Hills of Hayward

Last December, I wrote a post about why I don’t wash my car. Seems like the news is getting worse for the Bay Area and the water shortage may be looming around the corner.

The record dry spell since February may require mandatory water rationing beginning as early as the next couple of weeks for Castro Valley and the 1.3 million customers of the East Bay Municipal Utility District.

Current data shows the Sierra snowpack that makes up the bulk of the district’s water supply is only yielding about half of what is normally expected in runoff.

Record Dry Period May Mean Rationing of Water

Update: And then the dominoes start to fall

Peninsula residents may see their water and sewer rates creep upward in the next few years as the regional water agency funds billions of dollars in upgrades to the area’s aging infrastructure.

The Redwood City Council approved rate hikes for residents this week, and other cities may soon follow suit. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, which manages the Hetch Hetchy reservoir serving four Bay Area counties, is expected to raise its wholesale water rates 7 percent to 10 percent in late May or early June.

Redwood City raises water rates, other cities may follow

Unfortunately, it seems like appeals for the general public to conserve falls on deaf ears. The fastest way to get the public to care and change is to hurt their pocketbooks.  Although the official reasoning is for water system improvements, I bet the problems with supply may have helped in the decision.

After seeing the roses in our garden blossom, I was reminded that it was probably rose season in the rose gardens of San Jose as well. We all took a trip down on saturday to enjoy the perfect weather.

Over the last year, my friend Peter and I have been discussing the thorny problem of planning for the education of our kids. Peter’s son will be starting elementary school in 2009, and he will be making major life decisions in the coming half year. I am lucky to have a friend like Peter to discuss the issues and see how he makes these important decisions.So Peter made three bets with me. The loser of each would treat the other to a meal. Peter bets me that:

1. Anders will never attend a public school in the Hayward School System
2. Christine and I will move out of Hayward for a neighborhood with a better school system
3. Christine and I will never spank Anders

These decisions are quite hard for me. Deep down I have always been a contrarian from everything from stock investments to lifestyle choices. I tend towards to choose the “different” path that felt right to me, with less regard to what those around me think about the path, but when I start making decisions for Anders, my confidence in my alternative mindset starts to falter; and I start to doubt my decisions for him.

I have confidence in that the problems I see with the American educational system, immigrant family tendencies, and modern socio-economic dynamics are accurate, but how do I know my solutions to these problems are the right one for Anders? Am I leading him down a path that I chose for myself rather than one that fits him? Would he appreciate the contrarian mindset or see it as a burden and would rather be part of the mainstream society that drives me crazy? In an odd way, I am excited to see what decisions Christine and I make in the future.

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過去一年來, 我和我的朋友彼得討論我們孩子教育的棘手問題。彼得的兒子即將在2009 年進入小學, 而他也將在下半年做出人生上的重大決定。我很是幸運，有像彼得這樣的朋友談論這些問題並看他怎麼做出這些重要決定。因此彼得和我打了三個賭。每個賭輸的人要請對方吃晚餐。以下是彼得和我的三個賭:

1. Anders（揚揚）將不會上任何一所在Hayward的公立學校（PS. Hayward的學區不太好）
2. Christine 和我將會為了去一個有更好學校系統的地方而搬出Hayward
3. Christine 和我決不會打Anders 。

這些決定對我而言是相當困難的。我一向是個崇尚非主流而常常特異獨行的人，從股票投資到對生活方式的選擇均是如此。我總是傾向於選擇也許是和一般人不同，但卻能讓自己心安的路，一般人可能對於我的選擇會有意見，但我多半不太在意。 但當我開始為Anders的將來做決定時, 我對於自己這種不受世俗準則影響心態的信心卻開始動搖。我開始懷疑我為他做的決定。

我在自己對美國教育系統問題, 移民家庭趨勢, 或現代社會經濟變化是很有信心而且相信是準確的, 可是我怎麼知道我對這些問題的解決之道會對Anders有益而且正確呢? 我會引導他走了一條我為我自己選擇而不是一個適合他的道路嗎? 他會懂得並欣賞我這種崇尚非主流的想法或反而覺得是一種負擔而寧可當那另我厭煩的主流社會的一份子呢?奇怪的是, 我卻迫不及待地想知道到底Christine和我會在將來做出怎麼樣的決定。

This one is awesome. Click to expand.

It feels like Sunday today since I took care of little Anders myself. (I only took care of Anders full-time on Sundays since it used to be Nanny’s Wang’s day off.) Why I took care of him myself?

Because we sent our new nanny home…

The new nanny happened to be “Nanny Wang” as well but I’ll just call her New Nanny #1. Who knows if we will have #2, #3 and so on?!

Day 0 (Saturday) —

New Nanny #1 arrived at 10:00 AM in the morning. Her cousin drove her to our place and chatted with us for an hour before he left. He wanted to make sure everything was okay. Nanny Wang was still here and she took care of our little meatball (oh, did I mention in any other post that Harrison likes to call him little meatball? ) to show New Nanny #1 about every single detail that she can think of. That day went fine and the New Nanny #1 seemed to understand what Nanny Wang was showing and teaching her. It seemed to be a good “transition.”

That evening, Nanny Wang teared! She was crying when she said Goodbye to our little one and holding him in her arms and didn’t want to let go. I was very sad too. My eyes were wet and my heart ached badly.

Day 1 (Sunday) –

That first night, Anders woke up every hour. I felt bad for New Nanny #1 and also worried about Anders. I was in their room every time when Anders woke up. I was trying to teach every tip I used to calm him down and to make him fall asleep again. I was also worried that Anders will scare the new nanny away. I took over Anders at 5:00 AM so New Nanny #1 can have a few hours good sleep.

That first day, New Nanny #1 wasn’t able to feed little piggy a single meal whether it’s a bottle of formula or a small bowl of rice cereal. Not even once. Either Anders was crying hard and refused to drink or the spoon just could not bring the food into his mouth successfully. I have to take over the jobs and finish the feedings.

She did not know how to give Anders a bath and her diaper-changing job is even slower than Harrison. I can understand that the previous kid she took care of was already 1.5 years old when she started. However, I though that it should be all coming back to her easily since she’s taken care of her own kid and her siblings’ not so long ago. Apparently I was wrong.

Nanny Wang called us in the morning that day. She was worried about little Anders.

Day 2 (Monday) —

The second night, Anders was sleeping better than he was the night before. He only woke up every two hours. Yeah, that was considered “better!” Today, she can feed Anders a little bit more. However, it didn’t seem that she knew how to play with Anders and kept him entertained. Playing his toys, reading books to him or just holding him walking around looking at trees and flowers… All these were so natural to Nanny Wang and myself but she didn’t seem to feel easy when she did these.

She also has strong opinions on the way things should be – how we should clean the house, how Anders should poo poo everyday, how we should feed him, and so on. She was also very proud of her family and being picky on food. I mean picky picky. To her, it was a symbol that she came from a well-off family and highly educated. She said, “you probably feel that I’m different from most of people from China…..”

The turning point to me is that she has comments on everything and she asked me for everything. She didn’t know how to count the hours for Anders’ next meal after I already told her Anders’ schedule. She even didn’t believe me for how to use the electronic rice cooker that I used everyday. Here was how it went: I taught her to turn on the warmer’s switch so the rice cooker can keep the rice warm until we are ready to eat. And she said, “Can this thing really keep it warm? I don’t think so. It cannot do it.” Things like this happens all the time.

What blows Harrison away though is the dinner she cooked. I told her to “marinate” the beef 1-2 hours before it’s cooked. I tasted the beef and it did not feel right. Well, to be exact, it did not taste anything, not to mention it was supposed to be marinated for 2 hours. It turned out that she only slightly wiped the sauce on the beef and she thought that was so called “marinate.” I’m fine if she doesn’t know how to cook and I can certainly teach her. However, she kept saying that she was soooo good at cooking and she was missing this sauce and that spice. The fact that she doesn’t understand what “marinate” means blew Harrison away. Funny huh?!

That night, Harrison and I talked. I didn’t think I would have my ease of mind if she continues taking care of our little Anders. Harrison didn’t think our relationship could last in good terms for too long. I wanted to let her try a few more days and I thought things might turn better. Harrison thought that we should make our decision and let her know as early as possible.

That night, my heart ached again… For a different reason this time.

I felt bad for her. I know she’s picky on food and that was her own fault. It was not like we did not let her eat or did not try to make it easy on her. However, my heart still ached when I knew that she might be hungry and stressed. And I knew she was nervous and trying hard.

So, my heart ached! I finally knew how a manager would feel when he needs to lay off someone.

Day 3 (Tuesday) –

I planned to tell her first thing in the morning but… She cooked fired rice in the morning for our breakfast. For a moment, I had the second thought that it might work out after all…

Well, I cannot feel peace in my mind the whole morning so I decided to tell her. Once I broke the news to her, I felt fine. I guess it was the right thing to do. We drove her home and it was the end of our experience with the first new nanny.

Peter was laughing. He said, “you were too lucky to have such a good nanny as your first one. Now your expectation is too high.” Is that really true? I guess so but I hope not. I wish we could still find a good one. Now I admire my friend, Danke, so much. I always listened to her nanny experiences and stories. I couldn’t understand how could some of the things she told me really happen. Now I understand since I’ve been there once!

I’m lacking of motivations to find the next nanny. I don’t know if we can find a decent one and I don’t know how to handle my mixed feelings and emotions. I guess it is the life.