Thursday, March 25, 2010
Romance, Chinese-Style
- Most people don't date until university or later.
- On nice days, we see lots of couples sitting, cuddling, on the campus grass.
- Young people don't know their parents' love story...it would be to embarrassing, too personal to share.
- Therefore young people get their ideas about falling in love from...yep, movies.
- It's pretty darn tough for believing young ladies to find a believing mate.
- Chinese don't date around so much. It's more likely that once you start dating, you'll stay together and eventually marry.
- The marriage starts when the couple is legally married by the government. The wedding dinner reception may be months, even years later, or never.
- Women better be married by age 30 or...eee...it's not looking good for you. Big disappointment to your family.
- Older unmarried men are called "bare sticks".
- It is extremely rare for divorced people to remarry, especially if they have a kid.
- We know of several long-distance marriages; the husband and wife are indefinitely working in different cities.
- People notice that Drew & I have something deeper to our marriage...it's a testimony.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Mike & Titus
Michael --- 24 weeks
He's due on July 14ish. I can only tell you that he seems to be doing well -- moving a lot, looking fine on the ultrasound and other tests.
Last week Drew and I realized that I'm already over half way through my pregnancy, and been to the doctor only twice. So I went to our local Changsha Women & Children's Hospital for a check. Yes, it is a stretch for me to communicate with the nurses and doctors in Chinese, but I enjoy the challenge.
Differences between prenatal care in the US and China?
Here we are! Mom, Titus (18 months) and Mikey (23 weeks). The yellow building below is our hospital.
Titus 艾泰德 (Ai Taide) --- 18 months
Drew says Titus is getting more and more fun to play with. Titus hides behind curtains, jumps off of coffee tables, drives toys cars, asks to be tickled, and likes to be chased. He's got a great sense of humor.
Titus' favorite toys are still books and puzzles.
He is getting more involved in hygiene -- loves to wash his tummy while in the tub, washes his hands, tries to brush his teeth, asks to have his cloth diaper changed.
He's still using sign language, and starting to say more.
English: hi, Dad, ball, out, go, Mom, huh? isseh? (where is it?), oose (shoes).
Chinese: gou-gou, (dog), Mama (Mom), Baba (Dad), Ge-ge (older brother), Mei-mei (younger sister).
Titus tries to dress himself and others.
His eats whatever we eat and drinks lots of cow's milk. [Titus was finally weaned about two weeks ago. It happened remarkably easily and naturally. I had hoped to nurse longer, but felt that my body needed a break before Michael is born.]
Titus asks to go outside every morning and afternoon. He loves to play with other kids out on the campus grass or on the playground. The big red slide is his favorite.
He's getting more "helpful" with chores -- putting dishes away, trying to hang laundry, putting trash in the garbage can.
Sorry, I have no idea how much he weighs, how tall he is, or what percentile he may be. All I can tell you is that he seems to be growing well and never gets sick.
He started preschool this week. More on that later.
I hope you enjoyed getting up-to-speed on our little boys! We miss you, and wish we could spend time with you so you could know them from your own experience. But the pictures and stories help, don't they?
Rach
.
He's due on July 14ish. I can only tell you that he seems to be doing well -- moving a lot, looking fine on the ultrasound and other tests.
Last week Drew and I realized that I'm already over half way through my pregnancy, and been to the doctor only twice. So I went to our local Changsha Women & Children's Hospital for a check. Yes, it is a stretch for me to communicate with the nurses and doctors in Chinese, but I enjoy the challenge.
Differences between prenatal care in the US and China?
- The facility is grimy, but that's to be expected.
- It's illegal for the ultrasound techs to reveal the sex of the baby. China has a one-child-only policy, so if a family discovers that they're having the un-desired gender (likely a girl), they may abort the baby.
- Privacy isn't such a big deal. As I'm going into an exam room, the pregnant lady before me is still getting dressed. As I'm getting dressed, the next big belly is coming in. We're all in this together!
- During an ultrasound, the mother cannot see the screen. Last week I walked into the room while the lady before me was still on the table. I said, "Oh look, Your baby is so cute." She gasps, "You can understand the picture?" I'm like, "It's very clear. There's his face, eyes, nose, and mouth." She had no idea that lay people could understand what was being seen! By contrast, in the US the ultrasound tech puts a huge TV screen in front of the mother's face and guides you on a tour of baby parts you've never even heard of.
- Machines, not people, touch me. They like to run tests. In the US, practitioners wanted to care for me in a gentle, hands-on way...read my pulse, measure my uterus, help Drew to feel the baby's spine, listen to my heart, etc.
- There are no appointments. You just show up and wait in line.
Here we are! Mom, Titus (18 months) and Mikey (23 weeks). The yellow building below is our hospital.
Titus 艾泰德 (Ai Taide) --- 18 months
Drew says Titus is getting more and more fun to play with. Titus hides behind curtains, jumps off of coffee tables, drives toys cars, asks to be tickled, and likes to be chased. He's got a great sense of humor.
Titus' favorite toys are still books and puzzles.
He is getting more involved in hygiene -- loves to wash his tummy while in the tub, washes his hands, tries to brush his teeth, asks to have his cloth diaper changed.
He's still using sign language, and starting to say more.
English: hi, Dad, ball, out, go, Mom, huh? isseh? (where is it?), oose (shoes).
Chinese: gou-gou, (dog), Mama (Mom), Baba (Dad), Ge-ge (older brother), Mei-mei (younger sister).
Titus tries to dress himself and others.
His eats whatever we eat and drinks lots of cow's milk. [Titus was finally weaned about two weeks ago. It happened remarkably easily and naturally. I had hoped to nurse longer, but felt that my body needed a break before Michael is born.]
Titus asks to go outside every morning and afternoon. He loves to play with other kids out on the campus grass or on the playground. The big red slide is his favorite.
He's getting more "helpful" with chores -- putting dishes away, trying to hang laundry, putting trash in the garbage can.
Sorry, I have no idea how much he weighs, how tall he is, or what percentile he may be. All I can tell you is that he seems to be growing well and never gets sick.
He started preschool this week. More on that later.
I hope you enjoyed getting up-to-speed on our little boys! We miss you, and wish we could spend time with you so you could know them from your own experience. But the pictures and stories help, don't they?
Rach
.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
How to Do Chinese Food
The Basics
Generally speaking --- eating is most often done communally. When you sit down at the table, your place setting will include a tiny teacup, a rice bowl and chopsticks.
A variety of dishes are placed in the center of the table. Everybody gets a bed of rice in their rice bowl. Then, use your chopsticks to take a couple bites (not a helping!) of food from the shared dishes. Put these into your rice bowl, eat them, eat a little rice, and repeat.
You won't get much to drink during the meal, which is why soup is often included. You might drink 2-3 tiny teacups of green, barley, or jasmine tea.
Table Manners
Do:
Scary Stuff?
On the whole, we find the common food to be appetizing and not very adventurous. However, you can easily find all kinds of innards, gelatinous blood, and unusual animal sources like frog, dog, snake, turtle, and some other slithery animals. We ate stuffed pig stomach for Chinese New Year, it was fine.
Eating at Restaurants
People often eat at restaurants because eating out is cheap, convenient and nutritious. You can pick up street-vendor food, stop in for a quick meal at a hole-in-the-wall joint, eat at a decent sit-down restaurant or blow your entire month's salary at a really nice place.
Western Restaurants: Changsha has McDonald's and KFC, which are reasonably priced. Drew and Titus eat McDonald's every Tuesday for lunch while I'm on 'Mom's Day Out'. Changsha also has Dairy Queen, Subway, Papa John's and Pizza Hut. In the last year+ we've eaten at each of those places just once, because they are rather expensive.
Treating your colleagues to a nice dinner is also a culturally-appropriate way to show appreciation or butter them up before you ask a favor. Other than close, comfortable friends, Chinese don't often invite others to their homes for a big meal. I think it's safe to say that Chinese people never go dutch. One person picks up the bill -- this time -- and the others get him/her back later by doing a favor or paying for the next meal. This picture was taken at a big wedding banquet we attended in January.
These northeast-China dishes are some of our absolute favorites. I craved them in my first trimester. They're not the local Hunan food (we live in the southerly Hunan province).
Photo credits to Karin Soderholm.
Beijing-duck sauce on meat, with cilantro and green onion. You wrap this up in a miniature tortilla-like shell.
Chicken, garlic, pumpkin and hot peppers.
Jiao-zi, or Chinese dumplings. There's a meat or vegetable filling inside. Drew's favorite.
A cold dish -- noodles, egg, carrots, wood-ear mushrooms, cilantro, beef and a strong garlic & vinegar flavor.
Another of Drew's favorites -- "french-fried" green beans and hot peppers.
Eating at Home
The following two pictures are home-cooked lunch with friends.
Dishes: peas & pork, green melon, green leafy vegetable, garlic shoots & cured pork, green beans.
This picture shows how, after a meal, there should be a fair amount of leftovers. Then the host knows that all the guests got their fill. Do note the spat-out bones and waste on the table top.
Dishes: fish & potato soup, cured fish, cured meat and hot peppers, green-leafy vegetable, red peppers, cucumber & peppers & ham.
Now you know what we eat! If we had a choice between eating Chinese or American food for the rest of our lives...we would choose Chinese. Yes, we love it. Although we get diarrhea at an annoying frequency. Part of life in China.
Did you notice? Chinese meals, compared to American meals, tend to include a lot more vegetables. Oh, there's plenty of meat, but no ginormous hunks of pot roast, or pork chops, steak, and whopper burgers. There's also very little saturated fat, but lots of oil and msg. Overall, I think Chinese food might be a little more nutritious. I don't know, really.
What do you think? Does it look good to you?
- drew & rach
.
Generally speaking --- eating is most often done communally. When you sit down at the table, your place setting will include a tiny teacup, a rice bowl and chopsticks.
A variety of dishes are placed in the center of the table. Everybody gets a bed of rice in their rice bowl. Then, use your chopsticks to take a couple bites (not a helping!) of food from the shared dishes. Put these into your rice bowl, eat them, eat a little rice, and repeat.
You won't get much to drink during the meal, which is why soup is often included. You might drink 2-3 tiny teacups of green, barley, or jasmine tea.
Table Manners
Do:
- Use your chopsticks to put food in others' bowls.
- Say "eat more" and "eat slowly" to your companions.
- Serve more rice to others before serving yourself.
- Serve more tea to others before serving yourself.
- Spit your bones/gristle/etc. on the table top.
- Chew with your mouth open and make some noise to show that you're enjoying the meal. Little burps and belches are great.
- Express gratitude without repetitively saying "thank you". Instead, think of some indirect ways -- "This food is delicious!" "You ordered too much!" "This restaurant is so nice!" "Ooo I am so full." etc.
- Begin eating before the most important person.
- Eat too voraciously, or you will be perceived as greedy.
- Eat too little, or others will think you don't like the food.
- Stick your chopsticks into your rice, standing straight up. Rude!
- Hog all the food from your favorite dish. Watch others and share nicely.
Scary Stuff?
On the whole, we find the common food to be appetizing and not very adventurous. However, you can easily find all kinds of innards, gelatinous blood, and unusual animal sources like frog, dog, snake, turtle, and some other slithery animals. We ate stuffed pig stomach for Chinese New Year, it was fine.
Eating at Restaurants
People often eat at restaurants because eating out is cheap, convenient and nutritious. You can pick up street-vendor food, stop in for a quick meal at a hole-in-the-wall joint, eat at a decent sit-down restaurant or blow your entire month's salary at a really nice place.
Western Restaurants: Changsha has McDonald's and KFC, which are reasonably priced. Drew and Titus eat McDonald's every Tuesday for lunch while I'm on 'Mom's Day Out'. Changsha also has Dairy Queen, Subway, Papa John's and Pizza Hut. In the last year+ we've eaten at each of those places just once, because they are rather expensive.
Treating your colleagues to a nice dinner is also a culturally-appropriate way to show appreciation or butter them up before you ask a favor. Other than close, comfortable friends, Chinese don't often invite others to their homes for a big meal. I think it's safe to say that Chinese people never go dutch. One person picks up the bill -- this time -- and the others get him/her back later by doing a favor or paying for the next meal. This picture was taken at a big wedding banquet we attended in January.
These northeast-China dishes are some of our absolute favorites. I craved them in my first trimester. They're not the local Hunan food (we live in the southerly Hunan province).
Photo credits to Karin Soderholm.
Beijing-duck sauce on meat, with cilantro and green onion. You wrap this up in a miniature tortilla-like shell.
Chicken, garlic, pumpkin and hot peppers.
Jiao-zi, or Chinese dumplings. There's a meat or vegetable filling inside. Drew's favorite.
A cold dish -- noodles, egg, carrots, wood-ear mushrooms, cilantro, beef and a strong garlic & vinegar flavor.
Another of Drew's favorites -- "french-fried" green beans and hot peppers.
Eating at Home
The following two pictures are home-cooked lunch with friends.
Dishes: peas & pork, green melon, green leafy vegetable, garlic shoots & cured pork, green beans.
This picture shows how, after a meal, there should be a fair amount of leftovers. Then the host knows that all the guests got their fill. Do note the spat-out bones and waste on the table top.
Dishes: fish & potato soup, cured fish, cured meat and hot peppers, green-leafy vegetable, red peppers, cucumber & peppers & ham.
Now you know what we eat! If we had a choice between eating Chinese or American food for the rest of our lives...we would choose Chinese. Yes, we love it. Although we get diarrhea at an annoying frequency. Part of life in China.
Did you notice? Chinese meals, compared to American meals, tend to include a lot more vegetables. Oh, there's plenty of meat, but no ginormous hunks of pot roast, or pork chops, steak, and whopper burgers. There's also very little saturated fat, but lots of oil and msg. Overall, I think Chinese food might be a little more nutritious. I don't know, really.
What do you think? Does it look good to you?
- drew & rach
.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Bicycle
March 1st was my 24th birthday. Drew and Titus gave me a blue 1-speed bicycle with a bell, skinny tires and those mud guard things on the tires. It's like 1950s style. I like it! I hoped for a bicycle because when I'm 7-8-9 months pregnant walking longer distances becomes uncomfortable. Bicycling takes the pressure off the lower back and pelvis.
So I'm 24. Last time I stopped to think...I was 21 and getting married soon. Since then I've got a husband, moved to GA, graduated from college, moved to MN, had a baby, moved to China and become pregnant with another baby. What happened to me!?!
Rach
p.s. next post -- Chinese food.
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