So last weekend I decided to get the girls out of the house on a rainy Sunday afternoon and take them to the movies. I had myself all geared up for a complex and frustrating process, imagining that only in China could a simple trip to the movies be anything but simple.
I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised. I knew what movie I wanted to take them to... they had seen a preview on one of their 'corner video store' DVDs for 'Monsters vs. Aliens'.
My first challenge, which I expected to be complex was to figure out where it would be showing, since all the theater's websites are in Chinese. There's an expat focused website that had an article/review of the movie and included a list with links to the websites of the theaters showing the movie. It also included links to reviews of the theaters themselves.
The review of one of the theaters said that it was the only theater in town that the reviewer knew of that served salty popcorn as opposed to sweet popcorn. You may not know this about China, but popcorn here - almost all of it - is sweet... think kettle corn, but not quite the same. It was very disconcerting when I first popped some 'corn into my mouth at the FIFA Women's World Cup shortly after arriving in China to taste sweet corn instead of salty popcorn.
So, despite the fact that it was not the closest and most convenient place to see the movie, it was where we were going... because for me you can't watch a movie in the theater without popcorn, and that popcorn must be salty, not sweet.
Now, I needed to figure out show times, and the theater's website was all in Chinese. I got lucky though... They had little pictures of the movie poster next to each showing and the times were in standard numbers. 3:05pm showing in Xintiandi - perfect.
So we trek across town, about 40 minutes, to the theater. It's in a mall in a nice retail development in Shanghai. We buy tickets at the ground floor ticket booth to the tune of $14 USD each. It turns out this movie was a little more expensive to see as it was being shown in 3D. When I purchased our tickets (and provided another $14 USD each for deposit on our 3D glasses) I was shown a layout of the theater with some seats occupied and others free. It turns out in China the movie theaters have assigned seating. So on the spot I pick 3 seats in the middle of the theater both front to back and side to side (a personal preference/peeve of mine - I need to be as close to the center of the theater as possible). When you get to the theater there is an usher that shows you to your seats.
So I only have a single data point - since we buy most of our movies from the corner video store for $0.87 USD about 2 weeks after they come out - but data point seems to indicate that the movie going experience in Shanghai is a little more expensive and a little more orderly than in the US.
I did notice that the theater was 80% empty... I imagine it's hard to compete with the $0.87 USD movie stores on the corner when you are charging $14 USD... or perhaps there was not a lot of local interest in 'Monsters vs. Aliens'... but my kids loved it!
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Amelia Jane Update
All,
It's been a few weeks since we updated you on Amelia Jane's progress. She has struggled with gaining weight over her first month, not getting back to her birth weight over that time - normally they like to see infants back to birth weight by the 10 day mark or at least within 2 weeks.
So numerous doctor appointments, weight checks, visits from the hospital mid-wife and a visit with someone from Le Leche League (spelling and naming possibly incorrect) we have settled on the follow root cause / diagnosis for the weight issues... This child is too much like her father... The consensus is 'impatient and lazy'. :)
It seems that she has a 'weak suck'. This means that she doesn't get fed at the rate she would like from breast feeding so over the last week we have focused on giving her bottles of expressed/pumped breast milk and supplementing with formula only when she needs it.
After a weight check today at exactly the 4 week mark, the results are in, and... SUCCESS! She gained 500g over the last 7 days - roughly 1 pound. Big sighs of relief from Mom and Dad and Pediatrician.
So in terms of a more general update - things are going OK. She is a better sleeper than the first two kids were... but still seems to save the highest pitched screaming for whenever Dad happens to be on duty. She's up every 2-3 hours at night still, but does a reasonable job of going back to sleep fairly quickly.
I've been working an offset schedule of sorts, to align my day with as much of the US day as possible, so I am usually at work by 6am, but gives me the chance to get home at a reasonable time to help out in the late afternoons. It still means that many mornings Steph is trying to juggle feeding the baby, pumping, getting Olivia ready for school, breakfast and to the bus, all the while making sure Gigi is taken care of as well... I swear my job seems less complex some days.
I returned to the golf course over the last few weeks, playing a round on the holiday here last week and then again this last Saturday. I am as inconsistent as you would expect for playing as infrequently as I do. I'll be honest - any chance to play right now, regardless of what I shoot is a gift that I treasure.
I'll be back in the US for a rare business trip for a couple weeks spanning the last week of April and first week of May. I have a short term assignment working on a pilot program for the next 2-3 months before we return home and I take my sabbatical. I'll be using the trip to both meet face to face the broader program team and host a Map Day (all day long planning meeting) for the pilot. I'll also use the trip to meet the members of my permanent team which I'll be joining in September when I return from sabbatical.
Working for a 100% US based team from PRC is challenging - more so than I thought it would be... but the reality of having a newborn in the house makes it 100% clear to me that moving home any sooner than we have planned would be damned near impossible!
Easter was really laid back this year. Kids woke up really early to hunt what was left by the Easter Bunny the previous night. We didn't make it to church, as the timing of the English service conflicted with both older kids naps, as well as the napping, feeding and pumping schedule of the newest addition. Only partially related to the scheduling of the English service, it'll be so nice to get back home to our home church!
Hoping you all had a wonderful Easter holiday and are seeing the consistent signs of Spring where ever you are!
Cheers,
Joe
It's been a few weeks since we updated you on Amelia Jane's progress. She has struggled with gaining weight over her first month, not getting back to her birth weight over that time - normally they like to see infants back to birth weight by the 10 day mark or at least within 2 weeks.
So numerous doctor appointments, weight checks, visits from the hospital mid-wife and a visit with someone from Le Leche League (spelling and naming possibly incorrect) we have settled on the follow root cause / diagnosis for the weight issues... This child is too much like her father... The consensus is 'impatient and lazy'. :)
It seems that she has a 'weak suck'. This means that she doesn't get fed at the rate she would like from breast feeding so over the last week we have focused on giving her bottles of expressed/pumped breast milk and supplementing with formula only when she needs it.
After a weight check today at exactly the 4 week mark, the results are in, and... SUCCESS! She gained 500g over the last 7 days - roughly 1 pound. Big sighs of relief from Mom and Dad and Pediatrician.
So in terms of a more general update - things are going OK. She is a better sleeper than the first two kids were... but still seems to save the highest pitched screaming for whenever Dad happens to be on duty. She's up every 2-3 hours at night still, but does a reasonable job of going back to sleep fairly quickly.
I've been working an offset schedule of sorts, to align my day with as much of the US day as possible, so I am usually at work by 6am, but gives me the chance to get home at a reasonable time to help out in the late afternoons. It still means that many mornings Steph is trying to juggle feeding the baby, pumping, getting Olivia ready for school, breakfast and to the bus, all the while making sure Gigi is taken care of as well... I swear my job seems less complex some days.
I returned to the golf course over the last few weeks, playing a round on the holiday here last week and then again this last Saturday. I am as inconsistent as you would expect for playing as infrequently as I do. I'll be honest - any chance to play right now, regardless of what I shoot is a gift that I treasure.
I'll be back in the US for a rare business trip for a couple weeks spanning the last week of April and first week of May. I have a short term assignment working on a pilot program for the next 2-3 months before we return home and I take my sabbatical. I'll be using the trip to both meet face to face the broader program team and host a Map Day (all day long planning meeting) for the pilot. I'll also use the trip to meet the members of my permanent team which I'll be joining in September when I return from sabbatical.
Working for a 100% US based team from PRC is challenging - more so than I thought it would be... but the reality of having a newborn in the house makes it 100% clear to me that moving home any sooner than we have planned would be damned near impossible!
Easter was really laid back this year. Kids woke up really early to hunt what was left by the Easter Bunny the previous night. We didn't make it to church, as the timing of the English service conflicted with both older kids naps, as well as the napping, feeding and pumping schedule of the newest addition. Only partially related to the scheduling of the English service, it'll be so nice to get back home to our home church!
Hoping you all had a wonderful Easter holiday and are seeing the consistent signs of Spring where ever you are!
Cheers,
Joe
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