We finally figured this whole video thing out and are able to show you our apartment, so enjoy!

The past few weeks here have been nice. I mean like real nice. Walking-around-in-shorts-and-a-t-shirt-and-sandals-until-9-or-10-at-night kind of nice. I made the mistake of getting used to it. I thought the weatherman was catering the forecasts for me. Then this week started. It came subtly, with a few breezes. The breezes were quite nice, actually, allowing us to take part in the kite flying culture here.

And then before I know it, I'm back to wearing jeans. I actually had to find them, that's how long I had been wearing shorts. I know most you reading this are probably not feeling too sympathetic, if at all. I don't blame you. And I don't expect sympathy. I just felt like writing and all I had to go on was the title. It seemed fitting. But the funny part is, paradise is more a state of contentment than a place. When I remember that, I don't seem to mind so much putting an extra layer of clothing on, or having to find my jeans, or socks for that matter. I do mind when I think that some people may not experience paradise. Some people eat the lie that paradise is a place and wherever that place is, it is not here. Lies. I write this more as a reminder to myself than a teaching. For at times, I have eaten those lies. They are like the breeze, they come subtly. And before you know it, paradise is lost. How do I find that which is lost? I open my closet and find my jeans.

Jason

What do you call a vegetarian who goes back to eating meat?

-Someone who lost their veg-inity!

Never fear my fellow veggies, I am still pursuing my vegetarianism but I got ta tell ya -- its a lot harder than I thought it would be in China!  Eating out was never so complicated!  Ai yi yi!  But I found a really good Halal noodle resturant the other day -- 4 yuan a bowl which is about 50 cents.  No matter where you come from that's super cheap!  Yeah!  I can eat at somewhere other than the night market!!! 

So I went for a walk by myself this morning (read: by myself; read: without Jason; read: where was Jason?  Out riding his new baby...).   It wasn't an exciting walk.  I walked around the Nanhu Park right down the road from my flat (that's "apartment" for you Americans).  Apparently it was exciting for some people though.  

I don't usually have a problem with people staring at me.  Selfishly I guess, it kinda makes me feel important.  Like, I'm maybe the only white person they have ever seen!  Or, maybe I'm the prettiest white person they've ever seen!  (Read: vain and conceited I'll admit it.)  Or maybe they're wondering how she got such a handsome husband!  (Well, that was before the bike...). But sometimes, it does irk me.  Like the other day, when it was stinking hot and I was sweating waiting at the bus stop for 30 minutes and a guy leans out of the bus window (of the bus that was not mine) and yells "Foreigner!" and proceeds to snap as many photos of me as he can before the bus takes off (I'd tell you what they say in Mandarin but I can't spell it nor can I find my phrase book right now.  It sounds something like "Wy Goren".  I know I spelled that completely wrong...sorry).  Really, at 3pm when 28 C seems like 35 C cause the humidity is at some 70%, I am really not at my most photogenic (that translates to ridiculously hot and sweaty for the North Americans).  I am also not really very photogenic when I'm power-walking around the lake in upwards of 70% humidity either.  So don't coast your bike alongside me and give your grandson a geography lesson.  For a good 10 minutes.  My hat is off to you for be able to maintain walking speed on your bicycle for that long but really, is it completely necessary to make me have to practically run to get a head of you???  

Like it or not, whatever we do here, we have an audience!  And people talk about us all the time. Its almost like in that movie 'Stranger than Fiction'...I swear they are narrating our life. Sometimes, we'll go into a shop, and when we look to the door, there's a small crowd of people watching us (who'd have thought buying postcards could be so interesting?).  Or imagine us going for a walk, only to look several metres behind and see a growing posse of curious locals following the foreigners...whatever will we do next?  Really, we live the most exciting lives in the world!  Bet you never knew we were so important!

We started the process of enrolling for school!  We're now in the process of being approved for a student visa so we'll be keeping ya updated on that!

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!