People of Walmart

In China, Walmart is just your typical grocery store, plus clothes, toys, appliances, books, and everything else under the sun. It doesn't have that social stigma that it has in America of being kind of a lower-class white trash place to shop. Until we go, that is.
I took my two girls grocery shopping today. I needed a lot of room in the stroller to take everything back home, so I considered leaving the diaper bag at home and just taking my wallet. I've learned that lesson before, though, and I brought the bag. Good thing, too.
We'd finished about 2/3 of our shopping, and just after I'd loaded a couple boxes of drinkable yogurt onto our cart, Penny announced, "Mommy, poopoo."
'Oh crap,' I thought. And I was right.
I dragged my stiff-legged child halfway across the store to the one bathroom-- which happens to be past the check-out counters. I stashed my grocery-laden stroller in a corner, strapped Meimei in her Baby Bjorn, shouldered my purse, and dragged Penny into the ladies' room.
Now if you've never tried to keep everything from touching the world's nastiest floor and clean a child's dirty drawers while balancing the other child on your legs and trying to keep everyone from falling into the squatter, you've really got to try it sometime. It's as fun as it sounds. I eventually gave up trying to give Penny the privacy of a bathroom stall, and I just attempted the clean-up in the middle of the restroom. It's been snowy and slushy outside, so they put cardboard all over the floor to keep it from getting slippery. This also meant I could tell where people had walked, and I tried to keep my barefoot child standing on some of the lesser-used bits of cardboard.
The gathering crowd was giving helpful commentary, like, "I think she wet her pants."
"No, I think she pooped."
"She's trying to hold the one baby and change the other one's pants."
"Is your baby a boy or a girl?"
Finally, someone offered to hold Naomi. As long as people are going to stand around watching, they might as well be useful. So Naomi went to a friendly Walmart lady. I got the offending pants off and the bum cleaned. Penny got to wear one of her sister's diapers.
"Why don't you go wash the pants out in the sink over there?"
"You can't let her go out like that; she'll freeze with no pants on!"
It's kind of helpful to have 1.3 billion people giving you advice. I went and washed out the pants. Everyone else was exclaiming their shock and disbelief that I'd let my daughter walk around with just her "guang pigu" and naked little legs. Come on, people! It's not like we're going out in the snow!
Eventually someone found me a plastic bag, and I wrapped up the washed-but-still-nasty pants and threw them in the diaper bag. By now, Penny was cowering between me and the sink with her head down, Naomi was crying having realized I wasn't holding her, and the crowd had grown to about 14 or 15 ladies giving us helpful advice.
The crowd dispersed as we made our way back to the stroller, and once I put the girls in, there were just two or three ladies, each of them telling me that I should go buy some pants up on the 3rd floor and have her wear those. I smiled and assured them that was my plan.
I lied. I just finished my grocery shopping and headed home, although all through the vegetable section, I could hear the employees talking about "niao kuzi" that Penny had peed her pants. Yeah, we're pretty classy.

Penny for your thoughts

Penny learned a lot of English while we were back in America. Funny, because all I hear her say is stuff like this:

Penny comes running up to me. "Mommy," she asks, looking up into my face, "Penny cry a arm?"

"Um, okay." I say.

Penny grabs my arm, buries her face onto it, and starts to weep dramatically.

"Hey Penny, can you wink?" I ask, winking at her.

"Mommy, I do a TWO winkings!" She blinks BOTH her eyes tightly shut.

On the way home in a taxi:
Meimei: *Burp*

Me: Meimei burped.

Penny: Meimei not a bird.

Me: (pause) (confused) Oh, right. Meimei's a person.

Penny: (pause) (confused) no, Meimei not a person. Just a meimei.

Lady Meimei Crawley

It's official. Meimei is a crawler. And while I haven't documented it on film yet, I have a few photos of her from our trip home.

She's almost crawling at Grandma's house:

We don't look exactly the same, but Penny thought the baby in the picture was her sister.

And Grandpa was super happy to meet his Chinese grandbaby!

The world is our smorgasbord

We haven't been in Shenyang for even one of our two years yet, but we're already starting the process of bidding for our next post.
It's a little bit terrifying. Last time we were bidding, we put China on the top of the list, and I knew we had a good chance of getting it. Come on, who else would bid high for frozen, polluted Manchuria? And we both speak Chinese. So while we researched the other possibilities, I didn't honestly consider them as likely prospects.
But this time is different. You can't stay in the same country twice in a row, so that eliminates any China posts. There aren't any other Chinese speaking posts that fit our criteria. So basically.... the world is our oyster. It's terrifying to be playing this real-life version of Spin the Globe and realize more than just your finger is going to wind up in some random far-flung corner of the world.
We really have a wonderful bid list-- a smorgasbord of exotic locales.... sort of. See, we have to limit it based on the kind of position Kevin will be taking, so that winnows out quite a few. Then we have to see which positions would work with our timing (when we leave our post, after time off for mandatory leave, and with training schedules that work to our timetable). That actually narrows it down quite a bit. Too much, in fact. And then we found out this morning that just because you have enough time to do the required training, it doesn't mean that the classes start when you need them to.
Basically, our smorgasbord has been reduced to the state of a church potluck lunch-- an hour after it started. We can still scrape together enough Jell-o salad to make a decent serving, and there are enough chicken enchilada scraps that you can pretend it's the whole enchilada. Actually, there are a few gems like an untouched lasagne that someone left the tin-foil on. And a chocolate bundt cake no one wanted to be the first to cut into. Two of my top three have survived the winnowing process, and I'm excited about most of our top 10. We're just hoping it doesn't come down to the leftover Jell-o salad, because we're just finishing a Jell-o salad post, and we are really hoping for some bundt cake or lasagne next time around.

Why Shenyang makes me happy

This week's Foreign Service Blog Round-Up is about what makes you happy in your current post. I've been thinking about this a lot the last few days, since returning home from more than a MONTH back in the USA.

I was ready and happy to come home. I missed Kevin and I missed my home, but I'll have to be honest: I didn't miss Shenyang that much. Shenyang is basically the Detroit of China. Sure, it's a big, important city (top ten largest in China with 8 million people), but it's nowhere you'd go just for fun. There are no tourists in Shenyang. It's really cold in the winter, really dirty, and really polluted. The other expats you meet here are with companies like BMW, Michelin, Bombardier, and Rolls-Royce. It's very industrial here, and like I said, the Detroit of China.

HOWEVER

When Kevin was bidding for his posts, there was a list full of exotic locations like Paris, Vatican City, Cairo, Athens, and Juarez (ha ha ha!). Those didn't make our top list, but Shenyang was at-or-near the top for both of us. And I'm very happy we got this post. Let me list some reasons why.

~ I get to practice my Chinese everywhere we go, because most people don't speak English and even if they do, they prefer speaking Chinese. My Chinese has gotten much better-- to the point where even talking to a hotel concierge in Beijing, I lost patience with his accented English and just talked to him in Chinese.

~ My girls are learning Chinese.

~ I love some "only in China" foods like drinkable yogurts, tangy green Xinjiang raisins, lamb kebabs, and ice cream floats at McDonald's. Our Ayi makes some awesome liang cai (Chinese salad, essentially). It has shredded cucumbers, green peppers, carrots, cilantro, tofu bamboo, and a sesame dressing.

~ We have a wonderful housekeeper. I'm loving that my house is clean-- well, cleaner (I still live here, after all)-- and I love that it leaves me more time to play with my kids. But what struck me the most after our month-long vacation is that it's fun to have another person love your children. Ayi LOVES Naomi, and she was so excited to see her when we got back that she came by on a Saturday to visit with Naomi. She exclaims about how much she's grown, how tan she is (which is a bad thing in China, but whatever), how she's grown more teeth, and how she can stand on her own. It's fun to be able to share those with other people.

~ Wherever we go, I kind of feel like Brad and Angelina with their posse of kids. People talk about us as we walk by, elbowing their friends to come look at the beautiful little foreign dolls. They smack their lips to get the babies' attention, and the old ladies come and tell me to dress them warmer. The younger generation all stop to take pictures on their cell phones. I think half the population of Shenyang must have their pictures as cell phone wall paper by now. Everywhere we go, people exclaim about how beautiful they are, and look at those eyes! It does a momma's pride good.

~ People tell me I'm amazing for taking care of two whole kids all by myself. It's twice as many as the average Chinese person has.

~ Before we went to Hawaii, I got a couple sundresses and Kevin's aloha shirt tailor made. It cost about $20 each. I need to take full advantage of this before we leave.

~ I actually like the weather. I mean, sure, it's hovering around 0 degrees Fahrenheit these days, but the spring, summer, and fall are very pleasant.

~ We live upstairs from H&M.

~ Ikea is a 10 minute drive away.

~ I don't have hundreds of friends, but I do have several good ones. I'd rather have several good friends than hundreds of acquaintances anyway. We have a small consulate community, a tiny church group, and a few neighbors with kids the same ages as mine. We have fun whenever we get together.

~ Our apartment serves breakfast every morning.

~ I can walk for 5 minutes and find a grocery store (even with imported goods) in 3 directions.

Okay, so Shenyang's no beach vacation. I doubt anyone could accuse it of being glamorous. But for what it is and what it has, we're very happy here.

New school

I've known about this for a while and even seen it in progress, but I always forget about the new LAHS building going up. It's kind of weird to look at my old stomping grounds and see this, but it's really cool, too!

So for your viewing pleasure, here is the new Los Alamos High School.

The portable building on the right isn't permanent, I'm hoping. I understand that's where they're having classes while the new school's being built.

I think this is the front door, and you can kind of see the library behind the pine tree. It's the same library, but it's covered in tin foil of some sort. Maybe that will keep the water out. :P

Traveling with small children: as fun as it sounds

I really wasn't looking forward to bringing my girls home. Actually, at the beginning of my trip I wondered if I'd want to go home at all, but after more than a month of traveling, I was actually ready to return home-- even if that home is in frozen Manchuria.

The long day of travelling began in San Francisco at about noon. My mom has a picture of us just before going through security. I strapped Naomi to my front, wore a backpack, pushed Penny in her stroller, and hung the diaper bag from the stroller handles. Technically we had 3 airplane tickets and could have brought a lot more luggage, but we'd already maxed out our capacity at two items.

Naomi had just slept in the car for a bit, and Penny would be winding down for her nap about 3 hours later..... theoretically. What actually happened was that no one slept for the first 9 hours of our 12 hour flight. Naomi needed to sleep. She REALLY needed to. But Penny wouldn't have it. We'd been gone from our home and from their Daddy for a long time, and the longer we were gone, the more they were both acting out for attention. Naomi cried whenever I wasn't holding her, and Penny would whine, cry, hit people, or generally misbehave whenever I focused all my attention on Naomi. This was only heightened on the flight. I tried to nurse and snuggle Naomi to sleep, but Penny would get jealous and start hitting her sister. Joy. Then no one was sleeping. That continued for hours.

The airplane didn't have the individual TVs for each seat, and Penny wanted to watch the TVs hanging down from the aisle ceiling. Since she's still tiny, the only way she could see the TV was to stand up on her seat. That's not a problem in itself, but no child ever lulled herself to sleep watching TV while standing up. It was the worst. At one point I even tried spanking Penny. I'd lay her down, and if she got up, I'd whack her little butt. That never works, and this time was no exception. I hate that I ever resort to that, because it only makes everyone upset (including me at myself). But going on nine hours of cranky babies, I was just hoping anything would work.

It's quite a production to squeeze all three of us into the tiny airplane bathrooms, but when one of us had to go, all of us had to go. We did it, and it was comical. Actually, Penny wouldn't eat much food but did drink all her juice whenever it was given her. She peed her pants twice. When I was down to the last pair of dry pants, she got to wear one of Naomi's diapers for the rest of the trip. Good thing, too!

The girls slept for the last three hours of the flight. Mercifully. There's something about a sleeping baby (or two) that just makes any frustration, anger, or exhaustion just melt away. I'm not sure how it works, but I'm certainly glad it does.

After a 4-hour layover in Beijing, where my voice was croaky, my mind was blurry, and people wanted me to talk to them-- in Chinese-- we flew home to Shenyang. All three of us slept on that short flight. Penny fell asleep before the plane had even pushed back from the airport. Naomi and I weren't far behind her.

We made it home, and for that I'm grateful. I wasn't expecting it to be a fun journey, and it lived up to my expectations.

We have the opportunity to travel home again before the end of the year. We'll see if my memory fades by then.

Happy Valentine's Day!

If you'd rather not read anything lovey-dovey and romantic, you'd better just leave the internet. It's Valentine's Day, people! This is when we pull out all the stops and put smooches and flowers all over the world wide web! And I'd like to contribute to the mushiness by sharing my favorite love story.
Once upon a time, Kevin and I were complete strangers who both decided to study Chinese on the BYU Study Abroad program in Nanjing. We took a study abroad prep class at the same time, but I hesitate to say we took it together. He sat on one side of the room, and I sat on the other. I met many of my classmates, but I don't think I said a single word to that super-friendly half-Taiwanese guy from the other side of the room. I thought he was one of those super-friendly people who wouldn't like me much because I can be kind of quiet sometimes. (He says he never talked to me because he thought I was pretty.) Go figure.
Fast-forward to the beginning of fall semester in China. I'd been traveling in China for two weeks already with some friends, and I was already settled in to the dorm. A group of us went out to dinner and shopping one evening, and on the way out, we ran into Kevin just arriving in the front office. We asked him if he'd like to go with us, and he said he would, but just let him put his suitcases upstairs first. He was trying to wheel three suitcases into the elevator on his own, so I helped him with one of them.
We went out shopping that evening. Kevin says that there was one point where I turned around and looked over my shoulder to smile at him, and he fell in love with me at that moment.
I remember thinking that he laughed too much. I literally thought to myself, this is a nice guy, but I could never date him because he laughs after every single thing he says.
Over the next days and weeks, Kevin was really nice to me. Our group would always be going out to this or that, and there would be a general invitation to come if you wanted to. Everyone was very nice. Kevin, though, would always come to me specifically and invite me or make sure I was going or whatever.
I had some major stomach problems that kept me home from school at the beginning. Kevin would stop by before class and let me borrow his laptop to watch movies in bed while he was in school.
One time, Kevin and his roommate, Dean, invited me over to their apartment. They both had bikes, but I did not. In China, though, you'll see people perched on the back of a bike, so we decided to try it. I sat on the back while Kevin pedaled. It was super awkward, because we'd just met, and I wasn't sure where to hold on. If you know the person well, I guess you just hold them around the waist or on their back. I didn't feel that comfortable with him yet, so I just held on to the bottom of his bicycle seat. This didn't help much, because there's not much seat to hold onto, and I was holding just millimeters away from his butt. I probably should have just held onto his waist. Also, this was a memorable trip, because although it was a brand new bike, the frame kind of twisted in an unhealthy way with every pedal.
We went to lunch together all the time, and took a Tai Chi class. We talked a lot and went all over Nanjing with the other students in our group. I stopped noticing his constant nervous laughter, which is because he stopped feeling so nervous around me, I guess.
One day we were in a convenience store buying lunch. There were several of us in the store, and there wasn't a lot of room to get around. I had to get past Kevin, and instead of moving to let me by, leaving space for an American personal bubble, he just stood there. I ootched past anyway, but there was a split second where we found ourselves face-to-face. He was just watching me, smiling. I think my heart skipped a beat, and I probably blushed, but then I just moved right past to get the rest of my groceries.
The computer lab we got to use to write emails was pretty small, and after class let out, there was always a line. I remember waiting for a computer and checking out all the boys using computers. (What? I was cute, single, and in college-- that's what I did!) There was a fine variety of handsome guys in the computer lab, but I remember thinking that there was only one I'd like to kiss, and that one was Kevin.
Later that day, actually, Kevin stopped me in the hall after leaving my dorm. "Chelsea," he said, "I really like you. You're happy and smart and beautiful and funny, and I just think you're amazing." (That was the gist of it.)
They never tell you how to respond when that happens. My mind was racing, and my response was rather eloquent: "........................... Um................ I really like spending time with you, too."
What I was thinking was more along the lines of, "WOW, no one has ever said that to me before. You're a fun guy and a great friend, but I've never had a boyfriend before, and I hadn't thought about this yet. You're a cute (I mean, ruggedly handsome) guy-- definitely top tier-- but I hadn't ruled anyone else out yet, and if we started dating, that would rule everyone else out, and gosh, I don't know. What am I supposed to say?"
Needless to say, my eloquence left Kevin feeling rather shut-down. He lobs himself up, and BAM! I slam him right back down.
That's not what I meant. But I didn't express myself as well as they do on the movies. And he gave me a lot to think about all afternoon.
That evening-- it must have been a Monday evening, because we had a group FHE activity of some sort-- I guess you could say I'd come around. He was playing with some kids, tossing them in the air and making them giggle, and I found myself imagining if he were tossing around OUR kids and what kind of a dad he would be. (BTW, it's exactly how he tosses our girls and makes them giggle to no end.)
So as we were leaving the activity, I pulled him aside. "Kevin, I don't want you to feel stupid for earlier, because (awkward pause), um... (probably blushing, but it was dark)... I really like you, too."
Kevin broke into a grin and hugged me right there in the street.
I'm not sure we would win any awards for eloquence, and if it were a movie, I'm not sure anyone would go see it. But that's my version of our love story-- the beginning at least. It's my favorite one.
Kevin, Chelsea, and a monk on a cell phone:

Kevin, Chelsea, and a cute little Chinese boy (ahem, my brother Daniel) at the end of semester banquet: