"I Am Murdered" aka The Perils of Technology

My Chinese name is Libeisha, which is three words combined: li (丽pretty) bei (蓓 flower bud) sha (莎 no real meaning, just used for the sound). But the word 'sha' with the character 杀  means 'murder.'  I sent an email to a student and was typing too fast and when I hit the keys for 'libeisha' the character string that came up first was the murder-sha 杀, not the sound-name-sha 莎. I chose the murder character, didn't notice, and sent off the email.

Hoo boy, did my student find that amusing! He wrote back immediately, "Are you okay? You have been murdered? Oh no!" And told me he had gathered up his classmates to his dorm room so they could see and laugh at my mistake, too. They love that I study Mandarin, but they got quite a kick out of their teacher calling herself  "murdered." Oops. Sometimes, your language skills are only as good as your typing skills.

I use Google Mandarin for my keyboard conversion program, btw. Google owns so many pieces of my life.

My other favorite Mandarin mistake was my students saying, "I am [name]" when they texted or called me. I told them so many times, "Not 'I am [name].' In English we say 'This is [name].'" But this was hard for them to remember and they made this mistake often. Flash forward to my Mandarin class this past fall, when a student stood up to do a dialogue and said (in Mandarin) "This is [name]." My teacher immediately interrupted: "Not 'This is [name]', in Mandarin we say 'I am [name].'"

It made me smile.

Clothes-es, and Other Chinese-isms

Chinese students almost uniformly make the mistake of pluralizing 'clothes' into 'clothes-es' and we are the kind of teachers that mimicked our students most common mistakes when talking to each other, so now I say 'clothes-es' all the time in my head. Other things we said:

Deeleeciours (delicious)
Advices
I wish you happy every day!

I miss speaking Chinglish on a daily basis. Luckily I still talk to folks in China so when they say things like this, I write them down. You think you won't forget, but you do!

Did you know in Chinese culture it is normal to wear the same clothes for several days in a row? (Not underwear, that I know of!) You wear them until they are dirty, then change into new clothes and wash the ones you've been wearing. It was really hard to get used to at first, but then I loved it. It's much easier than having to choose new outfits every day. My students thought it was really strange Americans change our clothes every day. I don't know if they thought we were showing off how many clothes-es we own, or being impractical, or just weird. But they definitely noticed the foreign teachers changed their clothes all the time. I started wearing the same thing several days in a row to fit in, and because: lazy. I miss it.

However, when I was in college, this was my favorite sweatshirt of all time; I got it for $10 at the GAP and wore it constantly. I was Chinese and didn't know it!

My students often told me that Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) was very special when they were growing up because it was the only time they got new clothes; now that people have more money, people own more clothes, and Spring Festival is not as special.

Other Languages' Words I Wish We Had In English

I know many of you are bilingual; so cool! I wish I spoke another language fluently/native-like. I don't. But I do like adopting the words I love in other languages into English, without translating them. I've talked here before about a few words I wish we had equivalents for in English. Here are a couple more:

1. Sancha

Origin: Spanish. Means: 'The girl on the side.' We don't have a great translation for it into English. Concubine? Mistress? Illicit Lover? None of those really capture how I heard sancha used in everyday conversation, which in San Antonio, was frequently. (What this says about San Antonians, I'm not sure.) Anyway, I always heard it used as a girl on the side you flirt with and have feelings for, but not necessarily doing anything about. Although you might be. It covers a wide range of doing-ness or not. But if you are in a monogamous relationship, you probably don't want your SO to have a sancha.

2. Ganbei

Origin: Mandarin. Means: Empty your glass in one shot. We do have some equivalent words in English, such as shooting, shot-gunning, chugging, etc. But ganbei is a more elegant word, I think. (Pronounced 'gawn bay.') It's used in the same manner as our word 'Cheers!' but it always means you have to empty your glass all at once. It doesn't have the frat-boy overtones of our words, it's just friendly and fun. The Chinese can drink, yo.

3. Hao bu hao?

Origin: Mandarin. Means: literally, 'good not good?' but is used to find out if someone finds your idea agreeable. It's shorthand for, "Is what I've proposed agreeable/ok with you?"  Of course in English was can say, "Okay?" But there are so many ways to intonate this word it can be difficult to make sure your tone is coming across the way you mean it to, especially in writing. To me, 'hao bu hao' is more clear in it's meaning. When I text, I often start typing this and have to delete it if I am talking to non-Mandarin speaking friends. It's the first thing I want to teach my friends, so I can use it with them. I love it. (Pronounced 'how bu how.'

You guys, this alphabet thing is getting teeedddiiiooous. And judging from the number of comments, it is for you, too! Turns out I have far fewer interesting things to say when I am not talking about China. Which is great, because China is infinitely interesting to me! I SHOULD be far less interesting than China. Also, I don't like having to do things in order. So, I hereby resolve to finish my alphabet project at will, and in any order I choose, as long as I hit them all. That's much more my style.

Hope you all have a great week!

Shanghai Pictures, Plus When The Care Bears Go Too Far

I found some pictures from Shanghai I never posted, thought some of you might enjoy seeing them. They are all cell phone pics, though, so not super high quality.

A hot water dispenser, very common in China. The Chinese characters say 'caution scalding', meaning scalding water, but the English 'care bear!'?? I can't even call this Chinglish or a mistranslation, this is just a joke someone played, right?

British style telephone booth, a cultural relic of the British occupation of Shanghai I assume. I was amazed how clean and empty the sidewalks of Shanghai were, compared to Chongqing:

An apartment courtyard; this picture makes me so homesick:

Little places to grab a cup of afternoon tea or coffee.

An aquarium in the pedestrian tunnel. I remember thinking how fancy Shanghai is compared to Chongqing, based on the underground tunnels alone. Wouldn't it be cool if your job was to take care of pedestrian tunnel aquariums?

In contrast, this is what I saw most nights on the sidewalk outside my gate in Chongqing. My taxi pulled up to this:

It's Probably A Good Thing I Don't Have Telepathy

I caught the flu, so I've had lots of time to sleep/rest/read. What I hate most about being sick is how boring it is! And how I lack the motivation to do anything about that! (I'm actually a little relieved it's the flu, because initially I thought it was food poisoning, and I was sad that my Chinese-germ immunization to food illness was over. But yay, it's just the flu!)

Another weird consequence of reverse culture shock I didn't anticipate: being in a crowd of people where everyone speaks a language I recognize freaks me out. In China, because I lived in a city where most people spoke the local dialect instead of Mandarin, I still didn't understand most of what was going on around me. (This is not true of all volunteers; many of them are much, much smarter than I am.) I got very used to tuning out what I could not understand. So even though I was surrounded at close range by literally millions of people, I existed in this little mind bubble where I didn't really have to pay attention to what was going on around me.

But my first week back in America, when I went to my family reunion, I felt like I had been placed in a big amplifier-- I understood EVERYTHING! And I couldn't get my brain to shut off these random snatches of conversation I was hearing from all directions. It was very confusing, and overwhelming. For my first few weeks, I have had to retreat away from this kind of situation, because it is just too much for my senses to take.

Remember the part in X-Men where Jean Grey puts on Dr. X's headset and hears everything like he does and it's too much for her? Yeah, it was like that. It's slowly getting better, but I dread going places where there are more than a handful of people I can hear at any one time. It has made me much more sympathetic to people with autism, because I imagine this is a little taste of what their life is like everyday. And it's really difficult.

I know a few of my readers speak multiple languages, and I am curious if any of you ever experienced the phenomenon of understanding way too much. No one tells you these things before you come home.

Chengdu Airport Adventures: This Is How You Make Friends!

My last day in China, I was flying out of the Chengdu International Airport, the first flight of the day to Shanghai. It was delayed (I'm pretty sure the pilot was still eating breakfast or something), so I was caught in a big cattle call of a waiting area. Every so often an employee would get up and yell into a megaphone about one of the 10 or so departing (late!) flights from that gate.

Chaos in China? I know, shocker!

So I pushed my way to the front of the crowd, and after about five minutes went by, I realized I was resting tmy arm and hand holding my boarding pass on the back of the guy standing in front of me. Like, my forearm and hand were full-on laying all over him. And it took me five minutes to notice I was doing this. And he never even turned around. And today this guy at the gas station was standing a full 8 feet behind the person in front of him in line, and it just annoyed me to no end. WHO NEEDS 8 FEET? It took all of my restraint not to cut in front of him in line and pretend I didn't realize what I was doing.

The other memorable thing that happened at the airport that last morning in Chengdu was when a French couple came up next to me in the crowd, but had missed what the megaphone guy said. I didn't want to be presumptuous that they spoke English, so I started repeating the announcement to them in Mandarin. The guy looked at me for a second and then said, "Excuse me, but do you speak English?" Haha, it was one of those cultural moments I miss.

Three Little Words, Two Words For You, One Word For Me

From Robert Frost:

"In three words I can sum up everything I've learned about life: it goes on."

In a few hours I leave Chongqing for good. (I'm not leaving alone; I have an understanding shoulder to cry on as we pull away from the city, should the need arise.) I'm embracing Robert Frost's words today.

To all of you who have been faithful supporters of me the last two years: THANK YOU! I could not, and I mean this literally, could not have done it without you. I can't express adequately the love and admiration I have in my heart for you.

And one word for me: love. In the last few years, I've learned that in the end, it really, truly is only love that matters. Most of all, I take home with me a lot of love, and for that, I am grateful.

This blog is not over! I have so many more things to share about my experience in China, things I am too overwhelmed now to write about with any sense of eloquence. But as soon I am settled at home and more or less awake, I'll resume posting and reading.

As we say here: 再见！

Seaweed Pringles and The Power of Cod

A few random pictures I took last week:

Seaweed Pringles:

Eating 4th of July 'American Potato Salad with Chinese Characteristics' with chopsticks:

The NBA is super popular here; this is a kid's team practicing on my campus, outfitted in Lakers jerseys. Licensed by the Lakers? I have no idea...but I'm guessing no:

Guy sitting across from me on the subway; his t-shirt says "Cnly Cod Can Judge Me":

Does This Mean It's Possible To ‘Manistrate’? Plus, My Favorite Chinglish T-shirt So Far

A few recent adventures in my Mother Tongue:

1. My friend G. said, “I demanistrated him. Wait, what’s that word I mean? You know, make him less of a man?” It took us about five minutes to pull it out of the deep recesses of our English brains: emasculate. But ‘demanistrate’ is so poetic, is it not? And I think if you can defenestrate, you should also be able to demanistrate. (Okay, I know fenestrate and defenestrate are not actually opposites. But still. It sounds nice.)

2. T.’s parents were here from California this past week to visit him, and it was really fun to meet them! His dad and I were talking and he asked me, “How much longer have you been here than T.?” And my subconscious brain said “Say wha’? That’s a much more complicated grammar structure than I’m used to hearing!” And my tongue said, “A year ago.” Which is, of course, not the right answer. His dad had a brief, ‘Oh, so you’re a little bit slow, aren’t you?’ moment I’m sure. At least I recognized my mistake right away and corrected myself, but I had to do it by giving him the date I arrived, which is how this question is usually asked and answered in Chinese. I couldn’t quite get my tongue around the correct English grammar of saying ‘a year longer than T.’ (Writing is so much easier than speaking! Time to think.)

2a. However, at karaoke last week, we did the full Empire State of Mind and NAILED it; you would have clapped, thrown roses, etc. So at least I still speak a form of English very well, that form being the one where they give you all the words.

3. This isn’t really a Chinglish t-shirt in the traditional sense, but it is culturally very Chinglish, in that it makes no sense for all of this to be on a t-shirt. But that last line is definitely my new go-to insult phrase: I hope my bike takes you straight to hell!

Mysterious Letter H, And How I’m Losing It

The Sichuan* accent of Mandarin is famous for dropping the ‘h’ in the consonant combos ‘sh’, ‘zh’ and ‘ch.’ They become ‘s’, ‘z’ and ‘ts’ respectively. When I started learning Mandarin, I swore I would never drop my h’s! Never! Last winter, I noticed I was dropping my h’s. I was yi ping sui (yi ping shui - a bottle of water) and sang zoumo (shang zhoumo - last weekend) and haotsi (haochi - delicious) –ing all over the place. Oh well, so much for my pure Mandarin.

But then…last weekend at dinner…I said, “I really love sellfish.” SHELLFISH, I MEAN. I got a good laugh out of it, but it’s a little scary that I’m now pronouncing English with a Sichuan accent, as well as Mandarin. Maybe it’s a good thing I’m leaving China soon. My English is crap.

I’ve also noticed there are some things I like to say in English, other things in Spanish, and some things in Chinese. For example, I sent T. a text that said, “Tu quieras 吃饭吗?”(“Do you want to eat?”) I’ve also told him in a text, “中人 be loco!” (“Chinese people are crazy,” in response to everyone still wearing their coat on a warm day, while we are in shorts and shirtsleeves.) I like that I can choose which language to use; I’m going to miss that about talking to other volunteers, we switch it up all the time. Some things are just easier to say in Chinese or Spanish than in English.

*Chongqing used to be in Sichuan province, until it separated into its own municipality a few years ago. So the people here have the Sichuan accent.

How ‘Sexting’ Gets You In Trouble When You’re Not Even Doing It, Plus Joel McHale

I was asked to do a lecture this week on the English language for the Foreign Language students at my university. Part of my lecture focused on the ways in which new words are added to English. Two ways are*:

1. New meanings for existing words
2. Making up new words

For #1, I used the example of the word ‘text,’ which used to mean only written works and/or speeches, but now also means SMS messages. And from this new usage of the noun, we also made the verb ‘to text’ and added the words texting, texted, etc.

For #2, I gave the example of the words ‘sexting’ and ‘sext,’ which from what I read online are pretty popular words these days in American culture. I didn’t say much about the meaning of the words themselves, only that they were made up, derived from ‘texting,’ and meant that the text had a sexual topic. I explained that we went from ‘text’ to ‘texting’ to ‘sexting’ back to ‘sext’ in new word formation; that’s awesome from a linguistic etymological process point of view, and a good illustration of how flexible English is.

So now I’ve given my lecture to the 350+ English students in the lecture hall, and I’m doing the Q&A. There are a couple of great questions about accents, usage, etc. and then *this* kid stands up:

Random Male Student: “May I ask you a personal question?”

Me: “Yes.” (Thinking it would be how old I am, how much money I make, something common for China.)

Random Male Student: “Have you ever sent a sext?”

Me: !!!! *Um, are you kidding me with this? For real, you just asked me this in an auditorium full of people?* *Rapidly formulating an answer that doesn’t focus on me so I don’t give in to his crossing of the ‘personal’ line.*

Me: “I think many people in a close relationship have done such a thing.”

Random Male Student: “Oh.” *pause* “Can I have your cell phone number?”

Well, what could I do at that point but laugh? I mean, everyone else was. So that’s what I did, I laughed. And said yes, anyone can have my cell phone number. And sure enough, he came and got it after the Q&A was over**.

Lesson learned: sometimes students are more interested in the subject matter than the etymological process.

*These are not the only two ways, just two ways I talked about relevant to this post.

** Trust me when I say I will never hear from him, he just wanted a foreigner's # a la the taxi driver.
_________________________

On a related note, anyone see Community this week? Funniest tv episode I've maybe ever seen in my life. And what I said in my head when Joel McHale stripped down to the sleeveless tank: "DAMN, SKIPPY!" Yes, I speak in all caps in my head. JM has perfect muscles. I want to lick his biceps. I’m just saying is all.

UPDATE:

Picture. You're welcome.

The Writer’s Club

A few weeks ago, we joked that we should have a Chongqing PCV Writer’s Club, in which we’d write bad/cheesy romance pieces, then read them out loud to each other a la open mic beat poetry night. Did I mention it has been raining FOREVER in Chongqing? It’s making us all a little crazy.

So last week in our downtown Starbucks, the Writer’s Club* had their first meeting. (I should mention, Starbucks here are almost like libraries, with sectioned-off rooms, long tables with study lamps for laptops, super comfy couches and lounge chairs, and all the free wi-fi you can handle. You can basically hang out there all day and no one blinks an eye. Also, they make all their specialty coffee drinks in non-coffee versions, which is great. I wish they did this in the U.S. They do this because many Chinese don’t like the taste of coffee. So, a caramel frappuccino will have whole milk instead of coffee, along with the caramel flavorings etc. They also have more teas on the menu here.) We each spent about an hour hunched over notebooks, then read our pieces out loud. Let me tell you, I don’t know when I have laughed so hard in all the time I’ve been in China.

Some were beautifully poetic, some were limericks that an elementary school kid would love to recite, some were hilarious narrative pieces. But the best part to me? Reading them aloud in a Chinese Starbucks, counting on the fact no one nearby spoke fluent-enough English to know what the heck we were talking about.

Language geek sidenote: it’s eye-opening the cultural knowledge it takes to write and understand parody. If any Chinese English speakers HAD been listening, it’s unlikely they would have found it 1/10 as amusing as we did.

I was quite impressed with the writing skills of my fellow PCVers. Can’t wait for our next meeting! I have half a mind to gather and self-publish our pieces as a keepsake for us to take home. For the record, I did a Twilight/Ninja Assassin-themed parody I couldn’t stop laughing through as I read out loud. I won't share the whole thing here, but I will say that one of the lines was, "Need an umbrella, baby? Or do you want more Rain?" ('Rain' of course being the cute Korean star of Ninja Assassin. Now you know why I couldn't stop laughing!)

And yes, when you’re a poor American living in China, this is the sort of thing you find very entertaining. I know you all envy my glamorous life!

*We actually gave it another name, but this is a public blog, so I’m calling it this publicly.

English Phrase Of The Week

"Sudden onset cryabeetus"

Meaning: crybaby whiners. I'm going to start using this in everyday conversation, stat.

(From the bottom of the page here.)

While we're at it, how about a Chinese phrase of the week?

"An lian" ("暗恋")

Meaning: to be secretly in love. Kind of like a crush, but more serious and dramatic, like Jim-for-Pam, Days Of Our Lives kind of love. You can use it as a verb instead of a noun or adjective, which makes it more fun. I am fond of saying, 'I anlian him.'  But I use it more as a joke, not as a real condition.

What's your favorite phrase? I say "evidently" a lot at the beginning of sentences. Or, "Sooo, evidently..." And "suspicious" to sum up.

Shell Shock, Eyeballs, and the Shopping Cart Conundrum

1. I made it back to the U.S. with no problems or delays, all luggage in hand. It is miraculous we can fly halfway around the world in less then two days. I am really grateful for my smooth sailing trip.

2. Being home...has been an adjustment. I feel a little shell-shocked by everything around me. It'll pass, but I've spent some time trying to absorb this lifestyle again. I'm really critical of some of the things I see around me, and I didn't expect that. I'll talk more about this later.

3. I've already experienced some fish-out-of-water moments: I accidentally spoke to someone in Chinese at the Los Angeles airport. I went to the grocery store in the middle of the night (hello, jetlag!) and when I was done checking out, I couldn't remember what to do with my cart. Do I return it to the front of the store? Leave it at the cashier's station? I honestly could not remember. And there was no one else around for me to look at as an example. I took it back to the front of the store, just in case. (In China, you leave them at the cashier's station, because it is someone's assigned job to collect the carts.)

4. I wore my contacts on the plane. I didn't think it would be a big deal, and I took them out overnight, but on the last leg of my flight my eyes had had enough. I underestimated how dry airplane air is and when I took out the contact from my right eye, it pulled a little bit off skin with it. My vision is really blurry now in this eye, and it's getting a little better everyday, but slower recovery than I am comfortable with. So I am breaking down and calling our doctor about it. I hope it's just temporary and the eye will heal itself. If not, there are always contacts and glasses, no biggie. But I'm never wearing contacts on an airplane again! So I have been staying off the computer in order to give my eyes some rest.

I'm doing better on the jetlag, but I caught a cold. All these strange germs! So it's been hard to stay awake these past few days.  But I am in fact very happy to be with my family and friends, and I leave soon to visit my grandma. I'm really looking forward to seeing my extended family.

Those Sneaky Canadians!

Two stories:

R. went to Beijing last week with some visiting American family and friends. They were on a bus going to the Great Wall, discussing China, Chinese culture etc. They were also jockeying for new seats and started talking about an empty seat next to a Chinese guy sitting in front of them.

R. to her sister, in English: "Do you think that seat is available?"
Chinese guy, in English: "Yeah, this seat is available."
R., in her head: "Oh crap, he just understood everything we've been saying about China!"
R., to the Chinese guy, in English: "Your English is really good! Which [Chinese] province are you from?"
Chinese guy: "Ontario."

Hahahaha, this still makes me laugh! And it reminded me of the time last year when N. and I were checking into our hotel room and having trouble with the card key. These two kids, and their mom, were opening the door to their hotel room across the hall at the same time we were struggling. The two kids (about 9 and 10) came over and helped us with our key, and told us in English how to insert it and jiggle it around etc. Nicole told their mom, in Chinese if I recall, "Your children speak English really well." The mom: "They're Canadian."

I was thinking the exact same thing as N., she just said it first. D'oh! Lesson learned: watch out for sneaky Canadians! Just teasing, I love you guys. Real lesson learned: always wear clean shoes, you never know when you'll be putting your foot in your mouth!

In Fact, You Don't Know His Heart

Today I learned* that the movie He's Just Not That Into You is translated into Chinese as In Fact, You Don't Know His Heart (其实你不懂他的心). And really, that's just so accurate, isn't it?  


*I decided my Chinese textbooks were super boring and unmotivating, so now I study by reading popular culture magazines. It's slow-going, but I'm learning a lot.

The Perfect Banana, Chinese Students, and The Letter T

1. I love bananas. No really, I love them. I eat a banana every day. My family nickname is becca-banana. Nothing better than a firm, tasty banana. And nowhere have I found better bananas than in China. Who knew China could be defined by its delicious bananas? I think they must get them from somewhere nearby, because they are always perfectly ripe, never too sweet or too soft. Here is a banana I was eating yesterday. Seriously, how great is this banana? Every bite was a joy. (And yes, I am eating a banana in bed.)

2. Learning to read and write Chinese has given me newfound respect for Chinese students. I know in the West we sometimes make fun of them for being little robots and not very creative, but try learning to write from memory 10,000 Chinese characters and see how far you get! Being literate in Chinese requires immense talent in the memorization of tiny details. No wonder they are memorizing machines. My hats off to them. (It is estimated that the average college graduate knows about 10,000 characters. I have read that it takes knowing anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 characters to read a newspaper. I know a bit over a 1,000 at this point. I can kind of make out simple newspaper articles. But I have a long way to go.)

3. This week I noticed I wrote my print letter 't' with the cross line first, then the vertical line. I was overjoyed! You see, when you write Chinese, you must write horizontally first, then vertically. It's an inflexible rule. This is somewhat backward from how I write alphabet letters. So the fact I changed my 't' without thinking about it means some of this Chinese writing is really sinking in . YAY! But still...a long way to go.

4. I had to go to Peace Corps headquarters this week to see the doctor. (I'm going to live! haha) The train ride from my city to PC headquarters is now only two hours long. 4 years ago, it was 8 hours long. Cutting down the time from 8 to 2 hours in four years is phenomenal. It's really incredible to see the progress China is making in its infrastructure. Daily life is changing so quickly here, and it's really incredible to see things happening firsthand. My students' lives are drastically different from their parents' lives in a way that my life and my parents' lives are not. I can only imagine what the next decade or two will bring to daily life in China. I hope I get the chance to see it.

Guess That Product: The Chinglish Test

I am starting to feel better, thanks for all your good wishes! I am grateful for access to medications. Too many people in the world live in places with contaminated food and water, and they don't have access to good doctors to help them. I know how privileged I am.

On another note, I bought a new product last week, and here is the English description straight from the packaging; can you guess the product?

"Will bath the flower to plunge bath to carry on a time ofmoistness.
The coordination bathes the fluid or the scented soap, may to the bodyeach
The spot carries on tries to scratch.
Asks the water used with after to flush only air dries the preservation."

If you guessed this product... you were right!  Congratulations, you are now fluent in Chinglish.

Chinglish, Taxis, and Rugby: Just Another Week In China

1. Chinglish thing I said on the phone:

"I hope you feel very a lot better." The word for 'very' is frequently used in Chinese articulation. I try to break my students of adding 'very' to everything, but looks like I've caught the 'very' bug. D'oh!

2. This week I jumped into a taxi while it was making a u-turn in the middle of a busy intersection. I could see a bunch of people waiting on the other side of the street for a taxi, so I darted out in traffic and jumped in while it was pausing in the u-turn. The driver didn't even blink. I could hear people on my side of the street saying, "Look at that foreign girl!" I think I now have my PhD in Chinese Taxi Hailing. I wonder how my skills will transfer to NYC taxi hailing?

3. A couple of the Peace Corps guys here play on an expat (mostly British, Australian and American) rugby team. Our team always loses. There aren't a lot of foreigners in Chongqing compared to other large Chinese cities, so I think our team pretty much accepts anyone who wants to play. Yesterday Renee, Kristen and I went to see them play a game against a Beijing team. Spanked! But you know what? Rugby players are kinda cute. So now we are rugby fans. (Note to self: learn what the heck is going on in rugby.)

Flushing, Queens + The Neverending Parade Of Cute

I'm finally recovered from the flu; I'm not sure if the Chinese strain is the same as the U.S. or Canadian strain, but  it sure knocked me out. I'm back to my old self now, though. Hope you all have stayed healthy, and continue to be healthy.

The last few weeks I've been panicking about leaving China. I know the economy back home isn't great and I worry about finding a job. But I also panic because I don't remember anymore how to live without China. How can I go back home and have no more contact with the Chinese language and culture and people? It has been almost my whole life here, how can it vanish into a black hole of nothingness overnight?

One option is to stay here and relocate to very developed and easy-to-live-in Eastern China (Shanghai!) and find a well paying job, which with my qualifications, is probably more possible than in the U.S. right now. The other is to seek out a Chinese community in the States where I can go to Chinese school and shop in Chinese shops and have interaction with Chinese people. I watched a movie here a few months ago about Flushing, Queens, and the large Chinese expat community there. I don't know much about Queens, and I had no idea this large "Chinatown" existed outside of Manhattan. In fact, I'm still not quite sure where Flushing actually is, only that it is in the Northwest part (I think?). (Manhattan is also an option, of course, but more expensive.) I probably won't do this, but the fact I'm thinking about it? It makes me realize how much China has become a part of my life.

And if you saw cute Chinese babies all day long, wouldn't you want to continue being a part of it too?

This baby was having a nap at the grocery store. (She's a rich baby, she's wearing a diaper.) Her mom was so flattered I wanted to take her picture. Really, I wanted to take the baby! (And I say that as someone who is not baby hungry in the least. In fact, I'm pretty sure I'm missing that gene). So I settled for a picture. I'm constantly surrounded by The Cute.