Kenaz Suddenly Changed

I sent my mom an e-mail yesterday said Kenaz started crawling one or two steps but he is rather picked up and held. Today he already thinks he is the king of floor. He crawls to everywhere in the living room (he still doesn't want to explore other part of house). He holds a sofa to stands up and walks around. He wants to go to everywhere Akiva and I go. Today when we were about out the door for swimming, Kenaz’s tear came out.Kenaz all sudden wants to get everything what Akiva has. When Akiva has a dump truck, Kenaz doesn’t want to have a cement mixing truck instead. He screams at Akiva.

suddenly Kenaz loves daddy. Every night when Jesse came home, Kenaz cried. He was a totally bugger. Now he cries when daddy is going to work. He wants daddy to play upside and down.

Poly Tech Kids Shool

A cute Vicky teacher lifted up Akiva to put him down on "soft" pillow
Akiva has been taking a class at Poly Tech Kids where he learns math and science in Chinese. This time he learned 1. 2. 3. in the first half class (20 minutes each), and he learned a concept of hard and soft in the next half. This time was a little bite boring. Jesse sat through the first half and got sleepy. I came in for next half. Akiva used sponges, socks, and pillows for soft materials and glasses, wood, and egg case for hard one. He got bored too and asked me to take him home.

They often offer a class which can’t do at home like playing flour (spread on entire class room), drawing paint (very messy), or observing turtle (poor turtle). They often use cars which Akiva is crazy about. During a class, a teacher keeps all materials in a closet and brings out them each by each. Akiva is a designate helper to bring out and put away materials. He goes with a teacher and peaks inside a closet.Kenaz is in a ball poor at the school

Good Bye, Our Live in Nanny

We don’t have a live in nanny Xiong ayi anymore. I let her go on last Friday after one week. Xiong ayi was nice but she wasn’t good enough for Akiva. He forgot all his Chinese. I realized someone livable may not be the best for kids. When Xiong ayi lived with us, she focused on Kenaz, because she thought he is easy to take care of. She held him all the time that made Akiva kind of jealous. Akiva kept teased Kenaz. She tried to interact with Akiva, but she didn’t know how. Last Thursday Akiva’s local friend Tian Tian and his mom Wong Ming in our neighbor showed up in our door at 8 am. They brought pancakes. It was their excuse to come and play with Akiva (they are always welcome but sometimes they showed up too early morning or tool late at night without appointment). It was very hot out side. They stayed at our house all day. I observed how Xiong ayi plays with two boys. She didn’t really play with them. One time they fought over one toy. She had no clue to chill them off. Akiva and Tian Tian are not wild. They listen to what adults say most the time. I found Akiva is very easy now because he understands. Xiong ayi couldn’t talk to them the way kids understand. My doubt about her was getting bigger. I know she needs time. However I was afraid she may take longer. She told me she is always slow. Wong Ming and I told her speed is very important especially when we are around kids. She said being slow is a part of her personality.

That night after dinner I told our live in nanny to go out for shopping with Akiva. I actually went to visit Wang Ming to ask her opinion about her. Wang Ming felt the same way I felt. Xiong ayi doesn’t know how to take care of kids. Since her reaction is slow she may take longer to learn and adjust to everything. At the end she told me if she were me, she wouldn’t hire her.

Next morning I let her go. She moved out. Now she is temporary living with Chinese family for one week to help out her friend who is their cleaning lady and had to go back to her home town. Xiong ayi’s most stuff is still in our house. She visits us every other day to either pick up her stuffs or kills her time.

Meanwhile we asked our original nanny Zhu ayi to come back. She was amazed how Akiva forgot all his Chinese and how I got skinnier for a week (I had to train Xiong ayi. I had less time to eat and rest. Plus her food was less oily). Zhu ayi is still best for Akiva and Kenaz. She knows how to play with Akiva while she takes care of Kenaz. She laughs out loud when Akiva does some thing funny and naughty. She constantly talks to him clearly and repeatedly. Yet she is not necessary best for me. She never listens to me. She is loud and very opinionated.

Best Buy in 2007

Yesterday I bought a bamboo sheet called Ma Jiang sheet which is put together with small bamboos. It looks like Ma Jiang pieces. My friend told me it is the coolest sheet to sleep on during hot humid summer. I usually sleep face down. That night when I put my chest on the sheet I thought my heart would stop. It was much colder than I expected. I was worried about if it is too hard to sleep on. Because the bamboo pieces are small, it will fit on my body shape. I did not feel like sleeping on bamboo. I had a good sleep without turning air-condition.

A Live in Nanny

We have a live in nanny for two days. I asked all my friends and went to three agents to find her. We interviewed five candidates. Last Sunday we met one candidate introduced by English speaking agent focused on expats. 1) Skanky Northern Nanny: We thought she was a little bit skanky. She was well dressed. She had white nail polish on her pinky and pointer fingers and black on the other fingers. Her skin was white. She talked in a weird way...sort of Northern Chinese Ghetto mannerism (according to Jesse). The stated reason she left her home with her sons (10 and 18) and husband is she want to see the out side of world. She has been in Suzhou for only one year. She’s been a cleaning lady for an American family. They live in a big house on the other side of lake. She wants to find a new family closer. 2) Hard Work Grandma: My friend introduced her as a very hard worker from the previous generation. I can see she is a very hard worker. I bet she gets up 5 am and cleans the house and cooks breakfast without complaining. I can also see her as being a typically Chinese grand ma to tell Kenaz to not to do anything because it is dangerous or dirty. 3) Great Experienced Nanny: Agent told me I am very lucky to find her. She lived with Taiwanese family for three years and took care of three small kids. She lived with Malaysian family for four years and learned Malaysian cooking. Currently she was with a new Malaysian family and she hated there because the wife makes her cook four times per day. We thought she talks too slow as if she is stupid or she thinks us very stupid. 4) YangZhou Nanny: My friend's house cleaning lady brought her. She is a niece or her some far relatives. My friend’s cleaning lady is old loud YangZhounese who has very thick accent. She cannot stop talking about my friend and her sons. We thought her niece is nice, but she just came out from YangZhou and doesn’t have experience. 5) Good First Impression Nanny: I went to see her at agent. She was sitting on the chair at the lobby. She kind of gave me a smile. I didn’t know she is the one, but I got very good impression. After the interview, I thought Jesse would like her too. In fact, he did. She was with Taiwanese family for one year. She left them because the wife did not let her take a maid training session. She does not have experience take care of other people’s kids, but she has two girls at her home town. She is 46, but she looks like 30.

We decided to live with No.5 Good First Impression woman. So far she is nice. She knows how to cook Taiwanese food with less oil. She helps me to clean the house. Akiva and Kenaz are not totally used to her. Kenaz cries when she holds him. Very funny thing is Akiva has been very good to her. He wants to teach her how to get around in the house. He told her he can take her to a playground. He can show her where a supermarket is. When he speaks to her in Chinese, he sounds like a little teacher.

Yesterday she told me if her face looks like sick. I told her it doesn’t. In fact if it does, we did not want to hire her. She said she abortion 16 times (!!) so she has some age spots. I thought I did not understand her correctly because of my poor Chinese. She repeated me “I was young and had 16 time abortions”. I wish she did not tell me that. I asked her “all different men?” She said”no, with my husband”. Her health record done by recently did not show any diseases. I hope she is good person and good with my two sons……

[Jesse's note:] We get different people all over the world who find this blog sometimes. Sometimes we get people here because they probably Googled "stroller" and "China". Maybe sometimes we get people here because they type "Best Dongbei Northeastern Noodles Dumplings China review". Sometimes we get wacky people who come to the site and leave weird psychotic messages (see comments to last post...I suspect some of those psychotic messages are left by Jeremy though). I believe over the next year this post will get quite a few hits by people who Google "China" and "Abortion".

So for the new visitors who come to the site while researching about abortion habits in China, let me explain it now. Chinese have absolutely zero moral taboo against abortion. OK. That's not 100% right. Teenagers are not supposed to get abortions. But... the taboo against unmarried teenage pregnancy is about 1568 times more intense than the taboo against teenage abortion.

I take a Jewish perspective towards abortion; it’s a sin against G_d that should not be held accountable by the laws of Man. (and too new visitors...I will not elaborate on that more) Generally speaking, people ideally should try to conduct themselves in such a way that abortion is not necessary. But I do not judge Chinese people because of their attitude about abortion. (I judge Chinese people on many other issues though, such as their lack of driving common-sense, lack of democracy, and eating fried chicken claws). If this Aiyi had a second child, she probably would have to pay a fine of around $4000 USD… or about two years salary (as our Aiyi,) or about 6 years salary based on her families income in the countryside. And if they did not pay that, her second child would not have any chance to get subsidized medical care, education, etc. The second-child cost is on a sliding scale based on the location of residency. We have heard that in Suzhou, the cost goes into up to $50,000USD. I know people who decided to pay this money so that they can have a legal second child. And every one of them that decides to have a second child must go through a long discussion…is it better to have a second child, a new Mercedes Benz, or another investment apartment? So from my perspective, the choice come down to a) having another spoiled rotten child and contributing to China’s over-population b) driving a pretentious car…poorly…and adding to the traffic problem, or c) adding to the local real-estate investment bubble problem.

Anyway, I do not believe Haga has any negative moral feelings toward people who have abortions. Even 16 abortions. She may think this shows lack of judgment skills. I think she is just shocked to hear this and felt it was Way Too Much Information. From my perspective, our new AiYi, like our last one, is an under-educated (yet literate) Chinese peasant woman. And most Chinese peasants have big hearts. But most…like people all over the world… do not really research or learn things outside of what their circle of relatives and friends teach them. It’s unlikely that they ever had a sex-ed class. Its quite possible that condoms are not sold in her village. So this fact does not bother me at all. I just hope that she does not have too many weird superstitions like believing her age-spots are because of her abortions[/Jesse’s Note]