Pizza Hut saves Family Night

I never dreamed that the little red hut would be such a sight for sore eyes. It all goes back to our first night in our hometown. Things had been rushed and even chaotic for days if not weeks, so in our parental wisdom we thought Rachel might need a taste of consistent among a world of different. "We need a family night!"

Family night is a tradition that we hold close to our hearts and most importantly a tradition that our daughter loves. There are three non-negotiable ingredients to family night which can then be added to any number of outrageously fun activities. The first ingredient is, of course . . . family (insert "well duh" here). Mommy, Daddy and Rachel were all present - good to go on the family part. The second and third ingredients are only slightly less important than the first. One, popcorn and two, pizza. So our very first night in our new Chinese home I (daddy) was sent on a quest. I hopped on the bus to Wal-Mart in search of the necessary popcorn and pizza.

Two and a half hours later I returned to an excited little girl and an exhausted mommy. "I've got . . . popcorn!" Rachel laughed hysterically with anticipation. "And . . . McDonalds." I thought the thrill of a Happy Meal would cover the fact that I couldn't find pizza anywhere. Ummm . . . that didn't work. Rachel's face curled up with a broken, "I thought you loved me" look and the wailing began. Evidently, though she is not yet three years old, she is deeply traditional and family night has no room for substitute ingredients.

So three weeks later we get up the nerve to declare another family night. With a little more understanding of the city, some good direction and some help from an English major who told me what stop to get off at, I made it to the promised land. Pizza Hut!

I was invited to sit down to which I replied, "dow gow" (my attempt at Chinese for no, this is to go). The hostess looked confused and I quickly remembered I meant to say dow bow, not dow gow. I accidentally told her I wanted to pray instead of take it to go. I corrected myself and it made more sense. An hour later I arrived home to a much happier daughter, a beautiful wife and the best family night in a long time.

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The Adventures of Bob & Pete

I developed a deeper love and respect for Orval and Wilbur Wright this past weekend. A friend and fellow teacher on our team (also named Jerry or small Jerry to tell us apart) invited me to Beijing for the weekend to meet some really amazing people (another time and another place). In the interest of time we decided to fly there on Friday but in the interest of money we decided to take the train back on Monday. The difference? Sixteen hours. What can can flown in two hours requires eighteen by rail. All in all a wonderful weekend. Met some truly phenomenal young men and women, taught some English, learned some Chinese, played some basketball, found some Crisco for my wife, attended the BIG International fellowship in Beijing (ID checked at the door, apparently I'm beginning to look Chinese), had a large DQ milkshake (could possibly be renamed a small milky shake) and boarded the train for home.

We were able to get the hard sleeper seats (soft sleepers were sold out) which consists of a small room with six bunkbeds (two sets of three high). I got the bottom bunk and my friend got the middle. For the first hour the young man you see above (in the middle), I'll call him Bob, walked slowly by our room at least a dozen times, each time pausing to stare as if he weren't supposed to be looking but absolutely could not help it. I do believe it was the first time he had ever been so close to a wai guo ren (foreigner) and to make it even sweeter my friend is an African American. This kid had hit the ethnic mother load. Finally he found a semi-English speaking friend (I'll call him Pete) to translate and approach us. We became instant pals. Bob was the obvious ring leader and Pete was the curious yet embarassed middle man. I showed them the pictures on my camera and Bob couldn't grasp why I kept calling the little Chinese girl my daughter when my wife was obviously not Chinese. He asked me to teach him English. "The whole language?" That's going to take at least another eighteen hour train ride. Bob would inquire and when I would reply "Ting bu dong" (I don't understand). So, as could be expected, he would inquire more loudly. "Yeah, still ting bu dong." He was often frustrated with my lack of communication skills but remained diligent. After about an hour of conversation (or lack thereof) they moved on down the train for more of the adventure's of Bob and Pete. I was about 10% sad to see them go and 90% secretly relieved and exhausted. Evidently there was nothing in the train quite so adventurous, however, as the two Jerry's and so Bob and Pete returned to my bunk . . . for six hours. They talked for a while, they left for a while, they came back, they watched me read, they talked some more, Bob grabbed his sister and her camera phone and little Jerry counted 18 pictures of the cultural melting pot . . . the drill was repeated over and over.

I would have chosen the bright side and taken this as an opportunity to stretch my Chinese vocabulary but unfortunately, from what I gathered, even Pete had a hard time understanding Bob most of the time. I wasn't sure Bob would be my best teacher. So on the off chance that Bob met his goal of learning English this week and somehow stumbles across this blog . . . Thanks buddy, for a really . . . interesting cultural experience and for helping pass the time for the first seven hours. I truly missed you (somewhat) the final eleven.

Arriving Home!!!

our living room . . . at the airport and Rachel watching a movie on the plane . . . Rachel posing in all her cuteness . . . and our kitchen/dining area, yes, the fridge is barely taller than the table, it is NOT an illusion!

Hello friends!!!

We have just today gotten online and we are thrilled to be able to catch you all up on our happenings! It has been quite an adventure these past few weeks. . .

After spending an hour and a half on the phone trying to pay a seatbelt ticket received just the day before leaving the country, we arrived at the San Francisco airport with plenty of time to make last minute phone call good-byes and leisurely wait for our flight. Rachel watched anxiously out the window for our plane to pull up to the gate . . . I frantically looked for a good cup of coffee and our last truly american food for quite some time.

Rachel did remarkably well on the 13 hour flight! (thank goodness for dramamine!!! She slept about 6 hours)

After arriving in Beijing on Tuesday the 25th of July, we spent three days there in the Sino Swiss Hotel being oriented to our new company and surroundings. There we were able to meet a family and one single man who we will be working closely with . . . then on Saturday we headed HOME. As we checked in at the airport we were quite certain there would be several fees for overweight and extra luggage, but to our great surprise and pleasure, the sweet airline worker checked our bags right through . . . no fees, no questions, no problems!!! What a great welcome to the country!

We arrived to a wonderfully sunny and blue-skied day, temperatures nearing 100 degrees we are certain, but were quickly wisked to an airconditioned van sent and driven by an employee of the Univeristy. When we arrived at the university, we were given our choice of two apartments . . . the third floor facing the girls dorm, or the fourth floor facing the boys dorm. We quickly chose the fourth floor apartment as the mold problem was obviously less agressive there.

Since that day we have made several trips to Wal-mart (but the first 5 didn't count as we simply walked around in a daze taking it all in and picking up a few things here and there we "couldn't live without"). We now have a semi-stocked "pantry" and fridge, and all the cleaning, laundry and bathroom supplies we need. The most important shopping trip was a 6 hour day spent with my new friend Sara searching for a hair supply "warehouse" of sorts where I could find a curling iron. It had only been visited by one teammate previously and she only had very vague directions written on a napkin. However, the 6 hours was not a total loss! We did find "Italian Best Coffee" which is a very nice coffee shop downtown that served us wonderful iced coffee with the best whipped cream on top! We sat in wonderfully coushined chairs and sipped iced coffee in the airconditioned cafe for at least half an hour . . . "Italian Best Coffee" will be visited again in the future (granted that I can find it again!) But alas, by the end of the day I did come home with a curling iron (and clippers for Jerry).

They said to expect things to take longer here. . . but 6 hours to buy a curling iron???? Hopefully even that was an exaggeration of the rule!

Altogether we are adjusting well. We have made it through the jet lag stage and have had a few little illnesses to overcome, but we are on the upswing and looking forward to conquering more than just Wal-mart soon.