My aspirationally weekly, realistically more like monthly email of books and enthusiasms will keep your #tbr full and make sure you know what's next.
You won’t believe this! Originally uploaded by kjda We are delayed…. Because they are quarantining the plane in Shanghai! At least we aren’t on it. How many ice creams do you think my sleepy wants a nap Rory can eat? We are having a really good day, but Wyatt’s growing pains are showing… KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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What is wrong with that child, you ask? What are you people doing to her? Well, it’s like this. If Rory has one single, stand-out, non-endearing trait, it is (and this is SO PETTY) that she pretty much has to go potty every single solitary second of every day. Is she nervous? Unable to complete, shall we say, with relative strangers? Does she have a UTI? Dunno. Doesn’t, in the context of getting out of China, matter. But there it […]
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Full disclosure: Lorelei Rebecca Seelig, fka You Wan Rebecca, has had more sugar in the past week than in her entire previous 3 year, 9 month life. She has had candy. She has had lollipops. She has had Sprite, Coke and Orange soda. “I like tandy,” she tells us, helpfully, before meals. “I like Sprite. I like cookies. No dinner, just cookies.” We have no routine, of course, no set rest time, no set bed time, no ability to have […]
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I overheard our guide explaining that each of the 500 Buddhas represented a different emotion, and that if there was a particular state of mind you were struggling with, you were supposed to do–something or another–with that Buddha. I didn’t catch what, nor am I sure what the significance of some of the more mustachio’d Buddhas would have been, emotion-wise. But whatever it was, I should have done it with the impatient looking Buddha, and the Buddha who couldn’t enjoy […]
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Shamian Island is best described as the place the British took over, back when tea and opium were in constant traffic across the sea, and although I am sure there was razing and looting involved in its creation, the result is extraordinarily pleasant. Shady verandas. Palm trees. Wide park-like walkways. Few cars. We are staying at the White Swan. It used to be right next to the consulate, so everyone stayed here. Now it’s right next to an entire cottage […]
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Regrouping Originally uploaded by kjda The easiest number of children to deal with is always one fewer than what you have. It’s been true every time and it’s true again. Rory had to go get her tb test read, so I had breakfast at the buffet with just these two, which last week I would have considered a chore. But they know what they want to eat. They know to walk to the table. They can be left eating by […]
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So we’ve agreed: Fuzhou, not set up for tourists. On the other hand, we are seeing a real China city, and not just one like Beijing that’s sort of set up to show itself off in the same way that Manhattan is–there are clearly tons of Chinese tourists–although once we let the guide start taking us places, we saw Western tourists too. I can tell you that Fuzhou-ers, rightly, do NOT go out between noon and three. I don’t know […]
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The real trouble with the whole quarantine thing is that it sucked a lot of the adventure right out of us. We’re tired. We’ve eaten a lot of things we might not otherwise have eaten. We’ve hung out together. We’ve talked to people. We’ve been stared at. And now we are ready to resume our normally scheduled programming, but we still have a week of travel to go. Rory is adjusting well. She kind of collapsed today and took an […]
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We are one sleepy family–what a day. Rory came to the hotel with three women she’d never met before today, and no one from her foster home. When we came in she was wailing–in English–I want to go home! I knelt down and started whispering in her ear–I knew her foster mother had told her that this was ok, that she could go with us and we would take good care of her, and she let me pick her up, […]
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Here she is Originally uploaded by kjda Utterly fearless. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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We had a beautiful, if hot, day for climbing. The kids were troopers. Some of the stairs were so high they came up to Wyatt’s waist. It was hot, hot, and getting crowded as we came down. People here use umbrellas against the sunshine, so here we were, on this amazing day, climbing down in a sea of umbrellas. Our flight to Fuzhou was uneventful (no temperature taking or hazmat suits…) and the Shangri-la is a very nice hotel, too–haven’t […]
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] As you can see, we had a wonderful day. It’s good to be out, it’s good to be here. And hey. we’ve certainly adjusted to the time difference. Tomorrow, the Great Wall and the plane to Fuzhou.
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We did, indeed, get out of quarantine today. Fancy certificates, flowers and everything. TIme has nearly healed the wounds already (that and a couple of really, really good meals). Looking these over, it’s clear that once we were out of the hospital and that first awful couple of rooms, China did well by us. Considering. And the people we talked to in Q seemed to feel that the government was “doing the responsible thing” and that cooperating was a civic […]
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I’m not entirely sure, but I can get us as far as Rory. We leave. We eat breakfast. We swim, we shower, we try to be a little mellow. At 2 there will be a cake for Sam’s birthday (Monday, really) and at 3 there will be kite-flying at the Temple of Heaven Park for same. I think there will be acrobats that night–we’re making up for lost time. Sunday: Great Wall. Airplane. Monday: Rory. There remains plenty that could […]
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If asked, I can state with confidence that the maximum number of days one family should spend pretty much cooped up a room together is…6. Not seven. Seven seems to be just that much too much. But we are getting there. They just took our temperature for the last time. We just had our temperatures taken for the last time. We ate our last lunch. We filled out a form that even had a box for “comments about our stay”. […]
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Fwd: beijing ditan hospital.jpg Originally uploaded by kjda Pic of the quarantine hospital. (Beijing Di Tan) On the way out I noticed that they had 2 people in some of the little 8×10 cells.
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Fwd: Nurse in hazmat suit Originally uploaded by kjda All staff on the ward are dressed this way. (at the hospital)
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Fwd: padlocked door.jpg Originally uploaded by kjda If you can zoom in on this picture, you can see that they have the door of the hospital chained and padlocked.
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Wyatt finally gets a hot dog Originally uploaded by kjda For breakfast, of course. He ate 4. We think this is our last breakfast here… We are taking lots of pictures. We will put them up tomorrow, I hope. Rob has the camera charger. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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Finally, way later than we expected this afternoon, Rob got his results back from yesterday. H1n1 no longer courses weakly through his veins. One more negative–as in, the results from today’s test–and he can, as he so elegantly put it (with all due respect, I’m sure) “blow this kung pao stand.”
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We woke up frustrated today. as a group. Last night was hot, hot, hot–it’s cooled off every other night, but not last night. There was tossing, there was turning, and two of the three of us in my room fell out of bed at least once. We woke up itchy and ready to crawl out of our skins, and with no appetite for another huge Guo-men breakfast. The troops were rebelling. And, of course, there was nothing my mom and […]
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Just fyi, Google’s off completely here tonight. So no gmail. I don’t know why. Dad, in particular, I was about to email you…if it’s still a problem tomorrow I’ll find a way around it. Yahoo’s fine.
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I was hoping we might all learn a little gratitude for much we have and a little understanding of how little we need from this, but my five-year-old is having a tantrum because there is no ice for her coffee.
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I’ve realized that it’s not really all that clear to everyone exactly how we got here, so I’ll try to explain. The people seated behind Rob and the boys on the plane did NOT have a fever when we got off the flight. But once they felt sick, they called the authorities (and we don’t know how sick they are, so we will forgive them for that), and two of them tested positive for H1n1. So they came for us, […]
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Our Breakfast Looks Better than Rob’s Originally uploaded by kjda This morning features a group of about 10 people exercising together. E, R, San, Se they count. I don’t think they would like it if we joined them. One Chinese American joined in, but briefly. These are the famed morning exercises, done at schools, factories, businesses, and they all know the routine, but they applaud their leader anyway. It’s hot today, hot hot hot. When one of the kids runs […]
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Fwd: GuoMen Quarantine Hotel as seen from Beijing DiTan Quarantine Hospital Originally uploaded by kjda
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Fwd: My cell Originally uploaded by kjda
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Fwd: Lunch at hospital Originally uploaded by kjda
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Today, we got an upgrade. No more tiny room. No more holey sheets. No more stained wallpaper. I could go on, but I won’t. We’re movin’ on up, and now we have a sitting room, a fridge, a balcony and all the amenities. We also have a date of release: Saturday, at 5:30 am. Why 5:30? Not gonna ask. Just gonna be there. So we’re bouncing along. At dinner, they had eggplant with pork–my favorite Chinese dish. And as we […]
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Good Morning Snaily Originally uploaded by kjda It is very cool here in the morning. The fountain isn’t on, which the fish seem to prefer. They are swimming around. You can see the dead ones floating around in the water clearly. There are two. There is a couple playing badmitten. They seem to be having fun. I like to imagine them reconnecting, now that they have to spend a week together in quarantine. Maybe the last time they played badmitten […]
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It’s a very scenic hotel Originally uploaded by kjda If you like signs in Chinese, and dejected looking people in masks. I asked my friend Julia to put up an update, but I can’t see the site now–I should have a connector cord later today. I just belatedly realized I could blog this way. As I said, we are all fine. Feeling a little too lively. Fortunately, the hotel has all the amenities…ping pong, badmitten, holes in the walls, 3 […]
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Where are we now? Originally uploaded by kjda The guo men hotel. If we walk to the end of the fence and stand by the guard shack, we can see Rob’s hospital, where he is in a 10×10 pen with a metal cot and a specific daily water allotment (for showering, not drinking, it isn’t that bad). It’s a dump. More later. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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The Chinese Hospital Diet Plan Originally uploaded by kjda I have a feeling it’s going to be very effective. We are all here and, except for Rob, still together. Until someone else gets sick. At this point nothing would surprise me. I have the feeling that anything could happen. And I can’t even guess what will. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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It’s 6:00 on what’s the Chinese friday–they don’t take Saturday off. They do have Sunday off. There’s been no word on our swabs. We hope they’ve decided not to tell us they were negative, because they think we’re going to start fussing about leaving, and we were very difficult about the hotel thing. They don’t, we suspect, want to come to back to us–although I’ve no doubt that if one of us is positive, we’re going down. But I think […]
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Duplicates, I know–I had some trouble uploading. Ok, if all those swabs come back negative, I’ll be the best quarantine mother ever. I will make paper dolls, I will build card houses, I will teach sam to play chess. I will be 100% present, I swear. We will know in an hour. If anyone is positive, it’s more quarantine for everyone, and the hospital for the positive person. The embassy has said they will intervene to make sure an adult […]
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It’s a lovely day here for staying in and not going to the Great Wall. Really, we’re all feeling quite festive about it. After that first phone call yesterday, we were quietly encouraged to get the kids down to the pool while Rob met with officials. When they called us back up, they swabbed our throats (just about the only thing that could have made Wyatt less thrilled in general about the Chinese people as a whole was one of […]
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It all started with a phone call. Just a little phone call. A situation had arisen that the authorities needed to discuss with us. It ends with us as the Hyatt’s most loyal customers ever. To make a long story short, mostly because tomorrow I’ll have acres of time to tell you more than you want to know about it, we’re quarantined in China. The people seated behind us on the plane have the flu. As in, really have it, […]
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Here’s a phrase you may want to learn if you’re going to bring a lot of small, blonde children to China: Ta-men pu yao. That’s “They don’t want it.” Ta pu yao is “He doesn’t want it.” The smog today was palpable, settling down in the Forbidden City to the point where you felt like you needed to clean your glasses, even though you weren’t wearing any. It was muggy, cloudy and oppressive. While we walked to the Forbidden City […]
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We’re here, at the Grand Hyatt in Beijing. The pool, I’m told, looks “just like Ariel’s castle” and was a huge hit. We only managed a few hours of sleep on the plane, and tried to do a little too much when we got here (even though it wasn’t much at all). We thought a swim would tire them out, and it did–so much so that they all fell asleep at dinner, which we tried to do right around the […]
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9 hours into the flight, and Wyatt has slept a little. We tried out the CARES/Kids Fly Safe seat belts. They are vastly easier to transport than a carseat but somewhat less comfy. Bug successes while the kids were awake, but when it came time to curl up in the seat and sleep, the chest strap gets in the way—being little, they don’t really have to stay upright. Overall, I’d call it a good purchase, though. Good for turbulance (we […]
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Fun times online Originally uploaded by kjda We are trying to guess whose luggage will be so overweight that they will have to repack. One set of girls just had to go buy a new bag. KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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We are ready. Ready, as in, weighed suitcases sitting in the hallway. My mom asleep already. Me, popping one last movie onto my iPhone and gathering a few last cords and ends. Three excited kids asleep in their room (miraculously, no reappearances!) knowing that the next time they sleep in there, there will be four. (Gulp.) I do plan to blog while we travel–there should be plenty of pictures and lots to tell. We’ll be in Beijing until Sunday 6/21. […]
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RIght now Rory, Lily, Wyatt and Sam are jumping off the Great Wall on their way to tennis lessons. Or something. It’s a little unclear… No, Rory didn’t make a surprise appearance. She’s represented by a cardboard paper doll wearing magnetic clothing and played by Lily’s friend Kate. We’ve gone through a lot of ramifications with China travel lately. Wyatt took a bad fall off a swing and came up sobbing “I don’t want to go to China, I want […]
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Post coming Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia I am mourning spring today. It’s June 5, so technically, I’m a little early, but this is the last Friday of the regular school year and after today, in effect, everything changes. Little changes, building up to the big one. Last week, when we were in Seattle, I acquired a reuseable Starbuck’s iced coffee cup. I’ve been looking for one. I’m an iced addict—coffee, latte, mocha—and obviously there are lots of cups […]
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First Farmer’s Market on the Green Originally uploaded by kjda KJ Dell’Antonia sent from my iPhone
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We leave 6/16. We come back a family of 6 7/2. I’m not panicking. Really.
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I’m up early and emailing, and a BIG black bear just loped by our dining room window. He was about 20 feet from the house. The dogs went nuts (good dogs!) and he headed for the woods. Guess it’s time for the annual bear safety lecture!
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This afternoon and evening I: Cleaned, badly and frantically, 49 drops plus one pile of dog poop in the ten minute interval between when I discovered the poop, and when I had to leave the house with the kids in order to deliver Sam and Lily to their ballet recital rehearsal. (Expect pics tomorrow!) Just fyi, in case you were thinking of getting a dog (and ours are house trained, this is unusual, but still) each and every drop had […]
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