Watch Where You Are Going...

Guess what this is:

It is used by blind people to guide them on the sidewalk. But like everything else, in China there is a twist:

When an idea starts great…

Becomes a challenge…

And ends up plain stupid…

Karaoke

Karaoke or KTV as it is known here is more that signing songs, it’s a national sport in China. Family members, friends but also work colleagues gather in a multitude of small private and soundproofed rooms with sofa, TV screen, maracas and 2 microphones for some powerful duets… And they take it pretty seriously.

Always ready for a good laugh we decided with a group of friends that we should give it a try under the guidance of May who can at least speak and read Chinese (and sing too we would found out!). After several rounds of email we set up a date, to realize that everybody bailed out but 4 of us (Only the best… the Crème de la crème!). So here are some pictures of us enjoying drinks, chips and some really cool “western” songs. We’ll be back to sing in Chinese but first we need to brush up on our Chinese characters to be able to follow the rhythm! The best part of the night was probably the really, really cheesy videos that went with the songs.

Don't we look like we are professionals?

Please beware… you might NOT want to push the ‘Play’ button.

The Good and...

And especially NOT this one!!

...The Ugly!

One After The Other...

After last year visit from Jacques Chirac (希拉克 - Xi La Ke), the new French president Sarkozy (萨科奇 - Sa Ke Qi) also came to Beijing to pay me a visit. As the former president, the current one (among signing lots of big deals and talking about politic of course) went to Xi’an and invited the French People to a little gathering to hear him say what apparently they wanted to hear!.

While Chirac invited them (I personally couldn’t make it) at a posh hotel (The Peninsula), Sarkozy chose to receive his ‘concitoyens’ in the new “it”* place in Beijing: the 798 art district in Dashanzi. The other difference between the 2 presidential visits in less than a year is that Nicolas’ “Bernadette” didn’t come (divorce was the excuse this time!) so we didn’t get any cute picture of Cecilia riding a rickshaw! No word however on what his mom, who was with him, did

First the invitation:

With my own name on it!!

Then the man!:

The "Petits Fours" were plenty... in comparison to the previous visit (or that's what the words on the street were)

* It's so the “It” place right now that it seems like I’m there all the time. First of all I like to walk around the alleys of this up and coming art district, then we went for the opening of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA) a couple of weeks ago and next week the French Community and their Association Pekin Accueil will have their Christmas dinner there too.

Money, Money, Money...

...Make The World Go Round

This is with what you have to walk around Beijing when you need to pay for something (in our case our flight for our next vacation) since Beijing is pretty much a cash society.
Because the largest bank note is 100 rmb which is roughly 10 €, well actually 9.2€ now (or $12.5, $13 or $13.5… as time past!!!) you carry a lot of paper for not a lot of money.

Let's go spend some cash!!

A Visit to Grandma...

...For Thanksgiving

Not that grandma (that would be Cindy, since Bernadette doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving and we call her Mamie), no we went down the street to Grandma’s kitchen and had a lovely meal of Turkey with Cranberry sauce, mash potatoes, pumpkin pie, etc, etc…. Not as nice as a family gathering but since it probably was one of the first time we celebrated since leaving the States, nobody’s complaining!!

Almost like home!

East Vs West

I was browsing on the web when I came upon this culture comparison between Germany and China… But it could be true with almost any other Western country…

First Set

Second Set

Third Set

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Expat' Life Explained To...

...Expat' Wives

INN is a social organization that was established more than 10 years ago by a group of expatriates living in Beijing. International Newcomers’ Network is a resource to obtain information and a support network and provides an opportunity to meet friends (Here’s for the pep talk!).

What started as mainly a monthly meeting on the last Monday of each month when I first arrived in Beijing (and where I met most of my current friends) has now outreached to monthly Happy Hours, Social Neighborhood Coffee Morning, Outings and monthly Big Brekkie where usually a special guest speaker is invited to give a talk. This month Robin Pascoe who once lived in Beijing and writes books on the many challenges of expatriation (be marriage, raising nomad kids, or even repatriation) was the guest speaker. Robin was on an Asian tour which took her from Hong Kong to Tokyo, via Beijing and Seoul: 25 lectures in 3 weeks.
Not only is she a great writer and any person who deals with expatriation can relate with what she writes in her books but she’s a great speaker as well.
I bought her books and I’m sure I will see myself in many of them…

For more information: www.expatexpert.com

Condoms

...Anyone?

I have no idea what to say about that… this is information without investigation!!... Where do they find them that’s what I wonder


Used condoms that have been reprocessed into rubber bands and hair ties have been sold in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, raising concerns about public health.
In addition to being sold at local bazaars, the recycled condoms have been found at local beauty salons in the prosperous Pearl River Delta city, according to Guangzhou-based New Express Daily(…)
Local doctors have warned that using these rubber bands could lead to the spread of AIDS, genital warts and other sexually transmitted diseases.
"There are a lot of bacteria and viruses on the rubber bands and hair ties made from used condoms," a dermatologist at the Guangzhou Hospital of Armed Police, who asked to be identified by his surname Dong, said.
"People could be infected with AIDS, warts or other diseases if they hold the rubber bands or strings in their mouths while weaving their hair into plaits or buns," Dong was quoted as saying by the paper. (…)
A bag of 10 recycled hair ties costs only 25 fen (3 cents) at local markets, which is much less than the normal rate for such products, the paper said.
Many sellers have refused to reveal where they got their products and whether they had been made from recycled condoms, saying it was commercial secret.
But insiders said some of the rubber bands and hair ties could have been made from imported overseas rubbish. Local entertainment venues were also said to have contributed condoms.
An official from the Guangzhou administration of industry and commerce said it was against the law to make or sell goods made from used condoms.(ChinaDaily)


Blogging is becoming easier, just… cut and paste!!

To Go Shopping...

...Or Not To Go

Well this is why I have decided not to go grocery shopping anymore… It takes too much of my time (queuing since 4am!) and it’s way too dangerous!!

Three people died and 31 were injured during a Saturday morning shopping stampede at a Carrefour supermarket in Chongqing, southwestern China. The supermarket was closed after the accident, reports on the People's Daily website said. A sale on a five-liter bottle of cooking oil caused the stampede. The supermarket lowered the oil's price to 39.9 yuan from 51.4 yuan ($1.5 or 20%) to celebrate the store's 10th anniversary. A large crowd had waited outside the store from 4 am until the supermarket opened at 8:40 am. The shoppers rushed in all at once, causing the deaths and injuries. (ChinaDaily)

UPDATE 13.11.2007
China has banned time-limited sales promotions in retail outlets following a stampede at a Carrefour supermarket. The Ministry of Commerce ordered local authorities across China to overhaul safety requirements in shops to prevent similar occurrences, said a statement dated Monday on its website. "In order to eliminate safety concerns, companies are required not to organise time-limited sales promotions which may lead to traffic congestion, bodily harm and disorderly conduct," it said.

Something Happened...

...That's For Sure

The key words seem to be there…it just a matter of putting the sentence together yourself.

It probably makes more sense in Chinese

Little Known Fact...

...Wifes Are Always Right!

After weeks of nagging from my dear half about how cold our apartment is (check this post to know how winter and heating work in Beijing!)… I finally had it this morning and decided to clear some time in my busy schedule (do I have to remind anybody that I actually do not work if you associate work with paycheck but I do work anyhow) to go buy an electric heater (dian nuan3qi4 - 电暖气).

First of all, how do you choose one heater over another one when you don’t have a clue of what the labels say…. Well you go with the one which doesn’t feel too cheap and the prettiest!!!

Here’s our new home addition:

Our new toy?!

Secondly, after a long day of lunch and foot massage with my friend (I just said that it happened that today my schedule was clear!!) I go pick up my daughter from the bus stop and decide to have a glance at the notice board in our building to see what new Chinenglish message the management put up…. And what do I see: “We, the management, would like to inform the tenants that the heating system will be up starting…………yes you guessed it: November 6th.

What I don’t understand is how someone (my husband!) can put the A/C on in the summer to 20°C (75°F) but cannot stand it when it’s actually 20°C in our apartment in November!!!

Too Much Staff

...Too Much Time

This is what happens when you have too many people on your pay roll… you’ve got to find them something to do:

Let's go vacuum and polish the driveway

UCCA

Yesterday night was the opening of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Dashanzi, the Art District of Beijing. My friend Magali’s husband (she’s the Secretary of Pékin Accueil, the French association that takes up all of my time, hence the huge delay in my postings) is the managing director and kindly invited us for the “Glamorous” Opening Party.

Here’s an article of the UCCA museums and the party.

The Fruit of Our Labor

...Chloe and I

Chloe for posing for the photos and me for waiting a whole day in the middle of nowhere!!

Click on the picture to enlarge

So Many Things...

...So Little Time

It all started with a personal email stating that I, Celine, was invited to the French Residence in honor of the Mr Kouchner’s visit (he’s French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, better known elsewhere for being the founder of Doctors Without Borders/Medecins sans Frontiere and Doctors of the World/Médecins du Monde). Since the email was only addressed to me (i.e. not an undisclosed mailing list) and after some inquiring with my friends if they had received such email I worried that it might have been an email with an hoax/virus. As I was about to delete it the girls from the board of Pekin Accueil said that they were invited too.

THE invitation!

All this stress for a 10-minute speech… his previous meeting with Chinese officials lasted longer and the following one had been rescheduled for earlier. Well at least I know I still can fit in my ‘business' suit!!

Back to being a mom when I got back home since it’s Halloween tonight. Not really a Chinese celebration but since our building has a lot of foreign families, the kids can hop from one pre-signed apartment to another pre-signed apartment for their trick or treating.

On a side note: I found out (just in case I wasn’t 110% sure) that Chloe will talk to anybody and tell her story. A really nice man show up at our door with his son and after doing the usual trick or treating, proceeded to ask me if I was Chloe’s mom. Not only I’m usually being defined as Jeff’s wife but I’m now defined as my kids’ mom… I’m not sure if I will ever be just ME again! Anyhow after asking him how he knew Chloe, he said that they met at the playground because she was taking care of his son (that’s the mom part in her) and told him all about her background (born in Argentina, mom French, dad American, brother born in Scotland, etc, etc….). As I said before we wouldn’t be able to hide anything or from anybody even if we tried to.

Hand-carved by Chloe & Jeremy

Pea Pie

I loooove Mc Donald Pie, but I’d got a little taken back by the color of this one. This one is definitely NOT the kind I like…

It looks like a pie...

but it doesn't taste like a pie

U.N. Day

...or Meet My Neighbor!

Today it’s UN day…. Well I know you probably didn’t know and I would be in your shoes if it wasn’t for Chloe and Jeremy’s school big celebration today.

Everyone was supposed to dress in their national costumes… so what do you do when you have a French mother, American father, was born either in Argentina (for C.) or Scotland (for J.) and live in yet another country? I’ll tell you it’s a headache….Chloe wanted to even choose another country, Australia to dress up like her friends as Surf chick (her words, not mine). Why did I decide to tell you all this; well because as I was taking my kids to the bus stop all dressed up (Jeremy as a French Soccer player and Chloe as a French girl, i.e with a beret!! - This year they’ll be French we’ll see next year!) I was introduced to my neighbor who had moved a few weeks ago in our building. (top floor, the really big apartment, the duplex… am I jealous? Are you kidding?)

So let me give you a little background about my new friend. Yolande, originally from Cameroon, grew up in Paris and London and spoke French and English with her parents, and for some obscure reason she mentioned she also spoke German at home…. Already I’m impressed. But the story doesn’t end here; from our conversation I learned that she also learned Portuguese and after meeting her husband decided that she’d better learn Spanish (her husband is Spanish!). I know all this from just making conversation and one of the top thing you usually ask when you live in the Expat’ community is where the people have lived before. So when she said they moved to Beijing from Tokyo, I casually asked her if she spoke Japanese as well and she said that since they lived there for 5 years she had to learn it even though she's not fluent, she can manage. Well after our conversation I’m sure her "not fluent" in Japanese means darn good in my book…. I forgot to mentioned that she worked as a translator (at the UN I think) so her Japanese might not be good enough for the UN but it was good enough to travel within Japan without a guide and mingle with real Japanese families.

And now I’m going back to my Chinese lessons because I need to keep up with the Yolande’s of the world!!!! Zai Jian…

Great Wall Of...

...China, France, Well At Least "La Riviere"

We decided to have the ultimate souvenir from China… our own Great Wall:

It doesn't look much...But those boulders are massive

No more sharing with 1.3 billions Chinese and countless oversea visitors and it’s not with 450+ inhabitants in our village that this wall will ever get crowded…. But if you are ever near La Rivière don’t hesitate to come over and have a drink overlooking the Great Wall of ……!!!

Where Is Waldo...

...Where Does He Live And/Or Work?

While I was riding my bike around the neighborhood I realized that the Red House (the actual name of a bar near our apartment complex) was getting more pink, which made me think that I don’t even know where the President of China (or I should say People’s Republic of China since when I typed “President of China”, 陳水扁 Chen Shui-bian “president” of Taiwan came up) lives and/or works.

Well any way where is the White House, Elysée or Casa Rosada of China? (see my thread of thought – far stretch I know but I come up with subject the way I can!)

Pretty in Pink

You've Been Punked...

...I Mean Banned

YouTube and now my sister blog too....
What am I going to do? It seems that since yesterday YouTube is blocked from China and I haven’t found a proxy yet to get around the problem.
Attempting to access the site give you a “connection reset” error, which has become the SOP for blocked sites in China. A few days ago all inquiries for Yahoo! and Google seemed to be redirect to some Chinese web site as well.

And as I was talking with one of my student (my source of knowledge from the young?!!) he informed me that skyrock blogs were also blocked in China (Skyrock is a radio station in France and has outreach to blogging)….so I also need to use a proxy to view the pretty innocent photos of my nephews’ life in I-can-believe-you-live-there Saint Barth!!

As soon as the government decide to block my favorite gossip Blog (name withdraw in case it gives them the idea of actually blocking it!!) I will have to ask for a transfer from our company!!!


BTW I still cannot access this blog without a Proxy....

I'm Getting Confused...

...Which One Is The Legitimate One?

Neither actually

Do You Want To Dance...

...JingJing or ChaCha?

Look what I found on one of the web page I visited…. Pretty innocent website since it’s from the place I went to a month ago!

Little explanation:
JingJing and ChaCha (a pun on the Chinese word for police – Jing3 Cha2 警察) are the cartoon mascots of the Internet Surveillance Division of the Public Security Bureau in Shenzhen, China. Debuting in January 2006, they are used to, amongst other things, inform Chinese Internet users what is and is not legal to consult or write on the Chinese Internet.
Clicking on the images will take a user to either of the characters' own personal webspace, where Chinese Internet users can learn about the laws and regulations related to Internet, keep up-to-date on the newest Internet policies, and submit questions to Jingjing and Chacha live through the instant messaging service Tencent QQ or through their blogs.

In August 2007, Beijing police announced a similar campaign using animated officers. The Beijing version of the characters will appear every half hour on 13 of China's top web portals and display messages about Internet laws and conduct. The cyber cartoon couple serves as a pointer of kinda a "red line on line," added Chen, saying, "The Internet has been always monitored by police, the significance of "Jingjing" and "Chacha" is to remind the online population to be conscious of safe and healthy use of the Internet, self-regulate their online behavior, and maintain harmonious Internet order together."

ChaCha and JingJing

The Great Outdoor

Let’s finish this set of posts on our trip to the south of China with a bit of public community service: If you are an outdoor English teacher… I know where you can find a job!!!

Meaning probably “Native English Teacher”

We also know of a good hairdresser that welcomes their foreign friends and will cut your hair on the spot (better go in summer time) for only 10 RMB (= 1€ or $1.5) which is probably twice the rate of the locals'

They love “Outdoor” things here

Guilin, Longshen, Yanshuo...

Article and Pictures to come!!

The Book and The Chair

Before I share some pictures of our latest trip I would like to share with you those photos:

The Book:
As we were settling in our hotel room in Yangshuo, we came upon this gem: the hotel’s directory book….It was a keepsake but we were too afraid we were going to be charged for it and since the price was not listed (the only one!) we didn’t want to tempt faith.

You MUST click on the picture to appreciate

Is it worth taking the....?

You've been warned

You wonder what kind of bad experience this hotel had had in the past or if people actually mistakenly took the hotel for a local Ikea!!!
What’s funny it’s that there were surveillance cameras in every hallways… so you wonder how someone could actually take the fridge?

The Chair:
And the last picture was taken at the airport in Guilin:

Do I have to be old and weak and sick and disable and pregnant to sit here?

Noodle or Rice?

We are back from our trip in the south of China, Guanxi province to be more precise we visited: Guilin, Longsheng, Yangshuo… but before sharing our experiences I wanted to talk a little bit more about: “we don’t see thing the same way them and us…”

One thing that always amazes me when I take a plane in China (besides arriving alive?!) is that the flight attendants have a different way of presenting the food here. “Noodle or Rice” is usually the question…. but what I want to know is what kind of “meat” is with the rice or noodle. Wouldn’t you find it odd if you were asked if you wanted vegetable or pasta and the stewardess didn’t mentioned that one came with beef and the other with chicken?. What’s really important here is if you either feel like eating rice or noodle and the main dish is really secondary!

We Are Going To....

I mean...!!

Best Present Ever...

...Rice?!

I would like to take this opportunity (my own blog!) given to me to thanks my friend Violaine for the Best Present ever!!!!

I miss Ben

Sure I cannot eat it with chopsticks but the fluffyness makes it worth it!!!


PS: this is an inside joke, I’ve been telling my friends so often that I was missing my "non-sticky" rice that one of them actually asked her parents to bring from France some Uncle Ben’s rice. So not only do I import tea from France to China, I now also import rice from France to China!!

Let's Celebrate...

...It's Tooth Day!

Chinese will celebrate anything. Yesterday was… Tooth day.

sweet, sweet tooth

So remember kids do not drink and drive….I mean don’t forget to brush and floss.

Illegal Alien

...in New York Beijing

Jeff’s dad has been in town for only 24 hours and we get this from our management office…

Big Brother is watching…

Back to School...

...The Schoolhouse of the Great Wall of Mutianyu

Today with a group of friends from the British Club (I know I don’t have any link with the British but they say that “Though British by name we welcome any nationalities…. Even the Froggy" - well they actually don’t say that last part!) we went to visit the quaint village of Mutianyu which is right by the Great Wall. After a visit around the village and to an old house we had lunch in what use to be the class room of the village, all in all a nice time outside of the city.

Collage

The Schoolhouse of the Great Wall of Mutianyu is a sustainable tourist project, incorporating the use of existing building, hiring and training local staff, sourcing food products locally, and making handicrafts on site.

More details at:
http://www.theschoolhouseatmutianyu.com/ and http://www.mutianyugreatwall.net/

Hooters...

...Tous Les Jours*

If only the French and Americans could always work hand-in-hand like they do in Beijing… as you can see there is room for everybody…

Entente Cordiale…sometimes it works!

* Every days!

Bird Market

...or What Retirement Could Look Like

Another Saturday, another wild excursion for Jeff and Celine while the kids are having fun at home with Ayi.

Today we headed off to west Beijing to the bird market. Our goal was not to buy any birds but invest in some bird cages as a souvenir of a typical “sight” of Beijing. In Beijing, lots of old men like to “walk” their birds usually early in the morning and gather together with friends at a park to chat. So Jeff tough that he should start thinking about what he would do once he retires and we are now the proud owner of not only one but two bird cages with all the trimmings…. If you are going to imitate, you’d better go all the way!!!

Jeffrey looking at what his life will be after retirement!

Another beautiful day

Retirement's gonna be so cool

They also sell birds and crickets

And for those of you who always wanted to know what your chinchilla coat looked like before it was on your back...

So cute

Finally Something Newsworthy...

...She's All Over The News, Again!

This time is not only my picture my name is printed and you can finally put a face on the voice

So vain… but it wouldn’t be fun if I had my 15 minutes seconds of fame acknowlegment and not tell all the 5 readers of my Blog!!!

I know it’s in French…. You don’t need to read, just look at the picture:

Click on the picture to enlarge. I say: Click!

Just in case you might think that I could have fabricated a fake article, here's the link

Things I've Learned...

...When I Was In France

• You don’t tell the store person: “I’m not paying that price, so I’ll give you… (price/10)”
• You keep on wondering if you’ve paid the right price and if the store person didn’t charge you double because you are a rich westerner (oh sorry pleonasm here: a westerner is rich by definition!!!)
• People don’t stop you every 5 minutes when you walk through town to take your picture (so THAT’S what being non-famous feels like!)
• People don’t stop you to tell you how beautiful your kids are (Don’t they see how precious they are??? Ccome on people take the time to compliment me on my offspring -how can they dare not to!!!)
• You are the only one to look after your kids and nobody will stop them from crossing the street in front of a car (how selfish)
• You realized you can actually survive WITHOUT eating rice every single day. (But still Uncle’s Benz non-sticky rice is a real treat)
• You cannot ask for a menu with picture to help you make your choice… (“I’m having problems visualizing what this dish might look like”)
• You have to be careful of what you say at all time since every one can understand you.
• 4th (for me the 14th) of July crowd at the fireworks show looks like a small back yard gathering (less than 8 persons/sqm is NOT considered crowded)
•  Again the 4th of July firework looks pretty lame (WHAT?, the finale is actually only on the finale?, and what about 15 days of firecrackers right under your windows and 1 yard away from your feet to celebrate, just like for Chinese New Year?)
• You mean first I have to find a parking spot, then park the car and finally walk to where I’m supposed to go (They could at least have valet parking everywhere since I don’t have a chauffeur)
• You don’t tell your friend let’s go have a pedicure, manicure and while we are at it let’s finish with a (foot) massage (you cannot afford it here!!)
• You don’t have luncheon at fine restaurants 5 days of the week (you mean you need to cook lunch on top of dinner).

See Paris...

...Like A Tourist

We went on a 2-day trip to Paris with Chloe in tow and since it was her first time in the City of Lights we wanted to show her the major sites so she could brag about her trip to Paris to her international friends back in Beijing!!.

In fact we did exactly what we used to laugh about when we lived in Paris: people telling us that they visited Paris and found out it was in the middle of a 10-day/6-country tour!!

Anyhow in two days (included the 6-hour round trip TGV/train ride) we managed to introduce to Chloe:

• The Louvre Museum: No queuing line, we know the short cuts and have a free entry pass from Jeff’s work!! Mona Lisa at her new location (courtesy of a Japanese company), Winged of Victory of Samothrace, Coronation of Napoleon…
• Walk (under the rain!) the Jardin des Tuilerie and pointed out the Obelisk.
• The Eiffel tower: 2 hours waiting line to get to the 2nd floor. The 3rd floor was an extra 30 minutes and Jeffrey couldn’t have handled the height so we skipped the top!! But well worth the wait since when we reached the top the lighting was superb and I took some of the best pictures of Paris and its roofs that I have yet
• Ice cream at Bertillon on the Ile Saint Louis
• Quick outside glance at Beaubourg and place Igor Stavinsky
• Stroll through our old neighborhood in Les Halles: show her that mommy and daddy used to live here (yes, the woman at the corner of the street is waiting for her friends!!!??)
• Another quick sprint through the Marais and a visit to my favorite tea store Mariages Frères (yes I am NOT ashamed: I buy my tea in France and import it to China!!)
• Quick stop at my old office and lunch with my friend (has it been 5 years, really? She still looks like Claudia Schiffer!!)
• But decided to skip on the 2+ hour wait to go to Notre Dame: damned Dan Brown and his DaVinci Code! It was a Tuesday, though, and the museums are closed that day so the tourists have to go somewhere!
• Last but not least since it was the purpose of our trip, the medical exam we have to take each year.

All this while it was freezing cold, rainy and everybody in Paris seemed to have forgotten it’s supposed to be summer and were already wearing their autumn cloths (think: boots, trench coat and umbrellas). It was nice to be back in Paris (it had been a few years for me at least) but I felt a little too rushed. I would have like to enjoy a ride on the Bateau Mouche (I know it’s cheesy but anything for my daughter), a stroll (not a run) by the Seine, eating Laduré Macarons, fighting for the best Sales at Le Printemps and Les Galeries Lafayettes, taking the time to sit at a café and do some people watching, going to Montmartre… and so many other little pleasures that comes with living in a city and not just visiting it!.

Beautiful Paris

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Back To School

...At Last!

I'm sure School is not as hard as Vacation!

The Kids Had A Great Time...

...In France

Chloe as Cinderella

Jeremy as Bob the Builder

We Are Back Home

...i.e Beijing

We are back in Beijing so we are back home. Most Expats would say that they are going back home when they leave on their summer break. I see it the other way around. For now Beijing is home and France is where we have a house, since we haven’t actually lived, worked or even been to school there in the last 10 years. (apart from those 10 months “sound-like-an-expat-but-without-the-benefits” in Pau!!)

So as I was saying we are back in China and I, Celine, can finally get MY vacation, because let’s put it frankly with no ayi, kids out of school, babysitting my 2 nephews and working on our house ….This is not what I call vacation!!

I’m not complaining but 6 weeks seems to have flown by so fast. We still had time to enjoy the “good-one-day-bad-one-day” weather, the July’s “Soldes” (bi-annually sales in France), have a few friends over for BBQ, we even managed a 2-day trip to Paris (see next post)…oh I almost forgot: a trip to the emergency room at 1.00 am courtesy of Jeremy’s opened left eyebrow!

I’m getting back to the habit of eating the air around me when I’m outside and not breathing it!!! My level of oxygen was almost getting too high and my lung couldn’t take it anymore, they are back to their ‘it-feels-like-I’m-smoking-two-pack-a-day” self!!!

Two more days to get over the jet lag, then the kids will be back in school and mommy to her normal life (coffee, luncheons, massages…) well until she’s back on the roller coaster of Culture Shocks which will probably hit again sometimes in the following days…weeks…months?.

Home/House Sweet Home/House!!

I Can't Believe, I haven't...

...Driven a Car in:

I’m flying back home today and I’m going to drive, drive, DRIVE... no more chauffeur, I will do it on my OWN. Too bad I don't have my bike anymore (i.e motorcycle) or I would take it on a ride too.

As you can see I am not at all anticipating going back where we call home (that’s sarcasm of course…in case you didn’t get it!!)