Back on the House Hunting Trail

Our housing contract on our current location ends July 1. About the time we would have been repatriating back to the US, if thing had followed their origianl plan. (In living overseas it seems, things never follow the original plan!) We've composed a list of things we'd like to have updated if we opt to stay in our present location for two more years.

We've had our meeting with our landlords... sort of. They sent one of their henchmen to do a walk through of our house and consider the updates we've asked for. It was the kind of meeting where I don't know they are coming. (I'd just stepped out of the shower.) And our real estate agent says, "Oh Miss Jen, I didn't think you would be home." Clearly, they would have preferred to have the meeting about where our family of five will live next two years without me, but they needed to conduct it in my home.

We asked for little things like:

• removing the mold from the plaster around each window (a blight commonly found in Qingdao apartments, caused in part by the high humidity of living in close proximity to the sea, and in larger part by the really poor construction standards.)
  
• replacing the cracked kitchen counter top (and since they'll be in the area, raising it to a Western standard height)
• replacing broken appliances and plumbing fixtures
• replacing the tile in the bathroom (the one where each morning this spring we come to find more tiles have spontaneously jumped off the wall during the night.)
• we asked for more grass seed to seed the naked patches caused when the henchmen showed up and started digging up the yard and chopping into trees. (One poor cherry tree is severed in half. They began cutting it down, then opted not to, leaving a deep gash in the base of the trunk in the beginning of spring... lovely ... insert saracastic tone here.)

These things are pretty frustrating in part because we've always been DIYers. To not own this home, or be able to make decisions (or even know where to score grass seed... remember most grass in China is in public areas with signs dotting it saying to 'Keep Off') makes us feel a bit powerless.

The other frustration stems from the incredibly high rent the company pays. Being a shipment expat has its perks, but one downside is getting ripped off. The landlord basically knows what the housing allowance is (thanks to the real estate agents with expat clientèle who tip them off...) It's a win-win-loose ... The landlord gets premium rent. The agent gets a nice commission. The company gets hung out to dry.

So we did the little dance.

• I listened to his theory of how paint that has water added to it is better than the thick, mildew resistant paint we've opted to use in rooms we've updated.
• I explained that we really did need more grass seed. (He seemed to think the first bag should have been plenty.)
• He said the base for the bottled water would only be replaced if it couldn't be repaired (both of the front feet have cracked off... sorry Charlie... there will be no repairing. I could tell that he was also about to add that the wine corks we are presently using as shims seem to do the job, but he fortunately bit his tongue!)

The henchman sneered, yet ultimately agreed to many of our requests. But we all know (the henchman included) he doesn't really hold the power. He just holds to keys to the black sedan (and only when the landlord is actually present and thus requires a driver) otherwise he has to jump on public transportation like any other middle class bloke.

So we will do the real estate circuit again. We'll check to see what has come on the market since we peeked last March. We'll make sure the henchman, and the landlord, and the real estate agent are in the know that we are looking. And maybe it will help our cause. Otherwise we might find ourselves kissing these moldy windows goodbye and move to a new place with mold in the windows.

The "Man-Cation"

Last Friday Mr. Johnson flew to Beijing to join the end of an already-in-progress "man-cation" with his QD buddy who is turning 40, and 10 of his buddy's buddies from the US.

(I must now pause here and mention what an amazing thing it is to have 10 friends from home... most were college friends... come for a week of man time in China. I love that there are those kind of long-term, large-group friendships still in existence. Mr. Johnson and I were in awe, but if you knew our friend, the new Mr. 40, it would not be hard to see how he could have so many great, long-term, committed friends, willing to across the globe to hang out for a week.)

They stayed in the downtown area. Just steps away from iconic venues like Tian an'men Square and the Forbidden city. They hiked the Great Wall all day Friday. They got all the way to the broken-down bits of the wall, remnants of history more than 600 years old. (The Wall was originally built in 200 BC, but a huge unification/update happened during the Ming Dynasty.) They had a campfire in the Chinese countryside. They sang karaoke in a hotel lobby bar. They ate Chinese food. They had burgers at Hard Rock Beijing. They probably had a few beers. And maybe even a Cuban cigar or two. They toasted China, and turning 40, but most of all they celebrated friendship... in the most honorific way... by spending time together.

It's Saturday so there must be a wedding

A few weeks ago, when April was feeling like November. I bundled Bei Bei up, per her request, to go have a quick swing in the back yard. When I peeked out the window to check on her, I saw her peeking through the trees and fence to the restaurant across the street. Like every other Saturday, the joint was hosting a wedding.

The drummers were drumming their steady, rhythmic beat and Bei Bei was enraptured by the costumes and colors, the cannons and drum beats (The whole affair sounded more like a battle ritual than nuptial celebrations... maybe Pat Benatar was on to something with Love is a Battlefield!)

She watched the bride and groom arrive. And the lion dancers begin their serenade. She watched as confetti cannons launched a rainbow of ticker tape into the cloudy sky, but when the fireworks began she covered her ears and ran for the house.

Our last week

Our last week has been busy, and any number of things could have been blog posts in and of themselves. (Maybe they still will be.)

Here's what we've been up to in the last week or so:

Bea's birthday; breakfast in bed; ice cream cake to school; broken stove top; broken shower; and request for a birthday dinner of spaghetti (which had to be a restaurant because of the uncooperative gas rings).

Planning a birthday party for 8 little people five and under. Dealing with workers. And a new ayi. (The workers arrive to fix/evalutate/gawk at broken appliances and tell me what I already know... they are broken and need to be replaced.)

Preparing for grandparents, (Did I mention this was preparing for a party potentially sans stove top, and for guests despite the fact our shower was leaking all over the floor.)

Calling Friday about the furniture that should be delivered Saturday (in time for the party Sunday). Only to learn that it wouldn't arrive until Monday. And when they came Monday they forgot several pieces that they can't deliver until Thursday (which in Chinese culture means Friday... a whole week after I originally called to check up on things!)

Running an "American style" garage sale out of our Chinese garage, dealing with more workers, decorating little lady bug cupcakes, picking up my parents from the airport, having a Bug themed party with eight of the cutest and busiest in the expat five and under set, enjoying watching my parents meet Bei Bei's friends.

Sending everyone to school and work Monday morning, only to bust the girls out at noon for time with their grands, and lunch @ Lisa's Pizza, and a game of Life @ home (our hope to fly kites... the iconic spring past time in Qingdao foiled by the cold temps and rain) ...

Still Chilly!

It's April, but it feels like November. We shiver. We add another fleece. We look with disdain at the cold radiators (the government regulated heat was shut off last weekend.) We wait longingly for Spring to arrive. Spring is certainly late this year.

We brought in cherry blossoms and forced them to bloom (soaking them in bucket of warm water overnight, and then gave them 24 hour to open inside.) They are beautiful. But we have to wait for the reluctant buds outside to unfurl their delicate petals. It's simply too cold for them to want to open.

We are thrilled, despite the weather, to have my parent's with us for about a week. We're huddling inside cold restaurants with our jackets on. We're drinking lots of hot water and tea. We are enjoying being together. And even if they don't get to see Qingdao's famous cherry blossoms in bloom, they get to spend time with their three granddaughters, and when we live half a globe away that's enough for all of us!

Easter Sunday Afternoon by the Seaside

Ladybug, Ladybug, Fly Away Home

Bea's party is one week from yesterday (her actual birthday is the day after tomorrow.) We're doing a "Ladybug" themed party (China-style) which means our ladybug cupcakes probably won't turn out like this . . .

Nevertheless, I am trying not to be intimidated as I navigate websites like "amazingmoms.com," although there is a high probability the name is certainly meant to be intimidating. (And not intended for the faint-of-heart, or those who begin planning for the big day just six days in advance!)

Rite of Passage in the Spring

We turned the calendar page to April, but someone forgot to tell the thermometer (and perhaps also the sun). It's been the bleakest spring I can remember during our tenure in China. Our spring jackets are waiting in the "on-deck" position, while heavy woolens and puffy coats still reign supreme on the coat rack. The winter uniforms the girls don each day for school have grown faded and dull. They are stiff from being hung to drip dry. The pants have crept, not so subtly, slowly above the ankle. We are desperately waiting for spring!!

So on Saturday, spurred on by the fact it was Eastertime... I pulled out our bent up rake, the one with the kiddy-whampus tines; the one Mr. Johnson has re-enforced with screws (on more than one occasion). It is a known fact, you can find nary a rake of this caliber in the entire municipality of QD... and if you take a gander at that rake you'll understand that that's saying something!

I hacked away at the dead and mouldering leaves along the roses ... pulling rubbish (Styrofoam, impossibly thin plastic bags, and bits of construction conveniently tossed from the second floor apartment into our garden/yard.)

I was reassured to find bits of green that had been hiding under the long-winter blanket of the organic and inorganic materials listed above. I ran my hands through the warmth of the dark black soil. The soil I had to buy, because rich supple soil is no longer naturally occurring here.

I watched as my youngest girls worked. Pulling the remnants of last year's annual plants. Purposefully turning spade after spade of earth... clay colored and clay textured earth, into which we mixed the dark, purchased soil. They thoughtfully arranged our plant selection, and then gently set the spring plants into the small holes they dug.

We are choosing to stay, for two more years, in this apartment home. The home with traces of mold that forms around the window every couple of months. The home with three toilets that all require frequent plunging. The home with the shower that no longer drains, but allows the water to collect and pool around our ankles. We are staying here in large part because we have a garden.

Because we want our little girls to experience this rite of passage each spring. We stay because conversations about dirt, and the ability to play in it is the stuff of childhood.