Back in America with a great surprise waiting for me...but you already knew that, didn't you? :)

So I'm back in America now. I can hardly believe it. The summer went by so incredibly fast. There was a week at the beginning of July when I thought I would never get home. The days crept by rather slowly. And now that I'm back in AA, I can't seem to think what happen to the 3 months I spent in China. It seems like just yesterday I was freaking out about packing all my stuff to leave. Now I'm freaking out about re-organizing all my stuff in my room and re-packing to go home to SD to see more family and friends.

The trip back home was rather uneventful. A short flight from Beijing Capital Airport to Tokyo's Narita Airport: about 4 hours. And 2 hour lay-over which we used by stopping by the Starbucks. Our summer staple of course. And then an excruciatingly long 12 hour flight to Detroit. Though this part of my trip home was uneventful, the time thereafter was not!

I called Tyler (my boyfriend) straightway when we landed. I was so excited to use my cell phone and call anyone I wanted whenever I wanted. A convenience that I certainly took for granted previously. He quickly said he was excited that I was home, but said he'd call me later because he 'had some work to do.' We proceed to customs which was more painless than I anticipated and waited for our bags. That was actually what took ed the longest. We had a lot of stuff. I had 4 bags total: 2 carry-ons and 2 checked. (Quick side note: both of my checked bags were under the allotted weight limit for flights to China! 70 pounds. No over-weight fees for me. Yes!!) After we got all of our bags and made it through the last customs agent, we headed outside to find Keith's girlfriend, Becca, who kindly agreed to take me home as well. :) Through this entire process, I neglected to call Tyler back to tell him that I got my bags and was headed back to AA until we had just left the airport.

Meanwhile, Tyler, who I thought was at work in WY, was deboarding his plane that just landed in Detroit and frantically getting his luggage to try to make it to my arrival terminal to greet me. Unfortunately, since he landed in a different terminal, it took him quite some time to get to my terminal. He made it just in time for me to call to tell him that we just left the airport after loading our things into the car! So I unknowingly foiled his plan for our reunion by not calling him right after I got off the plane and got my luggage. Oops. I know next time he says 'call me right when you get off the plane and get your bags' to do exactly as he says! :)

So instead, he surprised me by waiting in the parking lot at my apartment complex in AA! Again unknown to me, my flight back to SD was schedule for Saturday morning, not Thursday morning. The entire plan was a big ruse that lasted over 2 months so Tyler could surprise me here in MI! How fantastic! I was just going about my business after I arrived at my apartment, slowly trying to get a bit settled before I thought I had to leave again the next day. I stopped by the front office to sign the renewal lease for the next 10 months. And as I rounded the corner to go back into my apartment building, I noticed a man getting out of a nice looking Impala car, very pretty color I thought and longed to have my own car. :) I glanced at him and he smiled this huge giddy grin at me. I did a double take and realized who it was! Its good to know that after 3 months of not seeing one another and speaking on the phone 3 times that it only takes me about 10 seconds and 2 looks to recognize my true love standing before me! :) I couldn't believe my eyes. I thought I was loosing my mind. Just a few minutes ago, the woman at the front office asked me my address and I could hardly remember it. So I was thinking that the 20 hour trip back to America and about 3 hours of sleep were just really getting to me. But then I finally started to believe who I was seeing! The first words out of my mouth were 'what are you doing here? I thought you were working!' Not exactly romantic or memorable I know. But I was (and still am for that matter) completely stunned!! It was Tyler's best surprise for me ever! He has been know to do this in the past: show up at my door unexpected and unannounced to surprise me after feeding my some lines about how he's hanging out with a friend or working. I think this is the fourth time he has surprised me like this. He is a very good secret-keeper and the best surpriser. I love it. I am so grateful that he is here. Before, I thought I would not be able to see him for about a week after I arrived back in the US. I was content with just being able to talk to him on the phone on a regular basis. Now I can't imagine not having him here to welcome me back home to America. He is so thoughtful and so wonderful. I am so lucky to have him. We're lucky to have each other. Thanks to all my family who knew about this little secret (haha big secret more like) and did so well keeping it from me. It was quite to web of little white lies I must say. And all of you were in complete unison. If it were me trying to keep the secret, I'm not sure I could do it.

Well, I think I'm feeling the time difference and a bit of the jet lag. Its about 6:30am and I've been up since about 4 unable to sleep. What better thing to do than blog, right? :) I wanted to share this incredibly thoughtful and wonderful thing Tyler did for me with all of you. I still can't believe he's here. Even though the plan didn't work out exactly as he planned (meeting me right at the arrivals area), it was/is one of the highlights of my summer seeing him smile at me in the parking lot. I didn't cry when I saw him. I was just too surprised and shocked and probably a bit out of it to react that way. Recounting the story now brings tears to my eyes. The best welcome home I could ask for. In a few days, I'll see my family back in SD (minus my brother who I will hopefully see in a few months). And then shortly after that, I'll make the drive across my beautiful home state of SD to see my other family in WY. I'm so excited to see all of you! It has been far too long. But for now, I'm going to try to rest for a bit and enjoy spending some time with my love.

Lots and Lots of Photos...

It is my assumption (which very well may be a wrong one but I doubt it) that looking at pictures of the things I have been doing is much more interesting than just reading about them. So this blog entry will be composed of lots and lots of photos. I don't have the photos from the weekend in Shanghai and Hangzhou with me right now. I downloaded them to a different computer. I will definitely post them; the pictures of Hangzhou are really beautiful. Well, I think they are great. As I have rambled on and on about, blue skies now entrance me. All I have to see is a blue sky with a bit of green and I'm thoroughly impressed.


These photos are from our excurtion to the BaDaLing section of the Great Wall. It was really, really foggy that day. So visibility was rather poor. Still a great experience. There were tons of people there. It was a slippery walk; I only almost fell once. :)


One world. One Dream. The official 2008 Beijing Olympic Theme. We have become slightly obsessed with this during our few months in China. Its everywhere...and we love it.

This picture gives a pretty good illustration of how foggy it was. You can kind of see the specs of people walking up the Wall. Parts of the Wall were really steep and there was so much fog you couldn't see where they were walking.




The photos below are from a weekend trip to Beijing. We wanted to see the Olympic Park and the stadiums. Unfortunately, this was as close as we could get. They were (and still are) doing a lot of work on it. So it was completed fenced off. Still one of the coolest places I've ever been. I love the Olympics. It was really amazing to be at the stadiums.

The Bird's Nest.

The Bird's Nest. The Bird's Nest (on the right) and the Water Cube (on the left). You can't see the Water Cube very well. But its in the far background behind the white tents.

The following pictures are some random pictures I've taken during some adventures around the TJ. The city might not be a hot tourist or sightseeing destination, but we've managed to find some interesting things to do and have quite a lot of fun as well.

It is no secret...I love FuWa! These are the official Beijing Olympic Mascots. Fu means happy and wa means children. So literally fuwa means 'happy children.' But most often, in English, they are referred to as the Friendlies. They too are everywhere. It is awesome. I have also made Jeff and Keith love FuWa as well. They are very easy to love. This is a little FuWa display that is conveniently located right along one of our regular bus routes. So of course, we had to stop one day to take pictures. Fantastic!

A peacock statue near the FuWa.

Jeff and Keith being Jeff and Keith...enough said. :)

We like to get Starbucks as often as we can. A nice reminder of home. Plus they have dark chocolate mocha frappuccinos. Delicious. I don't think they have this creation in the states yet...I hope it does by the time I come home.

Yay! Mom!! We found this store while wandering around one of the malls. So I had to take a picture. Jeff and Keith needed to hair cuts, so I documented the entire experience. There was one woman at the salon that spoke a bit of English, so the boys told her how they wanted their hair cut, then she would translate to the stylist. It actually worked quite well.

And their hair looks very nice...I am going to wait to get my hair trimmed until I get back to the states. It makes me too nervous.

We found a western bar called Broadie's. There was a good mixture of expats and locals at the bar. It was a fun bar, nice atmosphere. They had excellent hamburgers. The drinks and beers were a bit too expensive for our tastes, but we managed. I think we are too used to 7 yuan ($1) from Walmart. I think I'm going to have trouble adjusting back to American food prices. The bar at Broadie's. The mysterious rooster found! So every now and then, we would hear a rooster. Sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon and early evening. We didn't know where it was coming from...somewhere within our gated community, somewhere on the street. Then one afternoon while walking near our CDC, I saw them...inside the CDC fence! Yes, our CDC has chickens and roosters. Why? Who knows! But I solved the mystery of the rooster. So I had to take pictures of it. There was one large rooster, shown in the picture, and many more brown chickens running around (you can see a couple in the background). It was pretty funny. I was making 'cocka-doodle-doo' sounds at the rooster trying to get it to 'cocka-doodle doo' back at me. But these efforts failed, but the people on the street were sure amused. A random white woman yelling at a bunch of chickens and roosters...thats a story to tell your friends if I've ever heard one. :) I like to give people something to talk about.

Blue skies...gray skies

We are back in Tianjin (or as we affectionately call it TJ) after a long weekend of traveling in southern China. As it is after most vacations, it was difficult to come back to work at the CDC today. It is half way through Tuesday afternoon and I’m counting the hours until I can go back to the apartment and take a nap.

To travel throughout the country, many people travel by train. It is very convenient and most are very nice, not to mention rather inexpensive. For our weekend trips to Beijing, we always travel by train. It is much faster and a much more pleasant than a car ride. Hands down. Much better. Plus the tickets are about 6 USD. Considering that gas in the states is over 4 USD, I think that is a pretty good price to travel 120 km. However, there are some small catches to taking trains here. Tickets must be purchased at the train station and are only available 10 days before the departure date. So you cannot really plan too far in advance. I have also heard that the lines to purchase tickets can be quite long, taking hours to purchase tickets. We have been lucky and not experienced this, even when we traveled to Beijing over Dragon Boat Festival weekend the lines we not too bad. You just need to watch for people who try to sneak in front you, especially in front of foreigners who obviously do not speak the language. We have perfected the box-out method of waiting in line. :) We had some help from our CDC co-workers to look for train tickets to Shanghai, which is about 1000 km south of TJ. It is an overnight train, leaving around 8pm and arriving in Shanghai the following morning. There are different types of tickets available as well, seat or sleeper, hard or soft, all with varying prices that increase based on comfort basically. However, because our co-workers are so great and treat us wonderfully, they also researched airfare for us as well. It turned out that flying would be cheaper than a soft sleeper (the most expensive) on the train. So we decided to just fly, which for us would be more convenient and give us more time in Shanghai. We booked our flight through a travel agent about 1 week before we left and tickets were about $150. Not bad. Airfare for me to get home to South Dakota from Detroit is usually three times that, booked over 2 months in advance. In comparison, this was quite the deal.

Despite the record-breaking heat wave in Shanghai over the weekend, we had a great time. There were blue skies and sunny days. These have been very few and far between in TJ lately. And by lately, I mean the last month and a half. I thought AA was bad in the winter, gray all the time and very dreary. I can’t decide which city is worse. So even with the extreme heat, it was great to see blue. We took strolls along the Bund, which I think is the name for the area around the Huang River, but I’m not really sure. I’m still a bit confused about what the Bund is exactly. The city skyline is quite amazing. It is a sight to behold at night. The buildings are beautiful. The lights go out at 10pm, so you need to be out before then to get the full effect.

We spent the 4th of July sightseeing around Shanghai. We visited the Pearl TV Tower, a landmark building on the Huang Riverfront. A very cool building with amazing views of the city. Since we had rather clear skies, visibility was really good. Skyscrapers as far as the eye can see. The buildings are very architecturally interesting as well, very beautiful. There were some other fun attractions inside the Pearl as well, rollercoaster simulations, a real rollercoaster, and a space museum. On Friday night, we took a boat ride on the river. Very cool. No fireworks, but it was a fun way to spend the 4th.

There are many famous, beautiful cities in very near Shanghai, such as Suzhou, Nanjing, and, our personal favorite, Hangzhou. The one English speaking TV channel here features countless commercials for the city of Hangzhou. The advertisements certain caught our attention. So when we discovered it was only a short train ride from Shanghai, we put a visit to this city on our itinerary. So on Saturday, we (meaning mostly Keith and Jeff) navigated the Shanghai metro to get to the train station to go to discover the mystery of China (that’s what the slogan is anyway. Hangzhou – discover the mystery of China. Very catchy). After a delightful hour and a half train ride, we wondered what mysteries to uncover first. We began our adventures by walking along West Lake, which was very near our Ramada Hotel. (Yay for American hotels with American-style breakfasts!) We thought the weather in Shanghai was great, but it was nothing compared to Hangzhou. Clear blue skies with light clouds and we could even see the moon at night! It was wicked hot as well. But the heat is more tolerable when you can see a lake with mountains surrounding it. Much more pleasant than only seeing buildings and other city-sights all the time. I have grown weary of the city sprawl and I miss the wide open spaces of South Dakota and Wyoming and the trees of Ann Arbor. I never thought I would miss the boring landscapes of I-29 or I-90 so much. :) We also visited several historical temples in Hangzhou, Lei Feng Temple (it was destroyed and then rebuilt in 2002 so it has many modern amenities that seem out of place at an ancient temple), and the Lingyin Temple.

For me, the undoubted highlight of the entire trip was the blue sky, sunshine, and the scenery. Today it is very gray in TJ. The usual smoggy gray sky is mixed with dreary rain. Never a good combination. Knowing this is what was waiting for us back in TJ made us even more reluctant to come back. Like I mentioned earlier, it is always difficult to revert back to real life after a fun vacation. This one was rough. I really enjoy traveling around China. I know I have said this before as well…but we have managed quite well with our extremely limited language skills. Basically, we have none. But we have communicated with people rather easily. We have found that usually there is at least one person who can speak a bit of English. And there is the universal language…pantomime. :) In many situations, it works surprisingly well. I only have three more weeks here in China, so I don’t have many more opportunities to visit other cities and historical sites here. I’m already planning my next visit to this great country. There is so much more that I'd like to see.

So I haven’t blogged for several weeks…sorry about that. I’d like to say that I have been so busy doing really exciting things here in China that I just have not had the time. But I cannot really say this because it would only be partly true. :) I/we have been quite busy with work, travel, sightseeing, just life in general I guess.

It is very interesting to me how my life here in China seems rather normal. I have developed routines and a sense of normalcy here. Going to work, finding things to occupy the evening hours, hanging out with the boys, going to Starbucks, making plans for the weekend. Normal kind of stuff. When I first arrived here, I thought that would never happen. Just the other day, I reflected on how I felt as we first drove into Tianjin late on the first night here. (It was about 1:30am.) I couldn’t believe what I had gotten myself into! I was very intimidated and rather freaked out to be honest. The city was so huge and everything was so unfamiliar. I couldn’t read a single sign, lights and neon signs everywhere and I couldn’t understand a single word. I thought I would never be able to venture very far without getting so utterly lost and confused. It would be a disaster. I remember thinking it would be a long and lonely summer just hanging out in the apartment with the boys. To add to my apprehension, I took the bus a few times and desperately tried to remember landmarks so I wouldn’t get lost since I couldn’t read nor remember street signs. I remember experiencing many of these same feelings (albeit to a lesser degree) when I first moved to Ann Arbor from Sioux Falls. Though everything seemed strange and scary when I first arrived in China and Tianjin, I knew in the back of my mind that it would only be a matter of time before I started to feel at home. And now I have been here in Tianjin for almost 7 weeks and my initial fears and apprehensions are a distant memory. Time has gone by so fast. I cannot believe I have been living in China for almost 2 montsh! In the first weeks, everything was so new and exciting. Yet, just a few short weeks later, things are still different and exciting. But the novelty has worn off in a sense. My surroundings are no longer unfamiliar and scary. I even have a sense of direction. I know where I am in relation to other landmarks and places I know. It really gives me a sense of accomplishment. I’ve never been that great with directions, but here I am in China and I kind of know where a couple things are. Well, enough to know that I’m not lost anyway. :) And in my book, that certainly counts for something.

Tomorrow (Saturday) a couple co-workers from the TJCDC have invited Jeff, Keith and me over to their homes for lunch and then dinner. We are going to learn how to make Chinese dumplings, called jiaozi. They are absolutely delicious. I’ve had several types of jiaozi at many restaurants here in Tianjin. I’m excited to learn how to make them. Though I do not cook and I am rather bad it even when I try, I may try to make these when I am back in the states too. No promises though. :) We’ll just see how this cooking adventure goes…

I will post some pictures of our trip to the Great Wall and other Beijing sightseeing this weekend. I know looking at pictures is the most interesting part of this blog. So I don’t want to disappoint. :)

Dragon Boat Festival Weekend

This past weekend was quite busy and adventurous here in China. We had Monday off because of the Dragon Boat Festival. This festival remembers a patriotic poet. Hundreds and hundreds of years ago, a poet named Qu Yuan was exiled from the country because the government officials were jealous of his wisdom and popularity with the people. Though he was in exile, he remained very patriotic. When he heard that a key battle was lost, he threw himself into the river and drown. The townspeople loved Qu Yuan and tried to save him with their boats and distracting the fish from eating the body. That is the basic story behind the holiday. Well, the way I understand it anyway. People also eat rice dumplings wrapped in bamboo leaves. Some very kind co-workers have bought and shared some of these dumplings with Keith, Jeff, and me. In northern China, the dumplings are filled with sweet red bean paste or dates. However, in southern China, the dumplings are usually filled with meats and more salty, spicy foods. My favorite is the date rice dumpling.

To celebrate our long weekend, we went to a soccer game at the new Olympic Stadium, Shui Di (meaning Water Drop in English). It was amazing. The stadium is unreal, so beautiful, especially at night. I saw the stadium during my visit to Tianjin in February, but this was my first time in the stadium. It is huge. And we had pretty VIP seats as well, which some CDC co-workers helped us purchase. Though China lost 0 to 1 to Qatar, it was an awesome game. I have never watched a soccer game. Well, I guess we’ve been watching some on TV. But back in the states, it is not a sport that I pay much attention to, like most Americans. :) Anyway, we made some friends at the game, as you will see from the pictures. It was awesome…and you can’t beat getting 8 beers for less than $7 and watching a sporting event at an Olympic stadium. Yeah, it was great.

Peter (Keith's friend who came up to Tianjin to visit us while on a business trip in Shanghai), Keith, Jeff, and me getting ready to go watch the soccer game.

We had second row seats for a World Cup Prelim soccer game...awesome.

On Sunday, we took a train to Beijing. Considering the language barriers, it was a pretty easy process to get our tickets and to get to train. We left right on time and the ride was very pleasant and relaxing. Traveling by train is great; I highly recommend it. After arriving in Beijing and grabbing something to eat at a KFC, we went to Tiananmen Square to watch the flag lowering. We had to wait for a quite awhile because the ceremony was not as early as I thought it was. We waited around for about an hour and a half, but we made some friends too. We started taking pictures of each other just sitting around and we attracted a small crowd that wanted to take pictures with us as well. It was pretty funny. Next time we may start charging for photos. Keith was even offered some cigarettes in a kind, friendly gesture of friendship. The activity before the ceremony was actually a bit more exciting than the actual flag lowering.

Olympic Fu Wa outside the train station. Bei Bei, Jing Jing, Huan Huan, Ying Ying, Ni Ni.

At Tiananmen Square.

Waiting for the flag lowering ceremony to begin...we were the center attraction. The woman in the black and white top just sat next to Keith so her friend could take a picture.

This girl asked me (in English) if I would take a picture with her...very sweet.

As we were about to cross the street, the crossing guard handed me his flag and motioned for the boys to take a picture of the two of us. I was kind of surprised, but it turned out to be a pretty good photo op.

A couple of monuments at Tiananmen Square.

This is the actual flag lowering ceremony...it lasted about 10 minutes or so.

We relaxed at the hotel for the rest of the evening and got a drink at the hotel bar. I had to convince our server to give me a vodka tonic because she had never heard of it and thought I was absolutely crazy for wanting to drink it. She kept saying ‘vodka and tonic is no good. It will taste bad. Gin and tonic.’ It took some doing, but she did finally just make it. I really like vodka tonics, reminds me of good times back in SD. Plus, I hate gin unless it is the really expensive non-juniper tasting kind. I thought my Absolute and tonic was quite lovely and refreshing. Culturally differences abound.

On Monday morning, Keith, Jeff, and I went to the Temple of Heaven, which was a short walk from the hotel. The Temple of Heaven was built in 1420 used during the Ming and Qing dynasties to pray and make sacrifices for good harvests and food. The temples are very representative of architecture of the time and depict the symbolism represents the relationship between heaven and earth. I’m sure wikipedia can give a much better description of the place than I can. It was kind of like a huge park area with temples and historic buildings. There were people simply just hanging out as well, eating lunch, talking, practicing their spear fighting, having dancing practice, and playing hacky-sac, the usual I guess. It was really interesting to see the mixture of people, the locals and both domestic and foreign tourists. And though it was an extremely hot day (it was about 90 degrees), we enjoyed ourselves.

Me standing on the Circular Mound Altar at the Temple of Heaven.

The main temple...the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvest. This is where the emperors would pray for good harvests.

Just some senior citizens dancing...very cute.

Me standing at the entrance to the Echo Wall and Imperial Vault of Heaven.

We went back to the train station via the subway. Jeff and Keith did a great job of navigating. It was surprisingly easy considering the language barrier. Beijing has done a lot of work on the subway in preparation for the Olympics; some of the ticket agents even speak a bit of English. We had some time to kill before our departed, so we wondered around a nearby mall and followed the signs to a Papa John’s. That’s right…a Papa John’s pizza restaurant in a Beijing mall. It was fantastic! They served the peppers and garlic butter sauce too. Delicious! It is very comforting to eat a familiar food, a comfort food if you will. :)

All in all, it was a really great weekend. We had a lot of fun and none of us really wanted to go back to work on Tuesday. We are going to Beijing again this weekend. Some co-workers from the CDC arranged a trip to the Great Wall for us. That should be pretty awesome. Jeff and I have been there before, but we thought the Great Wall is something that Keith should see too.

My assimilation into Chinese culture.

Though we did not celebrate Memorial Day weekend here in China, we had a very busy weekend in Tianjin. On Saturday afternoon, the three of us along with some of our colleagues from the HIV department were going to go to a bar to do some HIV education and testing. (I think our concepts of what constitutes a bar are different, but that’s beside the point.) But it turned out that was not a bar, but more of a private party type thing. In a nutshell, our preceptors did not think it would be a good idea for us to attend this private party. I’m not sure what was going to happen at this private party, but I didn’t really want to find out. Probably a good idea. Sometimes it is awkward enough to be those Americans in the corner observing all the action and activities. So reducing the awkward is always a good thing, in my opinion. :) And since I have been so poor at blogging, I am making up for it by posting an extra long one. Happy reading. :)

So instead of going to the private party, Keith, Jeff (the other UM SPH students who are in China with me) and I went to the downtown area to wander around and explore. We went to several malls and, of course, attracted attention wherever we went. The first mall we went to was about 4 levels. Tons of stuff, one entire floor was dedicated to shoes. There were many Western brands that we recognized and some that we did not. We didn’t buy anything, just looked. That is sometimes just as fun. Plus, I think it will be difficult to buy clothes and such here. I can’t really understand the labels or sizes, not to mention that I am taller and bigger than the average Chinese woman. I mean it’s depressing enough to shop in the states, but here I feel like a giant.

Next we decided to walk down a couple more blocks, always taking extra precaution to note our location and landmarks to ensure we would not get lost. Buildings and stores start to all look the same sometimes. Similar colors and signs that we can’t read. To my untrained eye, many Chinese characters look the same. I can recognize three, maybe four. I know the characters for water, China and Tianjin. That’s progress I guess. We always point out the signs that are in English. I hope that this is a habit I will leave in China. I’m afraid I’ll randomly yell out the names of stores when driving back in the states. I can already tell that my oral English is slipping. It would really funny if it weren’t the truth. :) That’s a topic for another day... Next thing we know we stumbled upon a very high-end mall, Hisense. We weren’t really dressed appropriately to go in. Jeans and t-shirts, not exactly the type of clothes that people who can afford to buy stuff at this place would wear, but we go in anyway. We walk in and the first thing we see is a Land Rover display next to the Coach store and the many other high-end stores of fashion designers with names that I can’t confidently pronounce. I was too afraid to even go into most of those stores. Talk about window shopping. I wanted to go into the Fendi store, but thought better of it. I did make the mistake of pointing at some Burberry perfume and the saleswoman came over to give me some sample cards. A word of caution, do not point at stuff. It draws attention and makes the salespeople think you want it. This is especially true at markets. The difference is that at the markets they try to impress you with their English skills. A couple days ago while at a market, it was a bit humorous to hear a man yell the word ‘watches’ at me as I walked by. At first, I couldn’t tell what he said, then I looked at his displays and figured it out. The word didn’t sound too much like ‘watches’ to me, but he tried. And as I have learned from trying to learn Chinese, an A for effort sometimes just has to be good enough. :)

Anyway, back to high-end fashion, this mall was unreal. As you can see from the pictures, it was very impressive. I have never been anywhere like it. It was very beautiful. We sat on some couches had some fancy coffee drinks and took in our surroundings. We tried to look like we fit in, but I think it was pretty obvious that we didn’t really belong there when I tripped on the step-up to get to the couches and then Keith tripped down it. Awe yes. We are so sophisticated. Nonetheless, it was really cool to see all the designer stores. But I couldn’t help but ask myself, who are the intended customers for this place? It was not full nor crowded by any stretch of the imagination. I heard that some people here indulge and really like to go shopping due to past deprivation periods and limitations on purchasing. But I’m not too sure. It was an interesting cultural experience that’s for sure and I know it would be whether I entered a place like that here in China or back in the states.

The main area with all the stores on the perimeter.

Waiting for our coffee drinks. Just kidding. This was totally posed, we're trying to look sophisticated.

On Sunday, Jeff and I played badminton with a couple people from work (TJCDC). Keith was on his way to Beijing for a week long conference, so he couldn’t come. He missed out on some fun. Now this was a real initiation into Chinese culture. Badminton and ping pong are very popular here. Ping pong is the national sport. The place where we played was not too far from our CDC, but there wasn’t an easy way for us to get there. We were going to take a bus, but it was extremely crowded. So our friend arranged a moped taxi thing for us. It was a kind of carriage I guess, that’s what it reminded me of. This was our first Chinese experience of the day. It was a bumpy ride, and like all other vehicles, no seat belts. So I clung to Jeff whenever we hit some bumps or saw a car coming in our direction at a speed that made me flinch. The large badminton/ping pong facility was inside what our friend called ‘a garden.’ There were carnival rides along with other recreation and play type activities. It was a large park area. We had to pay to get inside, which he kindly paid for us. The entrance fee was about 30 cents and I think we had to pay to reserve one of the badminton courts as well.

In the moped taxi thing on the way to play badminton.

Badminton doesn’t look like it is a serious sport, but trust me it is. There is definitely skill involved and these are not skills which I possess. After playing for a little while, I certainly got better and could hit the birdie more often; it did go downhill toward the end though. But I was not nearly as good as the older gentlemen (50+) playing nor the 8 year little girls playing with their parents. Jeff and I tried to proudly represent America, but we did a rather poor job. We started to just give each high-fives for just hitting the birdie. We whiffed it quite a bit. I was even a bit sore on Monday from it; my right forearm throbbing while I type and tense shoulders, not to mention my legs. You have to be pretty scrappy and light on your feet to be good at badminton. I’m not really either of those, especially since I don’t regularly play sports like this. Not since high school anyway. That’s why I run, not a lot of quick, coordinated movements. The skills needed to run are much different. Just one foot in front of the other. Usually, I'm pretty good at that. So I'll stick with running.

Some serious badminton playing...we were a force to be reckoned with on the court. Well, maybe not.

Jeff and I playing a game against two of our CDC co-workers. They were pros, not really but they were good and we sucked. A lot of fun though.

Two great action shots. Check out that form. :) Kind of ridiculous, but pretty funny.

Oh, another interesting thing occurred while we were playing badminton. I inadvertently taught our Chinese counterparts some slang words used to take your frustration during sports. To my defense, the words weren’t too bad. When I would miss the birdie and completely whiff, I would say ‘crap’ or ‘dang it.’ There are certainly worse things to say, but there are also nicer words to say. Or just don’t say anything. I said it a couple times and then one of the guys turns to me and says, ‘Crap. What does this word mean?’ Well… as you can imagine some other four letter words came to my mind when I realized that I was basically teaching them swear words. Mind you, these are grown men (older than me). But I didn’t really want to explain the whole thing. Though I don’t have kids, I imagine it is like an 8 year old hearing you say the word around the house or something, then repeating it without knowing what it means. I mumbled something about it being a word that you say when something bad happens and that it is not a very nice word to say. It was a low moment for me. But it was even worse when he actually said it a couple times! After that, I just said ‘oops’ instead of saying anything else. Jeff and I also had to keep the trash talk to a minimum as well. There are some things that just don’t translate well and are extremely difficult to explain. This was certainly one of those things.

Our next adventure presented itself on our trip back home from the garden. Most people in Tianjin (I’m not sure what it’s like in other parts of China) don’t drive. But trust me, there are plenty of cars still. I guess that happens in a city of 11 million people. First most people don’t have cars. Second, most people don’t know how to drive. You have to be 20 years old in order to get a driver’s license here. So most people walk, take the bus or, the most popular, ride bikes. Our badminton friends all rode their bikes to the garden. So instead of taking a taxi or a moped taxi, we rode on the back of their bikes. You see this all the time here; everyone from young children to full-grown adults ride on the little back ‘seats’ of bikes. So the best way to describe the seat is a luggage rack over the back tire. So it is barely a seat. Since I am a lady, I had the good fortune to ride on the back of the moped-type bike complete with a somewhat cushioned seat. Jeff, on the other hand, did not have such luck. He sat on metal bars for the entire ride home. The ride was quite the experience. I held on to whatever I got, which was not much, the waist of my drive and underneath the seat, being careful to not get my fingers caught in the tire. We had to cross some train tracks, which in itself is less than pleasant, but on a bike in the middle of on-coming traffic. We were literally stopped in the middle of all the cars trying to cross the tracks and then make a left turn. As you will see from the pictures, I was a bit nervous. But we made it to our CDC safely and with a great story to tell.

Jeff took this picture from his seat on the back of a bike. That's me in the blue shirt holding on and trying to be calm.

To add to our Chinese adventures for the day, Jeff and I made our routine trip to Walmart. We had decided to do some laundry that evening and we needed some new laundry soap and clothes drying mechanisms. Clothes dryers are not common here. They sell them; but since people try to conserve energy as much as possible, not many people have them. We bought a couple clothes hanging baskets that a resemble fruit hanging basket that my grandma used to have and another contraption with clothes pins attached to it. After eating our frozen Chinese dinners, which were very tasty, we did a load of laundry, rigged them up on our drying contraptions, and hung them up on our 21st floor balcony to dry. Not a bad way to end and a very exciting and very Chinese day. Oh and we had a treat after all of our adventures...our favorite ice cream bars, Magnums.

Our laundry hanging on our balcony...quite the view in the background.

Interesting experiences and observations thus far

I can’t believe I have been in China for almost two weeks. As you may have guessed, I am not too great at this regular blogging thing. I’d like to say that I’ll get better, but I’d rather not make promises I doubt I can keep. :) But I will say that I’ll blog more than I have this week. That’s something at least. And just to let you all know as well, I cannot access the comments made on the entries. So if you leave me a note, which I would love btw, I won’t be able to read it until I get back to the states! I saw that there are a couple of comments already, and I unable to read them. Sorry. I just wanted you all to be aware of this.

On to business…here is the website of the Tianjin CDC (TJCDC) where I am interning. http://www.cdctj.gov.cn/main_en/index.php There are a couple of interesting stories and some great pictures. Check it out. You can see the office I share with the two boys and other parts of the CDC. They have a very nice website and a lot of information about the partnership between the TJCDC and the Office of Public Health Practice at UM SPH.

Even though I have only been in China for 11 days, I have had many interesting experiences and observations thus far. Not to say that the work I’ve been doing at the CDC is not fascinating and quite exciting, I just thought some of this stuff would be more entertaining for now.

1. I don’t eat much meat in the US, but here in China I eat just about anything food put in front of me. Most of the time I don’t know what the food is, so I just eat it. I’ve eaten more meat in the past 11 days that I have in about 2 years back home.

2. I get quite a few stares around here…okay, more than a few. Even when I am with Jeff and Keith, I get the most stares. I like to think it is my stunning good looks, but it really just because I am a foreigner and white.

3. I have been told that I should become the president of the US and that I should be an actress; the latter is probably because I am white.

4. Traffic here is an experience, both driving and trying to cross the street. Crossing the street is kind of terrifying. I always hold someone’s hand while I cross the street, yes I have reverted back to elementary school. But at least if I hold someone’s hand, I won’t be the only person hit by oncoming traffic. Think about the old school game frogger. They don’t really wear seatbelts here. Sorry Mom. It makes me nervous. But now I have grown more accustom to it. I don’t flinch as much anymore.

5. The Walmart here is a lot the same. Jeff, Keith and I spend quite a bit of time there. I never shop there in the US, but it is nice to go somewhere kind of familiar.

6. Back in the states, I never eat fast food. I really cannot remember the last time I had fast food. But here in China, I’ve already had fast food a couple of times. KFC and Dairy Queen to be specific. Again, it is nice to have something somewhat familiar. Both of these places are not too far from the CDC. Both KFC and DQ workers speak English pretty well. I mean we can’t have complete conversations, but we don’t have to point at the pictures. I think we’ll be at both of these places much more throughout the summer.