Posting on Craigslist for a Babysitter May 7, 2009
Posted by pjpajamas in family life.Tags: craigslist babysitter
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I decided to post on Craigslist for a babysitter for the summer. I’m going back to school next Monday. Some of the responses I’ve recieved has just been amazingly unprofressional. What are these people thinking? Why would I trust them with my kids?
Here are some examples:
From LuVnYa4Eva (loving you forever): is this job still available? i love children but i do not speak mandarin chinese only english, although my boyfriend does even though that doesn’t count but im really intersted let me know thanks.
- This was the whole email. Did not even provide a name or contact information or any background. Yea, sorry so not leaving my kids with you.
From a Boy GaGa who’s email is crazed3009@
- Yea, sooo not hiring someone who goes by Boy GaGa or calls himself crazed….
And I don’t understand these’s people where their email name and their real name doesn’t match. I’m not going to write her name, since it might be her real name, who knows. But…
dangerwoman81@whatever.. So not letting my kids hang with a dangerwoman81, sorry, but no.
A Visit to School April 9, 2009
Posted by pjpajamas in medical education.add a comment
I decided to drop by my school. Just to check in. Make sure all my paperwork is in the right place and what not. It’s always kind of a, oh I don’t know, “augh” kind of feeling going into the administration building. I love the old professors that still remember my face and take the time to talk to me. It’s mostly the various secretaries and assistants-to’s.
There’s always a lot of talk between my classamtes about how hard it is to get anybody to get anything done. And how people can be so unhelpful. So I guess I went in with this feeling like I’m going to hit walls anyway.
Everybody was so very nice instead. “What can I do for you?” “It’s so nice to meet the face that matches the paper”. It was kind of refreshing.
It really does make it unfair for those students that live farther away. A trip to school gets everything done. All my emails and calls that have gone unanswered, answered in one day.
How to find a Chinese Nanny – Craigslist! April 2, 2009
Posted by pjpajamas in family life.Tags: chinese nanny, craigslist, find, finding, how to
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I’d like to think I’m an expert at this, now that we’ve gone through sooo many nannies. I’ve done a lot of searching on what’s the best way to find a good Chinese nanny. The advice in the past have to post in the Chinese newspaper (Renming Ri Bao). Now I say, post on craigslist! It’s cheaper and pretty effective.
We’ve had nannies that came from nanny services. There’s about 6 main companies in the Bay Area. They are for the one month post-partum period and cost about $2600 for 26 days. Each company have their on niche, like basing their practices from Taiwan, and etc.
Those nannies are expensive and don’t make good long-term nannies. It’s hard work being a post-partum nanny, but they do it for the money. And when they are done with the 26 days, they can take a break for as long as they want before they decide to pick up the next contract.
I used to think they were the super-nannies and that they should know a lot about everything. But now I realize that they really are the most opinionated and probably know the least. They are great for that one month old baby, but don’t have much experience in doing much else.
Posting in the newspaper you can find nannies from $1200 to about $1600 and of course even more. The problem is that I live about 2 hours from the Bay Area. When I post, I can get about 20 to up to 50 calls. But as soon as they learn where I’m located, they aren’t as interested. It’s also really hard to to interviews over the phone. Most of them don’t drive. It doesn’t help listing my city, because most of them don’t read English or wouldn’t know still where my city is.
I’ve read before that posting on Craigslist is useless. Since most of these nannies don’t read English. Well I have to say that whichever website I was at then was very wrong.
It is true that the nannies don’t read English, but their children do or their friends.
I’ve been very successful at finally finding a nanny that lives close enough to us that she’s here Monday through Friday and gets a break on weekends.
So try Craigslist!
Fever and Vomiting solved April 2, 2009
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She broke out in a rash. Whew. Thank goodness.
What disease could it be when it’s high fever for a couple of days. Fever leaves and rash comes?
Roseola infantum!
I’ve never been so happy to see a rash. If she hadn’t had two episodes of fever before this, I wouldn’t have been so frantic up to this point.
Fever and Vomiting? April 1, 2009
Posted by pjpajamas in family life.Tags: fever vomiting toddler
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Since coming back from China at the end of January, my daughter has been sick 3 times (currently on her third time). I’m getting more and more frustrated each time and I’m running out of theories.
She’s never been one to have high fevers, typically gets low fevers for a couple of days to a week and then starts to get better.
Remarkably in China, she never got a fever. She did have a very serious watery diarrhea for a week, but that resolved on its own.
The first episode since coming back was definitely due to a viral URI. She had low-grade fevers and had all the upper respiratory symptoms of cough and runny nose. Lots of stuff running out her nose. It went away in about a week or maybe two.
She was a week symptom free when all of the sudden the fever returned. Not super high, but not super low either. She didn’t have any of the URI symptoms anymore, JUST fever. And of course feeling very crappish. We had to give her Motrin just to perk her spirits. She was EXTREMELY irritable without it. That went away in a couple of days and we thought, maybe she just never got over the first episode.
But now, I want to say it’s been closer to 2 weeks when her fever came back again. She even had her 2 year old checkup and was very happy with the doctor. Her only shots was a PPD and a hepatitis A vaccine. Both very safe on the side effects of things. Had the shots on Friday. Fever came Sunday night, started low in the 100-101s. Monday night it was all high fevers the whole time, above 103s and Motrin was barely bringing it down to 101. Brought her into see the doctor on Tuesday.
It’s frustrating, because I agree with the doctor that there are no localizing physical signs. This time she was also still a happy kid even with the fever. So we decided to bag her urine. My husband was the one that brought it in and he said that the lab found no evidence of infection, but there might be some trace of blood? I have no idea what that means in terms of “might be?”?
She’s been vomiting, but mostly milk and only when her fever goes past 103, so we are pretty sure it’s due to the fever. She’s not dehydrated. Doesn’t have any other symptoms. It’s really starting to be extremely worrying. I have no idea what’s wrong and it’s very frustrating.
Anybody have any suggestions or clues for us?
It’s Wednesday and if by Friday she’s not perking up, it might be time to draw some blood.
Random Quote March 16, 2009
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”It was love at first sight,” she said, “even though he was flea infested, had a terrible skin condition, was not neutered and was missing half the hair on his back.”
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/g/a/2009/03/16/moneytales031609.DTL
Panoramic Pictures March 5, 2009
Posted by pjpajamas in china.add a comment
I’ve been playing with a panoramic program called AutoStitch, this is what I have:
Another view of the ocean with the sun setting from our main windows.
View from the other side of our building; the city of ShenZhen.
View From ShenZhen March 3, 2009
Posted by pjpajamas in china.Tags: hong kong, shenzhen, view
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View from ShenZhen to Hong Kong.
This is the view from the balcony of where I stayed in ShenZhen. It’s hard to tell, but across the way is Hong Kong.
Babies Sick February 23, 2009
Posted by pjpajamas in family life.Tags: sick babies
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My babies are sick, both of them. Started with a cough. Now it’s a cough and a fever. The older one is also vomiting. The younger one is doing better, maybe because he’s still breastfeeding.
It’s one of those things where my medical knowledge starts to conflict with everything else in my brain.
When do I give acetaminophen? Some website say over 100, some say 103. Who came up with the arbitrary number? Didn’t my school give a lecture about how fevers are really not dangerous?
And then when do I call the doctor? When do I go to the doctor?
If I hadn’t already done an ER rotation, I would probably be at the doctors. But now that I’ve worked in a ER, I know the kid should be really really sick or else we would be waiting around for hours just to be kicked out. On my ER rotation, I pretty much had to kick out all of the pediatric cases that I saw.
Now, why isn’t the doctor calling back?
It’s going to be a couple of long nights…
Sam’s Club / Walmart in China February 10, 2009
Posted by pjpajamas in china.Tags: china, sam's club, walmart
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I’ve never been to a Sam’s Club in US, but I assume it’s huge like a Costco. I’ve been to Walmart. I think people can agree with me when I say it’s where we go for the cheap stuff. Not so good quality, but cheap.
So there’s a lot of things that we’re used to having in the US, that’s kind of hard to buy in China. Not impossible, just not usually at the local farmer’s market. So we go to a nearby Sam’s Club/Walmart. It’s just simple things like butter and cheese.
First of all the parking lot is truly kickass. There’s a little light and sensor above each parking space. It’s red of there’s a car and green if it’s empty. Instead of driving slowly around looking carefully for a space, you can go straight to the green. I love it. There are always things like this that I wonder why isn’t really incorporated in US. But then, it’s never quite as crowded in the US as it is in China.
The other thing I noticed is that everything at Sam’s Club/Walmart is really high-end and expensive compared to the local stores. I’m not very good with brands and such, but I do know Clarks just because I have a pair for work. Sam’s Club/Walmart had a little stand for Clarks.
Going straight to the butter/cheese. It’s interesting, because here at a local supermarket you can find like a dozen different brand of cheese and butter. There probably isn’t a huge difference between them, but the point is that the market is really saturated.
There at China Sam’s Club/Walmart, there was only one brand of cheese and butter. Not the brand that I buy in the US. I’m sure this brand had to cut a deal with Walmart.
I can’t help but think that the US brands that haven’t made it into China are probably missing out on some profits.
Another brand I love and was able to still get in China – Dreyer’s ice cream. A lot of brands, even though it’s technically the same brand, the product is extremely different. I don’t really understand it. Well I understand that the “American” brand bought in China, is really made in China. But isn’t the “American” brand bought in America also made in China?
I’ve written before about how Mead Johnson’s Enfamil’s formula is really disgustingly sweet and completely different in the two countries. One label – two different products.
Now I’m writing – the Dreyer’s ice-cream is even better in China.
