Hui Mei Bird (beautiful or raised eyebrow)

The weather is absolutely beautiful in Kunming right now. Generally in the 70's with a light breeze and blue skies. We often go to our local park which is full of people and buzzing with activity. It is one of my favorite parts of China. In the early mornings, you will find the park brimming with retired gentlemen and their birds. Yes! These men take their pet birds to the park to socialize them with other birds.
I think the bird is a fighting thrush. They all have the same song bird, and they stand for hours watching and discussing their birds with each other. They periodically move the cage from tree limb to tree limb and then to the ground and back again. It is so interesting to watch!

Scootering (and Pedaling)

A good friend (she’s the one who rescued us during our first visit last May) let us use her scooter while she went back to her home country for a couple of months. We didn’t use it for a long time. We didn’t even dare try it. The roads are pretty much the same here, but the driving style isn’t! Things move a bit slower but they’re much more (seemingly) chaotic. Lines in the road and street signals are ‘suggestions,’ not necessarily hard and fast rules.

But eventually I tried it. I went around the block and survived. It was fun. Even Wyatt went a little ways. That was at the beginning of Spring Festival when there wasn’t much traffic. She let us borrow the helmet too. It’s *small*. I am too afraid to look in the mirror when I wear it as I’m sure I look like a complete dork. The straps are a bit tight under my chin. When I swallow, it’s quite tight. But better than a split head I guess. I also can’t wear my contacts because of the wind drying them out while I ride. The contacts twist and very quickly I can’t see. That isn’t safe either. So I wear a tiny helmet, tight enough to make my eyes bulge with my glasses over my bulging eyes.

A few days ago, I actually rode it to school. Her scooter is a bit like the old mopeds. You can pedal it or use the motor. What’s nice is that if it breaks down, you can still pedal home. Pretty frequently I see people having to walk home their larger scooters because the battery is dead. These electric scooters are EVERYWHERE. The scary thing is that they are almost silent. So if you are walking and they come up behind you (yes even on the sidewalk), you don’t they’re there until they flash by, scaring you to death!

Anyway, it was really fun. I’ve never driven a motorcycle so I really enjoyed it. But this thing is really more like a bicycle as far as how fast and ‘dangerous’ it is (don’t worry, Mom).

So yesterday, I decided to take to take it again as I needed to begin planning for the semester. I cinched on the tiny helmet, bulged my eyes out, put on my glasses, rode to school and plugged in to recharge. When it was time to leave everything was fine until I left the front gate of the college. The motor died. There was still power to the little ‘beep-beep’ horn and the headlight, but not the motor. There seems to be a loose wire somewhere in its belly. I had to pedal the approximately 4 miles home. Fortunately, it’s mostly flat terrain. Unfortunately, the scooter is too low for me to pedal comfortably. It was also the warmest day we’ve had this year. So with a tight helmet, bulging eyes, glasses, and pedaling knees flapping up to my chin, I sweated through my clothes and made it home alive.

Next time I’m taking the bus.

Comments? The title? Marina

A friend who is an artist asked Lexi to model for this paining. She will be hanging in LA for a show in April. Click here for more info on the artist and upcoming show.

How many?

You can click on the picture for a larger view.

Numbered hand gestures are totally different here. When we go to the market, these are often used. The funny part is, they realize your 'Kunming wah' (the local dialect) is pathetic, so they use these. Surely you'll understand that, dummy, right?

Yeah...

The beauty of the system is that you can represent ALL numbers 0-99 with two hands. You put the tens on one side and the ones on the other. So it is actually more handy.

: P

That is, if you can memorize it.

We are going to pick up a couple of 'care packages' today sent by friends back in the States. Thank you all so much who have done that. It is a SERIOUS treat. But we know it's also a lot of work and expense. We really appreciate it.

Afterward I will go to the college, gather up my textbooks, and start lesson planning for the semester. I am definitely ready to go back to work.

Poor Wyatt has been sick since last night. He's the first one of us to get a stomach flu. No fun. You can keep him in your thoughts.

Back to it

Pic: Hong Kong

This is by far the longest holiday ever. And Jeff still has another 2 weeks before he goes back to work. The Chinese generally work 7 days a week, but the holiday is L-O-N-G.
We have heard rumors that they are moving all of the foreign teachers at Jeff's college to another campus. It is in a smaller city about an hour outside of our city. It seems we are constantly having to think about change here. It could be this next semester or another 2 years.....
Yesterday on the bus, a woman kept putting an orange peel up her nose. It is 9:00am in the morning and fireworks are going off. Fireworks have been going off everyday for about 3 weeks now. Wyatt has been in 13 year old heaven since all the kids are on holiday. He has made many Chinese friends, they set off fireworks and shoot each other with air soft guns. They are very generous to Wyatt.
Lexi has also made a friend her age, and she is very diligent about teaching Lexi Chinese. She wants to open up a Chinese school in the US. She is a serious darling teacher!
Savana starts rehearsal for a school play today. She is very excited and has a lot on her plate. She begins teaching English again to adult staff this week and working on a recording to audition for a college scholarship at Whitworth University in Washington. She has been accepted and they are offering her a chance at a scholarship. It has been a pure delight to sit around in the evening and listen to her sing different hymns. This college is unique in that she can receive a scholarship for music, but she can still major in physical therapy. Of course who knows what will happen or where she will end up going. She is just continuing to jump through the hoops while she looks forward to her gap year.


Be Still My Soul puts us both in tears! Lyrics here.

So what is Chinese New Year anyway?

Let’s get pedantic. I knew nothing about this holiday. Also called Spring Festival, it is the most important one in China. It’s two weeks long. It begins the new lunisolar year, so the date varies quite a bit by our western calendar. I won’t give history (you can get that here) but I thought the activities would be interesting.

New Year’s Eve: Clean the house to sweep away ill-fortune. Lots of red and gold is everywhere since this symbolizes the arrival of luck, happiness and prosperity. Get a haircut ahead of time as it’s bad luck if you do it New Year’s Day. Have a big feast with family and BIG fireworks, although the noise begins several days ahead of time. The fireworks go crazy through the evening but really go nuts at midnight. For some, especially the older generations, the firecrackers are to scare away evil spirits from your home.

New Year’s Day: Kids wake up early and get money from parents in red envelopes. Make sure it’s an even amount of since odd amounts are given during funerals. I think the excitement the kids feel is akin to Christmas for us. It’s a day to reconcile and forget all grudges. They don’t really count years continuously. This year may be 4708, 4709 or 4648 depending on the reckoning (back to the Yellow Emperor). This is the year of the Rabbit (there are 12 animals). Today you visit the most senior members of your extended family (typically the husband’s parents/grandparents). Lion and/or dragon dances! (Just like Nutcracker, AAB friends).

Second Day: Married daughters visit their birth parents.

Third Day: It’s bad luck to socialize or visit relatives or friends because it’s ‘red mouth’ day which refers to the ‘God of Blazing Wrath’. Reminds me of the old saying “Visiting friends or family are like fish – by the third day you have to throw them out” : )

Fifth Day: More firecrackers and dumpling-eating day.

Seventh Day: The common man’s birthday, when everyone grows one year older. And you eat salad.

Eighth Day: Another family dinner to celebrate the eve of the birth of the Jade Emperor. AND you have to go back to work. All business and government agencies reopen if they haven’t already.

Ninth Day: Pray to the Jade Emperor of Heaven, since it’s his birthday. (Interesting parallel, huh?)

Tenth Day: More Jade Emperor celebration.

Thirteenth Day: No meat, only vegetables so you can clean out your system from so much rich feasting for the last two weeks! Worship General Guan Yu, the Chinese God of War. He was a real person, we see small shrines to him everywhere.

Fifteenth Day is The Lantern Festival. Eat rice dumplings. People walk the street carrying lighted lanterns and another big fireworks night. It’s over!

Aftermath

...although I've heard it's just getting started. My camera didn't take very good pictures of the fireworks last night. I only found out this morning that there is a 'fireworks' setting on the camera. A picture wouldn't really capture it anyway. The entire city erupted at midnight. It was really amazing. I sent Wyatt to take pictures of the park this morning to see the disaster of paper and used fireworks. But it was already cleaned up!

Not so much at home. This is our little courtyard. All the red is paper from firecrackers. I set off a roll last night at the park. It was a quick fuse. They had already all blown up before I was able to run back to our crowd and turn around! Lexi said it looked like a movie scene where the guy 'runs' away from the explosion.

You can buy huge boxes that are as large as Disneyland or 4th of July City-level displays. Chinese New Year definitely puts our 4th of July to shame, as far as pyrotechnics. Especially in California where you can't do anything anymore.

We didn't get much sleep. We've heard everyone is always tired this time of year in China. Fireworks all night, travel and visiting family all day. Everyone's worn out!

Welcome to the War Zone

Chun Jie Kuai Le! In other words, Happy Chinese New Year. It’s New Year’s Eve and we’ve been warned we won’t get any sleep tonight. These stands are EVERYWHERE. Fireworks have already been going off for several days but I understand it will start getting really crazy tonight.

Wyatt has already been enjoying fireworks that you could never get in California and it’s been a bridge for him to make Chinese friends, which has been one of his biggest desires for his time here.

These are what I used to call ‘block mortars.’ They shoot about 10 stories up and explode, sort of like mini commercial grade fireworks. They were exploding right outside our window last night. We are on the 7^th floor so a pretty good (and loud view).

We’ll let you know if we survive. I think Wyatt and I are going to the park tonight and join the fun. I need earplugs and probably full body armor.

Swinging on vines on Cheung Chau Island