We are back in the US, settled into our hotel and making all the plans and purchases necessary to move back into our old house. We should be moving in on July 7.
I am enjoying the food here, but still miss China. It should be an interesting few months ahead.
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Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Leaving China, Part 8
We are no longer leaving China.
We are already gone.
Our feet last touched the ground in China about 3.5 hours ago. We are now waiting in the Seoul airport for our connecting flight to San Francisco.
For me, it was a hard last goodbye. Goodbye to the house. Goodbye to the neighborhood. Goodbye to the hills. Goodbye to the beach. Goodbye to my friends.
Goodbye to China. I never thought I'd love you, but I do!
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We are already gone.
Our feet last touched the ground in China about 3.5 hours ago. We are now waiting in the Seoul airport for our connecting flight to San Francisco.
For me, it was a hard last goodbye. Goodbye to the house. Goodbye to the neighborhood. Goodbye to the hills. Goodbye to the beach. Goodbye to my friends.
Goodbye to China. I never thought I'd love you, but I do!
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Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Leaving China, Part 7
It is 12:44pm on our Tuesday and the packers are 75% done with packing our household items that will go in a sea shipment to Portland. There are 4 men and a supervisor working hard. I didn't think we had very much stuff - but I was wrong. One of the things I dread about moving back into our old house is getting all of our other stuff out of storage. Really, if we could live for 2 years with what we have here, do we really need all the other stuff that we left in storage in Portland? Of course, we'll need our furniture, but I'm hoping we can do a purge of other stuff BEFORE it makes it into the house.
Tomorrow they will come with a 20 foot container on a truck and load the boxes into the container. The container will go by ship to Portland and they say it will arrive in 6 weeks. That will be a happy day.
We fly out of Dalian on June 24 and arrive about 24 hours later in Beaverton. Our house is rented until July 1, so we will stay in a hotel nearby until July 8. Between July 1 and 7, there will be a rush of painting, new flooring and delivery of stuff!
Three more days until the final goodbyes to China!
Tomorrow they will come with a 20 foot container on a truck and load the boxes into the container. The container will go by ship to Portland and they say it will arrive in 6 weeks. That will be a happy day.
We fly out of Dalian on June 24 and arrive about 24 hours later in Beaverton. Our house is rented until July 1, so we will stay in a hotel nearby until July 8. Between July 1 and 7, there will be a rush of painting, new flooring and delivery of stuff!
Three more days until the final goodbyes to China!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Leaving China, Part 6
The last torture! I had my last therapeutic massage with Mr. Torture. I am happy to say that my shoulder is back to about 98% of normal!
When I first went to him, it all seemed so different. The waiting area in the same room as the treatment tables. The noises from outside - cars honking, people yelling, dogs barking. The run-down look of his office.
But now it seems so normal, so relaxing and so comforting. Funny how time and familiarity changes your perspective.
This last session, I was the only one there. The lights were out with just natural light coming through the windows. The windows were open with a soft breeze blowing in and the sounds of the city provided a nice backdrop.
I've seen him 1-2 times a week for the last year. I'm happy that I know enough Chinese that I could say goodbye and thank him for saving me from having surgery!
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When I first went to him, it all seemed so different. The waiting area in the same room as the treatment tables. The noises from outside - cars honking, people yelling, dogs barking. The run-down look of his office.
But now it seems so normal, so relaxing and so comforting. Funny how time and familiarity changes your perspective.
This last session, I was the only one there. The lights were out with just natural light coming through the windows. The windows were open with a soft breeze blowing in and the sounds of the city provided a nice backdrop.
I've seen him 1-2 times a week for the last year. I'm happy that I know enough Chinese that I could say goodbye and thank him for saving me from having surgery!
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Leaving China, Part 5
Things I Will Miss:
Green Tea Doublemint Gum:
Jasmine Tea:
My Laundry Room:
My Light Switches:
Squat Toilets:
The View from My Office:
Running on the Beach Boardwalk:
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Green Tea Doublemint Gum:
Jasmine Tea:
My Laundry Room:
My Light Switches:
Squat Toilets:
The View from My Office:
Running on the Beach Boardwalk:
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Saturday, June 18, 2011
Leaving China, Part 4
We had dinner with our driver, Liu, and his family to mark the end of our time in China. We invited them to our house for a traditional American Italian meal - spaghetti, chicken, bread, veggies and ranch dip. We all ate with chopsticks and everyone ate at least a little bit!
I think we all had a good time, in spite of the fact that they don't speak very much English and we don't speak very much Chinese!
Here is a picture of all of us. Liu's wife, Liu, me, Mike, Liu's dad, Liu's mom, Kiana, Liu's daughter and Kevin.
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I think we all had a good time, in spite of the fact that they don't speak very much English and we don't speak very much Chinese!
Here is a picture of all of us. Liu's wife, Liu, me, Mike, Liu's dad, Liu's mom, Kiana, Liu's daughter and Kevin.
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Sunday, June 12, 2011
Jacky Cheung
Wow! Last night I went to the Jacky Cheung concert (or Zhang Xue You as he's know here), a famous Chinese pop singer. What an awesome concert. Three hours of such a beautiful voice, great dancing and quite a show (on the scale of major concerts in the US). His singing ranges from rock to jazz to love songs and he was backed by a live orchestra. Wow!
Just a sample if you are interested:
The concert was at a huge outdoor soccer stadium. Huge! I was only one of the few foreigners there. I took my driver to the concert with me as a thank you for introducing me to Zhang Xue You and because I knew he would guide me through.
All of the people are sitting to the left of this picture. The other part of the stadium is full.
For the most part, it was like a concert in the US, with a few exceptions.
First, you buy seat cushions outside the stadium. People are selling handmade cushions for a few cents each. There are two reasons for this. One is that the seats are hard so it makes it a little bit softer. The other is that the seats are dirty, so it keeps you clean.
Second, there are very few concessions sold inside the stadium. I can't help but think of the Portland Rose Garden, where buying $10 nachos seems to help the stadium revenue as much as the actual event. I'm sure with their entrepreneurial spirit (like the seat cushions) China will catch on to this eventually.
Third, the bathrooms. We think the queue in the US is bad at major events. It is nothing like here, and for a bathroom that smells from 20 meters away. Anticipating this, I used the forced pre-dehydration method to avoid having to void.
Fourth, no lighters or cell phones held up in respect, but lots of adults with glowing, flashing light sabers and light-up hair bows.
And finally some differences that I felt. When Zhang Xue You came out on stage, I was momentarily surprised that he was singing in Chinese. All of my past cultural experiences have been in the US and in English, so even though I was in a stadium filled with Chinese people, and I knew he was a Chinese singer, somewhere in my brain I was still thinking it would be in English. Weird.
And one moment that reflects the end of my time in China. I am quite familiar with Jacky Cheung's songs. I've been listening to them frequently for the past year. But, I don't know the words as they are all in Chinese. I could sing something that sounds like the words, but it would be way off. Toward the end of the concert, as he was singing my favorite and his most loved songs, the entire stadium is singing along. Except me. I had an overwhelming feeling of not belonging. Which made me think....as much as I love China and wish I could stay longer, if I stayed, I still would never really belong. Never.
What an amazing experience at the end of my amazing experience. 11 more days to go.
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Just a sample if you are interested:
The concert was at a huge outdoor soccer stadium. Huge! I was only one of the few foreigners there. I took my driver to the concert with me as a thank you for introducing me to Zhang Xue You and because I knew he would guide me through.
All of the people are sitting to the left of this picture. The other part of the stadium is full.
For the most part, it was like a concert in the US, with a few exceptions.
First, you buy seat cushions outside the stadium. People are selling handmade cushions for a few cents each. There are two reasons for this. One is that the seats are hard so it makes it a little bit softer. The other is that the seats are dirty, so it keeps you clean.
Second, there are very few concessions sold inside the stadium. I can't help but think of the Portland Rose Garden, where buying $10 nachos seems to help the stadium revenue as much as the actual event. I'm sure with their entrepreneurial spirit (like the seat cushions) China will catch on to this eventually.
Third, the bathrooms. We think the queue in the US is bad at major events. It is nothing like here, and for a bathroom that smells from 20 meters away. Anticipating this, I used the forced pre-dehydration method to avoid having to void.
Fourth, no lighters or cell phones held up in respect, but lots of adults with glowing, flashing light sabers and light-up hair bows.
And finally some differences that I felt. When Zhang Xue You came out on stage, I was momentarily surprised that he was singing in Chinese. All of my past cultural experiences have been in the US and in English, so even though I was in a stadium filled with Chinese people, and I knew he was a Chinese singer, somewhere in my brain I was still thinking it would be in English. Weird.
And one moment that reflects the end of my time in China. I am quite familiar with Jacky Cheung's songs. I've been listening to them frequently for the past year. But, I don't know the words as they are all in Chinese. I could sing something that sounds like the words, but it would be way off. Toward the end of the concert, as he was singing my favorite and his most loved songs, the entire stadium is singing along. Except me. I had an overwhelming feeling of not belonging. Which made me think....as much as I love China and wish I could stay longer, if I stayed, I still would never really belong. Never.
What an amazing experience at the end of my amazing experience. 11 more days to go.
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Tuesday, June 7, 2011
"China Normal" at School
Yesterday, Kiana came home and described a "China Normal" moment at school. In other words, a normal moment at school in China, that would never have happened in the US in the same way.
The 12 students in Language Arts were sitting on couches watching a movie.
The DVD (purchased at a local store) said "Property of ... do not copy."
The movie was PG-13, watched without parental permission slips required.
The 4 kids on Kiana's couch were from 3 different countries.
There were fireworks going off outside and no one appeared to notice.
This is China.
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The 12 students in Language Arts were sitting on couches watching a movie.
The DVD (purchased at a local store) said "Property of ... do not copy."
The movie was PG-13, watched without parental permission slips required.
The 4 kids on Kiana's couch were from 3 different countries.
There were fireworks going off outside and no one appeared to notice.
This is China.
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Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Shanghai Weekend
Maglev high-speed train from the airport to downtown.
The China Pavilion at World Expo. People waited up to 9 hours to see this pavilion during Expo. Expo is now closed, but the China Pavilion was open until June 1. It was beautiful and we are very happy we made it to Shanghai to see it!
The lines we didn't have to wait in!
A long video scroll inside the pavilion which depicts a famous Chinese painting.
The Bund at riverside at night. Many beautiful old buildings.
Pudong at night. Twenty years ago it was farmland.
A major pedestrian shopping street.
The Shanghai science museum. We like to visit science museums in the new cities we visit.
Kevin in the science museum.
Kiana in the science museum.
The view from our hotel. A small older neighborhood down below and a park in the distance. And, just out of range, the Apple Store and Gap.
Me in the Yu Yuan Garden.
Kiana in the Yu Yuan Garden.
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The China Pavilion at World Expo. People waited up to 9 hours to see this pavilion during Expo. Expo is now closed, but the China Pavilion was open until June 1. It was beautiful and we are very happy we made it to Shanghai to see it!
The lines we didn't have to wait in!
A long video scroll inside the pavilion which depicts a famous Chinese painting.
The Bund at riverside at night. Many beautiful old buildings.
Pudong at night. Twenty years ago it was farmland.
A major pedestrian shopping street.
The Shanghai science museum. We like to visit science museums in the new cities we visit.
Kevin in the science museum.
Kiana in the science museum.
The view from our hotel. A small older neighborhood down below and a park in the distance. And, just out of range, the Apple Store and Gap.
Me in the Yu Yuan Garden.
Kiana in the Yu Yuan Garden.
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