My first working Christmas

 

 Being a country without many friends or family can often be emotionally challenging during the holidays, but in China there is plenty of work to keep the mind far from emotions.  A few side weekend trips are helpful too.  Last weekend I cooked a dish called Gong Bao Ji Ding, (which means chicken dish fit for the palace guardian).  My language teacher took me and a few other students to a small city outside of Wuhan for a day of markets, cooking, and hot springs. 

Before hot springs we had to negotiate all of the ingredients in our dishes at the open markets with a little more than $3 on hand.  I thought this would be impossible for me, but I ended up doing better at bargaining than the Chinese in our group.  It helped that I was willing to take advice from a woman cutting and selling fresh dog in addition to many other common pets at her stand. 

There are many crowds this time of year for shopping.  They have deals at all shopping centers from 6 PM to 3 AM on Christmas Eve.  For Christmas one of the teachers at the school gave me a beautiful red scarf that took her 22 hours to knit.  Another teacher presented me an apple because the presentation of an apple, (pinguo), is similar to a presentation of peace, (pin pin an an).  

Despite the work and planning for January’s big eight straight days with the teachers time, I got the BEST Christmas present just a few days before the holiday.  My sister-in-law gave birth to my niece about three weeks earlier than expected.  Both mom and baby are doing well and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my skype sessions with her. 

I asked my family what they got for Christmas this year, and here are their responses:

older brother:  a new baby
Mother:  a granddaughter
younger brother:  a new niece
Father:  a granddaughter
Sister-in-law:  a daughter
My brother's dogs:  competition/sibling rivalry

I'm delighted to be an aunt.  My new niece has my face with her mother's beautiful full lips.  She already has everyone wrapped around her tiny finger.  Until I get to see her in about a month, I may enjoy a few more weekend adventures.  I'll start this weekend with a foreign teacher's Festivus celebration.  A good Festivus will help cleanse the mind of any grievances and start a fresh 2014!

Crow's Mouth

 

In the past month I’ve been taking Chinese lessons once a week.  Although I still feel like I’m in square one, my language teacher has a great amount of patience and is tremendously kind.  Having a good language teacher is not easy to come by.  Stephanie is more than worth her weight in gold.  Not only do I get vocabulary, grammar, and character practice, but also she occasionally throws in a side story. 

One lesson we were working on pronunciation and I came across the words:  Wūyā zuǐ.  Stephanie laughed a bit and explained this meaning of “crow’s mouth”.  “If someone speaks ill in a foreboding way and this turns to be true, you may say to this person ‘crow’s mouth’”.  For example, recently I was very sick.  Before I got sick someone told me that I was not wearing enough warm clothes and I would get sick.  I can now say CROW’S MOUTH to this person.

Not sure how wearing enough clothes relates to a stomach virus, but there are still many things here that I don’t understand.  Prior to this illness I was much more active in my explorations of Wuhan.  Over Thanksgiving my American neighbors, Ted and I went to a Hawaiian restaurant for an all-you-can-eat turkey buffet.  It was Ted’s first time trying turkey, stuffing, cranberry relish, and pumpkin pie.  The following weekend I attended a charity gala by the Women of Wuhan to raise funds for students whose parents have died from AIDS.  The night of dancing was well received and it gave me enough energy for my six-day workweek. 

After the Saturday morning workshop I was still feeling on top of the world.  I went with a friend to explore a natural park in Wuhan and watched Les Miserables.  Sunday morning felt fine in the beginning, but the rest of the day was gut-wrenching torture. 

The day of emptying my insides gave me my first taste of meeting a Chinese doctor.  Ted served as my translator and often his translations came across as an accusation rather than a question.  Instead of saying, “Did you eat too much on Saturday night?” I heard, “You ate too much on Saturday night”.  My quick negation helped me to realize the loss in translation.  The doctor gave me some powders and pills, and my quiet day at home will give me enough time to rest, relax, and avoid any more crows.