Thursday, December 30, 2010

Christmas Vacation, Part 5 – Koh Lanta (Thailand)

We love our resort in Thailand. We are on the northern tip of Koh Lanta (a small island off the west coast of southern Thailand) at the Kaw Kwang Resort, a small family owned resort and one of the oldest on Koh Lanta. The resort is very family friendly and we feel very welcome here with the kids. We are all together in a small bungalow with a view of the ocean past a treed lawn area.

The kids love the pool! In fact, they spent about 4 hours in the pool the first day we were here because it was raining and they didn't have to worry about getting too much sun.

The resort has a small restaurant, so we are able to eat all our meals here, or walk down the beach to many other restaurants nearby. Or, take a taxi (really just the back of a small pick up truck) into the small town nearby to shop or eat.

Tomorrow night we will celebrate New Year's Eve here at the resort, where they are throwing a small party for the guests with dinner, games, dancing and fireworks. As the staff all know us now and we recognize many of the other guests, it should be a fun family party!

Christmas Vacation, Part 4 – The Night Train

The night train. Oh, the night train. I will always have memories of the night train.

We took the train from Kuala Lumpur to Hat Yai, Thailand. From 9:00 pm to 10:00 am. We each had our own bunk in a train car with about 40 bunks. We shared our bunk with our suitcases and backpacks.

Amazingly, we all slept. Kiana and Mike liked the train. I liked it better than I expected, but I don't really want to do it again. And Kevin thought it was hard to sleep. And the weird part is that it was so cold on the train. Not because it was cold outside, but because they had the AC cranked. I was a human popsicle in spite of the four shirts, 2 pairs of socks and various clothing piled on top for covers.

And best of all we had our choice of a squat toilet or sitting toilet. If you think using a squat toilet is hard at Tesco, imagine what it's like on a moving, rocking train car! And yes, the hole went straight onto the tracks.

When we arrived in Thailand we then had to take a minibus crammed full of people for 2 hours. Then transfer to another for a 2 hour journey to our resort in Thailand. After the night train and very little food, this was definitely not our favorite day!

Christmas Vacation, Part 3 - Malaysia

We took the train from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Seven hours on a train is a long time! Even in first class. Luckily we brought along all sorts of electronic entertainment...sometimes I feel like our family is personally keeping Apple in business – iPad, iPods, and our beloved Mac.

Riding the train allowed us to see a bit of the countryside in Malaysia. It was beautiful, lush and green. On the train Kiana came down with a fever, so she was especially relieved when we arrived in Kuala Lumpur. I was thankful that we booked at a nice hotel (accommodations are inexpensive in KL), as Kiana spent the next 36 hours in bed with a fever. It wasn't until the second day that we were there that she realized that we had a view of the Petronas Towers from our room's window (until recently, they were the tallest buildings in the world).

Unfortunately, we weren't able to visit the towers as planned. Actually, because Kiana was sick and I was still recovering from the same illness, we didn't do much in KL at all. We did make it to the malls (two beautiful malls with every shop imaginable) within walking distance of our hotel. In the short time we were there the kids managed to eat three Auntie Anne's pretzels each! And we saw Tron. If I had a choice, I'd go back to KL again instead of Singapore. I'd like to see more of the city and I hear there are good beach resorts too.

Christmas Vacation, Part 2 – Christmas

So we didn't actually skip Christmas, we just downsized it! Considering that anything we gave each other for Christmas we had to take to Malaysia and Thailand with us, we opted for fewer and only small-sized presents! Although we had planned to cook Christmas eve dinner in our condo, we weren't able to find the foods we wanted at the grocery near our house and we were too tired to trek out to the other supermarket. So we had Popeye's Chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. Mike did make the traditional cinnamon applesauce so we had that for bedtime snack.

The good news is that Santa did fly into our hotel and deliver presents and fill the stockings! I hope he enjoyed the Famous Amos cookies and chocolate milk we left for him!!

After a quick swim on Christmas morning, at 1:00 we boarded a train for a 7 hour train ride to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Christmas Vacation, Part 1 - Singapore

As this is the first blog of the vacation (but written 12 days into the adventure), let me say that so far this has been a vacation of interesting travel. Getting from place to place has definitely been part of the adventure. And since I am writing this from a covered patio on a Thailand beach during a warm rainstorm, I am happy that we will be here for the next 3 days with no travel! The kids are in the pool, I'm enjoying the view while writing and Mike is napping. Perfect!

(I will attach a photo album of the whole vacation later, we have minimal internet access here).

Our trip started with a delayed flight from Shanghai to Singapore. Before takeoff, someone on the plane had a medical emergency and they had to evacuate her. Luckily we were still in China, so I was able to call a friend who was still in Dalian and ask her to Skype our hotel in Singapore to let them know we might arrive after 11:00pm (when the front desk closed). As we arrived at the hotel at midnight, this was a phone call that averted potential disaster! We loved our hotel – the kids swam everyday in the pool (in fact they have a goal to swim everyday of this vacation – so far so good).

Before we moved to China, we considered an expat assignment in Singapore, so naturally we compared the lifestyle of Singapore to China. After living in China, being an expat in Singapore would be SO easy! They speak English, every kind of food is available, and every kind of shopping is available. However, you'd have to make a lot of money! Singapore is expensive. Very expensive! Our first meal at a Mexican restaurant with 2 kid meals and 1 adult entree and one margarita cost $60 (US).

Because we were curious about what life might be like to be an expat in Singapore (you never know where life will lead you), we took a tour of the Singapore American School. It is a huge school with 3900 students – 10 times as big as the kids' current school! It would be a dream school to attend. After reading so much about it online, it was nice to see it in person.

We stayed at a service apartment right at Clarke Quay – the hotel was situated above a small mall with a Subway, a book store, food court, grocery store, and Japanese crepes. In the Clarke Quay surrounding area were hundreds of restaurants and bars. While there, we ate Mexican, Middle Eastern, Burger King, Subway, frozen yogurt, ice cream, and crepes.

We started our visit with a taste of local life. Mike has kept in touch with classmates from graduate school who are long term expats in Singapore with three children. We went to their apartment in the late afternoon for a swim then they took us to a nearby neighborhood for a delicious Italian dinner. The kids had a great time playing together and Mike and I enjoyed catching up with his classmates.

The heat there tired us out easily so we didn't see a lot of the traditional Singapore sights, but the kids and Mike did go on the Singapore Flyer – the largest ferris wheel in the world. It is 42 stories high and takes 30 minutes to complete a rotation in an air-conditioned capsule large enough for 20 people. We also enjoyed the beautiful Christmas lights on Orchard Road and were able to do a lot of shopping for essentials and Christmas presents. And, as always, we visited the Science Museum (and getting free entry by using the membership card for the southern California museum we bought last Christmas). We also saw Gulliver's Travels.

Overall, Singapore was a great place to visit, but I think it would be more enjoyable to actually live there. While public transportation is easily available, it often took a lot of walking to get to and from the stations we wanted to use. And we often found ourselves waiting in taxi queues for 10-30 minutes. I think if you were a local, you would drive or know how to navigate the system a little bit better.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Skipping Christmas

Yes, we are sort of skipping Christmas. We will be touring Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand for the 3 week winter break in school. We'll have our family celebration of Christmas in a Singapore condo. It seems weird, but I think it is helping us appreciate our family traditions even more.

We did get a chance to make Christmas cookies before we left at our favorite bakery (EuroBake).




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Kiana v. China

Kiana is on the school basketball team - a group of girls in grades 8-12. Last weekend they played a game against a Chinese middle school in downtown Dalian. What a great opportunity! It was so much fun to watch and see the girls interact - the tough plays on both sides and the kindness extended when needed. I just kept thinking that it's these experiences that make moving to China even more memorable!


The Chinese School:


The girls:


Action shot:


About to sink a free throw:


Good game, good game, good game....


Kiana and Maddie:


Ok, I can't resist saying that Kiana played awesome! She was the high point scorer on her team!
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Sunday, December 5, 2010

UGC, UCG, VGG, LIGG, Oh My!



I took Kiana shopping for UGG boots yesterday. Real UGG boots are hard to find here, so we knew we would be looking at fake ones. And it is amazing how many we found!

The shopping area we went to was downtown. It is a multi-level building with one floor devoted to shoes. If you can picture the floor space of a small grocery store, filled with rows upon rows of 10ft x 10ft miniature stores. Each store is individually owned and is filled with shoes. I would estimate over 100 little shoe stores on this floor.

Since winter is blowing into Dalian (literally), each store had boots. Kiana was looking for a particular pair of UGGs - she needs black ones so she can wear them to the winter concert. I think she tried on at least 20 different boots in 15 different stores!

Some of the boots looked like real UGGs and others definitely were fake. The fake ones had some pretty funny names: UGC, UCG, VGG, LIGG. They ranged in price from $20 USD to $130 USD. The $130 ones were the only ones that actually might have been real UGGs.

She finally found a pair that fit (most were too big or small or too stiff in the soles). We paid $33 USD. (If you are in the US, I bet you are thinking - wow great deal! If you are in China, I bet you are thinking we paid way too much!)

Shoe shopping is much different here than in the US. The customer service is great! We had a lot of help to get just the right boot at each store. The women were all very kind and helpful. The funny part is that when we would say that they didn't fit or she didn't like them and go to leave, they would try to get us to stay by bargaining down the price. They thought we were faking that we didn't want them to get a lower price!

It was a fun day of shopping!
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Thursday, December 2, 2010

Our Trip to Xi'an

Xi'an is about 2 hour flight from Dalian and is home to the Terracotta Army. This has been on our list of must-see sights in China, so we decided to go for Kevin's birthday weekend.

Here is an edited blurb from Wikipedia about the Terracotta Army:

The Terracotta Army (bīngmǎ yǒng; literally "soldier and horse funerary statues"), is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China. They were created and buried to protect the emperor after his death.

The figures, dating from 210 BC, were discovered in 1974 by some local farmers near Xi'an.

The figures vary in height(6.0–6.4 ft), according to their roles, with the tallest being the generals. The figures include warriors, chariots, horses, officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians. Current estimates are that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army there were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits.

Here are a few pictures from the weekend. It is much more impressive in person!

Double click on the album to view the pictures:
Xi'an

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Happy 10th

Kevin's birthday was 11/11 and he celebrated with a homemade Rubik's Cube cake and a trip early the next day to Xi'an.







Sunday, November 7, 2010

Water

Water. Sometimes in China you have it, sometimes you don't. Last time our water went out for 24 hours, we had advance notice so we were able to fill the bathtub to use to flush the toilet (you take a bucket of water from the tub and pour it into the toilet tank). This morning the water is out again, but with no notice. Luckily I'm showered already! And I have 4 clean toilets to use until it comes back on. And I have bottled water to drink.

Kevin left for school this morning hoping that they would cancel school because of the water outage. But the school seems to have things under control:

"Meanwhile, the housekeeping team will try to set up one set of bathrooms on each floor with a bucket of water, using the remaining water we have in our basement water tank. Hopefully you will be able to direct to student to the restrooms that is nearest to the library stairway soon."

Last time we flew out of the domestic terminal at the Dalian Airport, at first I couldn't figure out why the staff was hauling buckets of water down the hall. Then I used the restroom and realized that the airport didn't have water.

Life goes on.
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Friday, November 5, 2010

Halloween

The farmer and his pumpkins:



Families who don't live in Campus Village came to
Trunk or Treat:



The jester and the Jedi:



Right into the ghost's mouth:



Still cute on Halloween even though they are big:

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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Living in China, the Second Year

Lately, I've decided that what I like best about living in China is discovering new things. I'm now in the phase where I know how to find all the normal stuff I need, so I have more time and energy to discover and enjoy new things. I tend to shy away from the touristy stuff, but enjoy the learning about things that are a part of Chinese life.

What Have I Discovered Lately?


1) There is an endless supply of red shoes to buy. My new "Nike" sneakers.





2) Good bread is vital. We have been devouring bread from our new favorite bakery, Euro-Bake. And last Sunday we drove into Dalian to make our own pizza at the bakery. YUM YUM YUM!











Our driver, Liu, is not only a great driver, but a great resource for discovering new things! So even though he knows only a little English and I know only a little Chinese, he is a great teacher. Some things that he's helped me discover...


3) That sweet potatoes cooked in big baking kettles on the street taste way better than sweetened ones at Thanksgiving. Moist, sweet, hot, delicious. Just break them open and eat them plain. And, even purple sweet potatoes are good. Did you know there were purple sweet potatoes? I didn't.





4) Listening to Chinese pop music is fun, even if you don't know the words. Liu and I spend a lot of hours in the car together. Sometimes we listen to his music, sometimes we listen to mine. Luckily, we have similar taste in music, only his is in Chinese, and mine is in English. It turns out that one of my favorite Chinese CDs is a very famous Chinese singer - Jacky Cheung (Zhang Xue You). One time I was wondering why I couldn't remember the words to the song I was humming in my head, then I realized it's because it was Chinese and I don't know the words! Here is a video of one of my favorite songs (song starts at 2:30).





5) There's a really good "fast food" here that's a fried egg wrapped in a thick tortilla. Kind of like a Chinese breakfast burrito.

I've been considering doing a China "home-stay"....finding a way to spend a day with a Chinese family to see more about how their life is the same and different than ours. I have 7 months to figure out how...
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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Dolphins!

The kids and I spent the day at Ocean World in downtown Dalian yesterday (think SeaWorld, China-style). It was a perfect fall day, not too hot or humid and the park wasn't very crowded. We were very impressed by the shows and the aquarium. It was a fun, fun day!


This would never be allowed in the US! (a 4 year old from the audience being towed by a dolphin)



Dolphin show.



For only $4.50, you can meet the dolphins!



And kiss them! (Well, they kiss you...)




And feed the sea lions!
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Monday, August 23, 2010

Safety (?) in China

After being used to the very regulated worker safety in the US, sometimes seeing the risks the workers take here is a little bit shocking.

Driving with his feet so he can smoke.

 

Walking the wall, about 2 stories up. He did this all day!

 

Only the guys in blue are tied on - more than 2 floors up.

 

Tied on...but only by a clothesline tied to a small pipe.
 


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Friday, August 13, 2010

Happy 13th

Kiana's 13th birthday started with her in stitches and ended in flames....

The morning of her birthday started great, with a friend bringing over a present first thing in the morning. At noon, during a neighborhood gathering on the community patio, she cut her leg on a sharp metal box. Luckily the medical clinic is right next to the patio and 30 minutes and 3 stitches later she was home resting on the couch. (Her leg is healing nicely).

Later that day, she did manage to get up and help make her planned "smiley" birthday cake with fondant icing. It was a huge success for our first fondant cake!

Her birthday celebration ended a week later, with a bonfire at the beach with her classmates. We roasted marshmallows "this is China"-style. . . we used mini-marshmallows because we couldn't find big ones and we roasted them on chopsticks because we couldn't find wire hangers or skewers.

This will definitely be a 13th birthday to remember!!

Double click on the album to view the pictures.

Kiana - 13

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Thursday, July 22, 2010

Visiting Portland

During the long flight back from Portland to Dalian, I had a lot of time to think about our time in Portland. Although we've been back to the US twice since moving to China, this was the first time in a year that we've been back in Portland.

The first thing that struck me was how beautiful Portland is. I remember the first time I went to Oregon during my senior year of high school. We took a very long bus ride from Ukiah (California) to Ashland for the Shakespeare festival. I can still remember driving along a river lined with beautiful cedars and thinking that maybe I'd want to live in a Oregon someday. Then, when I first came to Oregon to visit Mike, we went hiking in Forest Park, walked around downtown and I fell in love with it. There are so many trees and the sky is so blue. When the kids and I were driving around a few weeks ago in Portland, I said "there are so many trees" and Kiana said "and they have branches!" And, as it always has to me, Portland just feels like home.

And of course, visiting Portland was a bountiful array of food food food. While downtown in Pioneer Courthouse Square last weekend, I couldn't help but notice that there was more good food available at food carts in the one block area than there is available in Dalian! (At least to our palates).

The hardest part was feeling like I was cramming a year's worth of outings, shopping and visits with family and friends into 3 weeks. I ended every visit and phone call with family and friends feeling very happy - feeling like I was confirming that my relationships in Portland are fulfilling and fun. However, after every visit, I wanted more, more, more! There were many people I spoke to only briefly on the phone that I wanted to have longer in-person conversations with. And the in-person conversations that I did have were way too short. At the end, it felt like I just got a nibble when a wanted a full meal. Like I could only sample one chocolate chip out of a brand new bag. I was having so much fun I wanted to spend more time with each person, but the reality was that I just didn't have the time. So thank you to everyone for giving me just a nugget of your time while I was in Portland. And sorry it was only a nugget! And for those of you I missed altogether, I'm doubly sorry!

Although we aren't quite settled in yet, it does feel good to be back in China. It looks familiar. It feels familiar. It smells familiar. Our stuff is here. It's home.
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Thursday, June 24, 2010

Stick Trees II

Stick trees do grow!!

Ones that were planted this year (big sticks with puffy leaves on top in the median).


Ones that were planted last year (these look like real trees now).


And stick trees are easy to carry!


Off to America for a few weeks...
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Sunday, June 6, 2010

To Learn or Not To Learn

When I found out we were moving to China, I was interested in learning Chinese because I wanted to be able to talk to people here and learn more about them and their lives. What I learned is that learning Chinese is really hard, and I'm not very good at it.

Even though I'm usually an optimist, I'm also a realist. So, last month I quit taking Chinese lessons. I know enough Chinese to make it through day to day life. And I couldn't see that my Chinese would improve enough over the next year to really have a meaningful conversation with someone.

Just to give you a sense of how much Chinese I know,
here are some of the things I can say.
-correct (my favorite word)
-yes
-no
-I/you/she/he/it/mine/yours
-like, look, come, go, want
-numbers (but slowly)
-the time
-the days of the week
-How much?
-beer
-water
-school
-pain
-this
-there
-left/right
-hello/goodbye/thank you
-son/daughter
-friend
-teacher

So this means that I can make some very basic sentences. "We go America" "I like this" "Two water." I sound like a baby!

After I quit taking lessons, I started thinking about how many people I interact with during the week who don't speak English. This means essentially we do our business with little spoken communication. The weird part is that now this is not only easy, but normal.

Driving: Liu speaks a little English, but mostly one word or phrase at a time. He has an electronic translator and so do I, so a lot of our conversations are really just saying one word at a time or showing each other words! It works! (And, no, he doesn't use the translator while he's driving...)

Painting Class: Since September, I've been taking a class in Chinese painting. The teacher teaches us for 2 hours by showing us what to do and speaking only Chinese. So here is the conversation I had with her today (I'm trying to tell her I won't be back in class until August).
- I mime a little book (I know she carries a little calendar).
- She takes out her calendar.
- I point to the next 2 months and say bu bu bu (no) then I point to August 16 and say yes.
- She mimes an airplane and says mei guo (America)?
- I say dui (correct)
- I mime talking on the telephone and point to her and then the calendar for August 16.
- She says ok.

Yoga: Again, a teacher who doesn't speak English. She says things but I have no idea what they are! I just follow along and enjoy the relaxing music.

Shopping: When the checkout clerk asks me a question that I don't understand, I either show my membership card or show that I brought my own bags. If I need help finding something, I bring a picture or show the Chinese character on my translator. I did manage to order a custom made sweater with a lady who didn't speak English. It came out just like I wanted it :)

Ayi: When she comes (once a week), we say ni hao (hello) and if I need her to do something different, I just point.

Mr. Torture: He taught me the Chinese word for pain. I've been bringing my friend to translate :)

I really enjoyed getting to know more about my old driver's life (he spoke English), so I'm sure at some point I'll regret that I didn't try harder to learn Chinese. For now I'm taking the summer off and I'll consider it again in the fall.

Zai jian!
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Thursday, June 3, 2010

Hello Liu, Part II / Farm

Liu has been our driver for about 6 weeks now and we still love him! We feel very safe in his hands. Through part English/part Chinese conversations and the help of my bilingual friend, I've been able to learn a bit more about him.

He is married and has a 6 year old daughter. He lives in a high-rise apartment not far from Mike's office. He grew up in Kaifaqu, so he knows the area very well. He was a truck driver (a medium size truck that makes deliveries around town) for 10 years and has NEVER been in an accident!!

On Monday, I had one of my best experiences so far in China. I told Liu that I wanted to buy strawberries (they are only available at the local outdoor markets, not at the supermarket). So he stopped at a place he knew near his house. No luck (it was Monday and they probably sold them all on the weekend). So he said he could take me to one other place nearby. OK...it's a little weird going somewhere you don't know, in a town you don't know, in China. I just have to give up control (easier now than before) and let him take me wherever!

After driving along a dirt road for a short while, we ended up at a farm where they were growing all types of produce!! Now I know where my local produce is grown, just 5 minutes from town. The farmer hand-picked about 3 kilograms of strawberries for me. These are the last of the season. Then they gave us a tour of the greenhouses. We saw green beans, tomatoes, celery, lettuce, and green onions. We also went further up the hill to an outdoor growing area and bought fresh picked lettuce (the best salad I've had in a long time!), fresh picked cilantro (I made salsa) and fresh from the ground green onions.

It was one of the most beautiful places I've been in the Dalian area. The greenhouses were nestled in a small valley, it was a cool sunny day and the area smelled clean and earthy.

These farmers live a hard life, but they all looked content and happy. Attached to the greenhouse is a small concrete hut, heated by a stove with only cold running water. After spending a winter here, I can only imagine how cold they must be in the winter!

I took some pictures with my phone (not the best quality). However, they don't do justice to the peacefulness of the place. When I look at these pictures, I see the "China-ness" of the place - stuff stacked around and on top of the houses, the motorcycle truck, the primitiveness. I wish I had a picture that captured the beauty and peacefulness too!

The hills surrounding the valley. In the foreground, the hut attached to the greenhouse and the 3-wheel motorcycle truck that they use to take the produce to the market.



The outside of one of 50 greenhouses. In the winter they put thick straw mats on top to keep them from freezing.



Inside the greenhouse picking strawberries.


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Friday, May 28, 2010

Voluntary Torture, Part II

I've had three treatments for my shoulder and I can tell it's working. I have better range of motion and less pain.

During the second treatment, he recommended the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practice of cupping. I wasn't convinced that it would actually help my shoulder, but I thought....What the heck?...I'm in China....Let's give it a try...

So he takes these little glass bowls (that look like little goldfish bowls from the county fair) and puts a flame inside to heat them up, then sticks them to my skin. As the air inside the bowl cools, it creates a vacuum, which pulls my skin into the glass bowl. Yes, it hurts.



The result is the pretty bruised circles on my skin (can't wear tank tops for a few weeks).


TCM believes that it will bring heat and healing to my shoulder area. Hmmm.....

I'm still willing to try anything once....as long as it doesn't involve dirty needles, small enclosed spaces, raw meat, and, and, and...
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Thursday, May 20, 2010

Voluntary Torture

Voluntary Torture....otherwise know as Chinese acupressure....Yes, that's what I put myself through today.

Why? Well, I've had a nagging shoulder injury since fall. It hurts to reach above my head and behind my back. After hoping it would just go away on it's own (for 7 months), I finally decided to take action.

The first step was a visit to our local doctor and he prescribed Physical Therapy via video chat with a therapist in Beijing. Actually, I was quite impressed by the application of technology to help with my treatment, but my instinct was telling me that this therapy wasn't the right cure.

The second step was an amazing full-body massage by a Chinese masseuse. A massage that was the roughest and most physical I had ever experienced. After the massage I realized that I definitely had better range of motion in my arm...which got me thinking about other options.

Which was the third step - acupressure. I have a friend who is Chinese and she highly recommended going to a local "massage therapist". She had been earlier in the year for her shoulder and it is now better. I have always been a fan of alternative medicine, and I was hoping to get an opportunity to try some Chinese therapies while here, so I decided to give it a try.

So, my first visit was today. His office is in a small storefront at the base of a tall residential tower, in a densely populated neighborhood. The office is quite small - maybe 20 ft x 15 ft. We walk in and there is a small waiting area at the front of the room and three massage tables in the back. He is smoking a cigarette. My friend is along as an interpreter.

She explains the problem and then for the next 20 minutes I endure the torture. I've always pictured acupressure as someone gently pushing their thumb onto pressure points on your body. Not this guy...

Picture a small, strong Chinese man leaning his body weight onto his elbow which is jammed into the tender parts of my body. Now I know a pain worse than natural childbirth!

Of course, it didn't hurt that bad the whole time, and I used the breathing techniques I learned in Bradley classes to help me through it. My friend had warned me that most people scream because it hurts so bad, so I knew what to expect.

The funny part is that Mr. Jin said he wasn't pressing as hard because I was older and quiet! I guess being over 40 does have its rewards!

I now feel relaxed and my arm feels like my body feels after a good workout - relaxed and tired. I have a few bruises on my back and arm.

The whole thing cost $3 (US).

And, I'm going back on Monday. Yes, crazy...
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Saturday, May 15, 2010

What's In a Name?

Welcome, guest blogger Mike!

Chinese employees at my company have a choice to use their Chinese first name or an English first name on their employee badge and email address. I don’t know the career implications of choosing one or the other, and I really don’t have a preference. (But I will admit that it’s easier for my Western brain to remember English names).

About one-third of the Chinese employees choose to use an English name. I can’t imagine what it’s like to choose your own name as an adult, but I suppose there must a certain freedom to it. It’s a chance to redefine yourself within the English-speaking culture at work.

Some choose names that sound similar to their Chinese names...Liu could be Lou.

Some choose typical English names like.....Bill, David, Michael, Eileen, Jack, Ethan, Will, Ben, Jimmy, Helen, Eddie, Andy, etc.

Others choose an English name based to their interest or hobby. The most common English name among the hundred or so male college students I interviewed was Kobe (not the Japanese city or the beef, think NBA).

And others choose names just because they like the sound of it.

For the past year I’ve collected the English names I’ve come across at work that I find interesting or fun. All of the names below appear in official employee systems, either as their email or the nickname in their company profile, which shows up in various databases. I’ve sort them into themes.

Weather-related:

Storm
Sunny
Shady (reference to Eminem, she’s a fan)
Rainy
Cloud
Snow
Sky
July (this one caused some confusion in a conversation, until they figured out it was his name. Who’s on first? I’ve met an April, May, June, and Augusto, so why not July?).

Cute:

Dolphin
Puppy
Swallow
Apple (Gwyneth Paltrow’s child is named this, right?)
Cherry

Manly:

Axl
Fjord
Heaton
Sand
Grit
Stone
Rock (there’s also an American with this name)
Armstrong
Stronger

Whimsical:

Sprite
Arrow
Flight
Run
Ryder
Wise
Elves (not sure if it’s the king of rock & roll or Santa’s helper?)

We deliberately chose an unusual name for our daughter, partly because as a Michael, there is no real advantage in being confused with 3-4 other people in your class or workplace. So I applaud these folks for defining themselves as unique!
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Tuesday, May 4, 2010

World Citizens

One of the things that Mike and I have always agreed on is that it is important to be not just Americans but also citizens of the World. To us, this means making choices for the greater good of the planet, because we see all people and all nations as interconnected. If we are all looking out for each other, the World will be a better place to live.

This belief was a big part of our decision to live in another country with our kids. We believe that if we live in China, then what many people think of as "the Chinese" become real people to our kids, not just news blurbs and stereotypes. We wanted to make the other parts of the world real places with real people and not just blobs on a map.

After being here for 10 months, we now have the chance to see that it has had an effect and they can make personal connections to news stories.

Yesterday, the North Korean president came to China. He took a train from North Korea into Dandong on tracks we stood next to a few weekends ago. He then came to Dalian and stayed in the hotel downtown next door to where we stayed when we first arrived here. After visiting the Dalian port and a few of the many multi-national factories here, our hope that he’ll see the enormous economic progress that free market economics has brought to China and decide it’s time to change himself. The North Korean people we saw across the river in Dandong deserve to be part of this interconnected World too. I'm proud that my kids know why it is significant that the North Korean president came to China. They know this because we live here and visited Dandong.

We've had similar, but not as historically significant, experiences after traveling to other places as well....Google moving their China servers to Hong Kong while we were there, the potential tsunami approaching Hawaii the day after we left (with our hotel in the backdrop of the news coverage), and Thailand protests on the news knowing we will travel there later in the year.

As we continue to travel, I look forward to seeing their views of the World continue to grow.

Saturday, May 1, 2010

Go Sea Dragons!

The school announced its new mascot this week during spirit week. They are now the Sea Dragons!! Friday was a celebration day at school, with a school-wide pep rally and soccer games out on the field. The entire school (K-11) wore blue and yellow to celebrate. The boys' soccer team played a game against a local Chinese High School and the girls' soccer team played against the moms (yes, I played).

The school administration and teachers have worked hard to have activities beyond academics available for the students (harder to do at a small school). And, the result has been fantastic! Friday was a lot of fun!

Kids in the stands(this is about 1/3 of the kids):


Kiana and friends:


The boys soccer game (our condo in the background):

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Monday, April 26, 2010

Hello, Liu

Our new driver, Liu, has been with us for a week now. We like him, but we don't know much about him. The language barrier makes it difficult to have any conversation beyond "hello." He seems to be about 30 years old. Next time I'm in the car with him alone (so far I've only been out with Mike and the kids), I plan to ask him if he is married or has kids.

I think that he used to be a taxi driver based on the way he drives. A little fast, but totally in control. He is constantly looking and aware of all of the cars around us. And, best of all, he is an expert at anticipating what the traffic around us will do (a skill our old driver never had). So even though we are driving faster and more China-like, I feel safer with him.

I am definitely using my Chinese more and he is working to learn more English. With the help of technology (electronic translators), we have managed to communicate our needs so far.

One of the key components of building relationships in China is guanxi. At the most basic explanation, this involves doing favors or other nice things for people in an effort to build the depth of the relationship. The expectation is that then you will give back to them.

So when Liu picked Mike up from work yesterday, Liu gave Mike a bottle of blueberry juice (the label actually said bilberry). When Mike said he liked it and he thought the kids would like it (although I'm not sure how he actually said this!), Liu stopped and bought him 4 more! Of course, the complicated part of this is that Mike would have said he liked it even if he didn't just to give face (or make Liu feel good) and would've felt obligated to accept the juice even if it tasted awful. In return, I sent some homemade muffins with Mike to give to Liu this morning....and I'm sure he'll tell Mike they were great even if he didn't think so.

We like that he is making an effort to build a relationship. Since I feel safe with him, I hope he will stay with us for awhile.
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Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Goodbye, Mr. Wang

As I've mentioned before, Mike's company doesn't allow us to drive in China. So the company provides us with a car and driver. Our car is leased by Mike's company and is parked in a car company lot at night. It's a silver Honda Odyssey minivan (yes, we think it's funny that it's the same as our old van).

It's been an interesting experience having a driver. We are never, ever alone in the car. No private conversations. No singing out loud to the stereo. I actually held the car key for the first time last weekend.

We've had the same driver, Mr. Wang, since we arrived in China...literally...he was there to pick us up at the airport last June. His last day with us was yesterday - he took a new job with the government where he can make more money. Mr. Wang spoke pretty good English, so we learned a lot about him in our rides about town.

Every morning, Mr. Wang (rhymes with long), went to the lot to pick up the car, then drove to our house (30 minutes) to pick up Mike for the ride to work (20 minutes). Mr. Wang is single, 27 years old and lives with his mother and father in a small apartment in KaiFaQu. To get to the car lot each morning, he took the bus, a taxi or rode his electric bicycle. Some mornings he was lucky and his dad drove him to the car lot.

Here is how we will remember him. He's like a 16 year old in a 27 year old body. He loves cars. He talks about cars all the time. His dream car is an Audi. It will take him many, many, many years to save up enough money to buy an Audi.

He loves computers. As young boys tend to do, he wants the fastest and the best of everything. He just borrowed money from his father to buy a new computer. It will take him many, many, many years to earn enough money to pay his father back.

Although he has had a few dates with girls, he's not sure that he's ready to date or settle down. He'd rather have more money than a girlfriend (his words!). His parents really want him to get married! He keeps saying he's not ready yet.

When he first started working for us, he was very inexperienced. Driving around China is scary enough, but driving around with someone who drives like a 16 year old boy is even scarier!! Thankfully, he listened to our coaching and learned a lot in the past 10 months!

We think he's had a pretty easy job working for us because we don't go very many places. Mike carpools to work regularly and I only go out once or twice a week. That means that although he was paid to be available to us 12 hours a day, he only worked a few of those hours. During the day when he wasn't driving for us, he would go home and play computer video games. I hope he likes his new job even though he'll have to work 6 days a week and be much more available.

Mr. Wang and just some of the vans waiting in the morning:




Our new driver started today. His name is Liu. So far he seems very experienced and a good driver, but he doesn't speak much English. I think we'll be OK. :)
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Monday, April 19, 2010

Dandong



We went to Dandong, China this weekend - a 3 hour drive north of Dalian. Dandong borders North Korea. There's so much to say about our 32 hour trip, I'm not sure where to start...

How about with this quote from Mike? "This blog is just writing itself..." said as our driver was driving through the McDonald's drive-thru in Dandong the WRONG WAY! Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen a drive-thru in Dalian, so likely he didn't know it WAS a drive-thru. Luckily, the people of Dandong don't seem to use it either, as we didn't meet anyone coming the other way (at 12:30 on a Saturday). Just one of many interesting adventures on this trip.

Top 3 Scary Things That Happened:

3. Having two little dogs follow us down the path near the Great Wall and then attempting to follow us up a cliff. We were all very afraid that the little dogs would fall and get very hurt.

2. Taking the shortcut from the end of the Great Wall back to the parking lot. The first part was a dirt trail but then it turned into a metal pathway hanging off a cliff over the river. Most people take the boat ride on the river to get back, but the boat wasn't running. We chose not to look at how the pathway was built until AFTER we finished.



1. Our driver nearly falling asleep at the wheel 1 hour into our trip home. Eyes closed, head nodding. Luckily my sixth sense from mothering had kicked in about 10 minutes before when we were slowing and drifting in the lane, so I had started watching him from the backseat. I said his name to wake him and then kept him awake (by kicking the seat and talking) until the rest stop 10 minutes later. Then we changed seats and I sat in the front and talked to him for the next 2 hours.




The Best 6 Parts of the Adventure:

6. Playing on the "exercise" equipment in the park near the hotel. We have seen these exercise stations in different parts of Dalian, but they have been in places that are not convenient to stop. So this was the perfect opportunity to try them out and the kids had a blast.



5. Walking the half of the bridge that still exists on the China side of the river that separates China and North Korea. North Korea tore down their side after it was damaged in the Korean War.



4. Visiting the Museum to Commemorate US Aggression. A huge museum with the history of the Korean War (which the Chinese call the The Campaign to Resist American Aggression and Aid the Korean People). This is the Korean war from the Chinese point of view (they were on North Korea's side, BTW). Talk of US Imperialists, pictures of smiling troops of US soldiers who apparently had just surrendered, and lots of details about how the Chinese helped bring peace. No mention in the museum that North Korea started the war...

3. Staying at a beautiful hotel. For just $75 (US), a beautiful room, with a view of the darkness of North Korea at night (a little eerie), luxurious towels and a TV that I could see from the shower.



2. Finally walking on the Great Wall of China. It was a rebuilt and refurbished section, but still it shows the magnitude of the task of building the wall. We were on the easternmost section and walked about 1 km to where it ends at North Korea. Lots of steps, tall towers, sheer cliffs. Amazing.



1. Coming home. When we've come back to our home in China from our vacations in other countries, I've always felt a little bit of regret - wishing I could stay longer, eat more, etc. This was our first time coming back from a vacation within mainland China. And it felt good to be home (safely) and when we came in the house, it even smelled like home.

More pictures are here in a Picasa web album. Double click to view the album.

Dandong


If you want to read more about the history of Dandong and North Korea, here is a link to a brief article.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2008/04/165_10839.html

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