game?" and, after the last-gasp goal, "Which team is white again?"), while JD thought he was watching Wimbledon [see photo]. Overall a good match, though, deservedly won by them Germans again. While I continued teaching my usual Sunday classes, Dave and Esme joined the rest of the family, along with some good friends of ours, on a trip to an organic farm outside of Kunming. I went myself a month or so ago and blogged then about what a nice place it is, especially the pretty restaurant with tables scattered between various plants, bridges and streams full of fish. They had a really great day there and, once again, our friends managed to find a way to pay for it all before we had a chance!
Recent temperatures have made this the hottest Kunming summer in 70 years. We've rarely been much below 30ºC in the last fortnight (and still only have an hour of running water a day!). Despite this, Jiajia and I resolved to take JD to the zoo yesterday. Last time we went it was packed, being a National Holiday, and JD was stuck in a pram and fairly oblivious to it all. This time he was far more interested and spotted various animals whose name he knows from his books (although many of the lazy beasts were hiding indoors, in the shade). The butterfly area [see above] was particularly fun and JD enjoyed the monkeys' antics too [see below]. His favourite moment, however, was being passed by a small, chugging tractor. He loves tractors. My highlight, apart from a McDonalds ice-cream, was seeing JD get bitten by a rather angry ostrich who objected to his little finger poking through the cage! Hysterical! Does that make me a bad father? My wife never reads my blog (or so she assures me), though she often coos over my shoulder when spotting pictures of JD that appear here. She does know that my blogging means a lot to me, though, often waiting patiently while I take a photo of some odd sight or Chinglish that I've spotted. She has even started to photograph little things herself which she thinks I'll enjoy, to send on to me. And so it was that this balloon boy appeared on my phone last week, courtesy of my wife who thought it was bizarre enough for the blog here. I'd have to agree. The rainy season often leads to some flooding in Shenzhen, the city where Jiajia is currently attempting to get some work done, but this year is earlier and worse than Jiajia can remember in all her years of flying there to buy clothes for her store. The photos speak for themselves! So Jiajia's holed up in her flat for now, amidst heavy thunderstorms, in the knowledge that she wouldn't be able to get to the markets she needs to, even if she did venture out. She did manage to Skype this evening though, to assure us she was safe. It was International Women's Day yesterday (What do you mean you had no idea? It's huge here!). It was also the wife's birthday. She had a clutch of presents and cards from my family/friends in the UK, and from JD and I [see below]. From her Mum, a shop-bought cake. From her brother, nothing. Not even a "Happy Birthday, sis!" as he scoffed down a slice of cake. (He turned up unannounced a month ago from Laos, where he lives, and has been kipping on our sofa ever since). Jiajia wasn't particularly upset though - she hadn't ever celebrated her birthday before going out with me. And she did get Birthday Wishes in texts from her bank and three airline companies!? It's a strange family I've married into. Jiajia and I saw these life-size models in a store the other day and thought they bore an uncanny resemblance...! Certainly JD seemed confused for a while, as you can see.
Jiajia's friend gave us a box of organic vegetables as a Spring Festival gift a couple of days ago and, to my surprise, it contained a small bag of Brussel sprouts. I've not seen them for sale in Kunming before - for Christmas dinner we buy them from Shanghai (1500 miles / 2400 km away!) and get them shipped to us! But it seems there's now a farm in Kunming who grow them, and other vegetables, for export. I asked Jiajia to ask her friend where the farm was, so that we could try and buy some more in the future. Then, four hours later, her friend turns up at the house with a huge box of Brussel sprouts. 10kg (22lb) of them!! Now I like a Brussel sprout as much as the next man, but I think it will take me a year to get through that many! Thank goodness for the freezer. And no naked flames in the bedroom please!!
Today was a sunny day, so we (Jiajia, Nanny, JD and I) decided to head up to the hills and grab some fresh air. We drove to a vantage point, avoiding the rather crazy driving on blind bends by some of the Chinese drivers, and then walked further up until our legs ached. Our Nanny proved rather sprightly on the mountain paths, no doubt the result of her countryside upbringing, while I managed to keep up despite having the baby on my back. Jiajia lagged behind a bit as her fitness suffered during the pregnancy! Spectacular views of Kunming from the top. For any readers who didn't receive my Christmas newsletter... Thank you for keeping up with the blog throughout another year. Have a wonderful Christmas and New Year! [PS ...sadly my Granddad died a few days after this newsletter was sent out]
If there's one area where Jiajia and I have particularly strong and differing views, it's health and how to deal with sickness. This continues to crop up when dealing with JD. I guess I subscribe to the western view that medicine is to be avoided unless really necessary and then only used in sensible dosages until the problem is fixed. Jiajia has a more "Chinese" attitude which argues that waiting for illnesses to come along leaves it too late - people should take preventative medicine, and as strong a dose as possible for it to be effective (antibiotics are sold over the counter here and prescribed for even the most common of colds). Add to that the age-old conflict between "tried-and-tested" western drugs and "supposed to be good for you" Chinese traditional medicine (...twigs and ground up animals, if you ask me!) and we have an area of disagreement which is liable to run for some time. Case in point: I caught a cold last week. I was told to wear a mask around JD and his room was duly sprayed with vinegar!? He's been taking Chinese "anti-cold" medicine for weeks now, a bitter liquid which can make him vomit, and yet when he had a few sneezes the other day it was my "western cold" that got the blame, not the obvious ineffectiveness of the "anti-cold" medicine or, indeed, the vinegar spray. He wears 5 layers of clothes beneath his duvet at night, but windows are then opened to let in the fresh air (and the bitter wind outside). My skepticism about Chinese medicine isn't helped by the packaging with its ridiculous English and wildly overambitious health claims [see above and below], plus my own experience with Chinese doctors and their "cures" - visits for 14 separate ailments to date with just 2 certain successes. But "popping into a local clinic to see my GP" just isn't an option here, so I try to turn a blind eye to most strange things that don't actively damage JD's health. I'm hoping that when I do need to put my foot down it will have more impact. That's the plan, anyway! Kunming hardly ever gets snow. I've only seen a light dusting once in my seven years here. But just see what we woke up to this morning! The temperature dropped fast over the weekend, and my students got very excited to see a flurry of "flakey rain" falling outside the classroom, though it barely qualified as snow. But overnight we've had a proper snowfall. With our nanny away this week, "health and safety" is somewhat lower on the agenda, so I decided to try and make a snowman for JD. However, the snow started to melt through the afternoon and so it ended up as more of a snow rabbit! JD seems to have caught my cold from last week now (his first illness) so Jiajia and I are having to cope with a grumpy, stuffed-up little baby. When I lived alone in China, I never used to bother with Christmas decorations. I was, truth be told, fairly happy to be away from the commercialisation, over-expectation and disruption to normal routines! However, with a baby on the scene and a wife who loves to buy stuff, I've had to show a bit more enthusiasm and do my bit! So I have decked out the lounge in rather fun Santas (this year's wifely purchase), a tree with computerised lighting system (JD can stare at this for ages) and a couple of presies. Barred humbugs!
Many thanks to my UK friend Vix, for a postal-delayed birthday present which arrived last weekend. Vix always comes up with unusual presies and unique handmade cards (this year's featuring an "Everton Lane" street sign). Her presie was a selection of comical clothes and hair drawings on sticks which can be held up in front of a camera to alter someone's appearance (without the need for Photoshop!). I thought it was a rather a clever low-tech idea, though Jiajia was not at all impressed! Jiajia had a craving to buy some cacti the other day (...that's just not normal, is it?) and dragged a couple of friends and I along for the trip (to be honest, the others were really excited about it and ended up spending more than Jiajia did). We drove in two cars for about 40 minutes outside of Kunming to a large farm with 5-6 huge plastic-covered greenhouses, full of 100+ varieties of cactus. They were all such different shapes, sizes and colours - round, pert, prickly, bulging, droopy, leafy, some tinier than my little finger, some larger than me. I never knew so many varieties existed. All pretty ugly in my opinion, but it seemed I was in a minority of one there! After the cars were filled to the brim with a few thousand yuan of cacti (£200+) we all headed up to a mountainside restaurant for lunch. One of the signs near the toilet was a bit scary, though it turned out the Chinese should have been translated as, "Be careful of the slippery floor"! Phew! Jiajia (plus the nanny and our good friend Catherine) took JD to the "Bird and Flower Market" the other day. Who needs to pay for a "petting zoo" experience when you can wander from shop to shop with a cute little "foreign-looking" boy. The shopkeepers were only too pleased to let JD play with their animals and he loved every moment (except when a piglet suddenly jumped up and squealed at him!). We are now dressing him up as a turtle to encourage him to crawl...
Pleased with the shelving we'd had installed above my office desk some months ago, we decided to add more above Ava's table. The workmen cancelled their visit a few days ago, but turned up just an hour late this morning and fixed the shelves within 20 minutes. The photo [right] is a mixed "before" and "after" shot. We now have so much storage space we don't know what to fill it with! I'm quite good at keeping presents unopened until the actual day itself, be it birthday, Christmas etc. But not Jiajia; for her, presents get opened on receipt, even when they are not actually hers (she claims it's because she never received any as a child). So it wasn't a huge surprise to find all my presents unwrapped within hours of her returning from her recent stock-purchasing trip to Shenzhen. Two days early. And MY presents! Still, I managed to hide some cards, and open them (and various e-messages) on the right day. Next year will be the "BIG 5-0", of course, but in the meantime I'll enjoy being a "square number" (7x7) for the first time in a decade, and for the last time before retirement! Jiajia and I bought a new mattress for the nanny's bed the other day. The old one wasn't that comfortable but, more annoyingly, made all sorts of squeaking and creaking noises as you moved around on it, waking the baby. (We bought it new, a year ago, for just 150RMB (£15) so what did we expect?) The new one was 850RMB and is, not surprisingly, a lot better. It comes with its own Chinglish too. "I wish to present my dearing bear to you"! Should that be "dear" or "darling"?
Ma-in-law decided last week that she was so ill she needed to check herself into the local hospital for tests and IV drips. A less charitable person might question why the illness conveniently started the day after the nanny returned from her holiday. And why someone who is so weak regularly decides to make the 45-minute walk home when she doesn't fancy the hospital food. Or why she tells us her illness is so serious when the doctors say they are just giving her IV drips of sugar and vitamins. I tend to leave this situation to my good wife who knows better than I do how much leeway to give her only close relative, and
where/when to draw the line! I'm led to understand that most babies get grumpy and start screaming when they are hungry. JD seems quite the opposite. He's never keen to eat, so feeding him his milk every 3-4 hours can be quite a struggle. He wriggles, swats the bottle, hides his mouth and fakes a cough. It took nearly two hours to get one bottle down him the other morning. But Jiajia has now found a good way of keeping me going while I keep the feeding process going... |
AuthorPaul Hider lives and works in Kunming (SW China) and regularly updates this blog about his life there. Past blog entries
May 2024
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