Loud doorbells on a quiet Friday night

After putting Kanyon to sleep for the third and hopefully last time, I settled onto the couch for a relaxing Friday night at home. I talked with M’Lynn about her plan for a very Chinese weekend with a national friend living in Beijing. She and Corbin were at a LEGO class. I guess kids now pay to play with LEGOS while carefully following the instructions from a trained LEGO professional instead of purchasing the LEGOS for themselves and building their own creations at home. I suppose it would be nice to have someone else step on all those loose LEGO pieces for a change.

Back at home, my quiet Friday night was loudly interrupted at 9:00 PM when someone pressed our ridiculously loud doorbell. I opened the door to find a sweet little grandma who spoke way too fast for me to understand. I probably wouldn’t have understood slow Chinese either. Anyway, she was frantically motioning with her hand in what appeared to be a scrapping motion and repeating over and over that she lived on the third floor and that my wife knew her.

Well OK. I’m glad my wife knows you and you live on the third floor, but what are you doing at my door at 9:00 PM on Friday night?

She continued with her too fast Chinese while I returned inside to call for help. Since M’Lynn knew her, I started with her. Plus, M’Lynn’s Chinese is rockin’.

The grandma continued her too fast Chinese and M’Lynn passed the phone over to her Chinese friend she was visiting in Beijing. Together they figured out the problem. Her apartment radiators needed to be repaired and the valve to shut off the water was located in our apartment. Pretty convenient, huh? The valve that controls the hot water to the radiators for the six apartments below is located in our bedroom.

That’s strange, but sure come on in to turn off the valve and get your radiators fixed at 9:10 PM on Friday night. Isn’t the service amazing here? I mean, it’s Friday night and the repairman is on call to fix radiators. Had this been America, the grandma would have slept cold until Monday morning when the apartment manager finally read the maintenance request!

She promised the problem would be fixed in 20 minutes and then the repairman would return to turn on the valve.

Finally, after four loud doorbell rings and giving the repairman a cup of water so he could take his cold medicine (don’t get me started on this) at 10:22 PM, the worker finished. I started my quiet Friday evening at home and the Chinese grandma slept comfortably with working radiator heat.

Sunset River Cruise

We had an amazing sunset river cruise with the coolest drivers. As long as you ignored the stink rising from the brown river and cared not about the goofy looking life vests we wore.

The cruise departed to the fanfare of many onlookers as the foreign family carefully stepped down the makeshift ladder to the boat. I took off my sandals as soon as I entered the boat. Not to follow the cultural rules of taking off your shoes when you enter a house. I took them off to kill three spiders waiting in the back seat for their next meal.

The boat slowly took us across the river to the farthest of the buoy boundaries before turning west into the sunset. Then we tested our luck by putting the boat in neutral. Oops. We reckoned the boat was much like an old car or lawnmower. Once you got it started and going in one direction, you never under any circumstances stop it. The cruise operators did give us a mobile number to call if anything were to happen while on the river. Well, Corbin had to go. So the boat sat idling while Corbin took a bathroom break off the side of the boat.

Then it was time for the amazing drivers.



They took turns guiding us back and forth across the river to the buoys as we sat in the back seat and enjoyed the spider free sunset cruise. Not another boat in sight.

We must have gotten the slowest of the boats because we had children (China Rule #2: Children must be kept safe.) and M'Lynn was showing too big of a baby bump (even more important China Rule #1: Definitely keep pregnant woman safe.). As we left we noticed another couple speeding away on a boat obviously faster than ours.

Speaking of keeping pregnant women safe, as we bicycled home we dodged endless mopeds, pedestrians, walkers, dancers, runners, and the occasional car or golf cart on the not so well lit path. No wonder when we arrived home our neighbor surprisingly asked M'Lynn, “You still ride a bike? It’s not safe for pregnant women. There are too many cars.”

I guess we’re safer in a raggedy, slow motor boat on the stinky river with a 5 year-old driver than biking on the streets of China. Is there a boat to Carrefour?

Would You Rather…Expecting Mama Edition

So this is turning into a really ridiculous and funny game of “would you rather?” You know, that game where one person asks the other a simple question just for fun like “Would you rather go on vacation to Paris or London?” Then, you take turns asking each other these silly questions. It usually ends up, after about 10 rounds, somewhere around the vicinity of “would you rather eat a chocolate chip cookie where the chocolate chips are actually mouse turds or eat a cockroach?” It’s inevitable. It always ends somewhere around there…just like when two little boys start to sing, they always end up singing about poop.

Where am I going with all of this? Well, Jeremy and I recently went to tour the hospital where we will probably deliver baby #3. The first question that got us this far was “would you rather give birth in Beijing or Shenyang?” If that question was just for fun, my answer would be Beijing. However, for reasons related to the inconvenience of hauling a family to Beijing three weeks before the due date to wait on baby’s arrival and the availability of decent medical care here and a hospital that caters to foreigners and has an English speaking doctor who is a fan of Western ways, our answer has become Shenyang.

While the English speaking doctor was showing us around the hospital, I made sure to ask lots of questions about epidurals. I had one in America with Kanyon and it was awesome (so awesome I sang a song about it in the delivery room). For some reason, I decided I wanted to try and be a hero with Corbin and refused an epidural until I got to an 8 and decided I was indeed not a hero and wanted more than anything else in the world to have a needle shoved up my spine once again. Even though that epidural experience was a little different because it was Chinese style (it takes the edge off but you aren't totally numb like an American epidural), it was wonderful. After Corbin was born, I wrote myself a letter that says

“Dear Future M’Lynn,

Don’t be a hero. Get an epidural at 4.

Sincerely,
Past M’Lynn”

So, the only big problem I see with the Shenyang epidural situation is that they won’t give it to me after I’m at a 7 or 8. Surely I can make it to the hospital in time. Corbin came fast but I was a 4 when I got there. There is a problem with the delivery situation, though. Once you’re ready to push, they make you wear pants…like giant split pants! They say “it’s to create a sterile field…blah, blah, blah,” but I just can’t get past the whole deal. Really? Wear pants while having a baby? I saw the delivery table as well and asked about different positions that have worked for me in the past. It seems, though, that the midwives are pretty strict in their delivery table positioning. So the possibility of no epidural plus guarantee of giving birth in pants leads me to consider other never before considered options. Enter water birth.

Would you rather give birth wearing giant split pants or in an inflatable kiddie pool?

Yes, I’m being a little harsh. They aren't giant split plants. It’s a medical drape. It’s not a kiddie pool, it’s a birthing pool. Whatever. I still have to answer this question. And it’s for real!

I continued my round of questioning with the doctor when she brought up water birth.

“Do I have to wear the pants in the water?” I asked.

I would not have to wear pants in the water, I would just have to take a shower before getting in the pool (standard pool rules in China by the way). I did not ask if I would have to wear a swim cap (also standard pool rules in China). Also, she said the midwives have less control over my position if I’m in the water. Freedom from strict midwives and their strange lying down to give birth position…another plus! But, if I choose water birth, I’m ignoring advice from Past M’Lynn about getting an epidural. But, Past M’Lynn did not know about the split pants.

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Photo by Geraldshields11 (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Water Wars

Drinking water straight from the tap in China is one of those things you do not do. So what does one drink? Well, there are a few options. Some choose to boil the tap water and keep it on-hand for drinking water. Some have their own filtering system. Others pay for big five gallon jugs of drinking water. We are in the five gallon jug category. Usually, it’s a pretty convenient system. If the water jug is running low, I pick up the phone and call our water guy who lugs a fresh five gallon jug up five flights of stairs to our apartment. I give him my empty jug and a water ticket worth 10 yuan ($1.35) and he gives me the new water jug. Simple and convenient, right?

Well, the problem comes when we run out of tickets. The water guy can no longer accept cash or sell water tickets (which makes perfect sense from an accounting/control standpoint but aggravates us foreigners who are used to the simplicity of buying tickets off the water guy at our door). That all started a few months into last school year and there was about a week when no one knew how to get water tickets and therefore couldn’t get water. Then, we were told to go to a neighborhood office to buy tickets. This neighborhood office is nicely tucked away in a part of the neighborhood I wouldn’t normally just stroll by, so I had one heck of a time finding it the first time. Once said office was found, I bought 10 tickets and the whole deal was back on track. Until yesterday.

We had been out of water all weekend because we forgot to buy water tickets on Friday and they’re closed Saturday and Sunday. Monday morning I went to the office and was answered with “we are sold out of water tickets.”

“Sold out?!” I said indignantly “Then how can I buy water? What should I do? I need water.”

“Buy them from the water delivery guy,” the unconcerned clerk answered back.

“He told me to buy them here. And, I don’t know where his office is. Now what?,” I said, determined not to let this become totally my problem since this office is in charge of water tickets and I am following “the rules” by buying them here.

-Long pause punctuated by me not turning around and going home thus accepting that the office is out of water tickets-

The clerk waved me off to the woman at the front desk. Repeat above conversation. Another long pause in which pregnant, thirsty foreigner stares down front desk lady. Front desk lady picked up the phone and called someone. Then told me to “wait awhile” (one of the most vague expressions in the Chinese language because it can mean “wait two minutes” or “wait two hours” or “wait until tomorrow”). From listening to her side of the phone conversation, I got the feeling the tickets are on the way, so I went and sat on the steps outside the office because it’s cooler out there than inside. After waiting about 20 minutes in which I made a frustrated call to Jeremy just to tell him the trouble I’m having and that he is indeed right that he will never be able to do this errand because he doesn’t speak Chinese, I duck back into the office. To my surprise, the water tickets have magically appeared. I buy 10 of them and rejoice.

Later that day I found out one of our foreigner friends had been in the same office trying to buy water tickets just an hour before me. I’m hoping she gets her tickets today!

Nanjing & Huangshan Spring Trip

Each year the school takes students on a Chinese tour to learn more about our host country. This was my first time on a spring trip, but having been on Chinese tours before I was prepared for anything. At least so I thought.

Monday
The trip began with 24 hours on the train to Nanjing marking the longest I've been on a train in China. I switched bunks to the very top and gave the students quite the laugh as I hung my feet over the end of the bed into the aisle. The time passed quickly and students really enjoyed this part of the trip as they got to talk with each other and deepen relationships among classmates.

Tuesday
Upon arrival in Nanjing, we immediately went to a local restaurant and then to the hotel to quickly clean up. First impressions of Nanjing, it's stickin hot. I took a shower only to immediately begin sweating. We then toured the Republic of China's President’s Office. This museum houses the history of China from about 1911-1949 during the Republic years after the fall of the emperor.



Wednesday
We transferred to Huangshan by bus over five hours on mostly paved roads. After eating lunch we were completely surprised to learn that our Huangshan hotel was at the top of the mountain 10 km (6 miles) from where the cable car stops. We were completely unprepared for this. Guess I should have known to ask the travel company where our hotels were. I just assumed (big mistake) that the bus would take us to the front door of our hotels.

After counting the number of students with backpacks, we spent considerable time in the parking lot unpacking and repacking our luggage and backpacks to make the 10 km trek up the mountain. If only we'd known this information before the trip so that we could have packed accordingly. We did make it to the top of the mountain to our hotel in time to take a shower during the three hour window of available hot water.



Thursday
The morning began with more stairs. By now everyone was tired of climbing up and down mountains. We split the groups to offer tired students the chance to not climb to the last observation point. I did make it to the top. Man that was a lot of stairs. All tired out, most slept on the bus back to Nanjing.



Friday
We visited two sites in Nanjing, neither of which the tour guide explained much about so I'm left with only what I've learned previously about the sites or read on the propaganda displays. Purple Mountain (or Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s tomb) seemed like a cake walk compared the the stairs we climbed at Huangshan. 392 stairs later, we were at the top. Next, we visited Yuhua Stage which from the Chinese displays was a museum to remember the Communists who fought bravely against the KMT. What really happened here I don't know because as in all history, the winning side tells the story.

The highlight of the trip for students may well have been when NBA D-league players walked into the airport KFC.

That's it. I survived a Chinese tour and my first spring trip with 18 students. To see more photos from the trip, click here.

T train on the D train

China trains are labeled by letters. Different letters represent different speeds and often represent the train’s atmosphere. The two basic categories of trains are budget trains and high speed trains.

Cheap budget trains
These trains are by far the slowest and cheapest trains. Trains identifies by number only are the slowest, K trains are a little faster, followed by T trains. These trains have hard seats, soft seats, hard sleeper bunks (6 beds per room), and soft sleeper bunks (4 beds per room). Each of these trains are usually filled with low budget travelers either migrant workers or students returning from the city to visit family in the countryside. Each traveler carries large rice bags stuffed with personal belongings and oftentimes chews sunflower seeds the whole trip. Instant noodles are a must.

High speed trains
Moving up a class of trains are the D trains. These are new, faster, and more expensive day trains that speed from one mega-opolis to another. These trains offer first or second class seat tickets. While about twice (or 4-5 times) as expensive as the budget trains, these trains offer a high speed alternative to the budget trains cutting the travel time in half. Each train is usually filled with business travelers making a quick trip to another city for a business meeting, conference, or sales event. Instant noodles are still a must, but these trains also offer a hot meal served for 40 RMB. G trains are the most recent China addition as the fastest and most expensive alternative, but I’ve yet to ride one.

When we travel with kids, we choose the high speed day trains. The kids love to ride the bullet train and these trains are less crowded, newer, cleaner, and faster.

As we returned from Beijing we jumped on board our D train and headed back to Shenyang. It quickly emerged that this would not be a typical D train experience. We were on a D train with a T train atmosphere.

Just behind us, a traveler without a purchased seat sat on his rice bag. He purchased a cheap standing room only ticket and yet he played Fruit Ninja on his smart phone the whole trip. Another time a standing room only passenger quickly sat down next to M’Lynn having finally found the open seat. A seat in front of us, passengers munched on hard boiled eggs and seeds.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The legend of Qingming Jie

The legend of Qingming Jie (Tomb Sweeping Day) includes the story of a courtier named Jie Zitui in the seventh century BC.

In an effort to avoid assassination, Prince Chong'er of Jin went into exile. Because of the hard life this entailed, he saw the number of his courtiers gradually began to dwindle and one day Chong'er, weak from hunger, blacked out. To save the prince, Jie Zitui, one of the few followers he had left, cut a piece of meat from his own leg, roasted it and fed it to the prince.

Nineteen years later, when the prince had risen to become one of China's most powerful lords, he rewarded his followers, but forgot Jie. When the prince's courtiers reminded him of Jie's sacrifice he sent word for him to come to court, but instead Jie hid on Mianshan Mountain in Shanxi province, with his elderly mother.

After having the mountain searched to no avail, the prince had it set on fire from three sides in the hope of driving Jie and his mother into the open on the fourth. The fire raged for three days but Jie did not appear and when the flames calmed down enough for people to return to the mountain they found the bodies of Jie and his mother holding onto a burnt willow tree. Alongside the bodies was a poem written by Jie in his own blood with advice to the prince on how to rule the state.

The prince took the poem and had the mother and son buried under the burnt willow. The mountain was renamed Jieshan Mountain and an ancestral hall was built on it.

The prince made the day on which the fire was set Hanshi Festival, or Cold Food Festival, and said no food should be cooked that day.

The following year, wearing mourning clothes, the prince took his courtiers up the mountain to Jie's tomb, where he saw the willow tree had come back to life. He snapped a twig from the tree and plaited it into a wreath, which he wore, and after sweeping the tomb renamed the willow the Qingming Willow and declared that day Qingming Festival.

Following Jie's suggestions, the prince managed the state well and his people were happy. In order to remember Jie they would attach willow twigs to their doors, the idea being that this could summon his soul.

In the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), Hanshi and Qingming were merged into one day, Qingming Festival, when people would eat only cold food, sweep their ancestors' tombs and spend time with family and friends. ¹

It’s such a fascinating story. As I read Jie’s story, I thought of the story of Mordecai. Both were forgotten members of a royal court and both led to festivals and celebrations.

To celebrate Jie’s story, and Qingming Jie which followed, people all over the country will go to the graves of their ancestors and light up paper offerings (paper money, cell phones, cars, houses, and even mistresses) to the dead, the idea being that they become real objects in the afterlife.

However, Mordecai’s story led to Purim, a celebration of God’s salvation of the Israelites from an old enemy the Agagites who were to be destroyed by Saul (1 Samuel 15) but who not destroyed until much later (Esther 9).

Who do you celebrate? Do you celebrate men, as in Jie’s story, or do you celebrate God’s salvation?

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¹ Yang Yang. (2013 Mar 13). Dead Heat, China Daily. Retrieved from http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/epaper/2013-03/29/content_16355720.htm

Eating Bitterness in Beijing

On Monday we’re off to Beijing by train to see a dentist to fill Kanyon’s cavities. In February, we visited a highly recommended dentist in town and found four cavities. We fixed one. By fixed, I mean Kanyon sat still through a root canal. He braved so much that first visit that he refused to sit in the chair again a week later to get the other three cavities filled.

I don’t blame him. The dentist didn't treat him any differently than an adult. No numbing cream to reduce the sting of the shot. No hiding the syringe so he couldn't see it. Nope. The dentist just treated him like she would have any other adult.

When talking to our house helper about the situation, she agreed with Kanyon. Ayi said she also cries every time she goes to the dentist. We talked about how in America, the patient (especially a child) can be sedated for bigger procedures. Or how we arrive 20 minutes earlier to allow time for the dentist to numb the area before the big shot. Ayi then asked about the price and we realized something important.

In China there’s a saying that everyone must “eat bitterness.” When you do something unpleasant, you eat bitterness. When a person endures hardship, one eats bitterness. When students study for long hours, they eat bitterness. When a patient sits still as the dentist drills your not-quite-so-numb cavity, the patient eats bitterness.

The less bitterness you’re willing to eat, the more money you’ll have to pay. Kanyon doesn't like to eat bitterness, and I don’t blame him. I don’t like it either. And for that, we’ll pay.

Welcome to the new China

When we first moved to China in 2005 we were excited to find the kid’s song trio of McDonald’s, McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken and a Pizza Hut in Nanchang. We thought we’d hit the jackpot when we watched Eight Below in English in the new two row cinema.

We moved to Harbin in 2008 and found the trio of restaurants and so much more including several lovely western cafes. We even found a stuffed and roasted turkey for Thanksgiving. In December 2011 something magical happened. Starbucks opened. Followed by another Starbucks (or two or three by now) and a Costa Coffee. Harbin had arrived in modern China.

Now living in Shenyang, we’re experiencing life in the new China. We have a great import store just across the street with everything we could never before find in China. Just this week, we’ve watched a movie in English, shopped at Decathlon, a sports mega store, played basketball on an indoor court, and swam at the clubhouse.

China is changing right before our eyes and we have a front row seat.

It's good to be back

Spending all day teaching at an international school doesn't afford me much time to get to know the locals. Or spend much time in the Chinese culture. So when our house helper invited us to come to her apartment over the holiday, I was delighted to honor her request.

It’s good to be back in the home of Chinese friends sharing unmatched hospitality and home cooked food. And it’s such a cultural experience.

Immediately the kids were given gifts, a spinning top and Talking Tom Cat. We offered our gifts of a box of oranges, nuts, and cranberries but didn't come close to matching the endless gifts offered to us in return. Unmatched hospitality at work. M’Lynn did most of the talking since she’s the one with the Chinese skills. I did some listening and made up for my lack of Chinese with my ability to make jiaozi. And the kids did all the eating, of snacks at least. They were full by the time the meal was served.

We spent the afternoon sharing stories in a mix of English and Chinese. It was good to be back. We've got to do this again.

And we did, exactly 5 minutes later. We left one apartment and followed M’Lynn’s language tutor around the corner to her house where we were once again treated to snacks.

Mistaken for a Korean cartoon

Yesterday was national history day at school. National history day is an academic competition focusing on history in which groups of students compete in four different categories. All freshmen and sophomore students turned in projects for history class and the whole school was asked to dress up as an important (dead) historical figure.

I never thought I would be confused for a Korean cartoon character, but that’s exactly what students said when they first saw me.

Over the summer, we picked up some aviator hats from a vacation bible school and both Kanyon and I wore them to school to dress as the Wright brothers. I was Wilbur and Kanyon was Orville because he is lighter and smaller like the real Orville, who first flew the airplane for these reasons. Wilbur, being too big to fly, watched from the ground.



Students didn't first say that I was a Wright brother. They immediately thought of Pororo, a very famous Korean cartoon penguin. Pororo wasn't the only mistaken identity of the day. Some American students thought I looked a bit like Snoopy. Although the German student didn't think I looked much like the Red Baron that was the immediate response from many of the staff.

Grand opening

We must be crazy to go to the grand opening of the RT-Mart (a Wal-Mart type store), but that’s what we did and we took the kids. I guess we were curious to find a place to buy diapers closer to home. Or maybe we wanted to feel like a part of the community by shopping with the excited locals. Whatever the reason, we were there, cameras in hand. The only other crowd we’ve been in that compares to the almost-got-smothered-by-strangers insanity of the RT-Mart Grand Opening is the crowd we once experienced in a Chinese train station during Spring Festival. We no longer travel by train during Spring Festival, and I doubt we’ll ever go to another supermarket grand opening.



It was crazy. People were everywhere. Everywhere except one place: the import aisle was completely deserted. Want to buy a bag of spaghetti noodles? No problem. Just stroll down the empty import aisle and take your time looking at all the foreign goods the Chinese shoppers hardly notice. Want to buy a jug of cooking oil? Big problem. To successfully accomplish your mission, you would have to surrender to the crowd and body surf like Crocodile Dundee in the New York Subway hoping to be dropped off in the most popular aisle of the whole store. Next stop: soy sauce and rice!

Illiterate shopping

How do I go shopping when I can’t read anything on the package of the item I’m about to buy? Let me share a short story that sums up my experiences in the store.

So our aiyi needed some cooking wine to make our lunch and because I was outside already, I was volunteered to go to the store to buy it.

Armed with the brand name “Wang zhi he” and the description that it looked something like apple cider vinegar and the price of 4 RMB, I ventured into the local store to find what she needed. I found it, but there were two kinds so I immediately called home.

Me: “Which one does she want: the one that says ‘Te zhi’ or one that says nothing I can read?”
M’Lynn: “What do they look like?”
Me: “They both have a yellow label. One has pinyin and the other has large Chinese calligraphy characters on it.”
Her: “That one. What’s the price?”
Me: “4.5 RMB”
Her: “That’s it.”

That’s it. That’s exactly how we go about buying things in the store. It’s all about the label, the color, and the location. We do the same thing with everything, even the pork roast for Christmas dinner. M’Lynn sent me this text message:

“Buy a chunk of meat on the bottom right hand side of the pork display case.” I just hoped they didn’t decide to rearrange the meat that day.

Pragmatism vs. American Baking

I’m teaching my aiyi how to bake. And she’s getting good. The other day she brought over a date cake she baked all by herself! After receiving the recipe from another foreigner’s baking class two years ago, she was so proud to finally be able to successfully follow the recipe. She’d previously tried to make the cake, but wasn’t sure how. After watching me make several cakes, she’s finally mastered two of the most important baking skills:

1. Preheat the oven. I think this is often overlooked in China because turning on the empty oven is seen as a frivolous waste of electricity. I now know how to say “If you don’t preheat the oven your cake will not rise!” in Chinese 
2. Mix the wet ingredients separate from the dry ingredients, and then combine the two. Chinese often know how to make dough for homemade noodles, dumplings and steamed buns; however, their method of “dump it all in and stir” doesn’t work well for cakes.

After watching all the effort of making cut-out Christmas cookies, she said, “This is so complicated!” So I said, “We feel that way when we watch you make jiaozi (dumplings). “ After pondering a few minutes, she came back with “At least with jiaozi, we can eat and get full. Your cookies are just for fun! Make them for fun, eat them for fun! ” Once again, I never truly understood the word “pragmatic” until I lived in China.

Christmas elephant

Yesterday I saw it. I saw the Christmas elephant.

I've always wanted to teach my kids something completely random. And I could because the fun thing about having kids is that I could teach them anything and they wouldn't know the difference. That is until their peers corrected them or they saw something on TV.

I've especially wanted to make a mess of the cultural holiday icons. You know, like replace Santa with the Christmas elephant or teach them about the Easter turtle. Living in China, I would have a distinct advantage that would buy me some time before my kids learned the truth.

Then again, judging by the photo, China may make a mess of the holiday icons without any help from me.

Tis the season for pumpkin bread

That was a lot of Chinese!

What happens when an American family hosts 5 Japanese, 4 Koreans and a Chinese teacher all the while using the Chinese language to communicate? Lots of fun! Last night, we hosted M’Lynn’s classmates to our apartment for a small Christmas party. The plan was to show them how to bake the pumpkin bread that M’Lynn had brought to class earlier in the semester.

Immediately upon arrival, our guests offered bags of gifts and presents for the boys. They received candy from Japan, a huge bag of cookies and more candy--even miniature candy canes! On top of that, they brought bag after bag of food including Doritos, orange juice, wine, snacks, and strawberry pudding Jello. I bet there was over 600 RMB of gifts brought and shared by all. Before this party, I really didn't know just how much the Eastern cultures love to show appreciation through gifts.

As we were all standing around the dining room table watching M’Lynn explain how to make pumpkin bread, some wanted to smell and taste the spices. Cinnamon was a familiar spice, but no one was quite sure about nutmeg. A Korean guy just had to taste it. Judging from his reaction, nutmeg doesn't taste so good by itself. We also served deviled eggs and the paprika on top was a big hit. Then, M’Lynn had to explain how to make deviled eggs. Since she didn't do any research ahead of time on that one, she was thankful the Koreans knew words like “pickle” and “mustard” and “paprika.”

The magic moment came when the cake was mixed, poured into the bunt pan, and then placed in the oven. Seconds later, M’Lynn returned from the kitchen and the cake was magically baked and ready to eat prompting surprised and excited “oohs and ahhs” from the audience. Such a great made for TV cooking show!

After the baking extravaganza, we all sat around enjoying the ambiance of the twinkling lights of the Christmas tree and listening to Christmas music. One girl really enjoyed relaxing on the couch. “My dorm room doesn't have one.” We assured her that she could come to our place anytime she’d like to sit on our couch. While watching Corbin sit in the middle of the room reveling in the spotlight, one guy said “I want to get married!” I assured him he’d find the right girl in time.

I love how much other people love our kids! Watching the boys have such a great time playing with our new friends was such a blessing. “Can I keep him?” a Japanese girl asked while holding Corbin. We responded that she could have him for a week. But, when they were all on the way out the door, Corbin thought it would be better to stay at home. (the conversation about her taking him for a week was in Chinese, but I think Corbin understood…)

Rucker park

One of the perks of being a foreigner in China is that I get invited to all kinds of events. Just to name a few over the past five years: concerts, Chairman Mao's Red Songs ballet, English corners, speaking contest judge, flag bearer for sports day.

This week, basketball.

It's not the first time I've been on a team offered a challenge on the basketball court. Usually it's the university hot-shots who come over and ask for a match, and then a rematch, and another until we finally lose a game due to pure exhaustion. This time was different. A group of Chinese men (think working class professionals or recent retirees) witnessed our foreigner pickup game and offered to meet us in the park on Sunday afternoon.

Sweet, Rucker Park here we come. All that was missing were chain nets. Jerseys? Check. Them, not us. We were just a rag-tag bunch of foreigners wearing the only grey shirts we owned. Referees? Check. Scoreboard? Check. Spectators? You bet. Everyone stopped to check out the game. It was quite the pickup game.

Big ‘ole can of propaganda

Today in Reading class my teacher opened up a big ‘ole can of propaganda. Aside from other topics, she informed us that the most dangerous part of the city is a place where lots of foreigners like to go and hang out. There are lots of cool bars there and lots of Korean restaurants. When we asked her why it is so dangerous, she said it’s because there are lots of “unregistered” foreigners there who don’t have proper visas. That sounds really dangerous to me. Unregistered foreigners! What is this world coming to?! I let it slide, but my Russian classmate would have none of it.

“Are you afraid of foreigners?” the Russian asked the teacher.

“No, no! Not you foreigners,” the teacher said motioning toward the class of foreigners she stood before, “Just the foreigners who are here on expired visas and stay in that part of the city.”

Fresh out of the propaganda can: “Beware of unregistered foreigners. They are dangerous and should be feared.”

Home for the holidays? Not so fast

This week all of China celebrates National Day with a seven day holiday. People are encouraged to travel, see the sites, and visit their families.

We stay home. And with good reason and more reasons.

This year in an attempt to "alleviate holiday road congestion" all freeways are actually free. Gone are the nominal tolls on Chinese highways to cars with seven seats or less. Get going. Go see your family. Hurry up what are you waiting for, the roads are free!

Not so fast my friend.

It seems everyone in China had the same idea. Instant congestion. Instant gridlock. Freeways became parking lots.

The complete story about this crazy holiday travel is found in the China Daily. It was so bad that "portable toilets were set up at several sections of the highways leading out of Shanghai in order to provide relief for long-suffering drivers and their passengers."¹

Funny, it's never stopped them before.
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¹ "Gridlock as tolls are waived for holiday," China Daily. Published October 1, 2012.

Daily Schedule of a Student-Mom

This is pretty much what every day looks like Monday – Friday. I don’t have much wiggle room in this schedule, but I’m enjoying my new routine.

5:30 AM: Rise & Shine
5:30 – 6:15: Coffee & Toast, the Word
6:15 – 6:45: Get dressed
6:45: Wake up the kids
6:45 – 7:30: Kids eat breakfast, and then get dressed
7:15: Babysitter (A’yi) arrives
7:30: Out the door with Kanyon to go to the bus stop
7:47: Kanyon gets on the bus and then I ride my bike to campus
7:55 – 8:15: Relax in the park on campus, study or listen to music or talk on the phone
8:30 – 12:00: Chinese class
12:00 – 12:35: Buy groceries, ride home from class
12:35 – 1:15: Eat lunch and play with Corbin
1:15 – 3:30: Corbin naps, I study
3:30 – 3:45: Wake up Corbin & get ready to go pick up Kanyon
3:45 – 4:10: Pick up Kanyon at the bus stop
4:10 – 4:40: Eat a snack with the boys and chat about the day
4:40 – 5:30: Cook dinner
5:30 – 7:15: Eat dinner then play outside
7:15 – 8:00: Give the kids a bath; get ready for bed, story time, lights out
8:00 – 9:00: Study more!
9:45: Lights out!