And then we came to the end

We survived our 36 + hour trip home. Even though Jameson suffered the most during the trip (almost 2 days in a pet carrier with no bathroom break!), she's recovered the fastest.

I don't want to go into the horror of our trip home, but suffice it to say that it was like the movie "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles," but not funny. At all.

I just want to thank everyone for reading along with our adventure and sending me comments. So, thanks :-) I enjoyed writing for you, and I hope that you enjoyed reading it!

I won't be posting here any more since we're home; we're (hopefully) off to a new adventure soon. I'm on the job interview circuit. The picture above is from my first interview location. Pretty, no?

Countdown Day 27: Baby Backpacks

Off our compound (which is filled with Hong Kongers and newly rich locals), we don't see many strollers. Rather, kids -- from newborns to toddlers -- are transported in people's arms or, more commonly, on people's backs using a nifty 4-cornered piece of cloth. In the photo to the right, gramma is toting a toddler around with one of these cloths.

I have no idea what these cloth carriers are called, but they are cool as hell. Simple, efficient, and, I imagine, easy to make at home. (EDIT: I just Googled it, and it seems that they are called "Mei Tei," not to be confused with mai tai!) It's basically a rectangular piece of cloth with four long straps attached, one to each corner. Put your kid on your back, put the Mei Tei over the kid, and use the four straps to secure the kid and Mei Tei to your body (the straps come together in the front around the boobage area).

Here is a picture of a finished Mei Tei (here they are usually made of prettier fabric). The image was yoinked from this web site that tells you how to make your very own.
Anywho, D and I both noticed that we never hear babies cry here. I wouldn't be surprised that this way of transporting them has something to do with it. In the U.S. babies are usually shoved into strollers. Wouldn't you rather be snuggled up next to mum or dad or gramma or grampa? I know I would.

A cultural difference to note: these baby slings are never worn in the front by Chinese, always on the back. I think that strength -- or lack thereof -- probably has something to do with this. Sometimes we see a little old gramma who probably weighs all of 80lbs with a 20lb kid strapped to her; it would be difficult for her to carry the kid in the front.

If you want one of these things but you're not the sewing type, check out this site (betterforbabies.com); it sells U.S. made Mei Tei that are constructed from organic cloth: EllaRoo Mei Tei

Countdown Day 22: Squatting

Upon arriving in the Middle Kingdom, I learned two things really quickly: (1) how to use a squatter and (2) that I should avoid sitting on public benches. Given the prevalence of squat toilets here (i.e., they make up 99.9% of the toilets available), the reason for learning how to use them is clear. What might not be clear is why I never, ever sit on public benches. The reason is simple: Chinese people usually don't sit on the benches, they climb up on them, perch on the edge of the bench, and squat. Given the amount of crap that the bottoms of people's shoes encounter in any given day here, I'd rather not sit where they squat.


The Chinese squat, pictured here, is one of the most common sites in China. Everyone squats. Little kids. Big kids. Old people, young people. Men and women. When Chinese people get tired of standing, they squat. If you walk though the local village, you'll see groups of men sittingsquatting around playing cards, smoking, eating, etc. Manual laborers also make good use of the squat. For instance, the groundskeepers in charge of pulling up weeds on our compound squat down to do so. Their butts are so close to the ground that you'd think they're actually touching (but they're not). It's pretty impressive.

Class standing might play a role in the propensity to squat or not, though. I noticed that the the nouveau riche who live at our compound don't squat as much as other folks do (also, a lot of the people who live at in our compound are from Hong Kong, so there's a difference between their habits and mainlanders' habits, too). If you're on our compound, you will see people sitting rather than squatting on benches. But the little kids who live here still kick it old school -- even if mummy and daddy are sitting primly on a bench, the little one will be squatting down on the ground, happy as a clam (just like kids everywhere!).

Even though I think that adult-squatting looks weird in an urban setting (I always imagine it happening in the country or in "the bush"), it makes sense. It's economical (don't need a chair), and it promotes balance and flexibility. If you want to see a humorous video about the "Asian Squat," follow this link and scroll down to the bottom of the page for the embedded YouTube video. The full post is worth reading, too.

Countdown Day 20: D's Photo Ops

Those of you who know D know that he's fond of "costuming" -- i.e., altering his appearance, often in radical ways, just for the sheer fun of it. This garnered him some second glances in the U.S. (especially in places like the 'Cuse and Greenville). Here, however, his foreigner status + his wacky look stops people dead in their tracks. (Heck, my own plain Jane self also gets second looks here, so you can imagine what they think of D).

Frequently, the stares (and giggles) are accompanied by cell-phone photo taking or by requests for a photo op with D. For example, just last week when we were in Hong Kong, a couple of businessmen from India wanted their picture taken with him. And today during our semi-weekly Jusco/McDonald's pilgrimage, a group of local teens asked for the same (prefaced by the compliment, "We think you have much fashion."). I've captured that event here. (Notice that two of the females in the picture have their fingers in the "V" position. For whatever reason, most young Chinese -- especially females -- are unable to stand for a photo without making this gesture. When I asked my students what it means, they told me 'Victory.' When I asked, 'Victory over what?' they could not tell me. So, the 'V' mystery lives on).

Countdown Day 18: Tangjia Mutt

This dog is my favorite dog in Tangjia, the village near our apartment. It's so damn ugly, you've got to love it. I mean, check out that underbite! It lords over the streets, doing whatever it pleases. In person, this dog has a lot of personality -- it kind of reminds of me a grizzled old neighbor who is crochety, but who nevertheless gives out Halloween candy to neighborhood kids.

You'd think that since it's so filthy that it would be a stray. Not so. It lives in one of the businesses in Tangjia. When I took this photo, it was looking a little more ragged than usual, probably because it'd just had puppies.

This is its offspring, who in this picture is sleeping in the doorway of the business where they both live.

Countdown Day 16: Magic Grades

This is a guest post by the resident pain-in-the-ass-partner, D.

As a teacher, one of the most dreaded and gut-wrenchingly difficult tasks you face is assigning overall course grades at the end of a term. You see, it's not as easy as the "good students get As," the "above average students gets Bs," etc. Usually, you have numerous battles [sometimes with your own conscience, sometimes with
colleagues, etc.] over just *how* to do it – i.e., what system will be fair, ethical, and appropriate to both individual students and the class as a whole?

At the school where RB and I teach, we don't get to (or have to) make ANY of these difficult decisions. These decisions are made for us. RB and I, not so affectionately, have dubbed the process "MAGIC GRADES."

This is how MAGIC GRADES work. Start with the number of students enrolled in your class and then multiple that number by two different percentages: 20% and 75%. This represents the percentage of A grades and the percentage of A and B grades combined that one is strongly suggested to give. On paper, the official guidelines allow for some flexibility; however, I was told ". . . do this if you want to avoid trouble."

For example, I have 77 students in one of my classes. So, I need to give 15 students a grade of "A" (i.e., 77 * 0.20 = 15); and I also need to give a total of 58 students a grade of either "A" or "B" (i.e., 77 * 0.75 = 58). Note, this grade assignment must occur irrespective of the actual score they earned in the class (e.g., a student who earned only 50% of the total class points will magically receive a 'B' rather than an 'F' simply because we need more Bs in this particular class).

And now you know the "rest of the story!"

Stewed, Screwed & Tattooed

On Monday, D and I took a short break from work to enjoy an overnight stay in Hong Kong. Part of the fun was getting "inked" at Star Crossed Tattoo. The artist in residence is named Julia, a well-known and well-respected local artist and, we suspect, soon to be known on the international scene if she isn't already. We were pretty jazzed that she could book us in for appointments before we left for home since her schedule fills up fast.

The studio is a comfortable place. It has a room where Julia works and also has a separate waiting area with a comfy couch, a coffee table, and lots of tattoo books and mags to look at while you wait. The waiting area even has a plasma t.v. on the wall. D got to watch several episodes of Night Rider while he waited for Julia to finish my piece (which was a real treat after the craptacular stuff we are subjected to on mainland t.v.).

All of the staff at Star Crossed Tattoo were professional and super nice. In addition to Julia, there are two other staff members: Ross (the studio's piercer) and Rob (Julia's apprentice). When we visited the studio was hosting a guest tattoo artist, Kevin Poon from Scorpion Studios in Houston, Texas. They were an all-around cool bunch -- friendly, professional, and willing to chat to make the time pass.

The work that Julia did on us was fabulous. We both brought her challenging designs, and she executed them really well. Note, for example, the super clean lines on D's tattoo.

Mine, a patriotic piece inspired by my year as an expat (location: upper left arm) --

D's work is a political statement of a different kind, which he describes as an informal social experiment that will hopefully cause people to think about gender and maybe engage in conversations about it (location: left forearm) --