Craft Fair

Luckily when I got up I was able to log on to Facebook and there were pictures of Emory. So cute.

We went to the Craft Fair, or Crap Fair as Todd called it, and I bought a few little things. There was neat stuff just not anything we needed. Nothing else too exciting today.

Facial

I got word that Breanne (my cousin) was in labor. She was going to have Baby Wong. Todd named him Watts...get it? Watts Wong! It was still the 8th at home so if she has him before midnight he will share a birthday with my two nieces...Grace (14)and Allison (19)...on opposites sides of the family.

At 10 Ileana and I went to get our very first facials. We walked in and the girls working seemed confused. We had an appointment at 10 so we didn't know what was happening. Then one of the girls said "the face nurse is not here right now". Face nurse? We then said we were there for facials. The light bulb turned on for the girls and they immediately took us to the back. We changed our shoes into way too small flip flops. Then things got really weird from there.

I was taken to a room that had a chair and vanity in it. The girl said something to me and I understood change clothes. What? Change my clothes? She shut the door. What in the world did she mean? I opened the door and said "Ileana?" The worker girl looked at me like I was crazy but then opened another door where Ileana was. She motioned me down there. I walked in and Ileana looked as confused as me. She told me she kept saying to the girl "where is my friend?" We got instructed again to change our clothes. There was one robe in the room and 2 girls. The girls walked out again. Ileana and I started laughing. We opened the door again and got one of the girls back. We asked again if we were suppose to change. We showed her one robe. She said "oh" and went and got another one. She walked out again.

By this point Ileana and I are dying laughing. Who knew you had to get naked, except for underwear, to get a facial? Really weird. The two girls came back in. Ileana and I are still dying laughing. Our two workers were looking at us like we were aliens. My girl told me to lay down on my back. She said back 2 times. So I started to and Ileana said "of course no. Your face goes in this hole" as she was pointing to the hole. I looked at the girl and she shook her head yes. As this was happening the other girl was trying to take Ileana's robe off of her. This caused Ileana to start the laughing all over and say "oh my goodness". So both of us were laughing which caused the other two girls to start laughing. The one girls laugh was so loud and funny which caused more laughing. She walked out of the room and we could hear her laughing in the hallway. This went on for the next 10 minutes. We finally started "the facial" and the laughing finally stopped.

So a facial turned into starting with a 30 minute back massage. There was some oil that warmed up the more she rubbed. Then she started massaging my head. I should not have put goop and hair spray in my hair. It kind of hurt. Finally she flips me over and starts on the facial. I have never in my life had so many different liquids, creams, and lotions on my face. 1 1/2 hours later my face was done. While my face was soaking in all the stuff she rubbed my chest, arms, and hands. Luckily she stopped before touching my boobies. It was everything I had not to start laughing again. I was literally biting the insides of my cheeks.

She finally said I was done and sat me up. But then she rubbed my back again briefly then said I was done again. Finally the girls walked out. We got dressed and I looked in the mirror. I had some serious Don King hair. I was 7 feet tall. It was hilarious.

Overall it was relaxing and nice. However, I did learn a few things to remember the next time I go. Do not put product in my hair. Do not wear earrings or necklace. Do not wear contacts. Thank goodness I wear soft contacts and they stayed where they were suppose to. Shocking with all the rubbing of my eyes. I guess everything I do in China I need to go with an open mind and sense of humor because I never know what it is going to be like. Funny, funny morning. I love my outings with Ileana. Never dull.

We were hanging out at home so I told Ileana and Alejandro to come up. Her other kids were at friends houses. She came up and we were talking about needing a drill. She said she would get the driller. I said drill. I then said driller isn't even a word. She said "yes, of course we have it in Mexico. They are the people that sell drugs". I said "you mean dealer?" She snapped her fingers and said "oh, dealer". The laughter started all over again. Love her.

They left, we ate, and I checked Facebook for an update on Breanne. It was after midnight at home and she still hadn't had him. At 5:25 a.m. On November 9th, Little Emory Alan Mang-Chui Wong was born. Then the frustration started in because the VPN wouldn't work so I couldn't get on Facebook the rest of the night. There were big government meetings happening in Beijing so they were cracking down and blocking things. It's very spotty with Facebook, my blog, google, etc. It's frustrating. 

Too Cute

We took Michelle, Haley, and Maddy home after school because their driver didn't show up. Haley and Maddy sat in the backseat with Cameron. Haley was right next to Cameron with a big smile the whole way home. She is 4 and LOVES Cameron or "Cam a rone" as she calls him. After a bunch of goodbyes we finally drove away. Cameron was laughing and said "man, Haley thinks I am the greatest thing since spray cheese". I laughed, partly because he is right about Haley but mainly because he hasn't even had spray cheese. Isn't the saying sliced bread? Funny kid.

Cameron, Haley, and Maddy.  Are they cute or what?

Naughty Cameron

Went to yoga. It is unbelievable to me what our teacher is able to do and what she tries to make us do. It hurts and everything on me shakes like an earthquake is going on. I feel some people just aren't built to do some (most) of these moves.

11:45 walked over to meet Ileana and Michelle for lunch. We had a great lunch. Anthony gave us 2 new things to try. One was a beef dish in some broth with spinach and other stuff. The meat was delicious. He serves it with bread. Ileana tried the broth with the bread because she doesn't eat beef. Good dish. The second thing was a dessert. It was a piece of cake. It smelled delicious. However, it had coffee in it and it was topped with coconut. I was not a fan and Michelle wasn't either. We had Ileana take bites of each of ours so it looked like we ate some of it. Thank goodness she took one for the team. I would have felt bad otherwise. After lunch we all ran to the hardware store and Tesco. Back home and then off to school to get Cameron.

For dinner we had a pizza cook off again. We each had to get our crust ready and then figure out our toppings. Mine was the best I think. Probably because I used the yummy sausage topping from the orphanage. Good stuff.

Trying out his creation.

Todd and Cameron's pizza's.

My pizza kind of looked like the state of Illinois.

Cameron didn't get to play because he was in trouble for talking in Chinese class. He told me in the car. We have already talked to him about talking to the boys in class. We think he is trying to be cool or something in front them. We had another big talk and punished him. I know he has to learn to control himself and we have to help him do that but I don't know why I get so mad and frustrated with him for talking to his friends in Chinese class. I was queen of chatting. He is a GREAT kid, GREAT student. This one little thing is not the end of the world. In his defense (though I will never tell him this) Mr. Gao has zero control and it is easy to get side tracked. He is just way to nice for his own good. This is the only class he has ever had issues with and everyone in there gets in trouble for talking. And trouble is getting moved down on a chart so it isn't a huge deal. However, these things do not mean Cameron should be rude and disrespectful. 

Ayi vs. Maid

I worked out and kick boxing about killed me today. I went home and changed sheets and did laundry. You know, all the fun stuff around the apartment. I went to pick Cameron up at school and I started talking to Trine, Heidi, Mette, and Peter. They asked what I had been doing so I told them. Heidi looked at me and said "don't you have an ayi?" Before I could even say anything Trine piped in "yes she does but she is not allowed to do laundry or dishes". Heidi then looked at me and said "does she cook for you? ". Nope. Heidi again "and she doesn't babysit for you?" Nope. After giggles and some pondering Heidi looked at me and said "you don't have an ayi. You have a maid". Then everyone laughed. So after 73 weeks of saying I have an ayi I guess I was wrong. I have a maid!

These people think I am crazy I'm pretty sure. Oh we'll. At least I will be able to adjust back to the real world when we go back to America, as will my son. He still has to make his own bed and has chores. We don't have "people"at home like we do here. The conversation made for a good laugh.

Beijing Soccer Tournament

Up, ready, and off to breakfast at 7:30. At 8:30 we were in the van and headed to Cameron's soccer tournament. He had to be there by 9:30. Mr. Xue said it would take an hour to get there. We found the area but we went right when we should have went left. We only went a couple blocks out of our way when Todd told him to turn around. We arrived at the fields. Holy cow there were a lot of teams and people. The bus from TEDA was already there. It was 9:00. It took us 25 minutes and got a little lost so not sure why he thought it would take an hour.

They had a "good" team and a "bad" team from TEDA plus a girl team. Cameron was on the "bad" team. They named themselves this after the coach was trying to be tactful about saying they weren't the top players. The kids thought it was funny and they were just there to play and have fun.

All the kids from TEDA.

Getting a pep talk from Mr. Li.

They played 5 games. They lost 4 and tied 1. In one of the games Cameron was running and slid.  He accidentally knocked a kid over. When Cameron stood up the referee put a yellow card in front of his face. Cameron had a huge smile on his face. We think he was in shock. When he came over he said "did you see I got a yellow card?". Then he laughed and said "I slipped. I didn't mean to knock that kid over."

At the start of one of the games Cameron and a kid on the other team had to do Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who would get the ball first. Cameron threw out the gun sign (thanks Sharla for teaching him that) instead of scissors. He said the other kid said "what's that?" We could see the two kids and the ref laughing but didn't know why. Obviously, they had to do another round and rock smashed scissors so we got the ball.

He looks like he is ready to stop some balls.

Exhausted and wet.

Even the kids were getting cold.

It was cold, rainy, and wet. Most of the kids didn't seem to care but the parents were ready to go home. The boys had an hour break between game 4 and 5 so Todd jumped in the van and ran to Jenny Lou's to get some groceries so that we wouldn't have to do that after the game. He made it back in plenty of time. Before the last game Mr. Li (the coach) decided he wanted to get towels for all the kids for the ride home on the bus since they would be wet and cold. He asked Peter to coach while he ran to a store and asked if he could use Peter's driver and van. Of course Peter said yes. When Mr. Li arrived back the game had only been going on for about 5 minutes so he took over coaching again. Todd looked at the towels and told me to look. He bought 24 "towels". They maybe were the size of a hand towel if they were lucky. We chuckled about that. A funny visual of the kids trying to dry off or keep warm with those on the bus. Thank goodness Cameron rode home with us. And thank goodness he had dry clothes to change into. We even had enough to give dry clothes to Alfredo.

Here are the towels.

On the road to TEDA. Traffic was terrible. It was also very foggy. It took forever to get to the first toll booth and the interstate. Traffic was gone but it was pouring and foggy. You couldn't see anything. I was a nervous wreck. I can't stand driving in that kind of weather.

We stopped at the bathroom and continued on. I received a text on the way that said "boys won the sportsmanship award today. Cameron improved a lot in soccer in my eyes. Thanks for coming today". I responded even though I wasn't sure who it was from. I was guessing Mr. Li. I received another text..."have a safe way home and see you on Monday. Don't forget to talk to him about swim please". Yep, it's from Mr. Li. He has been trying to get Cameron on the swim team but he just won't do it.

Finally home around 6:00. So glad to be home. Hot showers, warm sweats and sweatshirt, and hot chocolate. That's what went on with Me and Cameron. We also started Cameron on his breathing treatments because he was starting to cough. Some tv and off to bed.

IKEA

Ileana was going to IKEA so I decided to ride along. I didn't need anything but I had a pretty lazy week so I just wanted to get out of the apartment. We left at 9:15. We arrived at 10 right when the doors opened.

We looked around and Ileana found a few things she wanted. I grabbed some napkins then decided to get some Christmas ones and a napkin holder. Oh and a place mat type thing to put in the middle of my table for December. 4 items was my big shopping spree. Ileana finally had to get a cart because she just could not hold anymore. She grabbed a few Christmas presents in the toy section for her nieces and nephews.

We looked at bookshelves for at least a half hour trying to decide which one she wanted and which brackets she needed. After all that time she finally decided to get the one shelves that come with brackets in one package. That was a tough decision let me tell you.

We went in the section where they have clocks and things. All of a sudden my eyes see this clock. It was black, tall with a big clock and shelves. I said "oh my gosh that clock is neat". Ileana agreed and said another one of our friends, Nadia, has it. I couldn't stop looking at it and loving it. I thought where it could go in the apartment but I couldn't figure out what I would do with it back in the States. I was leaning towards not getting it. Plus, it was 999rmb ($160 about). We continued shopping.

On the lower floor is where the big boxed items are so we decided to go look at 17-19...the clock, just one last time. We ended up putting 2 onto the big cart. Ileana and I both impulsed bought it.

We continued to look at the Christmas stuff. Ileana was buying all kinds of cute things. She was trying to decided on these big light up stars. We looked over and her driver was drinking something leaning on a table just staring at us. We are pretty sure he thought we were crazy. She finally decided to buy the stars and we could figure out at home how/where she could use them. Finally in the check out lane. Ileana had a ton and I still had my 4 little items plus the clock. Checked out and I went with Leo to load the van. Ileana hit the bathroom and the food section. She bought what she needed and was back in the van.

We headed home. We arrived about 1:15. I had told Megan to put some cards she had for me on the refrigerator that was still in the hall since I wasn't home and she was at my neighbors. She said "what if they come get it?" I told her it had been 3 weeks that they were suppose to get it I'm sure they will be fine. We carried all the stuff in and I went up to my apartment. I grabbed the cards off the fridge and went inside. I decided to put my clock together. Got the tools I needed and opened the boxes. My ayi was looking at me trying to figure out what I was doing.

Ileana came up to supervise and by 2:15 the clock was together and in its spot. We just need to anchor it to the wall. I like it but it isn't as deep as it seemed in the store. Still cool though. I finished getting everything ready for Beijing and headed out at 2:50 to go get Cameron. I walked out of my apartment and guess what? The refrigerator was gone. I could not believe it. I immediately sent Megan a text. What a weird fluke that was.

My new clock.

Grabbed Cameron and headed to Beijing. We were making great time until the spot right after the Beijing toll. There is a spot where some people have to stop to get a permit to get into Beijing. For some odd reason the interstate is blocked off, which it always has been, and all cars have to maneuver through this little spot. Today the traffic was backed up for a long time. When we finally drove through this spot we noticed a ton more police officers and they were stopping some cars. I'm not sure what is going on but security has definitely got more visible. We were able to just drive through but we saw 4 officers looking at a baseball bat they took out of a car. Strange.

We were back on the interstate and headed to the airport. Todd flew in from Harbin. We picked him up and went to the hotel. We checked in and were upgraded to a suite...Sweet! Hit the lounge so Cameron could grab a snack since he was starving. Todd ran into a guy he works with so we talked to him for a few minutes and then went to the Kro for dinner. It was packed. We were told there were 6 tables to be filled before we would get one. No problem. We went to the bar and ordered an appetizer. As it turned out we just decided to order our food and take it back to the hotel.

Walked back to the hotel with our food and had dinner. Showered, watched a little tv, and off to bed.