A Typical Day in Guangzhou, China

Louie and I had been planning to make our family’s return to the US in January 2014; which we accomplished on schedule.  I am writing a few paragraphs to share insight about our life routine in China just prior to our US return.  There are many things I love about each country.  I must admit though, I will not miss the Guangzhou traffic or the testing and homework pressure of China’s schools J!

I’ve picked a typical day, happening about three months prior to our  return.  We thought it was right time for the nanny to leave and started looking for a new job in order to move on with her life.  I would get up at 6:00 or before and start to cook breakfast. I thought I forgot to cook as we had the nanny before Selena, our oldest was born.  Then I realized nothing was impossible, lol J!   Girls like to eat ham and eggs with toast.  I also cooked noodles with soup. Sometimes I cooked congee with dumplings or steamed buns.  The wakeup call was 6:30A, breakfast time was 7:00A, and we tried to leave home at 7:20 which allowed the least amount of time on the road (20 minutes) to get to school.  During this last year in China, Selena was in a different campus from her two sisters.  I would go to Selena’s school first, especially
on the days I was too lazy to cook. Sometimes we ate at the McDonald's which was right across the street from her school.   Selena would walk across the street to school and I would take Liane and Jasmine to another campus.  By the time we would get to the lower grade’s campus, there were always already lots of cars on the street in front of the school.  This was a very busy street and it was really narrow, with two-way traffic and many people doing “illegal” parking.  Sometimes people would have to drop off their kid in the middle of the road.  Sometimes I would run into traffic jams and had to stop wherever I could to let the girls get out.  There was always a lot of people walking, lots of cars and lots of students.  It was hectic and crowded.   By the time we would get to the second campus, it could be already 8:00A.  The school bell rings right at that time.

I clearly remember one time I was totally stuck and caused a huge traffic jam.  There was a lot of illegal parking that morning; there were garbage cans right at the crossroad and also there was construction going on.  All of a sudden, a car was stopping right in front of me.  It blocked the entrance area.  Since I saw no cars were coming from the other side, I tried to pass by him quickly.  Right at the moment a Mercedes drove toward me.  I tried to back up, but that didn’t work -- a car parked right behind me, and the garbage cans were blocking the area too.  There was no way for me to back up and get out of the blockade.  The driver jumped out of the Mercedes and yelled at me.  I told him that he would have to back up and let me pass, otherwise both ways were jammed.  He did not want to do that, and ended up calling a policeman. The policeman came and yelled at me, I told him, I had a car stop right in front of me (not moving) and a car park right behind me.  The other car would have to back up!!  I was totally stuck in the middle.  After the Mercedes driver backed up, I drove by him, I opened the window and told him “I am sorry, but Mercedes does not have its own lane.”

The traffic usually was better coming home.  I had a choice to either go to the gym on the way home
or go home to park my car and walk along the river bank.  Gym opened at 8:00 am, I was usually the first one to get there.  I usually liked walking outside along the river better, as it was more  scenic. There were many people exercising in the morning along the river People would be doing Tai Chi, street dance, running or walking. There was always lots of people and  music.  My goal was to walk 10 kilometers every day. I plugged in my earphones, tuned to my phone for music and walked 5 kilometers each way.  That was the quiet and private time for me and the walking was absolutely scenic.  I would see sights like the famous XingHai Music Hall and the Art Museum from across the river on the Ersha Island. I would walk under Guangzhou Bridge, past the Asian Game Stadium, thelandmark Guangzhou TV Tower, LieDe Bridge and walk toward Pazhou Bridge.  It was totally

relaxing and enjoyable.  There was this bicycle rental “dak”  for people to “rent” bikes for free.  Because it was about 4 kilo from home, I did not want to come back all the way back to return the bike.  I was talking to this young guy about if I could return the bike at another dak spot along the river. He apologized and told me that would break the rules.  I was just curious why he worked there, I thought he

Bike Rental "Dak"

was the college student of Dr. Sun-Yatsen University (which is located right by our place), or maybe just a volunteer.  He told me actually he met a girl before when they both came to pick up bikes from here, he wanted to find  her again so he applied for the job here.  He came from countryside, his home was far away.  Since then, I thought of him and his “love” story whenever I passed by any daks.  People sometimes came from different places to meet for a good reason I guess.                        

After my morning exercise (1 hour 40 minutes), I usually go back home to work.  We lived in a nice apartment complex in the city.  People drove very expensive cars and dressed nicely.  At the entrance, I greeted the guards.  Right by the gate, this flower man was sitting there almost every morning.  Louie usually bought flower from him, 20-25 yuan a bunch, and a lot cheaper than in the store.  He smiled every time when you walked by, it was almost impossible to just pass by.  I was not sure if it was legal to sell flower without a license at that location.  Sometimes he would leave and take his bicycle walking around the neighborhood.  Other than my husband, the security guards, he probably was the man I saw almost every day regardless the weather was cold, hot or rainy.   I am sure he has a family to raise and his wife and children were waiting for him to go home every day with food and hopefully some money left for saving.

I took a nap after lunch, which was the supplement to my late working hours at night to match the US time zone.  I still kept that habit even after I started to be able to sleep at 10:00P and didn’t work a night shift.  Louie and I had a little tea time after napping before I went to pick up girls.  Because all three girls have different schedules, whoever got off earliest went to swim in the school pool.  The pickup time was 5:00 pm, Selena would walk to the other campus to meet us (as walking was fast than
driving between the two campuses during rush hour).

I sometimes went to this French Restaurant by school called “These Three” for coffee.  The owners are three brothers in their 60’s (I heard they were not married and just lived together as a family), the oldest brother is in charge of inventory, middle one is a chef and the youngest one is a coffee “lover”.  All of them went to Vietnam and France and lived there for a long time before moving back

Guangzhou TV Tower

to China.  Chef Ken speaks good English and French.  Every single time when I was there, he was reading some cooking magazines.  We sometimes would chat a bit and he let me try the new dishes he was making.  The youngest brother is funny, he likes to talk about coffee, and he would feed my girls chocolates whenever they were around.  Overall, it was like a waiting place for me and the girls.  Selena liked to order the onion bread there. The girls sometimes ate with the staff to try their food before the restaurant put out a new dish.  We were like their best “repeat” customers -- or maybe more like friends, or something in between.  I kind of liked the feeling --very cozy. 

Xianghai Music Hall  

We would get home around 6:00 pm and the night was pretty busy with homework.  Louie loves to cook, so he always made supper, and we usually started  eating around 7:30 pm.  By this time, the girls had not finished homework, as they have several hours each night. After dinner, usually another 1-1:30 hours to complete school assignments before taking a shower and getting ready for bed.  10:00 pm was the goal to turn off the light.  But usually we all ended up going to bed at 10:30 when Xinghai Music Hall’s most beautiful neon lights went off. At the same time, the lights along the river bank went off too.  The night became quiet.  There were times Selena and I would lie down on the couch and read another 30 minutes before we all were exhausted and fell asleep. Although the night was not long, when the day broke, it was time to start the next day!