A Bit of Writing

I've been doing a bit of writing for the Global Times. It's the Party voice here in China and I don't really know how I feel about writing for them. But the people are really nice and it's a good outlet for my writing. They've sort of changed the rules lately so it's difficult for me to write what they want now. We'll see if I can come up with something for them. Here are a few links of things I've written for them recently. Oh yeah, and please forgive the typos and the illustrations. They're not mine.

Lang fei (Wasteful)
http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/two-cents/opinion/2009-11/481760.html

Kindness Isn't Dead
http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/two-cents/opinion/2009-11/485645.html

Giving in to TCM
http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/two-cents/letters/2009-11/486946.html

Living Local (That's my title. It's better than the title the editors gave the article)
http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/two-cents/opinion/2010-01/496432.html

Students Need Sleep(I don't remember the name I gave this article, but the one they chose really stinks.)
http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/two-cents/opinion/2009-12/493133.html

Kids Need Love, Not Money (again, their title, not mine.)
http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/two-cents/opinion/2009-12/488611.html

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No Cake, Please

It’s a little after midnight so I guess it’s officially the early morning of Feb. 26, 2010. This means that I’m 39 years old. Can it be? Isn’t middle age for other people? How am I supposed to deal with this?

I randomly happened upon my engagement picture the other day. I was amazed at Matt’s thick, wavy hair and the taught skin around my eyes and my thin arms. No gray hair, extra weight or wrinkles. I remember all the junk food I ate and all the late nights I had. How did I still get up in the morning and stay so thin?! Nowadays the late nights kill me. Tomorrow morning I’ll most likely barely be able to drag myself out of bed to take Sam to school and then I’ll probably come home and crawl into bed for another three hours to make up for my post-midnight blog.

This birthday is a little difficult for me. I’m not exactly sure why, but I think it might have to do with expectation. By now wasn’t I supposed to have 5 kids, a minivan, a house in the suburbs? My life is not at all what I had planned. I have one child, no car, and I live in an apartment in Beijing, China.

I just have to remind myself that this isn’t a bad thing. In fact, I wouldn’t trade my life for anything. I have a wonderful husband who tries his best to meet my every need and desire. He is Heaven sent. I couldn’t ask for anyone more caring and kind. I thank Heaven every day that he is my husband. And, I find him dashingly handsome. That doesn’t hurt either.

And Sam. What a blessing he is. As the years pass, I realize the miracle it took to get him here. He’s developing a great sense of humor and he’s a joy to be around. He thinks about things and isn’t afraid to feel. He has confidence in his abilities, too. He’s smart.

And China? It’s kind of a quirky place for us. We don’t have an expat package, so we don’t have a driver and we haven’t bought a car. Our place isn’t in the central business district and it doesn’t have hot running water in the kitchen. But, it’s free. It’s a wonderful neighborhood where people are clean and educated. The botanical garden is our back yard. I have a maid/cook. I have a drawer full of pearls and other baubles and a closet full of clothes. It’s a weird sort of mix between developing country and luxury living.

I love the people here, too. Barring taxi drivers and subway riders and anyone I’m bargaining with at the market, people here are kind and honest. They have so many virtues that I wish I had. True loyalty and humility. Selflessness, kindess, integrity, hard-working, charitable. After three years, I feel like I’m just beginning to peel off the top layers of what it means to be Chinese. I’m finding all sorts of beautiful things. There are a few Chinese people I have come to know quite well here and I have the utmost admiration for them. I can truly say I have never been around so many fine people.

So why the fuss about my situation in life? To tell the truth, I’m not so sure. I guess it’s because I had my dream life all planned out and I’m not living it. I’ve gotten in contact with a few of my old high school friends through facebook. It’s a lot of fun to see what they’re up to and to talk to them again. But sometimes it’s hard, too. Many of them have all the things I thought I would have: the kids, the minivan.

Maybe getting older means the dream of having more children will remain just a dream.

In the meantime, I don’t think I want to make a big deal out of this birthday. Matt has asked me for a long time now what I want. What I really want is no more gray hair or wrinkles. Maybe I can postpone this birthday until March or April when the sun is shining and the garden starts to bloom and I feel like all is right with the world.

I don’t want a cake or presents. How many pearls does one girl need?! Maybe I just want to be thankful for what I have and where I am in my life because really I have everything I could ever want. That’s probably the best birthday present ever.

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Pinewood Derby Champ

Sam has been looking forward to the pinewood derby for years. We haven't done cub scouts before now because it's been too much of a pain. Trekking to pack meetings for over an hour and trying to find the supplies for stuff seemed like just too much. But, we finally enrolled in him scouts. I still don't know exactly how involved we will be, but we'll try out best to at least get him involved for the big stuff.

His first activity was the pinewood derby. We got the kit a few weeks before but due to a lovely bout of food poisoning weren't able to start work on it until the Monday before. Sam worked really hard on it and Matt spent a lot of time with him.

Because it was such a big deal for Sam, I took a lot of pictures and have chronicled the experience here. Stop reading if you get bored. This one is gonna be long.

First of was the wheels and axles. They did everything they could to make those wheels spin fast. Here is Sam timing how many seconds the wheel spins on the axle. Notice, also, the ear plugs and safety glasses. Sam insisted they be safe. Matt obliged.


Sanding together


This is Sam's design he drew. They're discussing how to put it on the block of wood.


Sawing.



There's a story behind the graphite powder. We couldn't find any. We went to hardware stores, big chains, small mom and pop stores, mechanic stores, electronic stores, you name it. We still couldn't find any. We posted on an email group and, finally, someone told us where we could buy some the day before the race.

Sam and I traveled an hour there and back to get it. It was a chemical reagent company and they sold us a huge bag full. That was all they had. We took it. It's not always easy to find stuff in Beijing.

Graphite powder is messy.

At the weigh in, the car was a little over weight so they had to drill some holes in the wood to make it lighter. You can see the holes in the bottom of the car.

The boys from the branch.

The official weigh in.

Sam's car is the blue one on the left.


Excited before the race started.


Sam's car is on the left.


Now on the right.

The first race.



The excitement after winning the first race.

The guy in the middle of the picture below was so funny. His son was racing, too, and we talked a little before the races. After Sam's car won the first race, we realized that his design allowed his car to go below the starting gate a little bit because he cut it really thin. The guy went over to the judge and pointed this out. The judge shrugged his shoulders.

We actually had no idea what the set up would be and Sam came up with his design without any input from us. And, the car won every race by a big margin so that small amount of the car that actually went under the window didn't end up determining the winner. I guess you just gotta laugh. Do you really think they would have disqualified him for that? Sheesh. All I can say is it wasn't intentional and it didn't end up mattering in the end.


The final race starts. (BTW, this was a different track and it's starting gate went all the way down to the bottom so Sam's car didn't have any advantage.) Sam's car is second from the right.

And they're off...

Sam's car pulling ahead...

A little further ahead... and finally winning the finale.


Nervous and excited before getting the trophy.

Proud Dad.

There's the trophy!


Celebrating at Domino's.

Never lost a race. All 4s. (I guess 4 means they win the race and get the most points.)


On the way home Sam was really tired. He had slept over at a friend's house the night before and they didn't sleep much. But, even though he fell asleep in the cab, he still held on to the trophy.

Finally, after a little cajoling, he gave up the trophy and settled in for a nap.

What a great day.

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The Biggest Snow Storm in 50 Years

We had a huge snow storm--the biggest storm Beijing has seen in 50 years. I felt a little bit like I was in Utah. Sam had a blast. He jumped and threw snowballs and knocked snow onto other people. I have never liked the snow, but this time it was so peaceful. The botanical garden was calm and it seemed like no amount of shouting or snowball fights could penetrate the stillness.

This tree is ENORMOUS. It was lovely with it's branches weighed down by the new snow.




Matt mentions my layers of clothes in this video. I am, to put it mildly, cold averse. So, I usually wear a few pair or long underwear. Yep, you read right, two pair. A cotton and a wool layered. And I wear a fleece and a sweater or two under my coat, too. Oh, and ear muffs and a hat and scarf. That pretty much does the trick but all winter I look like I'm a little puffier than usual. And it's hard to put my arms all the way down. It's a small price to pay for warmth.

Below, Matt is hitting the tree branches so the snow cascades down on Sam. Sam loved it and asked Matt to do it again and again.


And, of course, what outing would be complete without the obligatory picture of someone wanting a picture with the "laowai" or foreign kid. Sam kindly obliges.


My two guys in knee-high snow.



Sam and me showing how much snow there is. For Beijing, this is unbelievable.


Playing in the snow.



This is the same scene I photographed at the end of fall. I love the comparison between the end of fall and mid-winter.

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Christmas 2009

Why is it that I haven't quite capture the art of getting meaningful holiday pictures? For some reason, I'm better at taking pictures and recording the every day moments or the interesting things about China. So, here is yet another Christmas with just a few photos. Please forgive me! Maybe I can use the excuse that I'm so busy making memories and living in the moment that I just don't remember to capture it all on film. I'll try to do better next year.


This is Sam playing with the loot. This year Karen sent a huge package from the U.S. Thanks Aunt Karen! Sam totally loved everything from the Legos to the Cream of Wheat. It was really nice to get all of the little things that we can't get here in Beijing. Just what we wanted.


We have a wonderful branch Christmas party complete with dinner, the primary kids reenacting the nativity and a visit from Santa Claus.


Christmas was such a wonderful time. It was a renewal of my love and gratitude for the Savior and of my testimony, as well. Merry Christmas, everyone!

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Let It Snow

This stretch of the garden is my FAVORITE place in the autumn. The ginkgo trees create an arc of gold. I wish the picture here did it justice, but I guess that's what you get when you ask random garden visitors to take your picture. It's magical to walk through.

Autumn is a funny thing in our neck of the woods. Living in the Botanical Garden, you'd think that we would have beautiful fall colors every year. The problem is that Beijing is also windy. So, as soon as the winds hit, any leaves that were thinking about turning golden are blown away. A lot of times it just ends up being green leaves and leafless branches without much in between. This year was gloriously different. This year we had beautiful leaves that lasted a while. And then, to boot, we had a snowstorm that showcased the leaf colors. It was a wonderful way to end the season. We took the camera out the day after the snowstorm and took these pictures.

This is one of our favorite places in all of the garden. In the Spring, we come to see the buds and have picnic lunches overlooking the pond. In the summer, we look at the bats flying around the pond and look at frogs and scoop up tadpoles. People do tai ji here in the morning. It's peaceful.

Windows

This pond has great windows. One aspect of Chinese gardens is that no matter where you are, you are supposed to be greeted with a new view. Each spot in the garden should be unique. It makes it interesting to walk through the garden and see all the different perspectives.

I first heard about this and thought, "Nah. Couldn't work." A few days later we were walking around the garden and I looked in these windows. They're just a few feet apart from each other and from far away they just look decorative. But, when you look inside, you see how they frame their surroundings in back. Each window and background looks completely different.

These two are a bit overgrown, but when they're trimmed up, it's beautiful.

This is before the snowball fight started.

What an amazing end to Autumn.

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Wild Animals, Tennis, and the Last Day on the Job

There is a really neat zoo/wild animal park near Beijing. Everyone talks about the part where you get in a cage on the back of a truck and then ride around with raw meat while bears and lions and tigers eat from the cage. That WAS really cool but there were other neat parts, too.

First of all, the red panda. Grandma Hinckley told Sam about the red panda a few years ago and we finally got a good look at one. It's really small in comparison to regular pandas and it's very very cute. This picture is just for you, Grandma!

We went with our friends from church. Here Sam and some of the boys (Michael, left, Jerry, middle) goof around.

One of the cool/sad parts of park was the animal shows. I have to admit it was really neat to see the bears riding bikes and doing somersaults and walking on stilts and parallel bars. But it also made me feel sad for them, too.

The goat climbed up the ladder and stood on the tiny platform. Then the monkey on it's horns did a hand stand.



This is our friend Sean who went with us. We wouldn't usually include someone else's picture on our blog, but if you take a look at the kangaroos in the back, you'll see something a little different. This photo makes us laugh so hard! We're glad Sam was with some friends and not at this part of the park.


Does anyone know what kind of bird this is?

This was one of the coolest parts. They had lion and tiger cubs that you could hold and take pictures of. I have wanted to cuddle a wildcat for a long time. It was wonderful!
Kat went with us to the park.

This is Sam feeding an animal from inside the cage.

That's a bear!

This is a tiger!

This is us sitting in the cage outside the part where the wild animals roam.

Another animal show.

After a day of fun, the boys came to our house for a sleepover.

On another note...

Anyone who knows me well will know tennis is one of my favorite things in the world. Beijing has a tournament every year that attracts the top players. Last year I found out about it a little too late to go to tons of matches. This year, I made sure that I was there for a lot of the action. Here are some of my favorite pictures.

Rafael Nadal returning a volley from Marat Safin.

This was Safin's last match of his career. He's retired now. Of course Rafa won the match but they both stuck around for Safin's retirement ceremony.

Rafa serving.

This is Novak Djokovic serving.

Sam was so good. He watched tennis for most of the time. After a few matches, though, he had to have a little diversion. He drew and played games with Sis. Ricks (who came with us).


The cameras.

Maria Sharapova serving.

Sharapova and Nadal on the practice courts.

Elder and Sister Ricks came with us to watch the match. He is a big tennis fan and was as delighted as I was to be there.

I love how this player is the "I" in Beijing.
This tennis tournament is one of the reasons I love living in Beijing.

I worked at TIBCO for a year and a half. I edited software manuals (snore) and got to work with the best people. I taught a weekly English hour and this was my last class. The other foreigner is Austin who has taken over my job.
So this isn't the most flattering picture of any of us, but this is my last day at work with my team.
From left to right: Ning, Tonglei, me, Qing (Wenjing is missing from this picture.)

I love these girls! They were the best team I have ever worked with.

I'm teaching at Sam's school now. Besides all the nose picking and the whole dirty bathroom business, it's great. The kids are wonderful--most days.

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