Mid Autumn Festival and More

This past week, the lovely country of China celebrated Mid Autumn Festival, which means the whole city was abuzz with Moon Cakes and fun all around. It was an especially exciting time for me because a dear friend Meghan, from my Cambodian adventures happened to be spending some time here in China and thought she’d make a side trip to see me!

We spend the holiday with my Chinese family making more dumplings and chatting. We had a great time being girls and gossiping for three days before she departed. Thanks for you visit Meghan!! You are welcome back at any time!! Also in celebration of the festival, we had a cake-making day at my school!  It was basically a sugar buffet, including frosting in various colors, dried fruit, marsh mellows, candy, pretzels, cookies, and everything else sweet you can imagine for the kids to decorate their individual slices of cake. It was really a hoot!!!! Of course by the end of the afternoon everyone and everything (including Teacher Madi) was sticky and covered in frosting.

Also on the exciting news front….I was in a movie!!! Haha it sounds more impressive than it actually was but was still my first (and probably last) professional acting gig! They paid me and everything! J I stumbled upon the part because a friend of a friend of a friend was working on the set and heard they needed a foreigner for a small part, so they put the word out.  Low and behold, I am indeed a foreigner. My role in the movie was the girlfriend of a Chinese boy who breaks up with me! I even had one line…I’m so proud.  It was quite a bit of waiting around to get the scene right, and made for a 14-hour workday but I met some incredible people and made some new friends.  The movie will air in CCTV-6 (I think that is like the Chinese version of HBO) sometime at the end of October, so we will see if the camera really does add 10lbs….I hope not! Thank you Shu Ke and Leslie for taking such wonderful pictures and bringing me cookies when my tummy rumbled on set!! 

Also just on the random, this is my coworker Kelly with a cricket she found outside. She brought it to work to have as a pet and accidently pulled its leg off….poor thing! Also this is a snail I found in my lettuce when making a salad…you know your veggies are fresh when someone is still making their home there.  Sadly I am a terrible person and I didn’t know what to do with him so I threw him down the garbage shoot with the rest of my trash….31 floors…ooops!!

            Side Note: Is it strange that I identify myself more as an American outside of American than I do at home? At home I am an Idahoan, and more than that, I am a country bumpkin, a daughter, a sister, a sportsmen, a craftsmen, a bad driver, a good cook, a woman of many hobbies, and a zillion other things that I use to label myself to help identify with different groups. Here in China I am simply an American.  I constantly use my nationality to introduce myself and it is always the first inquiry, “Where are you from?” “I’m American.” That simple. I am American; as if those three words can sum it all up, and for many people they do.  No need to say more. People here have seen the movies, watched the music videos, heard the news; America? Oh yeah I know that place. That’s where P-Diddy Paris Hilton are from right? America? I think my favorite chocolate bar comes from there. America? Yeah, yeah, that place that Obama runs.

It makes an individual like me seem so simple, so neat and contained and on most days I find myself abiding by these rules. I look American. I act American. My accent is American. I have even been told that I smell American (however that smells, good I hope…). Back home I identify less as an American because it is already understood. It’s a given and nobody needs any clarification on the subject which allows me the time and energy to be all the things I mentioned at the beginning of this thought train.  The plain truth is, some days I want to be more than just American. Sometimes I want to be from a more specific place than a country of countless acres and 311 million people, somewhere personal. I want to identify with a more specific group of people, to take part in more specific activities. I want to actually do, do more that just be American.  And so I am searching. I am looking for my place here in this new home of mine and when I find it, you will be the first to know. J

Jason Visit

            Yet another holiday fell upon my tiny/enormous city last week!  National day was celebrated in style across the country with fireworks, flag raising ceremonies and lots of time off work! The trains, buses, subways, roads, airports, and sidewalks were jammed travelers on their way to visit family or see another part of the country.  I was one lucky duck because one of my very close friends from back home flew all the way out here to spend the whole week being my partner in crime.  Some of you may remember Jason.  We met in New Orleans on my road trip and he spent last Christmas with us in McCall.  He even brought me fresh supplies and comforts of home. You, my dear Sir….are just the bees knees. 

            It was a much-needed break from work and homesickness and for 7 days we painted the town.  We started in Beijing of course, and after a late night hotel fiasco spent our first day trekking around The Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square in the heart of the city.  To say it was busy would be a colossal understatement.  China’s overflowing population is never more acutely felt than on a holiday weekend at a tourist attraction. A living ocean op people swarmed everywhere as we made our way around the capital city in a hectic lively buzz.  We floated with the crowd going where they went, turning where they turned as one giant tourist organism taking photos and buying street snacks. Pretty entertaining really.

Luckily our hotel with in the Russian part of town which was much quieter, so after a day of jostling about in the masses we headed to our calm neighborhood for some nice warm noodles and Jason’s first ever, Chinese beer. Thanks Muhamet for the hotel recommendation! It was perfect!

            The next day we were met with a rainy morning so we headed to the silk market to do a little shopping.  For those of you who know how well me and shopping get along you can assume I didn’t purchase anything, but it was fun to window shop and translate/barter for Jason who made off with two tailor-made suits, a silk robe for his mom, and a pair of souvenir snow globes.  That afternoon when the weather cleared we had dinner at a famous Peking duck restaurant, which was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!

            Wednesday was filled with a trip to the Great Wall.  You may remember I have been there before but with food poisoning, and naturally I was much more impressed this go around. We hiked as far as we could before our legs turned into mush from the steep grade, and followed it up with workout erasing steamed buns and trinket shopping.

            The following day was a rest day even though we took the train back to Tianjin.  We relaxed and chatted and strolled around the neighborhood in the cool fall air after a filling jiaozi dinner. Heaven really.  The rest was well needed because we were back at tourist grind the next day.  We started out with a morning walk in People’s Park where we rented a paddleboat and spent the next 60 minutes making wake around the park pond.  We imagined we were racing the other boats and really tore it up. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages.

Side Note: Laughing that hard does wonders for the spirit. It makes you glow and tingle inside. It fills you from bottom to top with the notion of possibility. Just consider it a face-lift for your soul.  Teacher Madi recommends a heavy dose of this kind of laughter at least once a day.

When we finally turned our boat over we were exhausted from spinning water cookies and refueled with a delicious Hot Pot lunch and more window-shopping. I haven’t walked so much in a week in my life! Well maybe, but not for a while!

That night we armed ourselves with much sought cheese, crackers, and red wine before heading to a KTV down the street from my apartment.  For those of you who don’t know, the Chinese love to sing in public.  In America karaoke is something done after far far too many jello shots and usually followed by immense shame. Here however, there are huge buildings filled with private rooms where friends gather and sing and snack and drink.  I know it sounds weird, but it is one of the most fun things in the whole world.  Jason and I spent 5 hours singing every song we knew taking breaks only to enjoy some cheese and wet our throats with wine in preparation for the next song. Ahh what a day!!!

After our late night we had an easy morning and went to ride the Tianjin Eye. Similar to the London Eye I hear, but on a bridge.  That night we had dinner in Italian Style Town and took a night boat tour of the river.  It was beautiful all lit up and just the perfect temperature.  We ended our visit that night with gelato and lit a lantern to new beginnings and forgiven pasts.  Jason flew home Sunday morning after his last Chinese meal tired of fun and excited to get back to work…NOT! Thank you Jason for this amazing visit and I look forward to our next adventure! 

It was really fun to have someone to show my city off to. It also made me appreciate it more because I went touristy places and did touristy things. My city rocks, sometimes I just get to wrapped up in nonsense to enjoy it! Well, that’s all for now. Until next time xoxoxo