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).
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