You're a grand old flag!

Happy Birthday, America! Or, as I like to say these days "Meiguo duliri kuaile!"

Something like that.

Want to know what The Fourth of July is like in China?

It's just like the third of July, or the second of September, or even the twelfth of May. Except, today I wore my Boston t-shirt while I made a big pot of chili in lieu of a BBQ, and a Mark Bittman watermelon salad so we could pretend we were also attending a potluck get-together in someone's backyard.

By the way, the watermelons in Beijing are the tastiest I've ever had. For 15-25 kuai each, I gobble up at least one per week.

So, get out there today and celebrate all the outdoor festivities you can muster up. Have a hotdog and Sam Adams Summer Seasonal for me. Watch some fireworks and snuggle up on a blanket under the stars. Don't forget to wear your red, white and blue and some sunscreen. Now, it's time for us to make patriotic plaid look good:

door number two

OOOOmmmm. I'm sitting here allowing an Origins active charcoal cleansing mask to stiffen my face into a state void of emotion. Have you ever tried smiling or crying with this stuff on? It's been two days since we made our decision to stay or to go, but in the meantime, I tried to distract you with my other musings. Now, I'm trying to distract myself from the swell of emotions that come from having to leave this kick ass place.

For example: I burst into tears at the beginning of yesterday's Mandarin lesson. That was classy. There I am, stumbling in another language through my, my, my sniffles and my, my, my sobs trying to explain that we have to leave soon, and why I am so upset because I didn't really prepare myself for that reality.  I try to express how much I am going to miss my teacher, my students, the cheap Popsicles sold at every street corner magazine stand, amongst other things, when the classroom turns into a frenzy of sadness and spattering. My teacher starts to tear up because I can't seem to pull myself together, and then my new Spanish classmate starts to cough uncontrollably, choking on the remnants of his last cigarette.  Three grown people running amok in the first ten minutes of the day's lesson. I was appalled by my own behavior - I forgot to chant the mantra "there is no reason to cry, so I will not cry!" At least my laoshi  turned the moment into a lesson. We learned how to say, "Are you OK?" and reviewed the ever popular phrase, "I do not know when I will return to Beijing, but perhaps we can Skype!?" A-ya - Chinese for  ehh, ugh, err. Composure is not my strong suit these days.

What I should have expressed to my teacher and fellow adult classmate, in a manner indicative of someone who's in control of her emotions, was that Z was offered a graduate student teaching position back in Boston, so...Responsibility won us a spot back in the states sooner than Adventure wants us to be there. We've yet to set a specific date for our return home, but we know that school starts the first week of September, and that means we have to leave enough time for putting our lives back together in the US. The thought of squashing everything into our four suitcases leaves me ill. How is it all going to fit?! We'll try to slow-ship some of our clothing and books as soon as possible, but the cost and the weight seem to add up so quickly. Tip for US expats on a budget: (a) don't purchase anything while you are traveling and living abroad or, more realistically, (b) don't fill your suitcases to the brim with stuff from the US before you get to your new overseas home. I've just got to get this Buddha back to Boston, dammit!

The rest of yesterday's lesson moved from weepy bouts of breathlessness to learning how to ask a fish monger to cut up a fresh catch, and from sayings like, "At first, I thought Sichuan food was too spicy," to "that beggar thinks you are very silly." If I wasn't still so frazzled yesterday morning, I might have inquired further as to why Beijing's community of poor and homeless is judging me these days. It's a big move, people!

Alright, time to mantra it up, and rinse away the grime. I'm hoping Origins will do the trick for now-literally and figuratively, of course.

promises I'll "breath a sigh of relief" after use

Bunny Hop

Even though we arrived in the Year of the Tiger, a fortuitous year that brought good news for both of us, and much sought after academic accomplishments for Z, it is well established that this is my year to explore: The Year of the Rabbit.

I have also deemed this year:

The Year(s) of Before We Have Kids

The Year of Before More Responsibilities

The Year of Before A&Z Truly Become Adults (will that happen in the next decade?) 

The Year of Making Decisions and Not Making Decisions 

The Year To Look Back On

The Year of Making A Fool of Myself, Not on Purpose, on Several Occasions

The Year of Trying Newer Foods

The Year of Perhaps Not Allowing Loud Neighborly Sounds and General Apartment Living-isms to Annoy Me

The Year of Updating My Resume

The Year of Learning More About Me and My New Hidden Talents

I have also decided that from this year forward, I will make any resolutions starting only during the Chinese New Year and no sooner, no matter my geographical position on this planet. The Eastern Standard Time New Year is all well and good, but making promises to myself on the eve of December 31 can easily be postponed a month or so. This way those promises won't be broken until later into the calendar year. Logic prevails!

"Show 'em you're a tiger..."

Think of a place that overwhelms you with a profound sense of your own existence and being. Yes, it's that dramatic, today. Think of a place that is monumental, breathtaking, powerful, historically rich and rare. 

Now, describe that same place in one word. 

That's it?! Great. That's the word you have chosen to represent thousands of years of history, of legendary fortification, of vast man-made military grandeur with no equal?! 

How is it that "great" has come to describe a nation's most famous symbol of unbroken will and strength AND Tony the Tiger's breakfast cereal? 

I will choose to say instead, that yesterday, I climbed the Amazing-Vibrant-National Treasure-Revelation Inducing-Wonder of the World-Eternal-Healthier Awareness of Myself-Wall of China. "And how was it?" you ask...

It was unbelievable, beautiful, boundless and astounding. To be touching and climbing a structure of such historical significance was for me to realize a moment I have always dreamed of experiencing. To be there the first time amid the fall foliage was perfection. With a Chinese historian husband, no less! Oh, the perks of marrying a nerd. 

So, friends, family, complete strangers who happen upon this blog because I label my entries to direct more google traffic my way:

I hope you experience something Great today. I really mean it.

Man Mao

There are a few larger than life "must see" destinations across the Northern Hemisphere I have been privileged to visit as a tourist, a student, or now as the tag-a-long-spouse.  And despite all the trappings of commercialization and ubiquitous souvenirs associated with most tourist destinations -- shot glasses, postcards, t-shirts, hats, watches with face dials displaying pictures of Chairman Mao --  I think it's better to have experienced these places, and some of their trinkets, than not at all. I won't be heartbroken if in my travels I happen to miss the World's Largest Cheese-filled Floating Log; I would have been disappointed, however, if I never saw the Eiffel Tower when I was in Paris for the weekend, or if I ignored Big Ben and the Tower of London when I was a grad student, or even if I decided not to climb the 354 stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty's crown when I was 12 years old. How could I have come home from an Arizona trip visiting a friend without having gone to the Grand Canyon? What's a honeymoon in Greece without elbowing your way through the crowd to the top of the Acropolis? 

Why the serious face?
'Cause Mao was a serious man.

And then there is Beijing's Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. I know what you're thinking..."Do I have to see yet another picture of someone standing in front of the Forbidden City with Mao in the background?" Ugh! The answer is "Definitely. Yes!" 

Which one is keeping guard?

Take a rest; show some pride OR Show some pride; take a rest

We made our way to the man, the myth, the legend, two weekends ago (and I am just telling you about it now, yes). It's the sheer size of it all that makes the location impressive. There is a four (?) lane highway that separates the Square from the City (we're on a last name basis), and there is a massive underpass that allows pedestrian traffic to cross from one side to the other. It was a blue sky kind of day when we were there, and by midday the Square was filled with buzzing activity in preparation for the current National Day week long holiday. Intricately designed flower beds and sculptures were being pruned, and two massive screens obstructing the open view of the Square displayed the proud accomplishments of culturally and artistically inclined like-minded Chinese citizens.

Two Screens; One Square; Many Red Flags

After I absorbed my history lesson from Z about the Square, we crossed under and up over to reach the Forbidden City. (We interrupt this blog for a word from our sponsors: The Please Visit Us campaign says, "Act Now! History lessons by Z come free with any visit!") There is nothing quite like the six century old complex that makes up the Forbidden City. There more rooms (8,707), more palaces, building and temples (980), more gilded objects (lots), and many, many more dragons (it's got to be in the tens of thousands) than I can imagine there being anywhere else in the world.  If you would like a quick tutorial about the Forbidden City, I suggest you click here. If you would prefer to amuse yourself with pictures instead, I suggest you continue with this posting by perusing a few of my snapshots of the iconic historical site. Perhaps if you are reading this with a friend, you can take turns educating yourself aloud about the Forbidden City while perusing my pictures simultaneously. 

Reeelhhax. It's the Hall of Supreme Harmony

Look at that view!

Inspiration for a future tattoo? (just kidding, Ma!)

Qianlong Emperor's throne inside the Hall of Supreme Harmony

At the top of the Large Stone Carving weighing more than 200 tons 

Chinese lions don't mess around

Inside the Imperial Garden

p.s. This also happened that day

Even the people in the background are shocked. She asked me to take a picture together, and I awkwardly accepted.
Z snapped this moment so I wouldn't forget my first loawai moment.

shameless promotion

Look what I found!

It's OK. You can go ahead and click it. It's not a nudy pic or a link to a website with dirty jokes or a YouTube video about cute kittens playing the piano. It's also too early in the year for me to have elfed myself with that funny Office Max JibJab foolishness.

I'll go ahead and ruin the surprise for you. We are now a blogging couple. We also have matching hiking gear and swishy pants that convert into shorts with one zip or upward roll of the leg. Apparently I'm really into multi-functional clothing these days and I have suckered my husband into the trend, too. We are that couple. So cute it almost makes you want to throw up a little in your mouth.

13 hours and 40 minutes

(eh, hem - a haiku)

tickets. are. purchased.

things to do list grows shorter

and shorter and short...