Walmart and the Shenzhen subway system

Last night we went out to dinner with a few of Mark's work associates.  See more at my other blog: http://lyzeatsweirdstuffinchina.blogspot.com/

Afterwards we went to Walmart.  It was an experience.  Besides the kids being all over the store and crazy (they take after me: they get silly when they're tired) and Mark disappearing several times due to stomach discomfort, it was interesting (and weird) to be in a place that's both foreign and familiar at the same time.  Just a couple of notes.  (The food post will be longer.)

I found it interesting that all the dolls were blonde.

No racial diversity in the Barbie section.  No sir.  I have no idea why all these beautiful little Chinese girls would not want a beautiful Asian-looking doll, but even the baby dolls were all blonde and blue-eyed, often with curly hair.

The Chinese branded Barbies were also all blonde.  With much more hideous makeup.

The only dark-haired doll I saw in the whole store was this one.  The fan-service doll amused me.

But this made me happy.  Now I want to know what the show is.  Hooray for anime!

This also.  Jack found this and REEEEEALLY wanted it.  It was only 10 kuai, which is about $2.50 or so, but I said no for this time.  I can go back and get him one later.  I wonder how many days it will last before he breaks it.

We took the subway from the restaurant to Walmart.  You have to walk from the subway stop for a little ways, and on the way we passed this pedestrian bridge:

It leads to a place called Splendid China.  We will have to go there soon.  Last October Mark was here on business, and his friend/associate pretty much begged to take him here to see the haunted houses.  They had a bunch of them, of varying levels of scariness.  But it's fun at other times of year, too.  They have shows and such showcasing China's ethnic groups and such, I hear.

The subway was really fun.  The kids hadn't ridden on it before and they were pretty excited.  It wasn't too crowded and we didn't get stared at too much.  Also, it's hot, and the subway cars are air conditioned really well.  Ahhhhh.  One of my favorite things about China is the ads that try to use English.  Like this one:

Here is so great!!  T-shirt!!  I don't even know what they were going for with "here is no time" though.  What?  No time for what?  Time stands still while you're shopping?  No time before the sale ends, so hurry?  What are you going for here?

We met an Ohio Buck-eye at the subway station on the way home.  He just got here recently.  He sells imported alcohol.  It was nice chatting with an American stranger for a bit.  Cute kid.

Well, expect a much longer and more interesting post sometime this weekend.  Tomorrow we're headed for our first excursion to Hong Kong!  I'll be seeing a doctor that does Chinese medicine and may or may not do anything like chiropractics... and I have the whole day planned with places to see and things to eat.  I'm pretty darned excited.  It's going to be a really long day, though.  We'll be getting home pretty freaking late.  It's all good.  It's going to be amazing.

Beach trip!!

Nothing says China like beaches, right?

So we're here.  We're by no means settled in, but as of today all family members are accounted for and home.  (Mark finally got Teancum over the border.  He's hiding under the girls' bed.)  Two red-eared turtles have joined the family.  We need to find them an aquarium, etc., as soon as possible.  It's interesting getting used to life without a car.  At least the kids are small enough that we all fit in one taxi.  Sort of.  :D

So yesterday we went to the beach with our friends the Warrs.

Since it was a Monday, and we went to a beach almost an hour outside the city and not accessible by public transportation, it wasn't crowded at all.

Mark wasn't able to come, but with three adults everything was fine.  John and Sarah kept my kids from drowning, and helped me keep an eye on them.  The weather was lovely.  Not too hot.  Not too cool.  Just a little bit breezy.  Not too sunny, but not too cloudy, either (until about an hour before we left when it started getting a little stormy looking).  Except for not enough sun screen (I couldn't find mine and had to borrow) it was a perfect day.

 

There was much throwing of sand clods at the ocean.  I'm not sure why.

 

Just some cultural notes.... at the end (ha ha ha ha).

So there were a number of families there with little kids.  This charming little girl with the shorn head (it seems to be common with little girls to basically shave their heads.  Easier care?) was walking around bottomless the whole time.  She or the baby girl in her group(?) may have been responsible for the piece of poop that my friends daughter picked up off the beach that she thought were brownies.  There was various garbage in the tide, too.  I pulled out a package of tissues and threw it up onto the beach.

We also got asked a lot for pictures.  Mostly of the three-year-olds.  Juliet had some people get really close to her trying to get a good picture of her.  (They asked first if it was okay, and I said it was.  All they want is a picture of my adorable little girl; it's not like they want to hurt her.)  She doesn't seem to like the attention at all, though.  Stubborn little cutie wouldn't look up, and studiously ignored them while they tried to cajole her into looking up with her big blue eyes and possibly giving them a smile.  The most she did was look up with a suspicious sort of glare.  I wish I had a picture of it.  I thought it was awesome.  I tried teaching her how to say "bu yao" (don't want!) but I don't think it stuck.  I told her if she didn't like it she could say "bu yao!" and they would know she didn't want them taking pictures and bothering her.  She'll get it by the end of the summer, I'm sure.  After letting them try, I usually ended up taking her back to the water for a while.  They only came when she was on the beach, playing in the sand.

Other people came who wanted to get our little girls to play with their little kids.  They didn't try to take pictures, they just tried to get our kids attention and get the kids playing together.  *shrug*  Whatever.  If my kid feels like playing, great!  If not, she's stubborn enough that they'll go away soon enough.  (I love my little girl!!)  These two guys walked by and said, "Hallo!"  I said, "Hi," and they seemed kind of delighted.  I joked with Sarah that I should have said, "Knee how!" instead.  :D

So there you go.  A little dose of beach.  A little dose of culture.  And a whole lot of pictures.  I took several hundred, actually.  It took me a long time to comb through and pick out the ones I liked best.  I'll end with what may be my favorite: