Rate of change in China and DVDs at Nathaniel and Sheree back in Australia

Hi everyone,

We have more or less settled in now. There haven’t been any major changes since the last update but we are slowly starting to notice more subtle difference between China and Australia. One of the things that I have noticed is how quickly things change over here. In Australia you expect change but lots of the change is just superficial like the displays at the end of aisles but when change eventually happens they try to make all the changes at once. When we arrived I noticed that there was a lot of renovation going on but I assumed it was just that time of year. Well it’s been almost two months and the changes are still happening. For example our local supermarket has had three major renevations since we got here. They use to have live fish, now have a fresh roast meat section instead. The entrance has been opened up to make it easier to navigate and the and wine section has been moved to make it more prominate. As well as changing the layout of the store they rearanged half good on the selves. Another good example is the area around Bridge School (where I learn Mandarin). From that building we can see about 10 different construction sites. From what I’ve seen it looks like the entire city is being rebuilt. In Australia the change always felt controlled things so that people wouldn’t notice it whereas over here things seem to be chaning so fast that you never know what’s going to change next. We’re still getting use to how quickly things change over here and how quickly people adjust to it as if that’s the way it always was.

The last couple of days have been sad because our cat got a chest infection and almost died on Saturday. Fortunately the medicine worked and he is recovering slowly. When we went to the vet we realised how much of a blessing it was that our next door neighbour spoke Chinese. She came with us and was able to tell the vet what was wrong and answer the questions he asked. I don’t know what we would have done without her. On a slightly more humours note Mao’s fur has finally grown back. When we bought him they had trimmed his fur so he looked like a short haired cat. His face is now super chuby. He looks so cute.

We’re still trying to get our finances under control. Last week we had some expenses that we hadn’t accounted for so we went over budget. We made the most of our first pay and bought some DVDs because we heard that they were cracking down on the DVD stores. We also end up going in with the other teachers and getting Satelite TV which has been nice. There is an Australian channel which has Neighbours, Get Away and a whole bunch of other Australian shows which is nice when we get a bit home sick. We should be fine once our next pay check arrives.

I’ve been going to Mandarin classes at Bridge School for a little while now. It’s going well so fay and I’m starting to pick up a a few Mandarin words in general conversation. The best thing about going to classes is getting to meet new people and getting out of the house. I was starting to get a bit lonely staying at home by myself everyday. I’ve also started tutoring after school at Yew Chung to earn a little bit of pocket money. I’m enjoying the tutoring and I’m also enjoying being able to ride the bus home with Sheree afterwards.

We got an Ayi (cleaner/maid) last week and so far she is doing a really good job. The house looks great and she is a really good cook. We asked her to cook for 4 so we could freeze the left overs for lunches and so far we’ve liked everything she’s made except for one of the cold dishes – it seemed like pickled cabbage with chilly.

We’ve been trying new food ocassionally and the best thing we’ve found so far has to be peanut butter milkshakes. I never would have thought of it but they taste great. I’ve found almost of my favorite foods over here although some of them taste slightly different. The only thing I haven’t been able to find so far is a custard tarts. One of the students at Bridge School said she’d seen one somewhere so my quest may soon be over.

One of the things that confused us initally was the used by dates on food. Over here they put the manufactured date on the food instead of the expiration date. Can you imagine looking on the shelf and finding out that that all the food was expired. We were frantically looking for food that hadn’t been manufactured yet and then we figured it out.

We have had been trying all the fast food joints that exist in Australia and China and here what we think of them so far. I’ve also included a rough rating.

Subway (F) just isn’t the same, the food just doesn’t taste the same, the cheese slices are smaller and it tastes like they’ve cut too many corners.
KFC (B+) is good but they have fries instead of chips which was one of the best things about it in Australia. They also server corn as a health alternative instead of fries. The menu is also a bit smaller than Australia.
Pizza Hut (A) is impressive because overhere they are still a restaurant and not fast food. The menu was large and the pizza was great even if it was the most expensive fast food we’ve had.
Dominos (A) is much more like an Australian dominos compaired to Pizza Hut. The pizzas are actually better than the Australian ones but they don’t have the same varity.
MacDonalds (A) is just as good as Australia. Probably one of the cheapest fast food outlets over here and they are always busy. They don’t have McCafe or the same selection of coffee.

Some other quick points.

Sheree hurt her back last week and we had to go to the hospital. Fortunately it was 100% covered by her health insurance which was a relief.
There are a lot less bugs in China than Australia and all the ones we have seen have been fairly small.
Sheree has found Avon and Tupperware over here. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad yet
Sheree also found an art store and has been doing lots of paintings to give as gifts to brighten up the dull walls of the apartments.