Ni Hao Ya'll!
Well...I am back at it. Blog guilt has set in. I do have the desire to share, but not the desire to sit down and write. It's a pickle, I say.
That reminds me how much I miss pickles!
Okay, so how can I sum up what has happened in the last month quickly for everyone? Today I am choosing list style because I busted my proverbial butt in the yard at Ikea trying to cut through from the street where the taxi dropped us off, tripped and fell, jacked up my thumb and twisted my knee. Typing is less than glorious at the moment. So list style it is!!
- I rode a bus for the first time in China last week. There were at least four people touching me at all times, so my aversion therapy to confinement is well begun. We got the flow of moving slightly towards the back each time until our stop. It was very amoeba-esque. We were with a chinese friend, thank God, or we might still be making the loop. The great part is any ride in the city is only 1 RMB, or about 16 cents US. Holla!!
- We were shopping in Ikea a few weeks ago having a lovely Swedish/Chinese fusion lunch and as we left a woman took her child into one of the trolleys carrying the used dishes and had the kid pee in a bowl. Nobody noticed but us. We have noticed that public urination is not a big eyebrow raiser for natives. John even broke down and peed behind some bushes one night because we couldn't find a bathroom. I told him when in Rome...or Texas or Louisiana...he is a redneck boy. ;)
- Northern chinese food is not a good weightloss plan. It is delicious, however everything truly is fried and covered in sauce. Luckily we have produce selers on our neighborhood street every day so we are cooking more at home and buying vegetables there.
- Apparently, we left the outskirts of Baytown and a "rural life" to move to the outskirts of Shenyang to a "rural life" only this time you can actually see the pig processing plant on your drive in. I am still adjusting.
- Tai Tai is the mandarin word for wife. Now anytime someone asks John to go somewhere he doesn't want to go he points to his ring and says, "tai tai" and they laugh and walk away. Apparently the power of saying, "my wife, sheesh!" works in both worlds.
- Our shipment came in and we are ecstatic. We realize now that we did not need to bring a years supply of deodorant or feminine hygene products, but we are still glad to have them. Everything made it all the way here unscathed, except the box I dropped carrying up the stairs to the apartment because I was moving things in house shoes. Halfway around the world unscathed and yet I bust crap carrying it up one flight of stairs.
- We discovered a new restaraunt where evrything was cooked on kebobs on a grill out front. Someone ordered one of the fish out of the tank. They caught it in a net, took it outside and unceremoniously power-thwacked it on the road. One hit did it. I was mortified. Our food was good though.
- Don't be surprised when people come into your house and put your shoes on. I was, but now I'm over it. Its customary to have pairs of slippers or house shoes for people to put on as soon as they come in so they can take off their street shoes and not be barefoot. I am, though, less concerned with tracking in dirt than letting in the killer mosquitos that, I swear, are worse than Texas. There will be some benefit to the deep freeze about to commence. At least it will kill those buggars.
- My cat loves China. She's actually halfway nice here. Go figure.
- Squirt now has developed separation anxiety after the airplane flight and sleeps in our clothes hamper when we are at work. Apparentl what's good for the cat isn't always good for the dog.
- We have gotten used to not being able to flush our toilet paper. Apparently the chinese plumbing system does not handle paper flushing well. One gets used to the special garbage can in the bathroom that you MAKE SURE has a lid. And its polite to alwasy empty that particualr garbage before guests are expected...just in case you werent sure.
Welllllllllll...there's a ton more I could tell but I will try and get better about updating more often. Basically, we love it here, work is getting better and we are blessed to have a chance to see the world. We miss and love all of you!
M&J
Hi, Maggie. I don't know about you and John, but I absolutely HATED this Lamar class---the mostly poorly done piece of shit class that I have had the misfortune to take! The directions have sucked---the lectures (the slides, especially), what a joke! I think this was some project that Dr. Mixon had to do for his own classwork or something. I truly wish that I had not purchased the texts--I almost didn't after I spent 40.00 on the last class's book and emailed a PDF of all the required reading!!! Anyway, I just had to vent to someone other than my husband who just puts in his iPOD now when I need to rant and rave. I am glad that you are enjoying your experience--I don't think that I could do it. That is hilarious about the special toilet paper trash and John's response when he doesn't want to go somewhere. Miss you, miss you!
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