Welcome to 27

April 9 was Jason's 27th Birthday.  We're still a little blown away at how quickly our twenties seem to be rushing by, but our good friend Frieda was quick to remind us how young we are, emphatically insisting that Jason is "far too young to be married!"  All musings on age and growing older aside, Jason opted against his usual quiet approach to birthday celebrations and decided to give me a night off from kitchen duty.

Jason with our buddy and Firefly student, Paul, at dinner

We met up with our good friends at our campus's Xinjiang Muslim Restaurant.  Xinjiang food is mostly carbs and protein (so Jason was pretty stoked), and in following with Muslim doctrine, doesn't serve pork or seafood.  Being that beef in China is rather expensive, you're left with lots of chicken and mutton options, which Xinjiang folks do extremely well.  I have to hand it to people in China for serving up some seriously tasty, non-gamey mutton.  Here's a peak at what we feasted on.

Of course, being me, I simply couldn't let Jason go on and have a birthday without a proper dessert to give his big day a good finish.  And of course, Jason simply wouldn't let me spend the 150 RMB (about $23 USD) it would cost to buy a little cake at a local bakery.  He made a special request for chocolate chip cookies and cupcakes.  I went with this recipe for the cookies (lives up to its name) and some awesome Eton Mess Cupcakes, courtesy of Ming Makes Cupcakes.

Eton Mess, for those who may not be in the know, is a British tasty treat hailing from Prince William's alma mater, comprised of meringue, whipped cream, and strawberries.  Not to be confused with Pavlova, which is the only other meringue-based dessert that brings me joy (don't even get me started on meringue-topped pies).

I made little J's out of meringue in honor of the Birthday Boy.  Or is it Birthday Man?

Birthday Boy/Man enjoying his Eton Mess Cupcake

I'm pretty sure that every single time I introduce Jason to anyone in China, they immediately express is their shock and amazement at how handsome he is.  Sometimes, it's hard to not take that personally-- like I'm actually supposed to be married to Sloth from The Goonies instead, and by some crazy turn of events, I completely lucked out and married a good lookin' human being.

Well, all this self-deprecation is healthy for no one, so I simply take the compliments as an excuse to gush about how, yeah, he is really handsome.  Isn't he?  Of course, all the people who remark on how handsome Jason is don't have the great privilege of knowing that his personality outshines his appearance.  They don't know that when his wife stomps around the kitchen throwing things because it's too early on a Saturday and she hasn't had coffee yet, he sits patiently and waits for her to become sane again.  They don't see how hard he works at being better as a teacher, husband, servant of the Kingdom day after day, humbly and without expectations for praise or reward in return.  They don't know what he looks like shuffling about the apartment in his pajamas, singing Musiq Soulchild and checking his email. And they certainly don't know how fun it is being married to him.

But I do.  Happy Birthday, Husband.  I so look forward to finding out all the other things about you that other people won't know.

Tomb Sweeping Day

Hello, world.  This past weekend was the first "holiday" of the semester-- Qing Ming Jie, translated as Tomb Sweeping Holiday, which is literally what families across China actually do on this holiday.  Qing Ming Jie is a day devoted to honoring loved ones, relatives, and ancestors who've passed on.  Families go home to maintain their family plots and "worship" their ancestors, asking for good luck and prosperity.

Another part of Qing Ming Jie tradition is to give "offerings" to your relatives by burning replicas of things that you think they might need in their respective afterlives.  Traditionally, copies of paper money is burnt... I guess so your ancestors can finally get that Snickers Bar they've been eyeing at the Afterlife Concession Stand.  But plain ol' cash simply won't do for those who've passed on nowadays, oh no.  I learned from my students that paper copies of iPhones, iPads, television sets, cars, even Visas to travel to other countries are available for all your ancestral worship needs.

In any case, given that we're sans tomb to sweep, Jason and I decided to take advantage of the beautiful Spring weather that's finally come around to take a walk through old Beijing.  Here's a bit of what we saw.

Some hutong doorways.

Locals doing what locals do.  These men are playing Chinese chess.  To the bottom left corner of this photo, you'll also see a disabled man dragging his torso along the ground, begging for money.

This particular area (Guanzijie) is down the street from the Confucian Temple and Museum, and near Yong He Gong Buddhist Temple, so it's a hot spot for tourists, which means a lot of panhandling.  The street is lined with Buddhist fortune tellers, where people can give a sum of money to hear about their futures.  While I was taking this picture, I found myself wondering about the future of this beggar.  Would anyone in his family ever burn a paper car, television set, or iPhone for him when he's passed, when I'm sure all he wanted during his time on earth was enough to fill his belly and the ability to use his legs.

Of course, it's not a proper day walking around China without your dose of Chingrish signage.  For the record, Funny Socks was closed, but from what I could tell about it, it was a real estate office.  Yup.

We decided to stop for some lunch.  This little Xiao Long Bao (steamed dumplings filled with meat and soup) joint looked pretty good, and the two men working inside urged us to come in.  Sure, it wasn't considered what most would call fine dining, but we thought we'd give it a shot.

While the dumplings were tasty and filled us up, they made a rather unwelcome, speedy return visit just one hour later, which necessitated a detour on our subway ride home.  I won't go too far into detail, but I'll simply say that given how few tissues I had on me, I was grateful that I'd brought along last month's issue of Time Out Magazine in my backpack.  The bright side to all of this is that I found out that subway toilets are a lot cleaner than one would assume!

In the midst of experiencing bits and pieces of "Lao Beijing," we inevitably ran into the cold concrete and soaring immensity of New Beijing, which continues to sprout up and overtake the city without warning.  In its own way, New Beijing was also the uninvited guest in many households this Qing Ming Jie, as many Beijing families had to dig up the ashes of their relatives to find a new burial site for them, as they'd been informed by the government that a new building is set to be built on what was the resting place for their parents, grandparents, and ancestors' remains.

Just around the corner from the small hutong where we'd spied on kids playing hide-and-seek by ducking behind wooden wheeled carts, old Beijing seniors chatting with one another, and lap dogs lounging in the sunshine, I saw these three identically giant buildings.

Old Beijing, I hope that by this time next year, we won't be burning paper money in your memory as well.  Cheers.

Frat Stanrey

Okay, okay, I know.  As an English teacher in China, it's totally unprofessional and insensitive of me to take such a cheap shot at the ever-elusive Asian accent.  Sometimes, though, I do think that speaking English is overrated when actually understanding and interpreting accents is the true challenge in championing the English language.  I mean, what would you think if your student said the following to you?

"In zer countryside, some time you weel find some unhygienic sh*ts on the bed.  In a hotaire.  You know hotaire?  They don't often cling the sh*ts.  So, you must pay much monays to go to a nicer one to slip on the cling sh*ts."

True story, folks.  Translation:  "In the countryside, sometimes you will find the sheets on the beds in hotels are not clean, as the sheets are often left unwashed between stays.  So it's worth it to pay a bit more to stay in a higher-end hotel where you can sleep on clean sheets."

But that's totally not the point of this blog post.  As stated in the title, I wanted to tell you about Flat Stanley (whose Chinese name is Frat Stanrey), who was sent via envelope from my cousin's home in Pleasanton, CA to spend some time with me in Beijing.

In case you haven't figured it out by reading this blog, my life is actually quite boring.  Work, home, work, home.  Sometimes I'll bake something.  That didn't stop Flat Stanley from seeing the sights, though!  (Like the little Chinese track suit I gave him?  His hat says "Bei Yu Xiao Xue," for BLCU Primary School.  Represent!)  Here are Flat Stanley's Greatest Hits from his trip to China.

BeiHai Park, Beijing

Forbidden City, Beijing

Map of Beijing at a bus stop

Bus schedule

Flat Stanley got to "visit" two places that I still have yet to travel to!  The grasslands of Mongolia and Jiuzhaigou Valley in Sichuan Province!*

Ride 'em, Mongolian cowboy!

Jiuzhaigou's natural terraced mineral lakes

What's a trip to China without a little Chingrish?

Of course, Stanley had his fill of traditional Chinese dishes, plus some Cantonese icy desserts!  Yum!

All in all, it was an eventful trip for Stanley.  Now it's back into the envelope from whence he came.  Bon voyage, Flat Stanley!  Send my love to my cousins back home!  And try your best to steer clear of the unhygienic sh*ts!

  

*All right, so he didn't actually go there.  But c'mon.  We're talking about a paper doll, here, people!

Art & Film

"These are a few of my favorite things."

I'm back today with a few more images from Cathy Lomax, whose work I wrote a little about yesterday.  Here are a few more images that Ms Lomax has generously shared with me to post of her favorite pieces from the series.  The names of each painting is written at the bottom corner of the canvas.

All images used with permission from Cathy Lomax

Here is what Ms Lomax writes about her inspiration and thoughts on the project:


The boredom of everyday life is punctuated by episodes of escapism. The most easily accessible escapist experience for most people is provided by film – 90 min slices of someone else’s life. 

I decided to keep a diary of all the films that I watch, selecting one image from each to make into a small painting titled with a perfunctory explanation of what is happening in that image. This record of what drew me in and kept me rapt could be viewed as one of those arbitrary un-scientific exercises that artists indulge in. But as with any recording of everyday events the choices that I make say something about me and probably define me at this moment as much as anything could.


This certainly makes me think twice about the pivotal moments I chose to feature from some of my favorite films yesterday.  Some are purely sentimental while others are moments that are burned in my brain for their quiet significance, and yes, I do suppose that this does say something about me and what is can be considered pivotal in my life outside of consumption of film.  In my relationships and daily life, it is often the quiet, understated acts of kindness or what is silently spoken through subtext that get me thinking, move me, or keep me up at night.


What do you think?  What do your favorite movie moments say about you?

Around the World Wide Web

Delightfully Engaged.  For our three-part wedding feature!  Hooray!  Plus a few of my thoughts on wedding planning (if you're really bored).

This fascinating article about what really goes on when you're a parent.  (Spoiler: it ain't pretty.)

Cathy Lorax's amazing series "Film Diary," in which she recreates pivotal scenes from a wide range of movies.  It's really fun to click through and see which movies you recognize.*

From "Film Diary" series, posted with permission from Cathy Lomax

So, in honor of Ms. Lorax's genius, let's play a little game of "Guess the Movie from the Pivotal Scene," shall we?  I don't think we can ever expect to see that name on the outside of a Milton Bradley box any time soon, so my wee little blog will have to suffice for now:

#1:  Two boys race against each other in a filthy motel swimming pool.

#2:  He pushes broken glass on the ground out of her way with his foot.

#3:  A man sees a stranger crying in a theater.

#4:  They find a dead body in the freezer next to the ice cream.

#5:  A man moves into a familiar apartment, and puts his cigarettes on the shelf over his bed.

#6:  A man gets something in his eye, then tells his daughter that he loves her very much.

#7:  He watches her put money into a cookie tin.

#8:  He fetches her a pitcher.  (This one is so easy-peasy, I shouldn't even include a picture, but I will be kind.)

*She also painted a fascinating series studying Mia Farrow's costumes in Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby-- a film I still haven't developed the courage to watch. 

Bed Head

Months before the wedding, I was itching to cut my hair short again.  I'd been growing it out for more than three years and was growing weary of the same old style.  So one of my first orders of business as a married woman was to get a haircut.  I chopped it off and sent my hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths, which uses donated hair for wigs and hairpieces for cancer patients.  My hair grows really quickly, so donating my hair every few years is a practice I'd like to continue doing.

This is my third hair donation in the last seven years, so I've gotten pretty used to going from style to style.  One thing I'll never get used to, though, is waking up every morning and seeing what sort of wild, gravity-defying feat my hair has done overnight.  Here's what I'm talking about:

See what I mean?  I'd encourage all to try donating their hair at least once in their lives.  I've also found that it's a lot easier to part with your hair knowing that it's going to a good cause rather than just being swept up off the barbershop floor.  Plus, you get the bonus of waking up in the morning to hairstyles that rival the Donald Trump's "Which Direction Does It Grow From?" Comb-Over!  The deer in headlights look may not come as naturally, however.