October 5, 2012

When I opened up the site to write today, all of the buttons and prompts had changed into Chinese characters.  Websites like Google and ESPN that I go to frequently will sometimes just revert into Chinese and it is downright intimidating.  Like today, manage to get it back into English somehow, but being faced with written Chinese is much more frustrating that trying to communicate with a non-English speaker verbally.  At least face to face, you can point to stuff or make hand gestures (like rubbing my head for shampoo or pulling on udders for milk), but trying to buy tickets or get an address on-line means you aren't getting them.

The big news this week for us is that we booked our X-mas vacation for this year...to Italy!  14 full days.  Have never been and has always been number one on my wish list of destinations.  Our friend Colleen, who's job is leading tours from Seattle to, among other locations, Italy, is going to put together a suggested itinerary and has up to date info on accommodations for us to use to plan our trip.  At this point, we are going to spend several days in Rome, a few days on the road between Rome and Venice seeing things like Florence/Pisa, and then a few days in Venice.  The night we get in, there is a football/soccer match between Roma A.S. and Inter Milan in Rome that Paul and I are going to try to get tickets to attend, we'd like to go to Christmas mass at the Vatican, and watch fireworks on New Year's eve in Venice.  How freaking awesome, no?  Most everyone I have told or know seems to have been, so am putting out the call for suggestions on things to do.  The big destinations, like Pantheon, Coliseum, and gelato carts, are pretty obvious, so the things I'd like to ask of you are:

Did you see something unusual or not in the tour book that you'd recommend?

Have you been recently and have some amazing restaurant idea?

Any other tips like whether to get a week pass on the metro, a museum that is free on certain days or closed others, where to change money, etc...

Thanks...

Things have started to settle into a rhythm here.  Kids are well into school and seem to be doing pretty well...no complaints and their grades are good.  As mentioned, their school is very strong academically so there was a concern that they would struggle or be behind.  Carolyn is at the highest reading level in her class, and Paul's mid-term reports were all A's (except, and unsurprisingly, in Mandarin).  Paul has had more homework so far this quarter than I saw him do in 7 years of the Seattle Public School system and he has even been reading books outside of his school...for personal enjoyment!  Pretty scary.

I'm starting my Chinese classes soon and have been going to a lot of parent things at school...wouldn't say I'm busy, but at least I'm not sitting home all day.  The 4th grade counselor has a book club that I'm checking out...the first meeting was yesterday.  Definitely not something I would normally do, but his first book is one that I had read years ago and loved, so thought I would give it a try.  The book is called, How To Talk So Kids Will Listen.  Again, am the cynic and think self-help stuff is a crock for the most part, and this one does get a bit too touchy-feely at times for my taste, but the methods it recommends really work...and not just on kids.  Have thought about getting Betty to read it for years, but always held back because she would then see some of the tricks that I use to manipulate her sometimes.  I am not big on recommending stuff (mainly cause no one ever takes my advice, otherwise you'd all be Yo La Tengo aficionados), but if you have kids (or anyone really) that you butt heads with on trivialities, I promise that this book will open doors.  Seriously.

So am sitting there at the book club and our table has some very nice people.  Is it weird that when I go to these things that I prefer to sit with the Chinese ladies instead of the white chicks?  Am at the table with the very sophisticated ladies and, of course, the one required nut job.  Every time we'd break into our smaller groups to discuss the topic, she would describe her inability to control her own kids.  It seems that she just transferred her daughter into a local Chinese pre-K from the Western one she had been attending so her kid could learn Chinese better, and the kid is pitching a fit constantly cause she liked the Western one better.  I can only guess at how horrible a Chinese pre-K must be, especially having experienced the more friendly Montessori methods and seeing the Tiger Moms at full prey.  You could instantly tell that this mother was constantly fighting tooth and nail with the 4 year-old over the issue.  The normal moms and I would discreetly roll our eyes at each other while we tried to talk her down, but there was just no way.  I'm sure you are familiar with these moms and you just want to tell them that at all they need to really do is to mellow out.  But you also know that they are so sure their way is the best that they would not realize that it is their own mania that fuels the kids to rebel, and probably couldn't relax without a prescription of Valium.   

The best thing about the last week has been that the heat has finally broken.  Still in the 80's and humid during the day, but have finally been able to start going for walks without melting and giving up after 5 minutes.  (Almost) no one is fat here and am feeling self-conscious about being a bit on the tubby side.  In addition, they don't design things (like chairs or clothes) for the standard American fat ass.  Am trying to make a concerted effort to lose some weight and that is by taking vigorous walks around town...gets me acclimated to the city without destroying my knees while working up a good sweat.  Even better have been the evenings when it gets into the mid to low 70's.  Downright perfect...our apartment is on a corner, so when the windows are all open, there is a pleasant breeze flowing through the house.  At times, the breeze is so strong that all of the hair that Betty and Carolyn lose blows into a corner off the apartment and is much easier to collect.  I initially mistook it for a scampering cucaracha, but then saw it was a little tumbleweed of black hair rolling across the floor.

I don't think it's actually karma, so what do you call it when you say something and then it happens almost instantly.  There has been a freakishly high amount of these instances lately. Within the last week...

- Said that I thought I would see more accidents with the random driving habits of the drivers/scooters and the tight spaces in which they do them, and then saw two the next morning.  The first was a single car that veered off the road head-on into a pole, and 5 minutes later saw a pile of scooters in a heap at a traffic light.  Appeared that one fell over and dominoed another 1/2 dozen.

- Mentioned that I had yet to see a spider or rat, and literally saw one of each within hours of saying it.

-  You see mosquito bites on peoples arms and legs all the time, and I was looking at Paul's legs after his camp and we were talking about how he had been eaten by mosquito's.  I said that I have managed to avoid becoming a smorgasbord, and damn if my legs weren't covered by bites when I woke up the next morning.

- Boasted to another recent transplant that I was surprised that hadn't gotten ill from eating anything since arrival, and then got nauseous from the meal I was eating when I said it (from Chili's, which is equally as disgusting here as it is in the US).

- Asked the kids as we were walking somewhere if they had seen a cat since we arrived, and they hadn't.  Within the next 10 steps, one goes trotting across the street.   Was pretty happy about this one actually...you see tons of dogs strolling around, but the absence of cats leads your mind to think that the locals had eaten them to extinction.

Really weird.  I just read the new Dan (Da Vinci Code) Brown book The Symbol, and it is all about the power of the mind being able to control matter.  Definitely will work on harnessing this new found power into controlling energy into more socially constructive (like drivers obeying traffic laws), or personally gratifying (perhaps bigger boobs and booties for the locals?) endeavors.

Have been rambling today, but since I've mentioned all the other creatures in town, I should give some love to the local canines.  As mentioned, you see quite a few around.  The majority are what they call "snack" dogs...little ones that are carried in bags or are walked very slowly on their tiny legs.  Snack dogs refer to those that are big enough to eat, but not enough for a full meal.  The ones you don't see a lot of are those big hairy dogs...like the Giant Poodles, German Shepard's, etc.  This makes total sense in that most folks like in small apartments and they would (like me) suffer the most in the oppressive heat.  But the most interesting are the mid-sized dogs like this fella.

 

 

There are quite a few of them running about, but rarely are they leashed.  I would estimate 60-70% of them have collars of some kind, so they don't seem like strays, just that the owners let them out to walk themselves.  And they are unbelievably smart.  On multiple occasions, have witnessed them sitting on the corner waiting for the light to change before walking across the street.  When walking down the street, they keep wisely to the side and move even further over when a vehicle approaches.  Smarter than some of the people we encounter in the street.  With the scooters and cars wildly zipping around, it is an amazing survival mechanism.   If I saw these dogs in Mexico, I'd walk to the other side of the street or go the other way to avoid them.  I wouldn't try pet one of these, but they seem indifferent to humans and other dogs as they make their rounds and we have zero fear of them.  I have not heard one barking (uh-oh) and they just blend into the daily commute.  It would be nice if they curbed themselves though...for a big city, the amount of poopie on the streets has you constantly walking with your head down in an effort to avoid the piles.