By jenny on Tue, 22 May 2007

Expect no one to talk to you on a Hong Kong subway. Expect everyone to give up their seat to a mother or to the elderly. Always read over someone’s shoulder if you’re bored. It’s okay. Everyone does it.

Hong Kong’s subway system is full of quirks just like any other city. For example, it’s impeccably clean. Chinese cleanliness and smiley-face Wal-Mart prices come from the same source… cheap labor. But the passengers play their own part in keeping aluminum benches shiny and laminate flooring sparkling. I’ve never seen a subway rule broken: no eating, drinking, or spitting. (The no spitting signs are everywhere in an attempt to eradicate a bad habit of older Chinese generations.)

And then there is securing an empty seat in a crowded car. It took me four weeks of consistent riding before I figured out how to be Chinese in getting a seat. I can’t rush in too fast or I risk looking like a jerk. I can’t be passive or I’ll forever be standing. The main trick is to situate myself in an aisle where it looks like people might be getting off. Someone clutching their bag is a good sign that they are getting up soon. And when they get up, I pause for a moment, like I’m waiting for a pregnant lady to take the seat, then walk to the empty seat at a speed that isn’t too forced. I can’t look greedy.

If there are a few inches of space on a bench seat it’s okay to approach the seat with full intention of sitting down. Not wanting to be sat on is a common human sentiment. And making like you’re going to sit on someone is completely Chinese and not offensive at all. I’ve lacked the bravery to try it but the Chinese successfully execute the “I’m going to sit on you” move all the time.

Here’s a final pointer about subways in general. If you don’t like to touch strangers or be touched by them, don’t ride.

By jenny on Sun, 20 May 2007

Today my mother boarded a plane in Beijing. After one full month in China she’ll likely go home and kiss US soil. I admire her adventurous spirit and never have to wonder where I get it from.

Almost two hours before my mother’s plane left Beijing, my mother in-law boarded a plane in LA headed for Hong Kong. They fly past each other with neither of them realizing it.

My mother in-law arrives tomorrow morning and is scheduled to stay for a whole 6 weeks. With no viable summer day-care for Maeli, good ol’ grandma comes to the rescue. This visit being longer than the last, we’ll take our time exploring Hong Kong. There will be no race to the finish but more lazy days on the beach.

Maeli is a pretty lucky kid to have been gone for a mere five months and already both grandmothers have flown exactly half way around the world to see her. From the look on her face she knows the power that she wields.

By jenny on Tue, 15 May 2007

95% of Hong Kong residents own Octopus cards. As of today, Aaron and I each have our own. Why did we join the 14 million other card holders?

An Octopus card is a money smart-card. These cards are so versatile as a payment method that I might as well give up credit cards and quit carrying cash. Although the biggest allure is the touch-and-go system. It is common to see people drag their purse or bag over this. That yellow infinity symbol means “Hey…lucky you! Don’t worry about fiddling with small change. Just get your card near this thing and then you can pass through the metal gate, or buy groceries, or pump gas, or even get some salty dried fish out of this vending machine.”

It costs about 6 USD to own one and “add-value” machines are sprinkled all over Hong Kong. I feel so high-tech carrying one of these. And honestly it shaves off 10 minutes from my daily commute. Two days out of the week I have to take a ferry, subway, light rail, and then bus to the school I work at. It’s an hour and forty-five minute commute. Before my octopus card I had to have exact change for each of these transits. Now I just breeze on through like everyone else.

The octopus card is only 10 years old in Hong Kong. In the early years only the subway systems accepted them. Now every public transportation system in Hong Kong does. That’s not to mention the 7-Elevens, McDonald’s, and other shops. In fact, so many people now use Octopus cards that some stores no longer take small coins (the little shop down the street from us, for example!).

Despite culture shock and daily misadventures, Hong Kong is becoming our home. Joining the card swiping masses is just another sign.

By jenny on Tue, 08 May 2007

Our first visitors to Asia have come and gone without any major trauma. My mother spent two weeks in Hong Kong while her friend joined us this past weekend. Tonight they leave on a two week hike and bike tour that romps through rural and urban China. They will cover thousands of miles on their way to Beijing.

I was able to warm them up with some adventurous days in Hong Kong. The following itinerary supposes you stay on the Kowloon side, which is common for tourists. Aaron and I recommend the Salisbury YMCA for a reasonable rate in a phenomenal location.

Day 1: Arrive in Hong Kong. Begin the slow process of adjusting your body to a very foreign time zone. When night takes the city, stroll down the promenade in Kowloon and stick around for the daily 8 PM light show. The choreographed music and dazzlement of Hong Kong cityscape will take the edge off the plane ride. Don’t forget to take some sleeping pills at night and have some melatonin on hand for when you wake up in the wee hours of the morning.

Day 2: Adventure back to the Kowloon promenade and visit the Hong Kong Art Museum. Familiarize yourself with relics of ancient worlds. Jade, copper, bronze… you name it. Then hop on the MTR subway transit to the Flower Market and Bird Market in northern Kowloon. Blocks and block and blocks of fresh flowers overwhelm the urban pollution. Rest at the Bird Market while watching old Chinese men gush over their caged beauties. Anytime after 4 PM hit the Temple Street night market in Kowloon for a dizzying array of knockoffs and Chinese gifts. Stop at one of the outside restaurants for some very fresh seafood with loads of MSG.

Day 3: Get ready to enter the belly of the beast. Take the seven minute ($0.27 USD) Star Ferry to Central. Walk to the Peak Tram and disorient yourself with a steep accent as skyscrapers fall behind. Hope for a clear day lending a most spectacular view from Victoria’s Peak. If you have the time and energy, take the one hour Morning Trail for more views of Hong Kong. Hop back on the Peak Tram and head to Maxim’s Restaurant on the 2nd floor of City Hall. Dim Sum anyone? They even have an English menu accompanied by a long line.

Day 4: Submerge once again into the MTR subway and head to Tung Chung. Transfer to the SkyRail for a 3.5 mile cable car ride overlooking Lantou Island. Arrive at Po Lin, home of the famous vegetarian monastery & cafeteria and giant Buddha statue. This trip is worth the commute because getting there is half the fun.

If you happen to be in Hong Kong on a Sunday, don’t miss the Kung Fu show in Kowloon Park. It’s a free show from 2:30-4:30. These amateurs put on a lovely show.

I’ve omitted dining options. Anywhere you go, it’s impossible to avoid a slew of restaurants in Hong Kong. However, expect MSG poisoning if you stick to Chinese cuisine.

Our first visitors enjoyed this schedule. They also got to visit Lamma Island (our home), however it’s a bit of a hike from Kowloon. If you happen to explore this eccentric side of Hong Kong, make sure you take a whole day to do it.

By jenny on Sun, 06 May 2007

Teaching in Hong Kong is rather hard to describe. It’s like explaining air travel. You could say, “It’s exciting but nerve wracking at the same time.” But that doesn’t provide the whole picture.

My dream job would have been at an international school. The pay is excellent, facilities are top of the line, and it’s good for networking. But most importantly the curriculum is loose and creative in comparison to local Chinese schools.

In mainland China it would have been easy to land an international position. Not many guilios (white ghosts) are willing to work in mainland. Frankly I just don’t have the proper credentials or experience to compete with Hong Kong ex-patriots.

So I work in Chinese kindergartens like other unqualified guilios in Hong Kong. And now that I’m with a placement agency, I’ve already been to four different schools in two weeks. Thus far my short experience as a teacher has spun me in circles.

Chinese kindergartens are much more strict than my own pre-school experience. For starters, there is the uniform. Every school has multiple uniforms that are required for different days of the week. This seems pretty hard to keep up with for the little ones. I always chuckle to myself when some of the kids are wearing the wrong uniform. Score one for diversity!

In kindergarten, the students are three to six years old. Once they turn six they can attend primary school. Kindergarten is like boot-camp for primary school. They beat the kids into submission with listening and rule-obeying skills.

The impression I get from the Chinese teachers is that fun is an after-school activity. Because this opposes my learning philosophies, I enter Chinese classes and get the kids moving and engage them in dramatic play. The teachers look worried. It’s like I’m the phys.ed. teacher in elementary school. Phys.ed. is the one class that EVERY student likes because thinking is not a requirement.

I often wonder how this strict environment effects these small children. Every class bows and chants in unison “Good Morning Miss Jenny” and the Chinese teachers are so proud. I wonder if these kids need to be making a mess with paints and getting muddy in the nearby creek.

The one reason that I appreciate this serious classroom style is because it nullifies any behavioral problems. Even three year olds will obey without a complaint. And they don’t pull the normal three year old trick of pretending that they don’t hear you. It would seem that respecting authority is drilled into Chinese from the womb.

But mostly I worry if the child-like spirit is drained at an early age. It makes me sad when I ask the students to play imaginary games and they look at each other in confusion.

Getting up in front of the class is also hard for these kids. They are used to collective games, not independent activities. I am sanding against the grain.

Over-obedient Chinese children make western children look like crazed squirrels. But Chinese children have trouble thinking for themselves. Although I prefer a western upbringing, when Maeli takes a fit in public I secretly praise what millions of Chinese mothers and teachers are doing.

By Aaron on Wed, 25 Apr 2007

Now that we’re “settled” in Hong Kong, I thought I’d take the time to write a few articles on some of our lessons_learned getting here. I’ve often stopped and wondered “How could we have done this better?” Given the information we had, and the goals we had, I think we’ve done pretty well. But there’s always room for improvement. For this first entry, we’ll deal with our nemesis: luggage.

When we originally planned this journey, we expected our luggage to be:

• Two large suitcases
• One backpack
• One small strollable bag
• One two year old

As we were packing we realized that while we could fit everything in the two big suitcases, they were very heavy. In fact, we knew we’d be hit with overweight charges by the airlines. So we made a choice. We had a third, small suitcase and we decided to take it as well and split the weight across them. Of course, that gave us a little extra room so we ended up packing a few books and things we originally hadn’t indended on taking.

What a difference one suitcase makes.

That suitcase was just one suitcase too many. It meant that we never quite had enough hands to carry everything, particularly when Maeli was a bit uncooperative. While it gave us room to carry things we picked up along the way, it also meant our luggage was constantly getting heavier, despite discarding some things along the way.

So, lesson number one is only take as much luggage as you can easily handle.

While we moved around a lot, the days during which we had to deal with luggage were certainly a small minority. So what’s the big deal, right? Just one day of inconvenience and then once we’re at the hotel or apartment, who cares?

What’s perhaps more interesting to me is how our luggage started dictating where we would go or stay and what we could do. For any move, we had to figure out how to handle the luggage transportation. Were there a lot of steps? Could we keep the luggage somewhere while we went out to get something to eat? Was there room for the luggage in the hotel, car, train, plane, or boat?

One reason we decided to bring all this stuff with us (it didn’s seem like much, we gave away most everything we owned before we left) was to avoid having to ship things to us later. However, in retrospect, the cost of shipping is low versus the cost of carrying the luggage around China. Had we taken a more “backpacking” approach, then we would have considered some smaller hotels and hostels.

There were lots of reasons we didn’t backpack across China: We had no idea what we’d find here. What would the hotels really be like? Would they be suitable for a family with a small child? What did we really need to take with us? What could we reliably find in the cities we were visiting? And there were business decisions too, such as the location and quality of a hotel, or access to internet.

Now we know we could have backpacked through China and left a lot of luggage at home. It would have been a different (cheaper) sort of adventure, not necessarily a better or worse one. But for those wondering if it’s possible, well, I’ll say that it certainly is. That still may not make it the right decision, and it may not have been for us, but family travelers should at least consider it.

By jenny on Sun, 22 Apr 2007

Our first visitor has arrived! As a rule grandmothers can’t stay away for long, especially if they only have one grandchild.

My mother arrived in Hong Kong looking typical of someone suffering fifteen hours in dry air. “Shouldn’t that flight be illegal” was my greeting. But because of her new Isagenix lifestyle, she hasn’t skipped a beat. We awoke this morning to attend Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on Lamma. It’s always a pleasure to go to mass with family, bringing back memories of little girls giggling in the front pews.

Our plans are beginning to solidify for the coming weeks. The giant buddha, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Victoria’s Peak are just a few of our destinations. Of course we’ll have our share of lazy days on the beach.

So far, it’s interesting having our first visitor. On day one I feel like everything must be explained. Why do we take our shoes off in Church? Who set the standard for fashion here? Why are Chinese people the way they are?

For a foreigner, arriving in Hong Kong makes the transition a little easier. When it comes to modernization, Hong Kong is leagues ahead of mainland China. And quite honestly, even after traveling around Asia for 4 months I’m still trying to get a grasp on this culture. Slowly and painstakingly, I’m trying to fit in.

On the road to becoming Chinese, the first rule is to blend in. With Maeli that is near impossible. Since we now have a home in Hong Kong, at least we’re on our way.

The second rule is to respect authority. In church this morning one of the offertory prayers was for people who say “yes sir” all day. Oppression has been a long-standing trend in China and since rebels aren’t tolerated it’s just easier to say “yes sir.”

The third rule is the hardest for me: saving face. That generally means making people feel good about themselves even if you have to lie. Well, all I have to say about that is “crap.”

It’s a giant leap to move to Asia… especially for this Greener Grad who appreciates counter-culture. This visit from my mother is my first chance to explain a few things about how the world works on the other side of the globe. At least I realize that the true translation of “teacher” is “still learning.”

By J Aaron Farr on Fri, 13 Apr 2007

Today I took a ferry from Lamma Island to Hong Kong Island where I took a train to Lantau Island where the AsiaWorld-Expo center and airport is located. After attending Electronics & Components China Sourcing Fair, I took a plane in the afternoon to Taiwan (another island). An hour bus ride brought me to Taipei where I’ll attend the Open Source Developers Conference. I’m sitting here eating my Tian-Bu-La and wondering if I’m feeling carsick, seasick, or airsick. Actually, I don’t feel ill but the hotel room does seem to be moving. I’ll blame it on the ferry.

By Aaron on Fri, 06 Apr 2007

In case the video was a little too fast for you, I’ve put together a Google Map of our travels. Unfortunately, the links are not in chronological order (Google needs to add re-ordering to their new My Maps feature), but it should give you a chance to see where we’ve been, as well as a view of our new apartment. The map is best viewed in satellite mode.

By jenny on Fri, 06 Apr 2007

We have booked a room in the Gold Coast Hotel for 9 nights. Along with the weekly discounted rate we also receive free use of the gym, pool, shuttle buses to Hong Kong Central and 8 pounds of laundry service. Gold Coast is treating us royally and frankly, just being on the property can make you feel rich. But because it’s in the middle of no where, the rates are cheaper than what we could find in the city. No complaints here as I was able to take a dip in the pool, hang out in the sauna and listen to music in the garden. It was the first time in a while that I was able to feel relaxed and begin to collect my thoughts about this trip.

Aaron and I have been migrants for three solid months now. About halfway into our trip we thought we had selected a home base but in the end, Zhuhai didn’t pan out. Now we’re searching for a new home and of course the sky is the limit. Being back at square one again is not the best feeling.

To begin our search we started on Lamma Island. Known in Hong Kong as the hippie island, Lamma is complete with organic farm, vegetarian cafes, smoothie shops, and lots of dogs. Weekends are flooded with tourists taking advantage of the cool bar/music scene and remote hiking trails. However, there are a few things that deter Hong Kongers from living on Lamma. One must take a half an hour ferry ride to get to Hong Kong central. Over here, that short commute is asking a lot. To us, it’s a trivial factor. The other drawback of Lamma is the coal burning power plant that sticks out like a sore thumb. The pollution is minimal and all I noticed emitting from the stacks was a stream of white smoke which means they must be using scrubbers. The coal plant is so high that the smoke most likely blows right into Hong Kong island. The air on Lamma is the cleanest I’ve smelled in all of Asia probably because no cars are allowed on the island. Consequently everything is in walking distance. With a population of 6,000 it’s also not too crowded. Bikes are popular but it only takes an hour and a half to get from one side of the island to the other on foot. Surprisingly enough, Lamma is Hong Kong’s third largest island. In short, Lamma is remote, charming, and cheap with the excitement of Hong Kong central only a half an hour away for a $2 USD ferry ride.

We like Lamma so much that we dove in and put down a deposit on a three bedroom apartment today. In two days we’ll pack our bags with relief that we’ll be unpacked for at least one year. Living on a quaint tropical island wasn’t what we expected when we started our adventure but I’m glad that life took us down this path. When Maeli grows up she can confuse people by saying that she grew up on a hippie island in Hong Kong.

By jenny on Thu, 29 Mar 2007

Tomorrow morning I will pick up my TESOL certification and feel like most other graduates: a lot smarter but with empty pockets.

I’d like to think that I’ve gained wisdom and experience from the past four weeks. But in such a short time, all I could really hope for was a better understanding of classroom logistics plus a piece of paper in my hand that says “This one did the time so she’s qualified.” Now that it’s all over I can confidently say that I did not waste my money. My learning expectations were exceeded and most of that was from watching my classmates bomb live lessons or perform exceptionally well.

I’ve also made ten really great friends from around the world. We’ve already started to make plans for getting together after class is over. Four of my classmates reside in Hong Kong so it will be nice to have those contacts, especially since we’ll be moving to Hong Kong tomorrow.

Yes, the Farr family has finally decided to move to Hong Kong. Wrapping up our past month in Zhuhai has been surprisingly painless. Maeli had her final day of kindergarten today. Of course she had a big photo shoot when I picked her up. No doubt Maeli will appear on the front of the school’s next brochure or advertisement. Tonight we’re getting out of the year lease we signed in Zhuhai which is our last loose end here. Tomorrow we are planning on packing yet again. This time I’m wondering if we should buy another suitcase.

All the excitement lately has made me feel rather exhausted so I treated myself to a massage and hair-cut today. The total bill came to $7 USD. Sad to say, I won’t be able to find a five dollar one-hour massage in Hong Kong.

However work is looking promising in Hong Kong. I have three interviews lined up for Monday. Hopefully by the end of next week I’ll have signed a year contract. Then we’ll just have to wait for our visas to process. That takes about three weeks. The missing link will be a kindergarten for Maeli and a place to live.

In the middle of April my mother will visit for two weeks. She’ll be just in time for us to move again. At least that will be the case if our current trend continues.

By Aaron on Mon, 26 Mar 2007

When I was younger I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books. I think the first one I ever read had something to do about frost giants. Or maybe wizards. I never cheated by looking ahead, but I do admit to occasionally using bookmarks to save a known safe point in case I needed to backtrack. If only it were that simple these days…

Our current adventure just got a new plot twist. Just as we were about to settle down here in Zhuhai, we got some new information about Jenny’s English teaching position. Or I should say, we finally got all the information we had originally asked for. And it turns out that this position just simply isn’t going to work for us. So with that option now closed and only a week left before visas, classes and short-term leases all end, we’re now scrambling to make the next move.

This last weekend I was in Hong Kong renewing my own visa. To receive the coveted six month multiple entry business visa, one must first obtain two thirty day single entry business visas. Of course this means several expensive trips to Hong Kong and pricey rushed visas (since expediting the visa is cheaper than staying longer in Hong Kong). So far I had one tourist visa and one business visa. This time around I struck out and rather than getting the business visa I wanted, they gave me a tourist visa. Since I haven’t yet set up a representational office in mainland China, I don’t have a lot of leverage attempting to get a visa on my own. I have some contacts that could help me out, but I’ve been hesitant to play those cards until I really needed them.

In light of these developments, the temptation to simply go back to reside in Hong Kong is becoming irresistible. This weekend Jenny sent out twenty resumes to schools in Hong Kong and we’re already getting some responses. If we can find a position that pays enough to cover the basic expenses of Hong Kong life, we’ll probably move there next week. Or maybe we’ll just take a job with another school in Zhuhai. Who knows?

• Join the rest of the expats in Hong Kong. Turn to page 10.
• Become a migrant worker in China. Turn to page 42.
• Live in a tent on a Thailand beach. Turn to page 17.
• Return to American Suburbia and buy a Hummer. Turn to page 66.

By jenny on Mon, 19 Mar 2007

I don’t know what I’d do without my iPod in the city. During my daily routine I have a few opportunities to plug in my headphones and zone into music land. Mostly I stick to tunes that transport me to the States so I can ignore street stares and bus elbows.

If I’ve had a long day at school I’ll listen to Rusted Root. All of a sudden I’m at the ‘96 New Year’s concert in the front row with my sisters and dancing long after the music stops. And then I bust out Bob Marley and I’m grooving with my best friends at Evergreen while we cook dinner on an open fire. Bob Dylan always takes me road tripping from Washington to Pennsylvania. Above any other artist I know, Bob Dylan never fails to make me feel appropriately placed in rural or urban China.

The artist that most connects me to the Chinese people is good old Bob Marley. My favorite for seven years now (after a 3 year run with Led Zeppelin), Bob is the voice of many nations…

some goin east
some goin west
some step aside to do their best
some livin big
but the most livin small
they can't even find no food at all

Every morning I pass an old woman rummaging through the garbage heap. In the mid afternoon I’ll see a woman and child sleeping in a cart on the sidewalk. I’ll think of this song when a man with no hands approaches me for a handout.

And the song continues:

stop that train 
I'm leavin

The older Chinese generations know all too well the effects of poverty and hunger. The rising generations have learned from their parents that being a fisherman or a farmer is much harder than factory work. Rural life doesn’t always pay the bills either. Within the last ten years, the great migration from rural life to an urban one has been progressively speeding up.

stop that train 
I'm leavin

And interestingly enough the rising generation are products of the one child policy. Imagine a whole population growing up without having to share toys or learn how to argue with a sister or brother. But, unlike previous generations, this generation has much more influence from the outside world. The government may have a tight grip on China’s media influence, but I agree with Bob when he sings:

You teach the youths to learn in school
That the cow jumped over the moon.
You teach the youths to learn in school
That the dish ran away with the spoon.
But you can't blame the youths
of today.
You can't fool the youths.

Yes, you can’t fool the youths. But children do have a surprising way of modeling their parents. It seems that Chinese of all ages share a general passivity. If someone cuts in line, the rest of the line fails to speak up. It shows in their “face”. The Chinese are leagues ahead of Americans when it comes to holding back emotion. Let me use the line cutting example. I bet every person in a Chinese line is ticked off at the line cutter, but it won’t show. It’s rude to get angry at someone. And if something or someone makes them feel uncomfortable, they just laugh in a low tone like a chuckle. Chinese rarely show their discomfort. It makes other people feel uncomfortable, and who would want to disturb the peace? The only instance that I appreciate the “saving face” phenomenon is on the road. There is no road rage here, just very loud horns. I wish that this practice would carry into the States. I can’t remember how many times I got a mad fist in the air or some other appendage directed at me followed by some cursing. Americans could lighten up in this area. Speaking of lightening up, Bob Marley has the perfect song for this:

Be what you want to be
Lively up yourself
Don't be no drag

On most days, I feel like singing this song at the top of my lungs. But in the end I am only a wei-guo-ren. I am a stranger in a strange land and all I really have are my skewed observations without the means to communicate or actualize them. All that’s left is my iPod and my friend Bob.

By Aaron on Sun, 18 Mar 2007

In case you’ve had trouble keeping up with our travels, we’ve prepared a quick two minute tour via Google Earth that highlights the places we’ve been. Enjoy!

By Aaron on Tue, 13 Mar 2007

The US may be the hub of the global marketplace, but try and find a local street market with fresh fish, live chickens, and cheap mismatched clothes and you’ll come up empty. They’ve been walmarted and suburbanized out of existance. But such markets are alive and well here in China and Taiwan. From what I understand, they’re becoming more rare in Hong Kong though. Street side vendors are allowed to continue to operate, but can only pass the business on to the next of kin. Since these parents have higher hopes for their children many of these stalls will close up within a generation.

In China and Taiwan, street markets are where you can find everything from fresh food to new shoes to the latest unreleased DVD. I particularly love the markets in Taiwan. Dounan’s morning market the day before Chinese New Year was packed to the point of immobility. Everything necessary for a proper feast could be bought. You could watch your chicken meet its demise right there, pick up live shrimp, or any of another hundred ingredients.

Meanwhile, the night markets are part fair, part outdoor warehouse. And the food is the best. Stinky tofu, fresh juice drinks, BBQ squid, and my favorite, tian-bu-la. I always wished we had weekly or daily night markets in the US like they have in Taiwan. It would at least give kids something else to do in the evening. In the Dounan night market we watched some huckster gut snakes in front of a large crowd. The Shirlin night market in Taipei was the largest I had ever been to and made all others look tiny and empty. It spanned for blocks on end and I know we only saw a small part of it.

So far, we’ve been to morning or night markets in just about every single city we’ve visited. Each market has it’s own specialities and unique traits. Walking along these markets and enjoying the local tastes are one of my most favorite aspects of living here. You can see some of the markets we’ve visited on Flickr.

By jenny on Sun, 11 Mar 2007

Now that we are living in China instead of hotel hopping, we’ve made some interesting observations about our new apartment and Chinese life in general.

First of all, tropical apartments are not set up for comfortable living during winter months. Our entire apartment floor is made of white ceramic tile which is great for cleaning purposes and effective for keeping cool in the summer. But for little two year olds who hate to be anything but barefoot, you end up with cold and dirty feet. Aaron picked up some .70 USD Hello Kitty sandals that are perfect for Maeli but we’re still having trouble keeping them attached to her. In reality we worry too much about Maeli’s body temperature. Have you noticed how little kids have this amazing capacity to wear tee-shirts in the snow?

Speaking of Maeli’s new sandals, there is a sandal phenomenon in China. It is EXTREMELY impolite to wear shoes inside anyone’s home. Instead you take your shoes off when entering a house and slip into something more comfortable. I guess this all depends on your idea of comfort considering that most Chinese will offer you plastic shower sandals. Aaron and I have gotten into this Chinese custom especially since our floor gets noticeably dirty with the use of street shoes.

On the note of cleaning, our apartment is missing a dish washer. I’m not sure if this is standard but I remember that Mrs. Li’s modern Chinese house was also lacking a dish washer. However, our kitchen is equipped with an ozone dish dryer. I’ve never seen one of these things in my life. Aaron has assured me that it’s purpose is to kill the bacteria off of the dishes after you hand wash them. The tap water is so dirty and unsafe that you need to blast them with a laser beam or whatever the heck that blue light is that saturates our dishes. Whatever the case, it scares me.

Our apartment is also missing an oven, paint on the walls, and a clothes dryer. I guess the Chinese consider a clothes dryer a waste of precious energy. So far the weather has been cool and balmy which is not ideal for line drying. The other big bummer to this scenario is that our clothes drying area is inside of our balcony so the sun can’t do it’s bleach effect. As far as I can tell, the Chinese don’t have the same bleach standard cleanliness that Americans do.

We are also missing a bathtub and shower curtain. According to some of my classmates, a lot of Chinese use a simple bucket and cup to wash themselves. At least we’re a step ahead on this basic necessity. But like most Chinese shower setups, we are minus a shower curtain. Ah…you’re asking, “Doesn’t the water get all over the bathroom?” Why, yes it does! And it gets all over the toilet and the floor and the walls, etc. But the remedy is a handy dandy floor mop. The only reason I like this solution is that the bathroom floor is NEVER dirty. And by the way, you have a special pair of sandals for the bathroom so you don’t track water through the rest of the house. Although one of my classmates only uses the sandals to avoid “Hong Kong foot” or in other words, athletes foot.

Since I’m on the topic of life’s unpleasantries, our apartment is unpleasantly loud. We only have a few neighbors and it’s not them who are noisy. Like most apartment complexes in China, it’s brand new. The industrial revolution is sweeping the nation and the nation is sweeping to the cities. That means construction and lots of it. So during working hours all we hear are drills, hammers, and a slew of other unidentifiable noises. Aaron’s Ipod is becoming more of a work essential rather than a perk.

Even though differences abound in our new Chinese apartment, things really aren’t that bad. It’s nice to have a home again.

Add an image from Flickr here:

By Aaron on Fri, 09 Mar 2007

For when sweet and sour sauce just isn’t enough.

By jenny on Fri, 09 Mar 2007

The Global Language Village (GLV) is my new school in Zhuhai for the next three weeks. I’ve almost completed the first week of the TESOL certification course. Each day starts at 9am and ends just before 5pm. Eight other classmates are with me for the long haul. Surprisingly, four of them are from the US. Betsy and Chris are west coasters from Oregon and Washington, and they’ve both heard of Evergreen so we’ve made some friendly jokes on that point of interest. Ron, in his fifties, is from Wisconsin and his background is rather bland up until this past week which marked his first international journey and third plane ride ever. Tom is from LA but of Chinese descent. Then there is Alex from England. He is the most animated of the bunch and has fulfilled my expectations of British slapstick comedy. Finally, Amy is from Malaysia and Dee is from Indonesia. It has amazed me to no end that this is my first classroom experience EVER in which everyone gets along famously. There is no odd man out.

Our new teachers include Brad from Australia and Jenny from mainland China. They balance each other because Brad presents the slow methodical teaching style while Jenny lets us loosen up and keep the jokes rolling.

With our tuition of 1,200 USD we are welcome to three meals a day in the GLV cafeteria. Everyone is impressed with the high quality and quantity of the cafeteria food. The only stipulation to the free meals is that we are strongly advised to sit with the GLV students who are learning English. They are all Chinese who are taking extra English classes for work, travel, and personal interest. They get to pick their own English names so you get some interesting ones like Yo-Yo. But in their eyes these names aren’t funny, just functional.

If I would have paid a couple extra hundred dollars I’d be staying with the rest of my classmates on campus. Actually Amy is the only other classmate opting for off-campus housing because her husband is also living in Zhuhai. Everyone else has flown in to take the class and then move on. They’re all jealous of my off campus arrangement because of the colorful experiences like rodents and cold showers. A few days ago Alex and Chris began our morning session with a story of a rat twitching on rodent paper in their apartment. They left a note for the maid to dispose of it. And Alex warned the rest of the class not to touch the rodent paper on the kitchen counter because he lost the skin on his forefinger that way. These kinds of stories keep us all in stitches.

This week I’m not the only family member with a big change. Aaron is nesting into his role as Mr. Mom. He’s been lectured by his lovely wife (along with a chorus of locals) about one thing or another concerning Maeli’s care. But tomorrow his short lived days as Mr. Mom will come to an end with Maeli’s first full day in a Chinese Kindergarten. Maeli calls it “church” because it reminds her of her former nursery classroom. She attended a half day today with Aaron by her side and tomorrow he will cut the leash so Maeli can spread her wings and fly.

As the British say, “I’ll carry on for now” and keep the stories coming if I can just convince my new teachers to lighten up on the homework.

By jenny on Sat, 03 Mar 2007

We’re finally back in Zhuhai. We were forced to spend a costly week in Hong Kong due to an unexpected twist in our visa situation. The six month multiple entry business visas we hoped for turned into one month single entry visas. Since I have to be in TEFL classes for the whole month of March, we couldn’t arrive in Zhuhai too early. This was a problem because we needed to find an apartment, a daycare, and a sense of home. We set foot in Zhuhai 30 hours ago and as miracles would have it, Maeli is enrolled in a daycare and tomorrow we move into our first overseas apartment. And just in the nick of time since my orientation is tomorrow afternoon.

In between all this searching madness we ended up at the local children’s health clinic. Don’t worry grandmas, Maeli is fine… she just needed to get a check-up so we can conjoin her with 15 other toddlers in her new daycare. Actually, they don’t call it daycare here. If your kid is too young for elementary school you send them to “kindergarten.” It’s formatted like elementary school but with more play time, a two hour nap, and they even potty train your kid.

Enrollment into a school requires a health check-up. That means going to the clinic. How to describe it? First of all, have you ever seen a bumper car ride in the middle of a health clinic, or a balloon man posted at the front gates? Have you ever seen a mini slide and rocking toys in the waiting room of a health clinic? Once I got over the amusement park atmosphere I had to deal with the swarms of people fighting for places in lines and seats. Of course everyone had to stop and admire Maeli. One nurse would spot Maeli and bring other nurses over to giggle and point. It made me miss being in Hong Kong where we were just another foreign family.

Being in mainland means that rules are tight and everyone is in a hurry. Now that I’ll be starting school in two days, Maeli will dive into her new environment and Aaron will become one with his code. We’ll be like other busy Chinese families or at least we’ve started off that way.

By Jenny on Fri, 02 Feb 2007

We have made it to Hong Kong. As Aaron put it, “It feels like NYC‘s Chinatown has exploded!” But really, it’s hard to compare Hong Kong to any other city on earth. It has it’s own rhythms and impressive skylines. From our hotel window, the never ending docks and water traffic mesmerize us.

Anything goes in this booming metropolis. The people of Hong Kong remind me of an Ani DeFranco line, ”(In) New York City where at least when I walk down the street nobody ever hesitates to tell me exactly what they think of me” I’ve always taken this line to mean that New Yorkers are not afraid to express themselves however they choose. With the uncensored media, it’s easier to do that in Hong Kong too.

Amid this freedom there is also an admirable respect for law and order. People actually waited at the crosswalk for green “walk now” light to signal. It was a small, one way street, with no real traffic at the moment, and people waited. Well, most of them at least. This sort of behavior was unthinkable in mainland. The only reason you didn’t cross the street at anytime and place was to avoid being crushed by a bus. But all that civility aside, they still drive on the wrong side of the street here.

We have settled at the Salisbury YMCA. It’s like no YMCA that we’ve seen in the states. This 14 story hotel is complete with restaurants, viewing decks, play gym, 2 pools, beauty salon and more. We are very satisfied with our suite accommodations, which equips us with a pull out bed for Maeli. Aaron finally got a good night sleep without little feet kicking him in the wee hours.

But by far, the best of the best that this hotel has to offer (for me) is the guest laundry room. In every city that we’ve been, I’ve looked high and low for a laundry mat. At first I used the hotel services, but after being charged $35 USD for a small load, and they didn’t even get the stains out, I swore off any service.

As I walked into the guest laundry room at the Salisbury, I stood in silence for a few minutes… soaking in the sight of three gleaming washers and dryers. For a little over $15 USD, I did three loads of laundry.

Of course this doesn’t mean that my days of bathtub laundry are over. I’m sure we’ll see another load or two of clothes draped all over the room. But for our short time in Hong Kong, the Salisbury has relieved me of at least one domestic duty.

By Jenny on Wed, 31 Jan 2007

Even though Macau is trying to be the Las Vegas of the East, don’t let it fool you. There are a few parts of Macau that are still very rural and exotic.

After a plentiful hotel breakfast (free with the room), the Farr Family set out to Coloane, a no-name village on the far end of Macau. This little island has a colorful history. The Song Dynasty extracted most of the salt for China in Coloane from the 900’s until the Portuguese arrived in 1864. They utilized Macau as a trading port but left Coloane untouched. Mostly pirates used it for a base until the early 1900’s. Lucky for us, all the pirates have left and now the island is inhabited by a very small population. This is in great contrast to downtown Macau, which has the second highest population density in the world.

Three bridges connect Coloane and Macau. We got there by way of bus #25, which took less than an hour. This is the first bus we’ve experienced in Asia. I’ve always observed the buses from the street and never really wanted to take part in the constant bobbing of heads and jam packed feeling. We were lucky enough to score some seats for most of the journey.

Coloane is a sleepy little fishing town with beautiful architecture left by the Portuguese. Of course the Chinese have their marks too, by way of Daoist temples and such. We saw no high-rise anything in Coloane, only winding streets and quiet little neighborhoods.

We made our way around one of the mountains. The scaling road gave an excellent view of the surrounding islands. I spotted a rough trail that led to the beach. After soothing Aaron with stories of much rougher paths that I’ve taken Maeli on, he agreed to take the downward descent to the secluded beach.

We were greeted by a beach full of washed-up garbage and a dying dog.

“See honey, aren’t you glad we came this way,” was my response.

After we got past a rough start, the beach turned out to be exceptionally beautiful. It was a tremendous feeling to gaze into the never-ending Pacific contrasting the cramped city living of these last four weeks.

As we took bus 25 back into downtown, with its cramped spaces and unbreathable air, we both hoped we’d have good reasons to escape to the village again. With our time in Macau now coming to a close, that means we need one of you to visit us so we can take you there!

By Jenny on Tue, 30 Jan 2007

There have been a few times on our trip when Aaron and I look at each other like, “What are we doing in China with a 2 year old…have we lost our senses?”

Luckily the good moments on our adventure have outweighed the bad. By far, the most challenging aspect of the trip has been traveling with a 2 year old.

Maeli is a willful child. Aaron’s mother said, “She reminds me of someone I know.” However, almost all 2 year olds are willful and it’s hard to break their determination.

There have only been a small handful of days when we haven’t left the hotel. Those reasons included minor colds and utter fatigue. Other than that, we’ve gone out everyday. Going out in a major city with crazy traffic patterns can be dangerous for a 2 year old without a stroller. We’re trying to train Maeli to hold our hand when we are on the sidewalk. Of course she doesn’t want to hold our hands. There is so much to climb on and neat things to touch. And most importantly, she wants to do the opposite of whatever we say.

So we end up making a scene. Our voices rise, “If you do not hold my hand, I WILL HOLD YOU.” She starts to run away and we jerk her up into our arms and let her know how sad/mad we are that she’s not listening.

What I wouldn’t give for a stroller on this adventure. But we have too much to carry as it is. It’s near impossible to get our 3 and 1/2 pieces of luggage from A to B without another thing to lug up the stairs.

And then there are the restaurant scenes. Two year olds don’t want to sit down for half an hour. They don’t want to wait for food when they are hungry. Two year olds have their own agenda. Eating out is supposed to be a relaxing time. We prefer eating on our hotel bed and letting Maeli do whatever she pleases without breaking glasses and making messes.

I sometimes wonder if she would be acting this way if we were still close to family and she had her familiar places. Maeli can’t tell me if she misses home. We certainly talk about home every day and remember our family and friends. We like to pretend that her family back home is wondering what she’s doing. Is she walking up stairs, looking at birds, going down a slide, or eating an orange? Is Maeli being a good girl and listening to her mama and daddy when they tell her to hold hands?

The one thing that keeps reassuring me that we’re doing the right thing is that she has endless stimulation on our travels. She sees something new everyday. The sounds of the motorcycles and scooters always excite her. The smells can range from pleasant to “we wouldn’t smell that at home.” She has been eating more squid than ever. So it’s a comfort to know that her little brain is growing and making all kinds of connections at a young age. I just hope that the listening receptor starts to kick in.

By Jenny on Mon, 29 Jan 2007

So, how do you communicate to someone that you want your hair cut without using words? I was lucky enough to find that out today.

Maeli and I strolled up to the front desk of the Pousada de Mong-Ha (fancy phrase for our hotel). I asked the clerk how much it usually costs to get a haircut. He said that if I went to an expensive salon it should run about 150 Patacas (19USD) but if I went somewhere cheap I could spend around 60 Patacas (7.50USD). I didn’t have 150 Patacas with me because I really didn’t want to spend that much on a haircut. I left the front desk with a recommendation for a “nice” salon and about 100 Patacas in my pocket.

We didn’t even look for the “nice” salon. A few days ago I noticed some cheap looking salons behind our hotel. I walked up to one and the door had some Chinese characters on it. What the hay! We walked in and it wasn’t busy at all.

A chinese man approached us with a look like, “Are you lost?” Of course not, Mister. We’re the crazy foreigners who come to the cheap Chinese place to get our hair cut to make your day just a little more interesting.

So I motioned that Maeli needed her bangs cut and I needed my hair trimmed. He seemed fine with that request and ushered us to some seats. He pulled out a pink booster seat for Maeli and decided that she would be first. I was hoping that he would do my hair first so that Maeli could get used to the whole idea of a strange man cutting Mommy’s hair. But, no… we were just going to dive in.

This Chinese man was probably in his late thirties but he was going for the early twenties look with faded tight jeans and cool sweater with English words scrambled all over. He had the hair and lips of Mac Jagger and the face of Johnny Depp… I mean the Chinese version of Johnny Depp. To top it off he had a silver stud in his left ear.

So Mac Jagger put a cape on Maeli and combed her hair all pretty. Then he crouched down so he could chop off a straight line of hair and Maeli started to cry. “Who is this spiky hair guy in my face with scissors???”

Like most Chinese, this guy was fast on his feet. He swung around behind Maeli and switched from the regular sheers to the thinning sheers. In about 4 minutes, he successfully cut her bangs without any more crying. She now has a nice feathered look in the front.

My turn! I gave Maeli some crackers and a book and then the cape was around my neck. He took a hair dryer and comb and started styling the back of my already dry hair. At home, Aunt Linda always wet and then divided my hair into neat sections. I was going to say something but I took the Aaron approach and let the situation ride out.

After my hair was combed under, The Johnny Depp side to this guy started to emerge. He cut the back of my hair like Edward Scissorhands. Fast snipping and erratic combing were all I could see in the mirror. Johnny Depp must have barely beat this guy for the role. I was beginning to feel like one of those lawn bushes.

When all was said and done, not a lick of English was spoken during the whole event. He only charged 45 Patacas for my cut and 20 Patacas for Maeli. I gave him 5 Patacas extra for the entertainment.

By Jenny on Mon, 29 Jan 2007

Hong Kong is a pulsating, superlative-ridden fusion of West and East, an exercise in controlled chaos, a densely populated place that simply ‘shouldn’t be, but is.’ Hong Kong is like no other city on earth. - Steve Fallon, author of Hong Kong & Macau

There you have Hong Kong in a nutshell. Aaron and I almost went there today. We were at the ferry docks in our Sunday best about 5 minutes too late. As we would say playing pinocle back home, “This hand is a day late and a dollar short.”

“Oh well,” we said. “Let’s see what Macau has to offer.” Yes, Macau… we have discovered the New Jersey of Asia. (They may say it’s the Las Vegas of the East but we know better.) Now long in Hong Kong’s shadow, Macau is often passed over. Casinos and unique architecture still draw tourists to this quaint, quiet backwater though. We haven’t yet seen much of the architecture yet, but we did see the casino with the mini volcano.

I’ll tell you what though, I like this place. Nobody stares at us here. Folks are relaxed. I have yet to be harassed by a small business owner and we even went to a night market. It still feels like we’re in Asia, but we’re not in mainland… that’s for certain.

Aaron’s note: Macau is also amazingly dense, second highest in the world in fact. And it’s small. Who knew the map they gave us was life sized? Walking the streets of Macau feels like hiking the narrows of Zion—a stream of people, cars and scooters flowing at the bottom and walls of concrete and drying laundry towering above.

Hong Kong and Macau are Special Economic Regions (SARs) in the Chinese Government. That basically means that there is an open market and local government control. It shows. With a freer market, the people tend to be less weary of outsiders and more importantly, more accustomed to outside influences.

So Macau is my first taste of Asia outside of mainland China and I’m excited to get a bigger bite, of Hong Kong, that is.

By J Aaron Farr on Sun, 28 Jan 2007

There is a conspiracy in China. In any place where one may be weighed down by luggage and young children, they build steps. I suspect the incentive is to encourage the local economy because wherever these steps are, so too is a throng of eager entrepreneurs anxious to make a few yuan by hulling my luggage up the stairs and to the train, taxi or boat. The rates range from quite reasonable (a few bucks USD) to rather ridiculous (you want $50 dollars for a flight of steps???). With little Maeli dancing between our three and a half pieces of luggage, I’m sure we look like prime customers. Giving in and trusting someone with all our goods can be a nervous experience but when we’ve finally ascended and decended all the flights of stairs between us and our destination, it was money well spent.

I’m not sure what is the most convenient way to get from Zhuhai to Macao. It might be by ferry. We took the land route. The ritual packing was finished by noon, and we climbed into a taxi that took us less than five miles to the border. From there we encountered the usual stairs and our luggage ended up on the cart of an old man who mostly spoke Cantonese. Then the waiting in lines began.

First we waited outside the China exit office… and then we waited inside. After getting our passports stamped (goodbye to China for now) we rushed to the Macao entry offices and waited again. All told it took us about two hours to get from The Holiday Inn of Zhuhai to the Pousada de Mong-Ha in Macao. Thus far we’ve been greeted by beautiful weather, palm trees, cars on the wrong side of the road, voices speaking Cantonese and signs in Portuguese. We’ll be here until February 1st when we’ll take the ferry to Hong Kong.

By Jenny on Fri, 26 Jan 2007

Our time in Zhuhai has been relaxing and truth be told, I am in need of a little relaxation. Actually Zhuhai is a resort for many Chinese honeymooners. It feels like California with all the palm trees, breezy air, and well tended landscaping. However, these city dwellers are far from Californians. People in Zhuhai aren’t as stylish as those in Shanghai and aren’t as proud as those in Beijing. Being in the tropics, you can find more leisure activities in the parks and malls. Other than relax in our hotel room, the only activity that we’ve done in Zhuhai is take Maeli to the jungle gyms and parks. Zhuhai parks remind me of Starbucks in Seattle. People are taking a break, enjoying themselves, and there are so many of them that sometimes you can see a Starbucks from a Starbucks.

Unlike it’s neighbors Macau and Hong Kong, Zhuhai isn’t known for much in the outside world. It’s size and population is comparable to Pittsburgh, PA. There are wide bike lanes with less bike traffic than in Beijing. The street vendors still haggle and passersby still stare, so at least that much hasn’t changed.

I’m getting used to the idea that we’ll be living out of our suitcases for at least another month and that idea can weigh me down. Our plans for Taiwan are still not solid as we can’t easily find the kind of hotels we want over the Internet. When we get there we’ll have to do some quick thinking and fast acting. So the stresses of traveling can make one feel like they need a little relaxation. Luckily Zhuhai is just the place for that.

By J Aaron Farr on Wed, 24 Jan 2007

Monday we left Shanghai on a train to Guangzhou (aka Canton). This time we enjoyed the twenty-four hour ride in our own room by buying the tickets for all four beds. This wasn’t as excessive as it sounds—our luggage took up a whole bed anyway.

Having arrived in Guangzhou I left Maeli and Jenny at a Starbucks while I scouted for the bus station that would get us to Zhuhai. Turns out that bus station is almost a mile away. Since Jenny wasn’t too keen on discovering the joys of bus travel anyway, we found someone to drive us for 400 RMB. I’ve never seen a nicer Holiday Inn than the one where staying in now, but then thirty hours of traveling can make a Chinese Motel 6 look like the Hilton. Having survived one of those few question marks on our itinerary (just how do we get from Guangzhou to Zhuhai?) I figured it was downhill from here. Almost.

Getting what you want in China is not always easy, even when you do speak the language. Two (of many) recent examples: Despite listing ‘On-site Guest Self-Laundry Facilities (washer/dryer)’ on the Holiday Inn website, this hotel does not have self-serve washers and dryers. Asking for such at the desk got us two directions to the hotel laundry service room and one very odd expression. I could almost read her mind, “You’re a foreigner, staying at this hotel, and you want to do your own laundry?”

Asking for a newspaper only got me bad directions. First to the fifth floor business center which has plenty of newspapers to read while you sit and wait for your fax but none to buy. The second set of directions at least got me in the vicinity. The store they suggested didn’t have newspapers but the convenience store another block away did.

As is often the case when language and cultural barriers loom, your search results in something quite close to what you intended but not quite an exact match either. This sort of fuzzy living that one goes through factors into culture shock and can lead to frustration if patience isn’t applied. Luckily Jenny and I have each other to balance out emotional irregularities so when paper towels are more like tissue paper and the toilet is really a squatter we have a sympathetic ear nearby.

By Jenny on Sun, 21 Jan 2007

Aaron is pretty tied up with the computer during business hours. Sometimes he’ll go along for a day trip, but usually us girls fend for ourselves in the day time. This leads to more eventful trips than if Aaron were with us.

Our first day in Shanghai, Maeli and I decided to wander around the surrounding streets of The Astor Hotel. Of course we neglected to go to the main avenues. Why not see what the locals are doing on the back streets?

There is no end to small business on these alleyways. “Wanna take a looka?” are the shouts we get from the storefronts which basically consist of a miniature doorway. My rule of thumb is to sneak a peek at something when nobody knows I’m there. Once they spot me and begin to approach, I split. Otherwise, it’s easy to get stuck and hard to break away without being rude.

Maeli and I pass the shops: magazines, tobacco, fruit, shoes, keys, etc. Then we stumble upon a small food market. Butchers chop bones on the sidewalk with blood smeared everywhere. Dried fish stretches tight on bamboo sticks. Swarms of live fish grasp for dear life in big buckets. Chickens roast inside glass rotisseries. Piles of vegetables line the sidewalk while scooters zoom past. All of these vendors and more squeeze together in a small alley. We are spellbound…and consequently hungry.

So I spot a little shop that has some chairs and it looks like a huge pot is steaming. It smells good enough. We hesitantly walk in and motion to sit down. The owner points me to a glass encasement and inside are food looking things. What are these food looking things? I had never seen these types of food things in my life. There are about forty different bins and each has a different food type thing inside. I scan the selection and I get very worried.

In an attempt to get something in my stomach I say, “noodles”. The owner hands me a small plastic basket and points to the glass. Then I remember a Chinese food word. I say, “Dofu” which means tofu. He shows me the tofu on the counter next to the glass and puts some into my basket. I start to think that I’m going to bring home some uncooked tofu. So I motion that I want to sit down and eat. He seems to understand and keeps pointing to the glass. I look again and see some mushrooms so I put a couple of those in my basket. Maeli keeps pointing to the miniature eggs. I put four ofthose in the basket and by this point I am nervous. So I hand the guy my basket and he looks just as confused as me. He takes the basket and dumps it into a strainer bowl that sits inside the big steaming pot. Inside the pot there is thick brown broth. He then cooks my tofu, mushrooms, and eggs.

Maeli and I sit down and some other people stroll in. They fill their baskets to the top and end up having a full bowl of food rather than some broth with tofu floating on top. Oh, well. After we ate our soup, I picked up another basket, filled it full of goodies and took a hotpot home to Aaron. Even though I was fully embarrassed, he was very proud of me.

By Jenny on Sat, 20 Jan 2007

Little ears are quick to hear just as little feet are quick to wander. As we left the Haoyuan Hotel, the clerk said “Hello” to Maeli and she responded, “Ni Hao.” I was shocked.

Since our arrival I’ve been so concentrated on grasping a few Chinese words that I haven’t worked on Maeli’s language skills. More importantly, I’ve been trying to keep her brain in English mode to lessen the confusion of our big move.

Shortly after the “ni hao” experience, the Farr family was whisked away to the train station. We arrived at the station and I thanked the cabbie in Chinese. Maeli was quick to say, “xie xie”. This has become her favorite Chinese expressions. It sounds like “shay shay”.

Now when strangers approach to see the blue eye, blond hair wonder it doesn’t take much prompting for Maeli to spout out some Chinese greeting. We are still working on “zia jian” which means “goodbye.” Pronounced “Zye Gee En”, this word is harder for little lips to say.

After we get Maeli in a Chinese day care, I’ll have no idea what she’s talking about!

By J Aaron Farr on Fri, 19 Jan 2007

A word of advice if you take the train from Beijing to Shanghai: if you have a little one, or you have a lot of luggage, or both, buy an extra bed or two. The train ride actually wasn’t that bad at all, but it could have been a bit nicer if we had had more room. If there was a car or room for extra luggage, we didn’t find it, so we eventually crammed it into our sleeping quarters. Since the train from Shanghai to Guangzhou that we’ll take on Monday will be twice as long, we went ahead and booked an entire room for ourselves.

The Astor House Hotel, or Pujiang Hotel as it’s known locally, has mixed reviews but so far we’ve found it charming. The location is incredible. We’re a block away from the Bund and the view of Pudong across the river is… well, I fell in love with Shanghai right then and there.

We spent most of the day here today recovering from the train ride. But we couldn’t spend our entire first day in the Pearl of the Orient holed up inside, so we ventured out for dinner. Taxis can be hard to come by around dinner time and the misty rain doesn’t help either, so we walked into the Bund until we could find a car. The walk was worth it. The architecture and lights transport you to another place—not quite Europe, but not quite China either.

From there we finally took a taxi to the French Consession in search of a Mexican restaurant we dug up in our travel guide. The Lonely Planet China Guide has come in very handy on a number of occasions. That said, it’s not always very accurate. The prices are out of date (even if you do successfully haggle ) and the reviews of hotels and restaurants are often much too generous. In this case, the Mexican restaurant Badlands turned out to be a run of the mill bar that wasn’t even serving food tonight. So we walked a few blocks and came across an absolutely excellent Japanese place. Dinner came with a complementary photo shoot as the staff whipped out camera phones to get a shot of our little blond haired blue eyed beauty.

We’ll only be in Shanghai for the weekend, but I’m very glad we stopped here. It’ll give us something to compare with Hong Kong as we try to decide where to settle.

By Jenny on Thu, 18 Jan 2007

Chaotic whirlwind of street madness pretty much sums up the traffic situation in Beijing. It’s every man for himself. I saw an old woman on a rusty bicycle get creamed the other day. She didn’t seem too phased. In fact, traffic doesn’t seem phased by much. It’s midnight and the temperature is in the teens and no doubt there will be a steady stream of bicycles on Wangfujing Street. Yeah, some are wearing scarves around their faces, but some aren’t even wearing hats or gloves. These people are hard core!

And then there are the bicycles that have some kind of jerry-rigged cart on their back axis. Some guy carries a hundred and one brooms, another has a piping hot garbage can with sweet potatoes on top of coals, another carries recyclables, desks, chairs, you name it. Oh yeah, and the people! There is no end to the creative techniques for carrying a person on the back of a bike. I’ve seen babies to old ladies in wheelchairs.

Aaron and I suspect that Beijing is still bustling with bikes because of Communist subsidies in the 50’s. From the looks of some of these doozies, you can tell that they are sixty years old. Surprisingly scooters are comparatively rare. The low average income (under $3000 USD annually in Beijing) probably has something to do with that.

But the saving grace of the whole chaotic whirlwind of street madness is speed or lack thereof. I’ve accidentally stepped in front of some cars and bikes during my 2 weeks in Beijing and their slow pace saved my face. It reminds me of an old rusty button that once adorned my jeep’s visor: Buckle up! Save your ugly face

The pedestrians are pretty nuts too. Jaywalking is either legal or not enforced enough to deter the general public. I’ve learned that the person with the sternest look wins the right away. I’ve given a few looks myself but mine consist of, “If you hit me or my child, I will kill you.” That look has never failed me.

And then there is my favorite category in the chaotic whirlwind of street madness: cabbies. Most of the cabbies in Beijing are proud of their license and position in society. They keep their cars clean and buy special pads to make the ride more comfortable (and washable). The Beijing Taxi Company tries especially hard to cater to foreigners buy playing an introductory tape once you enter the vehicle. (Read with a chinese accent:)

Hello.  Welcome to Beijing.  
We are glad you chose our cab services.  
Please let the driver know if you have any
  comments about the drive.  
Thank you and have a nice ride.

I think my favorite thing about the cabbies is that they have no idea where anything is. Of course this isn’t their fault. One of the first things you notice about Beijing is all the construction. Old courtyards, which take up a lot of space because they are ground level houses, are being demolished left and right. A common scene: bricks, dust, brooms, bricks, dust, brooms. And what goes up in their place? High rise apartments, stores, office buildings and the like. And the 2008 Olympics aren’t helping matters. The government is going to pain staking efforts to clean up and clean out the city.

So this leaves the cabbies in quite a predicament. I’ve gotten into cabs, given the cab driver a business card with a full street address, chinese characters and all, and the cab looks at me like, “So, you wanna go to mars?”

Because this is probably an unpleasant experience for the cabbie, I’ve seen some cabs take one look at my foreign fingers in the air and drive on by. I don’t blame them, but their charm adds a whole lot to Beijing.

By J Aaron Farr on Thu, 18 Jan 2007

Here’s some advice if you ever plan on going to the great wall:

1. Stretch first
2. Don’t take a 2 year old unless you plan on carrying her
3. Go on a weekday
4. Go in winter
5. You don’t need to take a tour
6. Did I mention stretching?

Yesterday we went to the Great Wall at Badaling north of China. We decided to try and catch the bus rather than take a tour because we just wanted to go to the wall and not the Ming Tombs and tourist traps they herd you through. So we took a taxi to the bus stop and of course we were ambushed by drivers wanting to take us there. After some haggling, we actually got a decent rate for a private car to and from Badaling (300 RMB or 38 USD). The bus would have been cheaper but when traveling with Maeli, it’s sometimes nice to have a bit of comfort.

We arrived at Badaling around 1:00 PM. I was prepared for the usual swarm of tourists but since it was a Wednesday in January, it was practically deserted. Yesterday was also the warmest day we’ve had in Beijing (which is one reason why we decided to go then). It was certainly cold once you got high up on the wall, but it wasn’t frigid like other days have been here.

You can’t miss the western section of the wall at Badaling. Its steep assent memorised us that we didn’t even notice the much easier climb on the eastern wall. Our driver warned us several times to be careful. I imagine he might have been wondering if we’d make it back.

The wall at Badaling has been restored and is the most visited section. That said, it’s not tame by any sense of the word. The stairs ascending the mountain are dangerous, well worn and uneven—some as high as my knee. I was a bit worried about how we were going to get Maeli up to the first tower but somehow we did it, mostly by carrying her. Maeli openly enjoyed climbing the easier sections. She loves steps and the Great Wall was her paradise. Walking around town with Maeli is always a fun, albeit slow, adventure as she attempts to climb the stairs of every storefront. Every storefront.

“The cliffs of insanity!” was Jenny’s cry of achievement as we conquered the wall. At first Jenny wasn’t sure she even wanted to visit due to Maeli. She kept telling me to go alone. But once she got there and reached the watchtower she admitted this could be one of the finest achivements of her life. Later that night we watched The Princess Bride for good measure.

Speaking of later that night, we went out to dinner to Xiao Wang’s Home Restaurant which our travel guidebook rated number 1 in China. We couldn’t agree more. We enjoyed the deep fried spare ribs, succulent spicy eggplant, sauteed green beans with garlic and pork, and crispy sweet tofu (it’s amazing that tofu can mimic the taste and texture of marshmallows). The feast came to under $15.00 USD. Of course, Maeli downed a bowl of rice as she does at all of our outings. The service was, as Jenny puts it, top drawer. If you’re in Beijing, you can’t miss this place.

All in all, yesterday turned out to be one of our finest here in Beijing. A wonderful send off as we now pack for our redeye train to Shanghai.

By Jenny on Wed, 17 Jan 2007

When our little family was back in the states, Maeli and I loved to visit the west coast. We made a total of 4 trips during Maeli’s first 2 years. Probably the most challenging aspect of traveling across the country was the time zone change of 3 hours. Children are like clockwork with eating, diapering, and naps. A mere 3 hours can throw the whole family off for a while.

Experts say that it takes about a week for little ones to adjust to such differences. I’ve also read that it takes one day to adjust for every timezone crossed. Seeing that we’ve been in China for 13 days, that means we should be back on track today. That isn’t too far from the truth.

Aaron was the first to adjust to the time difference with no help other than his own will power. He forced himself to stay in bed even when he was wide awake. I couldn’t muster up such discipline and during the first week, you could find me on the computer at 3am. Consequently, I was the last to adjust.

To ease the adjustment I relied on melatonin extract. Taking one pill would knock me out in the nighttime but wouldn’t help me from waking up 4 hours later in a “go get ‘em” mood. After that first week of insomnia, I finally began to sleep through the night. And then my body wanted to play catch-up. In the daytime, I found myself napping with Maeli.

Between the two of us, Maeli benefited the most from the melatonin extract. Because they taste like peppermint, she had no problem chewing half a tablet which is about 1.25mg. In the beginning I experimented with a quarter tablet, as the bottle suggests not giving these pills to children at all. From past experiences I understand that almost all herbs are not recommended for children for no good reason what so ever. It took Maeli about a week to adjust. She would wake up between 1-3am and I’d quickly give her a melatonin. After a half hour of rolling around in bed, she’d fall fast asleep.

Slowing things are getting back to normal. But my mother is quick to point out (quoting Patsie Clairmont) that “normal is just a setting on your dryer”.

By Jenny on Tue, 16 Jan 2007

Traveling throughout most of China is cheap if you have your wits about you. Hong Kong is an exception with the ranking of 4 on the list of Most Expensive Cities in the World. Our own big apple, NYC, is ranked 10. However through our own follies, Aaron and I have been charged the foreigner price on a number of things in Beijing.

When we first arrived, we needed a taxi to get to our hotel. We just got off a 13 hour flight and not all of our cylinders were rapidly firing. While exiting the airport we were approached by a man wearing business casual slacks and coat. He flashed a business card and said, “Taxi?” Business cards are important to the Chinese entrepreneur. Not only do they translate into “professional”, but they are a nice excuse to demand unfair prices.

Aaron (Commander in Charge) went for it hook, line and sinker. We were whisked into a taxi cab and then told how much the ride would cost. For the 35 kilometer ride we would be fined 400 RMB or about 51 USD. In the city, cabbies charge 10 RMB just to get in and then an additional 2 RMB for every kilometer. For the airport taxi, we were charged 5 times the going rate. Ripped off! To add insult to injury, the cabbie asked for a tip, which is unheard of in the city. Aaron, always saving face, gave him a dollar tip. I wouldn’t have been so kind.

Once we got to the hotel, things weren’t any better. We came to realize that if we got any service that had a western flare, we were going to be overpriced. For admittance into the pool, the hotel charges 60 RMB or 8 USD for visitors (including children). Last time I used a pool in the US, I was charged 6 bucks.

After the first day of jet lag and insomnia, Maeli began to run out of diapers. Aaron and I wanted to explore the city anyway so we walked up Beijing’s version of 5th Ave, NYC. We quickly found a mall that carried one brand of European diapers. We paid 168 RMB for 42 diapers which is about 21 USD. Are you starting to get the trend here? If you look western or shop at western places, you are going to pay western prices. A week later I discovered a Chinese grocery store. I found Pampers and Huggies brand diapers. For 33 RMB, I bought a package of 28 diapers… 4 bucks.

After a week of shopping around and sight seeing, I began to feel like a walking money sign. People approached me and looked at me like I wore a suit of twenty dollar bills. A young fruit vendor thought it rather appropriate to charge me 13 USD for some cherries. Of course I declined and eventually got him to come down on the price of another smaller package of cherries. After frequenting the grocery store where all prices are clearly labeled, I realized that the young fruit vendor was charging me twice as much for the going price of oranges.

Sometimes it doesn’t even matter if the price is clearly labeled. When Maeli and I were at the Museum of Natural History my camera battery ran out. I found a little shop inside of the museum that sold AA batteries. The price was clearly marked…2.5 RMB for 4 batteries. I showed the clerk my 2 old batteries. She opened the new package, took out 2 batteries and put her hand up to indicate the number 5. I reluctantly handed her 5 RMB and waited for change. She pretended not to notice. Ripped off!

Once we settle down I am anxious to take formal lessons in Chinese. I’m kicking myself for not taking lessons before we left. What was I thinking? Because of the language barrier, it is much easier to be cheated out of money and do absolutely nothing about it.

By J Aaron Farr on Tue, 16 Jan 2007

We’ve been here about two weeks and already there are some items we brought which have become invaluable and others which, so far, are just extra dead weight. For example, most of the books we brought are still in the “book suitcase.” The hair dryer or extension cord? Haven’t used ‘em yet. But the ethernet cable I thought to bring saved my sanity for a few days.

Initially under-appreciated, the PSP has perhaps become our most valuable gadget in the bag. I’ve ripped copies of the Curious George movie, Sesame Street and Winnie the Pooh onto it. It’s turned out to be the perfect way to keep Maeli entertained at home or on the street. If you travel internationally with a 2 year old, don’t leave home without it.

By Jenny on Sun, 14 Jan 2007

We splurged the other night and got 380RMB ($50) VIP seats at the Chinese Acrobatic show. Every penny was worth it.

All of us were transfixed with mouths wide open during the hour-long show. At one point, when the foot jugglers were tossing balls across the stage, Maeli whispered "wow."

Apparently, Chinese acrobats have been performing since 500bc. In Beijing alone, there are at least five theaters that perform nightly shows. I'm not going to attempt to explain the awe-inspiring feats of these performers. I will say that no trip to China is complete without an acrobatic show.

Other outings in Beijing include The Natural History Museum and The Temple of Heaven. The family split up in an attempt to target more sights around the city. I guided Maeli through dinosaur bones, life size replicas of hundreds of animals, and a very exciting toddler play area. While Maeli and I were digging through fossils, Aaron was gazing at temples and posing as the tourist with the over-sized camera. Each of these tickets cost 30RMB (less than $4). However, in every ticket instance so far, Maeli is free of charge.

By Jenny on Fri, 12 Jan 2007

In the United States, I've heard it said that all Chinese people look alike. I never really agreed with that, but after being here for a few days it's making more sense as to why they would come to that conclusion.

In Beijing I've been frequenting a restaurant with some young female employees. At first I thought that 4 girls worked there because the restaurant was open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. After my fifth visit there I realised that only 2 girls worked there but it was still hard for me to tell them apart. One of the girls wears her bangs in her eyes and the other has her hair pulled back. Aside from those differences, these girls have the same body type, eye color, and mannerisms. Like most Asians, physical differences are in the subtleties.

I get just as confused when I watch Chinese TV programs. Now, granted, I'm watching television geared toward young children. Nonetheless, it seems like the same exact girl is hosting every program. She has the same voice, the same type of mini-skirt and above all else, the same face.

So I got to thinking about why they all look the same. As babies, when we first open our eyes, we are programmed to recognize faces. We immediately begin to study faces; and we study the faces from our homelands.

In high school, my parents hosted a foreign exchange student named Xavi. He had this skewed perception of the United States based on the hit TV show "Baywatch." Xavi thought that all Americans girls were blond and big breasted, and he thought the men were ripped and suave. He was really shocked when he arrived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where most of the girls in our high school had brown hair.

It's a little different in China. Chinese body types don't vary much, and I've yet to see a natural blond or blue eyes. The diversity is in the subtleties. And since I've been unconsciously studying American faces for 26 years, it might take a little time to distinguish between these little nuances.

By Jenny on Thu, 11 Jan 2007

The cuisine in China is absolutely fabulous. Candied lotus root, sweet spring rolls, and ginger eggplant are some of my favorites so far. However it can be a challenge to take a 2 year old to a restaurant. This morning she broke a glass, and we never leave somewhere without rice on the floor.

So last night, to take a break from being a public spectacle, we decided to get take-out pizza. I spotted a little joint called "Origus" and it claimed to be a pizza buffet. Aaron and Maeli camped in the hotel room while I sojourned into the night streets for some greasy American food.

Origus tries really hard to be American. The paintings on the wall resemble a cross between the decor of Panera Bread and Quiznos. Like most Chinese establishments, they are way overstaffed. Six people work the small front desk where you order.

So, I walk up to the desk and say, "Pizza, wai dai?" which means, "Pizza, takeout?". Because of the buffet sign, I was worried that they didn't offer takeout. A young Chinese man nodded and handed me a menu.

Okay...the menu is mostly in Chinese. The only English parts are the titles like:

Dish
Soup
Salad
Beverage
Dessert

Then I notice that you can order spaghetti and wings. Nope, I want some Pizza! Oh yes, here it is:

ORIGUS Deluxe Pizza
Florida Beach Pizza
Boss Pizza
Double Flavor Pizza
Ranchero Pizza
Western Scenery Pizza
Strong Affection Pizza
Sunshine Beach Pizza
Heart Pizza

Hmmm....what to do? Wait, what do I see? ...a Vegetable Pizza. Score!

So, after I painstakingly figured out that they had different sizes, I ordered the largest Vegetable Pizza which came to 68RMB, or about 9 bucks.

The nice Chinese clerk directed me to the waiting area and served me hot water. Chinese people usually don't drink cold beverages. I prefer hot water to cold anyway, so good for me.

Finally the pizza came and with my handy dandy Chinese/English dictionary I asked for a takeout menu. The nice young Chinese clerk looked confused and then in an attempt to save face, his finger shot up and he said, "Uh HUH!". He went to the desk and brought me a receipt. Oh well...can't have everything.

Back at our hotel room, Aaron and Maeli were patiently waiting for dinner. I slowly opened the box and "ta-da", it actually looked like pizza!

Surprisingly enough it tasted like pizza too, but the kind that you'd get at a roller rink or an elementary school cafeteria. The dough was like thick bread and there wasn't much sauce. The cheese tasted okay and it was topped with corn, black olives, red and green peppers and mushrooms.

If I had to do it over again, I'd probably order the Heart Pizza or the Strong Affection Pizza.

By J Aaron Farr on Wed, 10 Jan 2007

The rest of our Forbidden City photos are finally uploaded.

By Jenny on Wed, 10 Jan 2007

The more I learn about Chinese people, the more I know that I'm not going to fit in easily over here. Aaron on the other hand is very Chinese. He doesn't laugh in public or break the rules in any way. Nor does he say "no" if it's going to make someone feel awkward or embarrassed. Now, if Aaron learned these character traits on his two year tour in Taiwan or if he was always this way is a guessing game for me. Either way, he knows how to act here while I feel like a fish out of water.

I'm not shy to admit that I sometimes embarrass Aaron in public. At least he hasn't been to the pool with me yet. He'd be red for a week.

The pool of the Wangfujing Grand Hotel is designed as a lap pool, located on the basement floor. Both ends are about 4ft deep while the middle dips into 8ft. Bathing caps and sandals are required as well as a quick shower and a frigid foot bath. The on-duty lifeguards are very particular about these rules as I have found out through my own mistakes.

Yes, I've gone into the pool without my bathing cap, I've been inside the male sauna, and I've felt the lifeguards eyes watch my every move.

Every Chinese person I've seen at the pool does the exact same thing. They swim calculated laps in sets and with each new set comes a different stroke.

And then there's me. I don't wear goggles (I'm actually surprised that these aren't mandatory since I'm the only one who doesn't wear them). I start at one end of the pool and kick off into an underwater rage to the middle deep. When I get there I tread water for a while and do some somersaults, forward and backward. Then I do a series of strokes to the end and thus continue in no pattern whatsoever.

I must look absurd to the lifeguards who seem entranced at my erratic behavior. I imagine them thinking, "Look at the American who has ADD."

By J Aaron Farr on Wed, 10 Jan 2007

Monday afternoon we transfered from the Wangfujing Grand Hotel to the much more modest Haoyuan Guesthouse. The Wangfujing Grand Hotel was a great place to spend our first few days as it provided a comfortable space for us to acclimate. Jenny especially enjoyed the pool and sauna.

But it wasn’t practical for us to stay there for the entirety of our visit to Beijing. The Haoyuan guesthouse provides all the real necessities we’re in need of and I love staying at a classical Qing period courtyard house. Haoyuan was actually our second choice, but the Bamboo Garden was booked. If you’re ever in Beijing I’d recommend any of these three hotels.

Our room has two beds, a small closet, two Qing style chairs, a desk, TV and a bathroom. It’s small but warm. There are actually two courtyards and I imagine in the spring and summer they must look even more beautiful. There’s a small restaurant at the back of the hotel with a fairly simple menu that’s not too overpriced. The hotel itself is located on a side street in a hutong, but it’s a short walk to catch a taxi. Even Tiananmen and the Forbidden City are still in walking distance.

We’ll be at this hotel until the 18th when we’ll take off for Shanghai.

By Jenny on Mon, 08 Jan 2007

I find more written English here in the city than I had originally imagined. None of it appears directed toward foreigners. Instead its purpose, as best as we can devine, is to help an establishment look credible or cool. A lot of it doesn't make any sense nor is it spelled correctly. Here is an excerpt from our hotel literature about the "Sunshine Club" which occupies the 3rd floor. It's an entertainment center, like something out of Las Vegas. Okay, embrace yourself for special English:

Get rid of bluation accumulated from depressing
Take a sip of wine, meet yourself into the wine
thus get inlight of koth wine and human.
   

The funny thing about this is that it is directed toward foriegners.

Okay...here's another one:

In the day time, the
fragrance of flower
would be elegant, the
music could make you
comfort, the wine made you
indulgent, the attractions would
made you lingering.  All the things
happened at these moments would bring
you the feeling of flying on the clouds.
There is a International Performance, Hall more
than 3000 square meters with 3 telescopic
Tstages, 32-sets-display walls, various video
receivers, PM2800M professional monitor tuning plate
,BaoSha 108 rule light-controlled plate Renkus-Heinz
stage amplifier, 18 professional golden computer-contralled
lights, smoking-maker and other first-class sound speakers.  It's
quite fit for vocal concert, press conference, sodality, fair and
other conferences.

So, yeah. This is what I'm dealing with. I'm glad I brought some good books to help me forget "special English" for a while!

By Jenny on Sun, 07 Jan 2007

Getting to China really isn't that difficult. From Chicago it takes approximately 13 hours directly to Beijing. What I didn't realize is that the flight path is over the north pole and Siberia at an altitude of 6 miles and a temperature of over -100 degrees Fahrenheit.

So the steward approaches my seat with a yellow piece of rubber stuffed in a plastic bag.

"Ma'am," he politely interrupted me, handing me the bag.

He continued, "Here is an infant life preserver. Just put it under the seat in front of you."

I replied with a quick thank you. If only I had that moment back. I might have asked what were the chances of anyone surviving a float in the Arctic Ocean. I guess some people might be content with the false comfort of a life jacket. Aaron and I just laughed.

Neither of us have much to complain about now with some of the best food in the world and people smiling at us (really Maeli) everywhere we go.

This morning, at our free breakfast buffet that the hotel provides, I cleaned my plate. Piled on were fried rice with egg, steamed pumpkin, steamed zucchini with gogi berries, steamed bok choy with mushrooms, and lots of fresh fruit. At this rate, I don't know how it can get any better.

Even though we've killed a giant cockroach in the bathroom this morning, our electricity went out all night, and the city is so hazy with pollution that it's hard to breathe, we love our little adventure so far. Day one is a success.

By J Aaron Farr on Mon, 01 Jan 2007

I don’t recall the exact date when Jenny and I began planning our trip to China. There wasn’t a single day or conversation when we decided for certain that we were going. It began as a daydream and this week it turns into reality. I’d like to share some of the journey that’s gotten us this far.

Motivation

Over a year ago, in fact, almost two years ago, Jenny and I began talking about my aspirations to start my own business. At the time we had also considered going to Taiwan or China as I was anxious to eventually return there. Initially we understood these two dreams—a startup and China—as mutually exclusive. Then one day we opened our minds to the crazy idea of trying both at the same time. That launched more than a year of work preparing for both challenges.

I knew right away that we needed a year or more to be ready to launch the company, so I started searching for part-time MBA programs that I could complete within that time. I found the MBA program at Point Park University and enrolled in August of 2005. I also began looking for a new job that would improve our financial situation and provide more flexibility from which to launch the startup. I was lucky to land a consulting contract with Siemens Medical in Malven, PA where I worked on Eclipse RCP based products. Of course that meant I was traveling from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia each week between work and graduate school. Meanwhile, Jenny was coaching softball and began looking into English teaching positions abroad. She also did a tremendous amount of work handling our move from Delmont to Greensburg (more about that below) and simply helping me stay healthy and sane.

William and I kept in regular touch throughout the year, refining our business plans and slowly prototyping some of our software product ideas. Over the Fourth of July holiday we met here in Pittsburgh and officially formed The JadeTower Corporation. Since then we’ve continued our business planning, and while Jenny and I have prepared for China, William has steadily been researching and developing.

What We’re Not Taking

It’s an odd feeling giving up all your earthly possessions. Well perhaps we haven’t quite gone to that extreme, but it sometimes feels that way. In September we left the duplex we had rented in Delmont and moved into my in-law’s spare bedroom. Of course, to do that we had to get rid of a few things. We sold our appliances and most of our furniture. Most of our wardrobes went to family or charity. My home theatre system is now safely installed at my grandparent’s home.

But the task of unburdening ourselves was not done when we arrived at our new temporary residence. The move was just phase one. We’ve now sold both cars—yes, Jenny’s beloved Jeep has a new owner. We’ve made several trips to Goodwill donating more clothes, extra luggage, and random household items. I refurbished my desktop computers and gave those to family members. We canceled all of our accounts—netflix, vonage, sprint wireless, audible, and utilities. We consolidated our financial accounts and opened new ones with etrade. Bit by bit we’ve closed, sold, or given away almost everything that isn’t going with us.

We need to pack light since we’ll be moving around a lot for the first couple of months. We’re only taking one suitcase and a carry-on a piece. Maeli has a small little Curious George backpack that she can take her toys in. We bought a new backpack from REI for Jenny and laptop and camera roller bag that will soon be my portable office. Two weeks ago we “practice packed” to find out what exactly would fit. As we unpacked we wrote everything down so when we have to pack for real tomorrow we’ll know what we’re looking for.

Staying On Track

In May I created a Basecamp project to track all the information for this trip. That and a whiteboard has been invaluable to us. It gave us a calendar, message board for posting notes, and most importantly a to do list (that had well over 60 items only two weeks ago).

We also bought travel guides for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Initially I had thought I would just use the Internet for any travel guide related information, but I’m really glad we bought the guides. They helped out tremendously as we planned our itinerary.

And our itinerary is certainly full. Wednesday we’ll be flying from Pittsburgh to Beijing through Chicago on a one way ticket. Over the next two months we’ll be in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhuhai, Macao, Hong Kong, Taipei and Hsinchu. At least that’s the plan so far. It’s bound to change as we adjust to new revelations and discoveries. The last item currently on our schedule is a flight from Taipei back to Hong Kong in the beginning of April. By that point we hope to know where we’ll be headed next and where we might end up settling down for the next year or more. But as of today, the future beyond April is both unknown and exciting to us.