random

Although I don’t choose to celebrate or acknowledge Valentines Day myself, I would like to send a little love out to all of my readers on behalf of the billions of Chinese folk who ADORE this holiday and celebrate in the colorful, glittery, passionate, over-the-top way that only Chinese know how to celebrate (anything). And while I think it’s silly to pay 5 times too much for flowers just because a marketing company once dreamed up a way to stimulate the economy by tugging on our heart strings, here is a blue rose from all my peeps in Qingdao. (Sans glitter, and frills, and ribbons, and pearls, and teddy bears that accompany ACTUAL blue roses in Qingdao).

Love ya, mean it!

A friend of mine sent me this, and I think it is really funny…(much truth is said in jest)…

Heavenly Father,        

Look down on us your humble obedient expat wives, who are doomed to travel this earth following our loved ones through their working lives to lands unknown.

We beseech you, oh Lord, to see that our plane is not hijacked or doesn’t crash, our luggage is not lost or pillaged, and our overweight baggage goes unnoticed.

Give us this day, divine guidance in our selection of houses, maids and drivers. We pray that the telephone works, the roof does not leak, the power cuts are few and the rats and cockroaches even fewer.

Lord, please lead us to good, inexpensive restaurants where wine is included in the meal and the food does not cause dysentery. 

Have mercy upon us Lord, if it be the latter, and make us fleet of foot to make it to the loo in time, and strong of knee in case we have to squat. Also give us the wisdom to tip correctly in currencies we do not understand.

Make the natives love us Lord, for who we are and not what we can contribute to their worldly goods.

Grant us the strength to smile at our maids, even though our most treasured dress resembles a rag, or they take bleach to clean our well admired silk rug. Give us divine patience when we explain for the hundredth time the way we want things done. And Lord, if we ever lose our patience and thump them, have mercy on us for our flesh is weak.

Dear God, protect us from so-called “bargains” we don’t need and can’t afford. Lead us not into temptation for we know not what we do.

Almighty Father, keep our husbands from looking at foreign women and comparing them to us and save them from making fools of themselves in nightclubs. Above all, please do NOT forgive their trespasses for they know exactly what they do.

And when our expat years are over Lord, grant us the favor of finding someone who will look at our photographs and listen to our stories, so our lives as expat wives will not have been in vain.

Amen.

**For the record, I LOVE being an expat wife and traveling the world. Still haven’t gotten used to asian-style “squatty” toilets, but I wouldn’t trade this experience for the world! **

Here is a picture of our Christmas tree. It is a live tree made of lucky bamboo.

If any of you have visited the site the past few days, then you probably noticed that it has been in maintenance mode. Well, I am not the most computer savvy girl in the world, but I decided to tackle the project of updating my version of WordPress AND redesigning my theme (the way the blog looks). The task probably took me 10 times longer than it would take the average person, but I did it FINALLY! I even learned some new web design stuff (css coding-fun!), so it was worth the hassle.

Anyway, I should be able to get back on track with the blogging now that everything is fixed (which means a follow-up post to the “random” one per a couple of requests). But in the meantime… what do you think of the new look??

And one last random question… Has anyone heard Carrie Underwood’s song called “The More Boys I Meet, the More I Love My Dog“?? It is so funny!! Listening to it right now…

Our blog was tagged by Jo this week, which means that I have to tell you 7 random facts about myself. I doubt anyone cares, but…

1. Bo and I got engaged 2 and-a-half months after our first date.

2. If I ever have a daughter, her first name will be a month of the year, and her middle name will be the same as my dad’s middle name.

3. I always wanted to travel the world and maybe even live abroad. I had a pretty long list of places that I wanted to see. China wasn’t on the list.

4. This is the first time since I got married (6 years ago) that I have felt completely settled and permanent. Like we have finally reached a point where we aren’t “waiting for the next thing.” Funny that this finally happened in China… the locale that didn’t make the list.

5. When I found out I was moving here (about a year ago), I started reading a few blogs written by families who are currently serving in China. I do not know these families personally, and they live quite a long distance from Qingdao, but reading their blogs regularly really helped me prepare for life in China. And even after I got here, I continued reading the blogs because I had become so interested in their stories.

Last Sunday, I randomly came face-to-face with one of the blog families I had been stalking. I recognized the wife from the blog and blurted out “Hey! You’re Keeping Up With the Joneses!” And if you can believe it, we ended up having Sunday lunch with them! It was very random. This country has 1.4 billion people in it, and we just happened to meet during their 4 day visit to my city. Coincidence? I think not! 

6. I had acupuncture today.

7. I think my biological clock is broken.

Okay, so technically, I am supposed to tag other bloggers to continue this. Unfortunately, all of the bloggers that I follow have already been tagged or don’t read my blog. And most of the people that I know read my blog don’t have blogs. SO, if you are reading this, and you have a blog, you need to leave me a comment so I can tag you in a later post. Otherwise, I guess I just broke the chain (is that bad luck or something??).

It took two weeks and a day to get here, but it got here. A two page love letter, written by my man, on plain notebook paper and mailed with Chinese stamps that cost 6 yuan (less than 1 USD).

Due to modern conveniences such as Skype, Facebook, and email, Bo and I have been fortunate to enjoy frequent and cheap communication during our time apart. However, when I sat down to read the handwritten letter, I must confess that I got a bit more emotional than I typically do during our daily chats. 

Knowing that this tattered little envelope travelled across the world just for me, and knowing that my precious husband took the time to write it, stamp it, and mail it rather than just dropping me a line on Facebook, made me feel so special and loved. And it made me miss him more than ever.

Never underestimate the power of small gestures to make a girl swoon.

Just because Bo is in China doesn’t mean he has to miss ALL the fun.

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!

Bama Bo on a Stick from Rebecca Dotson on Vimeo.

As Rebecca can tell you, I’m one of the biggest cheapskates you’ll ever meet, which is one reason why Qingdao and I are getting along so well….most of the time. It doesn’t get much cheaper than this city: 14cent bus rides, $1 cab rides, and 96cent meals. However, with such cheap prices, I feel I’ve gotten spoiled in this area. For instance, I hate to part with only one yuan, which is only 14cents. If a cab ride ends up being 18 yuan ( $2.65), I do my best to never go back to that destination. Any meal over $6.75 is a freakin’ fortune! Sure, being a cheapskate can be healthy, but there are times it can cause me to make some really stupid decisions. Let me give you an example of how my cheap nature waged war in my head between stinginess and reason and caused me to make one of those stupid decisions:

While I lived at Qingdao University, there was a hole-in-the-wall hair salon where I would get my haircut for 6 yuan. I had never heard of such a deal. In the US, for men, it’s atleast $12 (unless you’re like my talented father-in-law who cuts his own hair) and for women, let’s not go there. Six yuan would be the equivalent to 88cents. So being the cheapskate I am I was very happy with this arrangement. Well, now that I’ve moved downtown, I’ve had to find another hair salon. So, the other day I visited a styling salon that’s right next to my condo and inquired about the price to the lady at the front. “50 yuan,” she told me. I thought to myself, “50 yuan! There’s no way I’m paying that when I can get a haircut for six yuan. I’ll just get a cab to the university and back for 18 yuan and spend only six yuan for the haircut. That way I’ll save 26 yuan.” (Oh, I’m so very clever. Just wait.) I took a cab all the way to the university only to find out the hair salon was closed. So, I had the cab driver take me to another place I was sure was going to be much cheaper than 50 yuan. The total cab fare ended up being 19 yuan for going to the university and then to the new hair salon. I walked into the new hair salon to find out the price was 30 yuan. Between the cab fare and the haircut, I spent 49 yuan when I could’ve just walked 40ft from my condo to pay 50. Just to be able to say that I saved money, I refused to take a bus for just one yuan back to my condo and walked all the way back home. Man, I need help!

1- september begins…   our life in Qingdao, China

2- august begins…   HIS life in Qingdao, China (I’ll get there eventually)

3- august begins...   a seemingly never ending process of waiting and frustration and ridiculousness and stress and boredom and crying and most definitely driving my family nuts.

I think the last one has a nice ring to it.

Saw this video over at Peer See, and I haven’t stopped smiling.

I just LOVE the Bollywood bit…and the Phillipines…oh, and the whale.

About 2 weeks ago, I started getting this strange rash. It started out really small, in one tiny, itchy spot. But when it appeared to be spreading, I thought to myself, “it must be an allergic reaction…I mean, I did just recently touch a cat, (which I never do because I am totally a dog person) and I do have crazy sensitive skin, so maybe I’ll just cover myself in Hydro Cortisone cream and call it a day…

…and then I got word from the Foreign Affairs office in China that they want me to provide proof of overall good health before entering their country (in addition to the FULL medical exam that I must undergo once I actually get there…sheesh).

Just fabulous.

I am covered in red spots and band-aids (which ended up causing even more itchy redness due to my apparent allergy to the adhesive on those particular ones) and I need to convince the Chinese govt that I am a picture of good health so they’ll let me journey east to finally see my husband after eighty-some-odd days apart. What’s a girl to do?

Well, I decided to schedule a dermatologist appointment, sans health insurance, to get a professional diagnosis, and also to be sure that my speckled condition wouldn’t be cause for more visa delay.

So, here’s the scoop: I have Pityriasis Rosea, which I discovered (after reading a lengthy pamphlet) is fancy doctor speak for, “we don’t know what it is, or how you got it, or how to avoid it in the future, but here is some cream that MIGHT help clear it up.

That will be $135.

…PLUS the cost of the cream.”

Western medicine and capitalism at their best. Gotta love it.

The loose end that I most dreaded tying up was finding a good home for our super-cool Siberian Husky, Dakota. Dakota pretty much thinks he’s human, and for good reason. He slept between Bo and I on our king-sized TempurPedic mattress, I cooked him chicken and rice for 2 weeks straight when he got sick, and I pretty much took him with me everywhere I would go (he loved the car).

Needless to say, I am very sad that we can’t take him to China. We always thought he would be our kids’ dog one day. But instead, he has gone to live with a sweet family who also treats him like a human…that was the one small favor we asked of them.

Here are some of my favorite pix of the best dog in the world:

I love these two.

Doesn’t Dakota look terrified?!

Dakota got lost once, and we plastered our neighborhood with signs that said

“Have you seen me?”

Field trip to Vicksburg. Dakota’s education was top priority.

He was also quite hospitable…

folks were welcome to stop by his super-deluxe crate at a moment’s notice. 

I’ll miss you Dak-Man!!