A night at the Opera

Last night Harmony called with a last minute invite to an Opera.

When we first arrived, many of the seats were filled with young soldiers. I thought a row of green uniforms in red seats would make a neat picture. After we found our seats, I had gathered up enough courage to go snap that photo. As I set forth, I could feel Josh sink down into his seat for fear of any association with me and my camera.
I expected they would all bunch together laughing, delighted and amused to have their picture taken.
I held up my camera and asked "ok?". There were no objections but they weren't showing the sprightliness I had anticipated so I assumed they may have been confused--'does she want us to take a picture of her?'. To clarify, I raised the camera to my eye, certain that they would now understand and begin smiling and laughing. But then suddenly, there was a man (a more senior soldier--maybe a general) by my side saying "No! Sorry, sorry, no!". My face went bright red. I quickly apologized and turned to leave. Then I slumped down in my chair and stared at nothing while I re-played 'the incident' in my mind. Looking back I dont know why I was so dumbfounded and emabarassed; I suddenly felt like an ignorant intruder.
You can see the man in charge coming towards me and the soldiers look uncomfortable.


As for the Opera, it was hard to follow. Not only for us, but even for those who understand Chinese. I couldn't help but thinking it might sound more pleasant if the microphones were near the singers instead of clipped onto their costumes. In fact, I am not sure microphones were even necessary. The funny thing about it being so loud was that the audience felt it was acceptable to talk and answer cell phones through the whole performance. We were no exception; Harmony was whispering the storyline to me every few minutes and I was advised Josh of upcoming words. "Psst. That guy is gonna say "shi bu shi" any second now." I could follow the dialogue through the text in the program based on the four Chinese characters that I know combined with the electronic display of the words that appeared when someone was singing. Not that the Opera wasn't entertaining enough on its own...It was about a man who quit his "iron rice bowl" job with the government to seek a cure for his friend's paralysis. He became sick from testing his own concoctions and the family was now destitute from him being out of work and spending money on his laboratory. In the next act he becomes rich and famous from making medicine and is faced with a telling business decision where they honest path may cost him millions of yuan. He deliberates while singing in the rain, makes the decision we all want him to and by the end of the Opera, he has an even better government job and the family couldn't be happier.










He has become sick from drinking his medicine and his wife sings a loud song of sorrow.














At this point an American (in brown and yellow) enters and offers a lucrative business deal involving Western medicine. Our hero rejects the American man and sings a song about how Chinese medicine is slow but its effective, whereas Western medicine works quickly but the results are not lasting.

Once in a lifetime

It only happens once in your lifetime. Yesterday, Josh turned 26 on the 26th and while America shopped till the dropped, we celebrated until we .....dropped!



First, we went to the Sofitel for a 5 star buffet with delicious western food.

Josh's 5 favorite foriegners were there.

The Sofitel is ready for Christmas!

Phillip, Sean, Mrs. Clause, Josh.










Everyone knows how much Josh likes to read, so they gave him some recycled books and he was thrilled.
Josh with his present from Gerry (in blue, from Ireland).
After a huge lunch, Josh and I went to the culture market with Harmony.






These are candied crab apples---sweet and sour. Not my favorite street stall treat.

Josh's special day continues

Candied mandarin slices--thats more like it.
Chinese medicine and tea...

This man wrote my name. Look! He charged me 10 times the price because it was in English, but it was still only $1. After I took his photo, he asked me to "take out" in English. I showed him the memory card from my camera. I said the picture is "in this", I can't "take out". He was really dissapointed that I could not instantly remove the photo from my camera.


I like dogs and wanted to give this shivering puppy a home. I thought the power of this puppy's face + my puppy face + Josh being really happy because it was his birthday= enough reasons to take the puppy home. But no such luck.










The birthday boy started to get really sleepy as we wandered through the culture market. Some sweet sticky rice perked him up.












Josh and Harmony.


That night, Josh and I went to an English party hosted by two of his students/basketball buddies (to steal the term from Jake). We participated in all kinds of English activities. Josh and I led a couple of "repeat-after-me" songs from Nature's Classroom. The post graduate students got into them even more than 6th graders!

They surprised him with a cake.




Josh's buddies (and students).
This birthday boy got one heck of a lot of attention and adulation from 100 Chinese students, 5 foriegners, 1 girlfriend, and a very exciting late night call from home.
He is sound asleep now.

Happy Birthday Tui!

Dear Tui,
Happy Birthday! I cannot believe you are 2 already. Last time I saw you, you were jumping off the dock into the lake without hesitation. It was a little painful to swim near you in case you needed a rest, but you were a natural swimmer. When you kicked it into "high gear", you could almost catch up with Jake. Do you remember how Jake would dissapear and then reappear behind you? You always looked so confused. He was swimming under you.
Have the other lake dogs accepted you? I heard that Aunt Terri taught you how to open a and close a door! Which one?






There are lots of dogs here in China. They are not like you at all. They are small and a little bit scruffy looking. They are unfriendly and don't care for any attention--only food. They have such short legs that they often have to get rides in their owners' bicycle baskets or be carried around.

Tui, there is no other face that can bring me such joy. I have shown all my students photos of you. When I tell them how big you are, they ask me if you are dangerous. They say that, in China, all the dogs as big as you live out in the country.
I think of you daily. It brings me peace to think of the life you have with Aunt Terri and Uncle Randy. I miss you all more than you can imagine.
Love,
Betsy

Thanksgiving Dinner

It was a Thanksgiving day miracle---turkey was on the table after all! We had a pot luck style dinner with a variety of delights---apple salad, sushi, nachos, mashed potatoes, hummus and veggies, meatballs, homemade mac and cheese, applesauce (made by yours truly), and even an apple pecan pie! There was a lot of "Where did you find refried beans/black olives/pecans/Hershey's kisses??" going on.

I think we felt proud to share this tasty American holiday with folks from Isreal, Russia, China, Australia, Finland, Japan, Pakistan, Ireland...even if it wasn't exactly the way we celebrate it in the homeland.



Armena and David (fell in love online, he came over from NY a month ago and plans to stay indefinitely).
Australian Phillip, Betsy, Josh.
Arshawn (sounds like, but can't be true spelling of his name) from Xinjiang province in Western China and our good friend Sean from Michigan.

Holiday friction keeping us warm

Have I been sleeping? Did the nocuous emissions get through my aseptic mask?
The weeks seem to be passing with the blink of an eye here. We have dubbed Thursday "Friday" on account of not having work on the real Friday, but tomorrow we will slow down and fully embrace my favorite Thursday of the year.
Sixty foriegners, maybe 1/4 of which are true Yankees, will celebrate the turkeylicious day in the hotel on campus. Due to some kind of a flu bug, it seems a bird is going to be hard to come by. No pumpkin pie, no cranberries, no stuffing, no green bean supreme or 24 hour salad. But there will be sweet potatoes--which just happens to be my favorite dish anyway.
There may also be some perturbed guests. An argument by vehicle of email has ensued amongst many of the foriegn teachers and some feelings have been hurt. I may have mentioned that many of the teachers here are religious, mostly Evangelical Christian. One of these teachers wrote a mass email asking if anyone would be offended if a prayer was said at dinner. Because we may have more than 10 nationalities and who-knows-how-many religions present at the dinner, another teacher suggested a moment of silence may be more appropriate. Then yet another teacher was very upset because...well let me just say that the e-spat is heating up and some of us are singing the old "C'mon guys, its Thanksgiving!" song.

I am sure it will be lovely, I'll take my camera.

When in China

While a tad frightening, these masks serve many purposes. Go without...blow your nose...and you will see.

I hit rock bottom---and it was crunchy

Last week at the grocery store, the foreign “out of our price range” item of cheese was on sale: "2 for 1". We came home with 24 individually wrapped slices of New Zealand cheese and have since enjoyed cheesy delights such as: cheese on scrambled eggs, grilled cheese sandwiches, and cheese on apple slices.

On Monday, at the supermarket, I made a grave error when placing a jar of crunchy peanut butter into my shopping basket. Skippy Super Chunk----it’s cheaper than cheese. Maybe you should be required to carry a license to buy peanut butter, so that people like me cannot make the same mistake over and over. About three or four times a year I trust myself with a jar of peanut butter, but it always ends in tears.
On Monday, I had a spoonful to celebrate its presence in the cupboard. On Tuesday, I had a PB and J Sandwich for dinner...and then a heaping spoonful for desert.
Tonight at 6:30, I had a big spoonful and placed the jar in the back of the cupboard: "That’s all for me tonight." I told myself. For the next two hours, there was a steady flow of traffic between the kitchen and the couch: me and my spoon. "Okay, just a little more" quickly turned into, "well, if I’m gonna be bad, I may as well be really bad" turned into "I feel full and uncomfortable, but it still tastes good" and finally into "I should eat it all so its not in the house anymore".
Fortunately, I heard the key turn in the door at 9pm. It was Josh and I was saved! I fell to the ground in the hallway---spoon sliding across the floor (this is no joke).
"I am sooo full, I ate soo much peanut butter tonight."
"Do you want me to hide the jar?"
"…...no...there is just a little bit left."
Josh winced at my peanut butter breath.."Lets get you to bed, cause you're gonna have the shakes tomorrow."

This is true story.

Wherever you go, there you are

With my new pastime of jogging on the treadmill, I have found myself with some hours of headspace to fill. I spend a lot of the time staring forward into the mirror at my face, marveling at how much I look like both my Mom and my Dad even though the two of them don’t look alike at all. How does that work? From certain angles, I am the very image of my Aunt Maribeth, and from others you’d think Jake and I could be twins. Cool.

I might also spend some moments calculating how many more minutes (according the calorie count on the treadmill) I would have to run to cancel out the three Oreo cookies I enjoyed earlier, okay seven Oreos.

But lately, I have been trying to force myself to have deep thoughts (cue scary music) about my future. Because that’s what one does when winter approaches and another year is coming to a close. I think about where I will go after China. I wonder about how long I should stay in China. I think about other countries that I would like to spend time in after China and also about how nice returning home will be. And then there is New Zealand…sigh, whatever happened to my big plans to move to become a permanent Kiwi?
And then there is the voice in my head that tells me I am cheating. My sources tell me that most of your young life is supposed to be about preparation. Advanced degrees should ensure a well paying job…a well paying job leads to a secure retirement. And then I imagine you get to exhale and enjoy the twilight years.
So, what happens if one doesn’t prepare thoroughly for the future? Because even though the notion of living for the day is romantic, is it a good idea? Welcome to the debate in my brain. You see life in China is pretty comfortable. The pay is more than enough…to live in China, and for heaven’s sakes they call us foreign “experts” here. The voice tells me that this isn’t the real world because I have not really done what it takes to earn a well paying job yet, and especially not earned the title “expert”… in anything. So my sweat turns a little cold for fear of survival in the real world when the time for re-entry comes. I think of where I will go next, perhaps I should choose a place that my future will thank me for (i.e. graduate school). That or I will find a host family on the Mediterranean who needs someone with a general knowledge of Spanish to take their children on outings to the beach and the zoo (Andy, have I mentioned how jealous I am of you?).

When one door closes

Our Chinese class is held at a Women’s International College at the top of a steep hill on the South side of the city. Last week, I finally accepted Josh's offer to ride his fancy bike up the hill. Within two days, I had a fancy new bike of my own. I have now joined the club of gear-shifting. smooth-cycling elitists. The downside is that I can't just lock the tire and park it anywhere. I have to find something to lock it to. And I feel just a little tension in my chest every time I leave it for fear that it won't be waiting for me when I return.
In any case, I now float across town barely feeling any resistance as a I pedal. My other bike was a great source of exercise, it felt as though the brakes were always in use--coasting downhill was a little slow, pedaling on flat road felt like uphill and pedaling uphill was unforgiving!
Fortunately, just as the mobile exercise bike left my life a new gym has opened up in the Foreign students building. The only requirement to join is that you be a foreigner. Its a little pricey, but well worth is. With the current state of air quality here, running on the treadmill beats running outside.

Life here is becoming easier and more rewarding as our Chinese vocabulary expands. Just last week, I had three honest to goodness Chinese conversations not involving the purchase of anything. I was able to communicate to our land lady that our office chair had broken (the word for 'broken' is one we learned early on and tends to come up in conversation a lot around here) and that we needed a key for the door to our porch. The sense of accomplishment was thrilling.

Last night, we had "jay-guh" for dinner. That’s when we just point at and item on the menu and say the Chinese word for "that" (it sounds like "jay-guh" so we have termed that kind of dining as going out for "jay-guh"--always a surprise!). Last night both of our jay-guh selections had a particular sweet chili on it that doesn't agree with me. I called the waitress over, pointed to a vegetable in one of the dishes and asked for a dish that was only that vegetable. It worked and I was jubilant.
Sometimes when I am speaking my broken Chinese, I become nervous and fill in the gaps with Spanish adverbs and articles. I imagine that my default foreign language folder must be set to Spanish.

The small stuff

A mouse was a source of stress for us this week. Not the cute gray kind that eats popcorn kernels and can be spotted sprinting across the room from couch to chair to fridge. In fact it was the computer mouse that troubled us. Imagine a mouse that suddenly only moves west to east along the line AB. You are looking at an inbox with some unread mail...but you just can't click on it! Why would this happen? Had somebody been drinking tea with honey near the computer again? No, I hadn't! (my honey was responsible for some sticky keys a month ago--whoops!) We took the mouse apart and blew on it because thats how you fix stuff.
That didn't do it, so again the mouse came apart and we operated it like an Etch-a-Sketch. First, you turn the tiny wheel that moves it up to down, and then the other wheel that moves it side to side....and then back up a little, ooo..no, too far...to the left...a little more..."click" and you are checking your email.