China Women's University---Tracy

For reasons unknown to me, I was asked to be a guest lecturer at the China Women’s University for their cultural department.  Crazy, I KNOW!  I guess that’s what happens when you are friends with two of the professors, (a married couple from Australia), Rae and Rob. Rae wanted to share with the Chinese students some of the cultural similarities and differences between eastern and western cultures, and since I was able to attend college at (how can I say this without wanting to cry . . . ) an “old” age, they thought my story would be interesting to them. 

         

                                              

So, I prepared a brief PowerPoint presentation of my life; family, kids, grand babies, hobbies, Gig Harbor, etc., and another on forensic anthropology. When Rae introduced me to the class, she said that she hoped that they would not have any problem with my accent. I looked at her and said, “It’s you who has the accent!” We both laughed, but the girls did not understand any of it.     

                                           

They really seemed to enjoy the pictures, and there were many oohs and aahs when they saw the grand babies, and many had good questions about my major. Some questions were funny; “Why do you like to dig bones?” and, “Are you cold?” (I had worn a short- sleeved shirt that day, and they could not understand why), and, “How do you look so young?” I always tell people that I got my good skin from my Mother.  

                                           

It was really fun, and looking over the pictures, I see that I use my hands A LOT when I speak. Maybe I should work on that.  Room for growth! 



Me (American), Rae (Australian), Sally (Chinese,TA)



                                          

Fabric, Fabric, Everywhere! ---Tracy

Like I have said before, China does nothing in small quantities, and that goes for fabric markets, too. At the cotton market in the Muxiyuan area (it’s about 40 minutes north of Beijing) that I visited with my friends Mary and Terry, we found everything you could ever need for sewing; all kinds of fabric, silks, buttons, zippers, frogs (Chinese buttons), buckles, snaps, pelts of furs, and other sew notions I could not identify, and all in the same sprawling market.  There must have been billions of buttons alone! I am still seeing rows and rows of fabric in my dreams a week later.  It really was a visual overload, but they were the most beautiful silk fabrics I have ever seen. 

The first store that we entered was wall to wall, floor to ceiling, bolts of silk fabric. The store could not have been more than 10’ x 10’ in size, but every inch of space was filled with this exquisite fabric.  We literally just stood there trying to take it all in.  No one said a word; we just stared.  Now that I think about it, we must have looked silly.  I just started snapping pictures because no one was going to believe this.  And, there were about 50 more silk stores just like this one right after the other.

One funny side note; since we were a good distance out of town, and with this being a place that doesn’t get many westerners, we were the main attraction for the locals.  Pictures were taken of us, and one Chinese man actually wanted a picture of him and me.  It was apparently funny to see westerners eat, because when I ordered dumplings from a street vendor, they gathered around to watch.  There was a lot of smiling and laughing going on.  My friend Mary, who speaks mandarin, said they were just curious to see if I liked their food.  I ordered the vegetable and NOT the meat one (you know why), and yes, they were delicious! 

All in all we had a nice time and each of us came away with some beautiful silk (ya know, we just could not help it—we HAD to), and now I just need to figure out what to do with my four yards of Chinese silk fabric.     

Flowers and Food---Tracy

Today I went with my friend Mary, to the Flower Market next to the US Embassy, and what a treat it was!  Mary, her husband Kyle, and Mike and I were invited to have dinner at Anka’s and Eldor’s (no last names please) house tonight, and we needed some flowers to bring to Anka.  She was planning to treat us to a real German meal, and I was sooo looking forward to it!

When I first entered the doors at the market, I was hit with a wave of humidity that my skin immediately sucked up, (much like a sponge, it is so dry here), and also succulent floral smells that made me flash on images of Hawaii.  We proceeded down rows and rows of venders selling all kinds of flowers looking for just the right combination for our hostess tonight.  Since it is “Women’s Day” (Yes, it’s a thing!) there was a lot of men buying huge bouquets of flowers—nothing is done small in Beijing.  Most of the bouquets were really too outlandish for our needs, so we decided on a nice simple grouping of sunflowers and eucalyptus wrapped in newspaper. It had a nice old world charm that we thought our German hostess would appreciate.     

The dinner tonight was one I will not soon forget; it was fabulous!  In the center of the table was what Anka called a “raclette.” The name raclette (pronounced ruck-lett in English or rah-klett in its native French) refers to a meal, and to a type of cheese with the same name.

--I feel a history lesson coming on so I will try to refrain and just provide a link for the background of it. –

http://www.raclette.com.au/raclette_info/what_is_raclette.html

Suffice it to say it involves potatoes, cheese, vegetables, and other meats that we either grill on top of the contraption or slide inside on our own personal trays.   When I first saw the assortment of food, I thought there was NO WAY my stomach (IBS) was going to tolerate this.  But I think it was the best meal I have had in a long time!

All in all it, was another great day in China experiencing the many variety of cultures and customs that are now an everyday occurrence for us. 

Our Apartment--Tracy

Hot chocolate, chicken pot pie and carrot cake. 
Our first meal in our new place.

Its official we now are in our apartment!  We are in the Chaoyang District, in the Central park complex, Tower 9, Floor 30.  We still don’t have our furniture shipment yet and won’t until the visa stuff is all worked out, but I am starting to buy some small thing to make the furnished apartment feel like home.  We did dash off to a type of "Costco" store, called Metro, to get some basic kitchen items.  But our first meal was still kind of like camping.  We also have a guest room with two beds about the size of a full bed.  So, there is room for guests!!!

This complex has 23 towers and is mostly occupied by international people.  When I am out and about I can hear, French, Russian, Spanish, and I think the other day I heard Swedish, or something close to it. The towers are in a circular shape with a park, walking paths and places for people to sit and visit.  When we are meeting someone we always use the yellow horse sign as a marker.

The ground floor of all the towers have various small shops;  grocery, cleaner’s, beauty shops, cafés, restaurants, two gyms, bakeries and others that I have yet to check out.  It is still really cold here and not a good time to be just wandering about.  I only dash out to grab what I need, or try to get a taxi if I need to go a long distance.  The subway entrance is about a five minute walk, but once you're there, it's all underground and warm!  With the way it is connected to underground malls, and if you plan your day out right, you really don’t have to go back above ground until you get back home.   



One of the small shops around my complex.



Trying to get a taxi to understand where you want to go is difficult sometimes.  Of course, I have the address in Chinese and a map, but they don’t use maps here and it just confuses them. They also don’t know where all the places are because of the amount of growth and development here.  It can be very frustrating!  I usually just call one of my friends from church who speaks Mandarin and have her tell the driver where to go (before I do).  



Night view from our apartment.



My friends have advised me to take my time because everything here is difficult.  And if I am able to accomplish one thing in a day, celebrate!  So, today I am heading out to the silk market to get a picture of the Hong Kong Temple framed and I think I will walk.  It is only a 20 minute walk according to Google, but with the traffic that I have to traverse and the people that I have to wind my way through, I am thinking it will be more like 45 minutes.  We shall see! 



Subways, Planes, and Taxis, Oh My!--Mike

Hmmm . . . okay, let’s pull up the ole blog here to see when my last entry was . . . uh huh . . . right . . . click there . . . okay, here we are. WHAT? Holy crap! It’s been since February 5^th?

Well, like you, Tracy and I have been extremely busy. It seems no matter where we go in this world, there is so much going on that we cannot catch our breath! In the past month, I’ve traveled to Yantai, in Shandong province, Jingzhou, in Hubei province, and Amsterdam, in North Holland province. J I’ve had too many dinners and too many great meals, yet my pants fit much better now than they did before. Weird.

But also in the past month, we’ve received some really great news and some really terrible news from those we love. Our heart rejoices for those who are expecting, and our heart mourns for those who are going through a terrible trial. We are praying for you, Kris—you’re always with us.

I’ve been learning Chinese slowly, and finding it impressive how much easier it is to deal with when you can say even a few small phrases. For example, I can now tell a taxi driver to turn right or left, or to wait a minute. In a town where Google maps don’t seem to mean much to drivers when you show them, these phrases are huge. Unfortunately, I still need to learn the phrase for go straight, slow down, stop here, and how to say an actual address. My fear is that once I know how to say these things, the drivers will want more information, since they always seem to ask clarifying questions in every conversation I’ve observed, but one step at a time, I guess.

I’ve been working on a sales deal for a big customer that has literally consumed me for the past two weeks. The boss has called me round the clock, and part of our travels was to visit them and come to an agreement. The numbers sold will be small this year, but these guys buy a lot every year, so next year may be much better if we can close the deal.

Tracy is settling in to working with the young women at church very nicely. She has been invited back to Hong Kong to speak to a large (300-ish?) group of them at the end of April, so she’s working on changing her trip home from the end of April to perhaps in time for Alyvia’s birthday? I say “back” to Hong Kong, because we went there last weekend to meet our 30-day visa requirement, and while the place itself wasn’t so bad, and the weather and temple were great, we had a bit of drama coming and going, and she vowed never to go back.  Never say never, I guess.

The drama was this—I unknowingly dropped my BlackBerry on the Airport Express Subway in the middle of working this big deal. My boss had just chewed me out that morning, and now here I am on my way to Hong Kong with no contact. I haven’t been that nervous for a long, long time! But some Good Samaritan picked it up and called my office to let them know that they had it, and my office folks met them to get it back. Whew! And then, Tracy left her purse in the taxi when it dropped us off at the airport! No ID, no credit cards . . . and, you guessed it—no passport! Let me tell ya—if you’ve never been in a foreign country with a plane to catch in less than two hours with a lost passport, then you are very, very lucky to not know how it feels! We dashed downstairs to try to catch him picking up a fare, but missed him. We then spent the next half hour in the police station filing the report. And then, with me being the chivalrous son of a gun that I am, I gave her my credit card . . . and left to catch my flight. (Well, in my defense, I was flying to Amsterdam the next morning . . .) Anyway, after a couple of nervous hours (try to imagine that feeling), she got escorted downtown to identify her purse. Whew! Though we had to pay for a new plane ticket, it was still worth it to have her back with me. (And I don’t think she’s still mad at me . . . OWW! Stop hitting me!  J)

Amsterdam was fun (not that kind of fun!), but a bit quick.  But, after the past two weeks with very little time with Tracy, I am ready to be back home for a sort-of long weekend to unwind and recharge the batteries.

I hope March is calmer than February was, but based on the last two weeks, I’m not counting on it!

Trip to Hong Kong--Tracy

I had the opportunity to attend the ASIA Area Women’s Conference this year.  It was a conference of mostly LDS women, but a few of other Christian women also attended. It was a wonderful opportunity to recharge my batteries!  We had 10 great speakers, 176 women, from 12 different countries; USA, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Korea, Germany, Malaysia, more but I can’t remember the places.
 

We also worked on a service project making bandages for a leprosy colony in India during our breaks from the classes.   The bandages need to be made out of yarn and crocheted, so the people can wash them and use them again.  The gauze, kind of bandages do not hold up to washing and the people sometimes just use old dirty ones again. 

We did also have some time for sight seeing and were able to stop by a local market.  The smells in market were awesome, but the sites were less than appealing.   

I did see a really narrow trolley that looked a lot like the night bus in Harry Potter.

Mike and I also had a plan to meet up in Hong Kong on Friday, and attend the Temple with all the other women at the conference. He had already been gone for a week and still needed to leave the country for his “30 day visa thing”. But, on his way to the airport in Beijing, he lost his phone on the subway and had no way to contact me and arrange where to meet, although we were scheduled to stay in the same hotel.  Not knowing about the phone issue, I found a computer at our hotel to check my emails, and lo and behold there was an email from Angela at Mike's work, telling me that someone found his phone, called his work, and now she was on her way to pick it up.  Crazy!!!   

So, there was no way for me to tell Mike where we were and how to get to the Temple, or the news about his phone.   I spent the rest of the day fretting about meeting up with Mike and just how that would all work out.  That night my group of ladies, all five of us, hopped into a small cab and headed over to the Temple.  I was feeling a bit down that I would not get to see Mike for several more hours and just as we were rounding the corner to the Temple courtyard, there he was!  He never looked as handsome to me as he did right then!   He was in his best dark blue suit, with my favorite red tie and two suit cases, and one big smile!   I ran over to him and everyone in our group let out a collective, "Aw!" 

Not the end of the story…..

The next morning as we were getting out the taxi to head back to Beijing, I grabbed my coat, paid the guy, Mike got the bags out of the trunk, and just as the taxi drove off I realized I left my purse in the taxi!

Horror! I am in a foreign country with nothing!  No passport!  No ID! No credit cards or money!  Here in China you can’t do anything without a passport.  No hotel! No flight!

A very long story short that involved numerous taxi companies, hours in a Chinese police station, (a first for me in any country), a missed flight, watching my husband get on his flight, calls to the US consulate office, and finally, because of the dedication of one very young police sergeant, my purse was found!

I was on the phone with the consulate office when I saw the sergeant answer his phone, write something down, stand up, put his hat on and say, “let’s go get your belongings!”   Never have I hugged a Chinese man as tight as I did him!  He was a bit uncomfortable about it but I did not care, I got my purse and passport back, and now I could go home!    It still was four more hours before I was able to get it at another police station clear over in Kowloon (look it up), then make my way back, book another flight and head home.  That was a very expensive mistake on my part. And that's all I have to say about that!