Happy things happening: 9 days in Manchester 曼徹斯特慢活的日子

I cried the night before hubby flew to Sweden.

Staying with my 2 years old by myself in a country that I had only known for 6 days was something that called for a lot of energy to not turn our life upside down. The routines were very different from home. Back in the United States, Lindsay sleeps by herself in her own room. I am free after 8pm everyday. Here I had to share the bed with Lindsay in my friend's flat. And it became more challenging when the bed was a kid bed, probably half size as a US single bed. Lindsay kicked me out of the bed more than 5 times each night and whined in her sleep as if I was the one who span around all night and acted annoying.

So I was so scared when I faced the fact that Chan had to go by tomorrow. What if I can't handle a cranky toddler? What if I lose my temper when I undergo sleep deprivation? What if Lindsay throws a tantrum as my friend's baby girl is sleeping in the next room?

OK. I didn't miss any of these. Every single drama that a mom would encounter with a sleepless, cranky, and fuzzy toddler happened to me. I was living in the hell in our 9 days in Manchester. Not just us. We turned our friend's 8 month old baby into evil too. I felt so bad that she had to cry from exhaustion every evening. So depressing. Both girls are such a sweetheart apart. I didn't really ask (how dare would I), but I guess my friend must have regretted a lot to have us stay. LOL

Each day was difficult; however, our fun was not any less.

Manchester is a huge manufacturing city. Not so many things to see, but when it comes to shopping, it is comparable with London. Maybe a bit overstated, but the retailers and department stores along Market street were plenty enough for my girl and I to spend 8 hours pottering around. Almost every popular brand could be found here and was allegedly cheaper here when comparing to London. My hubby bought two pairs of Clarks shoes for just about 120 USD on the first day and I met my new favorite handbag by Alexander Mcqueen. But I didn't get the 1400 ponds handbag. It was way beyond my budget, plus I was very satisfied with what I've got in London. hehehe... Even so, window shopping was a fun thing to do though. In Tucson, I never saw Alexander Mcqueen's products in person , so I was very happy that I got to touch it. Besides, just learning that it's a British brand name was already exciting and made me feel I am fashionable as well. How silly. LOL

For Chinese like us, dinning at good restaurants also made the trip really memorable. My friends introduced us to a couple of her mommy friends in Manchester. They were all from home and very hospitable. Because of them we'd tried a good Spanish restaurant and had a nice afternoon tea in the Manchester town hall, which has a restaurant that most locals don't even know its existence.

I missed Chinese bakeries so much too and was lucky to have authentic Chinese breads here. Just in case you are curious, Chinese breads are more moisturized and very soft and fluffy. We bought a bunch of breads as well as two cups of hot boba milk tea to go with. It's kind of funny. I never had Hong Kong styled polo buns with butter before and had my first one in UK instead of any Asian countries. And they were sooooo good. I believed they are very authentic because it seems that the staff and cooks in the bakery are all from Hong Kong. Best Chinese tea time ever!!! Oh..I started drooling again just thinking of the leisure afternoon when we ate a lot of breads and chatted in my friends's flat....

One morning in Stay and Play group was also a precious experience for Lindsay and I.

Stay and Play is a wide spreading club or group in the United States. It advocates the idea that kids learn from play, with engagement of parents, such as guide them to solve problems in the game and teach them to share things with other kids and so. But it seems not so well developed in the organization that we went with my friend's friend. I was so surprised that the instructor spent more time getting me to fill in some paperwork, instead of explaining everything to me. At snack time, she didn't escort kids to wash their hands, so most of kids just jumped right into the eating part. When the instructor served grapes to the tables, kids scrambled and devoured all the grapes right away as if they had been hungry for so long. Lindsay didn't get any and it was all gone before she walked to the other table. Before I could stand up to console Lindsay, a mother handed one grape and a piece of apple to Lindsay from her 4 years old who grasped a bunch in her hand. I doubt it's normal that the instructor didn't intervene in the situation the whole time. Other than that, we actually had a great time playing with toys and listening to the cute British accent coming from those adorable little Britishers. And being able to see different facilities between countries made me deeply realize how much great resource we've owned...

在歐洲旅遊的中途，因為老公要獨自一個人去瑞典開會，給了我在人生地不熟的英國自己帶著小童流浪的機會，...只能說真是太可怕了。平常在家裡自己帶小QQ, 都是差不多下午4點多就快陣亡了, 因為一整天下來我們也差不多都累了, 小孩會愈來愈歡, 而媽媽則是愈來愈沒耐心, 五點半老公一回到家我就會立刻把小QQ塞給他, 快帶走她吧...

這次我卻有整整9天的時間要自己和小QQ待在英國, 想到就想哭。小QQ粘皮糖的個性, 帶著她旅行連要停下來看個路標和地圖都很困難, 只要我的注意力不在她身上, 她就會一直「媽媽, 媽媽, 媽媽...」的叫不停, 實在很容易讓人火一直冒上來。

於是老公要出發到瑞典的前一個晚上，我竟然就不爭氣的哭了。不過, 因為老公不放心我們母女, 所以其實是在曼徹斯特的朋友家借住, 雖然每天都被小QQ踢下床, 每天都沒睡飽, 雖然每天都精神緊繃, 擔心小QQ的哭鬧聲會吵到朋友那8個月大的寶寶, 但我們還是撐過來了。不過不會再有第二次就是了，真的太累了。

在曼城的旅行是步調很慢的。不過話說回來, 帶著小QQ一起旅行, 不管在倫敦或巴黎等大城市, 我們也都沒在趕時間的, 因為有能力帶小孩一起感受這世界才是無價的, 回到家跟老公聊著旅程時, 她也能在旁邊笑著點頭或插話的那種默契, 深深感動著老公和我, 再累還是會拖著這個小人兒一起。

曼城是個很大的工業城、繁華的城市。雖然沒有什麼著名的景點，但對愛逛街或隨便走隨便看的人仍是可以玩得很開心。據友人說倫敦可以買到的東西，曼城都可以找得到，甚至價格還比較低。我就在這裡愛上Alexander Mcqueen這個品牌，以前對這個品牌的認識只停留在蕭亞軒戴過而大紅的骷髏頭絲巾，這次摸到它的包包，覺得那硬質的質感和包款根本就是我的菜啊。不過一個要價1400英磅，整個超出預算太多了(其實是要把預算留給巴黎，嘻嘻)。除了好逛，我也喜歡曼城具現代感的大樓和英式紅磚建築交錯存在的感覺，加上涼涼的天氣，光是散步也能讓人心情好好。

在曼城的這段期間，我們借住的是大學同學的公寓，不過因為他要上班，所以大部份時間是他的老婆Yuting陪著我們，雖然去之前完全不認識Yuting, 但她的親和力讓人一見如故，所以我們很幸運地可以自在地住在他們家。透過yuting我們還認識了嫁到英國的Icho，Icho非常的熱情，她的熱心好客會讓人不自覺檢討起自己是不是有用同樣的生命力在活著。因為Icho和yuting的熱情招待，讓我們在曼城天天吃香喝辣，也聽到不少有關英國的壞話文化。

同樣透過Yuting, 我們認識了另一位媽媽Rita，還因此跟她一起去體驗了英國的親子同玩幼兒啟發活動(Stay and Play)。這種課程在美國也是很流行，小QQ一歲多時我每個星期都會帶她去上課。它的宗旨是希望透過遊戲的過程讓小孩學習成長, 而父母在旁引導孩子解決問題與教導分享和輪流等等概念。不過我們去的那個單位其實有點讓人小失望，感覺上帶領當天活動的老師似乎不是很專業，尤其是在點心時間時，小朋友們搶食成一團，年紀較大的小朋友秒殺桌上的點心，2-3歲的幼兒根本就來不及拿。最後還是一位媽媽分了她女兒手上的一片蘋果和一顆葡萄給小QQ的。老師從頭到尾只站在旁邊跟一位媽媽聊天，完全沒有介入，讓我有點傻眼。其實我真的很想跟Rita說：可以考慮去別間看看哦。不過除此以外，小QQ還是自己做勞作做得很開心啦XD

總之，在曼城的旅遊雖然比較像生活，但體驗到的東西一點也不比參觀景點少，是慢慢慢慢感受英國的攸閒時光。

typical whether in UK, cloudy and grayish.
扺達曼徹斯特第一天, 典型的英國天氣, 灰灰暗暗的。

Went straight to Mothercare to shop for a stroller the day we arrived at Manchester.

一到曼城就先殺去Mothercare買推車，看到最愛的沙子就離不開了

Lindsay insisted on trying every stroller, even the baby car seat.

小QQ每一台都要試坐看看，連嬰兒的汽座也不放過。
原本以為英國可以找到很多歐洲進口的品牌，但完全沒看到，而且美國品牌Graco居然
佔了半個展場，最後買了mothercare自家品牌的推車(就是之後照片中橘色那台)。

Barely see a building taller than 2 stories in Tucson. Lindsay was so excited
about the building across our friend's flat and started to count the cars parked
by the building.

在Tucson每天看到的建築物大概都是1-2層樓, 第一天起床看到這種大樓,
覺得很新奇, 還一直數著下面停靠的車子有幾台。

meeting with my friend's baby girl. Lindsay's a bit afraid of babies,
so I knew she tried really hard to get close to my friend's baby.
很怕嬰兒的小QQ試著與朋友的小孩親近

哈哈, 她真的很怕嬰兒, 即使被玩著頭髮也不敢移動

After a couple days, they had become friends. Yeah...Lindsay conquered her fear of babies.
過了幾天後, 變成可以相安無事的好伙伴了

Manchester Piccadilly 曼城市區

Shopping at Primark: a popular fast fashion chain store in UK. Found some shapewears that work really well for the price and still love them after I've worn them for 2 months.

比台灣夜市還便宜的英國流行服飾店Primark, 在這裡買到穿起來身材立刻變挺的

塑身衣褲, 雖然品質不能要求, 但回到美國已經洗過至少10次了, 效果還是很不錯。

Costa coffee: UK's starbucks, as you may call it.
我喜歡Costa咖啡店的藍莓馬芬蛋糕，不甜不膩。
原以為英國的每一家店都是清淡飲食，有天開心地與友人來星巴克喝咖啡，
但想不到星巴克的甜點還是立刻把我拉回美國，太可怕了。

In a stay and play group's play time.
英國的Stay and Play幼兒啟發社團

Crafting is Lindsay's all time favorite.

只要給QQ一份勞作材料，她就可以玩很久。

Snacktime at Stay and Play
點心一端出來就被搶光光, 還好旁邊的媽媽分了一片蘋果和葡萄給小QQ

Stimulation room
感官刺激學習室

Love the naughty face of Lindsay in this picture.

Stay and Play時間結束，和友人散步到郵局。等朋友寄信中，

拍了這張照片，QQ太俏皮了XD

The post office in UK sells food?!

英國郵局有賣吃的，好不習慣哦。美國的郵局就跟台灣的很像。

Having high tea in Manchester town hall

在曼城市政廳喝下午茶

I won't recommend the food, but the town hall itself is definitely worth a visit.

老實說沒被食物驚豔到，但這麼氣派的市政廳還是值得造訪一次。

在娃娃車上睡了一覺, 醒來看到吃的立刻心花怒放

Thank you for your kind hosting, Icho and Yuting. We had a great time.
認識了非常熱心的Icho和Yuting, 和兩個可愛的寶寶Alicia和萱萱。

having paella at Spanish restaurant

一起去吃好吃的西班牙燉飯

這天中午喝了一杯西班牙的水果酒Sangria，結果下午不勝酒力，醉到把小QQ丟給朋友，我自己吐完後就倒在沙潑上睡覺。但最刺激的是小QQ被我嘔吐的樣子嚇到，居然吃飯吃到一半全部吐出來，還很好心的全部對準在沙發上睡著的我，於是我就這樣帶著醉意地清理沙發, 帶小QQ去洗澡。

Icho, who married a British, showing us how to eat scones in the British way. Smear a large amount of butter first. On top of it is another half inch thick of jam.

英國媳婦Icho介紹我們道地的scone吃法。就是要先塗上一層厚厚的奶油和厚厚的果醬。