Has anyone seen my husband?

We have an announcement.
We are expecting...



a bike to join our family.

I tell you, putting one of these things together is quite involved. Her name is Jamis Dakar. Not that I know anything about cross country/mountain bikes but it is some full suspension something or rather and I do know that now it is up to me to tell you what's going on in our lives now because Jason has apparently moved in to the bike store with his new best friend who can speak remarkably good English (therefore giving him the monopoly on all foreign sales in our city). Anyway, its been a fairly busy week for us, between being famous (we were in the newspaper and I was on the local tv station or so I'm told) and getting physical exams done for our visas, English corners, blah blah blah. Jason keeps promising he’ll write, but…ah yes, he’s at the bike store. I’m not knocking it – he’s making some good friends and getting involved in a group that goes out riding regularly. I’m just wishing he didn’t roll with such an expensive crowd and wondering if I’ll see him much after this. If anyone wants to donate to the ‘Get Rachel a Mountain Bike (so she can see her husband from time to time)” cause, please let me know!

So we went to Minzu Square earlier this week to watch what we thought was going to be traditional Chinese dancing. No. Apparently everyone in China, men and women alike, are mad about ballroom dancing. And they think the rest of the world is too. And that foreigners are impressive dancers. So imagine their confusion when we tell them we cannot dance. The newspaper reporter did not believe us and wasn’t about to let us go without dancing for them (they wanted to take our photo and put it in the local newspaper). So we put aside all inhibitions and took to the floor. And this is how we looked...


Well I wish -- I have copy of the newspaper pic and if I could post it I would!  I look like I'm about die laughing!



So the next day, we roll up to the little visa medical centre to get our physicals done for our student visas. Our friends told us that most everyone speaks English there and we’d be fine. Well thankfully one of our other friends was able to come down with us because apparently everyone who spoke English was on vacation that day! So after the initial confusion with filling out paper work, we go off to get our blood taken. I survived. Jason nearly passed out. Then its off to get pee samples. Now if you refer back to one of my previous entries about the squatty potties and if you’re a girl, you’ll appreciate how difficult it is to pee over a squatty into a tiny disposable plastic cup without spilling it or dropping the whole thing down the loo. And this isn’t a regular western pee sample cup either. It's easily broken, has your number written with a Sharpie/Niko pen on the side and has no lid. Then you have to carry it upstairs (with no lid). And put it on the table filled with everyone else’s pee samples (all with no lids).
So that was the grossest part. The weirdest part was the ECG where the lady kind of went ahead and tried to pull my shirt up with all these men in the room (and Chinese men are rather inquisitive) and stick little suction caps all over my chest. Jason shooed them all out (I had visions of Anna and the King of Siam where the ladies of the court ask her to lift her skirt because they want to know if she is shaped the same way). I had to get an ultra-sound (which they did after the x-ray) and no surprises there!  I think it was more for my kidneys. The nurse managed enough English to tell Jason that his heart beats slow. Other than that, we apparently came out with a good bill of health. So its off to the school to register bright and early Monday morning!



Now the English corner. Imagine a ratio of 5 non-native speakers to 1 native English speaker for 3 hours and you have some idea of the evening. It was pretty exhausting but a lot of fun. One of our friends here is a student at the art college. Her winter break assignment was to do a performance so she held an English corner at a small bar while she sang. They tell us that getting people to show up for these things is NEVER an issue and I came out with at least 3 job offers (not real ones but the teachers keep begging us to come meet their school principals) and multiple offers to take me shopping (apparently I am going to have to get over my dislike of shopping with people). One girl noticed I was wearing thongs (the type that go on your feet – flip flops for you non-Australians) and offered to specifically take me shoe shopping. They do love their shoes here. The higher the heel, the better. They can even climb mountains in stilettos, but that’s another story.

And lastly (if you are still reading!) happy Valentines days to all you lovers and love birds and loveables! We flew a kite and lit up a wishing lantern in the park. You set it on fire and the much like a hot air balloon, it rises and disappears into the sky (hopefully it doesn’t collide with any satellites). What can I say? At night the park is definitely for lovers! This being the first time we’ve gone for a walk at night in the park since the weather is so much warmer, we were a little unprepared for the open displays of affection that we witnessed between couples of all shapes, sizes, and degrees of straightness. Mostly its shocking because the Chinese are not an overly affectionate culture – especially between guys and girls. Although its not uncommon to see a girl hold hands with another girl (or guys for that matter) just because they are friends. Apparently all those protocols go out the window on the 14th of February! I think we were blushing sometimes but I’d be lying if I said we didn’t do our fair share of kissing too! Now I promise the next entry won’t be so long…maybe Jason will write about his bike. This picture's for you Vik! I know how much you love these ones!