Catshanghai

Below are two videos of Jake, which I shot and edited in recent days.

Jake Crosses The Bridge from Matt Seigal on Vimeo.

The most recent was shot yesterday.It’s the Chinese tradition to mark a month of a baby’s life by crossing a bridge. In this case we crossed Nanpu Bridge and two at Century Park. We went early before the park was too hot and busy. We also hired a large 6 seater quadroped bike to take us around the park.

Jake was unphased during his second outing and I’m pleased to say that I didn’t forget to take any footage this time. I didn’t post any videos of Jake going to Kebabs on the Grille last Thursday, because I forgot to take any video or photos of the occasion.

Jake at 27 Days Old from Matt Seigal on Vimeo.

The second video shows footage of Jake playing and having a bath. Notice how he is alert and able to move his neck around. Babies often get to this stage after a couple of months and Jake was only 27 days old when we shot this.

Image supplied by nubui on Flickr

I’m a big fan of Leo Laporte who single handedly created the Twit technology podcast network. His shows keeps me informed and stop me going insane during long commutes home through Shanghai rush hours.

Leo is coming to China at the end of this week to participate in a Geek Cruise where he’ll be giving talks about Iphone apps, social media and setting up a Mac Mini home theatre system. During this week’s episode of MacBreak Weekly Leo and his fellow geek cruisers alluded to the expense of setting up roaming cellphone data plans so they could tweet and blog on the road in China. Apparently, AT&T charge $199 a month for an international plan whereas UK’s O2 want travellers to pay 50 GBP for 50 mb of data.

I have good news for the geek cruising MacBreak Weekly panel whose twitter handles are respectively @leolaporte , @donmcallister and @ihnatko. Cancel your expensive data plans and do the following:

• Unlock your cellphone, which may not be possible yet if you are bringing the latest Iphone 3GS to China with you
• Fly to China
• Buy a China Mobile simcard (100 RMB) and another 100 RMB prepay voucher
• Change the sim card
• Call 10086 to setup a data plan and get instructions on configuring your phone, but the basic gprs settings are ap:cmnet, username:cmnet, password: cmnet.
  Use opendns (208.67.222.222, 208.67.220.220) as your name server, because the Chinese DNS servers are awful.

100 RMB will pay for 2gb of data. 200 RMB will get you 5gb. It is Edge speed, which is quick enough to upload text and photos to blogs. GPRS will give you access even in remote areas, but it is very, very slow. Wifi is quicker and pervasive in coffee shops, hotels and restaurants. Wifi is often free, or you may be able to pay to use it from your Skype account if you are at Starbucks. Don’t expect to access Youtube unless you have access to a proxy, and even then it can be very slow. Twitter, Gmail, Flickr have all been blocked recently although they are working at the moment. Even unblocked international sites are slowed by lag and having to pass through the GFW.

Otherwise, Leo and his mates should enjoy their time in China by eating good food, checking out the historical sites and watching people play Mah Jong and walk backwards in parks.

Summer is here and many expats are selling their stuff as they get ready to move on to newer pastures (or be sent back to older ones).

Those of us who have been in Shanghai for more than a year will recognise the cycle and see there is an opportunity to get good secondhand gear. I have seen friends, colleagues and acquaintances sell everything from big estate cars, computers, furniture, baby gear, books, electronic equipment and tissue holders. Every year I get Emails from colleagues with lists and photos of things for sale. Invariably the 200 RMB Giant mountain bike is sold within seconds. I also see flyers in coffee shops such as Casbah Cafe in Huai Hai Lu and the Shanghaiexpat forum gets posts from people on a selling mission.

The funniest thing I saw this week was a spoof list sent to me by a colleague who is obviously in need of a holiday. Some of the items have been omitted to protect the guilty.

End of year Sale items
Opened box of tampons – half full - 20RMB
Sofitel slippers – 3 - 5RMB
Blue plastic re-usable folders – 20 - 20RMB
Unused kitchen multi-purpose sponge - 5 mao
Leg wax/ hair removal tube– half full! - 3RMB
Cans of cat food – various flavours x 5 - 20RMB
Cat hair brush – used once only! - 5RMB
6 empty CD cases - free
Vintage Plastic supermarket bags various sizes - 1 mao each
Box of staples – discontinued size - 5 mao
Box of toothpicks from japan airport - 3mao

Jake is 22 days old and getting bigger and stronger every day. Here are some things we’ve noticed about him.

He is utterly fearless.
Jenny says he feeds like a wolf. He only cries when he is hungry. He is not too bothered by heat or a soiled nappy.

He is strong.
He is already starting to kick and move his neck like a child who is nearly two months old.

He is aware.
I’ve been warned by friends that newborn babies like to sleep, but Jake spends several hours wide wake during the day. He stares at us intently. We’ve had fun singing to him, telling him stories and showing him flashcards.

He is getting bigger.
A health visitor measured him and told us he has put on weight. His birth weight was 3.35 kgs, but now he is over 4kg and he has grown in length from 50cm to 55cm. He drinks about 500ml of milk each day, including Jenny’s breast milk that accounts for about 30 percent of daily intake.

Jenny’s parents told me that he looks 70 percent European and 30 percent Chinese. I’m inclined to agree, but I arrived in this world choking on my mother’s cord and I’m pretty scared of large gatherings. Jake seems to have inherited his mother’s strength, wits and fearlessness. Long may that continue.

Here are a few pictures of Jake that I took in the week, having just added them to a picasa album. Jenny and Jake came home from hospital yesterday. Jake can’t get enough milk whether it’s from his mum or a bottle of formula concoction.

It’s really nice having my family home. I normally get cabin fever if I am stuck inside all day, but it feels very natural and grounding to be at home spending time with Jenny and Jake. He looks like a cross between both of his parents, but it is incredible to look at my son. He looks so clean and pure like a version of my younger self before I was contaminated by the world and its people. Jake is his own person who will eventually make an independent life for himself, including all its triumphs and setbacks. I still look at him and see nothing but possibility.

Mum and baby are much more comfortable here. Jake has been wearing some new clothes and he had his first bath at home, which he really enjoyed. We’ve had a few visitors who think Jake looks very healthy and handsome. I have to agree. We bought some special postpartum health food from a company called Guangheitang. They publish a magazine with pictures of cute babies, but I’m pretty sure that Jake’s peachy complexion and big almond eyes would win him a spot in any advertising campaign.

Colleagues and friends keep asking how tired we are. It’s early days. Jenny has just come home from hospital, but we are lucky that we have a yuesao nanny who is helping us take care of mother and baby for the first two months. This takes the pressure off us a little as we learn how to become good parents. I was a little frustrated that she was taking over to the extent that I didn’t feel I was getting enough hands on contact with Jake, but I made it clear that we want the nanny to help us be better parents rather than pay someone else to do all the parenting for us. We’re getting her to teach us all the tricks she has been employing to keep Jake safe, happy and healthy. It will take a little while to master the arts of nappies, winding and baby bathing. but I’m having lots of fun learning how to be a good dad.

The first video was taken yesterday and the second was shot today. Notice how Jake is struggling to open his eyes. Don’t worry. It’s only sleepyness. He’s doing really well. He’s drinking lots of milk, sleeps like his grandpa and is getting ready to suckle from his mum.

Jenny has also had a good day. She can stand up and walk around a little, which is not bad considering she had a c-section yesterday.

Jake was born yesterday morning at 9.5¹am weighing 3 and a half kilos. He is healthy, pink and very handsome. He’ll be in Red House Hospital with his mother until the end of the week, but he’s become a little celebrity as hordes of pregnant women and their mothers gather round Jake’s crib and say ‘ Xiao Baba (Little Father)’. Jenny is sore, but is recovering well after her c-section. Thanks to everyone for their best wishes. Look out for more photos.

This week our baby will be born, but we don’t know when. We’re in countdown and standby mode.

Here’s an update. Jenny should have given birth our baby boy Jake on Friday. She is going to hospital for a checkup tomorrow and we are hoping that she will go into a natural labour before the middle of the week. Otherwise, Jenny will admit herself to hospital so the doctors can induce the delivery, but we want the process to be as natural as possible.

Jenny has has a really good pregnancy. She was sick a lot during the first three months, but she has been happy, relaxed and healthy ever since. Jenny has gradually eased her working commitments, but she enjoyed a full and active life throughout her pregnancy. Even during the last few days we have enjoyed going out to local parks, shops and restaurants. The advice to sit at home and wait for contractions does not quite apply to Jenny. Her skin and hair are more beautiful than ever. You see a lot of women at the prenatal checkups. They have become frumpy and dowdy during pregnancy, but Jenny looks more youthful than women 5 to 8 years younger than her.

She has read many books and magazines about pregnancy and childcare. They give all sorts of advice, which Jenny has taken on board depedning on whether it feels appropriate. One piece of advice that Jenny has taken to heart is that stress is bad for her and the baby. Jenny knows how to let go of worrying thoughts and feelings. She has got plenty of sleep, ate healthy food and continued to fill her life with enjoyable activities, including work. It is funny that she was stlll receiving phonecalls from customers as late as last night, but I think they’ve got the message that they are going to have to wait for a few months to get some clothes made.

We still have our cat. He has been good company to Jenny while I’ve been out at work. Sharing an afternoon nap with a lazy cat is a great way to ease your way through pregnancy. One day Chinese parenting books may even recommend cats to help pregnant women relax.

It’s been a good pregnancy. Recent scans show that our baby has a strong heart beat. He has been very active kicking his way to 10 out of 10. He seems very comfortable inside his mother, but we’re ready and waiting for him to make the final descent. The baby’s room is ready. We’ve hired a nanny and Jenny’s bags are packed.

Jenny is starting to get fed up of carrying her bun. She has gained 15 kilos and her fingers and legs have recently started to swell. It is not very easy for her to find a comfortable sitting position.

I’m waiting for that phonecall telling me that Jenny has gone to hospital. I know it is going to be sometime this week, but I don’t know when. We’re in standby and countdown mode.

I have recently discovered how to get online via ChinaNet wireless access points, which you can see in coffeeshops throughout Shanghai.

People living in Shanghai with a China Telecom ADSL account can use this account to login to ChinaNet access points. Here are the steps that you need to follow:

1. Select the ChinaNet wireless access point in your wireless dropdown list.
2. Enter your account username and password.
   Your username is your China Telecom ADSL username with “@shtel.tyt” at the end. If your China Telecom ADSL username is “ad999999999 the access point username is “ad999999999@shtel.tyt”
   Your password is the same as your China Telecom ADSL password. You can see this on the card that was given to you when first setup your Internet access with China Telecom.
3. Enter the verify code, which is the captcha number under the VPN checkbox. In this case it is ‘1355′.
4. Now you are online.

I have tried ChinaNet at Starbucks in Liyuan Lu and Huai Hai Lu. Liyuan Lu had fewer customers using wifi so the performance was much better than the busier central location. I was able to achieve download speeds of up to 260kbps, which is comparable with my Internet access at home.

Getting online this way is cheap, but not free. It costs 3.6 RMB each hour of online time, which is added to your monthly China Telecom bill. You also tend to see ChinaNet access points at overpriced coffee outlets such as Starbucks that should really know better and throw in free wifi after spending 30 RMB on a cup of coffee. There are plenty of free wifi hotspots throughout Shanghai. My favourite locations for free wifi are Sakura Do in Xinle Lu and Wagas at The Loft.

Hopefully the need to use Shanghai wireless access points will diminish as 3G devices and data plans start to become pervasive and cheap over the next year or so.

Yesterday we hired a live in nanny to look after our baby for the first two months after he is born in May.

It may be serendipitous or I may just have my Shanghai expat baby story radar turned on these days, because we came across a story that City Weekend ran at the end of last week about the process of yuezi involving a yuesao nanny. According to the custom of yuezi new mothers spend a month of bed rest while the nanny takes care of mum and baby to make sure both of them are healthy in the future.

Jenny will be following yuezi to the extent that the nanny will help her look after our baby Jake, prepare healthy food and keep all the baby things as clean and sterile as possible. Jenny has planned to breast feed Jake, but she intends to work with the nanny to get him into a settled night time routine as soon as possible so we are able to get some rest. We’re hoping that Jake takes to drinking his mother’s expressed milk through a bottle so Jenny is able to sleep at night.

Specialised yuesaos can be hired through agencies who are able to verify their references and qualifications. Jenny has taken care of recruiting the nanny after getting in touch with a few different agencies, which we found near Red House Hospital in Fangxie Lu. They nanny agencies only operate in Chinese so I couldn’t begin to tell you their name or the address.

The City Weekend article claimed that yuesao nannies cost between 3000 and 5000 RMB each month and we are paying within this range. We do not want the full cost or the loss of privacy associated with a full time live in nanny after the first two months. We want to be hands on parents who are fully involved with every part of Jake’s life from eating, bathing, playing and learning.

We are lucky that we are currently in a position to hire a longer term daytime nanny (ayi) to help us look after Jake until he is ready to come with me to pre nursery at the age of 18 months. This would not be possible if I was working as a teacher in the UK. We’ll look for an ayi in the summer and get the Yuesao nanny to teach her and me how to take good care of Jake.

I am aware that a lot of local families rely on grandparents to take an active role in parenting. Jenny’s parents have been really supportive, but they live an hour away although we know we can always count on them to give us plenty of advice! Jake can also look forward to seeing his English grandparents every week on Skype.

Jake’s expected birthday is 3 weeks today. We’re excited and slightly nervous. Let the countdown begin.