Italian Born Chinese

It’s now early Thursday.  I’m again up at this odd hour thanks to MSG in Chinese foods that cause severe heartburn.  I will try very hard to remember not to have those dumplings again at least before Logan’s born!

The weekend and the first 3 days of holidays flew by like that, and John has to work today and tomorrow.  Not happy.  I enjoy having him with me all the time, regardless of what he does or what we do, as long as he’s with me.

Aunt and Uncle Tan came from SuZhou early Monday morning.  I was so happy to see them.  They are my favorite aunt and uncle.  We had a nice chat and lunch before my parents came back from their 4-day trip to QingDao.  That evening we had Brazilian bbq buffet which was so filling.  To me, it’s never a good idea to have buffet for dinner.  Dinner needs to be light and easy to digest, coz you sleep within a few hours afterwards rather than work and run around to spend the energy and fat gained from the meal.

The next morning my mom called early to ask if we wanted to go to LuChaoGang.  They went there about a year ago and came back saying how nice it was.  So, I said yes.  We first went upstairs (where my parents live) for breakfast.  Last night Mom pre-arranged a 6-seater van to take us.

When we went downstairs and saw the van, we were surprised.  It looked real small.  We got in, and I really did feel squished.  Wonder why, I’m in my 9th-month of pregnancy!  By now I’ve lost all kinds of flexibility and am pretty limited in how I can sit and walk.  It was a pain being stuck in this impossibly little van for supposedly 90 minutes which turned into more like 2 hours because there was a major traffic jam near the zoo on the way to our destination.  That was horrible.

Finally we arrived.  Mom and Dad were surprised by how much the place changed.  A lot of things and areas were blocked and being reconstructed.  The van took us to a few places but they were all pretty much blocked for reconstruction.  There were so many big busses and tourists who also went like we did without knowing that there was no longer anything to see!  Two hours of being stuck in a tiny van and then this.  We were obviously disappointed.  No-one said anything negative coz of course my parents had kind intentions taking us there rather than intending for us to suffer.

We decided to drive back and stop halfway at NanHui which is supposedly a town worth visiting.  After about an hour we got there and it was insanely busy and full of people everywhere.  I thought to myself there was finally some kind of liberation.  By now it was a little past lunchtime, so we started looking for a nice restaurant to eat and rest a bit.

Full.  Couldn’t find a decent restaurant that could seat us coz they were all full.  Discouraged, we got back on the van heading for another big street in hopes of finding restaurants.  In the van, my aunt suggested us returning home and just dine at this simple and nice restaurant in JingQiao.  I nodded.  Everyone seemed very happy about it, so we headed back.  I know Mom was not so pleased because she really wanted us to have a good time but all the time on this “trip”, we just really looked forward to going home.  People dozed off and I was in agony coz there was no space at all and I had to sit twisting my spine.  It was such a pain, but all the time I tried to appreciate being with family and the nice weather rather than giving in to complaints.

Finally we got back and I was sooo glad.  We got off the van and everyone looked sooo happy.  A simple lunch, some smoothies and a nice chat followed before we went home by a short bus-ride.  It was actually kind of fun, even though that was the first time I went on a bus all these months being pregnant.  I was very proud of myself by how civilized I behaved for so many hours stuck on an awful trip even while this pregnant and huge, but I definitely wouldn’t try going on any kinds of trips ever again the next time I get this big and pregnant.  It’s just highly inconvenient and uncomfortable.

There is a lesson to be learnt.  Never forget the importance of transportation.  Always get a more comfortable and roomier type of transportation if affordable.  Exhausting yourself on the way even to a nice destination is not the way to begin a trip.  That van was very trying for all of us that day.  I was really thankful that no-one complained at all to make us feel worse than we were already uncomfortable.

Aunt and Uncle left Tuesday night.  John and I had a quiet and relaxing day without leaving our apartment on Wednesday.  If I couldn’t go on a holiday to a nice beach or to Europe, this is exactly how I’d like to spend time - just being home and lazy with my hubby.

I look forward to this weekend when I’ll get to be with John all the time again!  ^_^