This past weekend Cameron and I threw ourselves a baby gender reveal party (you’ll have to watch the video to find out what it is!). Ever since I heard about this new trend a year or two ago, I knew I had to jump on the bandwagon. It was a challenge finding good decorations without a Hobby Lobby or Party City down the street, but I went on a scavenger hunt of sorts looking for anything pale pink and blue. After a few hours biking around, I did find a few decorations that did the trick.

Initially we only invited our American friends to come, but after our Chinese friends found out about the party they really wanted to come too. This came as a bit of a surprise, because usually when we invite them to things they say, “I will if I don’t have something” or “maybe.” This is a common response among Chinese people especially if you ask them too far in advance (more than 3 days prior). Cameron and I have not quite figured out the explanation for this cultural difference, but neither have some of our friends who have been here a lot longer than us. For our gender reveal party; however, they were really curious what it was all about.

Our doctor’s appointment was scheduled for the day of the party which was a bit risky since the doctor had told us that there was always a chance that the baby was not going to be in the right position to see anything. Doctors can’t technically tell people what the sex of the baby is, but for foreigners they normally make exceptions. We brought our friend along so the doctor could just whisper it to her instead of putting it in writing. It was not until we were at the doctor’s appointment that we began to worry about what we were going to do if the doctor could not tell us what the sex of the baby was.

While we were waiting for the results, we talked about what we would tell our guests if the doctor didn’t know. My plan B was to just pick a color and hopefully we would be right. Cameron thought we should just leave the cake white and not tell anyone that we didn’t know until the cake was cut. Thankfully we did not have to resort to either of those plans because the doctor was able to tell our friend his opinion. After the appointment, our friend rushed home to put the appropriate colored icing in the cake, and we hurried home to get ready for our party, anxiously waiting to learn whether Baby G would play football or wear dresses. Cameron says he is still OK if the kid does both so long as it plays football.

The party turned out to be really fun, and I think our Chinese friends enjoyed being a part of the surprise. I was a little shocked at the outcome since I was guessing the opposite sex. Now that we know, we are super excited and having fun trying to pick a name.

As Cameron and I are adjusting to this new culture, we are learning quickly that Chinese people are not short on advice especially when it comes to things-not-to-do-while-bring pregnant. A couple weeks ago, I made the mistake of telling one of my teachers that I was headed to get some highlights done at a nearby hair salon.

The next day Cameron was taken a bit off-guard when his teacher casually mentioned that the teachers were concerned about me getting highlights. After Cameron shared their concern with me, I was alarmed at first thinking I had unknowingly hurt the baby. After doing some online research I decided that getting highlights while pregnant was not that big of deal. It was a couple days after that when another teacher asked Cameron why I was wearing make-up. She told him that people here in China don’t wear make-up or nail polish while they are pregnant because they believe that there are chemicals in the make-up that can hurt the baby.  I didn’t bother doing any research on that because I thought that sounded plain ridiculous.

As the weeks have gone by, they have continued to express their concern about me eating ice cream (too cold), my face being too skinny, our habit of walking to school (too much physical exertion), and the list goes on. Despite our American upbringing, Cameron and I have received all their advice graciously. Every once-in-awhile, the feeling of irritation rises up in me, but I try to remember that the reason they give so much advice is because that is the way they show concern. For example, if someone here says, “I have been very sick the past week”, I should not say “I am sorry to hear that.” That would indicate that somehow I am the cause of their sickness. I should say something like “You should go to the hospital”, “Drink more water”, or “Get more rest.” I have to admit, when people here tell me they are sick, I can’t bring myself to start giving them advice. Even though I know that is completely normal and even polite here in China, I just can’t help but feel rude. It is quite fascinating that something can be interpreted as rude in one culture, but polite in another.

Last week we had another cultural learning experience during a lunch with some teachers and students. We were talking about the upcoming annual camping trip to the Great Wall that our school goes on every year. I mentioned to the teachers how excited I was at the chance to sleep in a tent on such a historical site. Much to my disappointment, the teachers said that we could no longer camp on the Great Wall so we would be staying in a lodge nearby. I asked them the reason for the change of plans and they said, “Haven’t you heard that there are wolves near the Great Wall? It’s not safe to sleep outside because the wolves will eat you!” Cameron and I both laughed out loud thinking they were kidding, but as the conversation continued we realized they were completely serious. We both left lunch wondering what on earth made them think wolves eat people while they sleep. For the remainder of the day, Cameron and I turned this into a philosophical discussion as we pondered why they believe wolves eat people and why we believe that wolves don’t.

The picture below is from a school field trip during which we visited a school for kids training to be in opera someday. As we walked around the school, we saw different groups of students working on skills such as gymnastics, playing instruments, or what I would describe as “pretend fighting with sticks.” We never saw any singing, performing, or acting so I am not sure how those skills tie into opera exactly, but it was still interesting to see. We have noticed that Chinese people are very repetitive in everything they do and learn. When they are little, they spend hours and hours perfecting characters. When they exercise, they do the same type of exercise every day, in the exact same location, for the same amount of time each day (i.e. rolling blading in the same figure-eight pattern over and over again). At this school, in particular, I assume the students spent countless hours perfecting one skill. Even though I am Type A and love routine, I still have trouble understanding how they don’t get bored with such extreme repetition. As we learn more and more about this new culture, we are realizing that the differences in culture run so deep that they are often too hard to explain in words.

Sunday's snow storm

One of my American friends had a birthday a couple of weeks ago. As any courteous friend would do I asked, “What do you want to do for your birthday?” There’s not a lot of us here, so we try to stick together and celebrate holidays, birthdays, and such. I expected the usual, go downtown to Starbucks, maybe find some western food, smoke a cigar, or something like that. What I did not expect was the words that came out of his mouth. “Let’s go to the bath house.”

My impression of Asian bathhouses is the same as yours. I won’t describe what I imagined, but I believe your imagination is similar to mine. The idea of Asian bathhouses made me feel… well, dirty. Like wash-my-eyes-and-take-a-shower dirty.

My friend is about as quality of a guy as you’ll meet so I trusted his judgment. We met a few other guys in in the parking lot of a large, 5 story, but non-descript building. The 5 of us walked in to what looked like any typical hotel lobby, took off our shoes, were given locker keys, and were pointed to what appeared to be a men’s locker room. It was one of those experiences where you expect to turn the corner and simply be shocked.

The locker room was row after row of absolutely immaculate wood lockers with very classy lighting. I was escorted to my locker and given a 6 in. X 6 in. hand towel. My first thought was “this towel must not be intended to be wrapped around my waist.” One of my American friends and I were in the first row, but we couldn’t see a single other person. The situation seemed to indicate it was time to undress. Living in foreign culture, your mind becomes accustomed to making decisions based upon limited information. However if you make the wrong decision based upon the given information, it’s pretty easy to play the “foreigner card” and get out of any problems. However, when you get completely naked and walk into a public area, you had better be right. The “foreigner card” doesn’t include nudity no matter what country you find yourself in.

But I went with my gut, undressed, and confidently walked with my 6 in. X 6 in. hand towel toward the other end of the locker room. When I turned the corner, there stood my five friends, masquerading the same confidence I also wore. What we walked into is nearly indescribable. In one word, it was …. awesome.

The spa area of this bath house was probably 3,000 square feet with a hot tub the size of 3 swimming pools, steam rooms and saunas with scaled temperatures from medium to scalding. Palm trees and mood lighting trimmed the room. There was a even a palm tree with lights on an island in the middle of the hot tub. It felt like I’d walked into the casino of the Treasure Island Hotel in Las Vegas, but replace poker tables with hot tubs, and cards with hand towels.

It was truly a family affair with dozens of people. Dads played with their kids, ranging from 3 years old and up. Teenagers, young men, businessmen, and old men alike, sat and talked for hours, occasionally moving from one pool to the next.

Two hours later, we walked and were given towels to dry off and these silky, flowy shirt-short combos that we were to wear  as we walked to the buffet and ate dinner. We were escorted to the buffet, and when we entered I was amazed. The women and men were now back together, and all of us to the person were wearing the exact same silky, mu-mu like outfits. The buffet table was 30 feet long and loaded, I mean loaded, with food ranging from duck, to noodles, to dumplings, to a large bowl of grubs. People were lounging around with their wet hair and mu-mu’s eating all varieties of food. “This has to be what Rome was like,” remarked one of my friends. I couldn’t agree more. However something about the lack of clothing in such close proximity to the food made me a little leery, but as the cliche goes, “When in Rome…” So I ate till I couldn’t eat any more.

Chinese bath houses are a family affair (most of the time anyways). As a whole, Chinese people are incredibly modest people, and there was nothing gross about the establishment, nothing gross about the people, and nothing gross about what they were doing. However, I am not Chinese, so it took everything I had to play it cool, not giggle, and especially not at anytime look down.

It snowed here for the first time all winter on Sunday, which was really refreshing to wake up to. No smog, and 4 inches of white powder everywhere. All else is well here, Jennifer is feeling much much better. I am pumped because, as of now we are calling the baby Gus, named after Augustus McCrae from Lonesome Dove. It’ll never stick, but it’ll work for now. We are making a lot of new friends and getting to spend some really quality time with them. Kevin is one of my newer friends, and I think very very highly of him. The picture is of he and I hanging out in his little one room apartment.

Me and Kevin

What seemed to be the never-ending winter break finally ended last Monday when we returned back to school. The break was a nice time to able to catch up on things and let our brains rest, but for me it was also a time when I felt the first feelings of homesickness. The cold weather, smoggy days, and endless city skyline made me wish I had my car back so that I could just drive out to the lake again to spend some fun time with the family. Although processing feelings is a good thing, it seems to be a slippery slope with homesickness. We want to acknowledge when we miss home, but want to avoid dwelling on such thoughts to the point where they consume our minds.

Another reason I felt out-of-commission during our winter break was that I was going through my first trimester and feeling quite ill. Yes, for those of you who don’t know yet, Cameron and I are expecting! I am currently 14 weeks.  It has just been the two of us for more than 8 years so adding a third member to our family is a little scary.  Poor Cameron had to hear me complain about how bad I felt for about 2 months. I feel guilty to admit that when Cameron got a stomach bug last week I felt like there was some justice in the world. Thankfully, Cameron and I are both feeling better this week!

The newest member of the family

Cameron and I have shared some laughs about the misconceptions about raising a child here. One of the first things people wonder is if we are having the baby here. Yes, we are having the baby here AND before the thoughts of us birthing our child at a shady Chinese hospital run through your head, we are planning to go to a new Western-style hospital that opened up close to us. This hospital is impeccably clean, uses Western-style medical practices and is very accustomed to foreigners. Our doctor went to school and worked at a hospital in Houston for most of us his life before he came here to take care of his father. He even talked football with Cameron which apparently is the mark of a great doctor (according to my husband).

We also get lots of questions about how we are going to get around with a baby. No, we won’t be strapping our 3 month old to the back of a motorcycle, but we will have to do things a little differently from the States. Taxis are relatively cheap here, so we will be taking taxis when necessary. Unfortunately, taxis often don’t have seat belts which means we can’t buckle the car seat down; however due to traffic, the taxis here usually drive between 15 and 20 mph so the risk of getting in a car wreck is very low. Of course, my mom was not too pleased when I joked about riding with the baby Brittany Spears style. I think she was not sure if I was kidding or not!

Diapers have also been a popular question since most Chinese parents don’t buy them.  Young children here have a large slit up the back of their pants and somehow the parents potty train them almost from birth. Fortunately, we can buy diapers across the street at the large supermarket. Cameron did just about fall out of his chair when I threw out the idea of using cloth diapers. A friend of ours uses cloth diapers and I thought it actually looked manageable, but it is probably best to stick with what we know.

No need for diapers when you own a pair of split pants!

Truth is, we all share those misconceptions, even Cameron and I. We still are learning daily about all the ways that life here is different from the States and the ways it is the same.

Cameron and I just returned from a conference which was held in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Before our trip I was not sure what to expect going to Thailand. I didn’t know much about it other than the fact they have filmed a few Bachelor episodes there (the source of all knowledge, of course). Going to Thailand felt very adventurous which made me nervous. I have learned that I am not an adventurous person but often find myself doing adventurous things.

I don't look like a tourist, do I?

Since we had to fly through Bangkok to get to Chiang Mai, we decided to do a half-day bike tour of the city. I had heard that the traffic in Bangkok is horrendous (which was correct), so I decided a bike tour might be a more enjoyable way to see the city. I am so glad that I was right, because we had a great time seeing the city by bike. Not only did we get to see a handful of popular tourist sites, but we also got a good feel of what life was like for a Bangkok local. The guides took us through many side streets and alleys to avoid the more treacherous main roads. I was surprised at how many people drove motorcycles in Bangkok. We had to be extra cautious because the motorcycles weaved in and out of cars really fast.

In the evening we walked down the street to an off-the-beaten path Thai restaurant.  Much to our disappointment, we discovered that Thai food in Thailand is not as delicious as the Thai food in America. I am not sure why I was surprised to learn that American Thai food has much more cream, sugar, and salt than authentic Thai food. Go figure!

A large Buddhist temple

The next day we flew to Chiang Mai and met the rest of our group at a hotel on the edge of town. I didn’t realize how much I missed clear blue skies and nature until I got there. I nearly cried seeing the beautiful hills, flowers, trees, and sky. All week I just kept staring outside in awe of the beauty. One thing I didn’t enjoy seeing again was bugs. I spent a lot of the week dodging strange looking creatures and squealing when one got too close. I was a bit of a recluse during the week as I found myself just wanting to listen to the birds and sounds outside instead of to the normal honking we hear everyday in China.

It was a bit balmy in Thailand, but we were not complaining!

On our way back from Thailand, we did run into some problems. The best flight I could find returned to Beijing at 12:55am, but our flight was an hour late leaving Bangkok, so we didn’t get to Beijing until 1:55am. To make matters worse, we had arranged for a driver to pick us up at the airport and drive us 2 hours back home; however, the driver did not show up. We happened to be traveling with another family who had four young kids, so we were all feeling a bit hopeless at that point. Our best option was a shady taxi driver who kept following us around throwing out outrageous prices to take us back home. We finally decided to strike a deal with the shady taxi driver, but he kept changing the price and being sneaky in ways that made us quite uneasy. Not only that, but he said knew where we lived, but as we got closer to home it was apparent that he didn’t. As we kept expecting to see the city lights on the horizon, we never did. Finally as we realized we were about 5-10 miles west of the city, we paid a different taxi driver to allow our drivers to follow them. We managed to make it back home at 6:15am on a Sunday morning and crawl into bed. I have a feeling that won’t be the last time we deal with that issue. You never know what to expect in China!

Understand this. I truly make an effort not to stereotype, but make every attempt to read people and culture based upon my own experience of them, not based upon what I read or am told. Before I had ever to been China, I thought Chinese New Years was some strange holiday that included lots of people dressed up as dragons dancing together. I’d also read about buildings burning down as a result of firework explosions.

I was only half correct. I didn’t see any dancing dragons. It just involved an inordinate amount of explosions.

I am not kidding, remember the so called “shock and awe” campaign when the U.S invaded Iraq in 2003? That is child’s play compared to Chinese New Years. I can prove it too, I was shooting a video to capture the feel and sounds of the evening just minutes before midnight. The apartment complex was literally shaking from the thunderous booms and the horizon was filled with fireworks. It was a moment I had to capture. I had been sticking my head out the window shooting a video for about a minute when what seemed like a nuclear weapon exploded several floors below and nearly had the upper portion of my body blown off! Here it is…

Chinese New Year celebrates the lunar new year and many other cultures have historically celebrated that. Culturally, it feels like you combined the 4th of July and Christmas. Not combined as if it were half of each, but both of them together. Its like the 4th of July because of the fireworks. Except here, you make your own firework show right outside your front door. We’re not talking sparklers either, we’re talking about the big ones that you go to the country club to watch! And there’s firework stands on every corner.

It’s like Christmas in that literally everyone is on vacation from work and everything is closed for an entire week. People give each other gifts, but these are much more practical in nature. Baskets full of 60 eggs, huge jugs of cooking oil, and other functional things seem to be the norm. Everyone goes to the house of their family on New Years Eve (which was Sunday evening here), and makes tons of dumplings from scratch together, and the custom is that it should be vegetarian so your body has clean start for the New Year. A very common kind of vegetarian dumping has blood & tofu inside which turns the dumpling sort of pinkish red. I am no expert, but that doesn’t sound to me like their vegetarianism has anything to do with the hippy kind in the U.S. I also think the health benefits received from the lack of consumption of meat is negated by the excessive consumption of bai jiu, a rice liquor. When I asked people this week what they were doing for Chinese New Year almost to the man I was told, “We go to my family’s house, eat dumplings, watch TV, drink bai jiu, and blow up a lot of fireworks.”

Sunday afternoon, we went over to some American friend’s apartment to celebrate. We tried to perfectly create the Chinese experience minus the excessive consumption of bai jiu and the blood & tofu dumplings (we had meat in ours). We watched some famous TV show that is similar the New Years Eve countdown Times Square, and then went outside to blow up an inordinate amount of fireworks with everyone else.

I walked to the vegetable market yesterday and it was amazing how dead it was. Only 3 vendors out of the normal 20 were there, but my friend and his wife who sell fruit were there so we talked, and being so empty there, we had time to chat for a while.

They asked me, “How do Americans celebrate Spring Festival (aka Chinese New Year)?” “We don’t,” I replied. Their jaws dropped and both looked at me like they’d seen a ghost, which was followed by what appeared to be expressions of pity on their faces as if I told them I hadn’t eaten in a week.

Having experienced Chinese New Year for the first time, I totally understand their pity and we are blessed to be here. It is something that entire family’s experience together, young and old, and it is THE celebration of the year. It is exponentially larger than any other holiday I’ve ever been a part of, and by far the most fun …except for when I nearly had my torso blown off when looking out the window!

Things slowed down a bit for us after Christmas. Our New Years was very uneventful, which is not out of the norm for us (we have never been the types to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop). However, we did not escape New Years without some sort of excitement. Around midnight, we were sleeping soundly when out of nowhere we heard a very loud boom just outside our window. We both sat straight up in bed and I let out a huge gasp which I think scared Cameron more than the loud boom.  For some reason our brains automatically assumed that North Korea was attacking, but we quickly realized it was huge  fireworks going off about 50 feet from our window. Much to our surprise, some people thought it was a great idea to set off a fireworks show across the street from our apartment. The fireworks just so happened to explode at our eye level (we are on the 7^th floor). I was convinced that they were going to set our building on fire, but thankfully they didn’t. I am still trying to get used to the fact that anyone can set off fireworks anywhere they want, anytime of day or night they want, and it is as normal as the sun shining. I am little nervous about what Chinese New Year will bring!

Last Monday and Tuesday Cameron and I had some time off from school, so I accepted a local friend’s invitation to give me a tour of a couple popular places in the city.  Of course, I didn’t realize that Tuesday was going to be the coldest day of the year thus far (high in the 20s with strong winds), which did not make sight-seeing all that enjoyable. The first place we went to was a Buddhist temple in the middle of town. We walked around for awhile looking at the ancient structures and the multitude of Buddha statues. Each Buddha statue had a different appearance, but all were very elaborate and large. My friend did her best to explain what different statues symbolized and what various people were doing in the temple. She also showed me the endless rituals that people did to promote good fortune, happiness, long life, and many riches.

The second place we went to was called the China House. The house was made almost completely out of pottery and was basically one big work of art. Some rich guy in the city designed it, filled the house with old furniture and antiques and opened it up for tours.

One tour guide was really eager to show me things and I am guessing practice his English, because he spent a long time telling me about the house.  He even showed me an old music box that was sitting behind some ropes with a blanket over it. He actually turned on this ancient music box and opened up the top so we could see the parts move inside. I felt a little guilty since the music box was on its last leg and I very likely could have been the last person to hear it play, but it was pretty cool. I guess it sometimes pays off to be a foreigner!

Our first Christmas away from home was surprisingly busy. We had school until the Wednesday before Christmas, which was difficult for me since after 8 years of being a teacher, I forget that most people don’t have two weeks off for Christmas vacation. Thankfully, we got off Thursday and Friday even though all local Chinese people continue with their normal work and school schedule.

Cameron and some friends from school making Christmas cookies

On Thursday night, we went to Cameron’s teacher’s house for dinner. Cameron’s teacher really wanted me to bring a cake, since baking is a skill that is unique to foreigners. I brought a pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing, and I was shocked at how quickly they devoured it using their hands (of course, the only option was chopsticks or hands, so they opted for hands). I was under the impression that Chinese people don’t like foods that are too sweet, but boy was I wrong!  They all had two pieces each and her 3-year-old daughter ate so much icing I was genuinely worried that she was going to get sick.

Dinner at Cameron's teacher's apartment

Cameron's teacher's daughter with a pound of icing in her mouth

 On Friday night, we were invited to go to an extremely nice gym across the street that was having an open house with all sorts of activities going on. An older man and his wife invited us to go, so we met them there at the gym. I definitely had a moment of culture shock when the wife led me into the locker room to put my jacket away. I was not expecting to see so many naked Chinese women walking around completely unbothered by being utterly exposed. I think I turned 5 shades of red and started staring at the walls, floor, lockers, and anything else that wasn’t moving (of course, they were all staring at me while I was so desperately avoiding any eye contact with them). After we left the locker room, I was in for another big surprise when she led me into the ping pong room. At this point, I was cursing Cameron in my head since I had no idea where he was at that time. My jaw hit the floor when the woman I was with started playing ping pong with another man. I couldn’t even see the ball she was hitting it so fast. I was extremely worried she was going to ask me to play, but thankfully she did not. Much to my relief, Cameron came to rescue me from the ping pong room shortly thereafter.

The kids' table during Christmas Eve brunch at a friend's house

On Christmas day, we did some shopping to find some funny gifts for my family’s white elephant gift exchange which we had planned to participate in via skype Monday morning. We found an endless amount of great gifts, but settled on some spicy fish flavored Lay’s potato chips, red men’s underwear with a gold dragon on them, some seaweed flavored Pringles, and a t-shirt with some non-sensical English phrases on it (it is very trendy to wear clothes with English words whether the words make sense or not). If you ever need humorous white elephant gifts, China is the place to get them!

On Christmas evening, we rode in a taxi to the Italian area of town. Our city has several old districts that essentially used to be European colonies and therefore have very unique architecture. We made reservations at a restaurant that looked pretty good online according to the 1 review I could find. However when we went in and sat down we discovered they had a set Christmas menu that started at $75. We might have thought about spending that much on a nice meal, but when we saw that the main entrée on the menu was tuna fish pizza, we quickly agreed that we needed to make an exit. Therefore, we made the walk-of-shame out of the restaurant with only a quick stop to tell the waitress that we “forgot our credit card.” We ended up going to a restaurant a couple doors down that was decent and had a great view of some beautiful Christmas décor. The best part of the evening was that Starbucks was just down the street. I was very thankful that our evening turned out to be a good one.

Christmas has definitely felt different this year in part because we have far less reminders of what time of year it is.  We did our best to decorate our apartment with one strand of lights, a small two-foot tree, and a few other odds and ends, but it hasn’t done a whole lot to get us in the Christmas spirit. Thank goodness for Pandora, because I have Christmas stations playing non-stop which drives Cameron crazy.  (There is only so much of Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas” that one person can hear. Not to mention endless versions of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside from the likes of Dean Martin all the way to Willie Nelson).

Even though China does not celebrate Christmas in the same way we do, I am surprised to find out that they do, in fact, partake in this holiday by going shopping (for themselves, I believe) and joining with friends or family for dinner on Christmas Eve.  At the same time, the entire holiday season is business as usual so work and school are all in session. There is a growing number of large department stores that have a sizeable section of Christmas decorations including trees, stockings, pictures of Santa, etc.  They even are playing Christmas music over the loudspeakers including songs like “Away in a Manger.”  I am guessing that 99.9% of Chinese people don’t understand the true meaning of the season which makes me wonder why they celebrate this holiday at all, but I realized it is no different from the way we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.  I think there are just some holidays that are fun to celebrate even though we have no clue what they are truly about!

The decorations outside a restaurant near our apartment.

It felt a little more like Christmas last weekend when I went to a soup and cookie exchange with some friends. For our male readers who, like my husband, have no clue what this is, we each sampled each other’s soup and cookies and then exchanged recipes. Ok, it is truly a girly thing to do, but I loved it! (And I think Cameron didn’t mind when I brought home cookies for him to eat.) I was especially happy that I was able to find and make a good cookie recipe in time.  Prior to our get-together, I had been a bit worried because I have never made cookies that weren’t the ready-bake kind. I did learn after trying 3 different recipes that margarine does not work well for cookies.  I realized I still have a long way to go in the cooking department!

Cookie and Soup Exchange

I also have to mention another interesting thing I saw on my run today.  It was 21 degrees this morning and the lake in the park is completely frozen over except for a few spots.  I was shocked to run by a group of about 10 older men, some of whom had rather large mid-sections, who were all wearing speedos. They were just getting out of the water from what I can only assume was a morning swim. I stopped to stare just of sheer bewilderment although I am not sure what I was more bewildered at, the big dudes in speedos or the fact it was 21 degrees outside. I always thought that swimming in a frozen lake meant instant death.  I guess I am wrong!

Jennifer bundled up for the ride home from school

For reasons beyond my comprehension, something hit me this week… I feel like the “luckiest” man in the world. To be able to here in China getting to do the stuff we get to do is just plain amazing.

This week was is a nice follow up from last week, which felt more like being dragged through the mud. Last week went south due to a couple of complications. First, I made a smoothie and totally forgot to wash the spinach (yes, I put spinach in smoothies). Forgetting to wash fruits and veggies from the market here is like issuing a death sentence to your innards. Enough of that, but I had to include it because it was part of the story.

Second, studying Chinese can be quite the beat-down. We are in class 2 hours a day, followed by 1 hour of tutoring (all one-on-one), then that is accompanied by at least 3 or 4 hours of homework. Our school is awesome, but class is all you all the time, and its five days of this a week so you always have to be on your A game.

Since we want to be in China for the long haul, the program we are doing also involves learning to read and write. While some of the characters aren’t too bad, you’ve seen Chinese characters, some of them look like a blind two year old got bored with a paint brush. I could write them 50 times and on the the 51st attempt have no idea where to start. We have writing quizzes every day that would make even the most astute foreigners panic. Anyways, I had rough days with my innards and combine that with a couple of classes where I felt totally lost, and I was just totally beat down.

That was last week. This week totally redeemed itself. Our tutors are seniors in college here in Tianjin and this weekend we are going over to there school to hang out and have dinner. Unfortunately, I scheduled it at a time when Jennifer had some other plans. I know this sounds like no big deal, but this meant I had to call my tutor on the phone and explain the whole thing and try to reschedule… all in Chinese. On the phone though, I can’t read non-verbal communication and look at people’s mouths when they talk. The thought of having to make a phone call in Chinese, explaining my mistake and then rescheduling something where I would have to be 100% certain of what’s being said, lest we stand our friends up, made me begin to sweat profusely.

However after a little self-talk to convince myself to man-up, I dialed the number and got down to business. My Chinese is terrible, however if you’d listened to this phone call, I am sure the most ancient and wise Chinese sage would have been convinced I was born here . In sports terms, I basically knocked it out of the park (I am kidding of course). Humility is certainly a virtue that I certainly strive for, but when I hung up the phone completely confident that I’d just mastered the Chinese language, I celebrated like Terrell Owens in Cowboys stadium. Jennifer looked at me and asked, “What is it that your old high school football coach used to say?” (Something which I oft repeat). To which I responded, “When you score a touchdown, act like you’ve been there before.” Then I continued to celebrate.

Its amazing what a simple 10 minute phone call can do to morale, but someone knew exactly what I needed to pull me out of the previous week’s mud. It worked wonders.

Addendum: I have been punished for my lack of humility, T.O. style celebration, and not “acting like I’ve been there before.” This is China’s version a 15 yard penalty for excessive celebration.

No joke…not 5 minutes, after finishing this blog post, the phone rang. Coincidentally, it was 15 minutes after the original time we’d set to meet our friends. When the phone rang, I saw the name of my tutor on the caller ID, and my heart sank. I thought to my self, “There is no way they’re wondering where we are. I totally knocked it out of the park.” Well, the voice on the other end of the line (in Chinese of course) said, “Where are you? I thought you were coming over.” Back to the drawing board. You’ve got to be kidding me. All you can do is laugh right!?!?

We eventually did get to hangout with friends, and here are some pictures.

On the left is Ming Xin, whose English name both confusing and mysterious, Echo. She and Ru Xue are pictured here at Tianjin Normal University with "Zhen Zhen" Gunnels.

Of course, throwing the obligatory Chinese deuces.