We are the Hudsons: Getting my groove back....

So it has been around a month since my last blog, we haven't been so busy but we have been sick. If it isn't one of us it is the other lately! The changes in weather in China have been crazy and from rainy one day to 70 degrees the other day. Poor little Grace caught a bacterial infection/cold of sorts and had to be taken to the ER in Shanghai and given some antibiotics but luckily she is just fine now, her happy self! Blake is the one currently sick, with an upper respiratory infection he is coughing, clingy and feeling yucky with his fever. In between all this both Brian and I had sore throats, colds, etc. Hopefully now that spring is here and the weather is getting to be more consistent we will be past the yucky sickness month we have had!

Lately our weeks have been very much the same, on Mondays I grocery shop at Metro with Grace while Blake is in school and Brian at work, Tuesday we have a playdate with some of the other moms and kids at an indoor playground, I grab my Starbucks on the way through the mall :) Wednesday, its Grace and I again, we run some errands and grab lunch with some friends at a different restaurant each week, Thursday is our free day, we play with friends, or hang out at home, go for walks, etc (Blake is home from school this day too). Friday is Grace's play date, I started a "stay and play" every week at Blake's school where the moms and kids under age 3 that aren't in school come to play and the mom's get some time to get together as well. On the weekend we spend time as a family, Blake of course has gymnastics on Sundays and loves it and the past two Saturdays we have used our annual passes and gone to the Dinosaur Park!

We are currently counting down until my parents, Jayme, and Uncle Larry and Aunt Cheryl come for a visit, they will be here next Wednesday! We are very excited to see them, and to show them around our part of China! They will then head to Beijing for a tour and we will meet up again in Shanghai for Mother's Day weekend, sounds like a great time to me! Photos to follow their visit and I am sure some interesting and fun stories!!!

Some of my new friends had birthdays so we decided to have a ladies day at the Dinosaur Park Hot Spring!
Now this is not part of the Dinosaur Park but in the same area, it was actually a really interesting place. I didn't have my phone so no photos, other than the after photo of my back the next morning after I agreed to skin scraping. When you check into the hot spring it is just like a spa, there is a locker room for both men and women, you go inside and for the spa get ready for your treatments, put your things in a locker and go to the treatment room, for the hot spring you change into a swimsuit and then head outside to 30+ hot springs. I first had a massage, after about 30 minutes the massage therapist started to talk to me, asking something that required 100 yuan more, I had no idea what she was asking me. She seemed to get the idea and went to get another worker who returned with a cell phone that said skin scraping in English.....I said "ok" with no idea what was going to happen to me. The massage therapist used a technique called Gua Sha (Chinese Medicine) which is a horn in the shape of a rectangle that had very smooth sides to go across my back muscles with lots of pressure, honestly it felt good and she got a lot of the knots released from my neck and back. When i met back up with my friends I asked if any of them had the same experience as me, and they had no idea what i was talking about. When i put my swimsuit on after to go to the hot spring they all informed me my back was ridiculously red. I went to the hot spring anyways. There were many "pools" or "spas" that were around 40-42 degree Celsius, you could choose any of them to go in, some said ladies only, which we found men turning the sign around so they could use it. Most people stared at us but didn't want to get in the same pool we were in. As we walked around we saw there were many pools, some were labeled the 5 elements, some had traditional Chinese medicine in them, one had roses in it and the water was red. It was a very interesting experience. In one room there was a hot stone, you could lay across the stone with 15 other people to relax, when we looked in, all the Chinese people were laying on the hot stone, sweating and using their cell phone in waterproof cases, lol. It was a funny site. The next morning I woke and felt really good, a little sore in my back....when I went to look in the mirror this is what i saw.....

Catching up on what you have missed out the past month, I have a bunch of pictures in my phone to remind me of some funny signs or things i have seen but one story sticks in my mind.....We had a dry cleaners open just across the street from our compound, I can easily stop there on the way to pick up Blake from the bus or go to the little market for produce. I decided to try this new dry cleaner, I had Dan our driver go in with me as I wasn't sure how well i could communicate what i wanted as i haven't been to a dry cleaners yet. We first pulled up, there was a sign saying 9:30-19:00, it was 10:30am and the door was locked, there was another sign taped to the door that said 11:30-19:00. We returned after our errands and it was opened! So we took in Brian's shirts and had a quick conversation with the lady, she gave me a price, the receipt to pick up and it had my name and phone number so I felt good that I had accomplished what i needed, she then informed me it would be 4 days! Really, 4 days to get 5 shirts ironed? I looked around the new shop to see hardly any clothes on the electronic racks that you would find in any dry cleaner, I said ok and went on my way. Luckily Brian has many shirts so he could go 4 days without these. I returned in 4 days after receiving a text message that the shirts were done and left a few additional shirts for cleaning. As I returned in 4 days the doors were locked during the overlapping hours of both signs, there was no one there. I came back later in the day and the doors were still locked, the next day i had the driver stop by there on our way out and the doors were still locked, now I'm getting concerned. I asked Dan the driver to call the number on the card i was given, they informed him they would drop the clothes off at my house at 5 pm. The next day I told the driver that no one came by with the clothes, no one called me, and I needed to get those items. He called again and told me they were on vacation for one month and I wouldn't be able to get the clothes. I also had someone from Brian's office helping me and trying to get in touch with someone. She informed me the dry cleaner was closed for one month to "decorate". Are you kidding me, you are closed now, didn't inform me, and have my husband's work shirts hostage!!! So the driver called again and somehow got them to deliver my items to my door later that day....needless to say I have found a new dry cleaner and will not be going back. Who does that, no sign, don't tell customers and just close down for one month right after opening?!?!?!

Similar to photo booths, you can now take your passport photos in the middle of the train station! Smile!

When you go to the grocery store, don't think about stealing a grocery cart, in China you have to put in one coin (looks like a quarter but worth less) in order to unhook a cart from the pack, you get the coin back when you return the cart.