Christmas in China

Well, once again it seems like I run out of time to update this blog. I was in a whirlwind for the weeks preceding Christmas and then again during the Christmas and New Year Holiday.

I returned back to China the second week of December with hopes of moving into my new apartment and getting away from the hour drive from downtown to work every day. I was supposed to move 2 days after I arrived back only to find out that was not going to happen. Was I surprised, not in the least. After all, TIC (this is China). I was told it would be the next week and then I would move. Well, that weekend I went to the Korean Market in downtown and began doing some Christmas shopping to prepare for the family coming on Dec. 24th. I bought myself a tree which was lit up with lights and fiber optics. Originally when I went to buy it and I asked the price the seller wanted to charge me 3800RMB. That is about $500.00 USD. Tai gui le (to expensive). My driver scolded me and told me not to ask price. He would ask for me. Well, now I understand why, we was ultimately able to get me the exact same tree for 250RMB, that is $31.00USD. Big difference huh? I know have Nicholas do all my negotiations for me and all I do is give him the money afterwards. I was able to do all my shopping very inexpensively. Not cheap, just inexpensive. Now all I needed to do if figure out if I should put it up in my apartment as the Shangri La or wait to see if I was going to move on the 14th of Dec. Well, the 14th of December came and went and I still had not moved. Talking with the folks at the Shama Luxe, (the new apartment complex) I was not going to move until the 18th. Well, I decided to not put the tree and decorations up at that point since I thought I would be in my new place before Christmas and the family getting here. At least I thought that would be the case. Well, you guessed it, that date came and went. Come to find out there was an air quality issue at the Shama and Intel would not let anyone move in until the quality of the air got better. They had to do a couple of air samples and we were just waiting for the results at that point. The sample test came back bad again and it looked as though I would be spending the Christmas holidays in the Shangri La. Not that I mind. It is a really nice place to be. I resolved myself to the fact that this is where I would be so I proceeded to set my tree and decorations up in the apartment. It looked great. I got tree ornaments, a wreath for the door, bells to hang above the window and of course, stockings for everyone. I put them all up that weekend. That was Dec 20th. On Dec 22nd at 4:30pm, the relocation folks called me and said another set of air quality test results were back and they came back good and I could move in on the 23rd (the next day) if I wanted too. Well, I thought about it for a few minutes and decided that the reduced drive time would be good, the new apartment would be nice to share with the family and I was just ready to move, so I said OK. What a whirlwind to get into the apartment.
This isn't actually mine but mine was just like it. I forgot to take a picture of mine.

In the meantime, work continued to be extremely busy. Danny was able to go home and at the same time, Rami had to leave for over a week to attend a wedding in Bahrain. That left us extremely short handed with virtually only Brian and I dealing with all the difficulties at work. I also had a coworker from Arizona come to help me out for a couple of weeks. He showed up on the 12th and was going to leave on the 23rd. We did not set him up with a driver and I had to pick him up everyday and home every night. Then of course I couldn't leave him alone in China in the evenings so we had to go out for dinner and drinks almost every night. That ate a lot of time up. He left on the 23rd. I just had Nicholas pick him up and take him to the airport while I stayed home to pack my apartment and ready for the move that day.

I finally moved into the Shama on the 23rd. The movers showed up at my place about 9:00am. I had to take my tree and all the decorations down and put them in boxes to prepare for the move. Brian and Barbara were in the same situation as I was and in a whirlwind as well. I however, was first on the list to pack and move that morning and they were set up for 1:30pm. I let Barb know that was because I was moving into apartment 1810 and they were moving to 1710 in the Shama. Obviously I was in the better apartment. It has a much nicer view than they have the floor below me.
Looking out of my apartment window on the 18th floor.

Well, I took the whole day to set my apartment and most of the night. I wanted it completely done and set up before Kathy and the boys were to show up in less than 24hrs. I wanted the tree up, the decorations up, the wreath on the door and the stockings full and hung with care. I stayed up so late that night that I think it was Santa that actually showed up to help me because remarkably enough, I got it all accomplished. I got all the boxes unpacked, the tree and decorations up and even when grocery shopping. Something I had not done in over 2 months. My cupboards were completely bare. The next day, I left for work at my usual time only a half hour later. Nicholas picked me up at 6:30am instead of 6:00am. What a nice change. I was to work in 20 minutes. I left the apartment with the Christmas lights on both the tree and the window and ready for Kathy, Brian and Kevin.

Here it is, the 24th of December and Christmas eve was upon us. Nicholas picked Kathy, Brian and Kevin up at the airport at 11:00am. He had to take Jackie to help him because I knew they were going to have a lot of luggage. Nicholas and Jackie waited for them at the pick up and they recognized them immediately as they were the only white American men over 6ft 5in to get off the plane. They went right up to them. Brian said they were staring at them so he knew that they were there to pick them up. Then Nicholas recognized Kathy. They then went back to my new apartment. Kathy said it was a nice touch to walk into a new place and have it all set up waiting for them. I even had a bowl of peanut M&M's waiting for them. Some I had brought from my visit home.
Here is my new living room and dining room with a view.

The master bedroom, what a view from there.

Here is the kitchen. She did not come with the apartment but I am glad she is here.

When I came home from work on the 24th, everyone except Kevin was asleep. I let them sleep for some time but then told them that they needed to get up as we had a party to go to. Now I know I threw them into the party scene very quickly but what the heck, TIC. We went out to one of the local Intel hangouts. It is called Obsidian. This is a nice quiet little bar in the area called 5 color city. Just down the street from the Shama. They were having Christmas eve drinks and putting together food, Chinese style. We went and you can see we did have a good time. We spent a couple of hours there and just relaxed some. We had Chinese dumplings, chicken strips, vegetables and other good food. It was all prepared by the girls who help run the place for Cindy who is the manager of the place and the girlfriend of a co worker.

Girls of Obsidian making the dumplings.

Kathy, Brian and Kevin (l to r)

Here's the family after a long flight from America on Christmas eve.

We closed that night out and went back to the apartment to prepare for the next day which happened to be Christmas day. I was going to have to work on Christmas day for a few hours as we still had tools moving in that day. Christmas is not a national holiday here in China. After all, TIC. During the night, Kathy did not sleep very well as the jet lag was causing problems. She got up around 3am and to her surprise she looked out the window and saw something we never get to see in Mesa Arizona on Christmas morning. Yes, SNOW. Just like I ordered. I thought it would be nice to have a white Christmas for a change and it made me look good by ordering it.

A white Christmas. What the heck is that?

We all got up, I went off to work, Kathy and the boys relaxed that morning and by 1:00pm I was home. We all relaxed for the evening and decided to just stay in and warm. We played a few games together and then went to bed early on Christmas. All of my coworkers decided that we were going to celebrate Christmas on Sat this year since we all had off and it was really the 25th in America. We got together in Rami and Wendy's apartment. They happen to live in the same building as I do now. this made it very easy to get together. Just had to walk downstairs. Brian and I went to purchase fireworks for the evening entertainment. The food was wonderful. We had all kinds of good eats. We had a turkey which was cooked by a local restaurant and it was really delish. We spent the evening having a few drinks, listening to Christmas music and eating. At 8:00pm we decided it was time for fireworks. These are not just these small pop, pop kind. These are full fledged hundreds of feet in the sky type fireworks. We had over 2000RMB worth of fireworks. We lit the sky up. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the fireworks. I was busy lighting them. I will try and get some pictures when the other folks share their pictures.

Party Animals,Kathy,Danny, Devin, Richard, Cindy, Brian

Here is Kevin, Kathy and Brian

Kathy. She doesn't look too jet lagged, she looks great!

So this took us through our Christmas celebrations. It was a lot of fun and we really enjoyed the family being together. We had a great time with all of our old and new friends alike. It has been a wonderful experience to have an opportunity to celebrate a Christmas in China. Even though it is not a holiday in China it is a lot of fun and as we all know, anything goes in China after all, TIC.

My next update will begin the next couple weeks while Kathy, Brian and Kevin are here. Some exciting adventures.