Here's to celebrating Anniversaries in two hemispheres!

Tomorrow we leave for the States at 5 am and we'll be traveling for about 20 hours. Eric did the math and this means that thanks to the three time zones we'll be passing through our first wedding anniversary will last 40 hours. I think we'll have to buy some champagne for the plane in the duty free shop ('spose they've only got sad plastic cups in coach though)

Poor Eric has a bit of a cold, so it will be an especially long trip for him. I've packed our suitcases full of Chinese goodies and all our best clothes for the weddings we'll be attending. Eric will be looking especially sharp in his brand new custom made black cashmere suit as well as a pinstriped grey wool one. Both are beautiful, I can't wait to show him off. I have a beaded navy silk chiffon dress with an empire waist and a silk green with ruffles at the neck and hem and I can't really decide which to wear where...decisions decisions.

Also very much looking forward to seeing our family and friends. With a whole month at our disposal we can get good quality time with everyone. Lots of goodies waiting for us at home too, we've been busy ordering things we can't find here in Shenzhen(Splenda, non-weird socks (they seem to favor these strange transparent nylon ones instead of the cotton sport socks we prefer), my favorite Burt's almond hand cream, tapioca pudding and so on and so forth). I'm most excited for our new digital camera, because I've noticed a definite decline in my blogging output without one. I like to illustrate this thing for y'all. Zai Jian for now, catch you in the other hemisphere!

The Skeptical Environmentalist

Have finally gotten around to reading "The Skeptical Environmentalist" and am finding myself surprisingly absorbed in it. Its a daunting tome of a book, but quite lucidly argued and definitely applies to the debate we covered in Uganda.

One of the most frustrating things we saw in the African malaria debate was the technique of emotional argument, which was really pervasive on both sides. Perhaps this is appropriate during a casual conversation, but when deciding matters of national health policy, it seems best to rely on data. Which is what this book is full of. Literally half of the thing is footnotes, graphs and charts. The rest is an insightful analysis of the data.

I haven't finished it quite yet, but Lomborg's thesis is that the world (from a human perspective)has improved rapidly in the last century (the green revolution, the global economy)and that instead of assuming a doom and gloom outlook or a romanticized version of the past, we should use long term trends and data to asses the "real state of the world". Then we can take another look at the problems of poverty, disease and environmental degradation and work on prioritizing them.

The fact that he purposely assumes a human perspective is significant in this debate, because the environmental movement tries to utilize nature's perspective. Lomborg argues that this creates a dilemma because no matter the intentions, ultimately environmental lobbyists represent people and not nature itself. He points out that we readily acknowledge that chemical companies and big business have an agenda when it comes to environmental legislation, but that we don't acknowledge the same to be true for environmental lobbyists and this skews the debate.

Lomborg's look at the big picture suggests that life on earth is more sustainable than we often hear. He does not diminish the problems the developing world faces, instead he attempts to put them in proper perspective. In this way we can choose which problems to prioritize where we can get the biggest results.

This book also reinforces the age old wisdom that fear of the unknown is the most powerful and pervasive fear of human kind. Its easy to believe that things are going to hell because A) It feels true B)You hear that it is all the time and C) it relieves you of the obligation to try to make changes (nothing can be done to stop the inevitable, so you don't even have to get off the couch!)

One of the strangest things about living in a post modern world is the difficulty in ascertaining truth. Every method we have is flawed, science included. However, these are the only available tools, and we have to continue to try. Flawed tools are quite different from useless ones. We have to admit that amazing strides have been made very quickly. And much more is possible if we care to examine the options and make intelligent use of our resources. All in all, an intriguing read.

The internet takes me from Wes Anderson to Kate Spade's Bathroom in no time flat

I am so thrilled to learn that a new Wes Anderson movie will be released while Eric and I are back in the States. (Last night we were so desperate for a nice date that we made the mistake of going out to see "No Reservations" which was just horrifyingly bad. What was it trying to be? Romantic comedy? Drama? Foodie Movie? Chick Flick?? It tried to be so much and failed at everything. But I digress.)The point is that Wes Anderson has a new movie coming out called "The Darjeeling Limited" and Eric and I will definitely be there on opening night.

All this reminded me again of the visual style that was so striking and fresh in "The Royal Tennenbaums". (I've said before, it reminds me of the way a child thinks the grown up world looks, like a stage set.)In particular, I remember noticing the gorgeous red wallpaper covered with dancing zebras in Margot Tennenbaum's room. See if it jumps out at you like it did for me in this clip.I've tried before to find the source of this wallpaper, but only come up with hideous rooms done up head to toe in zebra stripe, usually from the Sears cataloge.

So,I put Eric on the case, and he found the inside scoop for me, wonderful internet scourer that he is. Turns out the paper was made exclusively for a restaurant called Gino's in New York City in the 40's and was reissued by the maker Scalama recently.



(Kate Spade, whose ad campaigns have always reminded me of Wes Anderson's movies, come to think of it, has this paper in green hanging in her bathroom.) So its safe to say this paper is out of my price range, but its nice to know a little something about it. Scalama makes stunning reproductions of antique papers as well as introducing chic new designs. This article gives a little peek into their workshop. Someday, I'll have this paper somewhere in my house, mark my words. Beautiful!

Thinking about Trends while pondering my fall wardrobe

I remember reading an interview in Vogue awhile back with one of the major 90's super models (maybe Christie Turlington? Elle McPherson? Linda Evangelista?)about which trends always come back around. I can't remember much else about the article, but I remember her answers:

1) Metallics
2) Animal Prints
3) Western Wear

How right she is (whoever she was...). These things come and go, but when they come, they always manage to look fresh again. If I were adding to the list, I'd say costume jewelery and embroidery of every kind. My main plans for fall include tights tights tights. Its so great to be a stranger in a new city when you are trying out adventurous new outfits...Lots of the girls here wear evening wear to the office and seem to be quite unconcerned by conventional shackles such as color coordinating and dull suits. So many of the women are pin thin, they look stunning in things that would be completely absurd on me, but its fun to see what they are putting together. Many people in the streets of Shenzhen are already staring at me, so I figure I might as well give 'em another reason!

Five Easy Pieces

I'm going to begin categorizing my posts for easy reference and with my penchant for lists of five, this little snippet of film is obvious. (I've heard its by far the most memorable scene in the whole film, so you can thank me for saving you an hour and a half of your life) Enjoy!

Five Things Americans and Chinese Share Fondness For

1) McDonalds: every time we pass one of the many Mickey D restaurants scattered around this city, we can’t help but notice how crowded they are. The regional differences are pretty interesting too, the burgers and fries are the same, but the milkshakes have been replaced by those crazy jell-o teas favored here and the pickles are just raw cucumbers. “It’s the little differences. You know what they call a quarter pounder in France? A Royale with cheese.”

2) Coke/Pepsi: are readily available everywhere, though Diet Coke hasn’t quite caught on yet. (My prediction: it will be soon enough, if they keep adopting American junk food)

3) Basketball: thanks to Yao Ming and Shen Zhen’s own Yi Jianlian, basketball is quickly attracting a following in the China. The security guard in our building speaks very little English, but when he sees us he always gives us a big smile and an enthusiastic double thumbs up and says “Hello, Hello! Yao Ming, Yao Ming! Basketball!”

4) Amusement Parks: it appears that many Chinese share the sentiments of the estimated seventy percent of Americans who don’t have passports: Why do you have to leave home to see the wonders of the world? We spent a very surreal day while Daddy G was here wandering through Window to the World. It is a massive tourist attraction in Shenzhen. It boasts scale models of many of the great landmarks around the world, including St. Peter’s Basilica, the Arc De Triomphe, The pyramids, an indoor ski hill and skating rink, and most impressively, a mammoth replica of the Eiffel Tower, decorated year round with a twinkling Christmas tree. (If you don’t celebrate Christmas in the first place, who cares whether or not it’s the proper time of year?)

5) Shopping Malls; this city is awash in temples to the gods of commerce, always crowded with Chinese people eager to spend money on anything and everything. The malls themselves run the gamut from high end luxury brands to piles of cheap plastic junk, but the crowd density is consistent in both places. The class system is alive and well in this People’s Republic.

One Day in Macau (many days later...)

While Greg was here to visit, Eric and I had to leave the country briefly in order to validate our multiple entry visas. We all wanted to go on a daytrip, and since Greg had already visited Hong Kong, we decided to head to Macau.

Macau is an island that was colonized by the Portuguese and the resulting culture on the island is an odd hybrid of Chinese and Roman, Spanish, and Portuguese customs. In 1999, it was handed back to China shortly after the British returned Hong Kong. In its current incarnation, developers are keen to make Macau the Las Vegas of China, opening it to the coming hordes of newly minted middle class Chinese tourists. Billions of dollars are being spent here trying to make that a reality. Wynn Casinos are reportedly spending big bucks and Macau recently opened the largest casino in the world.

We took a one hour ferry ride across the horribly dirty looking bay from Shenzhen to Macau. Upon stepping out onto the black and white cobbled streets, we were greeted by a bald man in shabby clothes who seemed to be in serious agony defecating in a corner. Not the most welcoming first impression.

We boldly pressed on and came to a jewelry district of sorts. The windows were filled with glittering gold figurines made from the intensely yellow high karat gold that Chinese people favor. Some were boats, some dragons, some pigs (this is the year of the pig, also an especially fortunate year in which to be born, which explains the unusually high proportion of pregnant women we have seen since arriving). These figures are thought to bring luck and wealth into your home when placed in accordance with the rules of feng shui. We’ve also seen elaborate boats fashioned out of currency, which I’ve been told have the same properties, lending new meaning to the phrase “Your ship has come in.”

We wandered around admiring the black and white mosaics in the cobbled streets and the colonial buildings painted in delicate gelato inspired pastels. There was the usual throng of world wide chains, we stopped for a Hagan Daas and noted the Body Shop and Levi jeans outlet. Because Macau is notably lacking in skyscrapers, the streets have a much more European flavor than either Hong Kong or Shenzhen.

We made our way to the Ruins of Saint Paul’s cathedral, which was once the largest Catholic Church in Asia. Only the façade remains, the rest was destroyed in a fire in the late 1800’s. But even the façade paid homage to the strange confluence of influences on this little island. It boasts a lotus flower, the Virgin Mary and an eight headed hydra. Talk about fusion.

We also visited the Macau Museum which was really well done, a gift from the Portuguese to the Chinese before the island was returned. It was filled with objects from Macau’s colonial history and complete with a street recreated from the 20’s.

We had a long lovely lunch at La Lorca, an excellent Macanese restaurant where we had a pitcher of sangria, seafood paella, chicken curry and garlic roasted whitefish and some samosas to really ensure that we would leave with our bellies hanging over our belts. We decided to walk off our lunch a bit, and just across the street was a little temple bustling with visitors.

One thing that strikes me about the temples we’ve visited so far is the carnival atmosphere inside. There is none of that hallowed reverence we reserve for religious spaces in the west. Inside the gates, salesmen bellow at you to buy their incense and lucky charms for your dashboard or shrine. Fortune tellers sit in lines with signs describing their specialties. People clog the entry ways waving incense and kowtowing.

My impression is that most people don’t visit the temple regularly, there don’t seem to be “services” per say. Instead, you visit the temple when in need of good luck or on auspicious occasions. Overall, it is a different relationship with god in general. I couldn’t help but think of that passage in the bible where Jesus throws all the hawkers out of the temple in disgust (one of the few times in the bible where he gets truly angry) Yet another example of how many things are cultural rather than archetypal.

From there, we hopped in a taxi to see the casinos, and what a sight they were. Inside the new Lisboa casino, we were greeted by miles of marble, a massive chandelier and rows upon rows of glittering crystals strung from the ceiling. It was all very glamorous, and way too much. It reminded me of that scene in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes when a doddering old millionaire lasciviously points out to Marilyn Monroe that the piece of jewelry she is wearing as a necklace is actually a tiara. Unflustered, she places it atop her head and coos “Oh, I just love finding new places to put diamonds!”

It will be interesting to see how this little island reinvents itself in the next ten and twenty years. I know we had a lovely visit and I’m looking forward to another day trip sometime soon.

Cai Jian Target! Ni Hao Xin Yong Zhong Xin!

Ventured into uncharted territory yesterday to visit "Xin Yong Zhong Xin" also known as "Light Industrial City". In spite of this odd name, the warehouse is crammed with of housewares. Rugs of every shape and size, painted dishes, red clay teapots, raffia slippers, heaps of baskets, teetering stacks of decorative boxes, faux shabby chic furniture, golden gilded statues, knock off Versace place settings, silk lanterns, birdcages, doll furniture, bean bags, sculptures fogging through the miracle that is dry ice, stacks of horrible oil paintings, picture frames and ceramic cats.

I was fully expecting a panic attack, but it never came.

Possibly because this place is hard to reach with public transport it wasn't excessively crowded and most of the shoppers were local people. I hadn't planned to buy anything, my thwarted attempts to bargain at "Women's World" still fresh in my mind, but I surprised myself by handling negotiations quite well. It was excellent Mandarin practice, and I even managed to make a bit of light conversation (always a good ego boost during the initial language learning stages).

I had a bit of an edge in this scenario because I actually know how much these things would cost me at Target or Ikea. So, as long as I can get it cheaper than I would pay there, I'm happy and they are happy, having made a significant margin on the silly Maiguaren. I spent about $20 American dollars and bought a nice sized rag rug, four massive red wine glasses, a pretty stainless steel bedside clock and a piece of red branch coral made of plaster. Not sure what I'll use it for, but it looks cool. Maybe a book end?

I had a dream the other night that Eric and I were on a tour bus winding our way across China and I spotted a Target store looming on the horizon. I was filled with joy and turned to Eric and said "Now we can stay here forever!"

Eric and I have talked a lot about how almost everything we buy in the States comes from China to begin with. The dilemma is the difficulty of finding these products while living here. Perhaps Chinese consumers desire different products than we do. Or perhaps Target's supply chain is a closely guarded trade secret. Either way, it is oddly difficult to find the same quality and price relationships we are used to. Which is why this crazy warehouse was such a happy discovery. I have a feeling I'll be paying many more visits there, rooting through piles, my devotion to Target a thing of the past.

5 Uses for a Public Fountain in China (As observed by the Fabulous Miss B)

1) Bath tub
2)Swimming pool
3) Tool washing station (need a place to rinse your shovel? you've found it!)
4) Laundry facility
5) Urinal

I paid what it cost, and it cost too much.

My dear husband is having a galactic meltdown of all his beloved electronics doo dahs. He's spent the last week or so hunched over the keyboard in the living room in a rat's nest of cords and wires muttering under his breath. So, I haven't had loads of computer access lately.

In an effort to do damage control, Eric paid another visit to Hua Xiang Bei, the giant electronics mall (man paradise). Lucky for me, just across the street is Nu Ren Shi jie (lady paradise! It translates literally to "women's world". That's one thing that is both refreshing and irritating about Chinese culture, there is no mincing of words when it comes to talking about what men and women should be interested in.) So he went his way, and I went mine.

"Women's World" is packed with clothes and copy handbags, shoes, and knick-knacks for the home. I only managed to buy some towels and a dress because haggling is not really my top talent. There are many reasons why I am terrible at it.

1)There is a language barrier to contend with.
2) I have no idea how much the item should cost, so don't know how egregiously I"m being over quoted.
3) I can't even come close to masquerading as a local, I look like a walking dollar sign and my American accent is no help. If I could pretend I was Polish, I might have a tiny chance.
4) I have no real practice with negotiations, and tend to get flustered and aggravated. Its all profoundly amusing to the Chinese shop keepers and I usually come away exhausted and of fresh resolve to never again attempt a shopping trip without one of my Chinese friends.

Inevitably, one of my Chinese friends sees my new dress and says "How Much?" I usually lie, but they still laugh at how much more I paid then I should have. (Imagine their mirth if I told them the truth!) This is definitely one of the worst parts of being an expat in the developing world. It was the same in Uganda and Kenya. Next time HuYi asks "How much?" I think I'll just say "I paid what it cost."

One Wild and Precious Life

I am sure that those of you who read this blog in the United States will be hearing a great deal about the September 11th Attacks. In China however, it is just another day. I thought this tragic day was remembered quite elegantly by the folks at the Writer's Almanac. The Mary Oliver poem they chose is filled with hope and a celebration of the unique things that make life so precious. I thought it a nice antidote to the way this day is often covered in the media. Here is a small excerpt.

"On this day in 2001 terrorists flew two planes into Twin Towers in New York City, causing both towers to collapse. In the weeks following the attacks, many writers and other artists wondered how to respond to what had happened.

One of the first groups of writers to take action were the reporters for The New York Times, who began writing portraits of the victims in a special section of the paper called "Portraits of Grief." The journalists involved decided that they would try to write portraits of every victim of the attack whose family they could reach. And they decided that the stories would focus on how the victims lived, not how they died.

The portraits were shorter than the average Times obituary, at about 150 words, and they skipped things like college degrees, jobs held, and names of surviving family members. They just tried to capture some detail or anecdote that would express each person's individuality. There was a firefighter who wore size 15 boots; a pastry chef who could eat as many desserts as she wanted without gaining weight; a man who put toothpaste on his wife's toothbrush when he got up before her; and a grandmother who wore pink rhinestone-studded sunglasses and a metallic gold raincoat.

Ultimately, 143 reporters worked on the project, and they managed to write about 1,910 of the 2,749 victims. They would have written about every victim, but some families didn't want to participate or couldn't be found. The portraits were collected in the book Portraits 9/11/01 (2002).

One of the people who read the "Portraits of Grief" was the singer/songwriter Bruce Springsteen, and he noticed how many of the victims of the attacks had loved his music. So he started calling the spouses of the victims on the telephone to express his condolences. One of the people he called said, "I got through Joe's memorial and a good month and a half on that phone call.""

The Summer Day" by Mary Oliver, from House of Light. © Beacon Press, 1992. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)

The Summer Day

Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean—
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down—
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don't know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?

Tag, your'e it!

The last book I read was “How to be Good” by Nick Hornby.
I’ve been listening to Regina Spector a lot lately.
Eric is the love of my life.
I love to Travel and lucky for me, there is a lot of world I haven’t seen yet.
I love Champagne and drink it anytime. It makes me happy, isn’t that reason enough? Someday, I’d love to have a few Horses to gallivant around with.
I am currently teaching English to nine eager students.
I’m a Nester. Wherever we go, I bring along a few of my favorite things to make it feel like home, even if it’s just a favorite scarf over a lampshade or a vintage postcard tucked into the corner of the vanity.

(Thanks for the tag Cindy. And thanks to ni9eblog for this cool graffiti tag)

His Chair, Her Chair

My dear husband is out at Hua Xiang Bei, the massive electronics market here in Shenzhen. It is filled to overflowing with all sorts of i-pod look a likes, speakers, video game systems, computers, routers, cameras, neck massagers, electric floor polishers and remote controlled miniature helicopters. Sounds like guy fantasy land, huh? We've taken to calling these massive shopping malls "panic attacks" for obvious reasons. You get to overload pretty quickly.

I would have accompanied him out of sheer curiosity, but unfortunately, my English lesson interfered. (I have three new students!) As of 9pm, he's still gone and I am spending a very rare night alone. I don' envy him the trip, though. He had quite a long list of items to pick up, including a wireless router, a camera, speakers and a skype headset. That is a lot of negotiating (never my favorite activity) but at least its good Mandarin practice.

I just finished a lovely dinner of cherries with a side of scrambled eggs and ketchup. It was just right somehow, really hit the spot. What is it about breakfast at night that sometimes turns a whole upside down day right?

I've recently quit reading Perez Hilton cold turkey (it was giving me soul stink, and bad dreams about drunken celebrities barging into my house with a trail of wild and violent paparazzi) and so instead I spent my Eric-less night perusing some lovely design and craft blogs. It is so great to go out there into cyberspace and remind myself that there are millions of people quietly making art a part of their lives every day. It helps when I'm in a funk over the hows and whys of building the life I want. (And so much better for my brain than knowing what Avril Lavigne bought at Kidson this weekend!)

These charming linoleum prints are by artist Yu-Hsuan Sherry Lin. Check out her Etsy shop. I am imagining them framed side by side in our living room some day, like a modern take on "His and Hers". Can you guess who is who?

An Island Christmas?

Christmas is coming before too very long and Eric and I are mulling over our plans. By the time December rolls around, we’ll have just been back for the entire month of October, the flight is pretty grueling and it sounds as thought Eric’s folks won’t even be in MN. These points make a good case for not going back.

The general feeling is that if we were in some fabulous tropical destination where they don’t even bat an eye at Christmas, we might not miss it either. We can get to Thailand for a week for really cheap, so Eric’s been looking into it. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it turns out that we are lying on a white beach in nothing but Sarongs come December 24^th.

Anyway, if that is the case then our Christmas preparations will have to be done in October. I’m putting together a Christmas Music CD and working on making Christmas Cards. And I decided to make this little list of my favorite Christmas things.

Sure, there are things I don’t like and sometimes I feel downright Scroog-ey, but the truth is the things I love outweigh the things I don’t and one more Christmas far away will only make me fonder for it all. I missed Christmas while we were in Kampala and felt quite blue, but Christmas comes every year without fail. Here are the things I’ll appreciate all the more next time round.

25 Things I’ll love even more next Christmas (In No Order Whatsoever)

1) My Mom’s famous chocolate pepper cookies

2) Gram’s Russian Tea Cake cookies

3) Auntie Lisa’s Scottie Dog spritz cookies

4) Auntie Sarah’s famous Ohio Buckeye cookies (which are really more of a cross between fudge and peanut butter).

5) Singing carols by the fire while Auntie Lisa fiddles, Uncle Paul strums the guitar and Gram tickles the ivories. Someday, Eric and I will add a banjo and accordion to the merriment.

6) Eating Papa Murphey’s Pizza with the Nelsons at the long dining table with silly cracker crowns on our heads.

7) Wrapping Presents in fancy paper and pretty ribbons and hot gluing glittery pinecones and who knows what to the tops.

8) Decorating the Tree with Mom’s Pepper Doll clothes and vintage ornaments and smelling the wonderful pine tree smell while we listen to that same over the top Barbara Streisand Christmas Album we’ve listened to every year since I can remember.

9) My mom’s collection of Advent Calendars and her German balsawood Nativity that spins with the heat from the candles.

10) Gram’s ice skating Christmas people figurines and Swedish Christmas tree candle holder (that made for a very exciting Christmas Eve dinner one year when it lit on fire mid meal!)

11) The terra cotta painted folk art Nativity I bought in Mexico last year.

12) All the lights on the houses, especially the big old fashioned ones on the bushes that get buried in snow and ice and glow from underneath like funny neon mushrooms.

13) Luminarios (little paper bags filled with sand and a votive candle, or an electric light) dotting the adobe rooftops in Albuquerque.

14) Watching “It’s a Wonderful Life” and bawling my eyes out for poor Jimmy Stewart who never gets anything he wants in life, but realizes how great life is anyway in the end.

15) The Eight Floor Display at the Minneapolis Marshal Field’s or in the windows at the Michigan Avenue Store in Chicago. I love the miniatures and the costumes and the glittery snow.

16) Those deep velvety ruby red and bright coral colored Amaryllis Bulbs blooming so bravely in the middle of all that snow.

17) Those new fangled tiny pink miniature poinsettia plants, much better than the big kind whose leaves all yellow and fall off by January anyway. Its too cold for them in Minnesota at Winter, poor little Mexican imports. Imagine the shock to their systems!

18) Stuffing stockings with oranges and candy canes and silly little toys from World Market.

19) Maybe some sardines or tuna for the cat with a little red velvet ribbon round.

20) Those pine boy scout wreaths on every door.

21) “Santa Baby” sultrily sung by Eartha Kitt.

22) “The Santaland Diaries” by David Sedaris really should be required reading come December.

23) The animated “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” especially the song “You’re a mean one Mister Grinch” as sung by Thurle Ravenscroft.

24) Watching “A Christmas Carol” at the Guthrie Theatre, seeing how old Marley’s ghost hams it up more and more each year, and the wonderful song of the Ghost of Christmas Present with his giant bountiful cornucopia/ helicopter.

25) I love just one or two sips of eggnog while writing Christmas cards. That’s really enough to last you all year, but there is no substitute.

Olympic Fever

We’ve been gearing up for the 2008 Beijing Olympics ‘round here. It seems as though Daddy G and Steve are raring to go, so Eric and I are working on finding us accommodation. No easy task. Even 1 year away, prices are sky high and booked, booked, booked. This seems like an occasion for a travel agent, to be sure. It’s going to be crazy and I am hoping that we can get ourselves sorted out in time.

This is supposed to be China’s coming out party, we are getting very excited about being part of it all. I’ll let you know once we’re set up and I’ll be your personal Men’s Gymnastics Correspondent. That’s the main thing you watch when you’re married to a former gymnast who competed with the Hamm brothers, but fine with me. They are doing some crazy, far out things now and as long as no one is paralyzed, I can’t wait to cheer them on.

One Night without Air Conditioning

The last five days have whirled by as I’ve had no English lessons to give (HuYi has been sick and said the Engineers are too busy this week for lessons) so I’ve had five whole days to paint and write and read. I’ve been working on my anniversary surprise for Eric which has been a bit labor intensive, but good painting practice. All of his favorite paintings of mine are watercolors so I used that medium and its been fun messing around with them again. I like to use water really saturated with pigment so it dries like thick ink. I think he’s gonna love it.

We booked a few days at a B&B in Duluth when we get back to MN to celebrate and enjoy the fall leaves and a Jacuzzi. Its not that we are B&B fanatics, its just that they offer some personality, charm and value compared to a Holiday Inn where the price is often the same. I’ll take a four poster bed, a fireplace and hot cinnamon rolls in the morning over HBO, bad in-room coffee in a Styrofoam cup and stale donuts any day of the week.

On Tuesday our power was unexpectedly shut off. One of the downsides to having someone else in charge of paying your bills is that you don’t really know what to do when something like this happens. And of course, not being able to speak Chinese, we had little recourse. Eric and I slept in the sweltering heat with the windows open and wet towels slung across our bellies. Yes, it is that hot here. I awoke to a cacophony of mosquito bites all over my legs and back, but mercifully, power was restored the next day.

It gave me new understanding of all the folks in this city who live without any air conditioning at all. If HuYi is any indicator of the Chinese populace in general, it would appear that people here are very sparing with their air conditioning use. She turns it off every time she leaves the house. When she is at home, she runs it only in the room she is occupying for a few minutes at a time. When Eric and I were sick last week, she kept saying it was because we run the air conditioner too much, that it is bad for your health to go from where it is so hot to where it is so cool. (Not to mention the expense…don’t even get her started on that…)