Bus No. 5

After stumbling upon an American Idol competion on a different campus, (or is it Chinese Idol?) Mike and I were riding the trusty No. 5 home on Wednesday night. This No. 5 was particularly special. Without fail it managed to die at every traffic light and without fail the driver managed to fire it back up and proceed to our destination. Well, almost without fail.

We slowed to a stop at a red light and the bus died just as it had at every light previously, but this time it did not roar back to life. We sat in the middle of the road with our fellow No.5 patrons waiting patiently while the driver worked to get it going again. Some time passed and the driver yelled something and all the people got off so we did too. As Mike and I were discussing where we would be able to get on a different bus, we noticed that no one was leaving the scene of the bus. The driver, still in his seat yelled back to us again and everyone began to push the bus.

After we stopped laughing we joined in. Ok, Mike joined in and I took a picture. The really amazing thing was that it worked! The bus engined came back to life, we all jumped on and continued the ride home uneventfully. Think we definitely got our one kuai's worth out of that ride!

Mike verses....

Mike Vs. Bat

Mike - 1

Bat - 0

Mike vs. Cockroach

Mike - 2

Roach - 0

Not all our visitors have been Chinese people. About a month ago the following scene occurs.

(Mike cozy in bed sleeping peacefully after a long day of China. Emily enters the bedroom and closes the door quickly)

Emily whispers: Sweetie, are you awake? (obviously he isn't)

There's a bat in our house.

Mike: Are you serious?

(long pause)

Mike: Where?

Emily: In the dinning room.

(another long pause)

Mike: Do you think you will be able to fall asleep if I don't go get it?

Emily: (a little surprised) Umm.... I can try.

(the lights are turned off and about one minute passes)

Mike: You're still awake aren't you. (Big sigh) Fine.

My wonderful husband arose from his blissful slumber. Armed only with a pillow case and a frisbee, he heroically left the safety of the bedroom to attack the savage beast.

Living Stone Band Has Gone International

A few weeks ago, Em and I got invited to play a love song at an English Salon. What's an English Salon you might ask? You wouldn't be alone. We were wondering if we were getting our haircut or helping some people speak English. Basically think, pop concert, kindergarten games, disco, charades, and a slightly shady belly dancer (glad I was helping the ppt guy during that time).

We were the "dignified guests" to this event and got play a few songs. Living Stone band has gone international! Em and I played a love song my buddy Mitch wrote called "One Chance." We also got to play a song I wrote called "The Search" that is basically my story of coming to know the Father. They loved it, because thankfully you don't have to be a great singer to get applause around here!

At the end they posted a few conversation starter questions. Being the only native English speakers you can imagine that they all crowded around us. And they set sharing the Good News up on a tee for us. Right of the bat, when one of the Chinese people found out Em was from Iowa, they said, "I've met people from Iowa State University. They're great!" (Thanks to all you who have sown seeds here). Then he said, "Do you know JC to0?" Because of one of the questions asked, I got to share about my most unforgettable experience.

The Father is at work.

You Ever Carried Cheerios on the Back of a Bike

When doing Wal-Mart runs, I really miss the Ghetto-Cruiser.

Teamwork

On Wednesday morning I got a call from a girl I'd never met inviting me to go to a "short play English competition." A little before the event I called her and asked her if I could bring my two American friends. She mentioned some thing about them sitting in the audience which made me wonder if I was not going to be in the audience. Turns out I was judging this competition, and it's approximately 100 contestants. Huh. Who new? After ten plays of epic love stories and dramatic deaths peppered with various people singing to boy band songs in Chinglish the competition ended and we started talking to some freshmen that we met.

I got the sweet chance to talk to some girls about how my transition to from high school to college was difficult because I was dating a boy that wasn't good for my relationship with the father. I was sharing a little bit about how the father called me back.

Just as I directed the girls' attention over to Mike as an example of a man who follows the father he was practicing a new Chinese word that his friends were teaching him. After he said it a couple times they translated it.... A swear word... Good timing.

The girls I was talking to knew that the boys had tricked him into saying it. They laughed. No harm done.... Freshmen....

Chinese Class - Day 9

In English we might say "a desk, a book, a building" but in Chinese there are a bunch of different measure words that you pair with specific types of objects. For example there is a measure word you use for things that are round and a different measure word that you use for books. We were a little confused as to which measure word goes with which words so we asked our teacher and the following conversation occurred.

Mike: Teacher, is there a list of measure words that will tell us which word to use?

Teacher: Aah, measure words. They are very important. Aaah. Do not forget.

(long pause)

Mike: Yes we want to learn them. If we do not know what measure word to use. Is there a place that we can look to find the answer?

Teacher: Aaaah...yes. I think that it will be very good to remember these ah words for the exam. It is very important.... that you know these words.... so that you can perform well on the exam.

Mike: Mmmm. I agree, but we don't know the measure words. In our text book is there a list to study?

Teacher: Ahh, yes. In Chinese, measure words are very important. And for the test. Do not forget.

(long pause)

Mike: Ok, thanks.

(Mike and Emily walk away smiling.)

We asked an American classmate who told us to look in chapter three.

House on the Rock, not Sand, Now I Get It...

So we were kid-sitting for our boss last night and I (Mike) went to build a sand castle with Caleb (he's 14 and could probably jump into the engineering program at ISU tomorrow). He took the pretty route, I took the, I wanna see how big I can make it route.

So we made our castles

His (Did you notice the rock road on his)

Mine (Hey, it's big! I'm happy)

We were pretty proud of our accomplishment. But take note, this is what can happen when you go for size, and not structural integrity.

One throws a rock...

The rest follow...And a minute thirty later...

It's gone! Those Chinese kids are cute, but it's in their genetics to take out buildings and fast!

Moral of the story...Build your life on the rock/Don't build sand castles in China

Fun Facts

I saw a bunch of people mowing the grass by hand
In China you can download pretty much any song you want through Google LEGALLY
I saw a guy carrying an electric scooter on his bike
I made pizza and ice cream out of play-doh today
Mike and i have been invited to "perform a love song" at an english corner
we got a sweet new couch - PTL
It's not good when your Chinese teacher learns you name and calls on you ALL the time.
Today I ate banana bread, Burger King and Subway.
We are kid-sitting for our boss.
We made friends by looking lost...we didn't have to fake it.
One people group that's international...cafeteria ladies.
They don't appreciate it when you laugh during your school physical at the clinic


Yup that just about sums up our life right now.

What's So Funny

So the other day we went to buy an iron and the guy gave us a demonstration on a steamer - well let me just say that it was an excellent demonstration and he sucked us right into buying one. When we got home we realized that the place you put the water in was broken. So last night I ventured back out to try to exchange it. I get to the store and try to mime that it's broken. She laughed at me then took me to another lady. I mime that it's broken to her and she also laughed at me. Then she took me back to where they sold them and explained it to the guy. He proceeded push the button and slide the part right off (who knew there was a button!) and the all laughed at me.

So I get my steamer then ask if I can look around the store. She takes be back to the other side of the store and gets me a locker to put it in while I look around the store and a receipt that opens it. After I finish my shopping I go back to the locker only to find that I have lost my receipt. I mime to a lady that I have lost my receipt and she laughs at me and takes me back to the other girl at customer service who also laughs at me again.

Then I go to the fruit stand to pick up some oranges. (which cost me about 24 cents) and apparently I was a little slow to count my change and the woman laughed at me. It's like the whole country has an inside joke that I don't know about.

Oh well, I accomplished my tasks and made a new friend. All in all a pretty good night.

PS at China Wal-Mart if you take an article of clothing back because there's a hole in it - instead of giving you a new one or a refund they just sew it up for you right behind the customer service desk.

Chinese Class - Day Two

In our second day of Chinese language class our teacher gives us a paragraph of Chinese characters and says "Here is a riddle for you to figure out." Awesome. I can't do riddles in English. When she eventually translated it for us this is what we got.

upside fur
downside fur
middle have
a water grapes

Any guesses?

(Post your guess as a comment - we'll see if anyone can get it.)

Grilled Face = Bad

We've been blessed with an apartment that is within bike riding distance of almost anywhere we would need to go. There are bikes and electric scooters everywhere here and we've been weaving in and out of them all week exploring our city. A couple days ago we made a run to Auchan (basically a super Wal-Mart on Chinese steroids) to get some shelves for our apartment. So with a big box of shelves on my bike and two boxes strapped to the back of Mike's bike we headed home. Right outside of the bike parking area there are these short red posts placed about a foot apart so that you can't take the carts out of the store. I'm not known for my agility and riding through these posts in a crowd of people, bikes, scooters, food carts, taxis, etc was always a little unnerving. I had previously navigated these posts on my bike before without consequence but on this particular day I caught my pedal on a post and was quickly headed straight for an old woman with a food cart grilling sausage on a stick. Luckily I caught myself just inches away from grilling my face next to her smelly sausage.

Auchan - Our store of choice - I don't know if you can tell from the picture but the store is huge. I couldn't even see the other side of the store from where I was standing. You might also notice that it's a little bit crowded.

Typical ride home from the store

Skype Information

Hey many of you have been asking for our Skpe info.

Our Username is - redletters2

Feel free to look us up and set up a time to talk with us. We deffinitely want to keep in contact with all our friends back home. Please please don't ever think that we are too busy or wouldn't want to talk because we do!! We are 13 hours ahead so just shoot us an email and we will find a time to have a Skype date.

We're Here!

After so much time talking about the move we are finally here and its great! The plane ride went smoothly and were were greeted by our new friends here at our apartment (pictures below). These last couple of days we have been cruising around town on our bicycles and exploring the city. City is amazing - it's full of new sights and new smells. Lots of pics coming.

Living Room - We're looking for some couches a little more cushioned

Dinning Room - and hall way

Master Bedroom - Officially the hardest bed I have ever seen

The study

Bathroom/Laundry Room

Kitchen

Not Pictured: Guest room - which means you should all come visit cause we have a room just for you!!

Our friends did such an amazing job chosing our apartment. We are close to campus as well as amazing shopping (including Wal-Mart) and the mall as well as delicious Chinese Restruants. We even have a garage complete with bikes left for us by some semester students - thanks guys the bikes are great