G.A.C.E. IN CHINA

Full Circle

2008-07-15T22:20:00.002-04:00

Looking at a globe today, we traced the route to Kunming from Michigan. So many miles! It's hard to believe, that only one year ago, to us, Kunming was only a small dot on a map. Now, it's a place that represents many memories of good times, friends, and places that are dear. A year ago, we were in the process of stepping into the unknown - a bit nervous, a little scared, but fully excited about the possibilities. And we're glad we took the plunge...

The adjustment to coming home certainly has been much easier than adjusting to life in China! We're in full swing - playdates, grocery shopping, doctor appointments, etc. The biggest adjustments? Where is everybody?! And those we do see are so tall! The stores and streets seem so empty. Traffic is orderly - and omg! - everyone obeys the traffic laws! And the very best - we can now read everything!

Two things I miss most about living in China:

walking. I love to walk, but I need a specific destination. In China, one walks everywhere, everyday. Up and down and in and out.
good, cheap food waiting for us at one of the university dining halls, a dumpling dive or at a choice of restaurants.

Thanks to everyone who joined us throughout this journey. It's much appreciated. I tried to show our everyday, nothing fancy life. A goal of ours was to live a simple life on a Chinese teacher salary. We purposefully didn't mega-travel and limited our Western "needs". A main goal was to give the kids a language immersion experience by attending a Chinese school. We are so thankful that C. and E. had a wonderful, fun-filled school year of making friends while becoming quite proficient in Mandarin. That, in itself, was worth any "discomfort" experienced.

Now it's time to end GACE in China, but not an end to blogging. Please join us at our new blog - www.gaceathome.blogspot.com starting soon. It'll be mostly photos (with a small amount of text) updated once or twice a month for family and friends. Please do visit!

4th of July

2008-07-07T22:40:00.003-04:00

It's good to see friends Nic and Alex again!

And Jeni and Mike, too!

The kids are on week two (already!)of swimming lessons:

Do come back! I ain't quite done blogging just yet...

Right where we belong

2008-07-07T22:34:00.002-04:00

The girls in their kitchens...

and the guys with their tools.

The Long Ride

2008-07-07T22:14:00.002-04:00

The day that seemed to have no end: We began traveling around midnight, left for Chicago at 11am, and about 15 hours later, arrived Chicago at 11am the same day, and it was still June 24.

Craft activity at the Incheon, Korea airport:

Our ride home:

At DTW - all luggage (and people) accounted for:

Bye-Bye Kunming...

2008-07-07T21:52:00.003-04:00

A tearful good-bye to Li Laoshi:

Our favorite jiaozi makers:

Now this we'll surely miss!

Our last real Chinese meal. Good stuff!

A send-off surprise at the airport: the Dean of the English Department, Dora (left), and our friends Hua, Jin and Xue Xi

Hello USA!

2008-07-01T13:47:00.008-04:00

"Jackson, Michigan once again," sighed C. as we entered our home Tuesday night. It's wonderful to be back. Just a quick note to say we have arrived and are still shaking off the effects of jet lag. We're not quite sure if it's day or night yet - seeing the sun or moon isn't helping us!

Today is the first day having the internet back on. I'll be posting again soon about our trip home, the first few days back, and some final happenings in China. Please check back!

Zaijian China!

2008-06-22T23:22:00.004-04:00

The journey is the reward - Chinese proverb. Thanks for the memories! China will always have a special place in our hearts.

Enjoying a final cup of delicious Yunnan coffee at Salvador's this morning:

This is it. After nearly eleven months (10 months in Kunming, three weeks plus in Shanghai), we are saying our last goodbyes and will be leaving for the airport in a few hours. We depart Kunming around midnight, get into Seoul about 5am, leave for Chicago at 11am, arrive Chicago 11 am the same day, then arrive Detroit at 4pm. Whew!

Thanks for coming along this crazy ride with us. We enjoyed the company. But please check back. Once we're home and have the internet up and running, I'll be posting some final thoughts. Off to pick up the kids from school and prepare for take off...

Still Stuffed on Sunday

2008-06-22T12:10:00.004-04:00

Our final dinner in Kunming was very fitting - Yunnan's specialty - Over the Bridge Noodles at a very popular Bridge Nooodle restaurant.

Here's all the "fixings" that one puts in the broth to cook:

Aileen made sure the right ingredient entered the broth in the correct order:

That stack of little plates and bowls ended up in the big bowls. Delicious and a good deal - total cost for three huge bowls - under $9:

And a bonus - entertainment!

That mural tells the story of the origin of Over the Bridge Noodles:

Stuffed on Saturday...

2008-06-22T10:40:00.014-04:00

That's the feeling we have had the last two days. Seems all we have done is eat!

Here we are having lunch on Saturday with friends from the Kindergarten. We also attended a dinner Saturday night for the foreign teachers at KMUST. No photos. We went to thank the directors of the international office for all their help throughout the year. Since the other five (single) foreign teachers are on the other two campuses, we have only seen them at the welcome and holiday dinners this year. Thus, we don't know them! So it was basically a dinner with "strangers"!

Lunch on Sunday with our New Zealand friends Lew and Chris:

This is James and Aileen whom we had dinner with on Sunday. (See next post.) Back in September, it was these two kind souls who helped us through the maze of the Chinese hospital system to obtain the kids' school physicals.

Here's a video of the Saturday lunch gang wishing Li Laoshi a very happy birthday: (Hope it works!) I've been really wanting and trying to get a video of the kids speaking Chinese, but everytime they see the camera, they clam up - arrggh...!

Lookin' Spiffy

2008-06-22T10:17:00.003-04:00

I'd like to say we all got haircuts so we'll look neat and trim when we see family and friends soon. But the real motivation, of course, was the low cost of a haircut.

E. loves to have her hair washed:

Snip, snip...

Buzz, buzz...

My nail lady since September - Li Xin:

Too Cute!!

2008-06-19T09:42:00.003-04:00

C. brought home school pictures yesterday. Since we can't read anything that is posted in the school, we had no idea a picture day took place. Surprise! At least he was wearing a decent looking shirt that day! E. didn't come home with photos, so we suspect it was only for C.'s age group - the "graduates".

The Kindergardener demonstrating a common Chinese pose:

With teacher and assistants; with best friend (bodyguard?!) Wa Li Hau:

With special subject teachers, directors and forty-nine (!) classmates. Can't spot him? Look on the right side for the short brown skinned boy in the brown shirt. Both C. and E. are small, even by Chinese standards. Their U.S. classmates will be head and shoulders above them come this Fall.

The Final Week

2008-06-16T08:10:00.002-04:00

Seven days and we're air bound! So far some of our week will look like this:

lunch and dinner with various friends
haircuts for all; manicure and pedicure for one :)
sorting through the kids' clothes (90% will be given to the kindergarten to have on hand for "accidents" - E. has come home with her share of interesting outfits - or it's so stained it needs to be tossed
sorting through the kids' toys - things like broken crayons and almost done coloring books will be thrown out, but the building blocks, soccer balls, etc. will be left near the tracks for those families that have so little
last minute shopping - some which will be replacement toys for those above. Little things that will surprise and entertain on the long, long flight home
and of course, all the final details of ending my university duties.

G. has been ready to jump on a plane (any plane) for a couple of months now. People wise, (soccer teams, tutoring, friends) he likes China. He's just tired of dealing with the "camping" lifestyle (I can relate). Surprisingly, I'm really not that anxious to leave. Yes, I'm looking forward to being home again, but I also am dreading all the work that lies ahead. Doctor appointments, kids' swim lessons and bible camp, registering for school, filing taxes, buying a car, going through nearly a year's worth of mail, driving here, driving there, etc. Plus, since we just moved to a new area and I was just beginning to get a feel for where things are, I have to start all over! But then, I only need to think of the all that I'm looking forward to...

There are some things that I'll miss. Such as, don't feel like cooking? Well, let's just walk down to the dining hall for a bite to eat. I've gotten quite used to that and I like it. However, I do miss having an oven. First real meal I'm serving - baked chicken!

So onward to our last hurrah...!

Between the raindrops,

2008-06-15T09:48:00.003-04:00

we managed to get out of the apartment today. Today was one of those rainy days where it rains hard for an hour, stops for thirty minutes, then rains for another hour. The cycle finally broke with the sun coming out around three o'clock. The original plan for today was to make a trip to LuFeng, home to World Dinosaur Valley, about 60km from Kunming. That is an all-day event. Given the weather and that the kids are fighting a summer cold (low energy), we nixed that idea.

C. enjoying some down time-playing yahtzee-while the rest of us were true to form: E. drew, G. watched soccer and A. read.

Mommy and Papi had a yearning for coffee, so we boarded the #98 to McD's:

This might be all that we see of World Dinosaur Valley-this promotional display near McD's-given that we have one final weekend in China. (Photo taken a few weeks ago.)

P.S. A Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful Dads!! I just realized (and it's late evening here) that today is Father's Day. I think I need to return to the land of mass marketing and commercialism of everything so that I have a clue!

You know you have a six year old in the house

2008-06-13T09:13:00.005-04:00

when the Tooth Fairy visits! Earlier this week, C. woke up to a crisp 10 yuan bill under his pillow. Looks like he's happy with the trade. And the next trade is that yuan for ice cream!

Class dismissed!

2008-06-12T09:43:00.004-04:00

Another school year down! This was the final week of classes. At least it was for my department. There seems not to be a central calendar, as departments and schools have their own end dates. Some do not finish until mid July.

I had a great group of students and it was nice having the same sections since September. Next week final exams are given. All that remains to be done is the exam grading, posting final grades and writing course evaluations. During the second semester I saw five groups of students-three sections of third year students (Survey of English-Speaking Countries) and two sections of second year students (Writing). As you can see from the photos, "English Major" is certainly more of a "girl thing"!

Survey class - Section 1:

Writing class - Section 1:

Survey class - Section 2:

Survey class - Section 3:

Writing class - Section 2:

Yunnan Nationalities Museum

2008-06-10T10:18:00.006-04:00

On Sunday we took the long ride out to the western edge of the city to a museum that is connected to the outdoor Nationalities Village that we visited a couple of weeks ago. It was an impressive space filled with many displays and (too) much information. We stayed as long as the kids' attention spans allowed. Here are some scenes from the day:

The best part - lunch! We love our noodles!

Dragon Boat Festival and Olympic Torch Relay

2008-06-09T09:04:00.004-04:00

The Dragon Boat Festival (Duan Wei Jie) is on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar and was officially celebrated June 8. Since this is one of the restored traditional folk holidays, schools and government offices were closed Monday June 9. The origin of the festival has several versions. One of its origins revolve around the use of dragon images in the warring of evil spirits (the 5th month and the 5th day is considered unlucky). Dragon boat racing is the main activity. The much more popular activity is the eating of zongzi - glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves. Another purpose of the festival is to honor the poet Qu Yuan. It's also considered a patriotic festival emphasizing loyalty and commitment to the community. We didn't do any boat racing, but we did enjoy some zongzi.

The rice was sweet and tasted good:

The Olympic Torch relay came through Kunming today. It was originally scheduled for June 5 but was delayed because of the country's three day period of mourning for the earthquake victims last month. So the relay just happened to fall on a holiday. The relay itself was from about 6am to 9am and the route came fairly close to us. But, we had no desire to fight the crowds just to see a torch go by, so we remained happly snug in our beds.

The city was alive this weekend with guys like these two selling flags:

Preparations along the downtown portion of the relay route:

I just knew there had to be

2008-06-08T08:16:00.004-04:00

a Catholic community in Kunming because of the size of the city, its French heritage and that Catholicism is a recognized religion. Many Chinese cities have Catholic cathedrals. Thanks to a fellow blogger and living-in-China friend, I was able to locate Sacred Heart Church. I passed it many times without noticing it throughout the year on Beijing Lu (the equivalent of Woodward Avenue)!! Now with only two weeks remaining in Kunming, I finally was able to attend Mass! G., C. and E. couldn't get it together to be ready for the (only) 9:00 service, so I went solo.

I love the distinctive Ming Era style:

Those thirteen English words on the bottom of the sign was the only English found:

My vantage point before the start of Mass. I took the photos shown here in a hurry. This Caucasian face was creating quite a stir just by being there and I certainly didn't want any additional attention!

The choir led by two old nuns, three postulants and an out of tune piano:

A closer look at the outside:

Of course, everything was in Chinese, but that made little difference. I do wish I could've understood the sermon though. It was wonderful to experience all the standard familiarities of the Mass again through the five senses:

sight: statues, priest vestments, altar, etc.
hearing: the order of the mass, hymms (the words "hallelujah" and "amen" are universal)
touch: the hardness of the pews, softness of the kneelers, and the coolness of the holy water
taste: Communion host
smell: the burning of incense

The service began with the nuns and choir members filing in. The priest (in his forties) and four adult servers then entered from the side. When it was time for the sign of peace, everyone held their hands in prayer form and bowed to each other. No words were exchanged. The church was packed. (Why am I surprised? - this is China!) I would guess there were about 400-500 attending. Almost everyone went to communion and the priest had no lay assistants. At the end of Mass, the priest exited during the final hymm to the side entrance, then appeared seconds later without his vestments to greet the congregation outside. He was wearing khaki pants, a golf shirt and sipping a coke! The service ended at 10:30 (that extremely long communion line). It was so nice to be in a Catholic Church again. The local (bland) Fellowship service is ok and the kids like the Sunday school. But on a Sunday, I much rather be with fellow Catholics (even though I don't have the language skills) than with the English speaking hand-waving evangelical crowd!

We're having a busy few days. Today, we went to the Yunnan Nationalities Musem and it was a holiday - the Dragonboat Festival. Tomorrow, the Olympic torch relay comes to Kunming. Also the final week of classes start. And for the past few weeks, I've been invloved with the CCTV English speaking contest. More posts to follow.

Packing Up and Shipping Out

2008-06-06T08:35:00.002-04:00

The sorting process for the upcoming packing has begun. Yesterday (Thursday) I hauled a very heavy suitcase of magazines, books, playing cards, puzzles and assorted odds and ends to one of my classes to see if I could give some of it away, instead of just dumping it. I thought I would be left with three-fourths of it. Surprise! All the stuff had new owners in less than three minutes! I was very pleased that it was just me and an empty suitcase heading back down four flights of stairs, a walk across campus, then another four flights of stairs up to the apartment.

The university gives us a 1000 RMB shipping allowance and the use of a van and driver to the international post office. And we lucked out! The cost of shipping a little more than 40 kilos was just over the thousand yuan mark.

One brings the boxes to the post office opened. The postal employee looks through everything, repacks it (!), then seals it up with tape. Next it's weighed and put on a machine to be strapped.

"G'bye Stuff! Here's hoping we meet up again sometime in August!"

A Day in the Life - Afternoon

2008-06-01T10:32:00.004-04:00

Naturally, lunch is next. One great thing about making native country friends is the opportunity to be introduced to places and food that we wouldn't be able to try on our own. Here's the gang at a "certified food with no pollutants" restaurant. The Chinese equivalent of organic? I guess we've been eating polluted food all along! Next to G. is Terry (he helped us with Children's Hospital and has rudimentary English), then Wang Mei and Fu Chao.

The first part of our meal. Soup and rice came later.

G. couldn't get enough of this. It's some kind of Chinese Medicine soup. It was delicious - and hopefully had some health benefits, too.

Girlfriends enjoying lunch. Conversing with E. is Shan Shan. They are inseparable at school.

Walking home after a fine meal and wonderful company:

Although it was more like six hours, it was wonderful to experience part of a typical Chinese family Sunday.

A Day in the Life - Morning

2008-06-01T10:05:00.006-04:00

Friends invited us to spend the day with them. I love it when we get the opportunity to peek into the lives of "the everyday Chinese".

While the Western and Chinese Christians are in church services Sunday mornings, others are busy with physical activities. This is in the university woods.

We stopped to play a game of table tennis. Most of the housing complexes have community rooms and grounds for physical activites. Many of the wealthier ones have playgrounds, tennis courts, pools and soccer fields. Since we are in university housing, residents can also use the university sport facilities. There are very few public parks, and those have limited exercise equipment. They are mostly used for a place to sit.

Then on to the university fieldhouse for badminton.

The kids enjoying a late morning treat: from left: Shan Shan, E., C., Jing Jing, Wei Wei

Children's Day

2008-06-01T09:37:00.003-04:00

June 1 is Children's Day in China. On Friday, the Kindergarten held a small celebration. I was surprized that there wasn't much more fanfare. There could be several reasons: 1) the holiday fell on a Sunday, not a schoolday; 2) more emphasis of being a family celebration; 3) the country is still in a period of mourning regarding the earthquake victims - a government campaign is promoting the toning-down of festivities; and 4) the holiday may be losing some of its favor. Many of my college students have fond memories of Children's Day celebrations, not unlike Americans reminiscing about Halloweens past.

Each child did get their own cake to take home:

There was also a display of artwork - here's E.'s:

And C.'s - note the combination of Chinese characters (left) and English words:

The New Normal

2008-05-31T09:44:00.004-04:00

There are ten American college students on campus studying Chinese for six weeks. (I'm not the only Caucasian face on campus anymore. I was sorta liking my honor of distinction!) I was speaking to two of the young men last week and they were telling me of something they found absolutely incredulous of the Chinese/China. I just shrugged and said "That's China". It reminded me of just how far we have come since we arrived ten months ago. I read somewhere this advice regarding living in a new place: take a picture of the extraordinary before it becomes the ordinary. Here's a sampling of our "ordinary". It's not that we like or agree on everything, but that it's not a shock to the system any more.

people and more people everywhere

not thinking twice to walk in front of a moving bus to cross the street

drivers never yield to pedestrians - just sound the horn!

cars, scooters, bikes parked anywhere - on sidewalks, blocking entrances, for example

being stared at and kids yelling "helllooo"

scooters, bicycles and carts loaded up high with anything imaginable - dozens of boxes of shoes, appliances, furniture, crates of live chickens, etc.

sharing a bus ride with said chickens and ducks (dead or alive) and rabbits, pigeons, etc.

squat potties and BYOT - bring your own tissue and hold thy nose

the kids playing "bus" with a shoe box. They discuss bus routes ("Let's take 98! No, number 111 will get us there faster!") and their "friends" embark and disembark at various stops along the route. Can you imagine this happening in Michigan?!

turning on the hot water in the kitchen first, if we want hot water in the bathroom

cooking on a two burner stove and only having one pot and one pan

being able to read very little and understanding spoken Chinese even less

the increased frequency of C. & E. speaking Chinese among themselves

eating every meal with chopsticks (Last week we had to reteach E. how to use a fork.)

the itsy-bitsy teeny tiny sizes of packaged goods, counter/table heights and the majority of the population

And many, many more! In about three weeks, we will be adjusting to the "new old normal". I think we'll be in constant awe for a bit.

Ahhh, Summer

2008-05-29T09:03:00.002-04:00

weather has arrived in Kunming. The days are sunny, with a cool breeze and temperatures in the low seventies. And there isn't much variation of the temperatures between day and night. Perfect. Heavier rains occur after midnight and a couple of times a week there may be a brief shower around 4pm. It is said that Kunming has the best weather in China - and I must agree.

These flowering purple bushes are everywhere in Kunming:

Enjoying a splash of color on the way to the dining halls:

Yunnan Nationalities Villages Part 4

2008-05-25T10:01:00.003-04:00

The Jinuo's sun square - the ball represents the earth:

A Yao altar:

The classic yin and yang symbol at the Yao village:

The top of Zhuang tower:

While walking home through campus, we saw some friends at the library square. Kite flying is popular among the men. G. checks it out:

Yunnan Nationalities Villages Part 3

2008-05-25T09:33:00.002-04:00

Everywhere we go, people want their pictures taken with the kids, like these Na ladies:

A persistent mom insisted on having C. and E. pose with her little girl. That little one is a bit more thrilled about it than our two:

A Christian church in the Miao Village?

Beating a Jinuo drum:

Yunnan Nationalities Villages Part 2

2008-05-25T09:12:00.006-04:00

Lunch time! Yunnan's most famous dish is Across the Bridge Noodles. A mixture of vegetables and meats are cooked in a very hot broth with a thin film of oil, then rice noodles are added.

How it comes to the table. Restaurants vary on the ingredients offered.

The server preparing our meal:

Ready to eat:

Enjoying every last drop!

Yunnan Nationalities Villages Part 1

2008-05-25T08:49:00.004-04:00

We started our 11th and final month in China by spending the day at the Yunnan Nationalities Villages. Yunnan Province is home to 26 of the 52 ethnic Chinese groups. In a nice outdoor setting one can gather knowledge and appreciation of the various cultures in one place. Here are some of the highlights of the day:

Near the entrance:

Trying out the Munao prayer wheel:

Most beliefs center around balance, harmony and nature:

Sounding the gong at the De'ang temple:

Brave or a bit nuts?? That was my thought

2008-05-23T09:46:00.003-04:00

this afternoon as I walked into the university dental clinic:

I have been wanting to have my teeth cleaned since the new year. And today I just couldn't stand it any longer. Normally, I have the procedure done three times a year, but I'm very particular about dentists. I've had extensive dental work from childhood on and have only had two dentists do the work. So it has taken me a while to muster up the courage. Then there are those pesky language and cultural differences...

As you can see, most dentists work in a more open enviroment than in the U.S. No separate waiting or exam rooms here! See that first chair right by the window in the above photo? That's where I was sitting for all to view!

Chinese dentistry (as I've read and now experienced) is a bit dated. It was like being back in the 70's. The whole time I was thinking "please don't undo all the work Dr. L. has done. He's going to kill me when he sees this mouth"! But, everything went smoothly and my teeth look and feel 1000% better. It only cost a bit (ok, a lot!) of anxiety, about 45 minutes of time and the equivalent of $10 USD. Now why was it I waited so long...??

Back to Normal,

2008-05-22T09:01:00.004-04:00

I'm happy to report. The kids returned to school today with a clean bill of health. C. came home at noon and said "When I walked into my classroom today, all the kids started cheering and saying "yeah, Carlos is back!" E. and her friends were glad to be together again too.

This afternoon, since the kids were in school and G. had a tutoring session, I headed over to this place:

One can get a haircut, manicure and pedicure for less than $6 USD. Now, it's things like this, that'll have me yearning for the China days in the upcoming months!

Children's Hospital of Kunming

2008-05-17T08:43:00.004-04:00

and this family have been seeing a lot of each other this week! The kids are now showing spots on the palms and soles, but luckily no fever. Other than those physical signs, they are fine - good appetite and high energy.

The procedure is typical and straight forward. Upon entering the hospital, report to the main desk for check-in and get a slip of paper. Then go to a window and pay about $1.00 per patient. Here is E. in the general waiting area. If you look closely, you can see her burn mark high on the cheek near the right eye.

Next, walk over to the in-patient area to watch for your name and number to be posted. Perhaps this is the Chinese version of "15 minutes of fame" ?!

Seeing the doctor: That spot on C.'s cheek is a mosquito bite (it's been raining the last couple of days). Skeeters seem to favor him and he usually ends up with a welt-like bite:( After the doctor visit, step across the hall and pay for the eight prescriptions (mostly mouth rinses ) - about the equivalent of ten dollars.

In line for the hospital pharmacy: Pick up the prescriptions. Yay! All done. Total time-under an hour. Not bad...

When it rains it pours...

2008-05-15T11:03:00.002-04:00

Is it Friday yet??!! To add to our already not-so-good week, E. suffered a scalding on her arms and face today. It was one of those "dumb Mom moments".

We have a water machine that dispenses both hot and cold water for drinking. E. is really fascinated on how it works and is in a "helping" phase, such as wanting to sweep the floor, etc. for us. For the last week or so, I've been letting her fill up my teacup (the "help" part), while keeping a close eye on her, and she has been doing it wonderfully. Somehow today, she filled up the cup, picked it up, swung around and fell. The hot water splashed on her arms and face resulting in a large burn blister high on her cheek near the eye along with a cut. Hopefully, it will heal okay and as the skin regrows, there will be minimal scarring. I remember vividly at E.'s age being scalded by my Dad's coffee one day during dinner. This will probably be the only memory of China she will have!

The kids are doing fine. The medicines seem to be working and their energy levels haven't changed. They do miss school though. Tomorrow a little treat is needed for this group to celebrate the week's end. A bit of Western food for lunch sounds like it will do the trick! Hmmm...KFC or McD's??....

Well, Rock Our World!

2008-05-13T07:56:00.002-04:00

Thank you everyone for your blog comments and emails regarding our safety. We are fine. Thankfully, Kunming was spared. We didn't feel any tremors, which is odd, since reports had as far south as Vietnam (Yunnan Province borders Vietnam) and Thailand experiencing them. Around 2:30 on Monday, I just dropped off C. at school for the afternoon session and was on a bus heading downtown. G. was in the apartment with E. (the "why" is in the next paragraph). Due to the state controlled media, we hadn't heard anything about the quake until we were on the computer later in the evening and read about it on Yahoo! So most of you probably had earlier and more (accurate) information than we did. Sichuan Province is just to the north of us. You may hear the cities of Chengdu and Chongqing mentioned. That is where we traveled to in January. For an idea of distances, my guesstimation is Kunming to Chengdu is similiar to distances between St. Louis and Minneapolis. Not that far away! We have had our share of being close to troubles this year. During February, the big snowstorms were to the east of us, recently the Tibet uprisings and the Myanmar cyclone to our near west and now, the quake to the north. We have six weeks to go and only one direction left!

You also may have been reading about the EV71 (hand, foot & mouth) virus that is hitting the kindergartens and orphanages hard. It is especially hard on children younger than two years old and there has been about thirty deaths and about 30,000 confirmed cases. Well, our kids have a variant of this. The schools have been diligently checking each child's throat, hands and feet for about two weeks now. The government is being more upfront and proactive about the epidemic due to its' debacle regarding SARS a few years back. And of course, with the Olympics starting in less than three months, the government is trying to avoid making another big mess. On Friday, E.'s throat had the spots, and we had to take her to the Children's Hospital. She was given five medications and was to report back today, Tuesday. Well, this morning, C. now sported the spots in the throat area, which meant off we went with two to the hospital. E.'s condition was a lot better, but was not given the ok to return to school. Luckily, both kids have not had any sign of fever or spots on the extremities - very serious, if so. We now will have both kids home for 10 days, giving numerous medications and mouth rinses. Oh joy.

Between the natural disasters, political concerns and now this virus, G. is more than ready to pack it up and head home! Politcal events, rather than disasters or medical related events have more of an affect on me. We really want to enjoy the remaining time in China as much as possible, but for now, let's just say we are counting the days...

Kunming Sci & Tech Museum

2008-05-11T09:03:00.005-04:00

While most of you were peacefully sleeping the night away, these are some of the things we experienced today:

This gravity room drove me crazy - couldn't even keep my balance. Good thing I never had the dream of doing anything NASA related!

Happy Mother's Day!

2008-05-10T08:37:00.005-04:00

Happy Mother's Day to all you Moms and "just like a Mom" Moms! Enjoy your day! Mother's Day is celebrated in China on the second Sunday of May and it is becoming more popular each year. People send flowers and telephone their mothers. However, the holiday was originally slated to give attention to the poor and rural women of the country. The holiday has not become commercialized (at least not in Kunming). I have not seen one advertisement!

Here's the card E. made during the after school paper craft class. (C.'s class made giant moving paper cockroaches - yuck!) Yes, that youthful looking lady with blonde hair (and including a slight Asian look) on the card is really me!

E. loves to practice writing "Chinese". This is her Mother's Day letter to me. It is so fascinating to see how the kids take in the language. To E., Chinese characters are the visual imprint she sees in her daily world and the one that her teacher uses at school. Actually, her last "character" in blue looks similiar to the character for "woman"! She also prefers to "read" her Chinese books over the English and Spanish ones we have. I guess for now the only use she has for the Roman alphabet is to print her name!

Why we are NOT returning for an additional year

2008-05-08T08:50:00.006-04:00

Several people have been asking if we will be returning to China for an additional year and if we are not, why? There is no one single or simple answer. We've thought about it, weighed the pros and cons and decided to not return. Most of the decision had to do with the reasons of why we came in the first place.

Language exposure for the kids: This is the number one reason why we are in China. And to a great extent, the goal has been accomplished. The kids love their school, understand and speak basic Mandarin and C. is learning to read and write. If we stayed, C. would be in a Chinese school first grade classroom in September. First graders learn to read and write close to 600 characters. The process is sheer memorization, with countless hours of copying characters. C. would be at a disadvantage because, unlike his native language classmates, he would also need to learn the vocabulary along with the characters. And as his non-fluent Chinese speaking parents, we are of no help. It would necessitate in hiring a tutor so he would at least have a shot at keeping up with his classmates. We just can't justify doing this to the poor kid! Also, E. and C. would be in separate schools (E. would stay at the Kindergarten), which means different schedules, etc. As much as we would love the kids to be completely fluent in the language, we can't have it (done here) without their English and Spanish skills suffering greatly. Our plan, once we're home, is to maintain and improve as much as possible the language skills they already have, via a tutor.

Workng/teaching/living: I have a nice job and am enjoying it. But to do it for another year? No thanks. Mainly, it's not that challenging and I really don't need more experience. I was offered an opportunity in another city if I wanted to stay in China to experience something different. But that has risks. What if the assignment and living conditions are worse? Our apartment is doable, but I really don't want to "camp" for another year. We do like KMUST and Kunming. It is exciting to explore a new city, but it's also nice to return to the familiar. During a second year, a person can be involved in daily life a little bit different than what is possible during the intial year. Kunming has been a good match for us. A negative has been that we haven't been able to do a lot of traveling within China. We are located in the west and many of the popular travel destinations are on the east coast. So everything is a plane ride (and the price of four tickets add up) away. Even within Yunnan Province, distances are great between places.

Other concerns: With the Olympics fast approaching, there has been an increase in anti-Western sentiments. We are in no imminent danger, but there is a distinct change in the air. Along with that, there is now a potentially harmful virus making its rounds throughout the Kindergartens and orphanages. These are two things we can gladly do without.

All in all, living in China has been a positive experience, one we're glad we took the chance to do so. I often think that if I was 20 or 30 years younger and childless, I'd stay on in a heartbeat! There are things we will miss and things we won't. China gets into one's heart and under one's skin. We are better world citizens because of it.

Cash is King

2008-05-06T07:09:00.004-04:00

Payment for our airline tickets were due. Since China is almost an all cash economy and there is a daily limit of withdrawals (varies between $250 - $500 per day) from foreign accounts, stops over several days to this ATM was necessary.

Here's the loot: a little more than 18,000 Yuan. That's about $2700 for three tickets from Kunming to Detroit. I think $900 per ticket is a good deal considering the vast distance and all the talk about rising prices. (My ticket is paid for by the university.) The Chinese currency is the Renmimbi (RMB), called Yuan or the slang term Kwai. The one-hundred note (about $14) is the largest denomination. And yes, the good ol' Chairman's mug is on every single one.

A side view showing the thickness. Imagine having almost three thousand dollars in tens and twenties!

A Long, Lazy Labor Day Holiday

2008-05-04T08:19:00.003-04:00

Thursday, May 1, was International Labor Day, which resulted for us having a three day holiday. The Chinese observe holiday "days off" by including "days on". We had Thursday, Friday and Saturday off, but Sunday was a make up day for Friday. This semester, I don't have Friday classes, so my schedule wasn't affected. However, the kids did have school Sunday to make up for the missed Friday.

We're starting our tenth month in China and are finally catching on that holidays equal crowds. Thus, we had a laid back weekend. We did go downtown on Thursday and there were some dancing and musical acts performing (we did miss an earlier parade). In spite of being taller than 98% of the population, we couldn't see a thing! We also didn't venture out much because, along with the crowds in general, we weren't in the mood to fight the bus crowds and deal with figuring how to navigate a route. The kids had a school fieldtrip to a planetarium on Wednesday, so they were content on not hoofing it somewhere new. But here's a couple things we did do:

Ice cream at Salvador's makes these kids giddy, while...:

the big kids enjoyed the (almost gone) chips, salsa and beer number 3:

Story time! Many of the Western restaurants have dozens of books available for use left by long gone travelers. I know I have been whining about the lack of reading material in English, but there really is plenty to read, although none I have seen is to my literature liking. And I just can't read anything, for the sake of reading something.

Saturday, G. played soccer with a group of Brazilians at a complex way out by Dian Chi lake:

Enjoying their own version of Skins (E.) and Shirts (C.):

Yunnan Wild Animals Park

2008-04-27T08:51:00.003-04:00

The original plan was to head to the park after church services and lunch. However, after lunch, a sudden cold front moved in, so we needed to make a detour back to the apartment to gather up jackets. So we got a later start than we wanted.

The park was a bit of a disappointment, as it was more like the zoo, but at least some of the animals were in more of a natural setting than as seen in the Kunming Zoo. The grounds were well kept, with many pines and wonderful views of the mountains. And the kids always love to see any kind of animal, so the day wasn't a total dud!

We saw little foxes...

and big cats.

E. likes elephants because they begin with "E", just like her!

We ended the afternoon at our favorite "it's a dive, but so delicious" dumpling place. We're waiting on our fourth order to come to the table!

A taste of Thailand and other (a)musings

2008-04-26T08:51:00.002-04:00

The Saturday that was...

In the morning, E.'s two good friends Shon Shon and Li Li stopped by to play:

In the afternoon, we headed downtown to the Thailand Festival. Here's G. taking a sip of something Thai:

"I like this cocnout. Try some!"

What's a festival without t-shirts for sale?

Afterwards, C. tries out some dance moves with the Dico's crowd:

Can you guess

2008-04-24T08:34:00.003-04:00

what's inside this envelope??

Our itinerary home! Two months from today (June 24) we'll be boarding in Kunming for Seoul, Korea. From Seoul, it's on to Chicago, then Detroit. With the wonders of time zones and the international dateline, we leave June 24 and arrive June 24, even though it's a 22 hour trip. Looks like we'll be asking ourselves "What day is it?" and "What time is it?" for a few days following!

Asked and Answered

2008-04-21T08:45:00.000-04:00

Normally I would reply to a question via the comment section. However, being in China, one can't access their own blog or comments... it's that pesky concept of free speech again! (Shh...top secret how it's possible ;) So if anyone has a question, please feel free to ask and I will post a reply to the best of my ability.

USA commented: "Why so many rules to swim? I can understand the cap due to problems with hair in the filters, not the other one."

A.'s answer: The heck if I know! It's yet another mystery of China. Yes, the cap rule makes sense. I also think in today's world, having a swim cap is ingrained culturally. It would seem bizarre to a Chinese person not to wear a swim cap in a pool. Although the cap rule is enforced, it is not worn properly! What's the point if it's sitting loosly on a head with hair hanging down/out??!!

The "spandex/lycra" rule? Who knows? It must have something to do with a loose fit. We tried to explain that the guys' suits were perfectly acceptable swim gear. As you can see, we didn't get very far with that reasoning! But every male in the pool was wearing a spandex-type suit. The funny thing though, the "lifeguards/monitors" did not wear such a thing. They wore the brightly patterned, long (to the knee or mid calf), loose fitting nylon pants seen on college age males around here. (Not sure if it's a popular style in the US.) The old double standard exists eveywhere.

A Sunday Swim

2008-04-20T09:51:00.001-04:00

Our friends from the kindergarten, the Yue Jiang family with Yie laoshi and her son Peter invited us for a swim today at a nearby indoor pool. A perfect andidote for a hot afternoon.

Part of the group before heading into the pool. Use of swim caps are strictly enforced in Chinese pools. Shortly after this photo was taken, G. and C. were denied admittance to the pool. Apparently, their trunks weren't the "regulation close-fit spandex type" needed. We reluctantly forked over the equivalent of five dollars (!!) for two suits at the in-house store and now have the right swim apparel for any pool in China.

Xue Xi coaxing E. to take the plunge.

Three wet monkeys enjoying the water:

"Peace, Momma!"

The view from poolside:

World Horticulture Expo Garden cont.

2008-04-19T09:25:00.000-04:00

Admiring an exhibit in the bonsai garden:

Many brides have their pictures taken in public gardens, months before the actual wedding date.

There are about thirty world gardens on display. We only saw a handful, including this one, of course. The USA exhibit was quite a hike away and we were almost at meltdown stage. Well, we do know what a Michigan garden looks like!

A proud Chileno standing in "his" garden:

C. at the end of the day taking a break in the little shade that can be found. Notice how he is sitting - the Chinese squat. One sees people sitting like this everywhere - eating lunch, waiting for the bus, talking on the phone, etc. C. does this every chance he gets and seems very comfortable with it. Man, it looks like it would hurt after a (very short) while!

World Horticultural Expo Garden

2008-04-19T08:53:00.000-04:00

In April 1999, Kunming hosted this world event and the massive gardens are still very impressive nine years later. The place is huge and is difficult to see most of it during a day's visit, let alone only having a few hours with kids in tow. We didn't get to see nearly enough and this would be a great place to visit again.

Here's the proof that we were actually there!

The sign said that this creation is the Expo's "mascot" Ling Ling. A continuous flow of water kept the flowers from wilting.

Shortly after we arrived, there was a parade of floats, dancers and a band.

This is not the prettiest picture, but we've never seen young palm trees in bloom. Never knew!

A favorite son of China, Confucious, at the entrance to the herb garden.

Our definition of insanity

2008-04-18T09:04:00.000-04:00

is to spend hours in bookstores browsing through books that we will never be able to read! This semester, our morning coffee dates are on Mondays. Usually afterwards, we'll stop in one of the many university area bookstores because, well, just because they're there. The bookstores do carry a small section of books in English, mainly English language textbooks and some translated classic literature (which the patent has long expired). One time, I saw a very thin edition of Gone With the Wind. After a closer inspection, this volume had chapters missing and those that were included were in a condensed version! Geez, reading GWTW in that form would certanly lose that magical feeling of a literary masterpiece!

Here's Mr. Foreigner looking as literate as one can in this five story building:

And Mrs. Foreigner about to flip through a book on tea, we think?

Ah, so many books, so little ....

The Good Life

2008-04-18T08:38:00.001-04:00

I have most afternoons free this semeser. So I've been busy doing various activities throughout the week.

On Wednesday and Thursday afternoons, G. tutors student Guo Rong. Gotta love all that hair the kid has!

Meanwhile, this Thursday, my friend Chris and I went for a facial and a massage. Here's Chris in a very relaxed state:

Weekend Wrap up

2008-04-13T08:13:00.001-04:00

We kept pretty close to home this weeend due to C. having minor tummy troubles. Also the weather changed from very comfortable Spring temps to a scorching Summer heat all week long. A day at a park in the hot sun didn't sound inviting at all.

E. and I did some shopping Saturday and her knowledge of Mandarin came in handy. We were at the checkout and the clerk said something - all I knew it had to do with the denominations. (Many times they ask for the one yuan as to not wanting to give them out. However, one yuans are needed for the bus and I don't like to be short.But that wouldn't apply to this particular situation.) So the clerk repeated her request and I was just going to feign ignorance (ok - no pretending, the ignorance is real) and move on. But E. piped up and said "Momma, the lady wants you to give her 10 yuan so she can give you 50 back". Exactly. The bill was about 60 yuan and I handed her a 100 bill. So instead of getting back two twentys, I got a fifty instead, which is prefered anyway. Way to go E.!

A favorite lunch of ours is steamed pork dumplings, with rice and two or three vegetable dishes. Here's G. and E. enjoying the ambiance at the Hong Dou Yuan restaurant.

After, we stopped for drinks at Chapter One, the restaurant/bar that sponsors G.'s soccer team. The kids just got a new magazine to look at so we enjoyed our beers with minimal interruption. Despite the heat, C. insisted on wearing heavy clothes today. Some battles are not worth fighting.

Asked and Answered

2008-04-08T08:14:00.000-04:00

Canton's own super mom/nurse Jeni W. wanted to know how the kids got inside the bubble float. (Btw, thanks for calling it a bubble, much more of an apt term than "ball".)

Here's E. getting out. When a child gets in, the operator turns on a vacuum, pumps up the bubble a bit, wiggles the child(ren) in, inflates it completely, then zips up. It's on a tether and pushed in the water.

Then the kids can bounce and roll:

Hhmmm...bring one home?? I can just see G. and M. in YOUR yard with a vacuum, kiddie pool and a giant bubble. And don't forget to add four (or more) excitable under 7s! Bring on another pitcher of margaritas...

Da Guan Park continued

2008-04-06T08:39:00.000-04:00

Because admission is charged (about one dollar per adult), this park is not jammed pack on a Sunday like (free) Green Lake. That made it a very enjoyable, relaxing afternoon.

A gorgeous double carousel:

"Look! I can touch this beak!"

E. is sitting at "earth". The head images behind represent the continents:

The kids have wanted to try this floating ball ever since we first saw it at Green Lake. They had a blast!

"Whack-a-Mole" - the giant version:

Da Guan Park

2008-04-06T08:14:00.000-04:00

Today's excursion found us at the northern most tip of the vast DianChi Lake. Da Guan Park is the former royal grounds of some Emperor of some Dynasty (like those meticulous notes?!) Here are the highlights of the day:

Our family name in bright colors:

The park was large enough to have that "not in the city anymore" feeling:

A great day for a picnic. It was short sleeve temps today:

Modern sculptures were seen throughout:

Father and son enjoying the cool lake breezes:

QingMing (Tomb Sweeping) Festival

2008-04-04T10:15:00.000-04:00

The Chinese schedule of holidays has changed this year. Previously, there were two week long holidays (October 1 National Day and May 1 Labor Day), one two week holiday (Chinese New Year) and several holidays that were observed, but no scheduled time off. Starting this year, the government slashed the October 1 and May 1 holidays to one/two day events and added days off for some of the more popular folk holidays so that traditions can be maintained. Now there is a three/four day weekend almost every month (similar to the US holiday system). Tomb Sweeping day was observed today by families honoring their departed members by burning fake money and paper "clothes" (to send to the afterlife) and by cleaning the cemetary plots. It's a time for family to get together and share memories. Not too many people are buried in China anymore. There's hardly any room for the living, let alone room for burial.

At the bus stop waiting to board to go tomb sweeping - not!

Here's a big no-no in the U.S. Oh, the bad, bad habits we have formed!

After the stop at Carrefour, we enjoyed ice cream, coffee and the playscape at our favorite Dico's:

The Birthday Girl

2008-04-01T08:10:00.001-04:00

It's our lil' Laynee-Lou's big day! Elena Michelle Priscilla is officially five years old! You are a wonderful daughter, sister, granddaughter, goddaughter, niece, cousin and friend! E. also shares a birthday with her godfather cousin Cody and my good friend Mary Jo. Happy birthday to all the April first babies!

Off to school decked out in her new treasured Pokemon vest:

With girlfriends ready to dive into that cake:

Make a wish!

Sharing presents with her brother:

Campus Scenes - Monday Afternoon cont.

2008-03-31T08:30:00.001-04:00

The main Engineering Classroom building:

The recently constructed bridge over a very busy street that connects the main camps to the dorms, dining halls and athletic facilities. This helps relieve the congestion in the tunnel which previously was the only way across:

One of the (ugly) dorms, complete with free clothes drying service. This is one example of a Communist-style utilitarian building seen everywhere in China.

From the dorm area: heading to afternoon classes. Notice the umbrellas - it's not raining. Many Chinese women have the annoying habit of using an unbrella rain or shine. They are deathly afraid of the sun and turning "dark". The plethora of skin whitening products on store shelves is eerie.

Continuing on to the classroom buildings:

Campus Scenes - Monday Afternoon

2008-03-31T08:03:00.001-04:00

It was a beautiful Spring day for snapping photos.

The welcome sign at the north gate:

The heart of every campus: the library. This is the main square area where kids of every age skateboard, fly kites, etc. on Saturdays and Sundays.

Blossoms lining one of two boulevards that stretch from the north and south gates:

One of the nicest aspects about campus is the multigenerations that utilize it, like this grandmother and grandchild:

Returning from lunch at home to the elementary school at the other end of campus are these two handsome future Party members:

Our Extraordinary Ordinary Weekend

2008-03-30T08:35:00.000-04:00

Some new doings, some old:

If it's Friday, that must mean package day. Two weeks in a row! A girl could seriously get used to this! Here's G. doing the honors:

Wow! Goodies for everyone! And candy, candy and more candy. This is being hidden from the kids. If they saw it, then it's "I want everything - now". The candy will be a nice surprise in about a month and the activity books will come in handy for that loonngg plane ride home. A big, big THANK YOU to the B. family from Troy. You're the best Terry and Mary Jo!

After we opened the box, G. and I had a special treat - a weekday lunch off campus. The kids had a school field trip to a park; therefore, they didn't come home for the afternoon break. You bet we took advantage of that rare set up.

On Saturday, while G. was at his game, the kids and I went shopping. First, we stopped at the post office to mail Abuelita Rosa a birthday card (April 15). Then we headed to this clothing store. This is my favorite place to buy kid's clothes. Everything is 10 yuan ($1.40). E. especially is hard on her clothes and she's growing fast. Her lightweight pants from the Fall all look like capris on her. (Photo by C.!)

On the way back we stopped at a DVD store. DVDs cost about 50 cents to two dollars. The selections and quality vary, so it's certainly "buyer beware". I couldn't pass up the entire series of The West Wing (I love that show) for $2.00. Then I worried all the way back that it wasn't in English, only Chinese! Luckily, it works and it's in English! I've seen a few episodes of Strong Medicine on Lifetime and for 50 cents, it's cheap entertainment. C. picked out one of his favorite Chinese cartoons and E. loves her Pokemon. However, that DVD was not in Chinese as expected, but in Japanese!

On Sunday, after church services, we had lunch at Manna Heaven. It's a Chinese food restaurant located along a "Western strip". It has won many awards from Kunming's Western food publications, so we wanted to give it a try. Everything was delicious and we were the only foreigners in the place! It's probably the closest thing to a higher end American Chinese restaurant - but no chop suey or chow mein here! The prices were not dirt cheap like the common noodle shop, but still were half those of the Western style restuarants. C. couldn't get over how good the tea was!

China v Australia

2008-03-26T08:49:00.000-04:00

The two national teams had a match today at Tudong Stadium. G. had a great time with his buddies, the kids were at school and I enjoyed an afternoon alone listening in peace to podcasts from Michigan Radio.

Australia (l) and China (r) standing at attention for the national anthems:

G's view of the game:

Kunming's "hooligans":

The Chinese fans outnumbered those rooting for the "socceroos":

The final verdict:

Happy Easter!

2008-03-23T08:17:00.001-04:00

Unlike Christmas, which has become very commercialized in China, with its images of Santa, trees, wreaths and wrapped boxes everywhere (and in some cases, still visible), the Easter season doesn't exist. (I did see some chocolate eggs at the European owned Metro Store (they were also the only place I saw Halloween themed merchandise) and one of the big hotels sponsored (an expensive) Easter brunch and egg hunt.) So coloring eggs and getting baskets will happen next year. However, we did have a lovely Easter Sunday.

Enjoying the fellowship before services:

Inside before the service. It was G.'s first time at a non-Catholic service. After a few songs and a bible reading, he asked "When will the Mass start?"!! The kids really liked the Sunday School and G. saw some soccer teammates. So we'll probably return a few more times.

Later, we checked out Tudong Stadium. The Chinese and Australian national teams play on Wednesday and G. has a ticket, naturally.

The original plan was to have lunch at a Western restuarant. We got to one, sat down, looked at the menu, and nothing piqued our interest! Hamburgers, hotdogs, french fries, deli style sandwiches, grilled cheese, pizza, western style breakfast, etc. were not at all appealing. The Chinese food menu was way overpriced. So we left and headed for the noodle restaurant next door. I think our taste buds have changed! We had a a couple of noodle dishes and steamed chicken (that's what's in the terracotta pot) and couldn't have been more satisfied, along with the added bonus of being one-fourth the price of the Western style restaurant next door.

After lunch, we crossed the street to a KFC to have coffee and give the kids the opportunity to burn some energy on the playscape. Many of the fast food restaurants gather up the litle kids, play games and hand out prizes.

No pastel eggs, but a big yellow box

2008-03-22T08:16:00.000-04:00

arrived from the Easter Bunny! Not much is more sweeter to our ears than to hear these words from the waiban in the university's international office: "There's a package for you from America"! And of course, it's not just a simple walk to the office to pick up said package. First, I do go to the office to pick up the package slip, then we (or usually just me) board bus 83 to reach

the downtown post office. Only one location receives incoming foreign packages: And no, I didn't have to stand in that line. The PO also serves as a bank and bill paying center.

After I showed the slip and my passport, sign my name and write the passport number, I was given this:

On the return trip, I wonder what exactly is in the box, and guard the treasure. This is what was inside: treats for the small kids and treats (newspapers) for the big kids!

I picked up the package Friday morning. Since the kids return from school at noon for the afternoon break, I left the box out to see their reaction when they came through the door. E. took one look and screamed "Tia Karen's here!!"

Notice E.'s body language saying "It's all mine!" How long do you think 80 packs will last?!
Thanks Big Gar and Karen! We're lovin' it!

Xi Shan - Western Hills cont.

2008-03-16T09:06:00.000-04:00

The Taoist patron saint of scholars:

Peach blossoms sure pretty up the place:

The 1.5km descent is lined with souvenir stalls:

All that's missing is a Fu Man Chu:

Back in the city: a late lunch at a Muslim restaurant. Seems that we moved from one Muslim capital to another! The menu is on the wall in Arabic and pictures. No chicken shwarma, hummus or tabouli here. But the food is always plentiful, delicious and inexpensive in the many Muslim restuarants in Kunming/Yunnan.

Xi Shan - Western Hills

2008-03-16T08:34:00.000-04:00

Western Hills is a large range of mountains and parkland that is visible from all of Kunming and stretches almost the length of Dian Chi lake. From our living room, if we stick our heads out the window and look left, we have a nice view of the Hills! Included in the park are several temples (of course), famous tombs and Dragon Gate - a group of grottoes, sculptures, corridors and pavilions that were hacked from the cliff between 1781 and 1835 by Taoist monks. We spent the day at Dragon Gate with our friends Lew and Chris.

First, a 1.5 km charlift ride up the mountain:

Checking out the view from the top:

The view: Kunming from above

In one of the corridors demonstrating the Chinese salute:

The group basking in the warm sunshine:

Yun Xing Park

2008-03-15T08:53:00.001-04:00

It was a nice Spring Saturday, so while G. was at a soccer match, the kids and I headed to this park. There are several of these types of parks in the city - a traditional park that has rides for the the under 7 crowd.

The kids had fun paddling around this pool-for almost an hour!

A classic ride - the merry-go-round:

These storytellers drew a (majority senior citizen) crowd:

For one yuan (14 cents), a kid can be in the driver's seat:

To Market, To Market I Go

2008-03-14T07:57:00.000-04:00

Grocery shopping takes me the better part of the week. Now that I have most afternoons free, I prefer to do the shopping then, instead of the weekends. Because the stores are so packed on the weekends, this chore becomes downright painful. There have been times that I didn't pick up an item simply because I couldn't get down the aisle! Also, during the early afternoon weekday, the buses are less crowded and I'm pretty much guaranteed a seat. The downside of shopping during this time is that I have to go by myself; which means G.'s strong arms aren't there to help carry the bags. So I'm limited in buying only as much as I can carry; thus, one reason for the multiple trips. The other reason is that I can't or don't want to get everything at one place because of availability, price, freshness and/or convenience. I go to three places: the mega market Carrefour (or in desperation Wal*Mart and sometimes Metro -they carry other imported items like additional cereals and graham crackers), a small neighborhood supermarket and the neighborhood "farmers' market".

I've allocated 1000 Yuan ($140) monthly for food. This is getting harder to stay within budget because the US dollar is getting weaker (in September 100 Yuan = $12, now 100 Yuan = $14) and food prices in China has risen 10% since then. I spend 150Y per week for food, paper products, etc., 200Y per month on the university dining card, 100Y for our monthly Western restaurant meal and 100Y for our weekend ice cream/coffee treats. G. and I have our main meal (lunch) in the university dining halls five/ six times per week where it costs 8-10Y for both of us per meal to eat. The kids have breakfast, lunch and a snack at school. So dinner and weekend meals are usually prepared around the kids' tastes.

Carrefour is the place to buy Western goods. It's here I buy spaghetti, sauce, cereal, butter and cheese (all imported). I can also buy China produced ketchup, Nesquik, coffee, tea, jam, pb, soup, (millions of) noodles, oatmeal, frozen dumplings, frozen chicken breasts, and banana bread. Plus all the other foods and paper products, soaps, etc. a mega market would carry.

The farmers' market: I buy fruit here or at one of the many fruit stands that line the streets.

This is the place for vegetables: Luckily, the kids like rice/noodles/dumplings and vegetables, soup, cereal or spaghetti for dinner.

Fresh chicken and duck are readily available. Also, a lot of pork, lamb, beef and dog(!!) that has been sitting out all day. I've shared many a bus ride with live and dead chickens/ducks. G. has been wanting to buy one of these chickens-not to eat, just to have around! Several of our neighbors have chickens and ducks. Can you tell which one of us was raised on a farm and which one grew up in suburbia?!

The small supermarket: I can get most everything here that I can get at Carrefour (minus the imported and frozen items, jam, pb and banana bread). There are also other mega Chinese markets like TrustMart and ParkNShop, but these do not carry any imported Western products.

The small supermarket carries milk. We get milk and juice twice a week. Juice (more like orange drink) comes in 1, 1.5, 2 and sometimes 3 liter bottles. The largest milk size is one liter (about one-fourth of a gallon). We also like these little bags of milk - stays fresher! Imagine, a year ago, I was buying every week, a gallon each of whole milk, 2% reduced milk, chocolate milk and orange juice. No wonder I needed a car for grocery shopping!

After School Activity Success

2008-03-13T08:04:00.000-04:00

Today the kids attended their first weekly after school activity class - paper folding and crafts. Here's C.'s result:

All smiles:

E. has a semi-successful experience. Her class did paper folding. She came home a bit upset (thus, no mood to be in a photo) because she thought her Papi forgot to pick her up! The kids are in separate classes. C.'s class is on the third floor, while E.'s is on the ground floor. G. picked up C. first.... (I was at the homefront preparing dinner.)

Ten years ago today,

2008-03-10T08:17:00.000-04:00

my wonderful, beautiful younger sister Shelly left this earth and entered eternal life. I miss her everyday. Ten years! I hadn't fully realized just how young her children were at the time. Stevie was nine, Keith was 7, just a few months older than C. is now and Renee, like E., was four, soon to be five. Shelly lives on through her children. Stevie is now 19, Keith is 17 and Renee will be 15 in June. Her husband Mark remarried and he and Jenny have two year old Sam.

Ten years ago today, I was just beginning a year of teaching in Copiapo, Chile. Little did I know that later in the year, G. and I would marry and years later we would have two great kids and find ourselves living in China.

Twenty years ago today, I was teaching in Sao Paulo, Brazil. A group of us still keep in touch. Greetings to Aggie, Mary, Gayle, Chris and Michele. What a difference living overseas was back then - no internet! It's so wonderful today - connecting with all things home in an instant.

Thirty years ago today, I was student teaching. That winter was a lot like the one Michigan experienced this year. In 1978, there was a ton of snow and school districts were closed for two weeks plus in western Michigan. Later in the year, I graduated, went to Europe that summer (and the travel bug bit big time!), and then in September began my teaching career in mid-Michigan. I was very fortunate to work in three great districts. Ironically, at retirement, I returned to the mid-state area to live.

Forty years ago today, I was in Sr. Wilma's sixth grade class singing protest songs. You gotta love those liberal Dominican Sisters (from Racine, not Adrian). It was probably her first year of teaching and she was most likely not much older than nineteen! I remember singing "When Rosa Parks sat down, the whole world stood up" and "Little boxes, little boxes. There's a red one, and a blue one, and a green one and a yellow one. And they're all made out of ticky-tacky, and they all look just the same." I didn't realize, until years later, that we were mocking our own suburban lifestyle!

Fifty years ago today, I was two years old. I don't remember a thing from that period, but I imagine I was one happy kid to have Mom all to myself while the four older siblings were in school!

What will ten years in the future bring?? The year 2018. C. will be 16, and E. 15. And me, well, ten year older (!), deciding if I should take Social Security or wait it out. IMHO, I'll offically be a "senior" when I'm colecting SS!

I found Church!

2008-03-09T08:16:00.000-04:00

It wasn't a Catholic Church, but the Kunming International Fellowship services. I've been wanting to attend since arriving. The city guide I had at the time was an old edition and the address provided was no longer valid. When I met my New Zealand friend Chris in October, she said that she also wanted to find the current location and check it out. Finally, a few months and a new guide later, we went this morning.

It's held in a hotel - a large conference room for the service, a reception room for coffee, several small breakout rooms for the children's Sunday School, and very nice bathrooms. One needs to show a passport for admittance. Due to government policy, mainland Chinese can only attend if married to a foreigner. (The Chinese do have their own Christian churches, called Self Church. I think foreigners are welcomed.)

First, it was a shock to see so many foreigners in one place! There were about 200. Many young families and a lot of gray hair, too. (There are quite a few missionaries here disguised as "English teachers".) Being the only foreigners on our campus, I'm just not used to seeing Caucasian faces. I did recognize a few people who I've met, seen on the street or at Carrefour. Those leading the services were primarily Dutch. It consisted of bible readings, lots of singing and a couple of talks. Surprisingly, no collection basket was passed or available. Over all, it was a nice service, but a bit too "I love Jesus, praise the Lord, evangelical" for my tastes. But I did learn that Easter is only two weeks away. I had no idea! I'm not sure how often I'll return, but do want to attend Easter Sunday services and bring G., C. and E.

Two Thumbs Up!

2008-03-06T07:06:00.000-05:00

That's the general consensus of our life in China. We're past the mid point...actually almost two-thirds done. Just about 15 weeks to go! On a scale of 1-10, here's our score card. A lot of high marks; our "complaints" are very minor.

The people - 10: The Chinese are a gracious, patient lot. Everyone we have met has been kind and understanding. For example, people make a fuss over the kids, offer us their seat on the bus and go to great lengths to help us understand and be understood.

The weather - 9: IMHO the Carribean climate is about as close to perfect as one can get, but Kunming also gets high marks. The temps are mild, and most days are sunny and dry. A Winter with no snow and no freezing temps?? Equals no complaining here!

Kunming and environs - 9: Kunming is a perfect fit for us. Being in southwestern China, it's laid back and a bit "backwards"; it still has an authentic Chinese flavor and feeling. And it's small enough to get around but big enough for exploring. Also, Kunming has just enough Western comforts to keep us sane! On the down side, it doesn't have a Catholic church like may of the larger cities do (which to me is surprising given its French history) and there is no organized ex-pat community. The area attracts the twenty-something student/backpacker crowd, among the various other ex-pat types.

The job - 9: I have wonderful students, colleagues and schedule. With a lot of freedom, the courses are truly my works of art. The only complaints are the little annoyances, such as having limted access to a photocopier. But again, minor details when looking at the big picture.

The apartment location - 10: We absolutely love the location - on campus. Easy commute - a 15 minute walk door to door: down four flights, walk through the gardens, continue walking through campus to my classroom building, and up four flights. It's also a ten minute walk to the kindergarten and equal distance to the main streets.

The apartment itself - 8: Living in China on a teacher's salary is a bit like camping: we have the necessities but lack some of the comforts. The apartment is quiet, clean and has ample space. Our biggest complaint is the bathroom, more specifically, the funky shower! It would be nice to have a microwave (too cheap to buy one), a large rug (ditto) and a clothes dryer (impossible). Small inconveniences, but still nice living conditions. But, we are looking forward to returning to our "luxurious" home!

The kids' school and experience - 9.5: Have I mentioned how thrilled we are with this aspect of China? ;) Since the number one reason to come here is to immerse the kids in the language, this is the area that satisfies us the most. Our one "complaint" is that we sometimes are not in the loop for information. But this is now better as our language skills and number of fellow parent friends increase. The kids enjoy attending and come home happy and tired. They understand and speak Chinese, and C. is learning to read and write. We couldn't be more pleased!

Did your kindergarten teacher hold you up like this?!

Potty Patrol

2008-03-04T07:20:00.000-05:00

No blog on Chinese life isn't complete unless there is an entry about the infamous "squat pots". Traveling around with two kids, we have seen more than our fair share of bathrooms - the good, the bad and the truly stinky . I no longer avoid them - when ya gotta go, ya gotta go! But I usually send G. in to report on the condiiton, then make my decision.

This is the typical model: I found that the key to staying dry afterwards, as a female, is to squat as low as possible. You must bring your own TP to put in a basket. As you can imagine, not everyone is a good aim, so it can be really yucky. These types of toilets are also in homes and dorms. With the custom of removing shoes at the door of someone's home, I can see why plastic shower shoes are needed to use the facilities.

A bathroom at the kids' school: The long trough on the right (one straddles it) is another style, generally seen in places where a lot of people use the bathroom. Usually there are partitions and doors for privacy, but the toilet is one long ditch with a sensor flush.

Seen in a stall in a McD's: McD's has both the Western and Chinese toilets. Westerners think the the squat is gross and the Chinese think it's disgusting that someone would sit bare where someone else previously sat!

Oh, the things we have needed to learn!

A Retreat from the World

2008-03-02T07:42:00.000-05:00

We had the best of intentions, but we failed to leave the apartment today. Took a morning shower, dressed, ate lunch...then quit moving! Nothing special was planned. We were thinking of going to the downtown Dico's to have a snack and coffee so the kids could enjoy the playscape. After lunch, the kids wanted to watch a DVD. (The last time they watched an English or Spanish DVD was in November. They prefer watching Mandarin language DVDs or the shows on tv.) Once the DVD was on, all interest (and there was little to begin with) to go to Dico's evaporated.

So I popped some corn and they watched their Shrek movies in Spanish and a few Thomas episodes in English. They were so cute : belting out the familiar, but haven't heard in ages, Thomas songs. While the kids were absorbed in the screen action, I read my O magazines and G. took a long nap (he was feeling under the weather today). After a five week vacation, I'm guessing the kids were experiencing a sensory overload of returning to all-day Chinese this past week. They probably couldn't tolerate another peep of Mandarin ! Come Monday morning, it's back to reality...

OT: Lesson Learned

2008-02-29T09:54:00.000-05:00

This post is entirely off topic as it has little to do about being in China. But I did want to share this story and hopefully it will prevent someone else avoid a hassle. Some of you may know that we were involved in a car accident in July 2007. You can read about the account in a blog entry posted in July.

Long story short, three weeks before departing for China, we were involved in a multi-car accident on I-294 in Illinois while G. was driving a rental car. We had a rental car because the a/c in our car (1996 Tauras) was out and it was going to be a hot (in the 90's) weekend. The Tauras should have been replaced a couple years back, but we decided to hang onto it until leaving for China. Since the Tauras was about twelve years old, I dropped the collision insurance on it a long time ago. That was a mistake. Since we had no collision insurance, our insurance company wouldn't cover the accident claim. And of course, I didn't purchase the optional rental car company insurance, assuming that because I had auto insurance, I'd be OK. The 2007 car was deemed "totaled" and we were billed thousands of dollars to replace the car. OMG!!!! So, after many, many emails and phone calls to Avis, talking with the at-fault driver's insurance company in Illinois, learning more than I ever want to know about the uniqueness of Michigan's no-fault policy, filling out endless forms and retelling our story over and over, our file was closed and paid in full in December. What saved us was having the rental on a VISA card. Thank you VISA! They will pay the claim if all the insurance companies bail on you. A multitude of thanks and gratitude to our dear, dear friend Susan B. who is taking care of our home, mail pick-up, etc. that we were able to get this nightmare resolved. Susan made numerous phone calls, dug up paperwork, and essentially was "me" doing all the legwork. Which brings up another lesson learned: if you are leaving the country, have a smart, reliable person in charge of your "back home life". I'm so glad that I just didn't rely on "some neighbor to pick up the mail".

Bottom line: (at least in Michigan)-If you rent a car, have collision insurance. If you don't have it, buy the rental company's insurance. Save yourself a major headache.

Back to School Week

2008-02-28T07:29:00.000-05:00

I love second semester....it's all downhill from here! We are ending the first week of semester two. About 80% of the students have returned to campus. The remainder are trickling in due to the backlog of people needing train travel. The effects of the severe winter storms are still being felt.

This term I have a wonderful schedule - no classes on Monday or Friday! Also, I have only two courses - Writing 2 (two sections) and Survey of English-Speaking Countries (three sections). I'm not sad to see the Oral/Speaking class gone (as it was my least favorite), but I will miss the energy and enthusiasm of those first year kids. In the Writing Class, the first half of the semester will be preparing the students for the writing section of the TEM-4 Exam (The English Majors Level 4 Exam) to be given on April 20. All English majors must pass this in order to get their BA degree. In the Survey class, we'll be covering the United Kingdom in the first half and ending with the United States. I'm learning right along with the students and I enjoy the class. But I admit, my favorite language subject to teach is writing.

A sure sign that the students are back: In the university district shops - TP galore on sale! There are also gobs of large plastic bowls (for laundry) and plastic bathroom/shower clogs.

C. and E. also returned to school this week. I think they are glad to be back on a schedule. (Well, Mom and Papi are glad to have the schedule return!) C.'s class will start learning to read. Today the teacher was introducing the tones of the Mandarin language. They'll also continue with single digit addition, science, geography and community concepts. E's class will continue with pre-reading skills, number and math readiness, and science, geography and community concepts. Both classes have art, music. P.E. and English.

This semester, the kids will attend an after-school enrichment class. We chose Origami/Paper Crafts. Chinese kids love this activity and there are books and more books available for all skill levels. The class choices were limited, but it actually worked out for the best. The other choices were English (nah, we'll pass on that), Music/Art (already part of the curriculum), and Dancing (only offered during the school day). So that left Origami, which would have been our first choice anyway. And luckily, it's held on the same day for the 4 year old and the 5 year old groups. This way, both kids will have a class on Thursday, but be in different classrooms. We have a busy and fun semester ahead of us!

Return Visit to the Zoo

2008-02-24T07:28:00.001-05:00

Since it was sunny and mild, we headed to the zoo to finish our tour from October. The warm air felt good and the temps at its peak reached nearly 70 degrees this afternoon. A wonderful day to be outside.

This peacock is in a show-off mood:

The aviary is home to many beautiful birds:

This contraption looked a bit scary to us! A quite large amusement park is situated on the zoo grounds. We keep on running into these things. Apparently, the Chinese love to ride!

Enjoying the sunshine:

Dinner at one of our favorite Chinese fast-food places. We don't know the name (it's on the door and we can't read it :), but we so enjoy the food. The four huge meals, plus the salads and tea pictured here cost less than $8 or 55 Yuan.

Everything but delicious Wisconsin cheese

2008-02-23T07:28:00.000-05:00

was in a package from our dear friends Marietta and Terry! All our favorites: snacks for the kids, Nescafe Clasico for G. and reading material (and M&M's) for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I know I go absolutely bonkers over every package, but that's how much it is appreciated and loved. BTW - the M&M's are in a medium size package. What does a large size look like?! I must be getting used to the Chinese micro-sizes!

G. had a soccer game, so my and the kids' plan for this afternoon was to go to the post office, get haircuts, then try out one of C.'s birthday gifts - a badminton set. We did get to the PO, but upon returning to campus, we made a stop at the apartment to open the package. Yes, we have very little willpower!

First things first: Dive into those snacks!

Birthday cards, snacks and animal crackers from Auntie and Uncle! Thanks for thinking of us!

Stopped for an ice cream treat on the way back from the barber - guess the snacks weren't enough... E. had her hair washed and loved it. (I forgot to bring the camera - must've been from the all the excitement:) G. was back from the game (and enjoying a cup of his Clasico coffee), so he and kids went to play badminton and I went in search of bread (@ JustHot) - you can see one of their bags in the photo - it's worth the mile to and from walk.

The Birthday Boy

2008-02-22T08:52:00.000-05:00

Happy 6th Birthday to our Carlitos! You are a most wonderful son, brother, grandson, godson, nephew, cousin and friend. Here's how Carlos Vincent Luis spent his special day:

Sharing presents with his sister: (E. decided she was a "big" kid too, and chose her outfit today :) Also, tomorrow we are going for the much needed haircuts to be ready for back-to-school Monday.)

Gotta have candles and cake!

Lunch at the restaurant of his choice: Dico's.

Enjoying his gift (a bank) from the Dico's staff. They also announced his name over the P.A. and played the birthday song.

Yesterday at age 5. Can you see the difference?! He told us that when he turned six, he wants to drink tea. That's the first thing he asked for this morning!

Black Dragon Pool Park & Lantern Festival

2008-02-21T08:03:00.000-05:00

Today's excursion found us on bus #9 heading to Longquan Mountain. The Black Dragon Pool Park consists of two main areas. The first included two temples, ponds, and reflective gardens. The second had several flower gardens, tea houses, an amusement park and a fishing hole. The temples were Taoist dating back to the Ming Dynasty and earlier. These were dedicated to the gods of nature (the elements and constellations)and there was not a Buddah in sight!

Today is the Lantern Festival or Yuan Xiao Jie. This is celebrated on the 15th day of the first lunar month and is the last day of the Chinese New Year. It's the first night to see the full moon of the new year. Many people make lanterns to be lit in the parks. People eat Yuanxiao (rice balls with salty or sweet fillings). This day is also the Chinese version of Valentine's Day: going out to dinner, giving flowers and candy. As I'm writing this tonight, the last of the fireworks and firecrackers are going full tilt. Nightly peace is returning.

The pool from above and we didn't see one dragon, let alone a black one!

Many archways graced the grounds:

The gods of lightning (l) and thunder (r):

The gods of wind (l) and rain (r):

A giant Mandarin character:

The Golden Temple - cont.

2008-02-20T10:06:00.000-05:00

"What's everyone looking at?"

"This." E. trying her luck in dropping a coin into the mouth of a stone fish. She was this close!

A rarity in China: A statue of a woman.

High up the bell tower offered some nice views of the city below:

We climbed many a step to view this serene image:

The Golden Temple

2008-02-20T08:25:00.001-05:00

On Monday afternoon we boarded bus #71 to visit a Taoist temple that dates back to 1671, hidden amid a pine forest on Phoenix Song Mountain. The complex also includes a bell tower, gardens and greenhouses. The grounds were so relaxing and the pines smelled so good.

On the mountain: the entrance to the temple. You can see the beginnings of the Spring blossoms.

Gonging of the bell:

The symbol of Kunming - a camellia. They're everywhere in various colors throughout the city.

Cacti in the greenhouse ready to blossom:

"Mountain climbing makes me hungry!"

Kunming City Museum

2008-02-18T08:03:00.000-05:00

Sorry to not have posted earlier, but Blogger has been giving me problems lately. Since we returned from our travels, we have been laying low. The kids had a cold/bronchial thing for a couple of weeks (another trip to the clinic, but was given some fantastic Chinese herbal cough syrup), then the weather turned colder with rain, which made us lazy on getting out and about. We've been quite spoiled by the blue skies and sunshine of December and January, so the rain must mean Spring is coming soon.

On Sunday we ventured to the Kunming City Museum and learned many things about our adopted hometown. Kunming has a long history, but it really came into being (and had a name change) around 1400 A.D at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, hence the "Ming" in Kunming.

The pride and joy of the museum - an early Ming era pillar:

Kunming/Yunnan Province was known for its bronze wares. 1400 of the 1600 known bronze drums like this one has been discovered in Yunnan.

C. thought this Yunnanasaurus was cool, unlike his sister, who, when walked into the exhibit room, took one look and bolted towards the exit!

Examples of Ming era Kunming pottery:

Know of a car for sale?

2008-02-12T10:29:00.000-05:00

We'll be home in 19 weeks, so I might as well start (who am I kidding?!)- continue obsessing on planning for our return. We are in need of a car. First thought is to buy a budget car (under 3K). This car would eventually be our second car (lucky G.) and will be the primary car for a month or two. Not fussy on make, model or year as long it's in good shape and runs well. The second option is to go ahead and purchase our main car. We're thinking a 2004-2006 Focus wagon, Vibe or something similiar and possibly considering a (gasp!) minivan. Please spread the word. If you know someone who is interested in selling a car late June, please let us know. Thanks!

Some family news: G.'s youngest sister Isabel and husband Hugo, along with their sons Hugito and Joaquin announced the arrival of Vicente Alfredo, born January 14, 2008 in Antofagasta, Chile. He is Abuelita Rosa's 25th grandchild. Welcome Vicho!

All my fears about living in China

2008-02-09T08:06:00.000-05:00

have never materialized! This is what was keeping me up nights about a year ago (in no particular order).

Bugs, bugs and more bugs: After learning that we'd be in Kunming, close to Vietnam (which conjured up images of jungles), I imagined sharing our humble home with the creep-y and crawl-y variety. We've only seen one bug in the apartment and much to our relief, we have screens on all the windows.

Filth, filth and more filth: Much to our surprize, China, in general, is fairly clean. Public areas are not as clean as we would like, but it's not too bad. People regularly use public wastebaskets and streets, stores and the like are constantly being swept out. There are armies of sweepers everywhere, unlike the U.S., where a machine does the job. I have found (though G. will vehemently disagree (!)) that the public spaces in China are much cleaner than those in Latin America.

The kids wouldn't adjust: And just who loves school, life in general and speaks/understands Mandarin? Now, that was a waste of a worry!

I'd hate my job: The job is wonderful! I have great students, a fantastic schedule and complete autonomy. My only "complaint" is that it isn't that much of challenge. G. is now teaching English to 5 people, involved in soccer and loves exploring the mysteries of the Chinese language, customs and culture.

Living on campus would be suffocating: Living on campus has been the best thing about being in Kunming. It's quiet, pretty, private and a 10 minute walking commute. The apartment is decent, we enjoy having the dining halls available for meals, and the kids' school is on campus. We love being part of the university community.

The language barrier will do us in: Learning Mandarin is certainly a challenge, but we're making progress. Looking back to August, it's amazing what we now can say and read! People bend over backwards to help us understand. Also, several students, colleagues and neighbors have come to our "limguistic rescue".

Now off to dreamland...

New Year Eve Fun

2008-02-06T09:26:00.000-05:00

The Camellia Hotel hosted an activity evening to ring in the new year.

This talented artist only charges about 70 cents for one of his colorful flour creations:

The kids loved the "grab a marble with chopsticks" game:

Making dumplings is serious business for these two:

C. showing off his dumpling design skills:

Time to eat all that hardwork! Having dumplings on new year's eve is a tradition we can do and enjoy. Gong Xi Fa Cai everyone!

Adios Pig, Hello Rat!

2008-02-06T08:54:00.000-05:00

The Chinese New Year (on February 7 this year) is like Halloween (lots of sweets), Thanksgiving (families travel near and far), Christmas (gift giving) and Fourth of July (mega fireworks) combined.

Bye-bye Piggy. Many pig images were in the trash today:

Welcome Mr. Rat (or Mr. Mouse):

New Year greetings by this friendly crew:

Need a new year wish to hang on your door, wall, rearview mirror?

Sugarcane is a popular treat:

Taking the long way home

2008-01-31T08:37:00.000-05:00

In reality, the scheduled 18 hour train ride from Chengdu to Kunming took our train 19.5 hours. Although long, it was a nice way to travel. We were able to see some of the countryside and small towns of southwest China.

C. enjoyed stretching out on his bunk. With the yin and yang nature of our kids, C. slept like a rock from 9pm to 7am. The train made a stop about every hour throughout the night. E. woke up screaming every time and had a restless night.

E. made friends with the girl in the next set of bunks. Most of the passengers were families and single men heading home for the new year holiday.

We've been back about a week now, catching up with laundry, grocery shopping and just kicking back. It's good to feel the warmer temps and see the sun once again. The kids also have a cold/respiratory thing going on, so we're taking it easy. We still have about three weeks until school starts up and plan to visit some sights in and around Kunming.

The Giant Pandas

2008-01-31T07:49:00.000-05:00

The highlight of being in Chengdu is visiting the Giant Panda Breeeding Research Base. Lucky for us, the bears were wide awake and hungry, so we were able to see many. The cool temps (mid twenties) also helped. The most fun part was viewing the nursery where the bears are about a year old. They put on quite a playful show for us. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed.

E. and especially C. were thrilled to finally see the pandas up close. We've been looking forward to this part of the trip for months.

These bears are teenagers/young adults and like their human counterpart, a main activity is eating - a lot.

This is a red panda, much smaller and faster moving than his black and white cousins:

Here we are starting our morning in front of the kindergarten area. We were at the center until noon. Can't come to Chengdu and not see the pandas!

Chengdu - Part 2

2008-01-30T07:35:00.001-05:00

More hands-on fun at the Science and Technology Museum: Notice the wearing of hats and coats. Heat in a museum is not a high priority!

Water + Fun = Learning

Bubble Making:

Chengdu - Part 1

2008-01-29T07:52:00.001-05:00

While Chongqing evoked images of Chicago, Chengdu reminded us of Kansas City - flat land with mostly lowrise, squared buildings. Starting on day 2, the temperature dropped and the precipitation increased, leaving us with temps in the high 20s and seeing snowflakes.(Later we heard a news report that Chengdu hadn't had snow in a decade. The lowest temps normally are in the mid thirties). There were several outdoor sights (i.e. parks and temples) to take in, but we opted to stay indoors as much as possible. Chengdu is near to Tibet and several influences of Tibetan culture is evident. Outside of the city one can see the mountain ranges. We were impressed with Chengdu, a very vibrant city making it a nice place to visit or live.

The main square: Looks like we were traveling with our own "mini Mao".

We spent almost one full day at the Chengdu Science and Technology Museum - a very informative, fun place.

Two future mathematicians testing a theorm using sand. (Don't ask - I didn't understand the explanation given!)

Our "third kid" getting height and weight measured by this colorful butterfly:

Chongqing continued

2008-01-28T10:43:00.001-05:00

Meeting of the Jiliang and Yangzi Rivers:

A city scene over the Yangzi River:

At the 1000 year old Arhat Temple: C. has been intriqued with Buddah since he first saw a statue. (Maybe he was a monk in a previous life??!) He asked if he could "kneel and bend my head like the Chinese". Maybe I should rethink those First Communion plans! (LOL-not a chance Buddah!)

One of many altars representing a few of the 500 plus images of Buddah:

Some inside artwork:

Chongqing

2008-01-28T09:59:00.000-05:00

This city is so different in almost every aspect from Kunming. An added bonus was that the hotel was wonderful, the food was delicious, and because of the hilly terrain, no bikes! (Which means we only had to dodge four-wheeled vehicles to avoid being run over!) Unfortunately, we never did connect with Serena, which was disappointing. But Chongqing didn't disappoint.

The weather was cool - in the low forties, with perpetually overcast skies.

The Jialing River looking north:

This part of the city is built along the ancient Huangpo Cave dwellings. The city in general reminded us of Chicago in December. Must have beeen the combination of skyscrapers close together, the rivers and the cool temps.

Looking up from what now occupies the caves:

Stopping at Starbucks was a treat! The infamous coffee shop hasn't graced Kunming yet.

Stay tuned....We're on the road

2008-01-16T08:25:00.000-05:00

We will be back in about a fortnight. We are traveling January 17 - 27 to Sichuan Province. We're not taking the laptop with us (traveling with two kids is enough to look after), so I'll write posts and upload photos when we return.

Christmas cards are continuing to arrive. Real mail! Thanks Marietta and Terry, Aggie, Carmen, Kate & Jim, Terry M., and Linda G. Also thanks to those who sent us a card at our U.S. address. We will most certainly enjoy reading them in July.

Gotta go and pack....

Funday Monday

2008-01-14T09:00:00.001-05:00

We have a "kitty" and a "puppy" in the house:

And their names begin with E. and C.: The kids came home from school with these masks.

A family portrait drawn in school by C. From left to right: Mommy, Papi, MeiMei (little sister) and Gege (big brother). The parents are holding bowls of rice; the kids are holding pumpkin (C.'s favorite) pie - and lots of it! Not fair! But we are all smiles about it!

A birthday gift: I've been eyeing a traditonal Chinese-style jacket for a while. Here's the perfect gift any Mom would love - being woken up to the kids singing "Happy Birthday" - in 3 languages.

A Ho-Hum (?) Weekend

2008-01-13T08:10:00.000-05:00

We had a non-eventful weekend (which is probably an oxymoron when you are a foreigner in China). G. played soccer both days as the teams are winding down the season. With the universities ending for the semester and the Chinese New Year approaching, many of the team members are or will be traveling. Matches resume late February. The kids needed new shoes, so I and the kids headed downtown to make that purchase, lunched at Dicos and enjoyed the playscape, then stopped at Carrefour to pick up a few things. As usual, on the weekend, the store is mobbed. We couldn't help but notice a big commotion (i.e. more than the normal insanity) going on in the books/media section. Many people were gathered, pointing and talking excitedly. There in the middle of all this, stood a very bewildered-looking (and probably somewhat frightened) African couple trying to edge themselves to the exit. Upon seeing that, E. said, "I think those people want to go home now". She most likely was right! Looks like they picked the wrong time to check out Carrefour!

As we were getting ready to start our day on Saturday, we heard some banging, pounding, and several male voices shouting. Then the electricity was cut. We opened the apartment door and saw this:

The meters were being taken out of the building. Everyone has their own meter right outside their door. Ahh, so that was the notice that was posted on the entrance all week. Oh, the annoyances and perils of illiteracy!

When we returned a few hours later, the spot looked like this:

Wonder if it'll be smoothed over and painted? LOL! We're not counting on it. The hallway of the building looks like it has only seen one coat of paint - the original one!

Our new meter now keeps company with the others in the building two floors down. We are #404. To our Wisconsin friend TJ the Electrician: May we have your professional opinion? Is this new or old technology?

See what I mean about "non-eventful"?!

Final Exams

2008-01-10T07:01:00.000-05:00

It's that time again on campus. Exams are given over a two week period, followed by one week for teachers to get grades turned in. Then the semester is officially over. I was able to give two (Oral English and Writing 1) of my three finals during the last week of December (last week of classes). The third course, Survey of English-Speaking Countries was given during the set examination schedule. (BTW - this is my favorite course. Who would have thought that I would enjoy preparing and giving a 90 minute lecture on the ecomony of New Zealand or the governmental structure of Australia?!) Since there are three sections of the course, help was given to administer the exams in the needed rooms. Two proctors were assigned to each section and the section with me, also had two proctors.

Finals are serious business. Purses, bags, books were left in front of the room. Each student had their photo ID on the desktop. The exam was printed out in a special format on a particular style of paper. The students were given another special type of paper to write their answers (comparable to the U.S. BlueBook system). Then there were certain procedures for collecting the exams. Also, more set procedures for turning in the exams and grades, including the use of a special pen! All this for an English class at a third-tier university. One would've thought it was a high stakes exam like the SAT or GRE. But, in fairness, the final exam is high stakes for the students. It counts for 70% of the course grade (university policy).

One of the proctors assigned to me was a hoot. I'll refer to him as "Captain Military aka CM". He had quite the "Napoleon complex" - all 5 foot (if that) of him (he only came up to my shoulder)! He either stood at attention or marched up and down the aisles for the two hours. About three-fourths way through the allotted time, a student was near tears. She suddenly realized that she was writing the answers (it was a short-answer question format) on the wrong side of the paper. CM marched over to her and was talking sternly. I surmised he was saying she had to start over on the "correct" side. I, then walked over and told her "No, you do not need to rewrite your answers. I will accept the paper". The other proctor, who knew just enough English to understand, set CM straight (after all, it's my course). The student was relieved and CM was probably thinking "softie foreigner"!

About half-way through the exam time, two young women came to the door and summoned me and the two proctors. We signed a paper and each of us were handed 20 Yuan (about $2.50). I can understand the proctors getting a little something for their time, but me? For proctoring my own exam?! Well, thanks, that'll buy a Western breakfast, two large beers or better yet, two manicures. Hmmm, maybe a beer and a manicure after all that grading is done and turned in!

Button-poppin' time!!

2008-01-08T09:55:00.000-05:00

A story to share:

Returning from our excursion to Dali, we had about a fifteen minute walk from the bus stop to our apartment. Usually, whenever we walk to/from anywhere, E. grabs G.'s hand and C. holds mine the whole distance. But, this time, as soon as we got inside the campus gate, C. and E. broke free and started walking with their arms around each other. This is a very common scenario, friends (girls with girls, boys with boys, girls and boys) of all ages walk around this way. As the kids were walking, they spoke Mandarin to each other the entire way home - and still with their arms around each other - up the four flights of stairs - just chatting and laughing, absorbed in their own little world. Real Chinese! E. usually will speak to people on the bus, etc. in Chinese, but this is the first time C. spoke Mandarin in front of us! His teacher told us he speaks to her and his classmates in Chinese all the time. Almost 4 months of language immersion and so impressive. We are so proud of their willingness to try and positive attitude. Payoff! - this is why we made the sacrifice to come to the unknown.

Malinda, whose blog Xiamen Adventure that I followed last year, commented that after one semester in a Chinese preschool, her daughters were beginning to really take off in the language. And now, we are hearing those same sweet sounds. The kids cheerfully go to school everyday without a complaint. They speak Chinese during the day, and when returning at night, switch to Spanish with G. and English with me, all with ease. Our kids are on the way to being trilingual. The hardest part will come - maintaining and expanding the three languages once we're home. But you bet, as language teachers, we have a plan in mind.

Dali - Part 2

2008-01-08T09:09:00.001-05:00

Dali is a city that has some preserved cobbled streets and traditional stone architecture within its old walls. Outside the Old City's Nan Men (South Gate):

Part of the Wall and Gate:

A scene within the Wall:

Fruits of Yunnan Province for sale:

Traditional Bai restaurants display the ingredients that you choose for your meal. We had delicious huge bowls of noodle soup - I like a vegetable base and G. prefers a meat base - here. Another meal we enjoyed was at a Japanese/Vietnamese/Thai restaurant. I enjoyed a good size plate of tempura for $2. We enjoyed every meal we had!

Dali - Part 1

2008-01-08T08:04:00.000-05:00

In short, we had a wonderful respite. Dali is a four hour bus ride west of Kunming. It's a popular vacation spot; it offers mountains, lakes, warm sunny weather and delicious food. I was mistaken about the snow-capped mountains. One needs to travel to Lijiang - four hours further to higher elevation to see snow.

This is a typical 3 star Chinese hotel room. It's very clean, comfortable, and includes breakfast. At breakfast, we shared a table with a Russian couple and their two young daughters who were touring southern China during their Orthodox Christmas holiday. Depending on the season and location, this type of hotel runs from $20-$50 per night. A comparable Western name hotel goes for 5 times the cost!

One of the views from the hotel we enjoyed. The building is one of three of the hotel complex. That's Changshan Mountain (4000 meters) facing west and facing east was the vast Erhai Lake.

We were also located next to the Qianxun Pagodas and Chongsheng Temple which were built in the mid 9th century.

The main inhabitants of the region are the Bai, who number about 1.5 million. This lovely lady checked us in.

These young Bai women are dressed in the traditonal formal style:

Six-Six

2008-01-05T08:04:00.000-05:00

We are starting our sixth month in China and have six more months to go! Time is flying and we have so much more to see, do and learn. The target date to be home is June 25, give or take a few days.

FYI - the buzz is The Party hacks are up to their ol' tricks. If you don't see a post for a while that means the routes to blogs have been shut down. We have been lucky so far and even had access to Blogger for a week or two. (One needs to go through the "back door" to post and read blogs.) The concept of free speech hasn't exactly been embraced by the Authority. We just heard that Skype (internet phone service) will be compromised by the end of the month. And by coincidence maybe (?), our cable tv service is "out of order" today! Cable tv doesn't offer too much, but it does have one English language news/arts channel and two or three kids' channels (Mandarin) that C. and E. enjoy. Sigh...these are the times we long for life in "the land of the free and the home of the brave".

We're off to Dali Sunday morning for a three day trip and will post when we return.

Planes, Trains and Busses

2008-01-02T07:50:00.000-05:00

Our plans for getting out of Kunming and exploring a little bit of China is fast approaching. On January 17, we're headed to Sichuan Province (the province just to the north of Yunnan). First stop is Chongqing (less than 90 minutes by plane). It's a big city with plenty to do and see, but our primary reason for visiting is to see Serena and her family. Serena is an English teacher we hosted for six weeks during the summer of 2006. She and her husband now have a baby and it'll be wonderful to see her again and meet her family. On January 21 we will take a 5 hour bus ride west to Chengdu. Chengdu is home to the famous giant pandas. Carlos especially (major panda fan) can't wait for that part of the trip. Then on the 25th, we will board a train for the 18 hour trip back to Kunming. This will be the first train ride for the kids. And we are anxious to see some of western China's landscape.

When we return, we will have a month more of vacation time (classes resume February 25). There are several sights near Kunming that take a full day to do, so in February, we plan to see as much of those as possible. The Chinese New Year is a two week holiday starting Febraury 7. Travel is difficult and expensive during this time and that's why we opted to stay local. On February 8, a fellow CCC colleague from Shanghai will be traveling through the area and it'll be nice to catch up with Helene. Maybe other people we know might be coming through, as Kunming is the gateway for very scenic Yunnan province.

Because of my schedule (classes ended December 28, but have a final exam to administer on January 10), we have a three day trip planned for January 6-8 to nearby Dali. We will see snow where it belongs - on mountain tops!

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T08:56:00.001-05:00

May you have joy, peace and prosperity throughout 2008! New Year's Day is an official holiday, but the real New Year begins February 7, aka Chinese New Year. We were downtown in the afternoon and the mood was festive on December 31. We then spent the evening watching the various televised conceerts. At midnight, the university community (most likely majority students) gathers in the library square and from our apartment we heard the screaming of "...wu, si, san, er, yi...Xinnian Kuai Le!!". We then saw and heard twenty minutes of fireworks coming from every part of Kunming. On tv at midnight, with a huge log, a gong was rammed 12 times, then President Hu Jintao spoke for about ten minutes.

These nifty hats were had at Green Lake a couple of weeks ago.

Our little Miss all dolled up for the holiday and for her 4 year 9 month birth"day" (the first of the month). E. is really into all the available hair doodads. Unfortunately, her mother, who inherited from her mother, the inability to do anything with hair. Thankfully, we have Papi...

Is it 3 o'clock already? Here's G. enjoying a cup of his Clasico coffee. We just came back from a nice lunch out.

"Hmmm? What? Something burning? Kids playing in traffic? Yeah, yeah, ok..." Hey, for us, old news is new news!

More Michigan Angels!

2007-12-30T10:53:00.000-05:00

We went to the main post office today to pick up not one, not two, but three packages! Was this a good day or what?! The downtown post office (post offices and banks are open seven days) is where the international packages sit until the lucky recipients show up with passports to claim them. The kids (and the big kids, too) couldn't wait to get home to tear into these. Here's what thrilled us:

A big, big THANK YOU to our good friends Jeni, Mike, Nicolas, Alex and Baby Grace for all our favorites. C. and E. love the Scooby snacks, fruit snacks, graham cracker treats, mac/cheeses and magazines. G. is happy beyond belief to have his Nescafe Clasico again (2 jars worth, no less), and I, of course, live for my papers and magazines (btw, those M&Ms are all mine!).

The kids received this wonderful package of goodies from their godparents (and cousins) Stephanie and Cody. What a wonderful surprize! Included were new sweatshirts (everyone is probably getting tired of seeing them in photos wearing the same ol' ones), lots of sweets, some neat toys, cool Christmas themed things and the Shrek the Third DVD (they have the the first two Shrek movies memorized in English and Spanish!). THANK YOU/MUCHAS GRACIAS! Your godchildren absolutely love and adore both of you!

Hugs and kisses to all our angels from G.A.C.E!!

Kindergarten Olympics

2007-12-29T07:51:00.000-05:00

To celebrate the new year and to commemorate the upcoming Beijing 2008 Olympics, the Kindergarten held its own version in the fieldhouse on campus Saturday morning.

Opening ceremonies: including the national anthem, required speeches from dignitaries and the parade of athletes walking the outdoor track.

E.'s favorite event - she's been practicing for weeks!

Roll on C.!

The ball toss in a basket was popular with the four year olds.

Preparing for the "wheelbarrow" event: C. and his Papi "took the gold"!