life and times of the covners family in suzhou, china

Kenaz's 2nd BD party

2008-09-29T19:03:00.004+08:00

Kenaz turned two. We had a party in the front quad. It was a beautiful day for a party. We sort of had a blue theme going for us.

I got a street-BBQ vendor to come to our complex and provide BBQ chicken, beef, and squid. The Chicken was excellent. The squid was pretty good. The beef sucked. But overall very fun. We go too much food because I thought lots of people would come out of their appartments and walk downstairs to get food... I would end up feeding the whole complex. But many people are away on vacation, so this did not happen. We also served home-made salsa, and my tuna-fish w/ cucumber dish. And Haga made cookies, but she forgot to take them outside, so in the end I ate most of them.

Our Piñata became a most popular event which many kids are looking forward.
Haga made the Pinata. She possibly over-engineered its construction, cause it was near impossible to break appart.

How come everytime we do Pinata some big old kids try to get in on the action? Anyway, it was a good party. We had about 14 adults, more or less a good mix of Americans, Japanese, and Chinese. (It was funny when Akiva called people over to do the cake, he yelled "Get over here!" in all three languages).

Kenaz is very happy to receive his favorite airplanes from Grandpa and Grandma.

Unfortunatly, Kenaz was a little sick and just overwhelmed with being the center of attention. But when we openned up presents he became much happier.

Solution for the Economic Crissis

2008-09-27T02:08:00.005+08:00

My boss says that most of what comes out of my mouth is stupid, but a say so much that usually there is a gem hiding in the garbage.

I'm pretty freaked out by the economic crisis and feel pretty powerless to do anything about it. But I just had a thought on how to fix it. Its really a stupid idea, but I would like to hear the opinion of my readers.

As I understand it, the crisis on Wallstreet is very similar to the crisis with milk in China. Some complete assholes..some pig fuckers who are unconnected with the human race...decided to put melamine into the milk so they could make an extra buck. Government people, paid off by the pig fuckers, looked the other way. Companies looked the other way. And then people got sick. On Wallstreet, some pig fuckers made idiodic debt derivative instruments which went bad. These debt instruments are connected with "good" debt, and thus it is hard to seperate it out and hard to value any of the debt products its attached to.And then other idiots actually created insurance products to protect against this un-valuable debt going bad...which did go bad. Government, paid off by the pig fuckers, looked the other way.

Now the government wants to capitalize the banks with a boat load of tax money, and they have to give the money out to every bank, so that people don't start thinking that any particular bank is in trouble, hence needing the handout. So pig fuckers get more money.

But this whole chain started because the real estate bubble burst. It gets worse because unemployment rises. People get scared, so don't by houses. So the value of houses falls below the value of the debt. And people default on the debt. Which is tighed up with good debt in the financial system like Melamine in milk. A big difference is that China can through away the tainted milk, but US can't just through away the tainted debt.

Now for my stupid idea. What if...what if the government enacted really really tough NATIONAL environmental standards on new housing developments for the next three years. And put all sorts of administrative blocks on building new houses. I mean...what if the government artificially froze the SUPPLY of houses for short period of time. At the same time, loosen restrictions for foreigners WITH MONEY to immigrate to America. For the next 6 months, all they need to do to get a greencard is buy a house. Oh...and if they come from China they also have to pass a driving test. No new supply (or at least, the perception of no new supply), with increased customers (or at least, the perception there of) should drive home prices up. Thus, decrease home foreclosures while increasing average prices. Less foreclosures means that a greater percentage of the bad debt derivatives are actually good debt.

Could this work? Would this not make people think that what they have is more valuable or will become more valuable? It would not even have to be all over...target restrictions in States that have high foreclosure rates.

My BD

2008-09-21T10:35:00.004+08:00

On my birthday, we went to a Shanghai Science and Technology museum.

[Jesse]To get there, we took the Express train to Shanghai, ate Burger King, walked .5 kilometers through the underground shopping center the entrance to Line 3, then switched to Line 2 at Central Park Pudong, took that 1 stop, got off the subway, then walked through the underground shopping center, then walked down to the sub-floor of the Museum, bought tickets, walked back up to the front gate, then went into the Animals Exhibit. Kenaz and Akiva wanted to be held most of this trip.[/]

Kenaz liked this part of exhibition very much. He didn’t want to move. He kept pulling our arms and pointing to it.

[Jesse] We are worried that Kenaz will become a gangster or have some other problems. He really liked this.[/]

Akiva liked a robot show most.

[Jesse] Word of advice to other parents who are reading this...the Robot Show is dark and a good place to close your eyes for a 20 minutes. Its a little loud, but you can probably tune-out the robots singing "We are the robot friends"...especially if you don't understand Chinese. You may need the rest before continuing on, or before walking down stairs to the West side of the museum, then walking across the museum to the East exit, then walk from the exit through another underground shopping center in order to get to the subway entrance. Why did they design it this way?[/]

Akiva and Kenaz have own strong opinions and they are very stubborn like their daddy. Some time I get very exhausted to dealing with them but I am very lucky and happy to be able to celebrate my birthday with my family.

[Jesse] And I am so lucky and happy to have such a warm, passionate, practical, young, and sexy wife. [/]

Went to Shizilin with Kenaz (and update)

2008-09-20T08:35:00.005+08:00

Last weekend Haga took Akiva to a park with Akiva's friend and Japanese parents. I took Kenaz to Lion Forrest Garden. That's the garden with the stone (actually mostly concrete, but hey I'll buy the illusion) maze. Kenaz had a great time.

About the milk scandal...

We have always used Wyeth and Dumex brands, which advertise that all the milk powder (but not vitamin addatives) are imported to China. I called Wyeth the other day and they said they told me they did a complete audit of their China facilities and found no trace of any bad stuff and their product nutrition value has always been up to the labeled standard. I did not call Dumex yet, but I am not too worried. I am more worried about chemicals and garbage in all the other stuff we eat.

This Melanine is not just in milk. Its in lots of wheat and soy products too. We do not drink soy milk every day, but most of what we drink has been made from fresh beans, so no worries there either. Most of the poisened children are in Beijing and one other province. This means that, although this shit has continuously seeped into the food supply, there were two large batches which in quantity. Same thing happened in 2004.

We drink some milk in coffee...not enough to cause problems. We add fresh milk to the children''s formula...not alot though. They have two bottles a day, or about 16 onces. And often one cup of yogurt. The fresh milk and the yogurt we get is from an organic brand which has a good reputation. But they found the Melanine in the Beijing-bottled products of that brand as well. Overall, I think we have protected ourselves well and there is no reports of people getting sick from the fresh milk or more expensive brand baby powder. Melanine is most dangerous for younger kids anyway.

Still. I would like to find, and then slowly kill all those fuck-heads who are responsible for this. Who is responsible? Well, there are the bad guys...the pig-fudgers who put this stuff in the milk. There are probably a lot of them in different places. No ethics at all. Then there are the local officials who colluded with the bad guys. Then there are the QA people in the milk companies who didn't check. Then there are the purchasing people who bought the milk, probably knowing that it was too cheap to be right. And the upper management of those companies that didn't approve the funds to buy the testing equipment (need somewhat expensive equipment...but not that expensive), and the supervisors who didn't bother to check up on the purchasers, or got paid off not to check up. Off with their heads! Pig-Fudgers all of them!

In Yokohama 3

2008-09-01T12:48:00.004+08:00

Great grandmother came.
Akiva and Kenaz got a lot of presents

We went to a beach town, Miura

and had a sashimi buffet
and all you can eat ice cream
Kenaz had all flavors
We did sparklers.

In Yokohama 2

2008-08-28T21:56:00.004+08:00

Picture with grandpa and grandma

Ride a bike or kick board with big sis

Sumo with grandpa

Play Ultra man cards

Take a bath with cousin

In Yokohama

2008-08-25T13:30:00.003+08:00

Akiva, Kenaz and I are at my parents’ house in Yokohama since Friday 22nd. Every morning Akiva, Kenaz, and their cousins Shi-chan(10 years old) and Naho-chan (5 years old) and their neighbor friends go to park to catch cicadas. There are so many cicadas. They catch twenty of them every time they go. Akiva loves his cousins. He followed everywhere they go. Shi-chan and Naho-chan think Kenaz is cute and baby. Kenaz lets them to hold him and pretend like he is cutie.
CostCo in YokohamaWe went to COSTCO and bought typical COSTCO things like huge pack of beef, muffins, and fruits. I bought some English children books for Akiva and Kenaz. We had COSTO pizza for dinner. Japanese COSTCO is the exactly same as one in California. In fact, all check-outs are non Japanese and they remind me of a comedy movie, Employee of the Month.

Chocolate Chocochip Muffin
We went to Science museum in Yokodai with my friend Ika-chan and her kids Lin-kun (7 years old) and Ei-kun (3 years old). Akiva enjoyed experimenting all kinds of science and space exhibitions.

Akiva wrestled with my collage friend Tsubo over Ultra man.

Kenaz Got a Nursemaid’s elbow

2008-08-13T15:08:00.004+08:00

Every day when I come back from work, Akiva and Kenaz are outside in our complex. Yesterday was the same. They were looking at bullfrogs which were brought out by our neighbor kid for torture. Akiva and Kenaz grabbed my hands and showed me the huge frogs. And they started pulling my arms and running a circle around me like a merry-go-round.

Then I heard or felt deep clicking sounds from Kenaz’s hand. He started crying hysterically. I know something happened. His shoulder seemed in the right position, however his bellow elbow seemed no strength. I asked him if he can open and close his hand. He didn’t respond me. When I touched his hand, he screamed.

I decided to take him to an emergency room at Kowloon hospital. I explained to a doctor what happened but he instead to take an x-ray. The result was no broken bones and no problem. The doctor examined Kenaz’s arm. Kenaz was screaming!! He told me there was nothing wrong on his arm (even Kenaz was still sobbing) and told us to go home and rest.

Meanwhile, Akiva was holding some weeds he picked at our playground in his one hand and a soccer ball in his other hand. He was fascinating to see patients at emergency room. When I asked him to go home, he was watching a man lost tip of his toes. He wanted to know what happened on him and didn’t want to go home. While we were waiting for taxi, an ambulance came in. A woman on stretcher was tossed over a bed, she moaned by pain. Akiva didn’t want to get on a taxi because again he wanted to know why she was lucky to be on the ambulance.

We came home and ate chocolate ice cream for dinner. Kenaz was still on pain, but he finished his ice cream by one good hand. He fell into sleep on my shoulder without moving his bad arm. I wanted to resarch about his condition on internet, but somehow internet was down.

In the middle of night, he screamed by pain. I held him and set his bad hand on the secure position. Some time in early morning I noticed Kenaz was rolling around without waking up by pain. When he woke up, he touched his hand and said “unh??”. He had no pain and no problem.

I am glad I didn’t tell Jesse about it when he called me from Hangzhou on his business trip.

* Nursemaid's elbow (pulled elbow) by babycenter.com

What caused this?
It may not have been anything out of the ordinary. Sometimes young children get nursemaid's elbow if they're grabbed or jerked by the wrist, picked up by one arm, or swung by the wrists while playing. It can also happen if your toddler suddenly pulls away from you or drops to the ground while you're holding his hand or arm, or if you lift him by one arm onto a curb or step.

While you may not be able to completely avoid activities that can cause nursemaid's elbow, you'll reduce the chances of it if you avoid jerking or pulling on your toddler's arms or wrists and take care to lift him from under his arms rather than by his arms.

What should I do?
Take your toddler to his doctor or to an emergency room. Nursemaid's elbow needs to be treated to prevent permanent damage.

The doctor will carefully examine your child for signs of a fracture. If she decides your toddler has nursemaid's elbow — based on the exam and how the symptoms came on — she'll manipulate his arm in a specific way to put the ligament back into place.

A doctor can do this quickly and easily, and your child will be uncomfortable for only a moment. Afterward your toddler will be able to use his arm normally. Don't try to fix it yourself — you could do more harm than good and cause your child additional pain.

If your toddler still seems to be hurting, you might want to give him the proper dose of ibuprofen to ease any swelling and pain.

08.08.08 Our 9th Anniversery (and the start of some overly-hyped politico-athletic competition)

2008-08-09T08:52:00.003+08:00

For our anniversary dinner, Haga and I ate beef sausage and sauerkraut and a little bread (after saying Shabbat prayers)

It was our anniversary last night. I am luck and blessed to be married with Haga for 9 years now.

OK. We watched the Olympic Opening Ceremony. The kids couldn't wait until the end, so we missed the Americans and Chinese coming out. Although I got to say some of the African and Caribbean teams looked much cooler anyway. I'm an anti-sports guy, as some know. And I'm very anti-Beijing Olympics. I don't like the nationalism from Chinese. I don't like things that call for people to artificially feel unity. I don't like the hypocrisy of Western anti-China bloggers/commentators. I really don't like the extreme disruption to the economy that the security measures are causing. And I'm just not into anything which is too cheesy... that includes Shamoo at Seaworld, Chinese any-event Extravaganza, many Hollywood movies, etc. But anyway, opening ceremony was awesome. I liked the foot-prints made with fireworks. I liked the Tai-ji guys running around. Didn't like cute children doing cute children things though.

Just a quick reminder

2008-08-04T14:38:00.002+08:00

Lately not much has been happening. I have been looking (slowly) for a new job. We intend (hopefully) to go back to the US for vacation in September. The Children are healthy, beautiful, and they (annoyingly) don't listen to me at all. Haga is still (diligently) working at her job in a Japanese-oriented recruitment agency. I'm trying (fitfully) to get back into swimming. My grandmother recently celebrated (joyfully) her 90th birthday-party, but we (regretfully) could not go to America at this time to attend the party.

Some of my dear friends has recently left comments on posts from "the past". Maybe they were google-ing my name and came up with a link to a post from 4 months ago about something or other...who knows. My point is this; if you want me to reply to you (and I hope you do), please leave your email address when you post a comment. Even if you have a blogger account, you need to put your email in the body of the message. This way, I can send you an email and we can catch up.

I intend to write up a opus post called "Everything you need to know about noodles". Look for that in the near future.

Kenaz's First "I Love You"

2008-08-04T09:34:00.002+08:00

Yesterday Kenaz said "Mama". He also said "I love you" (he doesn't say it today). When I was in the kitchen and doing dishes yesterday, Kenaz was running around and screaming loudly in the living room, then he came into the kitchen and bit my butt very hard from behind.

Kenaz First Little Potty

2008-07-25T13:07:00.004+08:00

Kenaz, 20 months old, hasn’t wanted to wear a dipper for a month. When he goes outside, our nanny takes his dipper off. He hasn’t been able to pee or poop outside. (I have mentioned before but Chinese babies, kids and adult males pee almost everywhere, and I stopped noticing them).

Jesse thinks we should wait until at least he can say “pee” (he doesn’t say “dada”, nor “mama”. On the other hand, he can say from 1 to 10). I said let’s go for it.

I pulled out Akiva’s little potty months ago but Kenaz hasn’t been interested in. I thought Kenaz wants to use the same regular toilet like Akiva does. I put away the potty. Yesterday, Kenaz kept pulling my shirts. I didn’t understand what he wants. He pulled my hand and pointed the potty which I put on top of his closet.

Then I smelled his fart.

I quickly grabbed the potty and pulled down his pants.

Wow, Kenaz did it for his first time!

HOT!

2008-07-22T19:23:00.005+08:00

Rainy season was over. Every day we have blue sky.
It is very hot, feels like 105F.

Akiva and Kenaz have David Beckham inspired (!?)
summer hair style.

Sunday Project -
Jesse and two boys are putting computer cables away.

Suzhou Night Market

2008-06-30T10:18:00.006+08:00

We are in a long rainy season this year. Every day it is rain. Last weekend was exception. We had a nice clear day. Jesse took us to a night market in west side of SIP on Saturday. We had Chinese style of BBQ skewer (xiaokao). It is actually a restaurant street. They put tables and chairs out. There are some beggars walking around to ask some money. I didn’t want them to disturb our dinner. I choose to sit inside. However Akiva suggested to sit outside. In fact he loved to look around people walking by. He paid 5 Yuan to buy a bag of steamed peanuts. We had a guy to play Chinese guitar and to sing Chinese kid’s song for us (20 Yuan per song). Of course some beggars came by. Aiva told an old beggar “NO!”.Wuhan Famous Roasted Duck NeckI thought BBQ was excellent. There was only a little bit of meat on skewer. So I can eat 20 skewers yet still hungry. I actually like a little meat part. It is quicker to cook and I don’t need to worry about too much if the meat is cooked or not. Kenaz is such a good eater. He grabbed a skewer by his self and enjoyed it (His favorite word now is “by myself” in Japanese). We all loved the taste and atmosphere. Sunday we went back again!

Akiva's first big girlie performance

2008-06-22T15:35:00.002+08:00

Akiva was part of a graduation ceremony yesterday...he graduated from "small small class" to "small class". And to celebrate, the teacher dressed the whole class in traditional Chinese baby clothes called "Du-Bu" and then made them dance. (I have seen adult women in Shanghai wear the same Du-bu on the street BTW...but that is another story)

Note that Akiva's face looks just like his mothers. So when he wear's girly cloths, he really looks girly. I believe that if he hates his parents later in life, this may be one of the singular instances he will point to as evidence concerning how his parents messed him up (just as I point to my father getting frustrated with me when teaching me how to play catch with a baseball)

So Akiva's class-mate Lou Xiao Yu ("Little Rain Lou" ) was supposed to dance with Akiva. Akiva stuck out his tounge out and being silly. The little girl kept pulling on Akiva and grabbing him. And Akiva just shrugged her off. Which tells me he is learning to not let himself be manipulated by the crazy girls who want him dance.

Weekend Activities

2008-06-04T09:38:00.004+08:00

Pick up cucumbers.

Feed ducks

Follow after turkeys

Feed goats

Feed baby goats

Feed himself

DanHua Sister's Wedding 2

2008-05-23T09:17:00.005+08:00

The wedding banquet was held in the wood potable house.
Here our turtle and other scrumptious dishes were made.

Cheers!

Attending a Wedding

2008-05-20T10:42:00.006+08:00

Last Saturday we went to our nanny’s daughter’s wedding banquet. Like our nanny who is from country side of Suzhou usually celebrates for 3 days of wedding feast.I was able to fit into my old pre-pregnant dress.
Our nanny Ms. Zhu told me she will set up a wood house right down at her apartment, but it was really hard to imagine how they will organize their feast, because there is not much space outside. In fact, the wedding banquet had group 1 and group2 on Saturday. We were in group 1 to have a dinner started at 5:30. The 2nd group had a dinner at 7:00. Sunday was the same thing for lunch. the firt and the second group.We had appetizers of pistachios, cold jellyfish, edamames, then new plates stocked on top of other plates every 5 minutes. We had snake, turtle, fish, pig, sweet black beans, and more.

Photographer: Akiva

2008-05-16T13:21:00.003+08:00

Some how he has been very upset to be taken a picture. I have to be very sneaky, other wise he will take away my camera and take a picture of us. He still need to learn how not to put his finger on the lens, but he has taken some OK pictures.

Summer Style Hair Cut

2008-05-08T08:06:00.002+08:00

Hair cut treat is of course “ICE CREAM!”

More Cali

2008-04-20T04:50:00.003+08:00

I spent 45 minutes at REI with Tony trying to buy sneakers. I didn't buy any.

Vietnamese Pho (w/ Tony at restaruant on Convoy St.)

I caught two waves at the La Jolla shores

Tony and I by the pool.

Food in San Diego / Tony's visiting

2008-04-18T15:19:00.004+08:00

Carne asada burrito. Ummm Ummm good. Found in cheap Mexican restaurants all around California.

Bowties and Cottage Cheese. A Covner favorite.

$1.50 Hot dog (with Sourkraut), and diet Coke...from Costco.

My friend Tony came and visited me from Northern California. He is trying to seduce single white men. (I'm married BTW)

We went to eat Sushi with my sister Rachel. I didn't take pictures of the Sushi. Tony said it was not that good. I thought it was OK, but overpriced...just like everything else in San Diego.

We also went to the beach. I look cool. Not surfer cool. But very cool. Tony, on the other hand, bragged about his 6% body fat.

Jeremy's wedding

2008-04-15T11:11:00.003+08:00

I went to Jeremy's wedding on Saturday in San Diego. The wedding was at the same temple where Haga and I got married years ago.

My father officiated the ceremony. He got a license making him the Deputy Commissioner of Marriage (for the day).

The bride Kelly was incredibly beautiful and the groom stylish

All the groom's men wore Scottish kilts. They got big swords as party-favors. I told Jeremy before hand that I did not feel like bringing a sword back to China through customs, and I did not want Akiva to get ahold of said sword and start a life of medieval violence.

The Bride and Groom danced. So did a lot of guys in kilts danced to Irish / Scottish music. Those guys were not wearing underwear

After the wedding, we had a party, catered by Gail (my Aunt). Fresh Chumash, olives, chicken and fish kababs, Greek salad, pink champagne. Very good food. Also a keg of Guinness beer...which I drank a lot of.

I sat with my friend Brad Decker, who I have not seen for about 6 years. I also hung out with Dan Sutherd, who I have not seen in 20 years. Brad runs lighting for theater productions in Switzerland. He also sometimes does choreography. Dan runs a mail-order nursery in Eureka California and likes art photography. His site is: http://www.drsfoto.com/

My sister Rachel and my brother Micah. They say I'm drunk...nuh uh!

My mom looks great!

Later, I took a nap on this bench.

Stories about Akiva

2008-04-08T16:28:00.002+08:00

Last weekend I took Akiva to a playground. There were many local kids about his age. One of boy wanted to climb up a ladder where Akiva was climbing up. He said “You stupid move out my way!” Chinese has many ways to express stupid but “little broken egg” is one of them. Some time grandma use “little broken egg” as “my little bad boy” with affection. Akiva somehow know it is not good meaning and said back to the boy, “I am not a little broken egg. My name is Akiva Covner.”

We had a lunch at restaurant mall that day. Most the people hang around and eat there are foreigners. Recently many beggars with plastic cup are asking changes in front of restaurants. Akiva walked up to one of old beggar and asked him what is inside of his plastic cup. He said “money.” Akiva said back “I want money!”

Just FYI...

2008-04-08T14:17:00.002+08:00

I will be back in the United States between 4/11 and 4/20. On 4/12, my best friend Jeremy Riordan is getting married. On 4/19, I will have Passover with family. My family here - my wife and Children - will not be coming with me. Haga has a job and tends to take jobs more seriously than myself. And its a lot of ...effort...to take the kids on a 30-hour trip. I wish my family and friends in the US can see my children and Haga...but that will have to wait for another time.