Things I'm grateful for

I wanted to write an entry devoted to the things that I've learned to be grateful for while living in China.

Let's start with bathrooms.  First, squatters are no longer an issue.  As long as we find a clean, flushing squatter I'm grateful.  The second thing I'm grateful for is toilet paper.  If I walk into a bathroom and find a roll of toilet paper outside of the stalls, I'm grateful.   (Or if I remember to pack toilet paper with me, which I rarely forget now.  It's a complete luxury when I find toilet paper in a stall.)  The third thing I'm grateful to find in a restroom is soap.  This is very rare.  I think most Chinese people think that if they rub their hands together fast enough and long enough, the germs will run away.  (I always keep hand sanitizer with me now.  Another thing I'm grateful for.)  Lastly, I'm grateful if their is a way to dry your hands after rubbing them vigorously under the water.  Sometimes there will be an air dryer and on very rare occasions you'll find paper towels.

I'm grateful for our driver.  I would have no idea how to get around without him.  There is no way I could drive around China for several reasons.  Number one, and probably most importantly, I can't read most of the street signs.  They are written in Chinese.  There is pinyin on some signs but not all signs.  Number two, the crazy traffic patterns.   There can be 3-4 lanes on one side of an intersection, and then when you go through the light, the amount of lanes will have decreased by 1-2 lanes.  All of the cars just merge together as they cross the intersection.  (There are no signs to warn you of this fact either.  At least, none that I can read.)  Also, something interesting in the traffic patterns are the left turns.  At a lot of intersections there are 2 lights for left turns.  Everyone stops at the line like we do in the U.S., but then there is a second line in the middle of the intersection.   When the light for people to go straight turns green, the cars all pull up to the second line in the middle of the intersection.  Then when the left turn light turns green, the cars make their left turns.  These are two of the "organized" traffic patterns in China.  I haven't even gotten into the people driving on the wrong side of the road, down the bicycle lane, and into pedestrians crossing crosswalks.

Next, I'm grateful for the crosswalks in the U.S.  When you see the green light to cross in a crosswalk in the U.S., you know you can cross the road safely (most of the time).  In China, when you get a green light to cross the street, the cars also get a green light to turn left across the crosswalk.  You have to be extremely cautious when you cross the streets here.  I've had several of my children almost get hit as they cross the streets on their bikes.  I think we're starting to get the hang of crossing the street though.

I'm grateful that I can read.  Living in China, has given me the opportunity to understand what it would be like to be completely illiterate.  It has been difficult not being able to read product labels, street signs, store names, receipts, menus and contracts. (Just to mention a few things I can't read.)  The contracts are translated into English, but I know the meanings are not always exactly the same.  Also, our Ayi give me receipts at the end of each week so that I know how much money she has spent.  Everything is in Chinese, except the numbers.  So, I know how much she spends, but I have no idea what she's spending the money on.   I'm trying to learn some Chinese characters, and our Chinese tutor will start teaching some to us as the school year starts.

I'm grateful for our Ayi.  There is so much work to do here.  For one thing, we don't have a dishwasher.  I spend several hours each day doing dishes and even more on the weekends when our Ayi is off.  Also, our washer and dryer are at least 1/3 the size they were in the U.S.  Our Ayi does 4-5 loads of wash a day and I do just as many. Our Ayi mops the floors everyday as well.

I'm grateful for carpet.  This is something I greatly miss in China.  Almost all of our floors, including the stairs, are marble.  We do have wood floors in some of the bedrooms and tile in the bathrooms.  The only places that really have carpets in China are Hotels.

I'm grateful for clean drinking water.  In China, no one, including the Chinese people, drink from the tap.  Luckily, we have a filter on our kitchen sink.  A lot of people use water bottles or have large bottles of water delivered to their home.  People in China like to drink hot water.  So, it can be difficult to buy a water cooler.  You can buy a stand for the big bottles of water.  It's just difficult to find one that can actually cool the water.  So, I'm grateful for our water filter and fridge.  We keep at least 2 pitchers of water in our fridge at all times.

I'm grateful for the weeds in Utah.  Crazy, huh?  Just hear me out.  The thing is, I have no idea what is a weed here and what is a plant.  In Utah, at least I knew what to pull and what to leave.  The people before us planted some things.   I hope I'm leaving the right plants in the ground and pulling the right ones out.

I'm grateful for technology.  My kids have been able to visit with their friends on skype.  We've been able to access netflix, amazon prime, hulu plus and several other movie networks through our Roku box.  We've been able to keep in touch with our friends and family through facebook and this blog.  We've been able to access church talks and manuals.  Technology has definitely made this transition much easier.

I'm grateful for ice cream!  The heat here is crazy!  As we go places, we are sweating before we even get started.  Every tourist sight in China has some form of ice cream or popsicle.  I'm extremely grateful for this.  Ice cream has helped us survive all of our adventures.  It's amazing how quickly a cranky child (or adult) can calm down once they have ice cream.

I'm grateful for the opportunities this move has provided.  My children and I are learning a language I doubt any of us would've ever attempted to learn without this move.  Our family has seen things that I know we would've never seen without this move.  My children are going to have the opportunity to attend an amazing school with children from all around the world.  Boyd is getting to work at a job that he loves and work with people that he loves working with.

Overall, this is an amazing experience for our family.  It has not been easy, and we have not always had bright sunny days (literally).  But, we're making it through, and having fabulous adventures along the way.

Alauna