Blog Blocked

Amy and Sam are blocked from accessing their blog while in China. If you would like to email Amy, her email is amyloucurtis@gmail.com. The previous post was an email that Amy sent that I transcribed (sorry for any and all mistakes I made typing).
-Jessica McKay

A Day in a Chinese Beauty Salon

Getting a Perm

So with the humidity here in Shenzhen, China, I have found that my hair is not sure whether it wants to be curly or straight (mostly I have decided that it wants to be flat and ugly). Anyway for this reason I decided to get a perm--a strait perm (not a curly one). So I went to a salon near our house. I was told that it would take about 2 hours. I brought Eve in her stroller so that she could sleep in it while I got my perm. No need really, because I walked in, said what I wanted and Eve was whisked away by several girls who wanted to take care of her for me (the stroller sat idle the rest of the time). Very sweet.

Anyway, they started doing my hair and asked if I had eaten lunch. I at not (it was about noon). So the boy doing my hair called a restaurant nearby and had some rice and tofu stuff brought to me. I wanted to pay for it but the boy doing my hair said no, it was his treat. What?! I come here to pay him to do my hair and he treats me to lunch!? However, there was no arguing with him. A little later one of the girls brought me an ice cream cone. Keep in mind, these people probably only make between 1 and 2 dollars an hour, but they are very generous with what they have.

So Eve was great. She slept in one of the girl's arms for about 2 hours. Then she woke up and I need to feed her. They said I should feed her upstairs so I would have more privacy. I was lead upstairs to a small private room by the sweet girl who had given me the ice cream cone. I settled down to feed Eve when I noticed the girl was not leaving. She sat down across from me to chat while I fed the baby. "Fine, " I thought, "I suppose if it doesn't bother her, then I should not let it bother me." So I started to feed the baby. Soon another girls joined us. I didn't mind, but I did find it funny that I was brought upstairs for privacy only to have two companions watch me nurse the baby. :)

Eve happens to be a very spitty baby. It's a genetic thing. most of my mother's babies were spitters and several of my nieces and nephews have been as well. Anyway, i was informed by one of my companions that I should not rock back and forth while I fed the baby because that is not what makes her spit-up. I think she just made that upon the spot. Anyway, I decided to log it away with all the other pieces of unsolicited and unfounded advice I receive constantly from my Chinese associates here. Chinese people LOVE to give advice. I'm surprised how may complete strangers feel it their duty to tell us what we are doing "wrong." For example, every Chinese person is concerned about air blowing on the baby. It will 95 degrees outside and 100% humidity, and people will tell me I need to wrap Eve up in a blanket. Sounds kind of cruel to me. Another mother once looked at the back of Eve's head and saw that it was round (like it should be) and she scolded me saying that my baby should sleep on something harder. Then she showed me the back of her son's head which was almost completely flat in the back. Okay, Right. Another day we were out and had to change Eve's diaper in public. An old grandpa came over and put his finger in under the waistline of her changed diaper to make sure we had not put it on too tight (keep in mind, these are complete strangers!). Another time Sam was holding the baby while he was shopping for some shoes for me. The shopkeeper was so busy telling him how he holding her was wrong that we could not even ask about her merchandise. He tried several times to ask questions and finally gave up and just left. One day while I was out walking a cute old grandma came over to look at Eve. Eve was sucking her pacifier. The grandma told me the baby was hungry and proceeded to pat my breast to emphasize what she thought Eve wanted. Eve was not hungry (I had just fed her) and I was a little shocked! However, I have now had two old grandmas touch my breast when giving me advice about what they think I am doing wrong. I thought I could not get More advice than when I was pregnant; I have now learned that I can now that I have a baby in tow. I guess I would get used to it, huh? =)

Anyway, back to my perm. so after feeding her the other cute girl took Eve back to care for her while I finished with my hair. Shortly thereafter, Eve had a huge blow-out in her pants. I apologized and tried to take her back so I could change her diaper and her clothes. The girl insisted that she could do it and let me keep doing my hair. So these sweet girls took care of the the whole mess form me! I tell you, I have not met kinder people than the Chinese when it comes to serving other. I have heard of daycares in the US that are not even willing to change diaper (the kids have to be potty trained before they will accept them), let alone someone in a hair salon being willing to care for someone's baby for hours, messy diapers and all!

So all in all, my "two hour' perm ended up taking four hours. However, I was pleased with my hair in the end and the time was not as big a deal as it could have been because I had so much help with the baby. I made some sweet friends (who were very curious about us, i.e. "Is it true that it is nighttime in America when it is daytime here?" "Does your hair just grow this color?", "You take care of your baby all by yourself?! How do you do it?!" "Even boys have curly hair in America, don't they?"), and remembered how cool it is to live abroad and have these kinds of experiences. I love it here! (Even though today I don't have any running water...hope they fix that soon...) and am sad to think that we will be leaving so soon (probably sometime in November).

Love,

Amy

Some pictures:

1) people on bikes and motorcycles often carry huge loads. I saw a motorcycle the other day carrying 4 grown men. Yesterday I saw a motorcycle with two men on it: one driving and the other holding a 20 food bamboo ladder!

2)a computer mouse Sam bought from his company. Look closely at the phrase "Build Your Dreams' on the paper that came with it--don't worry that it is the name of the company, it can still get spelled wrong!

3)outside a few streets over from our home

4) an add for corn-flavored drink in a knock-off of Burger King called "Texas Burger." The drink is describes as "Fresh Cornwater: More Health, More Delicacies"

5) of course, a picture of Genevieve!=)

Starting Line-up

***NOW***Gladly Presenting . . .
- starring at oldest child,
- weighing 6 lbs, 10 oz,
- stretching 20 inches long,
- arriving July 10, 2009 in the evening,
- with the help of many great caretakers,
- in Salt Lake county, Utah,
- winning the hearts of whoever sees her,

here's
Genevieve Hope!




Above is our first family portrait. We are so excited to welcome Eve into our family. She brings us so much joy (and a lot less sleep, that is worth missing :).

As we leave with her together for China tomorrow, we wanted to post this announcement, especially because we don't know if blogspot is still blocked there or not. Hopefully we can still let you know all about our adventures and also be able to stay tuned to the news in all of your lives.

We love you all!

Sam, Amy, and Eve

No Baby Yet, So...

So I am STILL pregnant. Our little girl is determined not to return with us to China (if she stays in there past Friday we will have no way to get her passport and visa paperwork done in time before we go!) Little does she know, she is only postponing the inevitable -- if she doesn't choose to come on her own, we will have to induce on Friday July 10th. We hope she will just come on her own before then.

Anyway, since we don't have exciting pictures of our posterity to post, I thought I would post this nearly-as-exciting couple of pictures from a Zoo in Shenzhen. Now before you think "Hey, China and America are pretty similar; they both have Zoos", get a load of these pictures Sam took of one of the performances at the Zoo.

Here we see several nice pigs gathering to gaze at the water below...

And then...

Yeah, not sure what to think about this. But check out that form!! Legs extended and all! And from a hog that size!

After the show, Sam's colleagues were concerned that Sam was offended by the display. Sam informed them that no, he was not offended, merely surprised by how much more talented Chinese pigs are than American pigs.

Well, hopefully our next post will involve news of the birth of our little girl, and be a little less disturbing...

Born in the USA

We have encountered a few problems having our baby in China. Its like living in a little life-boat that keeps springing leaks. We fix up one problem, and another two pop up. So basically, after frantically trying to manage leaks but still finding ourselves sinking, we have decided to head home to the US to have our little girl. We found out that we have to return to the US to get a new kind of visa anyway, so having the plane ticket, it just makes sense to have the baby while we are there =)
I (Amy) arrived in SLC last night (May 15th). Since I have been pregnant, traveling is difficult for me. However, after running into the cement median on the freeway (our driver fell asleep) and missing my connecting flight (I fell asleep right there in the terminal!), I eventually made it to Utah safely.
So I would love to hear from you who are in Utah too! My cell phone number while I am here is 801-735-3387. My email is amyloucurtis@gmail.com. I will be here from May 15th to July 29th and should have the baby sometime in the end of June or maybe beginning of July. Sam, unfortunately, had to stay and work for a while longer, but will join me here in about a month (June 11th! I can't wait!!)

Chinese Baby Shower

One day my cute coworker calls me and says "We know that if you were in the U.S. you would have a baby shower." (fyi - baby showers are not a part of Chinese culture) "We want to throw you a baby shower. So, ummm... how do we do that?" So sweet!!

So anyway, I proceeded to tell her how a baby shower works -- food, presents, games, etc. I also told her it was for girls only. Upon learning this, she seemed to be in great distress and asks me, "So what do we do with the boys?!" I told her to just invite everyone and we would have a co-ed baby shower =) Since boys were invited, Sam came too and we had a total of over 20 people -- so fun!

I organized the games (they would be REALLY lost if they had to figure out games!). We played the usual: can't say baby or you lose your pin, write down as many baby items as you can remember, guess how many candies in the baby bottle, draw a baby on a paper plate on your head, drinking juice from a baby bottle race, etc. They had a ball, even (or maybe especially) the boys! I had a baby diaper for one of the games, and one of my coworkers picks it up and asks, "so you really use these?!" Hah! Diapers are as strange to them as their split pants are to me!

To eat we had (what else?) Chinese food! Tofu, dumplings, spicy pork, stir fry, etc.

When I told them it was time to open presents, some of them looked at each other and ran into a back room. A few minutes later they emerges with bundles in their arms wrapped in bathroom towels! (I guess wrapping paper isn't really something they do here either =) Everyone was so sweet! We were given bottles, books (in Chinese, but with English too - bless their hearts!), some cute clothes, and a traditional Chinese necklace with bells (I am supposed to put it on our baby shortly after she is born.) I loved it all!

Mostly, I just feel so loved and cared for! They are so generous and sensitive to my culture. My friends here are truly wonderful!!

A not so simple task

Cleaning my toilet has been a task that is long overdue. I have not been well lately and seem unable to do much more than lay in bed all day. But today I decided the toilet needed to be cleaned. So I squirted the inside of the bowl with toilet bowl cleaner and let it sit while I put the tea pot on our single electric burner to warm some water for cleaning. However, an all-to-frequent wave of nausea hit me and I threw-up everything I've eaten today, "washing" away all the blue cleaner inside the bowl. I squatted (can't sit or kneel -- our whole bathroom is the shower so the floor is wet) hugging the bowl as the tea pot started to squeal that it was ready. I decided not to clean the toilet today.