“Zhuang Xiu” Part 5: Moved!

We moved to our new house last Friday and it’s been ten days of luxurious living! Everything is new, clean, organized, and carefully designed for a stable, controlled environment. Central AC keeps the place nice and cool. Water filter and softener system keeps the water clean and gentle to the skin. Air purifier removes the dust particles from the air. Appliances like dishwasher, automatic-ice-maker refrigerator, washer/dryer combo, garbage disposal, temperature controlled shower, home movie theater, and oven make our lives easier (and spoiled). The place is just heavenly. Jason, for the first time since coming to China, is actually doing great health and allergy wise. Minimal asthma attacks, eczema condition is stable, far less skin irritation, and minimal allergic reactions to whatever-it-is that was sucking life out of him. Dust mites. Germs. Mold. Bugs. Pollution. Smog. Dirt. All things prevalent in SMIC LQ housing.

He’s doing so well that he downed an entire bottle of soy sauce during dinner the other night. Just kidding… It was a farewell gathering for our friend Doug & Amy and we had dinner at Charmant. He ate everything we (normal people) ate, that including dishes drenched in soy sauce and the pineapple shrimp roll (shrimp stuffed inside bread)! He might have as well drank the entire bottle of soy sauce. It was perhaps the best meal he’s had in decades. And afterwards? His calves and toes itched a little, but that was about it.

It could have also been the effects of the nasty Chinese medicine he’s been drinking daily for the last half a year. Or perhaps the super expensive French-imported Avene cream he’s been using. (Can you just picture Jason walking in to this posh cosmetic store on Huai Hai Lu, surrounded by skinny scantily clad Shanghainese women buzzing about the newest in the fountain-of-youth section, asking for one of their most expensive cream? And they’d ask… “Aww…. is it for your girlfriend? How sweet…. “) Or maybe the $50K USD we spent on zhuang xiu was worth every penny.

We are thankful.

Perhaps after we furnish our place in the next few months, we’ll have a housewarming pizza party!