We are the Hudsons: Week 2 in China!

Well we have made it into another week in China with knowing very little Chinese we had some interesting experiences.

View from our hotel room:

Going to the laundromat--We are staying in a hotel and accumulating lots of laundry so we decided it would be a wonderful idea to find a laundromat we could drop our clothes off and have everything cleaned after 13 days in the hotel! So we went to the front desk and asked for the nearest one, mind you we can't read the signs on the stores so unless it is VERY clear we have no idea which one is the laundromat. The concierge told us it was 5 minutes to the right on the other side of the road when you leave the hotel. So we put Blake in the baby carrier on my, then threw all the laundry in a giant bag and placed into the stroller for Brian to push and continued down the street. I am sure we looked interested....but after a 10 minute walk and looking on both sides of the street, me walking in the middle of the road with scooters and buses around us, we had no idea where the laundromat was, saw many restaurants, shipping stations, a couple of bakeries and a baby/kids store i need to go back and find for Blake but no laundromat. So we called the hotel and the concierge told us he was looking for us and was going to walk us there, so ends up our trip out was not necessary and we walked back, he took us the 5 minute walk to the laundromat in which we had walked right past and negotiated the price and delivery of our laundry for us. So in three days we should have clean clothes...lol

Going to dinner--Most nights we have been playing it safe and going to restaurants near our hotel but since it was Saturday we figured we had time to walk since Brian was home from work early. So we took a ride to a restaurant Brian has been to before, Japanese Tempanyaki, we got to the restaurant, figured out what we wanted to drink and eat, ordered, then continued to sit for about 30 minutes before anyone or any food came to our table. In China they seem to think when you order multiple dishes you don't want them together, but rather 20 minutes apart. So we ordered cooked scallops, steak and chicken, then s side of fried rice with beef. After about 1 1/2 hours we still had no sign of the fried rice and Blake was in melt down mode! So needless to say the food was fair, the service terrible and i won't be going back!

Nail Salon-- I entered the nail salon with my trusty Chilean friend Layla and we were instructed to remove our shoes, then sat on large chairs, not like at home where you have a massage chair with a tub for your feet. We showed in a book what we would like done which were gel manicures and then i wanted to attempt to get a pedicure as well. They did a wonderful job on the gel manicure, but then i found Layla was done and they were bringing out a bucket of water for me. They thought the pedicure was for my hands, and they washed my hands in the bucket with a wet towel, then used a sugar scrub, then washed it off, they coated me in thick lotion and rubbed my hands, then washed it off, then dried the hands and put a little lotion on. I then realized they didn't understand what i wanted, so they pulled the book out again for me to point as I am getting very good at pointing at what i want here, and google translate in my phone foot manicure for her. Then they brought out a small bucket of water to soak my feet in, dry then off, add lotion and put a clear polish on. Overall i say they did a good job for my lack of being able to communicate and next time maybe i will bring the polish i want on my toes.....:)

Found "Central Park"-- We found a park nearby that we were able to take Blake to on Sunday and let him run around and play. There were lots of little kids there trying to talk to him and to us but we couldn't communicate very well. Luckily laughter, smiles and friendliness are universal and our little man is good at all three. I think we will go back, there was wonderful play area all his size and he loved it!

Going to get a medical exam for my Visa--I was instructed to meet a lady at the location for Visa medical exams and she would assist me in speaking. When i arrive the lady does not speak hardly any English, and I am watching people go in and out of little rooms with no sign of what they are having done in the rooms. It appears there are all nurses working there so that comforted me some. The first room i went into i am not sure was sterile and the ladies did not have gloved on but rather cleaned their hands with alcohol swabs, then continued to draw blood from my arm and provide me with a cotton ball soaked in alcohol to place on there until it stopped bleeding, no band-aids here people! The next room was a urine sample, pretty self explanatory except i could not find the bathroom, my English helper was a little help here in finding one. The next room said multi-colored doppler on the door which turns out to be an ultrasound to check your ribs , I believe for TB but again no one could talk to me so i wasn't entirely sure what she was looking for. Next was the room where the lady closes the door and tells you to lay down, pulls my feet so they are hanging off the bed, then she speaks English to tell me to raise my shirt up, and continues to put 1920's ekg cords that suctioned onto my chest to check my heart and a clamp on both my wrists and one on the right ankle. Very strange. The final room was an eye exam where she told me to cover one eye and then tell her directions, the letters were not N-S-E-W they were backwards E, forwards E, W and M all of which translate to up, down, left and right but i had to figure that out before i would be able to read the chart, she asked me if i could see because i was trying to tell her i didn't know what directions the letters meant. Then she asks me to open up a bottle and tell her if i smell water, alcohol or vinegar. And she brings a large light over, looks down my throat, in my nose and ears without any instruments, not sure what she could or could not see. Apparently they didn't find anything because they let me go on my way :)

A trip to the Grocery Store-- Below are a few photos that sum up the Walmart grocery store here, there are others but they aren't as close to my hotel so this is the most convenient. Metro i went to today which is a German store and i was so happy to see tortillas, refried beans, Doritos, gummy bears, Ketchup and ranch dressing. Oh the little things in life!