Getting the Essentials… in more ways than one

Trying to get a cell phone has proven to be a challenge.  Trying to get anything seems to be a challenge… everyone needs your passport to do anything.  But to get our work and residence permits requires your passport for a couple of weeks….‘ they’ actually take it and keep it until the process is completed.   So what waits….everything else?   Having never been a foreigner in a country before, this put a whole new perspective on the situation. 

Cell Phones… here is the deal.  If you happen to be lucky enough to have a cell phone that is compatible with the Chinese SIM card… you are indeed a lucky one.  All you have to do is visit the local China Mobile and buy a SIM card and buy the service you want.  However… if you be one of the unlucky…. Such as I… you must now find a store that sells cell phones… just the phone.  Now select your model…. There are only 3 jewelry size cases full of every make and model known to mankind….. make your purchase… walk away happily carrying your new worthless cell phone…. It has no SIM card, no service plan, not activated, and no phone number.  Now moving along to step 2…. Go back to the local China Mobile and get the rest of the stuff you thought you would have after going there the first time.  Oh by the way…. this entire journey of discovery is happening between one very frustrated Texan and a number of Chinese women trying to understand what we want.   Ok….. I totally get that getting a cell phone in the US can be a somewhat overwhelming endeavor as well.  There are a variety of carriers and coverage areas and phones and plans and texting or data or voice or some combination of all that …. But add a language barrier and all bets are off… Ok… Ok….I will go back….. on another day…… and try again!!!!

But I do have some good news…. We have the keys to our new apartment now.  We cannot move in yet, but we have keys.  That was quite a lengthy process.  There were workers buzzing the apartment.  Things were not quite like they are in the US when you rent out apartments.  A typical US apartment is totally ready to move in at the time you sign the lease.  You show up with your money, walk through and note any preexisting issues, sign all the papers, take the keys and off you go…. Turn on the utilities and to move your stuff in.  Here… there are a few more wrinkles in the process.  The deposit and the rent comes from Michael’s company… they have not paid yet… no matter!  No utilities to set up either…. We just read the meter and start getting a bill…. No deposit…. No credit check…. No installation and turn on fees… just read the meter and…. viola!  The real wrinkle here is going through the ‘how to’s’…. since all but one of the appliances and other mechanical devices where in Chinese script.  I was so happy to see an instruction manual in English and the dials in English…. Tear of joy flowed!!!   For everything else, I had my handy dandy cheat notebook.  I learned from the first trip… write it down!!!  So now I have drawn pictures of each device and the controls…. with my notations of what each of the button or switches do.  Note to self… do not lose the cheat book…. And when the grandkids come… hide all the remotes!!!  If they ever get messed up….we will be toast!!!!

So… 3 ½ hours later, we are done with a sack of keys to everything and key cards to get in and out of the building.  Through all of this process, Monica, was there to walk through the process and make sure we had what we needed.  She was wonderful and I could not thank her enough!!!  On the way back to the hotel, she told me I reminded her of her older Auntie… AWE!!    She will be picking me up on Friday…. We are going to IKEA…. That’s right….IKEA!!!!  I was asking about where to get some household items… and she immediately said that she would go to IKEA.  Yea.. I recognize the name and am familiar with what they carry!   Now I have never been to an IKEA in the states, and we have a huge one in Frisco, but it is very Scandinavian.. I do look at the catalogues.  The style is a polar opposite of my very traditional style.   But in China, our apartment is modern and contemporary… fits right into the IKEA look!!!  I think I can get everything I need under one roof… it made my day!  So on Friday, we are off to IKEA and then to the CarreFour.  Now you are probably wondering what is a CarreFour??  It is a grocery store.  I would think of it in terms of a super WalMart only not quite as cheap or as much.  So anything I cannot find in the IKEA… I will find in the CarreFour… and get some food to boot… cause we are moving in on Saturday.  And hopefully the rest of our stuff will pass through customs in a couple of weeks and we will start to find our balance again…. Get our stride here!!! 

Things are looking up… this last week has been tough in a multitude of ways.  But we will hit our stride and be just fine.  That is not to say we will never have any more dark moments… we certainly will.  The language barrier is proving to be the most challenging…. This means I need to focus on getting some important words and phrases down…. But as we overcome some of these initial obstacles of getting a home and life setup here… I am sure they will become less and less and get fewer and more far between.

I was writing this blog at 4am as I am still struggling with the time diff… but I feel productive writing to everyone.  I completed what I thought would be the entire post… but after breakfast I began to see family and friends popping up on Skype and the calls came in… just what I needed this morning… a hardy fix of family and friends!!  I was feeling pretty melancholy and really needed this.  So I have Mercy Me and Chris August playing on the computer and trying to finish this post.

I only found myself teary eyed a few times.  Once was with Wade and the sadness he is coping with because we are gone… he is my emotional little man.  He is our little guy that calls to just hang out with us.  Even if we are not doing anything… he just wants to come down to our house.  He loves to help in my garden and dig in the dirt with me.  He has taken this really hard.

Then Jennifer picked up my Maggie girl and I started to talk to her and she cuddled up on Jennifer’s shoulder and whined… I could not help myself… I miss my family and I miss my dog… no not just my dog… my baby!!!  The people in my life at least know what is going on… she is confused and most likely wondering why Momma has left her…. Ok.. gotta hush about this… I was puddled up and now the gates are open and running down my cheeks….

So I might as well bust the dam now… I was talking to Marcy.   Brooklyn came in and hopped up in her lap to talk to MawMaw.  While we were talking she was writing notes and sticking them in front of the webcam for me to see…. The hearts and flowers ‘I love you’ types…..then she put one up that said…’I love and miss you so much’ followed by a big heart with a line through it.  I replied with an ‘I love and miss you more’ then asked what was in the heart… …. And she said, with such honest raw emotion … ‘that is my heart breaking cause you are not here’ …then broke into tears…. Well that was it for me… I had been blinking back the waterworks… up to that point… but I gave way….and I saw Marcy brushing away a few tears too.

Clearly it was time for me to have my melt down… the stress of the move… the emotions of leaving family and friends… the frustrations of being in a strange country…. every part of our lives are completely upside down right now..… and I would like to think I am a really strong woman… and nothing is too much to handle… but this is one of those life experiences that puts all of that to the test!!

I just keep praying to the Lord to help me through this because we all know he will never give us more than we can handle.  And there is a purpose for all this… I know somehow I will come out on the other side better…stronger… and will have made a contribution to someone or some thing… touched a life.

Then you will understand what is right and just and fair –every good path.  For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.  Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you.  Proverbs 2:9-11

Just because life doesn’t make sense does not mean it doesn’t MAKE sense….

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.  Proverbs 3:5-6