Monday off

Kristine went to bed last night with very bad coughs and woke up with the same bad coughs and sore throat, so it was a rest day at home. After sending Kimmie to kinder, I went shopping for her fav redbean steamed buns at at local market but they didnt have that this morning. While there, Kristine called my mobile to ask if she could watch Nickelodeon on TV, to which I said no.
Upon returning home, I checked all TV settings and was confident she obeyed my instruction. Felt heppy, but wondering how I can find a balance so she would not grow up rebelling or sneaking her desire behind my back. The message is presently getting through that she can and will always enjoy her fav tv if she first gets through her chores. For this morning, her work was to rewrite her essay in English (see earlier blog entry). She watched TV for 20 mins after that, and again after finishing her lunch (reheated lasagna, and steamed peas with my garlic butter). Next in her list after lunch/TV is her school work of the day, posted on the school website.

Central Heating

Central heating to our apartment stopped two weeks ago. Technically speaking, our neighbours' heating stopped two weeks ago. We did not turn our radiators on so our heating came from our neighbours downstairs and upstairs (every home paid for heating: use it or lose it). Even without our radiators on, it was still too hot for us.

2 weeks after central heating logged off, and with outside temperature still hovering just above 0 overnights, our floors are getting colder and colder. Snuggling into bed at night is a nice feeling, but the first step on the floor in the morning is Cooooooold.......

Kristine's Weekend Diary

Kristine has to submit an essay each week on any subject she chooses. Grace and I are trying hard to get Kristine to be more expressive and not being inhibitive by correct spelling or writing. Slowly I am seeing improvements.

Her essay is reproduced below. words in parathesis are mine for easier reading and comprehension.

2009年3月28日
今天，我去吃“hui zhuan sushi”。我 zheng (正)在吃土豆泥的时后（候），我看见了‘Shen Yue Jun‘ (一位男同学)了！吃完了，我去yi yuan(医院)去yan(验)血。我的雪（血--白血球,常规4.0-10.0）是8。5。周二来的时候我妈妈和爸爸jie(接)到yi yuan(医院)，na(那)时候我的du（肚）子很tong(痛)很tong(痛)！还有呢我的血是16。5。 妈妈说：“你有wen (问)题”。
还有呢，周二来的时后，我得打点滴，应为我的血是16。5！！！
打的时候，我看见有一些打头(点滴)呢！

Today I went to eat 'Hui Zhuan Sushi'. When I was eating mash petato, I saw Xaivia (Xavier)! When we finish eating, we went to the hospital to blood test. My blood was 8.5 (white blood cell count, normal range 4.0-10.0). On Tuesday, Mummy and Daddy picked up me from school to the hospital, that time my tummy very very painful! and my blood was 16.5! Mummy says:"There is something wrong".
And on Tuesday, they gave medison through a drip, because my blood was 16.5!!! When doing that, I saw some do it on their heads!

Pre-Paying for Services

A popular tactic to attract repeat business is to pre-sell credits on services with discounts to pay-per-use pricing. The practice spreads from haircut, massages, piano lessons to hobbies... In fact, eletrcity, gas, hotwater, bathroom water in our apartment are all prepaid (no discount).

Hidden in our drawers somewhere, we have prepaid credits for Grace's beauty massgae, Kristine's taekwando, piano, and Kristine and Kimberley's weekend Playschool.

After attending her first Taekwando last Sunday, Kristine missed her second lesson yesterday and will miss her third this coming Sunday while travelling the Silk Road with us. Could this be another of Grace's ideas that hits the Great side-Wall soon after initiation? Grace gets frequent 'why-are-you-not-coming-here-anymore' calls from her masseur (from whom she purchased manymanymany discount sessional tickets), and the manager of a weekend playschool (疯狂家族）to which US$350 was paid but used thrice. Most people would be worried of their pre-paid credits disappearing (if the businesses shut down) and thus wanting to use their credits up quickly. Grace is a different breed.

The usage stats:
Grace:
Playschool: Unlikely Grace will consummate her original desire here. My bet is the manager will eventually give up calling Grace.....
Taekwando: yet TBD
KK
Piano lessons and practice: successfully into second prepaid contracts.

Jessica's Birthday Party

Jessica is one of Kristine's classmates and a better friend. Kristine and 2 other friends were invited to her party on Sunday for pizzas, cakes and icecream lunch, at a nice clubhouse where Jessica lives. Photo to follow.
Kristine was actually unwell with sore throat in the morning. She gave up her taekwando but insisted on attending Jessica's party. Amazing she was so well during the party, but not before, and certainly not after.

More Blood Test

Kristine returned to Beijing Children Hospital on Saturday to do another blood test. Prior to that, we had sushi at The Place (世贸天阶),chosen by Kristine as her reward for a week's almost perfect (she missed out on a morning's teethbrushing) score in executing her morning timely chores.

Her white blood cell count is down to 8.5 (normal 4.0-10.0). Much better than 16.5 last Tuesday when she had her drips. She saw the same lady doctor who was a lot more attentive and detailed than the first male doctor she saw on tuesday, but then again, what do you expect for Y5 of consultantation fee per visit? Seriously, we felt a lot more confident with this lady doctor.
When we first arrived at the hospital, we were supposed to check in at the front desk, and upon determining Kristine's blood test was not urgent, she was given a queue number in 'normal' clinic, rather than the 'emergency' (very loosely defined in my opinion: when Kristine had stomach pain on Tuesday, that was classified as 'emergency'. Her second visit the next day (to receive another dose of antibiotics via drips) was also classified as 'emergency'. Her third, this past Saturday, was classified non-emergency. Kristine was #40 in the queue, so Grace went back to front desk, asked for 'emergency' queue, paid twice the fee (from Y5 to Y10), and Kristine went back to see the lady doctor she saw on her second visit, within 15 mins. With prescription in hand (Y45 extra), we took kristine to her blood test which was very fast.

Getting home was a very leisurely stroll along Yabao Lu to Chaoyang Menwai Dajie, caught an electric bus and home in 20 mins. A young lady gave up her seat for kimberley but she and Kristine could not sit still for long. We stopped by Huatang and got them a Happy Meal. With that, they stayed home and watch a bit of Nickelodeon on TV while Grace and I strolled out to look for dinner. The first Hunan restaurant I chose had been closed for business. We looked at a Sichuan Spicy Pot, gave that a miss, than another ChongQing Baked Fish, also gave that a miss. Finally, we walked into a Korean. Y75 for three dishes. Enjoyable. We took kristine and kimberley there again the next day for dinner!

Kimberley's Kinder Outing

Wednesday was Kimberley's kinder Spring outing, to a wildlife safari near Badaling Great Wall. Each child must be accompanied by a parent/guardian. Kristine came along to keep me busy. Altogether 12 coach buses to ferry kids and guardians from kinder to Safari and back. The trips took just 90mins each way, through mountain passes with majestic Great Wall sections. Guardians were busy distributing goodies to kids around their seats and those their kids like. Kimberley personally distributed her Melb soft jelly to three of her better friends (she doesnt have many, as she doesnt know most of her classmates' names). A part of the outing in the Safari was to plant a tree, which Kristine and Kimberley helped enthusiastically. Notice how Kimmie held the rootstock.

Kristine's First Drip

Kristine's stomach pain worsened on Tuesday, so Grace and I picked her from school and sent her to Beijing Children hospital, walking distance from her school. The doctor prescribed 3 tests: blood test, excrement test, and ultrasound. Ultrasound revealed nothing wrong with her stomach and intestines. She could not provide any sample for excrement test, but her blood test showed very high white blood cell count. The doctor, a young male decided she was suffering from some kind of gastro and prescribed anti-biotics. In China, antibiotics are generally administered via drips --- a very busy section of the hospital dedicated to just that function. Attached some photos of Kristine's first visit to Beijing Children hospital. It cost just Y5 to see a doctor, Y30 for a course of oral anti-biotics, Y150 for drips, and Y100 for some kind of medicine to help 'with her digestion'.
Her drip course was supposed to take three days. We took her there again yesterday for her second dose. This time another doctor saw her, a lady doctor who, like all before and around her, covered half of her face with a mask. Her assessment of Kristine was that she was too healthy to need another drip, so she cancelled that. Kristine just has to finish her present course of antibiotics and do another blood terst after to see if her white blood cell count reverts to normal. We schedule that for Saturday, so Kimberley can witness how brave her sister is with blood sampling.

Kristine's Dinner

Kristine's dinner consisted of plain rice with Japanese seaweed, roast chicken wings, and winter melon slices and black fungus saute in Miso paste. Simple meal using whatever we have in the fridge. The fridge is now empty of vegetables. We leave for Lanzhou and Dunhuang next Wednesday for a week so the vegie inventory must be kept low.

Kristine's Taekwando

Sunday morning was Kristine's first Taekwando lesson, at the clubhouse just 50m from our home. From Kristine's posture and movements, I think she is more suited to ballet than Taekwando, but some martial art is good for her later on in life.

Her teacher is a gentle looking lady, until we saw her beat a boy on his hand for not following her instruction correctly. I mentioned to Grace that Kylie's piano teacher in Singapore used to tap Kylie's finger with a ruler whenever Kylie was not not doing her paino correctly. A parent sitting next to Grace turned his head to look at me with disbelief.

The highlight of Kristine's first lesson was sitting up exercise. Her teacher wanted Kristine to do 10 repeats. She could only muster 6. Her 7th was with help of both hands propping up on the floor.....

Lasagna Sunday

Sunday morning was all about Kristine's Taekwando. Afternoon was shoe-hunting for Krisitne and kimberley. Each bought 2 pairs of shoes for Spring. Scarlet came by at 4pm to play with Kristine and Kimberley. Scarlet and kristine were trying out their skate boards, while Kimberley tried HARD to ride her scooter. Full marks to Kimmie for trying hard. Jenny joined them soon after she finished her homework. At 515pm, they came upstairs to assemble lasagna ingredients. Everyone chipped in with some effort to make lasagana a success. Dinner was roast chicken wings, home-fried french fries, and lasagna. We all ate too much.

Children Day(s)

This weekend was for the children (which weekend was not?). We jammed 8 children ranging from 2 to 10 yrs old into our home on Saturday evening. 5 families were represtend. We had to feed the kids first before the adults had a chance to enjoy dinner together. The place was so noisy I was afraid neighbours would knock on our front door anytime soon. The party went on late into the night. Auntie Vivien popped in at 930pm to drop off some goodies from Xinjiang. Scarlet and Jenny had to return home soon after that. Then so did everyone else.

Kristine's classmate

In Grace's note to Kristine's teacher apologising on behalf of Kristine for being absent on Monday, she added that Kristine's classmate sharing the same desk had been rough on Kristine, often beating her hands if she refused to do what he wanted (such as painting a drawing a certain way, or certain colors).

This morning, Kristine's teacher changed Kristine's deskmate. Another boy. He slipped two notes to Kristine, in Chinese. One said 'I love you', and another said 'You are now my girlfriend'. We have the notes at home now.

Morning Job List

Kristine returned to school this morning after having Monday off due to fever. Each monring, since 2 weeks ago, she has to perform against a set of routines by time, starting from 630am, until 708am when her school bus arrives. There are altogether 19 tasks she has to complete during that 38 minutes, including brushing teeth, drinking water, milk, breakfast, fruit, check her school bag etc. So far only 4 mornings when she didnt get full marks, usually short by 1 mark, always for not finishing her fruit. The other 6 mornings were all full marks of 19. Her reward is a present of her choice no more than Y15 each week. Each evening, she has to record her daily morning scores on a worksheet pinned to the fridge door. Each time, Kimberley will come over, watch Kristine do the checks and add the scores. Kimberley will always say,"I not cry in kinder."

K* SICK

Today I have a fever. One of my friends at school had a fever. I think that I cought the gems from her. I thought I sleep to late. I sleep at 1105pm last friday because my friends came. I fed like vometing this few days. My mum lets me eat lollypop so I dont fed like vometing.

The Silk Road and Lumix LX3

Separately, Grace and I spent hours over the weekend researching a trip to Lanzhou and Dunhuang (ancient Silk Road), and our desire to upgrade our digital camera.

First the Silk Road. It was a toss up between the Silk Road or Li Jiang in Yunnan. The deep arifare discount tipped the scale to the Silk Road. She booked the tickets at 65% discount in the morning. The tickets arrived within 2 hrs. After more research on itinerary, she booked our return tickets, also at 65% disc in the evening. There is no surcharges now.

We mentioned to some friends that we wanted to squeeze a trip in before the peak season starts in April. One replied there wont be a peak season this year with the financial crisis. We shall see.

My challenge was deep and wide, crossing models and crossing countries. I started with an intention to get an SLR (Canon 450D) and a Canon EF f1.4 USM. After much checking on the internet, the prices are somewhat similar buying online in China, the US and Australia. In fact, for the Canons, they were cheaper in China!

After hours and hours of reading up on user feedback, the internal debates intensified between an SLR with wide aperture (f1.4) but bulky, or a narrower aperture (f2.8 for Canon G10) but pocket size. In the end, Panasonic Lumix Lx3GK took the chequered flag, with the widest aperture (f2.0) for a pocket size digital. The widest in its class. It also costs as much as an SLR. For this model, Amazon.com is about US$40 cheaper before state taxes, plus Jiatian's effort to bring it back from the US after his next trip there. So we placed a call to an online seller in NW Beijing, placed the order and it was delivered on COD basis 3 hrs later.

I asked the shop assistant who delivered the camera to our home if there was any risk of imitation product. He said China does not have the technology to copy a Lumix LX3 yet! Photo taken with the new toy, with ceiling lights on, but no flash.

Kimmie's Negotiation Skills

Saturday was a quiet day for all of us, afer a busy evening with Linyun family, Viv's family and Edith. Kristine started to have a fever, possibly a virus from school as several of her classmates have been absent from school last week. So it was a rest day at home.

Late afternoon, since it was a warm day around 17degC, Grace wanted to take the kids downstairs. Kimberley refused to put her socks on herlsef, insisting on Grace to do it for her.

I took over, gave her 5 counts of warning: put on the socks herself or she stayed home. After 5 counts, I locked the main door after Grace and Kristine exited. That shocked Kimmie. She gave chase, screaming her head off. I insisted she had to put on her own socks before she could go. She refused. Kimmie took a while to figure out how to unlock the door and then chased after Grace and Kristine, screaming 'mama'. By then Grace and Kristine has taken the lift down, so Kimmie took the stairs, barefooted, without any warm clothing. I gave her 1 min headstart and then I took the lift to ground floor to intercept Kimmie, but she changed her mind, possibly on 4th Floor and return to pound our door on 6th floor, screaming for 'papa'. Her scream should have attracted at least a few busybody-neighbours but nobody popped their heads out. They were probably muttering to themselves behind closed doors,"It is that Giam family again."

Once inside, Kimmie demanded nonstop wanting me to put her socks on for her (so I could take her downstairs to Grace). I held my ground and insisted she had to put them on herself.

These were our exchanges:
"你帮我穿袜子，我自己穿boots" (You help me with my socks and I will put on my boots myself). I was very impressed with her full sentences. She wanted to meet me halfway, but no deal.
"No, you can put on your own socks"
"No, I am still a baby"
"You are not a baby"
"I miss Mama, 帮我穿袜子"
"Then you put the socks on yourself."
The sequence repeated many rounds.
Then Kimmie climbed to sit on my laps, gave me a kiss and said,"Papa I love you." Now she was onto the 'killing me softly' tactic.
"I love you too Kimmie."
Then the sequence started again.
Such determination!
Then she took my mobile and started pressing buttons as if to call.
She turned to me for help to call Grace, saying,"I miss Mama."
I insisted she had to put on her socks herself.

This went on for 35 mins. Neither of us won on Saturday. A lot of efforts to get nowhere. Deep down, I think I lost. Kimmie had to climb a steep hill just to stay still, and she did.

Kimmie went out with Grace this afternoon. Kimmie put on her socks herself!

(Updated Monday Mar 16: Grace put kimmie's socks for her this morning before sending her to kinder. Back to Square 1)

Meeting with Frank at Viv's

Our meeting was scheduled for 9am, then 10am, then 1030am. I checked local transport guide and found a direct bus to Viv's office. Route 639 first made me wait 20mins in freezing windy morning. It then took me and a bus load of passengers through Guanghua Lu which took forever to get through the 3rd Ring Road. I was late for the meeting. Frank left soon after lunch and I took a bus home as recommended by Viv. Route 855 breezed through Chaoyang Lu and I was home after 4 stops from CBD.

Viv and tom dropped by after work for hotpot dinner at home, with Linyun/Jiantian/Talia, Edith and Scarlet. A chance to try a gummy shark fillet from Melbourne.

The kids had a great time using their bedrooms as interrogation rooms on the adults one by one. Scarlet was the 'judge'. Kristine and Kimberley acted as bailiffs. Each time when I gave a wrong answer about my identity, the Judge declared 'Beat him up!!!' and kristine and Kimberley would throw themselves on me in bed where I was made to sit, with lights switched off, and a torchlight held by Scarlet shining at my face.

Dinner photos taken by Kristine and Scarlet standing on a stool.

smack

last night, Kristine and Kimberley fought over a pair of kitchen tongs which had a sharp edge. Earlier, they were fighting over a teddy bear and Kristine's ended pulling that away from Kimberley's grasp. I think the same happened over the tongs. Kimberley's left index finger had a bad cut. I noticed blood drops as I was cleaning the floor. Then traced the blood drops to Kimberley. By then she was still unaware she had cut herself even though there were already 15-20 drops of blood on the floor. As soon as she discovered her injury, she started to cry, and more blood oozed out, faster. Luckily a firm press on the injury and a tight bandaid stopped the flow. She had to take her shower by raising her left arm tokeep it dry, but we managed well in the shower.

As I was about to take my shower, Grace scolded Kristine for fighting with Kimberley over a hairband. Apparently that hairband had been sitting on the table. When Kimberley grabbed that after her shower. Kristine claimed that was hers and started fighting Kimmie for it, with each pulling in opposite directions.

Kristine received a smack on her right hand for that. It was just 10 mins ago when I explained the danger of forcibly pulling stuff from Kimmie's hands.

An Abrupt Parent Teacher meeting

I mentioned Grace and/or I had visited Kristine in her school 4 times in the last 6 school days.

1st was to deliver a bankbook to pay her school fees (Y6703 for school fee and Y2020 for lunch this semester. Her school bus costs another Y2000 paid separately to the bus conductress). Paying the school fee is somewhat unique: we had to deposit sufficient fund into a Bank of Commerce account, set the password to a set of identical digits determined by the school, and Kristine was supposed to take that bankbook to her teacher for withdrawal. Kristine forgot to put that in her school bag and we ended up delivering that to her school.

2nd was to take her out to Chaoyang Hospital to check her tummy ache (Colic condition). 4th was to deliver panadol for her headache.

The interesting one was the third trip, by Grace, as the teachers asked specifically for the mothers only.

Altogether, 8 parents were summoned to school to meet the class teacher MS Zhao after school. Only 7 showed up. Apparently, one of Kristine's close friends/classmates brought huge amount of cash to school. She showed that to another of Kristine's close friends, who managed to persuade the cash owner to distribute her cash to many other classmates. Suddenly, Kristine and her classmates were each holding hundred renmingbi bills walking around the class. Ms Zhao panicked, summoned the parents to find out what happened. Ms Zhao opened the meeting by saying the class was filled with students holding hundreds of cash bills in their hands. The higlights were more on why that student brought so much cash to school (she wanted to show how much hongbao money she received during Chinese New year), and the question remains why she allowed someone else to help her distribute the cash to her classmates.....

Kimberley the Photographer

Attached a photo of kimberley taken by kimberley.
Grace also took a photo of Kimmie on the laptop. For a 4 yr old, she is very adept with a computer. She can navigate Microsoft Word and change type face, fonds, size at will. She can also look up URL history and select her fav website to play 'My Little Pony'.

Stephanie

After trialling for two weeks, yesterday was Stephanie's last day as our domestic helper. In a significant way, we will miss her on weekends when we have friends over for dinner, when her efforts allow us to spend more time with our guests and less time in the kitchen before and after dinner.

We have no major complaint on Stephanie. She is a hardworking helper. However, our mutual needs do not exactly match. Our heavy loads are between 340-520 each school day with Kristine after school, Kristine's piano, and Kimberley after Kinder plus dinner preparation, which she did dilligently, but she needs full time work (or full time pay) with accomodation included. So our current job scope of 5 hours a day is not really sufficient to meet her need. When her sister, whom we used on casual basis last dec/Jan, called to ask for higher pay for her sister, Grace decided this was the time to settle the mismatch. We told Stephanie we are willing to be her reference should she need one, and we will use her again on weekends if she is available.

In a way I am happy I get my job back.

Traffic Control Assistant

Thats the closest translation I can muster for a traffic supervisor 'in charge' of a stretch of roadside where Kristine gets off her school bus.

When Kristine's term 2 began, her school bus schedule changed a fair bit, first between 440-500pm, then 415-430pm, then around 4pm, then 345-400pm. Twice we missed each other. Not knowing Kristine had arrived and walked on her own to Yamaha, I continued to wait. Twice beaten, I then started a habit of checking with my neighbourhood Traffic Control Assistant (TCA) if Kristine's school bus had arrived. She is now my useful telescopic scout.

Yesterday, Kristine's bus was late so I chatted to the TCA. I asked her what her area of work was. She was supposed to 'advise' vehicles not to park along the roadside, between a major traffic junction and a major bus stop. I asked her what happened if the vehicle drivers refused to heed her advice, which was evident as there were 7-8 cars parked along the roadside (notice the car parked even on the pavement). She replied, 'My job is done after telling the drivers that is a no-parking zone'. I then challenged her why she couldnt record the vehicle number plates and report the violators to police (Y200 fine per summon). Apparently they used to that just that, but then it cause too much arguments and they stopped the practice. This is obviously a case of NOT empowering the job holder to uphold his/her duties, thus totally destroying accountability. I then asked if she was not empowered to record the violators, then why couldnt she just call the police to come over, since the nearest police station is 300m away. She said local police stations do not interfere with Traffic Police work. Oooops!

While her main duties are not so effective, she does serve a meaningful purpose keeping an eye out for Kristine's school bus arrival.

From all the interested readers out there: she gets paid by month, on 6-hr shift per day, always the same shift. She gets discounts on retirement savings, medical and something else I forgot (三减， salary plus 3 Discounts）.

Attached a photo of her with back to camera. Foreground is a cyclist manually inlfating his bicycle back tyre. All those cars by the roadside are ignoring her presence!

Police registration #4

Finally, I collect my passport with a new resident visa. The Visa process is now complete. Visa cost: Y400, plus Y678 for physical examinations, the results of which were not needed this time. The waste of Y678 is not enough to dent our delight the visa ordeal is over (until October when our visas expire......).

I quickly rushed over to our neighbourhood police station to re-, re-, re-register. A new face at the counter to the one two Saturdays ago. She insisted she couldnt register my case unless I obtain a proof of residence from the management company of our apartment complex. I told her what I brought were exactly identical to what we brought to register two weeks ago, ie a copy of our lease agreement, and pages from my passport. She yelled out to two other police colleagues asking if a proof of residence was indeed a must. They were busy with their own chores. Neither raised their heads not utter a word. Soon enough, my registration was done.

Soon after I reached home, the landlord called to say he received a call from a local police asking why the other three memebers staying at our address (Grace and the kids) did not register together with me. (Incredible: they knew 4 people stayed at that address, AND they knew the landlord's tel#!!!!). I knew we have ALL registered but not knowing if I missed out on any new or hidden rules, I played it on the safe side and called the police station. The police who called our landlord received my call. 5 mins later, everything was deemed in order, but not before some confusion over the phone. The officer wanted to know who else should have registered with me. I told him Grace's name, which got tricky. In Chinese, 'X' is pronounced as 'C'. So when I was asked to spelled Grace's name, it was a back and forth corrections over 'X' and 'C'. On my side, I slowly spelled 'Xin', but the officer received it as 'Cin', then 'CXin'.... Sigh of relief.

When we return from our next oversea trip, the process starts again..........

On way to collect my passport, we stopped by Kristine's school to give her some Panadol for headache. This is the 4th time in last 6 school days that Grace and/or I have to make a trip to Kristine's school. She was in a Grade 3 English class somewhere so Grace and I went searching class by class. What we noticed was students in classes with foreign teachers could walk around, more relaxed. Students in classes with local teachers were sitting upright, well disciplined.

Which style do I prefer? Hint: I always strongly believe kids have to love to go to school before teachers have any chance of teaching them anything. Having said that, I must also say we really want Kristine and Kimberley to experience and explore how they can gain from a rigid school environment for 2-3 years.

Kristine's Chinese essay

I am reproducing Kristine's Chinese essay here: Chinese words in parenthesis are mine wherever Kristine had problem with the word.

"今天，我的朋友来到我们的家了。他dai（带）来了很多pan（盘）。他dai（带）来的pan（盘）是xi（喜）羊羊与大灰lang（狼）。很好看！他也带来了lv you jing（旅游景）点xiang（象）棋。很好玩儿! 你们知道为什么好玩ma（吗）？应为可以买房子！ hai（还）有银行可以gei（给）你qian（钱）呢！

我的爸爸gei（给）我们做了意大利千层面了！特bie（别）奶you(油）香。他fang（放）了很多fan qie jiang（番茄酱），里面有切成小小块的牛肉。还有mo gu（蘑菇），洋qong（葱cong）和好几种意大利香liao（料）。"

Not perfect but a good start and great effort.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Yesterday Mar 7 was a big day, with 4 families over for dinner. First visit by WangTong. The feature dish was steamed yellowbelly from Melbourne. This fish was better and fresher than the one steamed last Saturday for Jiantian/Linyun, Rebecca/Luxin. I could tell from the meat texture, and confirmed by LinYun who with Jiantian were 'unfortunate' enough to have tasted similar fish twice in 8 days! Wangtong was amazed how we could bring the fish back from Melbourne. By the next evening on Sunday, Jane and Haitao would have depleted our last yellowbelly from thsi trip back from Melbourne. The big fisg are gone, but we still have gummy shark fillets, rock flatheads, Jacks, and kg whitings.

The 5 kids (Yaoyao, Dudu, Talia, Kristine and Kimberley) were treated to spaghetti Bolognese (which did not receive rave reviews judging from the leftover, but Caohui put up a good show finishing Dudu's serve), grilled chicken wings (5 star rating), and steam brocolli (not worth meantioning).

The evening ended early for Talia, Jiantian and Linyun who came straight from airport after a trip to Shanghai. Soon after, Kristine got rough with Dudu on the upper bunk of Kimmie's bed. Photo taken before the rough acts. What was fun turned into 'feng 疯', and then it turned rough! Obviously Kristine didnt realise she was hurting Dudu until Dudu retaliated. We didnt witness the brawl, but Kristine was floored onto the lower bunk crying, and Dudu was sitting on the floor, crying too. No amount of parental persuaion, chocolates, or ice cream could mend the fences between these two.

Everyone who could and wanted a drink had just ONE drink. Every driver was afraid of being stopped by police on way home. No one could explained to me what the alcohol tolerance limit was, but it sounded like zero tolerance on the roads.

Lasagna

The big project of making lasagna at home finally came to fruition this evening. With just the lasagna sheets brought from Melb, I had to source everything locally in Beijing, specifically from the 4 major supermarkets in our neighbourhood. Found most of the ingredients from Carrefour, but could not find baking dish anywhere. Also missing from these supermarkets is lasagna sheets. Improvised with a baking tray that came with the oven though it was too shallow to fit more than two lasagna sheets.

I follow a recipe from YuanYuan, but recipe on back of lasagna sheet pack is almost identical. I added a bunch of slender celery and 1 carrot, finely chopped, and 5 fresh tomatoes in addition to 700gm of bottled tomato paste. Added a layer of grated tasty cheese in between lasagna sheets (instead of into white sauce). Topped with shaved Parmassan cheese. Very nice.

Caohui and son Dudu came by and lasagna became their dinner too. We were all totally, pleasantly surprised:(1) Caohui was not due to visit us until the next evening, but apparently there was a cross-wire between Grace and Caohui; (2) Didnt expect Dudu to love the lasagna so much. He couldnt wait for any cutlery and could care for any table manners---he ate directly from the plate. No fork, no spoon! Grace and Dudu had second helpings.

Serve 8 - 10
Cost RMb60
Lasagna sheets Y 8
Fresh Tomato Y 5
Tomato Paste (Italy) Y15
Onion, Celery, carrot
nutmeg, dried parsley,
oregano Y 4
Minced Beef Y16
Cheeses Y12

Photos show -meat sauce, -cheese sauce, -before oven, -mixer/helper, -happy customer

Kimberley's Teacher Permed her Hair

One of kimberley's kinder teachers permed her shoulder-length hair and showed up last monday with her new look. I asked Kimberley what happened to her teacher's hair. She replied, pointing to her left shoulder "Here 乱乱 (messy here)"，and then pointing to her right shoulder,"there 乱乱 (messy there)". I dont think I will relay that to her teacher.

Kristine to Hospital

For two weeks now Kristine has been complaining of stomach pain in the morning when she woke up. It stopped for several days and this morning she complained of stomach pain again. We sent her to school anyway, planning to take her to a doctor this weekend. Her teacher called in the afternoon saying Kristine was feeling stomach pain. Grace and I went to her school to fetch her. Her teacher believed it was just a matter of normal stomach pain because many of her students refuse to pass motion in school toilets which are squat-down type. We took Kristine to Chaoyang Hospital. Y5 to see a paediatric, and Y30 for two types of tablets, one to ease the pain and the other to help digestion. The doctor believed Kristine suffered a colic condition (肠痉挛）。
attached a photo outside of Kristine'school waiting for a taxi, and second photo showing Kristine at the Paediatric ward. Does she look sick to you?

More Police Registration

Following up on the disappointment last Saturday trying to get my visa converted, Grace and I went to the Australian Embassy twice today to get a declaration witnessed by a Consular Secretary. We went first thing in the morning only to be advised we needed to return in the afternoon to get signature witnessed. That document, carrying two Embassy stamps, was sufficient to qualify my application to convert my tourist visa to resident visa. Once inside the embassy, the process took just 20 mins. Very efficient local staff and very prompt Second Secretary. While Grace was filling in the form, I went roaming, looking for mens' room. That took me from the Consular section through a lobby into the Visas section. Huge spaces with plenty of seats but practically empty this afternoon. I noticed a sign in the mens' room requesting users to 'wash hands with soap BEFORE AND AFTER using toilet'. Not a sign usually found in most toilets..... 'Wash hands after use', yes; 'Wash hands before and after', first time.

If all goes well, I should get my passport back next Monday, with a new visa. I must remember to register with my local police station AGAIN, a must each time we leave the country or having a visa changed.

Kimberley's glasses

Kimberley's optometrist in Melb wanted to increase her lenses to +200 and +350 vs +100 and +250 currently. We didnt hv time to get a pair done in Melb so today we went to a local optometrist to get a new pair. The first shop wanted Kimberley to go for a full eye test at a local eye hospital (with stinging eyedrop etc) in order to prescribe a new pair. Somehow they could not get Kimberley's eyes tested correctly. They guy who tested Kimberley finally gave up. Knowing Kimberley will scream her head off with the eye drop, I strognly suggested we took Kimberley to another shop and simply get a pair of new lenses made as prescribed in Melb. I also was very suspicious when they said Kimmie's spare pair of glasses (which seemed to me needing just a screw to fix) could not be fixed. They were guiding us towards a brand new pair of glasses. 15 mins walk later, we got Kimberley to play another visual test/game, and it turned out Kimberley's eyesight is the same as before, no new lenses needed. They even fix kimmie's spare glasses for free. Whata breath of fresh air! One shop wanted new sales immediately while the second shop was building a reputation to attract return customers.

Lunch was at a Sushi bar downstairs of Carrefour. Enjoyable. We took a bus there but taxi back. The bus conductress met us before so we knodded to each other. She also got other passengers to give up their seats for Kimmie and Kristine, though she would have done that for every child and senior. I noted that seniors can now take buses for free.

Finally found my herbs and cream (to make pastas and lasagna) at Carrefour. The bottled herbs found in other supermarkets nearby were too expensive for me. The soft packs of Parsley, Oregano, and Italian spices (imported from Austria) were twice the weight but 1/3 the price of the bottled from Australia. Just have to look for them. Also found a local cream made by Nestle for Y10 versus Y31 for Presidents from France. Spaghetti Carbonara and lasagna next week.

BeiHai GongYuan

We started Saturday early, getting to one and only police bureau to convert my visa from temporary to long term. As we expected, we were not successful. More work needed.

Somewhat crest fallen, we took a taxi to BeiHai Park, a lake park adjacent to Forbidden city. Grace took us to Ri Chang restaurant which served nice Cantonese food at reasonable prices. When we got there, there were many empty tables so I picked one far away from any crowd to avoid cig smokes. Soon enough, the adjacent tables were filled and to confirm our lack of luck this morning, we were surrounded by smokers. Good food but cig smoke spoiled the lunch.

We then took the kids into Beihai Park. As we entered the gate, we unintentionally walked in together with a tour group. Kristine was holding our entry tickets with Grace behind while Kimberley and I were ahead. The tour guide pointed to me and loudly declare to the gate keeper we were 'muddling "混" through (without tickets) with her tour group'. Grace snapped and told the tour guide to use her words carefully as we had tickets in hand. The tour guide was surprised by it. She mumbled something we couldnt understand as we walked separate ways. Thus far the day had not been great!

The walk through Beihai Park was interesting, two more tickets to buy even once inside the Park to see certain structures. Kristine and Kimberley didnt want to get out, wanted to stay on and walk around. After Beihai Park, we started walking toward TianAnMen direction, but it was a long walk. Grace decided to take a bus (#5) with Kristine to TianAnMen, but I decided to walk with Kimberley. The stop Grace wanted to get off is TianAn Men South, 3 bus tops away. Still, I betted with Grace on who would get to TianAn Men subway station first. With Kimberley sitting on my shoulders, we watched Grace's bus went pass, then another 4 #5 buses went by as we continue our walk through a section of old Beijing. Grace called me on the mobile several times asking me to take a bus as the stops in between are quite far apart. It was a long walk indeed. However, the bus stop nearest the subway station is one stop BEFORE TianAnMen South. As it turned out, Kimberley and I got to the subway station way before Grace and Kristine.

We got home at 330pm and started preapring dinner with Jiantian, Linyun, their daughter Tiala, Rebecca and Luxin. Steamed a whole Yellowbelly to impress the guests. Crispy skin pork, RouguCha helped end the evenight on a high note.