Go for Weird

When you live in another country you get used to doing weird things. And eventually those weird things just get normal. But once those things become normal, other things happen that are, hmmm how do I put this? Well, they are weird. You want stories?

I have a blonde streak that goes through my bangs and it desperately needed a touch up. I can cut my own hair, but dieing my own hair is another story, so thankfully there is a girl here who can. So I was at her house and we decided to get it done. Problem, was we didn't have foils, but we did have...plastic bags! Yes, so we went for weird and we used plastic bags. It worked! Not as well as foils would have, but that doesn't matter. 

The other odd things within all of this was what the bleach said. So as I mentioned in my last post Chinese prefer lighter skin and whitening creams are not uncommon. But this bleach said, “Hair and Skin whitening”, at first we thought it was some funny Chinglish. But then the scary thought hit us...what if it was fairly correctly translated? Ahhh!

Other weird things are movies. Movies take on a whole other meaning. When you buy a new movie or if you stream a movie/show skipping, pausing, no English and the like are all common. The longer you live in another country the better you get at guessing. 

Along with guessing comes a certain smile. Everyone gets it. It gets tiring to continually say you don't understand. Especially after awhile the meaning of one sentence doesn't matter if you can understand the rest. So you develop a very polite smile a nod that you hope communicates “Oh yes, wow, very interesting!”, while underneath you are thinking, “I have no idea....”

So living in another country means you go for weird, you hope things come out okay and you learn to laugh at all the bumps along the way.

Culture Differences

There are so many things that make up a culture.  Culture is defined as "the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic or age group". When we live in our own “culture” never experiencing another we don’t realize what “my culture” means.  When you go somewhere new and something surprises you because its different or weird in your eyes, its a form of culture shock.

America.  For me, until I really started to travel, I didn't know we had culture.   I mean we have many cultures, but what is American culture?  I can't define it, but I can give examples and I know we have one.  Unfortunately while writing this blog I've forgotten so many things I've noticed just this week, but I'll make sure to document them for another post in the future.

Example:  We use forks and knives.  Asians use chopsticks.  Indians use hands.   South Americans and Islanders use spoons.  With our multicultural identity for some, this might not surprise.  But it is truly an easy example of culture.  It is a form of our behavior we have learned our ethnic group.

Another example:  In America we want our skin to get as dark as possible.  In Asia, they want their skin to get as light as possible.  This is even seen in what our societies sell... lotions.  Many of ours has darkening agents and many in Asia have whitening agents.  Again this is a learned behavior.  Their is actually some interesting history behind this, but I don't want to bunny trail.  If you are interested in knowing it, comment on this blog post and I'll make sure to tell the story in the next one.

Culture is learned, it is not genetic or ancestral.  When a Chinese baby is adopted by a Chinese family, that baby is Chinese only in heritage, but American in every other way.  Hopefully you know by now, but I'm taking classes online through Washington State University and hoping to double major in Anthropology and Sociology.  Well, in both these subjects we learn about culture, but one class described it this way:  A couple gets stranded on an Island.  The woman knows how to make fires and cook food, so that's what she does.  The man likes to walk and collect berries, so that's what he does.  When they have kids, the man takes their sons with them and teaches them what he does, the woman takes the daughters and teaches them what she does.  The only reason they chose these roles was because they enjoy them.  So generation later the woman still cook and make fires and the men still walk and gather.  But now no one really knows why this is, but its become the culture and if people try to change it, its very strange and feels ridiculous.  A very simple narrative, but one I thought explained culture well. 

I heard a story of an American couple who went to China and lived in a village, disease swept through killing both of them, but leaving a newborn baby.  Another family (Chinese) in the village raised the baby as their own.  He grew up and learned how to walk, talk and act like the villagers.   As an adult he went back to America and it was too weird for him, so he returned to what he knew as his “home”, that being China.

I experience culture everyday, sometimes its new to me and sometimes its normal.  In fact, when I go back to America I often struggle with confusion of whats normal and whats not.

A couple weeks ago I was with a friend and we had some snacks out.   She's Chinese, I'm American. There was some spicy peanuts that we had just finished, so she put her finger in the container to lick it clean.  I started to laugh cuz it seemed so ridiculous to me.  A little while later there was some peanut butter that was nearly finished.  So I put my finger in it and started to lick it clean, she started to laugh and me because it just seemed so ridiculous.   Then we both laughed, cuz we realized it was just culture.

Take Me To A Place Where They Know My Name

“I been around the world...feeling out of place really feeling strange. Take me to a place where they know my name, cuz I aint met nobody that looks the same...I need my people, my people. Take me to my people.”

Shortly after arriving in Xinjiang and as we start to explore the city of our visit my friend turns to me and says, “Natasha, here you are not special, I think I am special.” It sounds rude, but in part its true. Xinjiang is a Northwest autonomous region of China with a lot of different minority groups, some being Kazakh, Kyrgyzstan, Uighur and Han. That means when I arrived I saw people with my skin color, or at least my skin tone, sometime even blue eyes, light colored hair and people with a bit of plump and curve to them, like me. Living in this country I'm ued to standing out and even enjoy it. But there was something wonderful about going there and when I was by myself so many people would come up to me and start to speak in their native language (many minority groups and certain parts of China speak their local dialects or language other than mandarin). But at the same time it made me feel uncomfortable. Going there showed me how much I've adapted to Chinese lifestyle, going there was definitely some culture shock, but it was also beautiful.

One of the days we were wondering around the city and I could see some men were selling carpets. They saw me and start to wave me over, I know they want to sell carpets, so I start to make the universal sign for money (rubbing your thumb and index finger together) and tell them “Meiyou qian!” (I have no money!) But no matter how many times I said it, they kept waving me over. So I went over. Once I promptly said I couldn't buy anything cuz I had no money, they asked if I was Kazakh. I said no, American. Then the old man who was obviously in charge said, “Well, if you marry Kazakh, you will be Kazakh!” I agreed with him. So he points out his eligible younger friend. I tell them thank you, but I'm not living in that city, so it might make relationships a bit difficult, maybe if I move there I'll consider it.

One of the things that I loved while I was there is the day we walked through the park. There was dancing and lots of it. We were invited it and it was so much fun. In China, many people dance in the park, usually woman who want to get some exercise. But here we had from young to old, men and ladies, even dancing together! And it was also the local style dance which is a bit different than that of other styles. Either way, all I'm trying to say is. It was fun.

Corbon

 I walk down the crowded streets confused and disorientated. What's with the mob of people and the animals being herded down our city streets? On the right and the left you can see yaks, cows, bulls and sheep being auctioned off and bargained for. I joke about buying one to get around the city and find out that they can go from about 10 thousand to 20 thousand yuan (the equivalent of 1585 to 3175 USD), so I guess I wont be doing that. I live in a city and while in some cities around the world herding animals might not be uncommon, here it is. So what is it for? Why are all the road barriers taken down with the cars swerving out of the way of freaked-out, bucking bulls? Its a Chinese Muslim holiday called Corbon.

Its true name is Id al-Qurban, which means “offering sacrifices”. It's common name is Adha. It's the once a year festival of animal sacrifice to atone for sins. There are many different minority groups in China that practice this festival, but the main one in my city is called the Hui People, a minority group that is similar in appearance as the Han Chinese, but mostly Muslim.

Corbon is a four day event that starts on the 10^th day of the 12^th month of the Islamic calendar. For us, that meant two weeks ago. Within the celebrations, you will mostly see men. To tell you the truth, I don't know a lot about this celebration, even after some research, so I can only say what I've seen. And that did not include women. The men swarm the streets to buy an animal. Some even buy theirs ahead of time and keep them for a few days until the celebration. I went by one of the mosques in my city and there were thousands there; inside, in front of and on the street of. I didn't see how they celebrate, but I've heard of dancing, music being played, fireworks and I'm sure meals are probably involved. Again, I don't know how they sacrifice the animals or what they do with all the meat afterwards, but I did see a lot of blood, a lot of skins and the heads were usually burned with a blow torch afterwards, for what reason I'm not sure.

I wish I would have had more time to watch the proceedings, to ask questions and to take pictures, but I was unfortunately busy. There is always next year.

Otis, my new pug puppy

I must apologize because I didn't write last week, and I should warn you I probably wont write next week. My goal is to get a post up once a week, but if you are wondering why I've missed you will soon discover from the following.

If you are reading this blog and are my friend on facebook, you probably know about Otis. My new pug puppy. And if I say so myself, he is so stinking cute. 

But he came with some problems. Now would be a good time to mention, how if you get a puppy, there is only a 50-50% chance of him living. So, every time I came home there was a bit of fear I would find him dead. Thankfully a little over a week has proven it not so. Where am I going with this? Every thing that might have been a problem freaked me out. Then on top of that I'm leaving on a 2 week trip tomorrow, so my puppy will be staying with some friends. Because of that I was pretty urgent in wanting to fix any problems immediately. That lead to 4 vet visits, plus a few phone calls. Thankfully getting your dog checked out is free, so as far as money goes it was no problem, but it was a bit straining on my time.

When Otis came he had some major dandruff issues. That lead me into a search for home remedies on how to moisturize his skin. That lead me to a lovely mite known as “walking dandruff”. They are mites that crawl under the skin scales of that animal creating dandruff, and if you look closely it looks like the dandruff is moving, thus the name. Of course that freaked me out, so that was the first vet call. Thankfully, the vet said unlikely! Because his dandruff was everywhere not just confined to one spot.

After a couple days of applying baby oil, Listerine and warm water combination (odd I know!) his skin became normal!

Then he started scooting on his butt, and crying in ridiculous pain. Another vet call. This one taught me about pin worms (they live in the big intestine and at night lay eggs on the anal hole causing severe itching) and clogged anal sacs ( apparently pugs are prone to them). That led to a vet visit. Thankfully it wasn't clogged anal sacs, and according to them not worms. But he did have ear problems.

After medicine, further watching and more calls and visits I came to this conclusion. My puppy is healthy, but has dry skin. The only thing really wrong with him is ear mites (I know random), which is why he was crying in pain. After applying some medicine his pain has gone away, but it will take a bit longer to get rid of the ear mites. As for the scooting, a cause of dry and itchy skin. So I will be applying some of my home remedy to his back end.

Thankfully that's all. He knows his name and hes great with kids. But because of the vet visits I have not had time to work on potty training....that will be the next goal.

A Friend's Note

Hey this is Rebekah! I have been in China since I was born! After 26 years, my Chinese is pretty good, the reason I say this is because I have only been learning English for 4 years, so please forgive me if I use the wrong words or grammar! :-) I'm sure you will need to do that!

Anyways, as a 100% Chinese girl I have always had pride in my culture. But things started to change when I was at University majoring in Marketing English. That's also where I met my American teachers for the first time in my life and they taught me a lot about American language, culture, history, beliefs...etc. These things somehow stirred up my desire to learn more about America.

After I graduated from school, I started working in a language school for foreigners to learn Chinese. To my amazement, 90% of my students were American and we became friends quickly! I guessed the reason was because I was such a smart teacher and such a nice friend to them! That explains everything! :-)

During that time I was spending with them, I noticed that there are a lot of differences between American girls and Chinese girls. One thing in particular is, “personal space”.

Chinese girls love intimate relationships more than any other girls in the world (in my opinion)! We enjoy clasping hands with our female friends while wondering around, going to the bathroom together, feeding each other taking showers together! These kinds of things are quite common in China! Without a doubt!

So one time I told one of my American friends that the whole of last winter, I didn't have heat in my house, so me and my three other roommates took a shower together in order to keep warm.

Yes! Three naked Chinese girls crowding next to each other, shaking in a small cold bathroom! I know its weird in American culture, but, my American friend …... actually didn't say anything when she heard it. Not because she thought it's no big deal, but because her mouth opened so wide and couldn't close up!!

As you can see, Chinese girls don't really have the concept of “personal space”. Sometimes I do enjoy it, but sometimes it drives me crazy, even though I'm a Chinese girl! I love my American friends because they taught me that I can't just grab their butts because I want to, I can't just rush to the bathroom when they're taking a bath even though I'm gunna pee my pants! I can't just... I can't just...

Yep. This is me, a normal Chinese girl who loves America and my own motherland! Once again, I love you...all my American friends! See ya!

PS. I am heading out to India in January, and right now I am facing economic crisis... so if anyone wants to help me, please feel free to contact Natasha :) Thank you!

Stolen Bikes

So, here in China its not exactly uncommon to get your bike stolen.  You could even say its part of the cultural experience.  Despite it being "part of the experience", its one that I really did not want to have.  Last year in Xian, around the New Year I knew 3 or 4 people who got their bikes stolen.  It happens more often around the New Year because people are trying to get money to go home and all that.  But that doesn't mean it can't happen other times of the year...like for instance now.

I rode my bike over to a friend's house a few weeks ago and left it there.  Locked up, but not locked to anything.  I knew it was stupid, but I was busy and if I'm being honest...a little lazy.
So Sunday, I go over to say hi and I notice my bike is gone.  My stupidity caught up with me.
I tell my friend, who feels super bad, but it's my own fault.  I knew I should have moved it, I even checked the other floors in case the person who stole it just moved it to another floor temporarily (which I know from a friend's experience has happened).

I don't find it.  Later I run into my friend's husband and tell him, he's also very sorry, but I explain its my own stupid fault.  Then he tells me he had moved it into the stairwell and did I check there?  I didn't remember, so there's hope.

Later that night my friend calls me and tells me that her brother might have some news to brighten my day.  So, he gets on the phone and tells me that he got the text my bike was stolen.  Anyways, he's walking around later and sees a guy riding a bike that looks just like mine.  What's the coincidence, right?  So he goes up to the guy and says, "Hey where did you get this bike, its my friend's bike, give it back to me" and the guy responds, "No this is my bike".  And again my friend says, "That' my friends' bike, give it back" and again the guy says, "no its mine"  So this goes back and forth a couple times and finally, my friend tells me he just physically takes it from the guy and rides away on it!  So he got my bike back!  I was screaming and hollering through the phone!  Man I was pumped. 

Then he tells me, "Ok so now here's the real story.  It was in the stairwell the whole time and never left the apartment building."  Wow, he got me good.  Either way it was good news, so I'm happy :)

My bike is not stolen.

 Above is a moon cake, the popular dessert for the Moon Festival, which we just celebrated last week.

Above is a picture of butter!  Crazy I know, but its true.

Stalkers in China

I had a stalker for awhile, at first it seemed just like a random coincidence, but he started showing up whenever I went to a coffee shop.  Then my roommate started getting stalked!  But that's died down now, I haven't heard of him for a little over a week.  So I won't be lying when I say, the title of this blog post was mostly to get your attention.  And if your reading right now, I'll assume I did my job right.  But stick around I think you will be entertained.

This week encompasses two holidays in China.  One is National Day, similar to our Independence Day, but they get about a week off school or work.  They other which just happened to fall in around the same time is Mid-Autumn Festival, which is celebrated by good times with the family and eating lots of moon cakes!  Which Starbucks gives away for free (not that we have one in this city).

Some other monumental news, is our kittens are growing, cuter and cuter by the day (Really I just wanted an excuse to post more picture of them).

Now that we have the basic updates out of the way I can let you in on a funny little story.  Yesterday I went to buy some dongxi (things) with my Chinese friend.  So my friend and the store keeper were talking and I had kinda zoned out, then my friend says, "Oh she says your pretty", so I turn to the store keeper and say "Xie xie" (thank you).  At that point I zoned back in and I hear the store keeper say, "Yi dian pang, danshi high piao liang", which means, "A little fat, but still pretty".  At that I just started to laugh, cuz the store keeper didn't think I understood Chinese and that's the moment I had chosen to start listening again!  It was great moment.  My Chinese friend, said sorry to me, but I told I've improved cuz in Xian I was "Really fat" and here I'm only "A little fat".

Here it is pretty common to buy fruits or veggies out of trucks.







 















Last blog post I mentioned two coffee shops, well I took pics of them, so you could see the fronts of them and where I was spending 20 hours a week.  (Now we have internet at our house, so that time has gone down).

Sick, Bikes, Food and Coffee

 It's funny cuz after I had been back for about two weeks I called all my family and told them how great I was and was very healthy and just went on and on. The next day I got hit with some sort of stomach bug that just tore up my stomach. Could barely eat for a week and when I did start eating again my stomach totally rebelled. While I was writhing in pain on my bed, my good friend told me I should take Chinese medicine. She said, “Its better than Western medicine cuz its more natural”, so I told her, “And Westerners would say Western medicine is better than Chinese medicine!” Its interesting how you can find culture everywhere. I ended up taking it, more for the experience, it did actually help (I think), but it was nasty. I had to swallow about 30 tiny brown balls with warm water. Eeeggh. Then about two days after feeling fine I got hit with a head cold...still battling that one!

So as I mentioned in my last blog I was looking for a bike. Well, I got hooked up pretty well in my opinion. I had a budget, but when I moved to this new city of mine all the bikes were way above my budget. So I was gunna bight my lip and suck it up. Luckily I didn't have to, I ended up finding a used bike, for the price I wanted! I've ridden it around some and it works great.

During this last week I've also gotten to try an abundance of new food. As I briefly mentioned in my last blog, the food here is different. And I've heard it was better. I wanted to deny it, I wanted Xian to be wonderful and the best (as a true Xianren would want), but if I'm gunna be honest, I think the food here is way better. First of all, there are way more options. Second, it cheaper. Third, the taste is very good. One reason I've heard for there being more options is because this city has so much cultural diversity. It seems its about 1/3 Tibetan, 1/3 Hui Chinese (a minority group that is usually Muslim) and 1/3 Han Chinese (the majority in China). Which means we have about 3 times the amount of local options than we did in Xian (which is Han mostly, except for a small portion of the city that has Hui Chinese). Xian, I love you, but the food is better here.

One other thing that has become a major component of my life is coffee. Now as a true Seattle-ite, that really should not surprise any readers, but I mean more than coffee, I mean environment as well. For those who do not know, I am taking two online college classes. It started about a month ago, and we still do not have internet in the house I'm staying, which usually means I spend about 2 full days at a coffee shop because I need the internet to turn in my homework. This city has a lot of coffee shops, but there are two very popular ones, GreenHouse and Taza. They are both on the same street and are both about a 30 minute walk from my house and they both offer WiFi. Taza has a stronger WiFi connection and was started by a local, so its cool to support that business. GreenHouse is also great though, the way they have decorated and the feel you get is awesome. I'm more impacted by my environment, plus GreenHouse offers drip coffee, which Taza does not, so I've been going to GreenHouse, which means I have built pretty strong relationship there already! All the waitresses and waiters know me, I've met the owners and so on. Just cuz I'm there about 20 hours a week. Anyways, today I had a skype date so I went to Taza for the internet connection, when I passed GreenHouse one of the waitresses waived to me....I felt like I was betraying them!

Moving, Hellos and Goodbyes

I have now been back in China about three weeks, and it has been eventful. My first week I returned to Xian, where I got to say a “Hi” and “Bye” to all my Chinese friends. While it was sad and too short, it was still good. As a group we went to Hot Pot and the next day KTV (karaoke). After a week I moved on to the next city where I will be living for at least a couple months. Xining.

I have 4 roommates, with another on the way! But its ok, I like my roommates, its fun to meet new people who are doing the same things I am. They also have two cute kittens, Abner and Mr. French, which I'm loving.

This city is so different from where I come from, when I meet new people they ask me, “What do you think?” and I tell them I love it, but I'm still “Xianren” (which technically would imply its where you grew up, your culture, similar to the idea of a hometown, it literally means Xian-person). The city is up higher (in elevation), so my lungs are still adjusting and is smaller. But because of both of those facts, the air is much fresher and as my Xian friends told me, “The sky is blue in Xining!” And so it is, the weather is also cooler, but sense I've gotten here we have had really nice weather!

One thing that is a lot of fun, is the coffee shops. There are two here which, I think, could do well even in Seattle! So its kind of nice to have that. Right now we have no internet at my house, so when I need to do something I can walk down to the coffee shop to get stuff done.

The food here is very different from Xian food, all the Xiningren say its better, but we will see. So far what I've had is very good. I'm also hoping to buy a bike soon, will make going around the city a lot easier and more fun. I rode my bike all the time in Xian and in my opinion it was a form of hell, but here I think it will be more enjoyable, so hopefully I can find one I like soon!

One other big difference I've found, the people here are so much nicer. People still stare at me, but when I ask them a question, they respond, if someone drops something, a stranger is more likely to stop and help them. It's strange, but its been a bit of a culture shock because that's not how it is in Xian. It could be the difference of big city verses small city, could be the difference of mid China verses west China or it could just be different. But I think this is a difference that I can easily become accustomed too.

This last weekend I got to experience an awesome part of culture, a wedding. Traditionally weddings in China are very different from our Western ones. The bride wears red, not white. It is not custom for guests to dress up, only groom, bride, and maybe two close friends. In village weddings part of tradition states that the groom and the bride have to fight to get to each other. I've heard of stories of the guests tearing at them, until they can reach one another. I think this custom is dieing out, but still practiced in some villages. Although nowadays the western wedding is becoming more and more popular. I've heard of people having two weddings, a traditional style and a western style. Either way, there are usually two sets of photos. In the wedding I attended, it was mixed, but I could obviously pick out what parts were not western.

Early in the morning the family and close friends of the groom went to his house (of which group I was part of) and the family and close friends of the bride went to her house. They each spent time in the morning preparing, the bride does her make-up and gets dressed, the groom does what he does. Then after a time about 5 dishes come out, some meat, some vegetable and they basically signify a love filled marriage, blessed with children (or child because of the law) that lasts till death. The groom and his parents say something, then the groom drives off in a car. The car is usually decked out in flowers and other decorations. The groom drives to the bride's house, plays some games there, greets her family and all of that, then comes back. 

 Me and my friend waited at his house, he probably spent about two hours. When they come back everyone goes outside to greet him and the bride. There are fireworks, pictures, cheering and so on. I guess custom says the groom is to carry the bride to his house, but his house is up 4 flights of stairs so I can understand why they skipped that part.

At the grooms house everyone takes pictures of them, with them and so on, then everyone left and went to a restaurant. At the restaurant is where I saw more western things come into play. Everyone goes in and sits at tables (there were probably about 12). There was a stage set up at the front and once everyone was settled the groom and MC went up there. The MC asks him some questions, like “What do you like about your future wife?” “Why do you want to marry her?” I really don't know much cuz it was all in Chinese and my friend just explained briefly. Then the bride comes through from the side and the groom ran to meet her. He got on his knees and gave her some flowers. They walked up the path together to the front stage. At the stage the MC asked them “normal” questions, like “Do you promise to love her/him until you die?” etc. After this we eat. 

When the meal is finishing up the bride and groom goes to each table to give a toast. They use this strong alcohol that is translated into “White wine”, but its a lot stronger than that. Towards the end the bride might use water or just stand and smile, but by the sound of it, most times the groom gets pretty drunk. After the bride and groom go through, the groom's father goes to each table and gives a toast, so he gets pretty drunk too. It was nice cuz both times, when they came to my table they toasted me and said, “To our foreign friend”.

After the eating and toasting everyone can pretty much go home. The groom and bride greet people as they were leaving. When me and my friend went to say thanks and good bye an old man came up and spoke to the groom, after he walked away the groom turned to his new wife and said, “I forget, is that your mother-in-law or my mother-in-law?” Haha. Like I said pretty drunk.

I guess that night, the two families dine together. I don't think honeymoons are custom, but they are becoming more popular.

All together it was an awesome experience!

A Pet Peeve I do

So for the last week I've been thinking about what to write on my blog and for awhile was considering one on crossing the street.  Here is why.  I go to work about 5 days a week and try to ride my bike at least 3 out of those 5 days.  Riding my bike I definitely get down and dirty with the traffic, weaving in, out, front, behind and so on with other bikes, motorcycles, cars and even buses.  I don't mess around.  So with all this stress I've found the most frustrating thing is not all the times I nearly die by a car door flying out in front of me, or when the bus doesn't see me or when the car doesn't care, its the pedestrians.  There is a strange problem here, where people just don't look where they are going.  They step in front of me all the time, which causes me to swerve and thus causes the many instances of my near death experiences.  So I was going to write a whole blog on my pet peeve and complain about people's issue.  But then, I did it.  Not as a pedestrian, but as a biker.  I ran a red light, not even thinking twice about it, believing it must not apply to me and by doing that I caused about 3 cars to slam on their brakes.  Yes, at least three cars. 
So I've learned its not the individuals, but I got sucked in.  It's the rules of the road here, red lights are mere suggestions, danger is subjective and everyone watches their front, not their backs.  I have fit in well and have adapted the rules of the road to my own life, leaving behind the ones from my home country.
I'm not going to lie, I'm scared to go home, what if I don't fit in anymore.  I will say things and do things that helps me fit in here, but in America will cause me to stand out in and awkward kind of way.  People will expect me to know American culture, to understand it, but for one year I have tried everything in my will power to become part of China.  So what happens in those two months of America time?  Will I go back to being American or will I retain my half Chinese that I've worked hard for.  How will that mess up my life here, my cultural acceptance of life.  I don't know the answers, we will have to just try and see.

A Stress Fracture and A Stress Factor (Kids)

So I have some unfortunate news to share, it looks as if I might be suffering from a stress fracture.   Which means, that I will have to stop my running for at least a month.  Although most websites said 6 to 8 weeks.  Which means at the soonest I would be able to start running again, it would be too late for re-training for the Marathon.  This was a pretty hard blow, considering I've been working towards it mentally and physically sense December and paid a ton of money to do it.  But I'd rather slow it down then end up with a broken foot!  Although there is some good news to it all!  Well maybe not good news, but all right news.  I should hopefully be able to do the half marathon, which is still 13.1 miles.  I can keep riding my bike, which I will start doing more (although with that I will have to figure out a better way to protect my lungs) and I can keep strengthening other parts of my body.  I'm pretty bumbed about the whole thing, but its not the end of the world.
So now with bad news over I want to share a couple funny story.  I teach kids, usually 3 to 6 years old.  In one of my classes there is a little boy who always tells me (in Chinese) I'm fat.  "Natasha ni hen pang" (You are very fat), "Natasha ni hao pang" (a different variation of you are very fat), "Natasha ni fei cheng hao pang" (Natasha you are SO fat!).  I think you get the picture.  Well in class we have a no speaking in Chinese rule, but as you can imagine, its a bit hard to enforce all the time.  So usually if a child says something in Chinese I teach them in English.  But it just seems inherently wrong to teach this kid how to say "You are fat" in English.  But I also can't really say "Don't say that".  Mostly cause when he does say it we are in class and also because I wouldn't know how to say it.  I could try.  It would come out something like this "You can't speak, it so bad, Americans don't like, so stop"  I feel it mind hinder me being respected as a teacher rather than helping me.  So this same child (we will call him David) came up to me one day and asked (in Chinese) "Natasha, you are English, right?"  So I said "No, American"  He then stopped and looked very confused and said "Americans huai bu huai"  Which at first I didn't understand.  So I enlisted the help of another teacher (who is Chinese and we shall call her Emily).  David then asked Emily the same thing, which I still didn't quite understand.  Emily then responded so violently I was surprised, "Not true!!  (^Y@&@*$%#(*E*NCBCJDE*E&EHDKCU!"  (Random letters and symbols represent a ton of Chinese I didn't understand).  Then she turned to me and said "Don't listen to him!!!  He is just a child, he doesn't know what he's talking about!!!"  Well as you know, now I really wanted to know what was happening, but Emily refused t tell me.  So I asked another teacher, Lisa.  Finally Lisa told me.  David was confused about me being American because he thought all Americans were bad people.  So when he found out I was American he had said, "Aren't Americans bad people?"  So Emily was embarrassed, but Lisa told me what she told David, "America is a big place and some people are bad, but some people like Natasha are good."  So hopefully this solves the dilemma and David can rest assured a mass murderer is not teaching him the devil's language.
In my class the kids like to play a game with me, like most things, it eventually went too far.  The game is "No".  It's my fault really, I taught them its ok to say no, I taught them to have a voice, to have an opinion.  In fact I encouraged it with funny behavior.  What can I say, there is a soft part in my heart for the rebels.  But now that they all say it, I like the rebels who stand firm and say "yes".  Now what do I mean by these "yes" and "no"'s?  Example, "Do you like my hair?" "No!"  "Do you like the sun?" "No!"  "Do you like me?" "No!"  So from here on, I had to start switching it up I started asking "Do you want?"  Which means they have to say "yes".  But they are smart, they now know the difference, and they still tell me they don't like my hair, or earring or shirt or shoes.  But now that their English is getting better I get to teach them fun things like, "Sunny, say 'I'm sassy!'".  So she copied me, snaps, attitude and all "I'm sassy".  Now Sunny just don't tell your mom it was me :)  Although, I spose who else would it be, I'm the only American there.

Living Life in C town, while preparing to go to SEA-town

Ok, so my last email was about my fitness life, this email will cover some of the other things happening right now. Let's start with me going back to America. I plan on getting there May 29th and should stay for about 2 months. I don't have my ticket yet, but its not a stressful thing because it will be standby, so i can book it almost anytime. Even though 2 months is a good size visit, I will be pretty busy. I'm throwing a dinner to let people know more things about my life in China (if you are interested in coming it will be Friday, June 15-just let me know if your gunna show up!). I will be running a Marathon, the STP, might surf on the Oregon coast, do a late (very late) birthday drive to Canada for Nadia, and spend lots of time with family and friends!
Until then, what will I do? I'm pretty busy on this side of the world as well, but def enjoying life. I'm working on College stuff and only have a couple more weeks to go, which will be relieving and exciting to make it through my first semester of college! I'm in more maintenance mood for my Chinese, than improvement mood, but I'm in a decent place. I feel comfortable to go do almost anything on my own (unless its complicated like getting custom made curtains, or asking about paint differences and so on, lol). I work most nights, actually enjoying it for the most part. The students know me pretty well (they are just kids), I like the other teachers and most classes are fun rather than stressful. Although by the end of the day I admit, I'm usually pretty wiped. Saturdays I have a group of my Chinese friends over and make them dinner. It's always a lot of fun and it is so good to know that I'm going to see them at least once a week, cuz sometimes I'm too busy to do other things with them.
Later this week a group of foreigners will come stay with me, so it will be interesting to interact with foreigners who haven't been China-ized (don't know China culture). It's funny, but its different and I've found that the way I interact with people has changed based on my change of balancing cultures. Then next month a family will live with me and that will be an interesting experience.
It's crazy to think I only have a short time left before I go home for my first visit "away from home (China)". All is good, if not a bit crazy.

Fitness Honor Part 2

So, I've noticed it has been way to long sense I've posted a blog, and its been awhile sense I gave an overall view of my life. So I want to touch on a post I blogged in December, about getting healthier, I called it Fitness Honor. Around that time I decided to start training to run a Marathon this summer and do the Seattle to Portland (STP) bike ride. I had also mentioned perhaps doing a 10k or something on the Great Wall of China, but that is looking to be out of the picture now. So did I mention all of these things and lose my spark? No! When I first started out running I used a program called Couch to 5K, and after about 2 months, I could run 30 min straight. Then I moved from that to a Beginning Marathon Training schedule. I've had some up and downs, which is normal to life. It's so exciting for me to see my progress because I've never been able to run a mile straight before and now a mile is nothing. My long runs will be up to 2 hours in a week or so. I've had some drawbacks, the last month I've had two severe colds, which has put me a little behind on my schedule, but I'm starting to feel better and getting re-motivated for my Marathon!

I've also been riding my bike to work which is about 10 miles there and back. I like the work out, but the pollution is so bad, I will probably have to stop for awhile cuz my lungs have been struggling. The good thing is if I keep getting stronger and fitter, by the time I get to America I should have enough time to train there, to get my endurance up to where it needs to be for the STP (a 2 day, 200 mile bike ride, haha).

Running and biking are both cardio though and as I've mentioned in my "Tips" tab, cross training/strength training is important. So to add that into my routine I started a program called Challene Extreme, which I've been doing for about a week and a half and I've really enjoyed it. I get my strength training in, but the work outs are relatively short, while still being effective (I know, cuz I can feel it).

Now with all this working out I've had problem eating, and not the normal kind, it is so hard to eat enough! Trying to fuel my body and fuel my body on the right stuff! It's been hard, but I love everything I've been learning about fitness and nutrition and I hope to continue to keep it up! One thing I should mention while talking about my "Fitness Honor" is my decision to become a BeachBody Coach.

Let me take a small bunny trail real quick. As I started to work out more and more and see results and felt my body getting healthier and as I learned more and more about what to do and what not to do, I realized something. I really enjoy this. I had heard about a shake called Shakeology, which I became interested in because I knew it had tons of nutrients that would be good for my body , especially as I'm on this somewhat intense work out regimen. So I figured sense I wanted the products I would sign up as a Coach, that way I had an excuse to help others get motivated and reach there goals. I'm still on my own journey, but I feel and hope I have something to give for those who may just be starting or want to start. With being a Coach, I make a commission, which as you guys know is really helpful for supplementing my income. So I felt it was win, win.

So with all this being said, what have been my results? I've lost about 20 pounds, I can't tell you how many sizes clothing I've gone down, cuz I haven't been able to buy new clothes (don't worry, my old clothes don't look shabby on me), but my clothes are a lot looser. So I'm enjoying those results. And I can't wait to have a mini shopping spree this summer. :)

And one more thing with my new outlook on fitness honor. I've decided to run and bike for a cause this summer. To bike and run with the hope of raising some money for my friends to adopt one of their Chinese Foster daughters. My goal is to raise at least $1000 for them. This summer I will be hosting a dinner in Seattle (June 15th to be exact). I will share some more details about her situation and if you are interested in pledging, that would be a good time.

Hope this gives you an idea of how I'm doing physically, in a few days to a week I will post more on the other sides of life. Thanks!

ChinaNess

Two main things I want to focus on here. One China names, two what people wear to the gym. Both are incredibly interesting.

So when a Chinese person begins to learn English, they usually pick a name out for themselves or ask someone to give them a name. Some names I have heard that should give you a straight up belly laugh, or at least a little giggle. Birthday Cake, (yes I said Birthday Cake, that is not a typo), Rock (as in pebble or boulder? I never got a chance to ask), Panda, Shinning, Flower, Coco (which is not bad in my opinion, but still unusual), Easy (all I have to say is poor girl, please change your name!), Eleven (she thought a number would be VERY original....so I guess she got what she wanted out of the name) and Fish. Now I should state, in Chinese, names like this are not unusual (well Eleven and Birthday Cake are, but that's besides the point). My own Chinese name means art (like painting type art, not Art is short for Arther type Art). The girls who were Fish and Panda, took the meaning of their surnames and just directly translated to English. I have also heard of a girl names Fiona, who insisted spelling her name with a double F....Ffiona.

Now onto gyms. It's always a surprise to see what people will wear to the gyms. Always a little interesting. Jeans are not unusual at all. So I almost always see at least one person running, cycling or doing weights in jeans. One time while I was running a girl got done with belly dancing class (yes that is a class we hold at my gym, along with some other interesting ones), she was in this flowing outfit and then began to run. Which I honestly don't know how she could, it was so distracting! Sleeves and pants legs swooshing everywhere! But the thing that topped it off for me was seeing a man in his tie. I guess he came to the gym after work and decided it wasn't worth taking off the tie.

Influences

Today we have more influences than we can count, media is one that we often blame or praise. But do we ever think of our own influences? I ask because a couple months ago I would have said the influences I have over people is quite small. I could count them on one hand. But today I realize that's not true. I influence more people than I realize. Not influence in such a way where I could convince them all to jump off a cliff, but I have such an influence that they will stop and listen to what I have to say. Maybe they won't agree, maybe they will strongly disagree, but nonetheless they will give me the time of day to pass my message along. That is a huge influence.

Why do I bring this up? Because I want us to be inspired to do something more with our lives. To take a stand in what we believe in, to move forward, to better the world. Example, when I decided to get my act together and work towards becoming healthier, I was surprised at how many people took note! Some decided to change too, some didn't, but the fact that they noticed! I have influence to share my ideas. I heard that its our responsibility to share and the others to decide whether or not they will follow, so we can't take responsibility for what they choose after we shared, but we need to take a step towards that.

Take Invisible Children for example. A group of people went to Uganda saw what was happening with child soldiers, came back to America and tried to get the American government involved. But my government wasn't interested because it didn't involve America. So this group of people began to advocate everywhere they could, they used their influences and their influences used their influences. Once the American people took note, so did the Government. Makes sense, ours is a government of the people, so THE PEOPLE wanted to get involved and help something beyond their own boarders. Can you see the chain affect? I watched a video (http://kony2012.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/) and was influenced. Now I'm sharing with you. Everyone who reads this will be influenced. Maybe not to change, not to do anything, but you took your time to see what I had to say. Maybe you even took your time to watch the video (maybe you have already watched it). And those who believe in the cause will then use their influence to tell others.

It's amazing. Stop and think who you influence. Now ask yourself, what kind of influence do you want to be and how do you want to influence the world to become a better place for the future?

Why I love Tithing

Tithing is something I've struggled with and I'm sure many others have. I never used to tithe, but then I started to feel a little guilty about not giving. So I started out giving a couple dollars off of each paycheck. Literally, just a couple dollars. While that was a good start, that began to wear thin and I knew I should commit more. So I plunged and started to give about 10% of my income. (It should also be noted here, that nobody "forced" me or even spoke to me about it, it was simply discovery of my own habits). I've waned since then and even stopped giving at one point. My reasons behind stopping were I didn't really believe in what I was doing. I read a book about giving tithe is not about giving 10% of your income, but doing what you feel is right, doing it out of your heart. I think everyone should give, but I also agree that it needs to be out of our generosity (our heart) and not out of a guilt-stricken conscience.

So how do we get there?

Like I said, at one point I stopped giving because I didn't believe in what I was doing anymore. For about a year I gave, but not very consistently. During that time I was struggling with finances as well, which helped play into my excuse for not giving. Then I read something "Bring all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be food in My house, and try Me now in this...If I will not open up for you the windows of ...and pour out such a blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it." and it changed my mindset. I was reminded that giving needed to be out of the heart, not out of obligation, but that I NEEDED to give. That by not giving I was holding out on someone else, I was holding out on making this world a better place. So I started to give, knowing that what I was giving to would positively effect those people's lives and would hopefully ripple out from there. Since then my love for tithing has grown. I am so excited thinking about all the causes I've been able to assist because I gave a small portion of what I had.

So I said my love for tithing grew and today I realized I love tithing. So you may be wondering what has changed my mindset? I think its exciting to be part of something larger than just me and what I'm doing. Example since coming to china there are 4 big things that I have supported.
1. I helped a couple afford to get married and continue their "career" in HK
2. I helped a friend go back home to support and share with her family during a tragedy.
3. I'm supporting the adoption of an HIV infected child.
4. Kony 2012 (if you don't know what this is, look it up at http://kony2012.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/)

Now I'm not trying to tell you what I've done so you can think highly of me, but I want to share what has helped me learn to love to give, so you can learn to love to give too. You should know what your giving to and why. You should support the cause. Many people say when someone donates money, don't ask for anything else, but I think if you give more than just money (ie time), then you can appreciate why your giving. And by time I mean, if you are going to give to a person, meet that person for lunch or coffee so you can be excited about what your giving to. If you are going to donate to a cause or charity, use a few minutes of your time to read/watch what that charity is doing, so you can be excited about what you GET TO BE PART OF!

Many people have given to me and this could sound like another appeal, it is not. Those who give/given, thank you. I want you to be excited for what you get to be part of when you give to me. If your not excited, find out what I'm doing. If your still not excited, stop giving to me and find something you believe in! I would rather have you give to something you feel part of and lose all support than have you feel obligated to give. Blessings!

Coming Back Home Feels Good

Sorry for such a long break between posts! I had midterms about 2 weeks ago, then went to Hong Kong. So my time was spent preparing and since coming back readjusting. Although now things are starting to get in a grove again. Chinese New Year is over, all my friends are back, I have a reliable home to return to each night, I know when I work, when I have class and have a fairly steady schedule as far as working out goes. That leaves my extra time to hang out with friends and do online school.

Let's start with Hong Kong. I'm sure you all would ask "How was it"....yes I can read minds. Well I really enjoyed myself, it was so refreshing to get away, have no responsibilities, eat what I want (yes I know bad Natasha!) and see old friends. One down side, rain and cold. Everyone blamed me, said I brought it from the north, but I had been hoping for some sun which I never got! No, I did not go tourist seeing, Hong Kong isn't really a touristy place for me anymore, more like a second home. While there I had a small realization ... lost English. One friend (who has been to China alot) told me I spoke like a Chinese person now. Another guy didn't even think English was my first language...that's embarrassing.

Coming back from Hong Kong, I started my Marathon running Training schedule, so that has been exciting. I keep talking about cycling class, which I finally went to! First time no class, second time broke bike, third time late instructor...but at least it happened. And it put me on such a happy high. But its cool cuz the people who work at the gym are really nice, don't speak English, so I use my Chinese a lot and have even had conversations! Although one time I was asking one guy about something (in Chinese), he interrupted me and asked if I spoke Chinese. How do you respond to that? "Well, if you don't think this is Chinese, then I guess not." Another time I told someone I was American and studying Chinese. He then asked me (in Chinese) "Do you speak really good English?" HAHAHA!!!! Now I really don't know how to answer that one....yes?....Compared to you, probably.....or Not anymore.

The Bad and Ugly of Culture Shock

I don't care who you are, how much you have traveled, how long you have lived abroad, how much you know about the country you are going to, but there is always the potential of Culture shock. I'm not saying you will always get it, I'm not saying it will be extreme, but the potential is there. I traveled Asia over the span of 7 months last year, coming to China twice within that and preparing for my move through learning about China. I am by no means claiming to be an expert, but I am saying I prepared as much as one could expect me to prepare and I have still had moments of Culture shock and Culture anger.

I think Culture shock comes in stages, then alternates between different feelings/stages. When I first came to China I was filled with love and excitement over my new country. After a couple months, my love and excitement turned to frustration and aggression. How did some of this frustration and aggression manifest itself? When people would stare, I would stare back, until they turned away. I one time stated walking backwards cuz this one guy would not look away, haha he eventually did. I've heard of people screaming in English, hitting cars (I haven't hit a car, but I've stood in front of one and stared down the driver, till it got out of my way), chasing down taxi swoopers (people who jump in the taxis you waved down...sadly happens quite often) and so on. My aggression and anger towards the general Chinese public has subsided and now turned towards those closer to me.

While I love my friends I'm going through the Culture Stage of "Friend Frustration", for lack of better words. And I truly think its culture. I'm sorry, but in my culture if I hung out with you all day I don't want to talk to you that night on the phone! If I don't answer your phone call, please don't call me me again...and again and again and again. I'm probably busy. Work, if I tell you I don't have free time to work, why do you insist on scheduling me anyways to have me cancel on you? Or if you tell me the class is only on Fridays why do you ask me if I have free time the other days of the week? Or if I quit, why do you think I want to come back? I quit for a reason. If we plan on meeting at a certain time, why are you surprised I'm waiting for you at "the meeting place"? I've also been wondering why do you want to invite me to your home and then let me sit on the couch the whole week watching Chinese TV I don't understand? How would that be fun and/or entertaining for me? Or why do you insist on showing me around your University, I'm not interested in whatever it is you teach!! Just because I'm a foreigner and I called you a friend for the sake of my class, does not mean I actually want to exchange numbers. In fact I'm kinda done meeting new Chinese friends, its hard enough to hang out with the ones I have while going through this stage of Cultural adjustment. If I tell you I have a Chinese teacher, stop telling me about how great of a teacher you are and about how much mine sucks, I like mine and I don't like you! These are just some of the feeling that emerge as I go through the stages of Culture shock. This one will eventually subside and I will enter a new stage. Eventually I might move between the stages with relative ease. One day loving China the next day in a rage.

Don't get me wrong as I write this, I love living here, this blog post are for those who want to know the real lifeness of it. If you want to see the smile only, forget about this one. Thank you all.

Nomadic Lifestyle Over

I now have a home! I walked in, when it was filthy, with moving boxes everywhere after climbing 6 flights of stars and I saw it....the potential. Love at first sight. I can't tell you why it resonated with me, but it did and on top of it it fell under my budget and within complete convenience.

My new house is a 3 bedroom apartment on the top floor with no elevator. It took me hours to clean it after the previous owners left it in a hurry (a last minute move, no bugs or anything), it needs a new paint job and the couches are pretty rough looking. But I have comfortable place to sleep, I have a place to make my food, a place to have friends over, a place to do my work and when I walk in I feel good.

A couple things to mention around this, one has to do with pollution and the other with cats. Pollution happens to be a huge problem in China, in case you didn't know and is one of the reasons I run in the mornings (the pollution is not as stirred up). A couple hundred yards from my house is a "smoke stack". A huge tower that emits smoke hundreds of feet into the air. It has become a bit of a landmark for me. When I'm on the bus, or even walking, I can see it from a couple miles away and know that's where my house lays. Good thing is it only runs a few months a year. It runs in the winter to burn coal for heating for people's homes. But after seeing how many of these things there are and how much smoke is getting pushed out, I can say I'm completely unsurprised about the pollution problem (more on this later).

So cats. You don't see them at first. But they are there, lots of them, none of them neutered or spayed. This is sad, but the only thing probably keeping the numbers low is the unlikelihood of kittens surviving. Little to no food source, not many places to hide and lots of competition. Why do I mention the cats? Because I feel they are part of living in a home in China, as part of the scenery as raccoons or squirrels in the states. They are both pests, but keep the other pests away. I don't see rats, cuz I see cats. And honestly our garbage might be a little bigger, if it weren't for our friends, the cats.

I don't have much else to add, except I have a house and it is thrilling, you are welcome over anytime :)

Some Culturally Relevant Information

Red Envelopes: During holidays or special events, rather than exchanging gifts there are red envelopes. So for Spring festival the parents give their kids money in the red envelopes. The kids don't give their parents anything, but eventually, there is a switch. The switch happens at different times depending on the family tradition, it might happen when the kids gets a job, get married, or turns a certain age. Red envelopes are also given at weddings.

Toasting: I don't know the story behind this, but apparently when your toasting with someone, the amount you drink is how long you will be friends. So for instance if you drink it all in one toast, it means you will be friend's forever. Obviously with all the toasting people weren't doing that, but when I toasted with the aunt, I noticed she was looking at me and we had an awkward moment where neither of us put down our cups, but we weren't drinking either, just kinda watching each other.

Eating: This one I have experienced a lot, I eat till I'm full, then I'm told to eat more. It's part of the hospitality, but man I walk away with a full stomach. After this happening a couple times I learned a helpful phrase (since “I'm full didn't work), “Bu Chi le”-basically mans I don't want to eat any more. Which might sound rude, but its not cuz everyone was saying it.

Some stories.....
The story behind Spring Festival is, there once was an evil creature called the “Nian”. And it terrified everyone because each year it would slowly family by family take them and the families were never seen again. Eventually some people discovered that the "Nian" was scared of red and loud noises, so they started to shoot off firecrackers and fireworks to scare it away. It eventually did leave, but people continued the tradition in memory of it's absence.

Why is red a lucky color in Chinese culture? In ancient Chinese times, fire was important. If you had fire you would live, it kept you warm, helped cook food, scared away wild animals and more. The color of fire is mostly red, so fire was associated with good luck and as Chinese culture has grown, the idea of red portraying good luck has remained.

Lanterns are also part of every Chinese holiday and the reason for these is much the same as fire. Lanterns were used to carry light (probably fire in their earliest stages) and used to scare away wild animals and such. Now they are part of the culture and you see them being hung for every Chinese holiday.

7 Days in a New City

Day 1: Train Fights

Chinese New Year is the biggest land migration of the year, with billions of people relocating to spend time with their family. In the train station I felt it. As people pushed, shoved, elbowed their way to the front of the line...and I matched shove for shove, elbow for elbow and stare for stare. Yes I had my ticket, but with so many people, finding a place to put my luggage would be the problem. So gates open and we start our Asian shuffle to push hundreds of people through a one person gate. And once I made it through and broke from the throngs of people I started running. “No one's going to take advantage of this foreigner!” I thought. So I make it to my seat quite pleased with myself, showed the car conductor the note my friend made me which basically says, “Hello, my name is WenYi (chinese name). My Chinese is not very good, please tell me when we get to Yang Quan.” So as people start loading on, I find out that because it was the day before New Year's eve most people already went home. After the first stop the train was already practically empty. Man am I a jerk.

Day 2: New Year's eve

We got home late the night before, after midnight to be exact. So this morning I meet my friend's parents. Wow I'm a great sight, “Hey Mrs. and Mr. my friend's parents, sorry I look like trash and don't understand anything your telling me!” Yes I need to pump up my Chinese language. Well after a delicious breakfast of dumplings, I showered, put on my clothes and stink. The wonderful smoke filled train ride of the night before has permeated my clothes (specifically my jeans) into an aroma of stale cigaret smell. Good thing no one will be able to tell, cuz everyone smokes here. Lunch rolls around and...mmmm dumplings. We go over and meet my friend's uncle's family and after a few hours come back. Dumplings for dinner! If you haven’t figured it out dumplings is the traditional food for the Chinese New Year, so we will be eating them a lot. Good thing I like them.

One thing I might not have mentioned is fireworks are going on all day. But the big stuff comes out closer to midnight. But for 30 years (this year being the 30th) there is something called the Spring Festival Gala, starts at 8 pm and goes till about 12:30. During that time (well until about 11:30) the fireworks get relatively quiet as most of China tunes in. It was pretty interesting considering I couldn’t understand what most people were saying, but then midnight comes and the sky was lit up, kids shooting of fireworks (some not very well cuz they went towards buildings), firecrackers going off next to cars, it was fun, crazy, and insane.

After crawling into bed I noticed that the family had given me a red envelope under my pillow, it felt so good to be included in the festivities.

Day 3: New Year's Day

Sleeping in was nice, but woke to some more fireworks in the morning. Shortly after waking up we went to my friend's uncle's house again. Here was where most of the family would be gathering. As people came in I aroused quite a bit of attention. I think they must have been thinking “Does anyone know there is a non-Chinese girl in the house?” All the while people preparing for lunch (which is the main meal of the day for this holiday). We sat down and there were a lot of dishes, most I had never tried before and most I'll be ok not trying again, but the atmosphere was fun. Before eating we toasted to a Happy New Year and throughout the lunch some people would toast others individually. For instance the Grandpa and one of my friend's aunts wanted to specifically toast with me. Afterwards we relaxed, some of the family began to play a popular game called Ma Jong (different from the computer version). I really don't know how it works, but it looked fun, they played for at least 3 hours. Towards dusk I went walking on the streets with some of the family (younger generation) and it was nice. Even though today was so simple and we didn't do a lot I really enjoyed myself. I got some extra attention cuz I was the foreigner and a guest, but I wasn't treated like some wild animal at the zoo, which is how I feel sometimes when I walk down the streets. I really liked it.

Day 4: Visiting Day

The day after New Year's is know for the day to visit other family or close friends. So today after waking up we went to my friend's Grandpa's Sister's house. It was nice, ate a huge lunch which was pretty delicious and the older people were interested in seeing me, a foreigner. Shortly after lunch my friend and I went to buy my return ticket (they ended up putting the wrong passport number on the ticket, and when we asked them about it they said don't worry about it, so much for tightening up security and preventing theft- although I can get away with almost anything cuz I'm a foreigner) After that we met with another friend and just walked around the downtown part of the city, I ate canned peaches, which who knew could taste so good after not eating them for over 7 months! Nothing extraordinary today.

Day 5: “And on the 3rd day of New Year my friend's family came to me...”

So I've mentioned before that Chinese New Year can be described as Christmas and a hundred 4th of July's. I think you can see the the correlation with 4th of July (fireworks), but maybe you don't quite see how it relates to Christmas. Well yes there is a lot of feasting and resting and visiting family, but like Christmas has 12 days (“on the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...”), there are 5 days of New Year. Not including New Year's Eve. As maybe you have seen in my journey, New Years eve is spent at home with immediate family, New Year's day with close family (brothers, sisters, grandparents, etc), and the following days are for visiting close friends and family. Today the family came to us. When you go to a home you bring a gift, which all the families did and it makes my transgression sting that much worse. My transgression being coming to my friend's home with no gift, but because I'm a foreigner and “Ting Bu Dong”-Can hear, but don't understand, my transgression is forgiven me.

Day 6: A visit to the Village

While I have for the most part enjoyed this experience, so far today has been my favorite. For two very simple reasons. One I got to ride in a car, knowing that no unknown child has sat where I am sitting with split pants, getting feces follicles on me. For 7 months I have not been able to have a relaxing ride in a personally owned car and today was glorious because it felt so home like. Reason 2, I got to see “China's countryside” as my friend put it for the first time and it brought back good memories. I'm sure the Nepalese mountains and the Mountains I went to today are completely different, but I couldn't help but feel the similarities. Plus there was so much family, it just reminded me of a good old fashion family get together.

Day 7: Fireworks, still?

Wow, before daylight hits the shades fireworks similar to that of actual New Year's Eve go off. Two hours of non-stop noise, from 6:30 am to 8:30 am. Thanks for the wake up call. Maybe it's in celebration of it being the last day of the holiday? I don't know, but either way it came as an annoying surprise. So this being my last full day here and for the first time no plans, I immediately suggest (as my treat) and trip to get coffee! A day full of english and coffee and talking, what fun! Although to my unending disappointment my offer was turned down. Instead we sat around the house and did nothing. A little boring on my end. But that night brought a small piece of redemption as we attempted to make banana muffins (Chinese don't usually bake), with no muffin model, guessing on the measurements and on my end wondering if we were even putting in the right ingredients (it was all in Chinese). Haha They came out not as sweet as usual, but tasted pretty good and were eaten up very quickly. Although now I know what to give my friend, muffin models and measurement cups!

Day 8: Train Fights, Take 2

Time to go home. Breakfast and lunch eaten, packed up and I'm shipped off to the Train Station. At least that's how it feel. But I am ready to fight, first a fight o get on the bus, I really can't portray how packed we were on the bus. But slowly after the fight mood has started it ends, as I arrive at the train Station somebody helps me with my bag and getting to the train and everything. No problems on the train...just ridiculously boring and a terrible sleep. My cute looks help me get away with the wrong ID number on my ticket (well they actually didn't ask...but I'm still cute). Ten and an half hours sleeping (or not really sleeping, but trying) on a hard seat with the lights continually on and I finally arrive...HOME! Oh did I miss you polluted city of mine.

Some things on China Life

I'm now in the midst of my nomadic life and as such I feel I should right a little nomadically...or maybe I mean sporadically.
I got a new job at the beginning of December (teaching English for 3 to 6 year olds), and for this job I needed a uniform (which is just a sweatshirt). Two funny things. When I was given a sweatshirt the girl told me, "Don't worry we have a really big one for you." Other thing, the name of our school is American English, but the front of our sweatshirts say "London Buses"....yea I don't understand the relevance either...
A week from today is Chun Jie, or Spring Festival, or Chinese New Year depending on how you want to call it. I'll stick with Spring festival. This weekend I'm going to my friend's hometown for Spring Festival. Will be there one week. After this event I will have to post much more on it because apparently this thing is huge. It's like our Christmas, with some 4th of July mixed in times 100. And I'm sure after it I will have lots to write about.
By bike, its my new car. I moved all my stuff from the old house to my friend's house for storage by bike. Good thing a friend of mine helped me, it was a good work out to say the least! Along with riding a bike and it being Spring Festival, lots of bikes are getting stolen. So I've been on the look out and super aware. Mine is a beauty and if someone got a chance they would take it. Just like holidays in the states, things are more prone to getting stolen because people need money to get home and buy gifts for the holiday. It is unfortunate nonetheless and very frustrating. Last night I was drinking some coffee at McDonald's, I sat by the window to watch my bike and I might have witnessed two people scoping out the bikes. There were probably 20 bikes or so parked outside and these two people were talking on the phone and walking around the bikes. Which doesn't sound very sketchy, until you know the culture and realize that this is very unusual. One of them even went so far to lean on my bike, I think if I hadn't looked at him to show him it was my bike I might have seen how he makes it look likes it's his, then takes it. It would have been interesting to let it go farther, but I didn't want to take risks. If it gets stolen, I'm screwed.
As far as culturally goes, I'm starting to hit my aggression stage. When I go out I now feel dehumanized when I'm stared at. I feel like this city is my home, so when people stare at me like I'm some wild creature at the zoo I naturally get a little upset. I don't always handle it the best, but it's hard to know what to do. I've started staring back, haha, which creates some awkwardness. One time I turned around and walked backwards to stare back at a man who wouldn't look away. As frustrating as this is, my Chinese teacher told me it's because I'm such beautiful American. At least that much is true.
I haven't written much on how my language study is going. I've been told I'm learning pretty quickly, which still feels way too slow. With the holiday here I get a couple weeks break. Which is nice (although at my friend's hometown, my language will get stretched to the limits). I have class about 5 hours a week, which doesn't sound like a lot, but it fits in well with the rest of my schedule.
I started University last week, so far so good. Lots of reading.
Also got sick last week, couldn't eat for a few days. A stomach flu that went around. Some people just laid in bed for a week, but it didn't get me that bad I still went out and did things. Although I honestly should have rested more...Oh well feeling good now.

Now for one more story. Shortly after I got my job I met the older sister of one my students. She is in high school and she was so excited to meet me. She would come over talk to me, say good bye, leave then come back. This happened a few times and I just realized it was exciting for her to practice her English with a foreigner. Well, as I was leaving I pass by her, waive and all of a sudden she yells "I LOVE YOU!" I really didn't know how to respond...so I told her I loved her too. haha Yes I did.

Fitness Honor

As some of you may have noticed, I'm overweight. haha. I've been for most of my life, and even packing a few extra pounds I've still been loving the mirrors. But even with my confidence I've realized that health and fitness are important. The last 2 years or so have been a culmination of me trying to find a balance. It's hard to lose weight, especially with no particular purpose in mind except to look good, and I looked good overweight so what was the point of losing it!
But I want to be healthy, I want to be fit, not because I'm insecure, not because everyone's doing it, not because the magazines and commercials tell me that's how I should look, but because it's the right thing to do. Fitness honor.
So how do you change with no motivation or reason to change? Well find a reason. I'm letting you all into my thoughts because this blog is here to let you into my life....and as you will see where I'm going with this to ask for money like usual. :) hehe
I watched the last season of Biggest Loser and at the end they ran a Marathon. In 7 months they went from morbidly obese to running 26.2 miles. I don't care who you are, that's impressive. One of my favorite movies for whatever reason is Run Fat Boy Run. At the need he runs a Marathon, transforms his life from lazy to active. (It's a comedy.) I recently read a running magazine that said to stay motivated give yourself something to work towards. A race, an event, a something.
So all of these thoughts slowly started to converge upon themselves. I bet you can see where I'm going with this. So I'll just say it.
I'm planning on coming back to Seattle end of May to visit for about 2 months. June 23 I have plans to run a Marathon (http://runrocknroll.competitor.com/seattle/event-details). July 14 and 15 I have plans to bike 200 miles from Seattle to Portland (http://shop.cascade.org/content/events/stp). And to just give me a little extra motivation I'm looking into doing a 10K on the Great Wall of China in May (http://www.great-wall-marathon.com/Default.aspx).
Obviously these things have a cost. If your concerned about my stewardship I promise I'm putting my money towards bills before fun and all of that. But these are my goals for 2012. Costs line up as following $125 for the Marathon (if payed before Feb 15), $100 for the Bike thing (also needing to be payed by end of Feb, as spots run out) and China run expenses unknown as of right now.
I'm throwing this out there, to see who else might be committed to fitness, or if you want to give depending on how much weight I lose, or depending on how many miles I make it. I'm down to play ball. Like I said these are goals, and sometimes goals are not met, but I'm dreaming big!
Would love to hear feedback, either on advice, stories of experience or whatever. But I want to love with all my heart, mind, soul and STRENGTH. Fitness Honor.