I miss my Lego!

I just saw a tree with an IV drip and no, it was not the tree from the day before. Sadly I didn’t have my camera with me for photo proof; you just have to believe me.

I don’t know what is going on with the greenery in our compound but I guess if you keep moving the trees around they need some extra TLC to feel comfortable.

Yesterday I saw an apartment in a complex in the city center; our realtor especially liked this compound because the developer had moved trees into it from South China. What to say?  I believe my reply was…ok….how nice….

Not only is nature out of whack in our compound, our children are taking alternate days of having complete tantrums and meltdowns. As we are getting to know people around here we are also getting invited to peoples’ homes; real homes. With pictures, more than four plates and cups and most importantly toys; which makes it harder for our children of course, who has been playing with the same Legos and small selection of fluffy animals for two months now. After Sunday evenings’ flood of tears from missing Legos and teddy, we decided that Monday – day off work for Moon festival – would be a “special day” and we would explore the Toy Market.

In 1997 you went from point A to B in about 20 minutes by bike, no matter where you went, it always mysteriously enough took 20 minutes. My memory might be fooling me but that’s what I remember. We now live one hours’ drive north from the north-east part of the part of the city that we mostly go to (40 minutes if you’re lucky) and the Toy Market is located in the south east.

We arrived and eventually found the market. THE market; one whole floor of kiddy heaven. Anything you can imagine from Legos (real and Chinese copies that are exactly like the real thing), dolls, cars, scooters, bikes, games, trains, crafts, Barbie’s (real  and local), balls, toy guns and more and more and more. The kids were speechless! One hour or so later we step out with three Lego sets (two original and one local version just to try it out, a fold-up Barbie house complete with bath, dog and two pairs of shoes, two scooters and two helmets, three id card holders, one angry birds pencil and a hello kitty pen and less 1200RMB ($180 or so) – you’ve gotta love China!

Now, we were a long way from home with a lot to carry and not a single taxi in sight. All taxi drivers were happy at home eating moon cakes with their families, or so I presume. We had tried the subway for a short distance going there and thought why not; why not try it and at least get a little bit closer to home? Two hours later, five changes of subway lines, desperate calls for a taxi at different stops before getting lucky 10 minutes from the hotel, we get home. We had sore arms and burning leg muscles but with happy children.

Parenthood is bliss, isn’t it?