This is China

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/06/29/china.rent.white.people/index.html?hpt=C2&fbid=KoVOcHGsSQH

Mike found this and we thought it describes China really well. Actually a couple of weeks ago I was asked to help advertise my friend's travel agency. You only like me because of my face... I feel so used.

Happy Birthday to me

June 22nd was my 27th birthday. We'll start with a fun fact. In China everyone's age changes on the new year no matter when you were born. So in China I was supposed to start telling everyone I was 27 when the new year hit. I couldn't do it. I know, I know, you're supposed to "become all things to all people" and I'm sure someone could give me twenty reasons why it's important to "engulf yourself in the culture" and be one with the people or something, but frankly, I just don't really like this custom. I liked being 26 until June. Another birthday fact, when it's your birthday in China you pay for dinner. Weird.

Customs aside, my birthday was awesome. My husband took me on a birthday date to Shanghai. In the morning we went to the fake market, where we pretty much did all our Christmas shopping in an hour and a half. I'm getting pretty good at bargaining. Turns out you get a better price when you speak Chinese. Then DeMarco's Italian Restaurant for lunch - I'm drooling just thinking about it. Smoothie's for dessert, and then to one of my favorite places in China - IKEA. We bought a crib, crib mattress, and a chair, along with our Christmas presents, which made for an interesting ride home on the train. Turns out it's a little precarious carrying a 4ft. by 3ft. box into the taxi, through security, up a flight of stairs, in the waiting room, through a huge crowd of people all pushing to get through a tiny gate, down a broken escalator and into your train seats.

On Thursday the volunteer teams and our co-workers threw me an awesome party at TGIFridays, where I got to blow out the two tea lights on my birthday dessert and one candle that came separately. Then onto some epic Egyptian themed KTV (kereoke). It was a blast - thanks guys.

Slumber Party!!

The other day Mike had five guys over for a slumber party. Mike grilled burgers but when we told them to help themselves, they asked us to teach them how, so we had to have a tutorial on how to put together your hamburger. One dude still managed to put the bbq sauce on the outside of the bun. We also had potatoes so I put forks and chopsticks out, they all went with the chopstick option (makes sense) and many of them also ate the burger with the chopsticks.

They were amazed when I brought them home made cookies, so went into the kitchen to look at the oven, and investigate the ingredients. We played some Wii Rockband (which was pretty special) and then at 10pm they watched a world cup game, then they took a two hour nap, then they all woke back up to watch a second world cup game. I woke up at 4:30am, the lights were out, but they were still giggling like middle school girls all camped out on our living room floor. When Mike and I got out of bed they were all wide awake contently watching Saturday morning cartoons. So funny.

Man vs. Fashion

Guys you might find this conversation totally normal, but the girls will laugh. Some conversations are better had among the same gender.

Em: I want to buy some gauchos and a cropped jean jacket online, what do you think?

Mike: What are gauchos?

Em: They're like capris.

Mike: Oh, what's a cropped jean jacket?

Em: It's a jacket only shorter.

Mike: Hm. I don't really get it, why would you want a short jacket?

Em: Cause I like it and I think I would wear it a lot when I'm pregnant.

Mike: So, do you wear something under it?

Em: Yes.

Mike: Like what?

Em: Like a shirt.

Mike: But won't your belly get cold?

Made in China

I assume that most of you already know our big news that we are going to have a baby, but if not, hey guess what we're going to have a baby!!! The due date is January 17th and I am just starting week 11 of pregnancy. According to the all-knowing internet our little kiddo is about two inches long this week. We are having all our doctor visits in our city but then we will travel to Thailand a few weeks before the birth and have the baby there. We got to see an ultrasound already but it was just a black dot, so not super exciting yet.

Website I've been looking at measures the baby's size in accordance to fruit. So usually we just refer to the baby by whatever fruit it is that week. My favorite week so far was the blueberry. I just liked calling it the blube. This week it's the size of a prune, which is less cute. We do plan on finding out the gender beforehand, but right now I don't know whether to call it he or she and it just seems a little impersonal. Luckily Chinese has solved this problem with their gender neutral pronoun "ta." Mike's mom and dad decided to name it MIC - which stands for Made In China. The real name will be a secret till ta's birthday.

Right now my mom and Mike's sister are sure it's a boy and my dad is convinced it's a girl. Any other guesses? Maybe I'll put a poll on the blog. Welp now your all caught up.

Man vs. Meat

Learned BBQ. If you have ever been to our city, you know this place. It's a bit of a legacy among our team and the voluteers before us. This place is kinda like the Iowa State Fair because everything comes on a stick. Meat, fish, garlic, cauliflower, mushrooms, etc put on a skewer and cooked over the smokey charcoal. Add a some of their "special sauce" and a little gourmet powder (aka MSG) and what do you get??? Delicious that's what you get.

Since oh, I don't know, the second day we got here Mike has been dreaming of eating 100 sticks of meat at Learned BBQ. I mean, if you're going to dream, dream big right? But the 100 stick challenge had to be attempted in the correct setting. I mean you have to have competition and witnesses for an accomplishment such as this. So when 9 college guys showed up on our doorstep, it was perfect.

The waiters were a little shocked when you order 600 sticks of beef and mutton, but they came through. On that chilly evening, Mike and his men met the challenge and devoured 100 sticks each. Mike topped it off with some ice cream and a bike ride home. I can't decide if I should be proud or a little bit disgusted.

Dancin on the train

20 on a couch

Thursday night felt like summer Salt had come to our living room. Currently we are hosting 3 TSC teams, which means there's a grand total of 16 students working hard all throughout the city. Sweet. On Thursday we all crammed into our small apartment for Papa Johns and fellowship. One of our local friends came and shared his story about how four years ago he "happened" upon a group of students, just like this and how his life was changed forever. He shared some of the challenges and victories that life has brought since that time and let the students ask him a bunch of questions. Our house always feels more homey when it's full of Americans.

Scavenger Hunt Competition Extravaganza

Last night at midnight we welcomed in two more student volunteer teams, ok actually Mike welcomed them last night while I slept. Lame I know, but in my defense I have been sick for about a week. So this morning all ten of them came over for breakfast and orientation. By the way I'll be making dinner for about 17 people every week this summer so if anyone has any recipes that are good to make in large quantities, send them my way.

After orientation we sent them on an epic trek through the city. Busses, taxis, campuses, pictures, food, changing money... the idea is to teach them everything they need to know about the city in one day so they can function for the next two months. All the teams pictorally document each task and the team that returns with the best pics wins. So far we don't have a prize, but they don't need to know that.

Here are a few of the bonus point tasks...
-Split pants (10pts)
-A sqatty potty (5 pts)
-A guy making noodles (20pts)
-A tiny vehicle carrying a ton of stuff (10pts)
-An awesome Chinese guy haircut (10pts) (10 extra points if your picture is the (fiercest)
-3 people on an e-bike (30 pts)
-Ride a bus (20pts) what was your bus number?
-Ride a taxi (10pts) where did you go?
-Ride a rickshaw, SanLunChe, or Moped (30pts)
-A team member eating stinky tofu (40pts)