Tyler Sings in Chinese

Tyler has learned her first Chinese nursery rhyme!

It took me awhile to figure out the lyrics, because Chinese is difficult enough for me without having to also understand through the mispronunciations of a toddler and the heavy accent of her teacher, our Ayi (helper). I finally had to enlist the help of our friend Crystal, who is fluent in both Chinese and English. But it's a cute little song, sung to the tune of Frere Jacques.

First, the English translation, since that's probably the only version that means anything to the blog readers.

TWO TIGERS

Two tigers, two tigers

Running fast, running fast

One has no eyes, one has no ears

Very strange, very strange.

Next, the Chinese version. I've written the tone-less pinyin (our alphabet) under the hanzi (characters).

两只老虎

LIANG ZHI LAOHU

两只老虎，两只老虎

Liang zhi laohu, liang zhi laohu

跑得快，跑得快

Pao de kuai, pao de kuai

一只没有眼睛， 一只没有耳朵

Yi zhi meiyou yanjing, yi zhi meiyou erduo

真奇怪，真奇怪

Zhen qiguai, zhen qiguai.

And now, Tyler’s music video debut – enjoy!

A Little R&R in Shanghai

Matt just switched jobs, and in between finishing one and starting the next we had just enough time for a very very mini vacation. We decided to travel on the cheap, spending less than $2 total to transport our family to the Sheshan Le Meridien resort, which is located within Shanghai district limits and is accessible by subway. 

It was amazing travelling nearly to the end of the subway line. I really realized how expansive this city is and how it can host over 24 million residents: there were still blocks and blocks of high-rise apartments even after travelling 45 minutes by train out of downtown.

Once we arrived in Sheshan, a bit more than an hour from downtown via subway, we were greeted by hawkers selling all sorts of beach and sun paraphenalia. Sheshan is an interesting place, famous for its "mountains" (barely hills by Colorado standards) housing an old Jesuit chapel and observatory. Nowadays it's probably more popular for the scupture park nestled into the forests, the amusement and water parks, and a few resorts -- such as the Le Meridien -- that have established themselves as a destination for corporate retreats and small conventions.

In any case, we got to enjoy huge indoor and outdoor pools, a playground and bouncy castle, a manmade beach (although for safety reasons we decided it best to just look and not play in the sand or stagnant water of the lake), and expansive grounds with lots of pathways along the lakeside and through the forests. Matt even ran up the mountains to check out the chapel and observatory.

While it was by no means a luxurious beach vacation, Sheshan still proved to be a welcome respite from the Shanghai city heat and hustle. It's nice to know we have an option of a nearby and affordable little escape whenever we need a weekend recharge.

view of the "beach" from our room

because what resort doesn't need a giant satellite?

the cathedral and observatory on the hill in the background past the convention center

TJ loved the bouncy castle

a little wedding chapel on the hotel grounds

path across the lake to the outdoor pool and playground

The Urban Farm

We recently visited Shanghai's newest mall, K11. 

It's being advertised as an "Art Mall", which means it has various art installations -- anything from murals to sculptures to interactive light displays -- on each floor in between the shops, but for this trip we didn't focus on any of that. We didn't visit a single store either. 

Instead, we enjoyed exploring the "green" concepts they had employed, including a rooftop garden with views of their plant-covered exterior, and the most outrageous, their indoor "urban farm". Yep, herbs, tomatoes, peppers, and even piglets, all growing under some intense lightbulbs.

vertical garden up the side of the building

the pig pen, with plenty of paparazzi

the stars of the farm

The Hot List

It's averaging 100F here, barely dipping into the 80s at night. The humidity feels like it's at 99% (really more like 60-75%). Heat index 115F and up. My friend told me it's the hottest summer here since the 1930s. Last Wednesday reached a record high, and last Friday had the hottest average temperature in 140 years. In summary, it is HOT!

I know there's a heat wave globally right now, so we're not the only ones experiencing this special kind of summer. Still, when coming from Colorado with it's comparably gorgeous weather, the oven that is Shanghai becomes particularly hard to handle. In an effort to make some ice cold lemonade from these sweltering lemons, here is my Top 10 list of the benefits to this ridiculous weather:

10. EVERYONE is sweaty, so for once it's not just me with the dripping forehead

9. Don't need to go to the gym to enjoy the sauna

8. Even the stingiest taxi drivers are cranking up the kongtiao (air con)

7. The humidity haze gives everything a nice dream-like sheen

6. No fear of cramping, as muscles stay nice and warm

5. Chance to see a wide variety of Chinese men's undergarments

4. Can practice Bikram (Hot) Yoga anytime, anywhere

3. Shower water is instantly hot without even needing to use our water heater

2. A glass of ice water tastes absolutely heavenly

1. Instant badass cred for surviving the heat

Pei Pa Koa

Delivering a baby in China is kind of a crazy experience. And that’s as much as I’m going to say about that on this blog.

But I will tell you about the coolest thing I brought home from the hospital, besides the baby of course.

It just so happened that I was coming down with a cold right before going into labor, and so by the time Avery was born I had a constant tickle in my throat and the strong desire to cough. This isn’t the most pleasant experience in recovery from a c-section. And between my other meds and breastfeeding, my treatment options were limited.

Luckily, Traditional Chinese Medicine includes hands-down the best cough syrup I’ve ever used. This stuff is legendary; I’ve heard of expats returning to their home country with stashes, or desperately visiting their local “Chinatown” in search of that amazing remedy they remember from their days abroad.

the box

It’s called Pei Pa Koa and it’s magical. It tastes, well, like typical cough syrup actually. It has the appearance and consistency of molasses, and contains a bunch of Chinese herbs and extracts mixed with honey. One tablespoon of this incredible elixir and I didn’t have the urge to cough all night long.

the syrup

I guess I'm joining the ranks of the crazy repatriates who are hooked on their TCM remedies.

May Mei

Today we welcomed our newest member of the family, baby Avery Mei. It seems fitting that she should be born on International Labor Day, since Val was doing plenty of laboring. The other holiday – May Day – is fitting too, since that’s how her middle name is pronounced.

But the name really has more to do with her birthplace (Shanghai, China) than her birthday.

In Chinese, the word we would write as mei has many different meanings, depending on what tone you say it with or what character you write. 

We had several in mind when naming Avery, including:

妹妹 (mèimei) means “little sister”, which is what Tyler was calling her from the time she was still in my belly.

美 (měi) is the basic single character for “beautiful”, and is often used in combination with other characters to become another positive adjective (like “wonderful”, “splendid”, “glorious”, etc).

It also just so happens that it’s the character for the United States, as in

美国 (měiguó) where guo means “country”, and if you add the character for “person” to the end, you get

美国人 (měiguórén) or “American”.

So all of those are pretty fitting I’d say. She’s a little sister, certainly beautiful and wonderful, and also American.

But if I was going to pick one hanzi (Chinese character) for Avery’s name, I’d probably pick this one:

梅 (méi)  which literally translates as “plum (blossom)”, but is a common second character in Chinese girls’ names. For example, Pat’s friend’s name is DongMei (“winter plum”), and our obstetrician who helped bring Avery into this world is HongMei (“red plum”).

Plus, I like that it’s just a radical (first part of character) away from the character

海 (hăi), as in 上海 or SHANGHAI!

So there you have it. Short name, long meaning. And hopefully a unique story she can carry with her for the rest of her life about her rather eventful start to life in this crazy place we currently call home.

Sidewalk Butcher Shop

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My father-in-law, who has now lived in Shanghai for four and a half months, recently told me that China might convert him to vegetarianism.  I just can’t understand his position, seeing as how meat is advertised so appetizingly here.  Take, for example, these delectable offerings along a local market street.  Tyler and I enjoyed these sights (and accompanying smells!) as we walked to music class one morning.

street-side fish & fowl

cut to order, as the duck looks on (I believe those are eels curled up in the back)

future Peking Duck?

getch'er sausage 'ere!

gutted fish provide shade for the butcher's block

ducks in a row

Are you hungry yet?