Halloween Party

Ok, ok, we are a bit late posting our Halloween party story. Sorry. We are going to attempt to catch up. The kids spent several weeks planning a Halloween party, preparing several games, making decorations, and inviting many friends. Originally scheduled for Saturday, October 31, the actually Halloween night, we were forced to postpone the party 1 week due to the H1N1 outbreak, which caused many people, kids and adults alike, to stay home sick.

When the day finally came over 30 friends, the majority kids, joined the party for an evening filled with fun. The kids had a grand time playing host and leading games. Games included: Mummy rap, Pin the nose on a pumpkin, How many beans in the bottle, Cake walk, Balloon stomp, Musical chairs, and Hide & seek--i.e. Trick or Treat (in the dark). Plenty of candy and prizes were awarded to all. Fun abounded as many of our guests experienced a Halloween party for the first time. The evening was concluded with a concert performed by the kids and various musically talented guests.

The Three Gorges

After the the Three Gorges Dam (nearly 200 meters tall) was built, the water behind the dam has risen to 150 to 175 meters higher that before, depending on the time of year. Officially 1.2 million people have been displaced as a result, either moving to higher ground, to nearby cities, or entirely out of the region. The river is buzzing with activity, with multiple ships of all sizes and types (including 10,000 ton ocean-going vessels) carrying cargo and people anywhere between Shanghai and Chongqing, 1440 km (900 miles) in distance.

Although some people claim that the scenery has been negatively impacted by the dam, we were all treated to 4 days of spectacular beauty and pleasant weather.

Three Gorges Dam

During our trip with Mark's brother Mike and nephew Jonah, we spent four days on a Yangtze River cruise from Yichang, just west of Wuhan, upriver to Chongqing. The highlight of day 1 was the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric project. Our boat spent 4 hours going through 5 locks, moving up 150 meters. Here pictures of the dam, the locks, and Coleman on deck while we were rising inside one of the locks.

The Rock Star

In late September Mark's brother Mike and nephew Jonah came to visit and travel for two and half weeks. In addition to the week off for National Day (October 1-8), Mark took vacation time, so the whole family could travel. Our trip included a river cruise on the Yangtze River, 4 days in Guiling/Yangshuo, and a day in Beijing on the way home.

On the river cruise, Mike told us of a story how Jonah had become known as the "rock star". During our travels, we quickly came to understand why. Everywhere we went Jonah had a knack of engaging others in conversation. For instance, on the boat, he exerted independence during the evening entertainment, sitting among complete strangers. Afterwards or the following day, those who sat next to Jonah would approach us. They all commented what a delight Jonah was, and what wonderful conversation they had. Jonah's smile and sense of humor were contagious bringing smiles to those all around.

Jonah thoroughly enjoyed the food, particularly the meat and spicy dishes, such as "Hot Pot" in Chongqing (see picture above), which is famous for the numbing spicy pepper flavor.

More than once, Mike commented that he brought the right child to China. Despite all the differences compared to home, Jonah fit right in. He was such a joy! We are so glad both Mike and Jonah were able to come.

South Korea

In mid-October I (Mark) joined a trip sponsored by my employer to South Korea. Along with several colleagues, we spent 2 days on Jeju Island, about an hour by airplane south of Seoul, and 2 days back in Seoul. Jeju's latitude is similar to Shanghai and Houston, Texas. Due to the warmer climate, beautiful beaches, and quiet atmosphere, Jeju is one of Korea's most famous tourist destinations.

Orange harvest was in full swing during my visit, with street vendors marketing them everywhere. My hopes of transporting a couple boxes of these very sweet Mandarin Orange type tangerines back to Dalian were dashed when our tour guide reminded me that China will not allow them through customs. So, I had to settle for orange chocolate instead.

In Seoul our group included many shopping enthusiasts, eager to purchase name-brand anything for friends and family back in China. I was reminded just how much I loathe shopping, especially for conspicuous consumption. Several of my colleagues told me that in Korea such items are much cheaper than in China, mainly due to a difference in import taxes. So there was reason to their madness, but seemed a bit amusing to me--similar to the wonderment of chartered airplanes filled with shoppers flying into Minneapolis just to go shopping at the Mall of America OR New Yorkers flying to Paris to go shopping for the weekend.

Since I was the only American among a mostly Chinese group (2 Japanese colleagues were also part of the group), I think I was the only one to appreciate the Korean War Museum. The picture you see is a statute of 2 Korean brothers who fought in the war, one fought for the North and one fought for the South. As you can imagine this civil war had and still has huge impact on Koreans. Moving through the museum, I got a clear sense of the camaraderie between the Korean and the American soldiers who fought together. Also having a keen sense how each side has its own perspective, I mentally noted how different this museum depicts the war than the memorials we visited in Dandong, China, which borders North Korea.

Korea's history is heavily influenced by China, including architecture, former ways of feudalistic governing, Confucius philosophy, etc. However, the past 60 years have seen a huge influx of Western, especially American, influences such as democracy, Christianity, and a market economy.

I returned home (in Dalian) feeling a deep connection between South Korea and America that I don't feel in any other Asian country that I have visited.

Zebra Crossing

As we were riding in a van through the streets of Zunyi, Mark quizzed the kids to see if they knew the name for a crosswalk in Chinese. Since none of them knew, he explained to them that it’s called a斑马线 (Ban Ma Xian), which literally means “zebra stripes”. Chinese translations for western concepts often sound similar to the English counterpart (transliteration), such as 咖啡 (kafei, pronounced kahfay) for coffee. The modern word for computer, it is a logical translation; 电脑 (diannao) means electric brain. The Chinese word for crosswalk is visual, which Mark found amusing and wanted to share with the kids. Mark heard giggles and Lanie’s little voice from the back seat say, “Oh, that makes sense”. When he pressed her about what she meant, she explained that she’d seen a sign that said “Zebra Crossing”, and had even pointed it out to Saylor. Of course, we all wanted to see the sign after that. It wasn’t very hard to do, as they were up and down the main streets. Our driver could not understand why we asked him to pull over for a photo. Even when we explained it, he didn’t seem to think it was funny.

Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

When we first arrived in Dalian, we had good intentions of contacting our friend, Carolyn, who lives in the southern province of Guizhou in the city of Zunyi. Carolyn was the visiting Chinese teacher who lived with us in Portland for the 2005-2006 school year. Armed with only her email address, we were disappointed after numerous attempts to contact her were left unanswered. Of course, she had given us all her contact information, but it was sitting in storage in Portland. I racked my brain to see if there was anyone who would possibly have more information than us. My only hope was to go through AFS, the exchange program that facilitated Carolyn’s stay. Sally Ann, the volunteer coordinator, was thrilled to help, as she loves these kinds of reunions and had just the information we needed. The next day, I was able to call Carolyn at her home and began to make plans to visit her and her family. She had been expecting our call, but hadn’t checked her English email account in months. During her 10 months in the US, she left behind her husband and daughter, who is Saylor’s age. We were eager to meet them and her extended family. We coordinated our trip with our friend’s (Bill Geister) arrival. For the past few months, we’ve been asking parents and teachers about the dates for the kids’ last day of school. The frustrating reply was always, “We still haven’t been notified, but maybe around July 10.” We went ahead and made plans according to that information, only to find out that school didn’t officially get out until July 21! We ended up pulling them out early, but even that was very anticlimactic, since Lanie was the only kid in her class on the 16th! All the other families just stopped coming after final testing was finished.
Thursday night, July 15, Bill and I left on the overnight train to Beijing, with the rest of the family following the next night. We thought this was the best plan, since our family was in Beijing in May and already visited the main tourist attractions. Bill and my sleeper bunks were initially separated by 5 train cars, which would make meeting up the next morning very difficult. After I dropped him off in his car (there was a large group of teachers from Inner Mongolia who didn’t want to split up, but were kind enough to help him out), I went to see if there anyone on my car who was willing to trade. As I left, I tucked Mark’s business card with my cell number in his shirt pocket, and told him I felt like I was leaving my baby on the first day of kindergarten. He said I worried too much. In my car, a very nice woman asked if I could help her out. She had friends in Bill’s car and wanted to trade tickets! After the train started rolling, Bill was surprised when I showed up in his car, although he was doing just fine on his own. He’d been offered a middle berth (a very nice gesture, since we were only able to buy top berths which are even difficult for me to get in and out of), and by the morning, he’d made friends with the teachers, using the English teacher as the translator. As soon as the train rolled in, the rain started. By the time we got in line for a taxi, it was pouring. The taxi line wasn’t moving very quickly, so we floated to the subway ticket line which didn’t move at all (too many people cutting) and back to the taxi line. Apparently, indecision is my specialty! During this time, many entrepreneurs were approaching “the foreigner and his interpreter” offering to take us to our hotel for 100 RMB ($15 US or 5x the going rate). That just made us more determined to stand out in the rain! After we were thoroughly drenched, we decided to move away from the train station and see if we could snag a taxi at a hotel or on a busy street. After walking for about 20 minutes, we found an empty taxi. At first, the driver said that he couldn’t go to our hotel. We offered 50 RMB, but he said it wasn’t a money problem, but that he couldn’t go to our hotel. My imagination got away from me, and I started to think about the Chinese mafia and ancient lines that were drawn. He then offered to help us by making a phone call, and started to put our luggage in his car. It was only after the car started to move that I understood he was taking us to our hotel. In my limited Chinese, I had misunderstood “didn’t know how to get there” for “couldn’t go”. A simple phone call and a 10 minute taxi ride brought us right to the doorstep of our hotel (close to Tiananmen), and the driver would only charge us the metered fair of 20 RMB! After we dried out, we spent the rest of the afternoon walking in and around Tiananmen and the Forbidden City. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, but because of the rain and the late start, we decided to find an indoor activity for the evening. Our hotel was able to arrange tickets and transportation to the Beijing Acrobats. We had choices of tickets ranging from 180 to 680 RMB ($25 to $100 US), and were glad that we chose the cheap seats because we ended up in the sixth row with a perfect view. We were both in awe of the performance, especially since some of the performers were as young my kids’ age!
As I was brushing my teeth that night, I laughed out loud to myself, imagining Mark (the foreigner) and his four kids on the overnight train to Beijing. We are already a tourist attraction in and of ourselves, but a father with four kids must have been a sight! Their trip was uneventful, and we easily met up with them and our friends staying in Beijing (the Pan-Weiss family) at the train station the following morning. Georgette Pan graciously offered to charter a van to take our large group to a different section of the Great Wall that our family has not explored. It was a little further from Beijing, but the distance paid off in a smaller crowd at the Wall. Addison had a heat related problem on the climb up the wall (even though we took a cable car most of the way up), and it was amusing to watch several of the vendors attending to her like she was an empress. These same vendors followed us for a long length of the wall before applying carefully cultivated pressure to buy their wares. We escaped from their guilt trip only to find ourselves in another tourist trap: the zipline. Even though it was very expensive and was over too quickly, the kids and I felt like it was money well spent. Then, we took a short boat ride to meet up with Mark and Bill who had opted for cold beverages. Back in Beijing, we had just enough time to eat dinner and clean up in Georgette’s hotel room (conveniently located across from the train station) before we got on the train to Zunyi for 36 hours!
We spent two nights and 1 full day on the train. A group of kids from Zunyi who had been sightseeing in Beijing were scattered throughout the train, but we had 6 middle school boys in our car. They loved learning American card games and especially liked Coleman. This was so good for him, since most of his life has been lived surrounded by girls. Several times, Coleman felt the need to retreat to his bunk just to get some quiet time! We had to do some ticket swapping on this train, too, but it all worked out well. We had 7 lower and middle berths, in three adjacent compartments, but really wanted to have a whole compartment with 6 berths. During a long trip like this, the lower berths are used by all people in the compartment during the day, so it would be more convenient and private. Bill noticed that an older couple had top berths, and since his own experience was still fresh in his mind, he wanted to make sure they were able to have lower berths if they wanted. We ended up doing a three way trade with some of the school age boys, who can climb in and out of upper bunks with ease. The couple was so thrilled, they insisted on giving Mark some of the food they brought for the trip and wanted to pay the small difference in fare. He felt obligated to take the food, but turned down the money. The two hardest parts about such a long train ride are the squatter toilets and eating convenience food for 4 meals, but we managed to survive.
We were so excited to arrive in Zunyi. Carolyn and her daughter June (Fang Junqin) were at the train station to greet us. Based on the Chinese favor system, her cousin once removed was also there to act as our driver. We settled into our hotel, and were then treated to a feast at a famous local restaurant. In the afternoon, we had ice cream in Carolyn’s home. June came back to our hotel to play with our kids while the adults took naps. The whole time we were in Zunyi, we had a relaxed schedule. We had dinner at a delicious hot pot restaurant and were introduced to an old high school friend who was taking three days off from work to accompany us around Zunyi.
The highlights from Day 5 included a historical tour of the sight of the Zunyi Conference where Mao Zedong rose to power. We hadn’t realized what a significant role in communism this part of China played. We had another great meal at a local specialty restaurant. Zunyi is also called “oxygen city” because of all the beautiful green space. We “hiked” up a mountain, which had over 300 stairs and a paved road. When Carolyn lived with us, all of my cooking was compared to her mother’s. When I proudly served her my version of Chinese food to her, she took one bite and said, “This is not Chinese food.” After she left, I served the same food but called it “Chinese-American food”. Knowing what a food junkie (not to be confused with the junk foodie) I am, you can imagine my anticipation when I learned we were going to Carolyn’s mother’s house for dinner! She clearly spent a lot of time preparing for our visit. She says that she only spent 2 hours cooking, but there was much more prep time involved, probably days. All the stops were pulled for this meal. There must have been 12 different dishes cooked for over 25 people! Carolyn’s family is so large and tight-knit; we even met her 1st cousin twice removed, a cute little girl who was so shy while we were there, but cried when we left! The food was pretty exotic compared to American standards, and I could easily see why Carolyn didn’t think my cooking was authentic. None of the animal is wasted and many dishes used local ingredients such as a type of grass and garden fresh or preserved vegetables. As soon as we were done eating, I was shooed away from the table, and the women (some of whom I don’t think even ate) started clearing up the evidence of the meal.
On our third day (Day 6 in total) in Zunyi, we hiked in the Yunmentun Forest. Even though it was a long drive to get to the trail head, half of our group decided to stay with the cars. Saylor and Lanie were in this group with Carolyn’s family and niece. I allowed them to stay behind, because I knew that it would be good for their language skills as well as be a chance to bond with June. We saw some amazing wildlife, and it was enjoyable for those who went. We were invited to Carolyn’s older sister’s house for dinner, which is in the same complex as her mother and father’s home. We were again humbled by the amount and variety of food that she prepared. We were treated to salted duck eggs, chicken feet and smoked pigs’ ears, among other things. All members of Carolyn’s family were extremely warm hearted toward us and generous beyond belief.
Early on Day 7, my body strongly objected to something that I had eaten or drank. I wasn’t in any pain, but I was worried about the long car ride. We were heading south to the city of Guiyang, but our day trip was 2 ½ hours past the city. The trip was slow, with many long tunnels through mountains and winding roads around rivers and valleys, but it was beautiful country. We saw small mountains with rows of corn like stair steps up the side that were obviously being hand farmed. We stopped in Anshun for lunch, but I was just looking forward to the van emptying so I could get some uninterrupted sleep. Carolyn’s husband, Fang Yen, works for the national tax bureau. Mark, Bill and the kids were treated to a feast by several of his old classmates. (We were just starting to learn that he has old classmates in every city in the province.) We finally arrived at the Huangguoshu Waterfalls. A lot of money has been invested in making this area accessible to tourists. We walked behind the massive (both wide and tall) waterfall which is the site of the famous Monkey King stories. We had planned to see this area in one day, but ended up only seeing one of the three parts. The ride back to Guiyang was long, especially knowing that we would drive the distance again the next day to finish seeing the sites. It was important to go back to Guiyang (rather than stay locally), because another of Fang Yen’s classmates had arranged a meal at a beautiful restaurant. The display of fresh food was so large, that it almost felt like a zoo. I don’t think we actually ate any alligators, sea turtles, snakes or various large creatures, but they were fun to see.
The next day, in addition to seeing more beautiful waterfalls, we got to explore some ancient caves. I tried to convince the kids that the first huge cave was the scene from the 6th Harry Potter book, but only Coleman believed me (we hadn’t seen the movie yet). The Dragon Cave was our next stop. It is famous because you enter by boat. The girls and I couldn’t help but sing “It’s a Small World” as we entered; we figured since everyone was already staring at us, we might as well give them a good reason. Even though we were at the premier tourist attractions for the region, most of these people have never seen a foreigner. Many people stopped to ask questions and take the kids’ pictures. We had the local hot pot for dinner, which was a sour soup with fish, tofu and vegetables. The taste was so familiar and delicious, but I couldn’t put my finger on it at first. It reminded me of fruit loops. After translating back and forth, and actually seeing the bottle of oil that gave the soup its flavor, we realized that it was lemon grass oil (commonly used in Thai food).
Our last day in Guiyang was very relaxed. Late in the morning, we met up with one of Fang Yen’s colleagues (who had previously treated us to dinner) and his family in the old section of Guiyang. Through his connections, we received free admission which included a tour guide. Our group of 15 had such a diverse set of interests ranging from learning history to buying souvenirs that our guide gave up on us after about 30 minutes. Yet another of Fang Yen’s colleagues and husband treated us to the biggest feast of all with so many local dishes that it looked like a freshly set table even when we were all stuffed. We returned to Zunyi for the night, preparing for our trip back to Dalian.
The original plan to get to the airport in Chongqing, three and a half hours from Zunyi, was to ride a shuttle bus. Our problem was that there was no student discount for me and the kids, making it exorbitantly expensive. Fang Yen graciously volunteered to drive us there, hoping to make it back to Zunyi in time for June’s 11th Birthday party that evening. The plan deviated again with Saylor and Bill going to Xi’an to visit the terracotta warriors while everyone else went back to Dalian.
I’ve always wanted to take a transportation vacation, and this was probably as close as I’ll ever come. We chose to take the train on the way down south for two reasons. First, it allowed us to stop and do some sightseeing in Beijing. Second, and more importantly, we could really see China as we passed from city to city. The kids were able to visualize the distance (literally and figuratively) between our lives in Dalian and our destination. By flying home, we squeaked out as much time on our trip as possible. Mark had to be to work the very next day, and our friend Michele was due to arrive in Dalian the next evening for more adventures.

Shark Death

Yes, but would the shark die?
Being sick is never fun, but its effects are exacerbated when you are unfamiliar with your surroundings, or say, hiking 2 miles to see a beautiful remote waterfall in southern China. Day 7 of our big trip started with a mad dash to the toilet at 4:30 a.m. and continued at that pace every twenty minutes or so until we loaded up the van for the 5 or 6 hour ride to the falls. I wasn’t sure how I was going to survive the ride, but I also didn’t want to be the spoiler. Luckily, with 4 kids and a smoker (our friend), stops were frequent enough. I mostly slept in the car (thanks, Benadryl!), so when we got to the falls, I felt good enough to pay the $16 admission fee and brave the heat. We hadn’t really gotten very far when I started wishing for my bed and my mommy. The scenery was beautiful; the waterfall magnificent, but I could barely focus on anything other than keeping my head up. At one point, when we were at the base of the 77 m high falls, Coleman came up to me, peppering me with “important” questions.
Coleman: “Mom, if a shark was at the top of the falls, and it fell down to the bottom, would it die?”
Me: “Coleman, honey, momma doesn’t feel very good right now.”
Coleman: “No, mom, if a shark fell down the waterfall, would it die?”
Me (audible sigh): “There would never be a shark in this water, because they live in salt water and this is fresh water.”
Coleman (getting frustrated): “I know, mom, but if a shark WAS at the top of the waterfall and it fell down to the bottom, would it die?”
Me: “Sharks live in the ocean, this is a river.”
Coleman: “YES, but would the shark die?!?!”
Me (finally realizing that the boy just needed a “yes or no” answer and then he’d leave me alone): “Yes, Coleman, the shark would die. Nothing could survive falling that far.”
Coleman processed this for a moment and then asked, “Would it bleed?”
You are now on the inside of the Neher’s newest inside joke. Coleman is always asking questions, some that are improbable, but mostly as a tool for gathering information from the world around him. It is a great way to get a glimpse inside his busy mind. He knows that his questions are always welcome, even when I’m sick or if they are on the sci-fi end of the spectrum. He also has a one track mind when it comes to equality between him and his siblings (unless it’s to his advantage, of course). Now, whenever he gets fixated on a subject, one of us just asks, “Yes, but would the shark die?”

Billy Boy

Our good friend, Bill Geister, came to visit us for 2 ½ weeks, bringing many American treats. His luggage was delayed for two days, but we were thrilled that his carry-on included enough Jello and pudding to recreate a small portion of the Great Wall. Our family thoroughly enjoyed our time with him. We have so much respect for him and his whole family, that we felt honored he would spend his time with us. We were able to do so much in the short time he was here, that by the end of his stay, we could hardly remember the beginning; it seemed like so long ago! He was very flexible about our traveling schedule, which one day found him on a day trip (to the waterfalls) within a vacation (Guiyang) within a vacation (Zunyi) within a vacation (Dalian). Because space was limited, we had to leave part of our luggage at each of the stops, dwindling it down to mere backpacks at the waterfalls. We think we picked up all of our belonging on the way back through each city, although there was a close call with a hearing aid, cell phone and a favorite blanket (not Bill’s). We also joked that Bill was the “Rainmaker”, since it greeted him at each of the stops we made on our journey, starting in Dalian! We mostly didn’t complain about the rain (except in Beijing), because it kept the weather cooler than normal, especially in southern China. We needed to get back to Dalian by Sunday night in order for Mark to get back to work and to get our home ready for our friend Michele to arrive Monday. Because Michele was coming, and Bill still had 5 days before he left, he wanted to squeak in one more trip. I didn’t feel comfortable setting him loose in China, so we compromised. Mark was able to rearrange Bill and Saylor’s flight schedules so that they stopped in Xi’an for 2 full days before coming back to Dalian. Bill was the rational adult, and Saylor had the Chinese language skills. We were hoping that two halves would make a whole, and they had a wonderful time visiting the ancient city and exploring the area of the terracotta warriors. Saylor was the natural choice to accompany Bill because she is the most willing of all our children to use her Chinese, but mostly because she and Bill have an easy relationship that is uniquely theirs. When they got home, Bill had one more day to finish up last minute shopping before he left. His comment was “if you’re not broke when you get back home, you didn’t have a good enough time”. From the weight of his suitcases, he must have had a blast!

A Total Eclipse of the Sun

Before we left Zunyi for a day trip in the mountains about a 1 ½ hour drive north, it was brought to our attention that there was a solar eclipse taking place. We found a good viewing spot between two buildings, but were concerned that all the Chinese were looking directly at it. I wasn’t sure Bill would ever get his sunglasses back because strangers kept asking to borrow them and passing them around. Between Bill and me, we remembered the proper viewing technique of using two sheets of paper (I just happened to have a small pad of paper in my purse). The object is to allow sunlight to pass through a tiny pinhole in the top paper that is projected on to the lower paper, about 12 inches apart. The shadow on the lower paper actually shows the progression of the eclipse. We attracted quite a crowd before we decided to get in the car and watch it from the road. While we were hiking, our guide (and Carolyn’s good friend) received a cell phone call saying that the sky in Zunyi had turned completely dark at the full eclipse. From our place on the road, we didn’t notice.

This Little Piggy Went to China

Before our first round of guests arrived in Dalian, I forwarded them a message from the American Consulate in China. Here is an excerpt:

This Warden Message alerts U.S. citizens to the latest information regarding human cases of 2009-H1N1 Influenza, sometimes referred to as swine flu or novel H1N1. Local Authorities have required quarantine of all arriving airline passengers who either exhibit flu-like symptoms, or who have been seated within three rows of someone who has exhibited flu-like symptoms. Those with flu-like symptoms are moved to an infectious disease hospital for H1N1 testing, while those in proximity are either held in a low-budget quarantine hotel or requested staying at home for 12-24 hours. If the results are positive, quarantine is extended to seven days.

American citizens should be aware that the U.S. Consulate General Shenyang cannot demand their immediate release if they have been detained or quarantined in accordance with local public health and legal authorities.

Please note that the Consulate General is NOT advising Americans in China to depart. At this time, the Consulate General advises that Americans review the guidance provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization, and make their own decisions about whether to remain in China.

As scary as it sounds, none of our guests were deterred, essentially feeling their lives were meant to be lived. Although this concern can be backed up with fact, the paranoia associated with it is out of proportion. When Bill and I went to see the Beijing Acrobats, I was curious to know if we got a good deal on tickets or if we’d been swindled. As soon as we found our seats, I turned to the man next to me and asked him how much he paid. He immediately started waving me off like I was going to attack him and was looking over my shoulder at his tour leader standing behind me. I turned around for answers, assuming the man must be a foreigner who didn’t speak Chinese, and was told “he can’t speak”. Then, I watched the four people closest to me (including the waver), frantically putting on face masks. I have to admit, I was offended, even if their worries were focused at the color of Bill’s skin, not mine. Perhaps if we started coughing or sneezing, we could be four seats closer to center stage! I asked Bill to take a picture of me, but told him what I really wanted was the masked man’s mug shot. We never did find out if we’d paid more money than everyone else, but we thought it was worth every penny we spent!

As we were waiting for our flight from Chongqing back to Dalian, I noticed a Chinese cartoon was playing on all the monitors in the terminal. I was absorbed in my book, and didn’t pay any attention. Just as they called our flight to board, Addison told me it was an informational video on Swine flu. I watched in horror as they not only gave the facts about the flu, but also suggested ways to prevent it, including racial profiling. “If you see a group of Japanese tourists, stay away.” This explains why several groups of American tourists we know have had to scramble when their hotel reservations have been cancelled. Only in the last week did we hear about the large group from Eugene, OR that was quarantined for a long time.

A few months after we arrived in Dalian, Mark’s company was antsy about the bird flu, more specifically about the chance of expats contracting it from Chinese nationals. In an effort to cover their backsides, they offered the kids and I the opportunity to move (permanently) back to the US. Coupled with the fact that Mark would have to stay here and that we had only just started our adventure, we decided to stay put. When swine flu first broke in Mexico, we actually felt grateful to be in China. Mark’s company also committed to taking good care of us, in the case of an emergency. We are now finding it all too ironic that the expat community here is now the target of panic.

Chinese Church

A few Sundays ago, we ventured from the comforts of our home in search of Christian fellowship. Our kids’ tutors, who have been Christians for several years, offered to introduce us to the only government sanctioned Chinese congregation in Dalian. After arriving a half an hour late (we thought it started at 9, not 8:30 a.m.), we were ushered into the universally empty seats in the overcrowded overflow room: the front row pews. There were about 200 people in the long and narrow room, all watching the sermon on a projection screen. The main room probably held 600-800 more people. There was even a 4 part choir! Although I didn’t understand a lot of the service, I was able to get the gist. The pastor mentioned that he came from a long line of pastors, dating perhaps before the Cultural Revolution*. He spoke from his heart and seemed to really connect with his congregation. The experience was simultaneously familiar and foreign with songs like This is My Father’s World, What a Friend We Have In Jesus, and There Were Twelve Disciples sang without inhibition in Chinese, with the atmosphere reminding me of many charismatic churches I’ve visited in my life. Since I wasn’t able to follow along, and while I wasn’t busy breaking up the fist fight in the front pew between Coleman and any sister who looked at him wrong, my mind wandered (not unlike many sermons preached in English, come to think of it). I thought about the concept of religious freedom, and how we, as Americans, take it for granted. I visited this same church 14 years ago, but the service was sparsely attended. At the time, religion (not just Christianity, but even China’s own Buddhism) was just finding its place in modern China. There is no doubt that even during the most oppressive times, Christians were meeting in secret. I was surprised at the time to learn that my study partner and her entire family were Christians. If I’d had the language skills, I might have learned of the hardships they endured because of their faith. As an adult, I’ve always struggled with the concept of spreading the Good News. I know if it hadn’t been for my parents, who were short term missionaries in Taiwan, I would not have the life that I have today. I thank God every day for the blessings in my life, but it goes against my very nature to try to sway or judge people. As I looked around, I wondered what could possibly draw all these Chinese nationals to this hot, crowded church to worship a foreigner’s God. In that moment, I realized that they were attracted by the life that Jesus lived and have claimed God as their own, just as all Christians have done before them, including me. And that, my friends, is not a bad place to be.

*If you do not know anything about the Cultural Revolution, I highly recommend doing a computer search. When I came in 1995, I had no idea.

June Update

It’s been a few weeks since my last post. I suppose that can be a good thing, since it means that life has slowed down to more of a routine. Excitement is good, but tiring. My publisher (Melanie) has been on vacation, which gave me an additional excuse to be lax. Mark and I have found that the first three months are the most difficult time when acclimating to any new environment whether it’s a new city or job, off to college for the first time, or, say, to a new country. It hasn’t helped the kids’ attitudes to know that all of their American friends are already enjoying summer vacation. The Chinese have 6 weeks off in the summer and 6 weeks off in the winter. Our kids were still in school in the States during the China’s winter break, making this the longest school year of their lives. We have also grieved with Addison and Alayna as their two best friends in Dalian have moved back to their home countries (The Philippines and the US). I suppose that is a risk you take when you live in an international community. It was wonderful for the two of them to have good friends who could speak English, but now this forces them to use their Chinese to make friends. Mark is currently in Thailand for a meeting with the US Wheat Associates. He is networking and meeting with old colleagues from the States. We all wanted to go with him on this trip, but couldn’t find reasonable airfare. His travel schedule has started to pick up steam, and he’ll be away a lot this summer. Even though he’s busy, we are looking forward to our break. We are humbled to have 3 sets of friends coming to visit us. One of Addison’s old classmates and her family (the Pan-Weiss family) will be here for the 4th of July Weekend. They are stopping by on their way to Beijing where the two girls are taking language classes at Beijing University. Our kids don’t get out of school until July 10th, so they will be taking their American friends to school on Monday! Our next guest, Bill, comes July 13 and will stay for two and a half weeks. We plan to do some traveling while he is here, but haven’t made firm plans. We have connected with the Chinese teacher, Carolyn, who lived with our family in 2004-2005. She left her husband and daughter (Saylor’s age) here in China when she lived with us, so we are anxious to meet her family. Next to come is another good friend, Michele, who lived with us for a short time before she got married. We are only sad because we couldn’t convince her to bring her one and a half year old with her. Mark’s brother, Mike (who might bring his son), will come during a holiday this fall and will get to do some more traveling with him. Mark’s company, who is only accustomed to sending Japanese nationals abroad, usually sends its overseas employees and their families back to Japan once a year. Since tickets to the US would be so much more expensive, the company has offered a compromise. They are willing to apply the cost of tickets to Japan towards travel to anywhere we want. This is fine with us, since we weren’t planning to go back to the State until the fall of 2010, anyway. We are still in the dreaming phase, but are leaning towards Southeast Asia. This trip will most likely occur next winter break (Jan 15-March1).
This next story should be Mark’s to tell, but he’s been so busy. When we first got here, we wondered out loud whether Mark’s good friend from 1993, Yang Bingzhong (Larry) was still in Dalian, even though he graduated from the Dalian Foreign Language University in 1996. We had no way of looking him up. A few days before the trip to Dandong where we were NOT almost captured by North Korea (thanks, Melanie), Mark shared his China experiences with the college kids from Juniata. They had dinner at a very nice Sichuan restaurant close to the university, which has many small private dining rooms. I’m not exactly clear on the chain of near misses that lead to Mark and Larry bumping into each other at the restaurant, but consider it a happy coincident. We had dinner with them last weekend and discovered that his stepson is just two classes down the hall from Saylor at school! Both Larry and his wife speak very standard Chinese, which made the conversation easy for me to follow. Larry has his own travel agency, which should also come in handy for our family.
We continue to miss all of you, but feel tremendously blessed to have this opportunity. The kids are slowing coming around. We hope that as time goes on, they will come to understand they can learn so much from their time here. Before I close, I’ll give you a quick rundown on the kids.
Addison has had a difficult time here, which she blames on the move. It’s not much comfort, but I keep reminding her (lovingly) that she slammed doors in the US, too. I remember what it’s like to be 13…so emotional…self-absorbed (last night she asked me which side of the bed Mark sleeps on?!?). It boils down to being hormonal, I think. Mark and I have both worked extra hard at keeping a close relationship with her. Mark takes her to her bus stop every day before his morning walk, and I think they enjoy this private time together. Sometimes Addison will accompany him on his evening walk, too. She recently told him that she has decided to put effort into her school work because she cares about her education (not grades, mind you, but education!). I don’t want to jinx it, but we’ve seen a nice change in her attitude and willingness to participate in our family activities in the last few weeks and months.
Saylor probably has the most homework and the least amount of free time. Being easily distracted doesn’t help her case at all. She is constantly asking to have more independence to set her own homework schedule, but I keep find her knitting, reading a book or watching the kids play in the courtyard outside our apartment. With the tutors’ help, she is learning a lot. Most Chinese would say she speaks like a native, and she is very willing to communicate with them. She also has a gift of befriending small children whether it is just on the side of the road or the little ones that live in our complex. If I didn’t have three other kids to keep on task, I think I would parent her so differently.
Alayna has been challenged here. She is a child for whom things have come very naturally. She’s such a quiet child (flying under the radar) that she is being overlooked by both her teachers and her classmates. I recently asked her teacher how she was doing, and her response made me think that she doesn’t seem to know Lanie at all. It made me more than a little sad to know that the adult, who gets to spend the most time with her, doesn’t seem to know how lucky she is. She is not very willing to use her Chinese, even though people who hear her speak say that her Chinese is good, which has made making friends more difficult. In addition to her school work and violin, she is also studying the traditional Chinese string instrument called the Erhu (see later blog post).
Coleman is doing very well. He has the least amount of homework and is the most motivated to get it done (so he can go out and play). We are amazed at his math skills, and can hardly believe that all first graders here can do this work. His English skills are still not very strong, but we plan to work on that this summer. Coleman likes to claim that his Chinese hasn’t improved at all since he’s been here, but I think he can’t accurately gage his own progress. He is still playing soccer four times a week, but says he might be ready for a new challenge in the fall. We aren’t quite sure how he’s doing socially at school, since language is such a big issue. He seems to be making neighborhood friends, though.
Reading over this blog, I’m not sure if I’ve succeeded in staying positive. I’m publishing it anyway because I want to have accurate record of our time here. More (happier) blogs to come!

Almost Captured in North Korea (per Melanie)

We are finding that life is never dull here. Our latest adventure took us to a border town between China and North Korea, to a city called Dandong. We were invited to join a tour group from Juniata College, which is affiliated with the exchange program that we participated in when we were in college. It was billed as a day trip, leaving at 7:00 a.m. and back by dinner time, perfectly doable for our family. Dandong was further than we originally thought, but our driver never fully explained why we had to pull over 3 different times so that he could crawl under the bus with duct tape. We had packed books and card games to keep the kids entertained, but it was not enough. When we finally arrived in Dandong, our organizer hired a tour guide who started by taking us to a nice restaurant owned and operated by the North Korean government. We had our fill of wonderful spicy food, and were even treated to singing and dancing by the waitresses. We then headed north along the Yalu River, which divides the two countries, to board a small tourist boat. As we headed back down south on the river, we couldn’t help but notice the stark contrast between North Korea and China. China has flourished, with many tall skyscrapers and booming industry. From Dandong looking into North Korea, I only saw one van, one Ferris wheel (it’s cited in the Lonely Planet guidebook as never moving) and one tractor, that I could have sworn was running on steam. All other work was being done by hand and with large animals. Both sides seem a bit paranoid, with China’s barbed wire fences and video surveillance and North Korea’s underground bunkers and no photography policy. We saw North Koreans working the collective farms, young boys herding the communal sheep and soldiers watching our every move. Armed with only our goodwill, we were thrilled when some North Koreans took the time to return our smiles and waves. At one point, the boat captain received a phone call from the North Koreans complaining that someone on our boat was taking pictures. We were annoyed that a group of Chinese nationals at the front of the boat where drawing unwanted attention to us. Our guide pointed out that all of the windows in North Korea buildings used plastic, because they couldn’t afford to buy glass (or didn’t have the technology to make it). He also told us that the countries had each claimed the waters within 100 meters of their shore, with the middle waters being neutral. The high drama for the day was when our boat either got stuck (high centered) or the engine wasn’t strong enough to pull us up the current. We not only drifted into North Korean waters, but within 10 feet of the shore! Emotions were high, especially with the college age girls (was I ever like that?) After about 30 minutes of going nowhere, a small boat came and pushed us to safety. While we were still stuck and without explanation, our guide gave us the green light to start taking pictures, making all of our nervousness seem juvenile. Our next stop was the bridge that was “accidentally” bombed by US Forces in the 1950s during the Korean War. As with so many things before it, it, too, has been turned into a tourist trap. For roughly $3 US, you can walk onto the bridge, right up to the mangled steel that is still in ruins. The North Koreans dismantled their half of the bridge, so it abruptly ends in the middle of the river. The bombing of this bridge cut off supplies to the North Korean army and inadvertently the North Korean people as well. Overall, our kids handle the day very well. They had so many good questions about the history here and its ramifications; I am very glad that Mark not only has a degree in history, but enjoys sharing this interest with the kids. After a quick stop at McDonald’s, we rolled into bed at 11:30 p.m. feeling very grateful. We often complain about the hardness of our beds, but they were so much better than sleeping three to a bench on a bus or on the hard ground. After being reminded of the poverty and hardships in the world, we were just glad that we were safe and our bellies were full.

Hostess with the Mostest (per Melanie)

We've had a very busy past few weeks - so busy that I was almost relieved the first time I couldn't log on to our blog. After awhile, I started getting worried, and my imagination began to run wild with conspiracy theories and such. Mark accused me of taunting the higher powers with cryptic messages on my facebook account. Two weeks ago, we hosted my Chinese language class for dinner. It is always tricky cooking for new people, but it was even more challenging because there was so much ethnic diversity. My class includes 5 Korean college students, 3 Japanese who work in Dalian, a Russian pre-college student, and two wives of business men (this includes my good Korean friend and me). One of my two Chinese teachers and her husband were also able to attend. I ended up making a traditional New England clam chowder and an Indian beef curry. I was still afraid that some people wouldn't find something they liked, so I also made potstickers. We all had so much fun...I don't think I have laughed so hard in a long time. Everyone was up for a little friendly competition, so we played pictionary using our vocabulary words. In one round, Alayna was matched against a Korean classmate who didn't know what the word was until she whispered it to him in English! My good Korean friend, Xin Yinhua, came early and helped me throughout the party. We eat lunch together about 3-4 times per week. At first, our conversations were limited to the text in our Chinese language books. Xin Yinhua is the top student in our class, always getting up at 4:00 a.m. to study and attending another language school in the afternoon. Her English reading and writing skills are good enough that, coupled with her Chinese, we are able to talk about a wide range of topics that are meaningful to us. She has a three year old daughter who lives with her, but her husband, who works for Pan Ocean (a partner in Mark's new joint venture company) lives a three hour bus ride away and only comes home for the weekend. I have found that most successful businessmen here (Chinese or otherwise) are largely unavailable to their families. I am so thankful that Mark doesn't have this kind of pressure on him, since our goal is to experience China together. He has the occasional business trip (once a month average so far) and business dinners (twice a month), but we can live with that. Recently, my Chinese lesson topic was about equality (or lack thereof) of household chores. All the Koreans and Japanese said that there were strong divisions of labor between genders that were layered in centuries of culture. My Chinese teachers have both talked about how China is becoming more gender equal, with men sharing in the housework. The first reason is that many families in China have two incomes, making it necessary to work together to get supper on the table and the kitchen cleaned afterward. The second more interesting reason is that the current ratio of men to women is 120:100 and increasing. With the odds stacked against them, men are doing whatever it takes to get the girl, including housework! I say all of this because I am so thankful for the husband that I have, who is doing the dinner dishes as I write this blog post, among the many other things he does. This is our last day of a three day holiday, Dragonboat Festival, starting Thursday and ending on Saturday. The holiday was actually Thursday, so the whole country took Friday off and now we have to go to school on Sunday to make it up! Mark is the only one that gets Sunday off, too. Addison and Alayna were sick (but not too sick) on Monday, and only went to school for two days this past week. Now, they are gearing up for a six day week! Happy Dragonboat Festival and International Children's Day (June 1).

Coleman

We slept, ate ramen noodles and played games on the train on the way to Beijing. We got to see the pandas at the Beijing Zoo. Saylor, Lanie and I (Coleman) bought pieces of jade that were shaped like an egg and had a panda painted on them. My favorite thing about Beijing was watching an elderly Chinese woman teach foreigners how to catch with a weighted ball on the end of a badminton racket. She was so good, she could catch the ball, swing the racket behind her and pass the ball behind her back in a single motion. I liked eating Taiwanese noodles.

Addison

When we were in Beijing we went to the Great wall of China like all the other tourists do. We went to Mutianyu because it wasn't as famous as Badaling, so there weren't as many people.

First, we got tricked into buying the more expensive tickets (the CD Rom type) and we didn't buy enough tickets so it took forever to get all of us through! Then, on the way to the cable car station (yes we were a bit wimpy by taking the cable car up) we got called banana, T-shirts and all the products that the people were selling. They said stuff like "Hello, Banana, Hello." "Hello, T-shirt, Hello". I had a feeling that they didn't really know what they were saying but at least they were attempting to sell their products by speaking a different language. I also reasoned that they probably learned it for the Olympics and all the English speakers coming to Beijing. We were funneled through the famous Great Wall Tourist Trap that all foreigners have to walk through, hoping not to get hooked on something that would sell for at least 3 times its actual price.

Finally, we made it through without buying anything and rode the cable car up. We walked down the wall and laughed and got lemonade all over ourselves (accidentally). We explored and did an experiment. The experiment included Coleman, Mom, a Snickers bar, and the vendors selling snacks along the wall. There vendors but they all wanted 10 yuan (we normally pay 3.5 yuan) for a single snickers bar. Mom thought that it was because dad was there with so many children. When we got to the next one, she went up to the vendor and got the same answer. Next, she told Coleman if he could get a vendor to sell him a snickers for 5 yuan, he could keep it (Saylor declined the offer), but couldn't just keep the cash. Coleman was determined that he would get candy, and mom forgot that the vendor would try to sell him something else for 5 yuan. Mom stopped him right as the vendor was handing Coleman agreed to take the Chinese made candy bar. They lowered their price to 8 yuan, but Coleman had to walk away.

on the way down, we went down one of those paths to the bottom we saw many kids crying because they wanted to go down the slide that you could take to the bottom. We walked past quietly and looked at the slide longingly but we didn't say anything. It did look fun.

Overall, it was fun, and we had a great time.

Marcie's notes: Addison was a little apprehensive about climbing the wall because she has studied the history and knows that many people died building the wall. I also found humor in the fact that I received a text message from my cell phone company, wishing me a happy May 1st Holiday while climbing down the wall. I'm not sure what surprised me more: getting the message in such a historic and remote site, being able to access it on my cell phone, or being able to read it in Chinese! The area was absolutely beautiful, but we're told it is even more breathtaking in the fall when the leaves are red!

Tourist Trap No. 1-Sure We'll Take Your Money

Hi (from Lanie)

I'm so sorry that we didn't blog last weekend because we were in Beijing. I wanted to blog about the Olympic Area because it was very interesting. In the first picture, we are behind our favorite mascots, but in front of the place where they had the gymnastic competition. We went inside it we saw exactly where they had gymnastics, and we also saw a very cool mural with pictures from a long time ago in the Olympics. There was even a drawing from the first Olympics. If you want to see it(real live) or see more pictures of it, you can come here to China and see it. It's really cool!!!!!! In the second picture (you probably already see it but...), it is me and Saylor, in front of the "Bird's Nest", where they had Track and Field events and opening and closing ceremonies. We didn't go in there, but we saw a small part of it. We might go with some of you if you stay with us sometime when we're in China. Did I mention that I'd love for you to visit us in China? Speaking of Saylor and me, almost everywhere we go, people say that we look like twins, but we don't think so. Well, that's the end of my blog today. Bye!!!!!!!!

Beautiful Beijing

For the Communist May 1st Holiday, we went to Beijing for a three day weekend. Everything came together so well for our trip. For this once (or twice) in a lifetime trip, we were more than willing to trade in our resident status for the role of tourist. Mark's company was instrumental in making it easy for us as foreigners. The Beijing office of Itochu arranged the train tickets and hotel, helped us schedule our itinerary, and let us use a company car and driver for our stay. These perks alone saved us so much in time and headaches. Our driver ate meals with us and helped out when we needed to negotiate, but wasn't interested in sightseeing. We boarded the train in Dalian at 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night and woke up in Beijing at 8:30 a.m. on Friday. The kids would like to write more specifics about their favorite sites in their own entries; if their descriptions are lacking, I’ll be sure to fill in the blanks. We checked into our hotel and went straight to the Olympic area which has been turned into Beijing’s newest tourist trap. We definitely reaped the rewards of the Beijing Olympics as everything was still so clean and beautiful; you could tell the city had been newly polished. There were beautiful gardens along scenic waterways throughout the city. After a lunch of Taiwanese noodles, we made the pilgrimage to the Great Wall. Even though we had ticket issues that forced us to go back and forth to the ticket office three times through stalls and stalls of pushy vendors, and ended up paying too much ($1 US extra per ticket for the VCD version, plus I was supposed to get the children’s rate as a student), we had a wonderful experience. As we drove to The Wall, it was raining lightly. When we stepped out of the van, the skies cleared and it was actually hot! We rode the cable car to the “top”, and walked back down, taking in the beautiful scenery and history. Our driver recommended going to the less famous of the two Great Wall sites close to Beijing, to avoid the large crowds. As soon as we got back to the parking lot, it began to rain hard with thunder and lightning off in the distance. As we drove home, the rain lightened, and we saw a rainbow over the freshly planted fields. We ended the day with Mark’s Beijing coworkers, eating one of the city’s most famous dishes, Peking (Beijing) Duck. It is served in a crepe with cucumber, spring onion and a soy paste, but no part of the duck is wasted. We also had platters of spicy duck feet, duck liver, and another mysterious organ that I tried not to think too much about. On Saturday, we started the day with a traditional Chinese breakfast at the hotel, and went to the Summer Palace. Because it was a Saturday AND a holiday, it was crowded even for Chinese standards. Addison proved to be the most enthusiastic of all the kids, and after two hours of wandering the grounds, she and Mark were still interested in climbing to have a look at another temple or living quarters, aka more of the same. The rest of the kids and I found a quiet spot of shade and played cards while we waited. On the way to the Beijing National Zoo, we stopped by Beijing University, which is the equivalent of Harvard in China. I think Mark was planting little tiny seeds of interest for educational opportunities to come. The kids had their first experience drinking coconut milk straight from the nut outside the gate, so I’m sure it will be a memorable experience. If you can imagine, the zoo was even more crowded than the Summer Palace. There were a few interesting animals that the kids hadn’t seen before, but the main attraction was the Giant Pandas. We all grabbed hands and waded through the sea of people into the panda house. Everyone was pushing to get a closer look, afraid to miss the moment, and it felt a little chaotic. As it turned out, there was plenty of space for outdoor viewing. Dinner was unremarkable, but we were too exhausted to care. The next morning, Mark tried to check out of the hotel, but was told that our $200 US dollar deposit couldn’t be refunded back onto our international credit card. Had he known, he would have gladly paid cash for the deposit, since they wouldn’t let him use his Chinese debit card. We left with only a vague promise that the whole transaction would disappear from our account within two months. We spent the morning walking around Tiananmen Square and The Forbidden city. Just before lunch, we went to Wangfujin Pedestrian Street that is famous for shopping. I thought it would be bargain basement old China shopping, but was disappointed to learn that it was more like 5th Ave. We did find a quiet side road that had twenty shops all selling the same trinkets and a few vendors selling scorpions (still wiggling their legs) and sea horses on a stick. On Sunday afternoon, the temperature reached over 95 ˚F. Mark still wanted to see the Temple of Heaven, another lavish historic spot that Emperors didn’t share with common people, so we slathered on the sunscreen and braved the heat. We were marveling at the reasonable ticket prices, only to realize that once you got in the gates, you had to pay more fees to get into the individual temples. Again, Addison and Mark wandered off to explore the “trap”, and the rest of the kids and I retreated to the cool shade. For the train ride home, Addison and I separated from the group, taking a train two hours earlier than the others. She wanted to get back in time to catch the bus to school the next morning. Don’t get me wrong, her first choice would have been to skip school all together, but if she HAD to go, she didn’t want to deal with the shame of being late. Our train arrived in Dalian at 5:30 a.m. Monday morning, with just enough time for her to shower and clean out her school bag! The younger kids were about an hour late to school, but at their level, it doesn’t seem to matter. At least two of their classes were in the middle of an English lesson anyway, so I probably could have kept them home longer. Mark also had to go to work on Monday, but I am enjoying a ten day break from my classes. I think it is experiences like this that are making this transition easier and more memorable for the kids. We are truly humbled that we can give our kids these opportunities.

Life Lesson

As always, life is blurring past us. We are making good friends, adjusting to the language and culture, finding good restaurants, and learning to know the vendors that sell me (Marcie) everything from fruits and vegetables to potting soil to watch batteries. At the same time, we are also making sure that we keep our family core strong by spending time together and continuing traditions from home (did you know the tooth fairy comes to China?). Addison blogged about the new fish tank, but what she didn't mention was my life altering experience with a taxi driver. My friend, Lena, and I were coming home from this maze of vendors selling fish and their paraphernalia when we realized that one of the small plastic bags carrying fish had leaked onto the seat. I apologized to the driver, explaining that it was only water. The spot was small (about the size of my hand), but the taxi driver was madder than anyone I've ever seen in my life. He stopped the taxi about 50 meters from the kids' bus stop. In the grand scheme of life, the water seemed so insignificant to me. I tried to explain to him that kids left unattended were much more important. We tried to leave and several things happened all at once: the driver was out of the car pushing me around, a crowd formed, and my Russian friend was encouraging me to run. I prefer to avoid conflict, but I felt like I needed to find a solution that worked for both of us. He said he wouldn't be able to work until the water dried, which is a fair point. The crowd was to serve as my jury. I knew that his motive was money (thus the show of anger), but I wanted to get to my kids where my Chinese friend, An Xin (whose children ride the same bus), could help negotiate. I told him that we were going to walk to the bus stop and that he could follow, but he insisted that I get in his car. I didn't have the Chinese words to tell him there was no way I was getting back in the car. I finally just started walking away, while he followed on foot. When he got to my friend, he started yelling at her, but An Xin is fierce and well spoken (and sugar and spice and everything nice). His crowd didn't follow, but instead we were surrounded by children and friends - a much healthier atmosphere. The negotiation started at $4.25 US. but she talked him down to less than $3.00 US. After he left, I looked at An Xin and tried to laugh it off (even though I was still shaking) by saying, "This is China, I guess". She was quick to say, "No, this is not China. I've never met anyone with a heart like his. Do not think all Chinese are like this." I was immediately humbled by my beautiful friend, whose Chinese name means peaceful heart. If anyone should represent China for me, it should be her. I am blessed to be able to call her my friend.

The Ultimate Experience

The last two Saturdays, my dad, Saylor and I (Coleman) went to a college to play ultimate Frisbee. Half the players were foreigners and the other half were Chinese, but most everyone spoke English. I like to play and am getting better. The object of the game is to get the Frisbee to your team's goal, but you can't run with the Frisbee. My dad and I are having lot of accidents, even though my mom told us not to break any bones. After the game, everyone goes out to their favorite restaurant. Because there were so many people, we ordered a lot of dishes. The food was very good. My favorites were a pork dish and a mushroom dish. During dinner, we played a fun game called Mafia (like wink murderer). If we go again next week, we'll post a picture.

Go Fish

Last week, I came home and found out that we had fish! For Saylor's birthday, she got 4 fish in a small tank, but they all died in a three-week period. We got this great,big tank from mom's Russian friend, Lena. Lena helped put the tank together and buy fish. The first time mom went to the fish market, she got tons of little blue fish, a shark look-a-like, shrimp and black skirts. The black skirts are really cute. They're zippy and always come to the front of the tank so we can see them. The Shrimp died the night that we got them so they're long gone.

The second time, Lanie and I went with them. We got some white and black sucker fish, elegant red fish that swim slowly but confidently, and some silver fish that have red strips. The fish market is full of little shops, some more expensive than others with the same product. There were tropical fish which were cool to look at, but we didn't get any because our tank isn't salt water. The fish market was stinky and icky (EWWW) but I think that's China. Oh well.

The filter can get really annoying at night but then again that's why it's in Saylor and Lanie's room, not mine.

Tooters are Here!

"The tutors are coming! The tutors are coming!"

I yelped after mom and dad announced that they found people to help us with our homework.

"Wait,"I said"Are they tooters or tutors?"

"Of course they're tutors."Mom assured me.

"When are they coming?"I asked.

"Well, tonight at six." Mom said.

"Oh,"I sighed,"Good!"

I was glad that I was getting help with the homework that I couldn't do.

And that's all Saylor wrote, since she spent all of her time changing the color of her font in this lovely narrative. We really did have a similar conversation (but I thought Coleman was the one that needed the clarification). We are happy to have April and Sean helping the kids with their mounds of homework four nights per week. Not only do they help with homework and language skill, but they are becoming good friends. The kids love spending time with them, and it seems to be reciprocated. They play Ultimate Frisbee every Saturday (see Coleman's blog) and even took first place in a competition in Beijing last fall. Sean has already graduated with a degree in Chemical Engineering, and is looking for a job, while April (his girlfriend) finishes her degree. So, Saylor, do I really talk like that?

Eggstra, Eggstra Read All About It!

Last week was Easter, so we dyed Easter Eggs. My mom, Coleman and I went to an egg vender to buy eggs. The problem with dyeing chicken eggs here is that they are all brown. So, instead of only buying chicken eggs, we got different kinds of eggs. We got chicken eggs, duck eggs(that are greenish), and quail eggs (that are white with a black polka-dots and it are very,very small). Last, but not least, we found goose eggs which are white and SO big. We almost didn't get them because they were SO expensive. They were 50 cents U.S. a piece, but in China, they were 3 dollars a piece in Chinese money. We only got 4 of them. Then, we went home and after we had our work done we dyed Easter eggs! We were so happy to do it because we hadn't done it since last year (if you want to know, we're always happy when it is Easter). We found out that it was SO hard to dye them. We wished that we had Easter eggs that were all white, but we were lucky that we each at least had a white Easter egg. I saved my Goose egg for last. If you take a look at this next picture, you see that there is a blueish, purplish egg in the middle, that one is my goose egg. In the picture are the eggs that we blew. We had goose egg omlets for dinner. The rest of them were boiled. We saved the boiled ones for our family's Easter service. Every Sunday we have family time instead of church. In Portland, at our church we always did a Children's Moment and on Easter we always cracked a boiled Easter egg on our head and the kids said"Christ is risen" then the parents said" Christ is risen indeed". Then, we ate the eggs. We had a really fun Easter!!!!! Bye!!!!!!

To Market, To Market to Buy a Fat Hog

When I first saw these things in the meat market, I couldn't decide if I should try to scrub my brain or come back with my camera. The first picture shows chickens that have been blanched to remove feathers. It never occurred to me that chickens with black feathers might have black skin underneath! The second photo was more troublesome for me. I could not figure out what kind of animal had a tail that long. My imagination got the best of me as I guessed giant mutant rodent, monkey, alligator and even kangaroo. It turns out that it is nothing more than the tail of a cow. We see it in our grocery stores chopped up and labeled ox tail, and Mark reminded me that it makes great soup stock. That's a pig's foot to the left (but I'm sure you've all seen that before). Now that I am better informed, I think I will have to have a go...

Our Ship has Come In!

Well, technically it's been in for about three weeks, but was only delivered Thursday. Chinese Customs officials needed to examine the contents of 70 boxes of stuff we thought we couldn't live without. Certain items, like electronics and food stuff, will be assigned a certain tax based on their assessed values. (The "their" is the custom officials!). This seemingly random tax was the reason why we hand carried a suitcase full of American treats and did not bring any wine (the tax on wine is 300%!). Being separated from our belongings for 7 weeks (1 week in Portland and 6 in Dalian), has made me reconsider the significance of the contents. Dalian has almost every convenience of home at a fraction of the cost, but opening the boxes was like opening Christmas presents. There are things that we are really enjoying. We got the Easter goods just in time to celebrate our first holiday away from home (that's a blog for the kids). About 10 of the boxes were books, most of which I plan to leave here when we leave. I always have to have a good book, so I went to a used book store before we left and stocked up with 20 novels that I haven't read. The first month and a half, the only novel we had was the last of the Twilight series, Breaking Dawn, so Addison and I read it twice! The most used things from our shipment were for the kitchen. You need to be very creative to cook dinner with one pot, one knife and one cutting board, much like camping. The kids are also thankful to have Western silverware! Our apartment looked like it exploded with all the boxes and packing paper, but it is almost all put away now. We've decided that less is more, and if we ever do this again, we will bring less stuff (aka get rid of more stuff). Our mover in Portland kept encouraging us to bring more to Dalian because we only had a small space allotted for storage in the US, but ample space for our shipment.

I'm Only Here for the Food!

This lovely spread is from a restaurant that is owned by one of Mark's good friends from his first stay in Dalian 18 years ago. Early in the day, another good friend, Hongbo, took us out for a day trip to the coast, and I was still full from the huge Korean meal we'd eaten for lunch. I didn't know we were going to end up at this nice restaurant, and was embarrassed that I wasn't going to be able to eat very much. Once I tried the food, my full belly didn't stop me. Everything on the table was very spicy and made with high quality ingredients. I think at least 50 large chili peppers were sacrificed for this meal! Starting at the top and going clockwise: foie gras (I don't see the hype), a cousin of the crayfish, fried potatoes, pig's feet, a mushroom dish, boiled peanuts, vegetables with tofu, fish soup, pea dish, two pickled vegetables dishes. It the copper wok in the center of the table, two different courses were served. This one was fresh crab. Even though it was spicier than anything they'd tried, the kids still ate it. It was so flavorful, I could have just sucked on the shell and been blissfully happy! The last course of the meal was a spicy soup that they heated on the burner underneath. The kids really couldn't eat much on the table, but were each served a bowl of noodles or wonton soup.