Domestic Helper

We finally took a great leap forward and engaged a domestic helper to help out in the afternoon 6 days a week. We shall identify her as Stephanie. She arrived in Beijing last Saturday from Guangzhou. Her sister, a domestic helper for another family we know and someone we had engaged ocassionally while I was away in Melbourne in January, called Grace on Monday morning if we needed some permanent help. Stephanie started work that afternoon!

The train she took to Beijing was standing room only, a 24 hr journey. Amazing for a non-festive period. I can speculate two reasons for that. First implies how much infrastructure China still needs going forward. Second implies an influx of migrant workers who have lost their factory jobs down south all heading north searching for work. Media has been touting some 20 million jobs lost and thousands of factories closed in the south as exports declined sharply. Stephanie is one of those 20 millions. Stephanie used to work 12 hrs a day, 7 days a week at that factory for RMB700 a month without any meal provided.

She left her 8 yr old boy and 6 yr old girl to her mother-in-law in her 70's, (still ploughing the land). Stephanie and her husband used to work in the same factory in a town some distance away from Guangzhou. Husband is still there, a lucky one with a job. While they could visit their kids in their home village once every month in the past, Stephanie wont see her kids again until next year during Spring Festival in February, possibly another standing room trip by train.

Stephanie never finished high school. I asked her how she can communicate with her family in the south. She said she used her mobile phone but sparingly because it costs so much. I suggested she used my computer to do internet calling. Her reply surprised me. She claimed with a genuine sense of pride that her husband never smoke, drink, gamble nor 'play the internet'. Somehow she associated internet with 'smoke-filled internet bar/cafe'.

My peak hours from 345pm to 515pm is now a lot more manageable. Besides picking Kristine at 345pm, Kimberley at 515pm, and Kristine's piano lessons in between, the challenge had always been getting dinner hot and ready for Kristine at 530pm. The home is now a lot cleaner and tidier too.

Thawing

While overnight temp can still be 6 below zero, the day time temp is now getting to 10degC.

Two days ago when I walked Kimberley home from kinder, a boy rushed past her, made a funny face at her and ran away. Kimberley's face brightened up, turned to me and said,"That is Da Shen', 'Da Shen loves me'. I was taken aback, amusingly. The rest of the walk was punctuated with questions from Kimberley on Da Shen: 'Where does he live?', 'What is Da Shen's telephone number?'.

Yesterday on the same path back home after kinder. She kept looking out for DaShen, and got agitated with me for not seeing Da Shen anywhere. I asked her who she played with that day in kinder. She replied,"Da Shen.". I asked what they played. She replied,"We sat together','Da Shen holds my hands'.

This morning as Kimberley was leaving home, she rushed into the kitchen and grab a candy bar. She said that was for her friend. I asked her who her friend was. She replied, 'Da Shen'.

She didnt feel embarassed to tell me the truth so I am confident she is not serious, yet. That is a relief!

Wild Great Wall 野长城

Retrieved some photos from archive showing the Giams conquering a section of the Great Wall in the wild. Photos showing Grace, Kristine, Dawei, Jane and Haitao, when we were younger, in 2005... We were treated to a trout banquet by Haitao and Jane at the foot of the Great Wall mountain before the climb. Then it was 3 hrs up and 3 hrs down, many sections on all fours.

From some other blogs, camping overnight on top of wild Great wall is in vague now. Must try that one day. Too bad there is no fish to catch there. Grace counter-proposed staying at a farmer's home instead, but from what I have heard, those farmers' homes for rent to urban weekenders now come equiped with karaoke, and spa baths.........

Great Wall

We climbed the Great Wall today!
Grace hired a car for the day. Came with a lady driver. Kristine climbed a section of the Great Wall named 'Wild Great Wall'(wild as in 'original', 'left to survive the elements for hundreds of years') with grace and I in 2005, but she didnt get to the top that trip as it was too steep and dangerous. This time, both Kristine and Kimberley spent almost 2 hrs soaking the sun, running on snow on the Great Wall, peppering Grace and I with snowballs. There was a row of modern toilets up at the Wall, but there were all locked! Kristine and I had to improvise and chose a hideout away from view. We melted some snow on the slope but it was environmentally friendly. I told Grace later while this section of the Wall was not 'wild', the toilets were! On way back we visited an ancient temple nearby, dating back to 300AD. The highlight there was a ride on 'Alphine coaster'. Each car can seat an adult and a child, is pulled up the hill by cable individually. At the top, 6-7 cars were linked in a row and guided down the hill by a trained driver. It was wild. I forgot to put on my gloves on the way down. My hands took a long time to warm up again.

For a whole day's work, the lady driver received Y450, before tolls (Y50). Petrol should have cost around Y100-150, throw in another Y50 for tyres and maintenance. She pockets Y200. She is one of those Chinese parents who worked so hard to provide for her son, but somehow could not induce her son to aspire towards respectable goals in life. 20 yrs old, could not qualify for local Uni, does not wish to find a job. Just drifts. A worry for any parent.

Police registration

Registering our residential address at a local police station is a step to be taken by every resident alien. When we first arrived, the rule was to register within 7 days of arrival. This is now changed to 'within 24hrs' of arrival. We didnt know of the change until yesterday.

Having registered with our friendly police when we first moved to this current address, we had no idea we were breaking the laws by not registering again after this trip back to Melbourne. Went to our friendly local police station yesterday, this time they have a brand new 5-storey building with more spacious waiting room. The lady officer insisted we were law breakers for not registering within 24 hrs of returning to China. Grace tried to explain our resident visas are still valid, our address and lease are still unchanged. Grace asked the lady for a reason to re-register each time she left the country. The lady officer gave her an honest answer:"I dont know, but I have a monthly quota to meet on issuing penalty notices for those who dont register on time". She added, (my paraphrasing) most times, she and her colleagues just couldnt be bothered with issuing penalty notices because there is a lot of paperwork, but the monthly quota compelled her to spend the time and go through the process. Just a written warning. No fine (max Y500).

Some signages I saw to kill some time while waiting:
1. 4th and 5th floors: dormitory for police officers
3rd floor: meeting rooms and admin offices
2nd floor: offices for Station Chief, Asst Chief, Commissar.
1st floor: Household and residency registration, Dispute Reconciliation Room
Basement: Interrogation Room (Love to see this one, but I was afraid to end up being 'interrogated')

2. "5 Major Rules for Police ":
a - Uphold Firearm Mgt Guidelines (almost all police do not carry firearms)
b - No Firearm and Alcoholic consumption
c - No Driving and Alcohlic consumption
d - No alcohol on duty
e - No involvement in any gambling activity

There was also a separate sign that says 'No Smoking', but I saw 2 active smokers, 1 in uniform....... Maybe it was meant for visitors. I dare not ask.

Met an American who went to the same primary school as Kristine when he was in Beijing some years ago. He came to register 'within 24 hrs' of returnig to Beijing. He said he never used to do that. I asked him why the urgency. He said he now works as a journalist for AP and cannot afford any problem with his visa. Spoke fluent Chinese, and sent his two daughters to local schools.

Another highlight of the afternoon is a visit to a wet market nearby, mainly to get some kids clothes repaired by a tailor. We saw a big rat sniffing around a tofu stall, unattended. Kristine's immediate reaction: "Ratatouille!"

On way home, Kristine and Kimberley stopped by the playground to have some snow fights with Scarlet and Jenny. They were all targetting Grace! Dinner was homecooked. Spaghetti Carbonara with added onion, garlic and sliced mushrooms. Kimberley couldnt wait for eveyone to sit down before she started her dinner. "This is so yummy", she said. The day ended on a high note.

Snow

It snowed overnight. Sufficiently cold not to melt before reaching the ground, and thick enough to form a white blanket.
(21.02.2009: Now we know. The snow was artificially seeded to end the worst drought in 38 yrs. http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE51I10X20090219. )

Went for my physical after sending Kristine to school bus. Conversion of my tourist visa to PR visa requires physical good health. The clinic ia situated in northwest Beijing outside of 5th Ring Road. Took more than 90mins getting there first by subway and then taxi. Ought to be faster than other forms of road transport in a snowy morning when traffic crawled at slow pace. Saw 3 accidents within a 6km journey. The place is not easy to find even for my taxi driver. Easiest to get there is by subway to XiErQi (西二旗）on subway line#13, take Exit A, down the exit stairs to the left. Bus 963 stops just underneath the station. Y2 on Bus 963 takes you to the front gate of the Clinic in a big brown building. Another way is to look for China Weather Bureau Satellite Station (中国气象卫星站), take next right and next left to the Clinic.

Costs: Y645 for blood test, ECG, chest Xray, blood pressure, eyesight, plus Y30 to courier results to me. Upon arrival, fill in a form available at counter. Register the form with passport at Counter 1 or 2. Pay Y645, and the take forms and barcoded stickers to 6 different room, all adjacent to each other for the tests. The blood test, ECG, and chest Xray are somewhat serious stuff but the eyesight, mouth inpsection, body inspection, and blood pressure check were ornamental. The lady doctor/nurse who inspected my mouth was reading newspapers on the job. Sit down, open your mouth, say 'AH!' and back to newspaper! I think I failed my eye test. I correctly identified a fine print but not the one adjacent to it on the same row. I told the lady I couldnt see it clearly with my right eye. She asked me 'Why?'.

No food before the tests, so be prepared with food and drink in your backpack.

Day 1 of Term 2

Kristine started her day at 630am without any hassle, having being psyched up the day before on the challenge to wake up early, changing her pace from holidays to schooldays. She left for school in her school bus happily. She came back even happier, having received her grades from Term 1:
Chinese: 98/100, A
Math: 98/100, A
Computer: A+
Fine Art: A
Music: A
PE: B.
She told us she came in last in rope skipping, somewhat indignantly. Our new challenge is to teach her how nobody can be good in everything. She told us she and others who take school buses home must stay back to tidy and clean the classrooms (those who are picked up by guardians go home immediately after school ends). Grace asks why the teacher doesnt rotate the duty roster to every student. Kristine's reply: I like tidying up anyway.

Kimberley was a trouble for Day 1. She wanted her holiday arrangements to continue: couldnt wake up in time, wanted to stay home and watch Nickelodeon. She refused to go inside her class. Eventually Ms Duan snatched her away, struggling and crying. I later went back to ask the nanny how Kimberley was. She cried for 5 mins and then settle down. I am afraid a pattern is forming for Kimberley: kinder is stressful, computer and TV are fun........

After 6 weeks of activities away from the kitchen, dinner was on me yesterday. Marinated tenderized beef cutlets panfried in breadcrumb, saute mushrooms doubled up as soup with white rice. Simple. No MSG. Just salt, pepper, soysauce, cooking oil and tomato sauce. No leftovers.

Heading North

Kristine and Kimberley had a chance to sleept over at Kylie's before we head north to Beijing. Apparently, 3 of them plus a small dog (Holly) in a QS bed, and another big dog (charlie) on the carpet. No photo to mark the special event, unfortunately.

The morning of departure started at 230am for me but 6am for the girls. We reached Melb airport at 710am, so we were put on the 8am flight to Sydney instead of 9am, which would have been very tight to catch the connecting flight to Beijing at a different terminal scheduled for departure at 1145am. Good chance the baggage may not catch up if we had taken the 9am flight.

This is the first time we took Qantas to Beijing. Our pilot between Melb and Syd was a lady. We encountered bad weather approaching Syd. The plane was shaken a bit and the engines revved up noticeably for landing but she landed safely. The transit is via Sydney with a plane change, instead of via Shanghai on Airchina without plane change. Comparing the two airlines, Airchina is more convenient with no plane change, and an hour less in total travel time door to door (18 vs 19), part of Star Alliance which we used more, 30kg baggage allowance. Qantas flight is of better quality. The aisles are wider and I suspect the seats are wider and longer too. The crew are older in age but professional attentive and prompt.

When we board the Syd-Pek flight, the Chief Pursar announced that the plane was being refueled. She repeated her request that all passengers sould take our seats but not to fasten the seat belts yet because the plane was being refuled. Very clear and meticulous about what she wanted from the passengers. When the crew went through the safety demonstration, passngers were advised to count the number of rows from out seats to the nearest exits. Simple measures that I am sure will count a lot in emergency situation in the dark and the floor lights failed. They were even very clear in when the mobiles should be switched off and when they can be turned on. On one AirChina flight (Oct 08 Beijing-Melb), after the PA asked passengers to switch their mobiles off, a flight attendant taking her jump seat in front of me took out her mobile (I thought she was switching it off) and started pressing the buttons away, either to send a text msg or to retrieve one.........

The 4 crew in the economy section of the A330 all had different accents: Hong Kong, Japanese, American, and French. The PA annoucements repeated in Chinese after English carried Hong Kong accent. I could understand that more easily than the English PA on AirChina. The French and I chatted a bit. He was interested in why we relocated to Beijing as he was planning to live in Shanghai in 18 months upon retirement. I asked him why he wanted to move away from Australia. Very amusingly, he said there is no place for a french in an anglo world, how it was difficult to goto a pub without witnessing some kind of a brawl. While not a partner to the pub scene, I can fully understand his feeling.

Food served on board was good too. Providing each passenger with a menu helped in undertanding whats coming up throughout the flight. I recalled a flight when a western passenger on AirChina being offered "western or chinese breakfast". He opted for Chinese, only to discover upon uncovering the lid that it is plain rice porridge!!!!! In between meals, there was a free flow of apples, pretzels, drinks (even Lite beer!) and Nissin cup noodles. Thinking back on an AirChina flight (Mel-PEK Oct 06), I couldnt get milk for Kimberley, 2 yrs old then. I was told: "We were stocked with 2 litres of milk out of Beijing (to Melb). We have to save that for First Class and an infant smaller than your daughter"...... WHAT THE F%*& ???!!????

So these are my choices:
Comfort: Qantas
Crew: Qantas
Door to Door: AirChina
Transit: Sydney is less stressful then Shanghai
Baggage allowance: AirChina
Inflight announcements: Qantas
Food: Qantas by a wiiiiiiiiiiide margin
Mileage Credit: AirChina/Star Alliance
Tel Customer Service: Qantas

Doncaster Gardens

Kristine visited her old school and managed to meet most of her friends. Ms Walker, her Prep teacher even obliged us with a photo. Emily is on schedule to visit Kristine in Beijing in Sept. On that basis, I asked several of Kristine's ex-classmates if they too would visit Kristine in Beijing. Chloe said she "had $250, maybe her parents could give her more (to pay for tickets), maybe not". Tifanny said her parents are working several jobs, and they wont be able to send her to Beijing. Interesting replies, at that age.

Beach n Bushfire

It was a super hot day. It has been hot farther north, where we went camping, but the northely brought hot and dry conditions to Melbourne on Saturday, Feb 7, 2009. We started our day with a Yumcha with 4 families before we set off to Venus Bay for pipis. It was very hot to begin with, around 44degC, and it got hotter as the day went by. Around 3pm, the temperature indicator in my car showed 48. When we got to Venus Bay, the cool change had just arrived, greeting us with blasts of sand from the beach. It was difficult to make headway against the southerly, but it got cooler. We had no idea what went on the woody sides of Melbourne. We just went on our business of digging for pipis on the beach, among the waves. Kristine, Kimberley, Emily, Michelle had a great time, under the supervision of Deborah. Gloria, Ken and their two sons, with me, focused on collecting pipis. We stayed til 830pm, as it started to get dark. Dinner was at KFC nearby. Nearer Melbourne, M420, the freeway that links Melb to Venus Bay, was blocked by Police. We had to take a detour, not knowing what happened until the next day. The last time bushfires caused so much destruction and took so many lives was in 1983. This time is regarded as much worse. in 1983, the day after the Bushfire was met with heavy downpour and flooding. This time it continues to be super dry.
With the kids having so much fun outdoor the last few days, it is difficult to think of the fire disaster so close to home.
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Camping

I took Kristine and Kimberley camping in the state forest by the Murray River near Yarrawonga from Feb 4 to Feb 6. The forest was hot and dry. I was more concerned with big Gum tree branches falling than bushfire, but I should, in hindsight. This is the first time the two girls were under my sole care in the forest. We survived the heat. While the girls allowed me just a few hours of fishing (early morning just before they woke up) during the 2 nights/1 day there, we managed to land 5 good size yellowbellies to bring home.
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Kristine Took Control of Pajero

(Unable to attach video in Melb. Will try from Beijing) Kristine took control of Pajero steering while Kimberley sat on armrest between front seats as we drove back into the forest after lunch at Uncle Jack's home in Yarrawonga, the nearest tourist town to our camp site. The stretch is rather flat to allow Kristine and Kimberley some driving fun. Value of the 4WD has been fully extracted from this trip! KRISTINE cout a murrycod.**

Caught and Released a Murray Cod

Caught the cod at the beach where Kristine and Kimberley spent most of daytime cooling down. 2 years ago, this cod would have been big enough to keep, but the Fisheries have increased the legal size from 50cm to 55cm in 2008, to 60cm in 2009. Attached a photo and a video.

KRISTINE cout a murrycod.**

Kimberley Turning Bi-Lingual

This morning, I asked Kimberley what she should be doing soon after waking up. She replied, 'Go wee-wee (toilet)', 'Drink water'. I then added, "After that, you go upstairs to brush your teeth, then come down to have your toasted bread with orange jam, and drink your milk'.

She replied:"I have 这么多事情”。