Pagoda Park

Well, it is Monday night at 10 p.m. Today was a holiday called the mid-Autumn day. It was nice to have the day off of work, which gave us a 4 day weekend. We did not go to any neighboring towns as expected, mostly because we thought it would be too hectic. The days were nice, though, because we were able to get around Changzhou and see what there was to see.

Friday, Dan had school. Our new nanny, Jiu Jie (pronounced "Jew Je-yah"), stopped by first thing in the morning to see how we take care of the girls, and therefore how we hope she will take care of them. She is very nice, and though she speaks no English, the girls really like her. Jane does as well. I took Dan to school that morning and when I got back, Etain was just going down for a nap. Jiu Jie told Jane, Evelyn and I to go for a walk so that she could clean the house, which she did. We went for a 40 minute walk, during which time she cleaned the kitchen, floors and bathrooms. During our walk, Jane, Evelyn and I went to the Shangri La Hotel, which is a big international hotel nearby (where we went for the fancy breakfast the other week). They have an indoor pool and a fitness facility. Jane and I were thinking about joining an annual membership there so that we could use the facilities. It is quite expensive, but it would be nice to be able to swim whenever we wanted, year round. We are still debating it.

On Saturday, we decided to head downtown. As we left our apartment, it started drizzling. By the time we were a block away, there were plenty of big and fat raindrops. Luckily, when we made it to the main bus stop (about 6 blocks away) it stopped for the rest of the day. Here are the water-logged kids as we are about the board the B1 bus to head downtown. When we went downtown, we didn't have specific plans. We did some window shopping, though most of what we bought was food. We bought some more meat on a stick for Evelyn, and Jane found a guy on a corner who made an old favorite of hers. I cannot even try to spell it, but it is pronounced (something like) chick-pean-quodza. It is like a crepe with a few eggs in it, along with tiny bits of meat and spices. I thought it was good, and she loved it. The portion was big, and it only cost 2.5 quai, about 45 cents.

Again, everywhere we went, we attracted a crowd. One of the scariest things I have heard in China is "wait here", so Jane can go run into a store and look at something. Without fail, a group of people crowd around me and the stroller, speaking (obviously) in Chinese. I have become quite good at saying "Wo ting bu dong", which means I don't understand. I say it so much that people seem to make fun of me for saying it, but they don't seem to get the point, because right after I say it for the 10th time, they keep trying to talk with me.

We have been going out for entire days, letting the girls catch cat-naps in the stroller. This day, Etain was particularly tired, so we stopped in a park area to eat at some benches and to give her a bottle. She laid down, but so many people wanted to see her that there was no way she was able to fall asleep. While we want to be nice with everyone, it came to the point that we had to say, "Please leave her alone so she can sleep." At that particular moment, we realized how movie stars felt after being hounded by paparazzi. Here is Dan, in the park, surrounded by some of his lady-admirers (these girls followed us around for 20 minutes).

Here is Dan on the streets of downtown, snacking on a strawberry smoothie, posing with the lolli-pop girls, as we called them.

Here are Dan and Evelyn posing near a fountain in the park where we ate. Jane took the picture, I am off to the left, trying to keep a very tired Etain from crying despite having people constantly peeking into her stroller to catch a glimpse.

With no specific plans for the day, we decided to head to the large pagoda a few blocks from downtown, knowing that there was a park at the base of the pagoda. We didn't know exactly where to go, though we could see the pagoda in the distance. We just headed off in the general direction. Here are Jane and the kids on a very Chinese street (I do know that all of the streets are Chinese, but you know what I mean). The guy to the left is selling fruit; the green things on the bottom are actually oranges (which are still pretty tart, they are not quite in season yet).

The very Chinese street came to a dead end, so we walked up an alley to a street that was under construction. As we were walking on it, it seemed as if we were the first Westerners to ever be in that spot. Here I am talking to a passerby, the conversation (as usual) being about our having three kids. [Jane and I were considering trying to pitch a reality tv show, following our day to day lives in China. The name of the show would be "Sanga!", or three of them, because we still hear it constantly.] The other day, we walked past a guy lounging on his motorcycle. As he saw us, he said in a long, loud way, "Sanga???". It is hard to type how it came across when he said it, but it was pretty funny.

Notice that people still walk the streets and businesses are still open despite the extreme construction. This would never be like this in the U.S., it would be the subject of immediate lawsuits. Here is another picture, from a different day, of Dan near our apartment. In the background you can see Evelyn, frozen and crying. This is because we yelled at her to stop, because she was getting a bit too close to an open manhole (which has been open for days). We don't want another baby Jessica on our hands. A fall down this particular manhole would involve falling about 8 feet and getting entangled in a mess of wires. But don't worry, grandmothers, our kids have been fine and there have not been any problems or even close calls.

Here is Dan on a large bridge going over a lake next to the pagoda. The pagoda park was amazing, it was huge, very clean and very peaceful. Again, classical music was piped through outdoor speakers. Also, on the pagoda, from each corner of the building, on each floor, hung a wind chime. It made a very soft and peaceful noise. Dan is snacking on a large piece of honeydew, which was purchased by a street vendor.

Here are Dan and I a few blocks from the pagoda.

Here are Dan and Evelyn inside pagoda park. In the background are Chinese flamingos. The park has a lake with paddleboat rides, a bird house, a playground, an amusement park, the pagoda and many other smaller building and statues. In the picture, Evelyn is snacking on a sweet potato, cooked in a trash can, and sold by another street vendor. I get the impression that people think it is interesting that our kids so enjoy what they consider traditional Chinese food.

Here are Evelyn and Etain at the playground. The playground was quite packed, but everyone is willing to take a break from playing on the equipment to stare at two white girls. One day, when we were downtown, Jane pulled one of her "stay here" tricks (she was actually buying our cell phones). Suddenly, a crowd gathered around me and the girls. After the crowd grew to about 40, one guy asked me why people were looking at us. My response was, "I don't know, American children, I guess." He seemed to agree, mentioning that it was a pretty rare sight. [I may have already mentioned this in a previous blog entry].

Here are Jane and Etain, enjoying a moment at the rose garden in the park.

Here are Dan, Evelyn and I on a small bridge leading to an ancient building. The lake around us was full of foot long spotted goldfish.

Jane and Etain, standing on the same bridge.

On Sunday, we went for a walk near our house, again stopping at the park that we stopped at a few weeks ago. Here is the view from the far end of the park, on top of an observation deck.

Thrown in for good measure is a picture of Evi on the street near our house. There was something going on Friday morning because there were tons of people (I think it was an employment fair). Anyway, Evelyn has become quite the little ham, waving at everyone and talking some language that is not quite English and not quite Chinese. (Although she does pronounce perfectly the work "shiguo", or watermelon). In addition to the waving and talking, she loves to pose for pictures, then demanding that she look at the camera (I guess to make sure that she looked ok).

As it was a long weekend, we did some other things, but I will have to keep them for the next post. It is getting late, and we have school for 11 of the next 12 days. Good night and/or good morning.