our first (real) home

About two weeks ago, Laura and I moved into our first real home together (I say real because we feel some permanency here). The process of getting into this home has been a lot of máfan, but we are glad to make it our home, an oasis of America in a sea of Chinese.

We first agreed to rent the house when it was still being zhuāng xiū (a word that means something like decorate). All houses here are bought completely empty; cement walls, pipes exposed, no finishing what so ever. Since we caught our landlord in the middle of the zhuāng xiū process, we had a bit of say into how we wanted the house to be finished. But to no avail, we couldn't get everything we wanted. As it stands now, there are 7 different kinds of tile (white, blue, green and brown, etc), and 5 different kinds of wood color (dark, light, medium, red, etc) scattered throughout the house. But don't hear me wrong, our house is beautiful. We have an outdoor patio, a big open layout, three medium size rooms, two full bathrooms, and really friendly neighbors. In fact, our neighbors are so friendly, that if we leave the front door open, they will walk in and check out the place. This was a bit alarming at first, but now we find it inviting (until they start asking how much we paid for things like lights, chair, etc. and continue on about how we paid too much and they could of got it for cheaper). Our neighbors directly across the hall are especially welcoming. They gave us a house warming gift of raisins, almonds, and a "really cute" tea set (as Laura says it). She invited us over for lunch in which she cooked up a feast; fish from Hunan, pork, and 4 other vegetable dishes I couldn't put my finger on, but it was good. She also has a dog named kělè, which is cola in Mandarin. The dog is a brown haired poodle, cute but an ankle biter.

We haven't finished our own personal zhuāng xiū yet. We have couches from Ikea coming next week (thank you aaron and stacy in Chengdu for ordering and shipping those for us), we have a full kitchen coming at the end of the month, and we are furnishing everything else as it comes, màn man lái. You're probably wondering how we're eating or what we're sitting on. Well, we have a makeshift kitchen set up of a single burner and refrigerator (we do dishes in the bathroom!). And we are currently using our bed for just about everything, office, sleep, eating, and I'll stop there.

School is still moving on. We finished Phase I of GPA and are moving on to pīnyīn (the Latin pronunciation of Mandarin) and other grammar topics. We can feel the progress we are making, but some days are much harder than others. Still though, we are enjoying our classes and especially enjoying our teacher. We are grateful for our school.

Here are some recent pics:















Laura and I were walking through a quiet part of Old Town when we saw some white folks in pairs with backpacks and big cameras. I said, "Laura, this looks like the Amazing Race," and she replied, "Look, and there's the clue box!" We asked them what version of The Race they were filming but they wouldn't tell us. Based on their accent, I would say it is the Australian version (yes there are multiple versions of The Race, maybe 4 or 5 total).

















A confusing pronunciation lesson.





















Local fried cheese (not sure what kind) sprinkled with sugar.





















Cute little walrus street dog. ("Walrus" because of the splay-footed paws.)





















Who would have thought?

staying busy....

Life keeps on moving forward here in Lijiang, though sometimes it feels like we are at a stand still. Classes have picked up in difficulty as now we are speaking full time. I'm starting to realize why Mandarin is the hardest language to learn for English speakers. There are a few pronunciations that are just about impossible to create with my mouth. This is OK, I don't mind speaking with an accent. At least that's the way I feel until I hear the Chinese person at the grocery store say "Sank you," instead of "thank you."

Below is a picture of one of our lessons. We put out a 100 or so of the 400 flashcards we've learned and attempted to say them all. It was tough.















Life is becoming more and more normal. Our routine has kicked in and we are learning how to survive in this culture. Not everything is foreign to us here in Lijiang. Some things are very familiar, but not completely familiar, like this picture below:















And there are other things that I'm sure we'll never get used to:



















One thing that will definitely contribute to us making China our home is our first apartment. We just signed a three year contract starting May 1. We are the first renters and have had a lot of say on the remodeling process. We are excited to make it our first home together. We'll upload some pics of the finished apt soon.

on the way to school....

Today on the way to school, we saw:

-a toddler pooping on the sidewalk
-a Naxi nǎinai throwing up in the street
-a cat tied up to a pole eating grass
-a dog getting busy with another dog

We also got stuck in dead-stop traffic; which meant we had to get out and walk the rest of the way. All this before 9am during our 25 minute trip bus ride to school. What fun! If nothing else, it provides some variety in our lives!

a "wall" of chinese

Learning Chinese is difficult. Our friend told us that when we first begin studying, all you hear is a "wall" of Chinese coming at you. But as you progress, you start to disassemble that "wall," màn man zǒu (slowly), by picking out words you know and listening carefully for phrases within a context. Well right now, the "wall" is punching me (us) in the face. But progress has been made, and we've been able to take out little pieces of the "wall" to see the Chinese culture on the other side. The bus on the way to school has been a good measure of the progress we've made. The automated recording that spits out where you are in the city, how to get off the bus, etc. is becoming more and more familiar. At first, she was just a "wall" of Chinese, but now I can understand 30% of what she says. First I recognized the word "door," then "please," then "back door," then it all came together, "please exit using the back door." Well, that's 30% in 10 lessons. Maybe by the end of the semester, I'll be at 90%.

Below is a picture of Laura and our teacher Melinda. We use these flash cards to learn new vocab words. Well this week we've been camped out on clothes. Vocab topics can often lead to off subject discussions. For example, in this picture Laura and Melinda are discussing their favorite shoes, etc. (Oddly enough, Melinda and Laura are quite similar; they both think tights are cute, but not on them, they don't like wearing heels, and ballet flats are their favorite shoe).

the ups and downs

We were forewarned about the infamous "ups and downs" that come with living in a foreign country, especially during the first 6 months. Well, Laura and I are no exception to the infamous and maybe even lean more on the "down" side most days. It's no easy task moving your life away from the unfamiliar and into a tornado of newness, but the "downs" are a worthy sacrifice for the the bigger picture :) We want to share with you some of the ups and downs that we experience on a regular basis.

Ups:
1) Tài piányi le! Cheap! Most things here are inexpensive:
-bowl of noodles = $.75
-bus ride = $.15
-2 hour massage = $8.85
-fixings for a salad serving 6 people = $2.28
-a pair of legitimate converse allstar shoes = $7.45
-rent for a 4 bedroom/2 bathroom apt = $213.62/month
*a microwave is an exception to this rule, the price range we've seen is $50 - $500.

2) Lots of attention! (this is also a "down")
-Whether we're walking to the corner liquor store to grab a snack or walking around the tourist area, we're bound to hear a "hel-LLOOOO!" coming from somewhere. The funny part about this is that most people will say it and duck down as if hiding from an offense.

3) Movies!
-Have you ever wanted the newest DVD releases without paying an arm and a leg? Growing impatient waiting for a movie to get out of the theater and onto DVD? Well China is the place for you! New releases on DVD for $1. We don't have movie theaters but we do got bootleg DVD shops....I'm not sure which one is better.

4) Humorous sights and rip off items (see images below)

































Downs:
1) Glitter!
-From bed sheets to flowers, you can't get away from the glitter & glam:















2) Sewage
-No waste treatment plants. Everything just runs downhill, somewhere. City maintenance crews will also open up a manhole, stick a hose down into it, and pump out raw sewage to water the public plants. Also, kids and pee and poop where every they want....yes poop.















3) No gummy candy!
-I am a huge gummy candy guy, and I can't find a thing here. I found a dried fruit called haw that they slice into thin strips and sprinkle with sugar that is pretty good, but I can't find anything else! No gummy bears for me! But here are some pics of more common Chinese snacks: