life and times of the covners family in suzhou, china

Vietnam Recap, Part 3

2010-02-24T22:49:00.004+08:00

What else is there to say? It was a good vacation for me. I didn't worry about anything. Well... because I didn't worry about anything, my mind made up all sorts of stuff to worry about.

This is where we stayed, at the Thanh Kieu Resort (84 0773848394). Because it was Vietnamese New Years, we paid triple, or about $45 a night to stay in an un-air-conditioned bungalow on the beach. But all-in-all, it was good. I would go back. The hotel staff were not professional and only the daughter of the owner (who was on a working vacation, visiting from her home in Hochiminh) could speak English. But they were good to us.

I think the town and harbor of Phu Quoc is very quaint, but like much of Vietnam, is very poor.

BTW, you may notice that many of the pictures seem dark, even on the beach. We tried to keep the kids out of the sun during the day and only went into water in the morning and around 4 PM. On our first day to Phu Quoc, we got excited and went into the water, then got sunburned. And then Akiva and Haga got a "sunburn fever".

We went on a snorkeling trip. Kenaz went in the water a little, but Akiva really got into it. For me, it was probably the best, prettiest coral I have seen. Akiva loved it, but he would not shut his mouth.

"Daddy, what's that?"
"Coral"
"Daddy what's that?"
"Another type of Coral"
"Daddy what's that?"
"Sea Urchin. Akiva, keep your mouth shut and just look"
"Daddy what's that fish looking thing?"
"A fish. Akiva I can't lift my head here to talk to you because then I'll sink and touch the coral."
"Why can't you touch the coral?"
"Because that is not good. Just be quite and watch"
"But why can't you touch the coral?"
"Because I will scratch and cut myself, like I just did. So just put your face in the water and look around and stop talking please"
"But daddy why did you cut yourself on the coral? Is it dangerous?"

The only problem with this trip was coming home. We didn't book a return flight from Phu Quoc in advance because we did not know if we would like it or not. So when we arrived, there were already no airplanes back to Hochiminh city. There were no boats available either until 3 days after our return-to-Shanghai reservation. Vietnamese all travel home during Vietnamese New Years, just like Chinese. All the sons and daughters of Phu Quoc's fishermen live and work in HCMC. We had to fight for a boat ticket. Then we took a boat from Phu Quoc to Rach Gia, then a 7 hour bus ride, at the back of a van, over bumpy roads, to HCMC. And when we got to HCMC, they couldn't get the luggage compartment of the bus open, so we waited another hour until past midnight. The next day we went to the airport at 11PM to catch a flight at 1AM, which was delayed until 2AM, to travel back to Shanghai. The kids both got fevers and were tired out, but luckily we got through health quaranteen in Shanghai. We are mostly OK now, though still a little weak and tired from the last two days of the travel.

FYI, this is going to be the last post here for about 2-3 weeks. We are going to switch from the Blogger blog-posting system to Wordpress. There are several reasons for this, including that the Blogger tools are blocked in China, and also that Blogger will stop providing FTP support (so it will not hook-up with our blog server) anymore. So we are going to do a redesign, but hopefully keep everything intact.

To all our friends and family, we miss you. We hope on our next vacation we will get to see some of our loved ones.

Vietnam Recap, Part 2

2010-02-23T21:32:00.003+08:00

So we went to a small island of the West coast called Phu Quoc. Phu Quoc is about 70 Km long. Its main industries are fishing (famous for squid) and the preparation of black pepper and fish sauce.

View Larger Map

We arrived on February 14th. Originally, we did not have a return ticket because we were not sure if we would like it or not. We liked it though. We did the usual things we do when we go to islands during the Chinese New Years holiday. For example, we played in the water.

We hunted for crabs and treasure

We built fortresses

We made new friends

Of course we ate all sorts of food at the night market

In the next few days, I will post Part 3, which includes exciting action photos, more boating action, and a retelling of our Vietnamese New Years escape from Paradise Island.

Vietnam Recap, Part 1

2010-02-22T15:15:00.004+08:00

We got back this morning. But more about that at the end. Originally I was going to post daily updates from our Vietnam trip. But the computers in the hotels we stayed at had problems, as well as the memory card for my camera. So here is the rest of the the first stage of our journey, in more-or-less chronological order.

2/13 Mekong river trip

Its not actually called the Mekong river by the Vietnamese. They see it as one of several main rivers. Actually, I would characterize all of Southern Vietnam as one big city (Hochiminh AKA Saigon) which extends out along rivers and highways. Along all the many rivers and highways, there are shops the entire length. Larger towns have buildings behind the shops. As you travel on the road, you would pass bridges over rivers, which show where the town forks out in other directions. Most of this big, forking city was - economically speaking - poor. But anyway...

We did a one-day tour, with our guide, "Stiffler". We went up to see the floating market, but it was mostly closed because of Vietnamese New Years.

Stiffler showed us a few things which people do along the river, including...

Snakes

Bee farms

Walking around in the hot sun

Make rice paper-wrapper

Ride around in row boats...

Along another muddy river

When the trip was over, we returned to our hotel, where the kids befriended the cute front-desk girl

Speaking of which... we stayed at NHATTHAO guest house (35/4 Bui Vien st.,Dist.1, HCM City - VN Tel : (84-8) 8368117 - 8368214 Email : nhatthaohotel@yahoo.com ) We paid $25 (I think that was a high Vietnam New Years rate) per night for an air-conditioned room. It was bare-basic, but it was also clean, quite, and in the middle of the tourist area but away from the street. HBO / Cartoon Network included. Staff was very friendly. I recommend.

So that's it for Part 1. I will try to get Part 2 up tonight or tomorrow night.

Here is a preview, from 5:00 AM on 2/20/10:

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Pho in Vietnam

2010-02-12T22:02:00.002+08:00

We are in Vietnam from 2/11 - 2/22. Our goals are: 1) have good Vietnamese food, specifically Pho, 2) warm up, 3) see a beach.

Mission 1 status: Accomplished!

Bonus Objective: Eat Crap Soup, BBQ pork rice noodles (Haga's goal). Accomplished!

Mission 2 status: Accomplished!

The traffic is really bad here. But we already accoplished 2 objectives, so we are good.

On Sunday we plan to go to an Island called Phu Quoc. I'm scarred of riding the airplane, and scared of having to get up at 4:30 to get to that airplane. But we will see. We must get objective 3 done!

Happy Birthday Akiva

2010-01-26T16:48:00.003+08:00

Well. Akiva is five. Everyone always says they grow up fast. I can't believe it. He is still my little boy. But he is becoming more of a big boy everyday.

We had 6 of Akiva's friends over for a party last Friday. All well behaved Chinese boys and (one) girl. We had cake, them games.

They have lived their lives in China so far. Generally speaking, this is a good thing. They speak 3 languages. They play with Chinese and Japanese children (and in the future will eventually play with more Americans). They live next to their school, which they really enjoy going to. Akiva is learning how to write English and Chinese. They are happy.

At the party, Akiva played host. Neither freaked out about other children playing with their toys. I would even say that Akiva was the leader of the bunch.

The party broke into about two to three sub-groups, centered around the play room, games in the living room, and whoever wanted to run around playing Ultraman. Notice how many toys my children have! I think its a little over-the-top. We (and by we, I mean grandparents) spoil the children.

It sounds sad, but I think many Chinese kids don't play board / table games. None of them have seen "Hungry Hungry Hippo". Personally, I sort of feel I should get rid of this one, because Kenaz always starts crying when playing this (and 50% of the time jumps on Akiva and starts hitting Akiva). We also played this fishing game, which makes me get dizzy. We also did hand-tattoos.

It was a fun party. The children liked et. Haga organized it. No injuries , fights, or crying (except Hungry Hippo related incident). We are proud of our little boys.

By the way, this is the view from our new place. We get to see Akiva and kenaz's kindergarten.

Mushroom Hot Pot

2010-01-20T15:30:00.005+08:00

This is just a follow-up on previous posts about our new Wintertime health-food; mushroom hotpot.

Something about the hot chicken broth with weird mountain-mushrooms can make us feel... high.

This last time, we ordered mushrooms to protect us from sickness, as well as to help make women prettier. Haga mentioned that since we started eating mushroom hotpot, it seems that she has no grey hair

Actually, we are all a little sick now. But so is the entire population of Suzhou. Maybe if we were not eating mushroom hotpot once per week, we would be much sicker.

The green noodles which we eat at the end of the meal are really great.

Big, late New Years update.

2010-01-10T14:37:00.003+08:00

Big, late New Years update

First of all, for all those who follow my family through Facebook… I’m sorry… I cannot usually access Facebook. Its blocked in China and to access I have to go through my VPN, which is really slow. So…if you want me to respond to comments, please go to my blog chat, or directly email me (taikongren@gmail.com)

So its been a while since the last post, and some have complained about this. Where to start?

The following has occurred since the last update (not all of which is in chronological order):
On Christmas we went to a school party. Haga made Tofu brownies and everyone ate them up. Akiva sang some ecumenical Christmas songs.

On Christmas day, we ate lasagna. This is the first time we started our new Christmas day tradition…to eat lasagna. Haga made it. Very delicious.

Haga made a custom-made down-jacket, which makes her look very cute.

The kids and Haga got some stomach virus/flue on Dec 30th, so during our New Years vacation they were inside all day, eating rice porridge every meal. Akiva and Haga threw-up and had diarrhea for several days. Kenaz just got sick for 2 days. I was really worried about getting sick, in part because I had to do a training on a new performance management system for my customer, as well as have big important meetings with so-called important people visiting from HQ. Fortunately, I did not get sick. So... we watched a lot of "The Lion King", and some Hayao Miyazaki films (Totoro, etc)

I’ve been working about 11 hours a day, without procrastination. Its pretty cool.

We had mushroom soup hotpot… twice. Expensive. But supposedly very healthy.

The restaurant is on ShiHuiFang (师惠坊... on that food street across from Blue Marlin）. We ate mushrooms that were supposed to reduce coughing, increase immunity, and make our skin better. After we ate mushrooms, the waiter adds home-made delicious noodles. Great stuff, but we spend around 250 RMB when we go there.

We saw “Dance with Wolves – 2010” (er…”Avatar”). Somewhat entertaining. Visually great. But it’s the usual story about a white American who goes to live with the natives, learns their ways, then uses his superior organizational skills to lead the natives in revolt against the rich corporate types. Although the story was derivative and predicatble, at least the move was put together by someone who knows how a movie should be put together (unlike Michael Bay).

Happy Chuanuka!!

2009-12-19T17:30:00.000+08:00

ZhenOu 1st Birthday

2009-12-15T15:30:00.005+08:00

Change, Conflict, and Resolution, And Thanks Giving

2009-12-05T10:55:00.003+08:00

Moving on out!

A lot has happened since last update.

I was more-or-less fired from my job at the end of October. Here us the summary. Lets just say the situation in the company was not good…I’m owed a lot of money and the company is behind paying salary by two months. A girl in my office resigned because of this and found a new job. Someone told the girl she was not allowed to resign, even though she did not receive her monthly salary of $285 for 2 of the 3 months she worked in the company…and she did not receive a copy of her contract when she requested it. I told the girl that I want her to stay, but if she leaves I can’t blame or stop her. Someone (a dumb-ass who works in the Shanghai office) told my boss that I “gave permission” for the girl to leave, and somehow I was responsible. So my now-former boss sent me a text message telling me I have to get the girl to come back. I refused. He then sent me a text-message demanding my resignation. Looking back, I should have told him to fire me. But hey… I have already been officially fired from jobs about 3 times in my life. I did not want to be fired again. Furthermore, my boss was having medical problems, facing an operation, and not in the country. So I don’t blame him for going crazy, but I’m not putting up with this crap anymore either. And I wanted to leave the company anyway.

So after this, during the month of November, I negotiated with a client to provide consulting services, while also negotiating and going to interviews for another job opportunity. Our current lease was up at the end of November, so we also searched for a new place to live. Our old apartment was getting too old, the landlord did not fix the hot water heater to make it more reliable. So we did not want to renew the lease. Furthermore, we wanted to move closer to the kids’ school. At the same time, I needed to start my own company so that my customer can pay me for the consulting services I was offering to it.

I saw about 15 apartments during November. We found an apartment in the first week of November which I liked. While negotiating with the landlord, the couch I was sitting on collapsed. The landlord said “Oh…you broke it! You are too big.” So that fell through. Then I looked at a lot more apartments, with different agents. I saw an apartment I liked, but it had only an electric water heater – that’s not acceptable because when the water runs out after taking a long shower, we have to wait a long time for new hot water. I told the agent that if the landlord agrees to put in a gas heater, I will rent the place. The next day, the agent called me to tell me that the landlord agrees to put in a gas heater, but could I pay the management fees (about $30 / month)? I agreed. On November 18th, I paid a deposit – 4000RMB, (about $600) to the agent, and I congratulated the agent on his ability to negotiate for the hot water heater. On November 22nd I went to pick up the key and found they installed another electric heater. I called the agent, who then told me that, in reality, I had actually asked for an electric heater.

I told the agent that I want my deposit back. The agent said that the money was given to the landlord. I called that landlord and explained what happened. The landlord said the agent asked about a gas heater, but the landlord refused, so the agent asked the landlord to put in another electric heater. I told the landlord that he should give back the deposit because I was cheated. The landlord said this is a problem between me and the agent. I tried talking to the agent. The agent said this was my fault…that the agent had told me that it was an electric heater. I called the landlord and told him to give back 3000 RMB and we will just walk away. He said that he is fine with the contract as it was and saw no reason to give anything back. Some more back and forth happened between me and the agent / me and the landlord. Then on Tuesday night, at 10:30PM, I called the landlord and said that I’m going to move in. “But on December 2, the EPA will come to the apartment to do a lot of testing, because I think there is a toxic gas coming from the furniture. And on December 3, I think that you will need to replace that big flat-screen TV, as I think its already broken. I think it may have fallen on the floor. And I notice the couch was ripped up…you need to replace that. Do you see where this is going, you fuck? You hired a company which cheated me and you are not fucking taking responsibility. But you didn’t just cheat me…you cheated my family. You cheated my sons. YOU CHEATED MY LITTLE SONS! [quite voice] And for that, sir,… you WILL pay. Do you understand the Mandarin I am saying? The agent said I did not communicate clearly I needs a gas heater… do you not understand this? You have cheated my sons and now I go to fucking war you mother fucker!”

I do think that I should get some therapy for my anger management issues. But hey…the anger sometimes works for me.

On November 25th, the agent gave me back 3000RMB. But now I had a problem… I needed to find a place and move out before the current lease was up, on November 30th. That night, we had Thanks Giving Dinner, with Haga's traditional fusion Thanks Giving Tofu recipes. We were thankful for our beautiful children, our health, our family and friends, and for new beginnings.

On November 26 we went to a new agent, who is part of the property management organization of the complex we want to move to (where the kids’ kindergarden is located). They showed us a really nice apartment which we decided to take. The next day, they got back to us to say that the landlord does not want to rent out to a family with kids. But that day, we found a pretty good apartment, right behind the kindergarden. We singed a contract and moved out on November 30th.

Our new apartment, in LingLongWan, is… OK. On the plus side, its newer and much better insulated that the last apartment. We can turn on the heater and actually feel warm. The furnishings are comfortable. It has a good feel. The new landlords seem responsive. And its actually about $50/month cheaper than the last apartment (and we save more on school bus service for the kids, as now they walk to school) On the other hand, the master bathroom has a glass wall… I guess designer liked people watch him take a dump. Its smaller than the last place. The washing machine is a side-load design which cannot wash as many clothes. The TV, while usable, sort of sucks (it has a purple-streak down the side). The dressers are smaller. The bathroom leaked from the ceiling because the bathroom upstairs leaked and that landlord didn’t fix it for two days. And we found out that we are sharing the apartment with a mouse, who bore through a box of pizza on the table during the night. I guess these problems will be fixed soon and we will feel better after we unpack and get to relax a little.

On another topic, I have started Taikongren 太空人Consulting Company, Ltd. during the month of November. Getting that started was not a small amount of work, especially while looking for a new house. Taikongren Consulting Company has an office in Hong Kong, which is where the bank account is, but not the corporate HQ. (I will not write here where the real HQ is located), as well as a small home-office in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. For the next year, starting on December 1, my customer is paying Taikongren Consulting a very nice amount of money (which is taxed at 10%, as the China government assumes that payments to foreign companies in HK might be just tax shelters, so China puts a “transfer tax” on the payment). For that money, Taikongren Consulting is sending their top consultant, a Mr. Jesse Covner, to go to their factory every morning and help them do three things; 1) introduce a leadership competency-based performance management system, 2) be the Change Management Manager and suggest where they can make improvements to their organizations, and 3) lead their SAP implementation team. For those who don’t know, SAP is a form of Enterprise Resource Management software…think of it as the software management system of a company. I have a supervisor who actually does all the hard detail work of this job. My contribution is to be more like the “bad cop” and push department managers and other higher-ups into cooperating with the team. The GM of my client’s organization – a very cool and smart European man - wanted someone who was a little more aggressive and seemingly un-stable to work in this position…someone who could get people to move a little quicker. It’s so far a very fun job. I’m learning a lot. Only downsides are a) it will last for a year, at most, and I don’t know what I will do next, and b) I have to get onto the company bus at 7:10 AM to get to the other side of town where the factory is.

Thanks all for now. Love and miss all my family and friends. Next post will be on Chanuka, in our new apartment (and maybe a review of the near-by Korean restaurant.)

People's Liberation Army Training (Sports Day)

2009-11-05T20:13:00.005+08:00

On Wednesday was Kenaz's Sport's Day. Thursday was Akiva's Sports Day. Lets make this clear... Sports Day is an event made for Chinese parents. On Sports Day, the kids do easy, pointless jumping-through-hoops games, while everyone listens to bad, loud pre-recorded music song by kids on Ritalin (or grown-ups pretending to be kids).

Akiva liked it. But Akiva likes playing with his friends. I don't think they really play though. They just sort of bump into each other, grap each other, run around, jump up and down in place, then make Ultra-Man poses. Akiva is part of a group of four boys who were always at the back of the line, and always running off the line. He showed no respect for his teacher's authority.

The children didn't perform any flat-out races or real competitive activities. However, I'm pretty sure Akiva is the fastest and most athletic boy in the class.

The teachers kept calling "Attention!". The slightly older kids would then put their hands at their sides and stand up straight, like soldiers. Some in Akiva's class did this. Akiva remained a jelly-fish. Which is fine. I don't want Akiva to learn the military style yet.

Kenaz didn't do anything. He was turned off by all the people and the noise. He didn't cry like some kids. But he would not do any activity. The class Aiyi held his hand most of the time. Kenaz knows how to work the grown-ups.

In other news, Akiva's front-bottom teeth fell out.

Early Halloween Night

2009-10-29T20:12:00.002+08:00

So I, Haga wanted Jesse to be like Eric from True Blood. Instead He were a zombie from rice farm (Jesse has a gag reflection. he couldn't put fake rubber teeth into his mouth).

Halloween Pumpkin

2009-10-26T09:00:00.002+08:00

Saturday we carved pumpkins and lid candles.

Akiva and Kenaz Got HFMD

2009-10-20T15:12:00.005+08:00

Akiva’s best friend in his class got Hand-foot-and-mouth disease a week ago. I knew Akiva would get it. Tuesday his teacher called me there were red rashes on his hands. Last year doctor miss-diagnosed him HFMD, so I asked a kindergarten doctor to take him to hospital. Akiva and Kenaz were segregated and came home earlier. When I see Akiva’s hand I knew this time he really got HFMD. However Akiva didn’t have fever (although he was very fussy), now he has sore mouth.
He had a lot of energy we went to a Sweet Osmanthus Park to climb at castle. Wednesday night Kenaz had fever and now has sore mouth. They cannot eat anything but ice cream!

I feel little bit lucky. Since I came back from Europe I needed more rest. Jesse and I take a turn from work and stay home with kids.

Milan Trip

2009-10-11T11:07:00.007+08:00

I went to Milan for 7 days (plus 14 hours flight each) with two Japanese business men to attend EMO-, a world biggest machine exhibition. Milan was a beautiful city with many old buildings, good food and friendly people (There were also many cigarettes on streets).
Jesse and all my friends were happy for me about this trip. I get go to Milan for free and get paid a little (and first time away from kids). I was excited too. I usually like freebies. I had to get a chocolate cake sample whenever I was at CostCo. However it was really long to take a trip with strangers. I was with Japanese business men all the time from morning till I close my hotel room door at night.

When I was young, I had some guys to buy me dinner or drinks. I enjoyed for a while until I realized a dollar tacos I paid myself and ate with Jesse (Jesse never paid me anything) was the best. Anyway,

Japanese business men and I were at the exhibition for 3 days. 1 day to fly to Belgium to meet their customer. And 2 days we did sightseeing in Milan and Geneva.

Everywhere we went was expensive. Taxi was expensive. Food was expensive. We went to a couple good cafés, pubs and restaurants but very expensive even from Tokyo standard. We tried to go to local recommended places. It was good food but still very expensive. Best deal was happy hour. Many café/pub/restaurant offer happy hours between 4 to 8, charge 6-8 Euros for one drink and various buffet foods. Most the restaurant opens at 8. People hang around pub and enjoy drinking and talking before 8. If you are simply hungry and just want to eat, I think pizza or sandwich stands are better choice. Like Japanese business men who don’t like to talk but want to eat good food is really not fit into the life style.

Milan people were very friendly. Many people didn’t speak English at all, however they always tried to help me. I felt very comfortable. Milan people were very fashionable and over dressed. It was perfect weather to wear T-shirt, but locals were enjoying a fall fashion. They wore nice long sleeve shirt with light sweater and lather jacket or dawn vest. No one was sweating. I wonder espresso and Mozzarella cheese made their body temperature lower.While I was in Milan, I notice door knob was different from what I usually see. Most the door knobs in Milan don’t turn. You need to push and pull. When I was in an outdoor bathroom, I locked my self and I didn’t know how to open the door. I was supposed to press on the top of door nub and push. I really had no clue. It was small bathroom no window. I took deep breath and tried to open the door several times, but didn’t happen. I got so panicked. I looked around there was no vent. I started seeing back of my eye I was scratching the white door with my bloody fingers. I started screaming and banging the door. I was there for like 3 minutes, but I felt like an hour and I was almost fainted. Then a Japanese business man opened the door from out side. I couldn’t get my self calm. That night I couldn’t sleep. I totally got a close phobia. Every time I think about Milan, this accident appears in my head and my tears come out and I get totally freaked out.

(I've been to Europe!)

The Assignment, #1

2009-10-04T17:08:00.007+08:00

Haga got a gig in Italy for 7 days, translating for some Japanese business types. I'm here with the kids. Which is very good in theory. But I have never been 2 days just with them. Kenaz does not like to eat with anyone but Mom and does not let me wipe his butt (and so will avoid pooping when mom is not around). This is going to be the most difficult job ever.

I don't have twitter and don't believe in micro-blogging. But below is what has happended, in trendy mirco-blogging format:

Oct. 3rd,
21:30 Haga leaves to go to Itally.
Oct. 4th,
07:30 Kids wake up. I prepare bottle. Too sleepy to do anything productive, I let them watch TV.
8:00 pop two anitbiotics, a tylanol, a decongestant, and a vitamin
08:30 Take them outside. Time Akiva running laps around courtyard. Then have Kenaz walk up and down 7 flights of stairs.
9:15 go to toy-store. All the toys are expensive. The kids no longer like Transformers...the like Kanen Rider and Ben 10. I take them to another toy store
10:30 I have raging sinus headache. See Ultraman Dyna toys at half off. Score.
11:00 Take kids to Starbucks to play. I get a coffee and 20 minutes rest

The Starbucks Playground

11:30 Burgerking. Kenaz eats 2 chicken McNuggets. Akiva feeds him some of his hamburger and Kenaz eats it.
12:30 Reverse-track the entire mall, arrive at playground. They practice climbing for 30 minutes
2:00 Nap time
3:40 try to wake them up. They wont get up. Put Star Wars Clone Wars on TV. They wake up.
5:00 Go outside to play
6:00 Walk to favorite Chinese restaurant. Its packed. Continue walking to Potsticker restaurant. There Kenaz eats 1 hard boiled eggs and a soy-milk drink. Akiva and I eat equal amount: 2 plates of potstickers and 1 soy milk drink
8:00 Return home after detour to park. Watch "Laputa" on TV. Akiva likes it alot.
10:00 in bed, lights out

Oct. 5th.
06:30 Akiva wakes us all up. I'm supposed to be active and play. But I let them watch 1 episode Clone Wars
7:30 Eat cake breakfast
8:30 I realize what i need is a girl. We go over to Gugu's house. I invite her to go with us to the Suzhou Youth Activity Center. Gugu's mother looks at me and says "you know...the three of them are very naughty...how will you take care of them?" I reply that the strategy is to get Akiva and Gugu to play together, so Kenaz will be left alone.
9:45 Arive at activity center. We just miss the robot show. We go in. lots of computer simulations, like a car simulation with a car. tug-o-war simulation. Rifle shooting sim with real-ish rifles (too heavy for the kids). The kids love it all. But I feel that most of the exhibits are broken. We toss a bowling ball on the left side and the screen shows it go down the right. Rifle registers a foot off the target. The canoe exhibit goes by some weird different physics model. etc. Kids like it all. Too many people cutting in line for the car and snow-mobile sim.
10:50 Time to line up to get in the robot exhibit.
10:58 instead of going by who lined up first, MC passes out numbered cards. I get one. 2 girls are hurt by other mothers pushing in to grab a card
11:00 The four of us go in to the exhibit to a control station. There are earphones, but they're not working. I can tell that there are two levers and a button; left-right, raise arm up/down, fire.
11:15 there were technical difficulties. The MC kept coming to our station like we broke something. Its clear the computer control system for the whole exhibit is bugged and re-booted.
11:20 There is a steal ball that comes our of the daddy robot and is supposed to roll down a twisting track into an spherical receptical. I don't know what this is supposed to symbolize. But it jumps the track and falls on the floor. The MC has no comment.
11:30 The "show" ended. Akiva asks what's wrong with the robots. I say that they were not made in Japan.
11:40 We make our way to the botanical garden (next to the activity center). Gugu spots an inflatable playground and we go inside.

12:00 I rally the kid to go to lunch. The kids are hot. Akiva teases Kenaz. Kenaz jumps Akiva, knocks him to the ground, and starts hitting Akiva's face. Akiva laughs, further infuriating Kenaz.
12:15 I get the kids settled down
13:00 We arrive at Dongwu Noodles. Akiva eats a bowl of noodles. Kenaz eats 1.5 plates of wheat glutton balls soaked in oil.

Two boys and a girl

13:45 Return to Gugu's house. The kids play there and I go back home to do dishes
14:30 Retrieve Kenaz. Take him home for nap
17:30 Eat cheese and crackers, cake and grapes with Kenaz. Kenaz eats some cake and a little cheese.
18:30 go out with Kenaz to get Ice-cream. Take long walk through park. I ate too many grapes and have the runs.
20:00 retrieve Akiva and go home. We watch "Tron". The kids like it, but don't get it.
21:30 Kids in bed and fall fast asleep.

Oct 6:
08:30 Kids wake up. Drink milk.
10:00 Go to Zhu Aiyi's house. We watch re-runs of the 10/1 National Day parade. Too much Hu Jintao...not enough People's Liberation Army women-in-red-skirt-with-rifle troops.
11:00 Eat famous Yangcheng Lake crab, and alot of other stuff with Aiyi and various relatives. Aiyi feeds Kenaz a lot of food, as well as peels a bunch of shrimp for Akiva
12:30 I return home to get a worker into the appartment to fix the toilet. Zhu Aiyi takes care of kids.
16:00 I return to Zhu Aiyi's house. Watch more 10/1 day re-runs.
17:00 Dinner. Eat more crab, cashew nuts, shrimp, etc. The kids eat a little, but I know they ate a lot already.
19:00 return home. Kids are tired...didn't take nap. They play but lack energy
21:00 shower
21:30 In bed

Problem is, I've never had the kids for

60th Anniversary of China

2009-10-01T16:23:00.003+08:00

We have 8 days of holiday to celebrate 60 years' China national day. We went to park to take a picture in front of the holiday monument,
then we went to a newly opened Walmart shopping mall five minutes walking distance from our apartment complex. The shopping mall is pretty much like American mall. We have a Starbucks, Sephora, ZARA, QuickSilver, a bunch of good clothing stores and BurgerKing. I am so excited!!! I cannot wait to go back there again without boys.Boys had to carry bamboo sticks. And I had to save the sticks and carry them at the mall(you know, none of the store clerks took me seriously. A mom with bamboos).

Happy Birthday Kenaz!

2009-09-29T20:02:00.005+08:00

Kenaz's 3 years old birthday party at his class.

Kenaz with his birthday present

My BD

2009-09-24T15:01:00.001+08:00

We had a picknick on a beautiful day.

The boys at cookies.

We did some urban rock climbing by the lake

September, New Semester...

2009-09-13T08:42:00.005+08:00

Our morning glory is brooming.
Kenaz is at his class.
Kenaz loves to meet up with Akiva at kindergarten.

Summer is ending (and noodles)

2009-08-30T15:23:00.003+08:00

Summer is almost at its end. It was actually cool today, although I suspect in the next two months there will still be more hot hot days ahead.

On Tuesday Kenaz will start school. We'll post about how that goes. I'm worried. Kenaz (like myself and Akiva) is rather anti-social. And he's a little baby. So I'm more worried about him going to school. On the other hand, his teacher will be the same teacher Akiva had last year, and we like her.

Kenaz has learned how to doggy paddle and roller-skate. Akiva can now roller skate and his freestyle swim is pretty good ( can't get him to breath on the side yet though)

In other news, we have expanded our noodle repertoire to include Taiwanese-style street noodles. Usually 10RMB a bowl, served in the Taiwanese restuarant in Times Square shopping mall, and in the Taiwanese restaurant near Papa John's on Xingdu Rd. and Suhui Rd. (苏惠路和星都街). Pretty good but a little too much pork flavor for my taste. However, I like the shaved-ice and bean desert which we get after the meal.

10 Years Wedding Anniversary

2009-08-21T19:46:00.002+08:00

Jesse and I had a beautiful wedding at temple in San Diego on August 8th, 1999. I was very sick a week before my big day. I had a fever yet I had to finish making my wedding gown (I used my grandma’s silk kimono). When Jesse had a bachelor party in San Diego, I was a tour leader and drove my families from LA to Las Vegas. I was still very sick. Jesse gave me some medicines which made me dry and super drowsy. I am so glad I didn’t become a tragic bride(I have no memory how to get to Las Vegas).

During our wedding ceremony, I couldn't stop coughing. I held into my cough and slowly let my cough go from my nose which made me tears and made some guest cry. After the beautiful ceremony by Robbie, I was a bride driver. I had to put my families into a van and drove to my reception at beach side hotel. I didn’t have a make up artist nor hair stylist. I did all by my self. I rushed into a bathroom and checked my self. My hair was messy and my mascara made me looked like a panda, yet I was young, skinny and very beautiful.

It’s been 10 years. Jesse was looking forward to do something special at our anniversary. He wanted to make up for our honey moon which we never happened(we took my parents to redwood forest mountain in Santa Cruz after our wedding). However 3 days before our anniversary, my mom called me and wanted to visit us in Suzhou. It was so great to see my families again in abroad to create the similar situation we had 10 years ago. Yes, I had to be a tour leader again (at least I wasn’t sick) but nothing can replace the joy of family. Akiva, Kenaz and Hiromi’s daughter Shihori and Nahoko draw a big poster to celebrate our anniversary.
Smile in front of the poster

Our Summer

2009-07-26T12:39:00.004+08:00

It is simply hot and humid.
We all had a hair cut.
We don't have any summer plan yet. We go out and catch butterflies.
Akiva is learning very quick how to Inline Skat.
Kenaz is learning how to swim.
Akiva made a fried with a older kid and now he is much better jump into water and dive in deep side of swimming pool where he cannot reach his feet on the bottom.

Total Eclipse

2009-07-22T12:21:00.002+08:00

9:20 am
9:35 am after total eclipse

Transformers: Entertaining, yet really crappy

2009-06-29T21:14:00.003+08:00

Yet again we line up to see the Summer event: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (TROF)

We made the 11:00 movie, even after waiting on line for 20 minutes. Apparently, most Chinese people didn't want to see the English version.

You see this picture? Its a bad photograph. Shot with an Apple iPhone. Which is an expensive phone not suitable for taking good pictures. However, the talent behind this photograph - Haga - was far greater than the talent behind TROF. You see, like this photo of people standing on line to see TROF, the movie was mostly a big, loud, expensive blur. There were two good scenes in the whole movie. The first good scene was when we got to see Megan Fox's butt presented for us while she straddled a motorcycle. The second good scene was when Optimus Prime fights a group of Deceptecons in a forest. The latter scene was basically ripped from The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (LOTR:FOTR), when Borimar fights off the orcs to protect the Hobbit ring-bearers, then dies. Why was this scene good? Because it was THE ONLY fight scene in the movie in which one could tell what is going on, who is where, etc.

OK. One other good scene at the beginning of the movie when a shard of the AllSpark animates a bunch of home appliances, which go on a rampage. I was sort of wishing we could see a movie wherein people fight animated home-appliances threw the entire movie. That would be sort of cool.

Michael Bay (who is a dumb-ass tool ... DAT) was given a lot of money to throw at this project. And he decided that the people who must like this movie must like robots who curse (use the M-F combination), people who like to see a chihuahua hump toy-bulldog (two scenes of this, not connected to anything), little robots hump Megan Fox's leg (um...why?) , and a shapeshifting transformer who can imitate a sexy girl (brings to mind a certain movie in which the governor of California fights a shape-shifting android from the future...that movie had 10X more plot than TROF). Basically, Bay assumed he was making a movie for the stupidest of audiences.

I got to say this though...I'm a fan of military porn. I like pictures of Israeli women carrying M16s. And I like how in TROF, there are a lot of money shots, in slow-motion, of brave metrosexual-looking US armed forces guys lovingly climb into their fighting vehicles. I'm not saying I'm gay and get turned on by seeing men and their fighting equipment. Not that there is anything wrong with being gay...cause there isn't... but I'm not gay.

There were fewer unnecessary human characters in this movie. In the last Transformers movie, there was about 30 throw-away characters, including: the Australian blond analyst, the black fat computer hacker guy, most of the soldiers, the black soldier who has the line "Left cheek!", the main soldier's wife, the analyst from Sector 7, the John Turturo character, the sheriff who arrests Sam, Bernie Mac, and about 10 others. OK. There are still alot of throw-away characters in TROF. For instance, the Sam's college room-mate. The room-mate's hippy friends. The bureaucrat from NAS. The black soldier who now does not get to yell "Left cheek!". And about 5 more. However, now we get throw-away robot characters. Such as: the Blackbird Scottish transformer. The two ghetto-black-guy-coded Mini-Cooper transformers who use profanity. The motorcycle autobots. The autobot named "side-swipe" or something like that. The little robot which humps Megan Fox's leg. And even the shape-shifting sexy Deceptecon is basically a throw-away character.

Anyway, spending time seeing this movie was more enjoyable than say...standing outside waiting for a bus on a really hot day. The popcorn was cheap. The kids didn't have to go pee. No one in the theater seemed to concerned about kids running around and climbing on seats because they couldn't focus on images on the screen...the movie was just so loud that we could not hear them anyway. There was a few scenes that were cool. And that's all I have to say.

Stay tuned for next post, wherein I review a noodle restaurant!