Day 11, 12 and 13. "I'm tired of writing and posting"

Day 11, 12 and 13. "I'm tired of writing and posting" quote by Hollie

Sorry if you were enjoying daily entries in this blog. I needed a break from writing and I didn't have a lot of time to write so I took a break. I feel recharged now...or as much as a woman can in a foreign country guiding three children around mostly by herself.

Even though this is a VERY large city, there isn't a ton to do, especially with children. It doesn't have the rich history other chinese cities have, much has been torn down and turned into new businesses. The changes have probably been great if you live here, but if you are visiting and looking for site seeing opportunities with children you can run out of ideas pretty quickly. I was talking to our friend Alex (who has lived here for 10 years) and he was surprised the things that I have found to do here, apparently I taught him about some new things he can do with his son. I think having homeschooling as our back ground has helped us learn to find educational things to do anywhere and everywhere.

Since I last wrote the kids and I went to the Science and Technology museum on Friday. I had been avoiding this place because the review I read about it said it was "baffling". It has its own subway stop so I figured someone must have thought it was pretty important or interesting. We decided to venture down there against what the review said and see for ourselves. The beginning of the exhibition starts with the dividing of the continents and the animals that have evolved following this time. We followed the exhibit through different types of animals, plants, fish, reptiles, and microscopic beings. The microscopic area had really bad, rudimentary models, but it was interesting for the kids. I think it was good for Riley and Claire to see what might be living on their hands and why I am so neurotic (especially here, not so much at home) about them washing their hands and doing our little ritual of Purell before we eat here.

I didn’t find the museum baffling or confusing in anyway, perhaps not very technologically advanced, but a good way to spend a couple of afternoons with the kids. We barely made it through half of it and will go back later this week.

Saturday was basically a lazy day so Jeff could recuperate from working all week. We took him over to the park and explored it more. Claire played on the playground and Jeff and the boys played keep away with the basketball. We found a book store with a small section in English a couple of blocks from our apartment. We spent a good hour in their leafing through books. Claire and I found a new series (at least new to us) about colored fairies that she is gobbling up.

I did manage to book our hotel and flight to Beijing for next weekend. It’s really hard and exhausting to do anything here. I find it hard to know what resources to use and when I do conquering the language difference is always the next frustration. I am pretty sure we have a flight for five of us for next weekend. I have been back and forth with the airlines since Saturday. Apparently, Riley and Claire’s names are too long. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me because Jeffrey Richard Bernhardt is a much longer name than either of the kids, but because they weren’t sure how to write the reservation they didn’t book theirs, but booked Jeff, Aiden and mine. We are adults so we can have a different number of letters in our name. Go figure?!?

Sunday we went back to the zoo and went on a night tour of the city and an acrobat show.

This time the zoo had a gazillion people at it. I realized that most people around here have two working parents, not a lot of stay at home moms. This would explain why the zoo was empty on Friday (the local kids got out of school at the end of last week so they were home, but their parents weren't). I tried to explain to Jeff before we went that the people were rude to the animals, but he really didn’t get it until we got there. At one point we had to leave an area because there was a group of young men and their grandmother throwing rocks at the lions to wake them up. They weren’t just throwing the rocks in their general direction to startle them, but were trying to actually hit them and get a response out of them. When the lions got hit with rocks every one laughed. By the time we left the zoo 3-4 hours later the front of every cage was littered with garbage and debris that the animals had had thrown at them. They had one area of the zoo called pet world and it had 30 plus breeds of dogs. Each cage had at least two dogs in it and they were no bigger than 6x6 ft cages. There was everything from Saint Bernards, Great danes, and Dalmatians to Beagles and Dachshunds. Having had two Dalmatians recently I know they need a ton of exercise and if they don’t get it they become neurotic. The two that were in there were obviously completely neurotic.

I realize that all the animals are in small confined areas, but I guess having had dogs as pets I know first hand how much more these animals need. I have always liked zoos because of their educational value, but I like our Woodland park zoo where the animals have more space and places they can go and hide from the visitors if they need to. I also can’t speak for everywhere, but in our area people seem very respectful of the animals. I personally think if they start fining people in this zoo they will stop. The zoo itself has signs every where about not teasing the animals or feeding them, but they go unnoticed. I think that part of the appeal for these people in visiting the zoo is to torment the animals, I think they expect it. I guess it’s sort of like going to a hockey game in Seattle; part of the appeal for many is the fights that break out, not necessarily the games themselves. I didn’t enjoy those events either.

I know it's hard to see in this photo, but this man is leaning over the cement barrier into the porcupine exhibit and trying to feed the porcupines. There were at least five animals in there and I would consider this down right stupid. I tried to take a picture of a man leaning into the brown bear cage too, but my picture only shows the brown bears standing on their hind legs reaching for the man.

Later Sunday evening we went on a night bus tour of the city. Our tour guide spoke pretty good English so we learned a bit more about the city and gave me more ideas for where to explore during the day. We stopped at one point and took pictures of the Bund area with all the beautiful lights. This is not a very good photo, I think we will go back at night and check it out and read in my camera manual about how to take good night pictures, but in the mean time this gives you an idea of how neat it looks in that area at night.

Next we went to an acrobat show. It was fairly entertaining, there were several acts. There were contortionists, muscle men, 15 men juggling hats together, a lady twirling items with her feet (which Claire has tried to do at home several times since we watched it last night), a pretty good lady magician, several ladies twirling and balancing plates on sticks while they danced and did other contortions with their bodies, six motor cycles and riders all riding around inside a globe at the same time. There was even an act where they had 10 ladies all riding on one bicycle at one time. Jeff and I didn’t think that was so exciting, we have seen at least that on a bicycle around here. You haven't really rode a bike until you’ve ridden in it Shanghai. They move everything around here by bike, it’s pretty amazing. Below is a picture of a lady on a tricycle type bike and she has the biggest load I’ve seen yet. I am pretty sure it’s Styrofoam, but it’s huge never the less. Her load was swaying as she was driving down the road. I’ve seen men riding bikes with several appliances in the cart behind them. These people are amazingly strong! I've also seen couples making out while riding down the street and negotiating traffic. That's pretty good! Anyway back to the topic I started on, the show was entertaining and it was a nice way to end our weekend.

Also, if anyone is wondering…My toe is finally doing much better. I didn’t realize how much it was hurting until it stopped hurting. I think the bone is healed (or as much as it ever will be for a shattered bone) and the nail is feeling so much better that I am able to wear closed toe shoes for the first time in a month. Yeah!! I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but I was suppose to keep my foot dry and clean until it healed and that was nearly impossible because I couldn’t wear any closed toe shoes and it was non-stop rainy (and the ground is in no way clean around here). I got so tired of my lovely boot shoe and the stares that came with it. Normal shoes for me again, or at least my Keds and Keens. Now I can keep up with the kids again.

Below are a few more pictures that I had to add from the zoo...

This picture is for Andrea and Lisa, Look familiar? The sign says they are Coypu rats, but I am fairly certain they are MOUNTAIN BEAVERS! In an exhibit??

This is for all of you in Everett or cabins in the San Juans. Herring gulls...or what we call annoying SeaGulls. Jeff and I thought they were the nicest looking sea gulls we'd ever seen, but in an exhibit at the zoo?