New Combined Blog

Kevin and I are starting a combined blog. I will no longer be posting on this blog, but will begin posting on the new blog. So change your "favorites" list (Come on, you know I'm on there :) so you can find the new address, which is:
http://ruvin2007.blogspot.com

Can you believe that someone already had the address "ruvin"? What kind of people are these?
Anyway, I hope you will enjoy keeping up with us in this upcoming year. Do remember that just because you read about my life doesn't mean I have any idea what is going on in yours! So be sure to email sometimes and catch me up!

All Eyes on the Olympics

ZG Briefs sends out free weekly updates on China news, and they will be sending out two special Olympic news editions which I think will be quite interesting. I would encourage you to check it out. You can sign up by going to www.zgbriefs.com.

On August 8, 2008, at 8pm, the world's attention will be focused on Beijing, as the 2008 Olympics Opening Ceremonies begin. Perhaps more than previous Olympics, China has closely linked it's self-image and perceived standing in the world to these Games. Beyond the sport, there will be many interesting stories being played out: the environment, the security, the reaction and effect of the Games on the lives of ordinary Beijingers. The ZGBriefs team will be producing two special editions for the Olympics, on August 14 and 21, with article summaries and links to articles and blogs that will help you understand the larger context of the Games.

I would also recommend that you keep an eye on the blog of a friend living in Beijing. She has lived in China for many years, so she always has lots of interesting (and funny) insights. Recently, many of these insights have been Olympic related, and I think you would enjoy them.

Jumping Around

I told Kevin last night, "we have just been in too many different worlds in too many different places with too many different people." I thought of The Magician's Nephew with the transition place with all the lakes leading to different worlds. I feel as though I have been jumping from one lake (and world) to the next, only the in between place is more like a busy airport than a sleepy-calm woods. I am starting to feel geographically displaced and mentally confused. Our lives look like this:

Pasadena->
Kevin's parents (7 days) ->
Wheaton (3 weeks) ->
Kevin's parents (1 day) ->
Ward Lake (5 days) ->
Kevin's parents (4 days) ->
Ruth's parents (4 days) ->
Hilton Head beach (7 days) ->
Ruth's parents (9 days) ->
China

In other words, we have gotten lots of practice with packing and repacking and unpacking and repacking seemingly every few days. Good thing I like my new suitcase.
Granted, all of these travels have been good so far. Our time at Wheaton went well (i.e. I stayed much more sane than last summer). The classes (Theology, History, and Research) were much better than I thought they might be, and we had an Australian professor with a nice accent who kept saying, "Take it easy." Of course, the best part was getting to hang out with friends, and it was a shame that classes got in the way of that so much. We were living right next door to Matt and Corrine, so we had a great time pretending like we were teammates again. I got to hang out with a lot of friends I hadn't seen since last summer. Sitting in class, I thought, "I have probably never been in a class before where I liked and was friends with so many people." It's a fun group, with everyone still pretty crazy from Asia. When not in classes or taking long naps (the major part of our days), we went to an excellent performance at a jazz club in Chicago, saw Iron Man, and ate yummy food with friends. I also got to eat ice cream, aqua-jog for the first time (lots of laughter involved), walk all over Wheaton while catching up with friend's lives and drama, and buy a hat, which was very handy for...
Camping.
When we got back to California we whisked off to Ward Lake, a favored spot in the High Sierras to go camping with Kevin's family and some friends from the church. The area was beautiful and secluded (accessible by 1 hour on a bumpy 1-lane mountain road). It a little peaceful lake right in the middle of the mountains. I had never been camping longer than overnight before, so I was a little hesitant about 5 days with no showers. This camping trip had a marvelous addition from my previous ones however: an air mattress. Makes all the difference. It was really nice to sit around and not have to do anything besides take an occasional walk around the lake, read another book, or take another nap. We lay out on the rocks at night looking at the stars and listening to the silence.
Somehow, after all that sleep and relaxing, by the time we got back here I was tired again. Perhaps it is just the thought of all the adjustment still ahead and the underlying stress of everything that has already changed. Adaptability is definitely a weak point for me. I keep feeling like I am forgetting something. Maybe it is something I need to do before we leave or something I need to pack or what my address is or which time zone I'm in. If you have any information that might be useful in helping me remember where I am and what I'm supposed to be doing, let me know.

Summer Rain

I was on an after dinner walk with a friend. We walked up and down the streets of Wheaton, IL past the quaint brick houses with their carefully tended yards. It is a town of window boxes and lemonade stands and American flags.

As we walked, it began to rain. Gently at first, light drops filtered through the trees. Then thicker and faster until it was running down our faces. We could hear it rustling through the trees overhead and whish under car tires. It was a summer rain, cool and refreshing against the warm air. We saw no need to hurry. I felt cleansed and alive, like the earth was quietly accepting me.

When I came back to our third floor apartment, the rain was pattering on the roof. It is a beautiful sound. I realized how I have missed rain this year. It doesn’t rain much in California and when it does…it’s different. It seems more desperate, more violent, less natural, like the rain is uncomfortable with falling in an unfamiliar place. I have missed the gentle summer rain showers that quietly come and go and soak into a welcoming earth. I have missed the sound of rain on the roof.

The rain became harder and thicker, hammering now. Falling in sheets. Swirling around on the pavement. Drumming the trees whose leaves hang limp. The trees sway. The clouds shift and a crack of light is revealed.

The rain slows and then stops, and the earth is still again. The sun falls away behind the trees and a wet dusk settles in. I can’t help thinking that the earth, the trees, the roofs, the pavement – they must feel content, they must feel blessed. That is the effect of a summer rain.

Moving

We are moving out in approximately one hour, and I am writing a blog because we are officially set and ready to go! We are just waiting around for our move out appointment. One hour extra time. That’s pretty good.

Everything is clean. We scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom and baseboards and trash cans. I got down on my hands and knees and scrubbed the kitchen floor, which I haven’t thoroughly cleaned since, well, since ever. I’ve never seen such a clean place, if I do say so myself. It’s a rather satisfying feeling. But then I am one of those people who gets a kick out of cleaning and things away.

Everything is packed. Our little Honda is loaded from top to bottom and all the little cracks in between. It is so packed that if you open a door everything falls out. The last backpack will fit in under my feet. When we looked at the huge pile of boxes and suitcases in the living room yesterday, I really didn’t think it would fit. I said, “Maybe the car is bigger than it looks,” and what do you know – it is. Good old Honda who still needs a name.

It helps that all the furniture stays here. We actually took a load of stuff up to Kevin’s parents last weekend. I am a little perplexed as to where all this came from. When we moved down, we only had one (definitely not so maxed out) car load plus a few more boxes. We have purposely not been accumulating things because we’ll just have to leave it behind. Moving constantly makes me very aware of accumulation. Why do we have so much stuff? I guess we did have Christmas and birthdays – a sewing machine, a tool box, a drill, a suitcase, some books. (I don't mind accumulating books.) We also borrowed a TV from Kevin’s parents. So I guess it makes sense. Still, it makes me feel nervous, having too much stuff.

Generally this part where everything is packed up and the walls are bare is a little depressing, like taking down the Christmas tree. But I have to admit that this time I feel accomplished and relieved. Looking at the stuff that was still here and knowing it would all have to be packed was stressful. It’s quite satisfying to see it all gone. I do feel a little sad. It has been a good apartment and our first married home. It was great to unpack and hide our suitcases away and leave our belongings on the counter. Oh well, now it’s time to move on. To Kevin's parents, to Wheaton, back to California, to Georgia, and to China.

The Continued Saga

Saturday

Temperature high of 104F.
Spend two hours at a fast food restaurant for the air conditioning.
Go shopping to avoid returning home (sense the desperation?).
Return home after dark, driven by hunger, to a furnace-like apartment. It’s hotter inside than out.
Try to fall asleep with a fan two feet away but even the creases in my eyelids and dent in my chin are sweaty.

Sunday

Wake up exhausted because the heat has kept us awake half the night.
Go to Mosaic. They just put in air conditioning! I love that place…
Head up to Kevin’s parents. They have air conditioning.
Spend the night at Kevin’s parents. They turn off the air conditioning because it gets so cool at night!

Monday

The air conditioning is supposed to be fixed today!
Spend half the day at Kevin’s parents. They have air conditioning.
Return to apartment with bated breath: is it fixed? Turn on A/C. Loud clanking and banging. That would be no…
Fortunately it is cooler, in the high 80’s.
Sleep in the living room directly in front of the A/C (which keeps banging loudly) and a few fans.

Tuesday

Cool enough to actually be pleasant. Cool enough to think and function.
Find out the A/C was installed improperly which is why it doesn’t work right. They should fix it tomorrow or the next day.
Find out the A/C won't be fixed until Monday…two days after we move out. Appropriate.
Oh well. Just a few more days. At least the weather's cooler!

Long, Hot Summer Days

The heat has begun to define our lives. The past few days have been averaging 105 degrees and our air conditioning conveniently chose this time to start dying. While the little AC unit had never been strong (it cools the one area directly in front of it), it now doesn't work at least half of the time. Occasionally, it will send out merciful bursts of cool air before returning to oven temperatures. If it is turned up above the lowest speed, the fan starts clanking and banging like it's going to fall out of the wall.
The mornings have been okay, when the heat of the day hasn't yet peaked, but from about 1pm to midnight, the apartment becomes increasingly more unbearable, even with our three fans. We went to two movies in the past two days (even hung out at the mall) primarily for the benefit of air conditioning. The repair man is supposed to come on Monday afternoon. Until then, we are thinking up new ways to avoid our apartment as much as possible.
Unfortunately, the packing and cleaning that needs to be done can only take place at our apartment. I try to pack for a little bit and then give up. It's too hot to do things like that. Especially since packing takes me out of the tiny path of sometimes-cool air. Actually, it's too hot to even think or function at a normal level. I don't even like to shower, because the cold water is hot and I'm sweaty again as soon as I get out.
On Monday, the temperature is supposed to get down to 90 degrees. We are super excited!

Packing

My parents came out to visit last week, and that was fun. They were relatively amazed by the low humidity, the constant sunshine, the desert plants, the smog, and the traffic. We ate at In-N-Out (of course). We visited with Kevin’s parents and grandparents (Dad and Opa had a great time talking about old cars), went to the beach (which was cold and windy as always), went hiking, and visited the San Gabriel Mission. We went to the Huntington Gardens and Library, a 150 acre area with bunches of different kinds of gardens (desert, jungle, rose, Chinese, Japanese, etc.), a fancy house turned art gallery, and a huge collection of old, rare books. We played Scrabble, which I won (just by one point, I’ll admit). We saw half a dozen parrots perched behind our apartment. We took my parents to see our large, beautiful library (they were duly impressed) and look at rich people houses.

I realized my parent’s visit was the only substantial event standing between us and packing and moving. My mom spent their last night here helping me pack up the kitchen. Now there are a pile of boxes in our corner and a general state of disorder throughout the apartment. The bookshelf is half emptied (the other half is mostly masters books for the summer, plus my “last chance to check books out of the library” stack).

In the process of packing and moving we are also trying to pack for China and starting to feel the constraints of the luggage weight. We are spoiled, I know: Anna could only bring a carry-on backpack to India. Still, it seems like half our weight will be used up with masters books. I have started a teeny tiny box of things I want to take to China. So far it includes things like:

-Collapsible giraffe toy (must start with the essentials, right?)
-Stuffed giraffe (he has been with me through so much it seems wrong to leave him behind)
-2 Tupperware cups
-French press travel coffee mug (I’ve stopped drinking coffee at the moment, but this is still one of my most valuable possessions)
-The books I always keep on hand to read every year: Christy and Till We Have Faces
-Stack of paper gnome Christmas decorations

Clearly logic and common sense are prevailing in my packing. In more practical matters, I am having a harder time. Shoes. I don’t even like them, so why are they causing so much trouble? All I’m asking for is the perfect shoe that will match with everything I have, look good enough for teaching, and be comfortable for walking long distances. Since this does not seem to exist, it appears I will have to take multiple pairs of shoes to China thereby taking up valuable luggage space that could otherwise be filled with…more books or another giraffe or a box of Bisquick.

Anyway, the countdown has begun –nine days until we move out of our apartment to begin our temporarily nomadic life, and sixty-seven days until we settle again in China. For the time being, I will continue to agonize over whether I really need so many socks.

Random Comments

1. We just bought tickets to China! We will be leaving on August 25, the day after the Olympics end. We will be flying through Beijing. I imagine the airport will be a little crowded.

2. I am excited that Weinan has a McDonalds, even though I never go near one in America.

3. My hair has started to get sun highlights this year. That is only interesting because it stopped doing that in China. I guess we never got enough sun…

4. Last week we tried to talk to the little 2-year-olds about me going to China. After about 45 seconds it deteriorated into a conversation about Disneyland. Oh well, we tried.

5. I drank coffee yesterday for the first time in almost two weeks and six hours later I was still jittery. This means my body is no longer used to caffeine. How strange.

6. Apparently we will have no team leader on our team. We asked our teammates and they said, “No, I thought maybe you guys would be…” At least we are all on the same page of (a) not knowing what’s going on and (b) not wanting to be leader.

7. I just finished reading a book (Saving Fish from Drowning) in which the narrator was a dead person. A little different take on the omniscient perspective.

8. Corrine is about to ship some boxes I left in Yangzhou to Weinan (by railway). I don’t really remember what I left, so I guess I won’t know if it all gets there.

9. Kevin and I were wondering: Would cactus be a fruit or a vegetable? Any votes?

10. Kevin and I were thinking of starting a combined blog, and we checked out five different blog site possibilities. Unfortunately, they are all blocked in China. Back to the drawing board.

Just Sick

I’m ending my last week of work with a bang - or rather, with a cold. Which seems extremely appropriate. I have been working at the preschool for six months (hmm, seems like longer). For the first three months I got sick about every other week, and for the second three months about every three weeks. So that’s at least ten times in the last six months. Mostly it has just been colds, plus one bout of Bronchitis and a probable sinus infection. The problem is, I start to get well and then I go back and get inundated with all those germs all over again.

Tomorrow is my last day of work! Whether I am sad or happy about that depends on whether a kid is being cute or having a horrible tantrum. Mostly I am happy. I will miss having kids around, since there won’t be any on our new team, but I’ve experienced quite enough dirty diapers for the time being. And now that I won’t be around constant runny noses, hopefully I can be healthier for a while. At least until I head to China and overwhelm my body with a whole new set of germs (plus pollution). As one of my friends once so kindly told me, regarding my frequent sicknesses, “If this were a hundred years ago, you probably would have died young.” Comforting, but perhaps true. Good thing we live in the age of Airborne.

In answer to your questions

One of the most common questions Kevin and I have received over the past few weeks is, "Where are you going to be in China?" And we answer, with as much detail as possible, "I don't know." Guess what? With three and a half months left to departure now we do know! So let's try that again.
You: "Where are you going to be in China?"
Me: "Weinan!"
You: "Hey, that's great!...But, uh, that means nothing to me, you know."
Me: "Excellent. Now I can tell you something you don't know and thereby sound smart and informed."

Weinan is located in central China in Shaanxi province (not to be confused with Shanxi province next door). It is 39 miles from Xian, which is where the Terracotta Soldiers are. Weinan itself is a pretty small city, something around 300,000. The area is mountainous with a famous mountain (Huashan) nearby.


I am happy about this location because:
1. It is north of the heat line! North of the Yangtze River, the buildings are actually heated during the winter! I might be able to teach without gloves.
2. It is not too far north. It looks like the climate is pretty agreeable, not too much colder than Yangzhou, though probably a good deal drier. It is still a good deal south of Beijing.
3. It is a small city, which is what we requested. I like to visit places like Beijing but it makes me feel a little claustrophobic.
4. Xian is only about an hour away and has an international airport! It also has several western places, so hopefully we'll be able to find some things there we can't get in our city.
5. There are mountains nearby.
6. The Hanings, my former teammates, will be in a city close by during the fall.

Speaking of teammates, Kevin and I will have two teammates this fall - a single girl, Christina, and single guy, Wes. They have both been around in China for at least several years. We don't know them yet, but they look familiar. We'll be finding out more about them in the upcoming months and much, much more during this next year.

I have included three images for your benefit.
1.The first is presumably a panorama of the valley area of Weinan. I say presumably because I found these things on the internet and everyone says you can't believe everything you find. I've never actually been to Weinan so for all I know, it could be a picture of Mississippi.
2. The second is a map of China with Shaanxi province in red. I took the liberty of marking the approximate locations of Weinan (where I will be), Yangzhou (where I was) and Beijing (where everyone knows about).
3. The third is presumably a photo of Huashan. This is doesn't look much like Mississippi, so I think it's the real thing.

*All of my information comes from what I could glean from scant references on (that's right) the internet. No doubt when I get to Weinan half of my information will be proven false. Hopefully we'll be finding out some more pertinent details soon. I just hope the part about the heat is true...

Distantly close

I think I miss my family more in America than in China. For one thing, China is a whole different country on the other side of the world, so it makes sense for it to be far away. While California is quite different from Georgia in many ways, it is not oh-so-foreign. (Although I must say, many people are a little afraid of the South. They think they'll stumble across a lynching or something.) They even have a few Chick-fil-a's out here. So now that I share the same country as my family and we are even on roughly the same day/night schedule, it seems like they should be closer.

Another thing is, I am around a lot of people with family. In China, most people don't have family nearby. English teacher friends have family on the other side of the world. Even students are separated from their family for the first time and feeling it much more than me. But here it seems like lots of people have all kinds of family around. All those born and bred Californians. A number of the people I work with are even born-and-bred Pasadenans. I wonder what that would be like - to live all your life in one place? It sounds confining.

Some people even live in the same place as their friends, which I think is a pretty cool idea. Difficult to accomplish, though, since it seems like people move all the time. My friends can't even settle on the state or country to stay in (I'm one to talk, huh?).
Even if I stayed in one place though, it wouldn't really help. Usually my family is spread out across three or four states and/or various countries in the world. I rarely have more than one or two friends living in the same state. They are also spread across a dozen states and/or various countries, plus the whole of China.

I admit that I have seen more of family and friends this year. Getting married is apparently a good way to accomplish that. I have seen all of my close friends once or twice this year. I have seen all of my family twice this year. So this is definitely a step up from the normal summer-back-from-China. The extra 10 months have helped.

So, thank goodness for cell phones and email and skype and blogs and facebook and increasingly expensive air travel. Face-to-face is apparently out of date.

The Dentist

Today was a sadly monumental "first": I went to the dentist and found out I have my first cavity. :( Here we go: the beginning of the end. It's all down hill from here. My teeth will all decay and fall out and I'll have to get dentures. It's rough getting old.

Actually, it was two firsts because it was also my first time going to an adult dentist. I realize I stopped being a kid a good while ago, but it was just easier to keep going to my pediatrician dentist. Now that I'm married (and moved), I guess it was time to grow up. I kind of missed the multi-colored chairs, but I have to admit - the grownup chairs were a lot more comfortable.

Mr. Hygienist spent the first half of the cleaning trying to convince me that I would be a great candidate for cosmetic dentistry - teeth whitening or more straightening or something ("You should really consider it? Do you think you'd be interested?") Um, noooo. He pointed out a small indentation in one tooth ("Have you noticed that? I'm sure you have. We could get that fixed too.") I had no idea what he was talking about. He may spend his days staring at people's teeth, but I sure don't. I found the whole idea far, far out of my realm of "things I would consider necessary or profitable" but had a hard time convincing him that I really didn't care if I had a celebrity smile.

Then I mentioned something about returning to China and the conversation mercifully shifted. I find it interesting to bring up China just to see the reaction when people hear something out of the norm. I instantly transform from a normal, boring person to an interesting, adventurous person, and I don't mind that. Mr. Hygienist talked about how cool that was and how different China must be in an "I can't really relate to you anymore" kind of voice. The voice you use when you talk to someone doing something you have never ever considered doing, didn't know existed, or find incredibly strange. That suddenly distant, slightly admiring, definitely perplexed sort of voice. For half a second, I think he even forgot about that little indentation in my tooth.

The second passed and we were back full swing into America mode, with Mr. Hygienist trying to sell me on a new electric toothbrush. ("What kind of toothbrush do you use: manual or electric? Manual? Still? Haven't made the switch yet?") Apparently manual toothbrushes are a thing of the past, on their way to join the cassette tapes. Who knew... ("You should try it out. I really think you'll love it.") I didn't bother explaining that I usually spend an average of a dollar on my toothbrushes. I definitely didn't go into the China voltage difference. I just accepted the free toothbrush (Free toothbrush! I just saved a dollar!) and headed out to the receptionist.

I couldn't schedule an appointment in six months since I'll be in China then. I think that was a bit disconcerting for the receptionist. No closure, I guess. ("Well, when are you coming back from your trip? Next year?!? Oh, well...You're right. I guess we can't schedule anything.") I did make an appointment to get that filling done next week. (A filling. Should I be nervous? My poor grown up decaying teeth...)

A couple of hours later the receptionist called to confirm my appointment for next week. I'm sorry, wasn't I just in your office? Didn't I make the appointment mere hours ago? No, I haven't forgotten yet. Fine, I'll confirm. You can check me off your list and life can continue as we know it, but it still doesn't make sense to me. I never realized dental visits were so...American. Which is particularly ironic since this dentist--he's Chinese.

Thinking about Old Shoes

My friend Adam said he needs me to update my blog because he is tired of listening to teenagers talk about MTV all day and he wants to think about something deep and challenging. I am tired of listening to 2 year olds talk about Thomas the train all day. Even at night, at least half of my dreams are about changing diapers or calming tantrums or catching a kid from falling to their death. The problem is I think about my job too much, and believe me, hearing about my job would not be one of those deep thinking, challenging things you are looking for, Adam. But I did think of something interesting that happened earlier in the month…

A few weeks ago at church, we gave away our shoes. Our pastor (Erwin McManus) spent the morning talking about sacrifice. It was one of those inspiring messages that makes you want to sacrifice something…something big…sometime in the hazy future. But at the end of the message, Erwin said,

“Why don’t we take our shoes and make them a metaphor today of all of our possessions…our dreams… our concerns…our burdens…our wealth…our desires, of everything we have, and let’s take our shoes and say, ‘God this is a declaration of all of me, and I want to give them to you…I’m going to give them to You by giving them away to someone who doesn’t have any shoes’…I want to invite you to join me and give your shoes away.”

I thought, hey that’s cool, a metaphor. Then I realized that he actually wanted us to take off our shoes and give them away. What? But we need our shoes. You don’t just ask people to give away the shoes they are wearing. Does he really mean it?

When I saw several other people bending down to take off their shoes and walking up front, I saw that he did really mean it. As I took off my shoes I was struck by my first reactions to the request. How much do we really need our shoes? Who couldn’t go home and pick up another pair of shoes at home, or even buy a replacement without too much difficulty? Why is it so difficult to give when we aren’t prepared?

I looked at the pile of shoes at the front and thought were probably some really nice, expensive shoes up there. My sandals had just been cheap ones from China, but Kevin had given away his tennis shoes, and my sister Anna, who was visiting, her favorite pair of Chaco’s. We walked home barefoot and got along just fine without our shoes. When we got home, we put on a different pair of shoes. As Erwin had said,

“I’ll bet you have more shoes than you have feet, but there’s people out there who have more feet than they have shoes.”

What was most interesting was that when we discussed this event at our small group almost two weeks later, everyone was still thinking about it. People shared their thoughts and reactions. Most of us were surprised and hesitant because it was such an unusual request. There was generally a bit of inner conflict because we felt some kind of attachment to our shoes. One girl who caught wind of what was happening before she attended an evening service struggled throughout the day with wanting to change shoes and chose a different pair to give away. Another person remarked, “It would have been a lot easier if he had asked us to give money.” We’re used to doing that, and we don’t have the same attachment to a check.

After a pile of shoes lined the front of the stage, Erwin also invited us to bring other clothes and shoes for the homeless ministry, but I think that initial act of giving up our shoes was important. We didn’t get to choose what to sacrifice. We didn’t go through the back of our closets to find the things we don’t really want or need, keeping the best things for ourselves. I think that is why weeks later, we are still thinking about it.

Teaching Chinese in America

The LA Times published an interesting article about a Chinese man who left his home in northern China to teach Chinese in an LA high school. The article tells the story of the difficulties he faced due to cultural differences, discipline problems, and difficult students. I'm not going to put up the whole article because it's a bit long, but I'd encourage you to check it out. It's a pretty interesting perspective. I sure wouldn't want to have his job.

In LA, his own wall of China
By David Pierson, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
March 1, 2008

Zhao yan feng finally lost his cool minutes before the bell sounded, signaling the end of fourth period.

For nearly two hours, his classroom had teetered on the edge of anarchy. Students chatted ontheir cellphones. They put their feet on their desks. Some had their heads down, sleeping. A clique of girls loudly debated where best to shop for jeans.

"I need your cooperation," Zhao pleaded in a clumsy Chinese accent. "If you don't want to learn this language or be in my class, just don't interfere with others learning. I'm just a guest teacher."

It had been three weeks since Zhao (pronounced Jow), 27, left his hometown in northern China to join a program that sent dozens of Chinese teachers to school districts across the United States.

His two-year assignment: teach Mandarin at Dorsey High in South Los Angeles, where test scores are well below the state and national averages, two-thirds of the students live near the poverty line and most have had scant exposure to Chinese culture.

To continue this article, go to: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-teacher1mar01,1,6184858.story

2 Year Old Talk

You’ll have to forgive me if the quality of my writing/blog posts has dropped this year. It has, I know it has. You will have to remember that I spend my days surrounded by two year olds, talking to two year olds, reading two year old books, doling out playdough, and sprinting across the room, vaulting over obstacles and (ever so gently) moving children aside in a lunge to stop two year old A from pummeling two year old B. While my agility and physical strength has increased, I’m afraid my mental functioning and vocabulary have suffered. It is rather a drop from teaching college students, albeit ones not quite proficient in English.

I can’t take credit for the use of “albeit,” by the way. I just saw it in a card my sister sent and was impressed by the way it was fit so naturally into an ordinary sentence. It made me start thinking about my ordinary sentences and their link to the decline of my writing. I have been realizing recently that I say a whole lot of dumb/obvious things. My ordinary sentences are starting to sound like this:

“No-no-no-no! Don’t hit/push/bite/body-slam your friend. Use your words. It hurts! See, he’s crying. Give him a hug. That’s right.”
Or
“You’re wearing a jacket! Look at your jacket! What color is it? Yellow! That’s a good color! Hey, it has a zipper!”

That’s right, I’m becoming one of those nauseating kindergarten teacher types who ends every sentence with an exclamation point. I try to make up for it by being especially dour around adults, but I still have my worries that it will be one of those “don’t cross your eyes or they’ll get stuck that way” kind of deals. I’m not trying to make excuses (ok, a little bit) so much as just inform you that what you are getting is well above the average of my daily interactions. So...probably you should just lower your expectations, and then it will all work out even.

California Weekend

It was a very California weekend. Yesterday, Kevin and I went around and looked at rich people houses. Not all of them, obviously. There are a lot of rich people here. There are a few normal, not-so-rich people living here, but I am still perplexed as to how they are pulling it off. It must be frustrating to be rich in California, though. You have to be rich to afford a small, normal house or a decent apartment. You would have to be super rich to live in one of the fancy houses and disgustingly wealthy for one of the mansions. Yeah, I don't think I could handle being rich. Too much pressure. You'd have to think about money all the time. And people would expect you to wear $500 purses when any old bag would do. Still, there's a lot of nice houses (and a disproportionate number of Ferrari's) around here.
We interrupted our tour to stop by the nearest In-n-Out, a really good burger chain that had about a dozen cars in the drive-thru even though it was 3:30 in the afternoon. It was the first place my friends took me when I came to visit them in California two summers ago, and it will probably be one of the first places we will take my sister Anna to when she comes to visit next month.
Tonight we watched the Oscars with some friends. I had never watched the Oscars before, so that was kind of interesting. I bet all those rich famous actors and actresses don't have to get up for work tomorrow morning. They'll be partying the night away not even dreading the fast approaching Monday. I'm jealous of them for that. Please tell me - does anyone have any salve that makes Monday less jarring? I'm thinking that we really need to start some kind of really good Monday tradition so there is something to look forward to.
Un-California-like was the weather of the weekend - cool, rainy, foggy, cloudy, blah. Southern California, you are letting me down. Fortunately the forecast calls for a return to sunny 70 degree days. That's more like it.

Pollution, Steroids, and the Internet

These are several interesting article segments from ZG Briefs, an email China news update.

[I figured they would do this. Don't worry, though, I'm sure it's only temporary. After the Olympics, I'm pollution will be back to normal.]

China to Shut Factories to Cut Air Pollution Before Olympics (February 9, 2008, Bloomberg News)

China will shut coal-fired power plants, cement factories and chemical manufacturers near Beijing to reduce pollution before the Olympic Games in August. Operators of these sites have been told they will be closed 30 days before the Olympics begin Aug. 8 in Beijing, said energy newsletter publisher Platts, citing unidentified people. Ten ``major polluters'' have already been shut and more than 15,000 old buses and taxis in both Beijing and Tianjin have been pulled off the streets, the State Environmental Protection Administration said in a statement on its Web site dated Feb. 1. ``The Olympics are the main theme this year so all the companies will go in line with the government's directives on the environment,'' said Zhou Xizeng, an equity analyst who covers steel companies at Citic Securities Co. in Beijing. ``Summer is a good time to cut supply because it isn't a peak season traditionally.''

[ Sometimes I think I'd like to get into the organic, no preservatives, limited processed foods thing. But I know that I'm just going to go back to China and who knows what will be in my food. Since I don't have much control over it anyway, maybe it's better just not to think about it too much.]

Wary US Olympians will bring own food to China (February 9, 2008, The New York Times, by Ben Shpigel)

When a caterer working for the United States Olympic Committee went to a supermarket in China last year, he encountered a piece of chicken — half of a breast — that measured 14 inches. “Enough to feed a family of eight,” said Frank Puleo, a caterer from Staten Island who has traveled to China to handle food-related issues. “We had it tested and it was so full of steroids that we never could have given it to athletes. They all would have tested positive.”

[It's just interesting how fast things are developing and expanding.]

95% of villages to have access to broadband service in 2008 (February 10, 2008, Xinhua)

China's information industry authority plans to expand broadband service to more than 95 percent of the nation's villages in 2008. Some of the central and eastern provinces will have all their townships and villages covered by broadband service by the end of this year, according to the Ministry of Information Industry (MII). Telephone service will be expanded further in the rural areas, the ministry said on Sunday, which vowed a more extensive Internet connection to the rural areas with better quality. Of late some 99.5 percent of the country's villages have access to telephone links, and the broadband connection have reached 92 percent of the villages nationwide. Last year, 73 million people were added to the nation's total netizen population. Of the increment, 29.17 million, or 40 percent,lived in rural areas. This brought the number of rural Internet users to 52.62 million at the end of 2007, up 127.7 percent year-on-year. The rate was much higher than the 38.2 percent for urban areas.

January

My sister Anna just sent me a kindly suggestion that I should update my blog. I would like to let her know that I was already planning to that, so she can't really take credit for this. It's already February thank goodness since January was a little bit of a blah month. It always is, except when you are hanging out in tropical Thailand drinking fruit smoothies. We missed Thailand this year. In the absence of Thailand, this is what has filled our time in the past month.

1. Work. There's always somebody's little kids to take care of. I have finally stopped dreaming about changing diapers and tying shoes. Kevin, however, had a nightmare last night that he had to take care of all my kids. Recently it has been the season of sickness. I was quite proud to stay healthy for three weeks (it's got to be a record) until yesterday when I was one of maybe four teachers out sick. I'm feeling a good deal better today (despite a 7am staff meeting) so hopefully it's not a long lasting thing.

2. Rain. We got an abnormal amount of rain. We essentially live in the desert, but we got full weeks of rain. While I am happy to see everything greener than normal, I have developed a particular dislike for rain. When it rains, the kids have to stay inside all day and they start getting stir crazy. They have no where to release their abundant energy except on each other. Plus, I can't bike to work when it rains. I have to leave an hour early and take the bus.

3. Football: The season finally ended. :) Kevin was very disappointed with the loss of the Cowboys. I was disappointed too because if you have to watch football, at least it's better to have someone to root for. I believe this was the first Super bowl I have actually watched. I did learn much more about football this year than ever before. Like, I never realized just how many games there were.

4. Duke! Almost three years since my last college basketball game, I watched my first (and second) Duke game. It was quite a joy. The players have all changed, so I'll have to reacquaint myself with them, but they are still the same Duke.

5. China. We got all kinds of information and paperwork about returning to China that we've started working on a little. I'll talk more about that later. Kevin has gotten to cover several Chinese related stories. We are hoping to connect with a foreign student in the area (I'm not sure if they'll be Chinese or not).

6. Lost. We are still mourning the loss of The Office, whose humor and sarcasm gave us relief in many times of stress and tension. We don't ask for much out of TV. After losing our one TV show, we were particularly glad for the return of Lost and all the new mysteries it brings.

That's about all I can think of at the moment. Like I said, it wasn't a super exciting month. And now I need to leave for work, so that's all.

The General Update

Another day, another cold. Actually, it's more of an alternation (is that a correct form?) between a good week and a sick week. Frustrating. That's what I get for working with little kids. If I were to be entirely pessimistic about my job I would summarize my days like this:
Changing diapers
Potty training
Tantrums
Mediating toy conflicts
Wiping runny noses
Incessant noise and movement
Putting on and taking off shoes, socks, coats, and dress up clothes
Knee high sinks and tables, tiny chairs, and lots of bending over
Semi-constant smell of poop (and I thought I had left that behind with my China plumbing...)

So surprisingly, besides the sick factor, there are a lot of days when I like my job. The kids are cute. There are several kids who just go around smiling almost all the time. Others run up and grab your legs. I like rubbing their backs to calm them down at nap time (anything to make them fall asleep!). Sometimes they wake up all sleepy or a little bit sad and need somebody to hold them. Sometimes they need you to run around and bang drums with them. And they are funny. There is one kid who tries to throw tantrums and he's just really bad at it. He goes off into this fake crying thing and then pauses to see who's watching or gets distracted by a toy before he remembers he was supposed to be upset. We have to laugh at him sometimes. They ride around on their tricycles with perfect displays of road rage. When one person gets hurt, everybody wants an ice pack. They expect you to be super excited when they use the potty, and you are (excited that you didn't have to change wet clothes). They wave at airplanes, lovingly harass insects, and fall down for the fun of it. They listen to story after story. They are all crazy about trains, princess dresses, and crackers.
At the end of the day, no one dies and everyone goes home to their parents. There's something satisfying in that.

Besides my job, the rest of life, besides the sick factor, is going well. We got to go back to Georgia to be with my family for Christmas. From there, we drove up to Kentucky for my friend Mallary's wedding. I had a fun time seeing a lot of college friends. We also got to spend New Years Eve with my family, after our original flight back was canceled. Now we are back, as you might have heard, it has been raining in California. We didn't get too much of the flooding and bad storms in our area, but it was still quite an event. Our Christmas tree, which survived our week-long abandonment, is quietly morphing into a January tree. January is kind of a blah month. I think more people should keep a tree around for company. Kevin and I have been married for three months and we still like each other a lot. I am best friends with my crockpot. I have a year's supply of Airborne. And there are just a few more weeks of football left.
So, yep, besides the sick factor, things are pretty good.