Nice weekend

Not sure if this 'pimp my ride' worked out for the better ;)

Lexie was supposed to sleep here on Friday night but she refused to leave after her bath and was climbing in bed already. Grandma called me if it was OK for her to stay. I didn't mind after a HongKong check up day. I did see her at dinner and we had some nice cuddles so all was good.

Grandpa giving Lexie a drink in between intensive playing on court

On Saturday morning daddy was playing tennis and we joined in on the fun. The tennis court is on the 2nd floor so I need help to carry Lexie up. Of course grandpa was more than happy to do that. HW carried up the stroller because I needed that to take her home. There were no people on the other court so Lexie had a lot of space to run and chase balls. Grandpa taught her to 'throw' balls over the net and she bounced some balls off the tennis racket with my help. Grandpa left and we played some more.

Iced tea!!! (Don't tell grandma)

When we were done playing daddy and his tennis friend carried Lexie and the stroller down. Lexie can walk for quite a long time but she also wants to be picked up and carried from time to time. Problem is that my lower back is on the edge of what is humanly possible already with no.2 inside me. So, stroller it was! We played at home and waited for daddy to come back. Later we all went out for lunch where Lexie ate most of daddies rice with egg and shrimps.

She climbed up by herself and started playing!

Lexie has discovered that crying is a way to get her way (so to say). The only problem is that it doesn't work on me but it sends the grandparents into a 'calm Lexie down' frenzy. I just hold her and tell her I'm not impressed and that it is not working. Yup, horrible mommy ;)

Some light reading at Hommy's

Good news is that Lexie's sleep schedule is pretty solid now. Weekend naps are also back on. Nice, so we can take her out late afternoon/early evening and actually have fun together. After her nap on Saturday we went to Hommy's for a bit.

On Sunday she had her nap at grandma's because Haiwen took me out for delicious dim sum at the Hilton. Afterwards we stopped by at Hommy's again. Dim sum is great but there's no ice cream for dessert.... One floor down from Hommy's there's yummy ice cream from New Zealand :) We did have coffee first and got the ice cream on the way out. As we were leaving Qiang's friend stopped us to wait for my flowers :)

A rare pic.....

It was supposed to be a surprise for family dinner later in the evening but this way was easier.

Maybe better for the flowers as well as it is quite hot out these days.

Yay, flowers!!! (From Qiang's friend.... HW still needs to learn)

Dinner was nice as we checked out a new restaurant called SaLaLa. We sat outside which was only possible due to a gentle breeze. Lexie had fun running around with her aunties and grandpa.

Qiang took some nice pics that I will post in the next blog.

Coughing.........

Well. that was not a great week!! I spent it coughing and feeling bad. That's about all for me, very interesting, I know ;)

Almost 2 weeks ago

It's not been easy to get some sleep (coughing/peeing/coughing/peeing.....) so I had no energy whatsoever. All resources are going to little one no.2 (as they should) so mommy was not much more than a not so well functioning incubator. Or very well functioning, depending how you look at it.

Early morning

Luckily Lexie got over her cold much faster, after producing very impressive amounts of snot, hahaha.

She's still doing great in school and is very happy with her life as it is now.

I played a concert with a youth orchestra in XingHai last week so at least I've played there every year since we moved here ;) The guards are still major assholes but I did manage to get inside to join the rehearsal and concert. It was fun but too tiring and I hurt my back. We needed to change seats a lot due to different ensemble sizes. In the rehearsal I had a little pillow for my back but decided not to take it on stage during the concert. That turned out to be a stupid mistake. I was fine for a long time but due to speeches and unexpected repeats the concert lasted too long for me. Ouch!!!!

Concentration!!

I decided not to take the pillow because every seat change involved taking my clarinet (obviously), cleaning cloth, cigaret paper and reed cap. I felt it would be too much to add a pillow to that. There were also 4 different conductors so we were standing up a lot when they changed as well. Yup, pillow falling on the floor......  In hindsight I should have just done it but yeah, too late!

'Don't park your bikes here'

On Sunday Haiwen and I had a nice lunch in RokuRoku. I get hungry these days but most food doesn't appeal to me. I do have a thing for Beef Fumiyaki (the restaurant made that name up). It's thinly sliced beef with onions and it is super yummy. Finally I felt a bit satisfied food wise. Lexie and grandma were hanging out at Hommy's (they don't appreciate the yumminess of RokuRoku) so we picked them up after lunch and went home.

19.20 after skipping her afternoon nap

The rest of the week was basically a haze of bed, couch, snot, coughing, TV series and dizziness.

Hope to report better news next time!!

Treasure hunt - hospital style

Last Friday I went to HK yet again, yes, again!!!!

I needed to take a blood test a few days before my check up so I was very glad I could catch a ride with Anastasia into town. No such luck on Friday so back to the train it was.

I'm sad to report that I pulled a total preggy brain move :( I had a ticket for Wednesday but I forgot to change it to Friday...... I did not realize this until I was told I could not get onto the train since my ticket had expired. F*^&%#$%~~! There I was in the middle of the Canton fair with no valid ticket and an appointment in HK at 11.15. I hurried over to the Shenzhen train and was in luck to get a ticket for 8.24. Had I not be so pregnant and stupid, I could have caught an earlier train. Well, that was not to be and now I was seriously pressed for time.

Lexie is prepared for Queens/Kings Day!

The good news is that you don't live in South East Asia for almost 6 years without learning a thing or two about being quick in crowds. I walked trough the train and I waited at a door that opened right next to the stairs on the platform. That is bottle neck number one, passed without a hitch.
Down the stairs, down the hall and onto the check out machines, aka bottle neck number 2. I was one of the first ones there so no waiting to go through. So far so good.
I walked to the passport check as fast as belly would let me. I scouted out the special lane and the foreigner lane. The special lane seemed shorter and only older asian looking guys were in it. Guaranteed to pass the check up quickly and so it was indeed. Bottle neck 3 passed and going strong.

Her highness :)

Bottle neck 4 wasn't much of a challenge since I can pass through the automated check up with my HK card. More walking..... belly cramping up a bit on one side..... Onto the platform to wait for the metro.

Woohooo, Luohu passed in 25 minutes!! A whole lot better than 45 last time!

I arrived at HongHum station around 11.00. I'm seven months pregnant now so given that my last toilet visit was on the Shenzhen train a toilet break was granted, first thing first, right? I caught a cab straight away and drove off at 11.07. We pulled up at the main building at 11.15 sharp. The check ups are in the ambulatory day care centre, a short walk away. I was on the 4th floor by 11.17. Phew, not too bad.

Group pic

The check up went well. No anti bodies were found in my blood (I'm Rh- and Lexie is Rh+) and both doctor and nurse were very nice. I told the doc that my skin was driving me crazy with itchiness and she prescribed a cream. She also ordered a blood test to check out that my liver is still functioning well. I'm pretty sure it is because the itching is definitely humidity and pollution related. Doc agreed but let me take the test just to be sure. I also asked her about hospital policy after giving birth and she told me I can have the baby with me, hurrah :) That should make feeding a whole lot easier than last time when Lexie was 'locked up' in the nursery until our release from the hospital.

She then went on to tell me that the policy on the Rhogum shots has changed. Rhogum is a medicine to stop antibodies from forming. The old rule was one shot at 30 weeks and another one at 36 weeks. New policy is at 28 and 34 weeks. I'm exactly 28 this weeks so finally some good timing!! She called the doc to ask if I could have the shot the same day as I was already there. Luckily it was OK because I was dreading another hospital run just for one shot....... The treasure hunt was about to begin!!!

-Go to 2nd floor pharmacy to hand in recipe for cream

-Stay on 2nd floor for blood test

-Wait for cream

-Go to main building E1 to pay for Rhogum

-Stay in main building, go to B3 for injection

Hehehe, if only ;) some steps got added:

-Leave 2nd floor since there are still 40 numbers ahead of you

-At B3 get told you need to go pick up the Rhogum yourself

-Stay in main building, go to pharmacy on F1 to hand in recipe

-Wait for Rhogum and be thankful you got a "urgent" to go with your order

-Pick up Rhogum without further queueing (hurrah for "urgent" sticker)

-Go back to B3

-Tell the nurse to be quick please since you haven't eaten yet

-Get crackers and milk from nurse :)

-Get injection from doctor

-Say thanks and go back to ambulatory day care centre to pick up cream

-Pick up cream after queueing(where was that handy "urgent" sticker??)

-Go back to main building to take a cab back to the station

I didn't actually pay for the shot, it is just administration I guess. I did get a nice slip that stated 0 dollars on it. The cream was free too.

What a morning!! I was completely done by the time I sat down in my seat on the train. Yes, I managed to buy that ticket in advance at the right time and more importantly, day...... I also bought all train tickets needed for my next check up in two weeks.

Yesterday we had a small Queens/Kings day celebration for all the Dutch kids in GZ.

First translating job

Last Monday I had my first ever paid translation job. I've been translating for friends on occasion for a long time already so I decided to give it a go. I translated for Anastasia who works for Cami music. I met her at the Asian Games Music Festival three years ago. 

First stop was (drumroll please.....) the GSO office! Yup, my old boss..... How fun!! It went fine as Cherry (his assistant) did most of the translating. We had discussed this beforehand and decided this was cool. Old boss man was very flattered with Anastasia's visit and he was in the best mood I've ever seen him in. He even smiled once. A very terrifying experience as I only know him shouting at us in a foul mood. He did manage to call me fat but apologized when Cherry told him that I'm pregnant.

Ugh, so glad to be rid of him :)

Next stop was the concert hall on the other side of the road. We met up with the lady that runs the hall. She could understand English pretty well, but speaking was a problem. I did my thing and we had a good meeting. They took us to lunch where she and Anastasia had fun reminiscing traditional Russian folk songs. We were in a bit of a rush because we had another meeting in Shenzhen at 16.30.

We made it on time and had a candid discussion with the no.2 of the hall there. No. 1 did show up at some point but that's about it........

Yay, my first day working as translator was over! Anastasia still had one more meeting but it got postponed to later that evening. Time to get dinner and a massage :) We found a good restaurant and enjoyed great food. Weird thing is that I was totally into mushrooms...... I usually hate them but not whilst pregnant!! They were extraordinarily well prepared so that helped as well. We had prepared our hanging out on Monday night well by hanging out on Sunday as well. That was Anastasia's first day off after traveling in China for almost 2 weeks straight. First she came over to meet Lexie and to see the airing of 'my' TV show. Then it was onto shopping, spa-ing and dining. Very nice to catch up in real life after such a long time!

On Tuesday morning we had a car to take us to HK. Anastasia still had some meetings (with fluent English speakers, so no help needed) and I needed to go to the hospital to draw some blood. We made good time so I had the luxury of being dropped off at the hospital. Ayaaa, time to say goodbye again!

Until we meet next time..........

TV show

Last Sunday at noon the program 珠江记事 (ZhuJiangJiShi＝Pearl River Story) was about me and my life in Guangzhou.

I found the program online today so I took some screenshots and short video's. I will try to upload the video's but forgive me if it doesn't work due to our very sad internet 'speed'.

I'm sorry, the video's are not uploading at all..... Hope you enjoy the pics.

The show is posted at: Show!

I'm not sure if the video will play outside of China. Oh, the trouble people go through to keep each other disconnected!!!

Hot!!

Hot, hot, hot!! Guangzhou did the typical *poof!!* and the season changed overnight. From a cold 15C and rain last week to a current 28C with high humidity giving a real feel of 35C.

I'm not completely adjusted just yet ;)

Aw, our big, stinky city can be pretty too!

It was a good week for teaching and I had classes on four different days. This weeks classes included clarinet, saxophone and Dutch. Lexie is doing great at school, so that's a big relieve. Not a single wet pants incident there. Just once here one evening when she got too busy playing. Not bad for a still not quite 1,5 year 'old' girl!!

Fly, fly, fly!!!

Last night we took Lexie to a big square. Lots of space to run around and a helicopter, of course!! Grandpa did most of the chasing, haha. I'm not allowed to chase and grandma had a sore back. All the more fun for grandpa. Haiwen was on his way back from HongKong so he got home late.

Animal game, always a big hit!!

Lexie and I had a nice morning while daddy was out playing tennis. I think I've heard 'mamma' about 183 times today already! She's at grandpa's now but will come back here soon. At noon I went out with Haiwen for lunch. We went to a japanese burger place where the food was quite nice. You can tell that it is a non-chinese establishment from everything. Nice decoration, good service, nice quality and so on. It's just more 'finished' somehow. After lunch we headed over to Hommy's and hung out for a bit. Haiwen is gone again now but is presumably making an appearance in about an hour.... We'll see. In the meantime I did the laundry (fascinating, I know!!).

Shenzhen

Last Friday I got a call from Mister Wang, Lily's dad. He asked if I could come to Shenzhen to teach her and some other students. Weekend or Monday. Monday of course because I wasn't going to desert Lexie after her first week of school! Haiwen was very nice and drove me there. As usual I wasn't sure what the plan was once I got there. I only knew it was 4 hours teaching minimum.

A restroom for...... resting!

It turned out to be 2 hours for Lily and 2 hours for Jack, who is also at boarding school in England. They were back for their Easter holidays. So it was Jack, Lily, lunch, Lily Jack, haha. All at mister Wang's house. Jack's dad drove me all the way to the train station after class. It was pretty far away. I didn't want to take the bus because it doesn't have a toilet. Not a situation I'm willing to put myself in at almost 27 weeks pregnant!

Public transport app 

I arrived back at the East Railway station a bit before 19.00. I met up with Haiwen who was at Hommy's before. We went to one of my favourite places: Roku sushi. We had to wait a little bit for a table but that was OK. Haiwen brought me a drink ;) No real sushi for me of course, but they have other nice things there (tempura, miso soup). After dinner it was time to head home. Qiang joined us and we picked up Lexie from grandma's. Lexie must have been knackered. Everything made her cry/scream.... First it was leaving grandpa behind, then it was daddy being too far behind in the parking lot as I was carrying her to the lift..... then the fact that I didn't open the crayon box..... pajama's.... sleeping.....

I've never heard her scream so high and loud!!! Poor thing, it was almost funny. She was standing up in her bed, completely mad and screaming 'gaogaojuuuuu' (cute Cantonese for sleeping). I tried to point out to her that she was already in bed but somehow that did not impress her much. She probably wanted to go to our bed. I wished her a very good night and after one minute she was fast asleep. 

I'm feeling pretty 'ingeburgerd' now I have a public transport app! It works well and has lots of cool functions. You know, just in case I can't get a cab ;)