tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62814231336253011552024-03-13T11:37:25.790+08:00The Far (upper) East SideAdam and Alison's Adventures in AsiaARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.comBlogger146125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-46522194478566378252011-08-06T21:41:00.003+08:002011-08-06T22:21:09.008+08:00Final Post!<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Between Alison starting her orientation Monday and me being in the middle of my sub-internship, it's hard to deny that our year in China is pretty much officially over. We wanted to close this blog by having our last blog post be, indirectly, about those who read it.<br /><br />We signed up for a website that allowed us to track our visitors, and this is what we learned:<br /><br />1) Our blog has had 15,147 views since launch! That over 1200 a month, on average. So cool!<br /><br />2) The three most popular months (September, December, and January) all had 1500+ views! No doubt, getting engaged and having friends and family linked up to our blog to relay the good news likely helped traffic ;)<br /><br />3) Our top three all-time most popular posts (measured by when people clicked directly on the post instead of going to the blog) are:<br />Dec.22: <a href="http://faruppereastside.blogspot.com/2010/12/were-engaged.html">We're engaged!</a> (265 views).<br />Sept 7: <a href="http://faruppereastside.blogspot.com/2010/09/stealing-alisons-post.html">Stealing Alison's Post</a> (160 views).<br />Mar 16: <a href="http://faruppereastside.blogspot.com/2011/03/chengdu-mt-emei-and-monkey-madness.html">Chengdu: Mt. Emei and monkey madness</a> (108 views)<br /><br />3) Surprisingly, only 86% of our traffic came from the United States (mostly from AZ, NC, OH, and NY--funny how that works). The rest came from Canada, China (don't ask us how), Ukraine, Russia, Germany and South Africa. How international!<br /><br />4) 54% of our users came from Mac computers, with another 2% coming from iPhone or iPad. We're related to/know some pretty tech-savvy people ;)<br /><br />We can't thank you enough for your readership. This blog has been such a fun experience, allowing us share our adventures with those closest to us. We may open a new blog somewhere down the line, but we wanted to "close" this blog like we "closed" the chapter of our 10 months in China.<br /><br />But, as soon as I click to publish this post, we're going to turn the blog into a photobook, so the next time you visit us, you can thumb through the hard copy and reminisce with us.<br /><br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-824727248367596602011-07-30T06:22:00.001+08:002011-07-30T06:22:13.900+08:00Coming to a close<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">
This week marked 2 months since we returned home; the time has gone extremely quickly, and we have quickly settled into American life. (Adam sometimes jokes that it's American life with Chinese influences--more negotiation when possible, going to different parts of the city that are "closer" than they seemed before, less Land Thai Kitchen--seems salty to us, no cable TV, and probably a few other things I'm missing). </div>
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Some highlights of big things happening:</div>
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--I got a job!!!!!! I'm thrilled to be the founding 6th grade writing teacher at Brooklyn East Collegiate, a middle school in the <a href="http://www.uncommonschools.org/">Uncommon Schools</a> charter system. Orientation for the teachers begins on August 8th and the kids start on the 30th. I'm really looking forward to the positive school environment and working alongside dedicated, driven teachers.</div>
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--Adam is finishing up his first 4th year rotation, Emergency Medicine. He liked many aspects of it, but overall decided he still loves OB/GYN. It's been hectic because the shifts are at all different times, but he has enjoyed finishing when the shift ends and getting home as scheduled.</div>
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--Our apartment is [basically] together, and we love living here. Having a doorman and an elevator is novel for me, and it feels luxurious. Though it's not exactly a neighborhood, the location is perfect for the hospital and public transportation. Here are some pictures:</div>
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<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What you see when you walk in the front door.</td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kitchen (table on the left folds up and down and is amaaaazing for space!)</td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our favorite pictures displayed on the wall</td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Wall opposite the pictures</td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bookshelf next to Adam's Navajo rug *on the wall*</td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Adam's CICAMS colleagues told us that the 2 side panels were upside down...oops!</td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bedroom (now our silk rug is on the floor instead of the Mexican rug)</td></tr>
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As my friend Lauren pointed out, our apartment is pretty Chinafied. We love that each of the pieces from China is meaningful to our experience, and they're pretty unique.</div>
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We also spent a week in Charlotte; it was relaxing and suburban--lots of gym time, sleeping in, hanging out with old friends. A great way for Adam to gear up for the start of 4th year!<br />
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A big thanks to the Raphaels, Balicks, Browns, and Levinsons (!!) for a beautiful engagement party--we had a fantastic time with our families and friends.</div>
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The last "biggie" is that 2 of Adam's CICAMS colleagues came to NY for 3 days. We had a great time giving them a tour of the city and American life. </div>
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<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A close up of Lady Liberty.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSDxyq64UpP1ka1V2IOtGMQB5rJw0r9iA_TCsNfRZgvgQUKlr8LJjIvV6NpgdjcCW-qlmFDpXNeh4BVzv-kv860rmpUVwEX9MavNOA61jun6NokhIZ2J5HtBqL8oUsaIgJUbdzaXm8jNg/s1600/IMG_2204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSDxyq64UpP1ka1V2IOtGMQB5rJw0r9iA_TCsNfRZgvgQUKlr8LJjIvV6NpgdjcCW-qlmFDpXNeh4BVzv-kv860rmpUVwEX9MavNOA61jun6NokhIZ2J5HtBqL8oUsaIgJUbdzaXm8jNg/s400/IMG_2204.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Passing 3 out of 5 boroughs from the Staten Island Ferry</span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWtm9htDxv4H3_0bOdtOdPqwpflLeK8RViaxMPlEzhbqZ4FJkHcy4w43vumE3vaCIB-qLyw4tgyAW01nNNXab3e2QDnyQa7T0zj5TMv4un0SxZ5WB5qx4SpOuDBWWdl-z9EWPYn1rCb34/s1600/IMG_2173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWtm9htDxv4H3_0bOdtOdPqwpflLeK8RViaxMPlEzhbqZ4FJkHcy4w43vumE3vaCIB-qLyw4tgyAW01nNNXab3e2QDnyQa7T0zj5TMv4un0SxZ5WB5qx4SpOuDBWWdl-z9EWPYn1rCb34/s400/IMG_2173.JPG" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCFC_A9TT3fByqCr6UlmZKvYalVXRnAtcgdUutdf6rpNiRS82Yuh6mwWOaIN_ct8RvzgabAnQhwJx5UBYuKRGbrpTCbX7rBC2x1Kes226SMsDzQQb5Lsc1RH-WwIvDk1uq5oxFH0Xzec/s1600/IMG_2196.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilCFC_A9TT3fByqCr6UlmZKvYalVXRnAtcgdUutdf6rpNiRS82Yuh6mwWOaIN_ct8RvzgabAnQhwJx5UBYuKRGbrpTCbX7rBC2x1Kes226SMsDzQQb5Lsc1RH-WwIvDk1uq5oxFH0Xzec/s400/IMG_2196.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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They were also visiting amidst a heat wave, so we basically sunscreened and sweated for the entire trip. Luckily there was a breeze on the water :)</div>
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They really loved being in our apartment and seeing what our lives are like.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">The most incredible air mattress you've ever seen (thanks, Cathy!). Yes, that's a headboard.</span></td></tr>
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<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He was at the hospital most of their visit :(</td></tr>
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Some highlights of their trip include asking about the meanings of "statue" and "liberty" (oh, Communism), constantly wanting cookies and muffins, and mistaking bath towels for blankets. </div>
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The "full circle moment" came when I took them to the grocery store. They were both fascinated by our food shopping, just as we were in China! WangShaoMing couldn't get over the size of the peppers and the varieties of cookies, and she pointed to asparagus and asked what it was and if we could try it for dinner. LiRong didn't understand the fish situation. She kept pointing to a picture of a whole fish and saying "This is China!" They were unsure about fish that was already filleted. They both also wanted to try apple pie, as it is "so American" (I can't tell you the last time I had apple pie!), so I got the closest I could find--apple crumble--for dessert. WangShaoMing took pictures of every step of the dinner process, from the asparagus baking in the oven, to my cooking fish and chopping vegetables. They definitely felt just as Adam and I did in China!</div>
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Pop Quiz: Where are we now?</div>
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We had a wonderful year in the Far East, and we are settling in to our life together on Upper East Side!</div>
ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-33185173882527630962011-06-20T23:50:00.002+08:002011-06-21T03:55:49.221+08:00zero-displacement/birthday weekend<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Since my last post, I've passed a monumental milestone by entering my late 20s. The weekend was perfect--we finished our apartment (pics to come!), except for the part the lazy super has to do, had a lot of close friends over for drinks and boardgames on Saturday night, and then spent Sunday afternoon reading the NYT in Central Park, feeling like total New Yorkers.<br /><br />One of my friends wrote me a nice birthday card that discussed the idea of zero-displacement: that things and people feel and are so similar that it's hard to remember you were ever gone. I definitely agree with him--it's remarkable how easily Alison and I have fallen back into the fold of New York life and how our relationships have picked up seamlessly where they left off. But even without the beautiful things we brought back with us, including an amazing collage of framed pictures, it'd be impossible to notice three big ways I've changed from China:<br /><br />1) I'm better at knowing when to pick my battles--10 months being illiterate and unable to communicate with the population-at-large and never knowing 100% of what was happening at CICAMS has taught me when I should speak up to ensure I'm not being taken advantage of (or to ensure I'm not offending anyone!) or when to just keep on truckin', trusting in the general goodwill of humanity.<br /><br />2) I'm much calmer: Coming back to Sinai and starting to do the whole residency application process is obviously anxiety-provoking. However, Alison and I have navigated much trickier obstacles, so even one as supposedly all-encompassing as residency doesn't seem particularly overwhelming.<br /><br />3) Inquisitiveness in my home city. I've spent three years living in on 98th and Madison, barely going to 80s/2nd or the Upper West Side and rarely, if ever, going to Union Square, Brooklyn, or Astoria. Basically, I feel that I now know more of Beijing than of NYC. However, between how close and accessible everything seems to be and how pleasant it is to get there on public transportation, my attitude of this city has completely changed. In the three weeks we've been back, I've been on a yacht cruise with a friend from home that left from Wall Street, to the Brooklyn Bridge for dinner with Ben's dad, Tom, all over the Upper West and East Sides to hang out with friends, Harlem to meet with a florist, and Brooklyn to eat dinner with family. NYC is now my oyster ;)<br /><br />So yes--everything feels the same but I am slightly different ;)<br /><br />PS My former roommate and his fiance are both children of Chinese immigrants and tested our Mandarin knowledge at the birthday party. Alison did amazingly ;)<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-5665689407570965912011-06-18T10:53:00.000+08:002011-06-18T10:53:23.599+08:00Top Pictures!<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Adam and I decided to create a sort of photo gallery on a wall of our apartment with our favorite pictures from this year, so we have been poring over them to decide what we like best. Of course I just had to share...(this will probably be long, but the pictures are awesome!). I can't wait to put them up!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatfArbqlXYM5HPXMeUGJV1eXbSFJ6oKaxTLJR8ktL-5qEM521Xnwk1srmeygQWYJB_TPEWCQJFjUSSBcBVhXN2ixRh2nNz1DstLeqt2GRpfTp1CbK2Sk69FWwc7Y30VNy8334Ayv-fvo/s1600/DSC_0274.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjatfArbqlXYM5HPXMeUGJV1eXbSFJ6oKaxTLJR8ktL-5qEM521Xnwk1srmeygQWYJB_TPEWCQJFjUSSBcBVhXN2ixRh2nNz1DstLeqt2GRpfTp1CbK2Sk69FWwc7Y30VNy8334Ayv-fvo/s400/DSC_0274.JPG" width="267" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNTwdqv8VDFSnYKWMHRiYIuFboxPhmUGBw0svJGTrJOjn2JCSLPr2ATBJ9reV6dByFxoobdyuvJSfIoptABBaMO_FSr-Z8wAtghew_YakryQ3MlpPOnMauHC2J20423Lzz0q922cTjJ-U/s1600/IMG_1247.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; 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margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-SAyoPCmGbBfJsqyHt2uiu4p5mL_n2AzgahE6DRAirLnF0eKgjMMLIQETpTuEQ4AwPLq54addTBVwqzfipu0NQ3AeGRxed0MXHkKHej3Q-nWPL8B1yGyFw4GDtqk_D6hsSfA9ldUrO-M/s400/DSC_1400.JPG" width="267" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRp3QfFlDtWWOyadrK9H4me66DXWOrnfAGjeWtCqoqoq8pRJKJy2yu31f9xbtGrefB3DZUVRl28XdDb9zS_B41d8Q26q9ckcHhvSntf0L00mytxBCyY-2p20JfScjpK3QYwfH8xw-Rzcg/s1600/DSC_0145.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRp3QfFlDtWWOyadrK9H4me66DXWOrnfAGjeWtCqoqoq8pRJKJy2yu31f9xbtGrefB3DZUVRl28XdDb9zS_B41d8Q26q9ckcHhvSntf0L00mytxBCyY-2p20JfScjpK3QYwfH8xw-Rzcg/s400/DSC_0145.JPG" width="267" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And there you have it! (Favorites of us to come...). There are obviously many more pictures--any favorites from reading our blog all year? </div>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-76129407650743978742011-06-10T09:11:00.003+08:002011-06-10T12:11:52.809+08:00Have I become a Beijinger?<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Today, Alison and I went to Macy's. Before China, going downtown on a single subway line downtown to Trader Joes was an ordeal for me--the subway took forever, it was packed, and Trader Joes was too much to deal with--so I was preparing myself for what I assumed would be a horrific experience, particularly since today was 95 degrees, we had to transfer subway lines, and kitchen ware is my personal nightmare.<br /><br />We walked out of the apartment, got to the subway, waited three minutes for an air-conditioned train, walked 2 minutes to transfer lines, and sat both on both trains. 20 minutes later we arrived at our destination. (Keep in mind that in Beijing, 20 minutes was how long it took to get from locking the door to boarding a bus, so this trip felt like it happened in a blink of an eye.) On the way back, it was much more crowded so we had to stand on the trains. But no one was touching us, the train was still air-conditioned, people were very polite getting off and on at each stop, and no one was screaming into a cell phone. It was one of the most peaceful experiences in public transportation I've had in a year! <br /><br />The icing on the cake of a wonderful day together (those zappy things made registering really fun...until I had to excuse myself when Alison was drooling over KitchenAids) was that we stumbled upon this Chinese antique store relatively close to our new apartment. The owner ignored us when we walked in, and we browsed beautiful antiques with well-documented authentication cards from Chinese and American experts. On the way out, we asked him how he managed to obtain Chinese antiques from as early as 500 CE considering export laws ban anything from leaving China if it was made before 1800. I guess he realized we knew what we were talking about or something, because we started chatting about Chinese antiques, Beijing, etc. Turns out, he's created a lucrative business by buying Chinese antiques from Americans (after proving they're legit) and then selling them to mainland Chinese for 10x more than he bought it. In essence, he plays directly into Chinese nationalism, as one manifestation of patriotism is purchasing "plundered" Chinese antiques to return them to China. Long story short, we made a friend and he offered to take us to his warehouse to show us his merchandise...and most excitingly, he also does antique furniture, which we decided not to buy while in China, as we knew we would get ripped off. (see, things work out!)<br /><br />Another highlight was asking the lady at Macy's to see their selection of silk rugs. We had no intention of buying anything, but we wanted to compare prices as we bought one from the silk-rug factory in Xinjiang last October. She looked at us with disdain written on her face and said in a thick Jersey accent, "Real silk rugs start at $30,000. Are you sure?" And we laughed about what a great deal we got and walked away. Typing this now is actually really sad: one rug sells at Macy's for more than what the rug makers earn in their entire lives.<br /><br />Over the next week or so, we'll be blogging more frequently about leaving Beijing, arriving in NYC before wrapping up the blog. I can't believe it's been 10 months since we left NYC! Feels like it was a dream.<br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-91339352587775533582011-06-05T22:23:00.000+08:002011-06-05T22:23:33.674+08:00Top Lists<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Now that we've had a bit of time in America, we're ready for Top 10 (or 5 or 8 or anything in between!) lists about China. Here goes...</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Craziest Foods We Tried:</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">7. Fish cheeks</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">6. Duck blood tofu (very popular in hot pot)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">5. Lamb heart [kebabs]</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4. Mule [tacos]</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3. Pig skin jelly </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2. Pig's ear (accidental order and unpleasant discovery a few weeks ago...)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1. Duck neck</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Things We Miss:</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">12. Massages <br />
11. Having a washing machine in our apartment <br />
10. Street food</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">9. Getting away with things we could not get away with in America (being visibly foreign does have its advantages!)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">8. Low prices of basically everything</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">7. Hopping into cabs when we don't feel like taking the subway...and it costing $3</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">6. No tips. Ever.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">5. Waking up to lots of emails from home (and getting rid of those pesky listserve and advertisement emails all at once)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4. Availability and cost of fresh produce</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3. The ability to just pick up and travel to a new, exciting place </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2. My students making me smile and laugh</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1. The amount of time we get to spend together (which we still get to do until July 5th!)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Things We Do Not Miss:</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">10. The constant communication challenge </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">9. Not really knowing what's going on. Ever.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">8. Pollution (people pollution, noise pollution, cigarette pollution, air pollution, etc.)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">7. Creepy men at the gym</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">6. Walking 15+ minutes to the bus and subway</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">5. Fearing for our lives when crossing the street<br />
4. Cigarettes<br />
3. Things never going the way they are supposed to (while we're used to it...it's enough already!)<br />
2. Subway line 1 (my commute and the most crowded, sweaty place in Beijing. Ugh.)<br />
1. Have I mentioned pollution and cigarettes?<br />
<br />
Things We Enjoy in America:<br />
10. Our gorgeous apartment<br />
9. Fast internet<br />
8. Free use of our cell phones (for calls other than each other)<br />
7. The variety of food at our disposal<br />
6. New York City<br />
5. Being able to communicate exactly what we want in a store, restaurant, etc.<br />
4. Brunch!<br />
3. Having social lives<br />
2. Pedestrians have the right of way (no more "No dying in China!")<br />
1. Seeing friends and family<br />
<br />
While we both miss some things about China, it feels like we never left. But it's definitely good to be home :) </div>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-70867477685066956202011-05-30T21:49:00.000+08:002011-05-30T21:49:17.289+08:00We're Baaaaack!<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">After several months of planning and a well-kept secret, Adam and I managed to surprise Blake and Victoria at Blake's graduation AND my parents on Saturday night. Whew! Success!!!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We left Beijing at 6:55 Wednesday morning (after staying up all night and taking Nyquil on the flight to sleep!) and arrived in Chicago at 6:00am Wednesday morning. Gaining an hour of your life ain't too shabby :) We then flew to Boston for Blake's graduation; Adam managed to get on an earlier flight and shocked Blake, and I joined them later in the afternoon, just in time to catch Amy Poeler's speech (what a welcome back to America!). We had a wonderful time in Boston with Adam's family; it was a great way to re-introduce ourselves to home.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBnPvYGRQ0dYtcw5RcIL-wpeXj8onZuqDGqeFTEkprCdi16Cv-uAAEZLuhYdZwBWujVNBCL4_WXqv-i6onbo-5aEW8Oc8g6b_S3VXgOsmOrAZIdS5thfoZrc16tkeukykbOVHxBEjbiSY/s1600/pic+for+blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBnPvYGRQ0dYtcw5RcIL-wpeXj8onZuqDGqeFTEkprCdi16Cv-uAAEZLuhYdZwBWujVNBCL4_WXqv-i6onbo-5aEW8Oc8g6b_S3VXgOsmOrAZIdS5thfoZrc16tkeukykbOVHxBEjbiSY/s400/pic+for+blog.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We had originally intended to take the Megabus from Boston to NY on Friday morning, but then learned that they had a one-suitcase limit. Um, no thank you. (4 50-lb suitcases, 2 large duffels, 2 backpacks, and 2 suit bags might be slightly conspicuous...). So instead, we drove into the city and really enjoyed the lack of highway traffic, lush greenery, radio selections, and everything else we didn't realize we missed. It was great (though slightly hectic) to be back home in New York. Our apartment is gorgeous and massive by NY standards and we love the location. So we had lunch at my favorite restaurant, were denied converting currency at the bank (who knew there was a time cut-off for foreign money??), and met movers at my old apartment to move furniture. Then Cathy, Jennifer, and Ben arrived and we met for dinner.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">On Saturday morning, our friend Mike came over (!!!) and he, Adam, and Cathy picked up our rented U-haul to move out of the storage unit. They are beasts--got it all out in one go! We moved in and helped Mike move out of his place, while Cathy and Jen stayed back to unpack boxes--they were incredibly helpful. Later, we organized and enjoyed delicious H&H bagels. Welcome home!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">I left in the afternoon to come home and surprise my parents--they had no idea I was back in the states; I actually received an email from my mom that afternoon that said "1 more week!" Haha. My parents friends (and my pseudo-parents) Melissa and Steve picked me up from the airport and dropped me off at home, to an empty house. While being with Lucy was clearly wonderful, by 10pm, I was tired of waiting and called in the big guns--Courtney. She called my mom and said "It's too late for you to be out to dinner; go home already!!" For some reason, they listened and were home 30 minutes later. They walked in and FREAKED OUT. It was awesome and definitely worth the secret-keeping.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">We will post about our packing up and leaving Beijing experiences in the coming days, amidst unpacking, job-searching, friend-seeing, food-enjoying, etc. Can't wait to see everyone!</span>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-85568386452371567532011-05-23T16:20:00.000+08:002011-05-23T16:20:18.530+08:00Economic Trees<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Adam and I had lunch with our friend Olive (former language teacher) yesterday, and we realized we have created mini-economic chains through our friends. It's something we all do; you recommend something or someone that you've had a positive experience with to your friends, who then bring their friends, etc.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We originally thought we'd do a second language course or Adam would do medical Mandarin this spring, but with all of our visitors and traveling, we never found the time to dedicate (especially because we were able to get around in the most basic sense, so it felt like a vast improvement over our arrival!). So instead, we recommended Olive to our friends--Jeremy and Claire now take a class with her once per week, my former boss has class every day, and the teacher who will take over my classes wants to start with her in the summer. We're so excited for Olive--while incredibly awkward (remind us to discuss the first time we took her to an American restaurant!), she's a great teacher and well-deserving of more students.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We also love Tailor Tao (as christened by Papa!). After a pretty horrible tailor experience with Janice, Adam and I found him through our Bible--the Insider's Guide to Beijing--and we've had much success. While everything isn't perfect (aka a pregnant bridesmaid's dress that had Adam literally laughing his way down the street!), he does a very good job and is reasonably priced. We sent our friends Sarah, Esther, Dan, and Jess to him, and all came back with glowing reviews. So if you're headed to Beijing for a few days and want tailored clothes, he's your guy.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Our last economy tree lies with Pearl Lady Lisa. She is a friend of a friend of Cathy's, and has been a staple for visitors since the Lewkowitzes were here in February. She can imitate almost anything you can come up with, is honest about quality, reasonably priced, and has such a range and variety to choose from that there's something for everyone. Again, if you're in Beijing or looking for pearls, we've got you covered :)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Adam estimates that through friends and friends of friends, etc., we have possibly funneled 15,000rmb into the personal economies of these three (think suits, jewelry, dresses, regular language lessons, etc.) Gotta love it!</div>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-15150170162045636542011-05-22T10:35:00.003+08:002011-05-22T11:34:24.177+08:00Whoops! Presentation in Portugal<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I just realized that I never posted about my presentation--the actual reason I went to Portugal!<br /><br />The conference was also SO COOL for a few reasons. First, I got a big kick out of putting faces to names of people I've either been emailing with all year on my papers or whose papers I've been reading. Second, I'm a huge nerd and enjoyed hearing top-notch lectures about cutting-edge research on treatment algorithms for cervical cancer, new screening modalities in the pipeline, etc. Lastly, thanks to some outstanding mentorship from the US (Jennifer Smith) and here (Fang-Hui Zhao and You-Lin Qiao), I wasn't really intimidated, either during the conference or while giving the talk, though Sarah and I appeared significantly younger than the other people. I think that's because this year has allowed me to start rubbing elbows </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">with these people...and has given me a foundation into the professional and social relationships I'll have in academic medicine, whether it's continuing researching cervical </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">cancer prevention in low-resource settings or something else in global health. I guess that's what the Fogarty</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> is all about?<br /><br />Anyways, the day before our talks, Sarah and I went to this Modern Art Museum. I am not artsy or creative enough to really understand modern art, but we still had fun interacting with the exhibits.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCkdtalug44GrqSScL8xn1-t7YB_ul9fWriuqyBuSHUgaCHxsY-RH3S1cE2LumKwg3yOWLaHG24HMJp9YDqZUflgA2NWDMAkHoQ5t_5zl5ZmoE7aCY3M2oWTvMIUkp9yDCxGcdolXTq6YN/s1600/DSC_0193.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCkdtalug44GrqSScL8xn1-t7YB_ul9fWriuqyBuSHUgaCHxsY-RH3S1cE2LumKwg3yOWLaHG24HMJp9YDqZUflgA2NWDMAkHoQ5t_5zl5ZmoE7aCY3M2oWTvMIUkp9yDCxGcdolXTq6YN/s400/DSC_0193.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609365412508912034" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCkdtalug44GrqSScL8xn1-t7YB_ul9fWriuqyBuSHUgaCHxsY-RH3S1cE2LumKwg3yOWLaHG24HMJp9YDqZUflgA2NWDMAkHoQ5t_5zl5ZmoE7aCY3M2oWTvMIUkp9yDCxGcdolXTq6YN/s1600/DSC_0193.JPG"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGUg4H-BEw6ggwiOkArQfGIL7fEzRf8005uDifMEASEeXItaVQeTldq3J3S6e2oaqb3JCSiSZPF5FPc8A6wrZsMXsHFXktEt4REAXsduzeIqIHiI9Vw5iVSjoFBLiWh9J28PLHNvthTiK/s1600/DSC_0195.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 376px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRGUg4H-BEw6ggwiOkArQfGIL7fEzRf8005uDifMEASEeXItaVQeTldq3J3S6e2oaqb3JCSiSZPF5FPc8A6wrZsMXsHFXktEt4REAXsduzeIqIHiI9Vw5iVSjoFBLiWh9J28PLHNvthTiK/s400/DSC_0195.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609365419247958226" border="0" /></a></span><br />My talk went well--I looked nice, which is more than half the battle, right?<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT158Y4G8RiNhj28qyNa6HXMxGS8hhFIrd5MSk-2zC66oGn9HV5uYGifLq6XWxJJyFiWO_fIRTp98RwlV2i0EeAQO4yArdVZBLlpAb4I1rg-bswl3AAWRIfFQOydkV9IiSw8tvxuhIwivw/s1600/DSC_0206.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiT158Y4G8RiNhj28qyNa6HXMxGS8hhFIrd5MSk-2zC66oGn9HV5uYGifLq6XWxJJyFiWO_fIRTp98RwlV2i0EeAQO4yArdVZBLlpAb4I1rg-bswl3AAWRIfFQOydkV9IiSw8tvxuhIwivw/s400/DSC_0206.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609365426997732258" border="0" /></a></span></span></span>It's pretty cool that my name was on the podium. And there were about 30-40 people there, just not in the front row, I promise.<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Oq9U70vP5flx8tfkaxQ4AcEV_ktPO8TlhnYMB6e5QXTrZR-OHUOujbjnD6FST1bYKjOKFp-SrS0EiPdxDns8Swvq6GDIF_bi1iVWfEcAiro0cYv7ldqgB6KnnO5tZZ-40jimD88S-tQJ/s1600/DSC_0207.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 352px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Oq9U70vP5flx8tfkaxQ4AcEV_ktPO8TlhnYMB6e5QXTrZR-OHUOujbjnD6FST1bYKjOKFp-SrS0EiPdxDns8Swvq6GDIF_bi1iVWfEcAiro0cYv7ldqgB6KnnO5tZZ-40jimD88S-tQJ/s400/DSC_0207.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609365436813106466" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>Someone asked me a question afterwards, which I answered, but then he asked it again, and I got all flustered and sounded (and felt) like an idiot. But afterwards, a few people came up to talk about the presentation and the findings, and we were able to discuss the ramifications about the research in China in other settings, and that made me so excited!<br /><br />Immediately after my talk, I listened to Sarah practice hers one more time and ran into Dr. Zhang, who is in Yunnan Province and spearheading a HIV/HPV coinfection study that Sarah is helping out on. She's super nice, and I hope to see her in the future.<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0IWTmQKhaXwoxoznBhVqZWvq-8qDopn5R-fNui3s4dRx6q-Lf5hU2suOItPLeV5xF-jfgKpH7h1heoIC5KXYn2EVSyjsptGtRHIwj2bEbSlZ9DK6P3nhIZHL0kDiWA3As7Og2eaNL8XeL/s1600/DSC_0210.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0IWTmQKhaXwoxoznBhVqZWvq-8qDopn5R-fNui3s4dRx6q-Lf5hU2suOItPLeV5xF-jfgKpH7h1heoIC5KXYn2EVSyjsptGtRHIwj2bEbSlZ9DK6P3nhIZHL0kDiWA3As7Og2eaNL8XeL/s400/DSC_0210.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5609365444068333842" border="0" /></a></span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">(Side note, which suit should I wear on residency interviews?). </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><br />PS: JNCI just got back to us about the paper we submitted to them in February, and they like it! So we're doing a ton of edits now to resubmit<br />PPS: Today, I submitted Dr. Smith's paper too. And we're so close on 3 others...but who knows when they'll actually be ready<br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-16384939326428269432011-05-21T08:49:00.003+08:002011-05-21T09:11:07.687+08:00Celebrating our China baby!<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">No, Mom and Sandy, Alison is not pregnant.<br /><br />But on Monday, we realized we had been in China for over 9 months, meaning we technically had a China baby, and decided to celebrate by getting all dressed up<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi13OBxM0vySbShRxkt6WX1xKPMek3350vf4TEdRTl8kB6JaxYAUh4NXEKkZkE_dMN2svoCES1NtDXwpZJiYLdGLeklvZJ9aR4qW-ltP9RwxZWlqxpxGC9CkJ31az5p00bAjSR93oWv9dPQ/s1600/IMG_2056.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi13OBxM0vySbShRxkt6WX1xKPMek3350vf4TEdRTl8kB6JaxYAUh4NXEKkZkE_dMN2svoCES1NtDXwpZJiYLdGLeklvZJ9aR4qW-ltP9RwxZWlqxpxGC9CkJ31az5p00bAjSR93oWv9dPQ/s400/IMG_2056.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5608965845069755554" border="0" /></a>and going on a date to the highest rated restaurant in Beijing, <a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g294212-d1576219-Reviews-Capital_M-Beijing.html">Capital M</a>, considered one of the best in the world. Overlooking a gorgeously lit up <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">Tiananmen</span> Square (with the Forbidden City in the background), we had delicious Australian wine, our favorite appetizer (scallops in a deconstructed mint and pea sauce!), and then, the true reason we went there, their famous dessert platter. </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWoPdDz1mZZuZUEIS3VHc6DiWtcLWi271n3hdof7vLoOqjSSkNLwAI_N8cCCR2f0niefKyNT-7fSN_heKQUsXC4m_wPcmmSlMU4b4G1jNXVp3THYq6BKEJYkV4Dekt1pkQLK03QRuDcV_/s1600/IMG_2057.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWoPdDz1mZZuZUEIS3VHc6DiWtcLWi271n3hdof7vLoOqjSSkNLwAI_N8cCCR2f0niefKyNT-7fSN_heKQUsXC4m_wPcmmSlMU4b4G1jNXVp3THYq6BKEJYkV4Dekt1pkQLK03QRuDcV_/s400/IMG_2057.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5608965848975973042" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">From left to right (bottom front): nasty tart thing (only bad thing we had all night), delicious egg-white and cream creation that was melt-in-your-mouth goodness, passion fruit <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">creme brulee</span>, chocolate raspberry tart, and something that looked like a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">sopapilla</span> but was EVEN BETTER (it had like a light sweet cream in it). (Back) homemade coconut <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">sherbert</span>, buttery <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">icecream</span> (sounds weird but <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_5">oooooh</span> so good), and then this homemade berry <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_6">marzipan</span> (Alison's favorite of the bottom <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_7">tier</span>, I think). On the top was their signature dessert, a pavlova, which we had never heard before but now won't be able to live without. Basically, it's a tower of lightly flavored <span class="blsp-spelling-corrected" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8">meringue</span>, topped with tropical fruit, covered in <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_9">passonfruit</span> sauce.<br /><br />We took breaks between each dessert and asked each other hard hitting questions--favorite part of being here (not related to travel or living together), what we are most looking forward to most about moving back, etc. So fun to relax and enjoy each other's company.<br /><br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-42663354003089430452011-05-19T23:41:00.002+08:002011-05-20T00:02:48.376+08:00super cute card<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Some of my colleagues are leaving for month-long stints at a new research site tomorrow morning. As Sarah and I never have any idea what is happening, we were both a little sad to find out yesterday they would miss our last stint at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">CICAMS</span> as a few of them really have been instrumental in our adjustment to and living in China. But, as a complete and utterly sweet surprise, they coordinated an office-wide card for me (and another for Sarah) that was signed with everyone we've worked with.<br /><br />The card has the most well-intended, heartwarming <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">Chinglish</span> phrases ever written and will be a wonderful memory of my time at <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">CICAMS</span>--I plan on getting it framed and hanging it somewhere in our new apartment in NYC where I can see it everyday. I mean, how can you not smile when you read things like:<br />"May you happy and health! Happy everyday!"<br />"It's wonderful. I wish you every <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_3">sucess</span> in the future. You are worthy <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_4">sucesses</span>."<br />"May everything beautiful and best be condensed into this card. I sincerely wish you happiness, cheerfulness, and success."<br />"Happy every second!"<br /></span><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">"A bosom friend afar brings a distant land near."</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br />I don't want to sugarcoat this year--we will never forget how vulnerable we were as outsiders unable to communicate--but receiving this note is confirmation that we have met compassionate, patient people who have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome here and, as a result, have transformed this crazy country into a home. Basically, Alison and I look forward to returning the good karma for the rest of our lives :)</span><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"><br />PS Our favorite comment either reads "You are not done" or "you are not alone," depending on how you look at it.<br />PPS A few people wrote in Chinese about our wedding--so cool!<br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-85535460099727601462011-05-18T22:29:00.001+08:002011-05-19T07:51:46.278+08:00DIC<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Adam's post earlier today warrants one response: DIC (Dude, It's China). This is basically what we've been saying nonstop lately, as he is quite ready to go home post-Portugal and we've had several DIC situations in the past week.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--The teacher who was going to replace me was scared off by my principal and quit before even coming to observe. The newest replacement has been observing this week and has been eating the school lunch with me and the rest of the teachers. Yesterday he decided to take his watermelon up to the teacher room instead of eating it at the table, which apparently warranted the principal's scolding me <i>for</i> him and telling me to pass along the information: one should not eat fruit outside of the dining area. DIC.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--Adam and I met our friends Erin and David at the (not-so) Affordable Art Beijing event on Saturday (the most affordable piece was a small painting of a donut for $50). Afterwards, Erin and I decided to get pedicures at a place advertising "Pedicures and Massage." She opted for both while I went for a pedicure only. After my nails had been cleaned and shaped, the guy left...and didn't return. We asked Erin's masseuse what about the color, and she laughed and said "oh, meiyou" ("don't have"). She then declined her toenail cleaning and when we went to the front to pay, we asked the manager about the sign behind her. She laughed and said "I don't know English! Tingbudong!" ( =I dont understand!). DIC.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--While Adam was in Portugal, I arranged a visit with our pearl friend, Lisa. I emailed Courtney and Jennifer (our sisters) to ask if they had any special requests that I could send to Lisa in advance. I then emailed Lisa pictures of what I would be looking for, and when we met, we decided on a few more things, and I planned return 4 days later to pick everything up. Fast forward 1.5 weeks...I emailed her last night to see if they'd be ready by the end of this week, and she just emailed saying that she has made 2 of the necklaces (out of probably 12), and if I like them, please let her know asap so she can make more. Then she added that she couldn't make one of them anymore because she cannot find the pieces. Argh. DIC.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--The smog is literally thick. It's gross. And then there are people smoking cigarettes. So which is worse--breathing in deadly pollutants from factories or from nicotine? DIC.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Positive DIC: we have been experimenting with produce for a while but haven't written about it. I continue to see new fruits at carts as the weather changes and have tried much of it. Here are some reviews: </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1. <a href="http://chinesefoodlover.wordpress.com/2007/03/18/myrica-rubrachinese-bayberrychinese-strawberry-tree/">Bayberries</a> (Sweet and then extremely tart with a big pit in the middle = thumbs down)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2. <a href="http://www.justhungry.com/how-cook-lotus-root-renkon">Lotus Root</a> (Deeelicious! We have eating this often out at restaurants, but I recently attempted somewhat successfully to cook it for the first time = thumbs up)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3.<a href="http://ivanearthplanet.blogspot.com/2008/09/longan-is-tropis-fruit.html"> Longan "Dragon Eyeballs"</a> (A lychee cousin and Adam's favorite fruit = thumbs up)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">4. <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/2008/07/snapshots-from-asia-tropical-fruit-lychee-is-not-a-nut.html">Lychee</a> (love this in America, but it's not nearly as sweet or tender here = thumbs down)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">5. <a href="http://www.justhungry.com/how-cook-taro-root-or-satoimo">Taro Root</a> (Starchy, potato-like, easily peeled and dipped in sugar [at my school] to taste = thumbs up)<br />
6. <a href="http://www.suite101.com/content/durian--the-king-of-fruit-a6845">Durian</a> (Sweet but extremely smelly with a strange, pudding-like texture = thumbs down) </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">While living here obviously has its ups and downs, we have definitely learned to just take things as they come and shrug most of it off. The dragon eyeballs and other good things help with this :)</div>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-51170067343165898282011-05-18T12:06:00.002+08:002011-05-18T12:08:35.249+08:00abstract for next presentation?<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Background: Many westerners view the pace of Chinese construction as nothing short of miraculous. However, limited observational data exist on the potential costs of such lightning speeds to local residents. This study aims to bridge this gap in data by presenting this author's experiences during a neighborhood construction project in Beijing.</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> Methods: This observational study took place during the repaving of <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_0">BaiZiWanErNanLu</span>. This street had previously been expanded from two lanes to four and re-paved in December 2010. Data was collected during the author's five-minute walk to the bus stop on May 18, 2011. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> Results: Approximately 40-50 workers wearing bright orange jumpsuits were manning various machines, including ones to spray tar on the road, others that deposited steaming-hot asphalt on the tar, and steamrollers of various sides. The construction site was open--no signs or barriers prevented human traffic around or through the site, though a van on each side parked perpendicular to the road prevented road traffic (which caused a momentous traffic jam). By 8 AM, the entire road had been tarred, with 1/3 already laid down with asphalt and 1/3 steamrolled to perfection. During the author's walk, a young woman's shoe became stuck in the tar, requiring multiple construction workers to pull it free, and a man rode his bicycle out of his apartment complex into the newly paved (but not hard) road, resulting in a <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_1">faceplant</span> and coating of his work clothes with steaming asphalt. No one came to his aid, though construction workers did yell at him for messing up the smoothed road. A <span class="blsp-spelling-error" id="SPELLING_ERROR_2">poofy</span> Pomeranian ran across the asphalt, leaving little paw prints that needed to be re-steamrolled out. Despite the author's efforts to limit breathing and sidestep machinery, he still inhaled potentially carcinogenic chemical fumes as well as was brushed by an enormous steam roller. </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;"> Conclusion: The price of rapid construction is inconvenient at best and potentially fatal at worst to local residents. While a similar project may take ten times longer in the United States due to a combination of fear of punitive legal measures and a value of human existence, local residents are not at risk. Of note, long-term consequences of this exposure have not yet been determined as the author wants to wait to his return to New York City for his medical check up.</span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-45405265745742668302011-05-17T21:03:00.000+08:002011-05-17T21:03:06.783+08:00fashion update<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I wrote a little bit about <a href="http://faruppereastside.blogspot.com/2010/09/beijing-fashion.html">Chinese fashion and style</a> back in the fall, but this time I have pictures to for your viewing pleasure. Everything I wrote then is still applicable now (rhinestones, bows, lace, etc.)--the women are very gaudy in their style. The majority of women wear heels (boots with heels in winter), which I cannot imagine--my feet hurt just thinking about it! The most surprising trend is tights or hose with the control-top part visible; this is extremely common under shorts, skirts, and dresses, and is just confusing to me...isn't the point of the control top part to hide it??</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiakCo_aac5W6B-acZBqi_Ni2eyydndtWNlFKOGL4ZG8pvdvnNCRa-xV2f5fnW8GFu_SHwS08NxWeUBIeHobbNnxP7QLitZKxfmWRKJZ98QQB2ZcGmX8sC7jn2gdxlZDAsjVGqfHTZd5I8/s1600/DSC_0180.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiakCo_aac5W6B-acZBqi_Ni2eyydndtWNlFKOGL4ZG8pvdvnNCRa-xV2f5fnW8GFu_SHwS08NxWeUBIeHobbNnxP7QLitZKxfmWRKJZ98QQB2ZcGmX8sC7jn2gdxlZDAsjVGqfHTZd5I8/s400/DSC_0180.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIAkRJ4rn7NyP3zm2qqMZAFf-VIT8skhbkGYMpFzaGPH5EFSiwr4sU3qfceX3dx4zwMpcICGYBsiWYx6yPkrXJlUlAtypP0NiyRKwnRz47NRjpMqS6gtNnoEa2Jtl2w9kPfNcXgP5j900/s1600/DSC_0161.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIAkRJ4rn7NyP3zm2qqMZAFf-VIT8skhbkGYMpFzaGPH5EFSiwr4sU3qfceX3dx4zwMpcICGYBsiWYx6yPkrXJlUlAtypP0NiyRKwnRz47NRjpMqS6gtNnoEa2Jtl2w9kPfNcXgP5j900/s400/DSC_0161.JPG" width="267" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(I love her "I'm going to look hot at the botanical gardens and pose with flowers" look. The feather in her hair completes the look).</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Also, animal prints are very popular. Actually, any prints are popular.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmYfJmG2CEjb73ae_J9DqSZPQyVyAowwJ-CiOKEXDpRNtr-zsDszzIEoFemNWYJOw8gE7ZnsnPyUSXcsqaVaNZFLhbXZEXPJHUP8zz-7qjSngfzYYO-zjdPEABwirT9RO7p28Ciq7NIhg/s1600/DSC_0200.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmYfJmG2CEjb73ae_J9DqSZPQyVyAowwJ-CiOKEXDpRNtr-zsDszzIEoFemNWYJOw8gE7ZnsnPyUSXcsqaVaNZFLhbXZEXPJHUP8zz-7qjSngfzYYO-zjdPEABwirT9RO7p28Ciq7NIhg/s400/DSC_0200.JPG" width="140" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSPvnPyz8pIo9NEsNRNF-r-uoCnu1dMl4yZ0E7wog73UsPg2PAuXvi61ZVX7c1blRy3fT2EEPfvPBxsuukj1IcZNGeOXDt6dQktR1T4WwwwFBQro_NY3RYJ0pXDo3Vu1_9iWGq9E_sMg/s1600/IMG_2037.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxSPvnPyz8pIo9NEsNRNF-r-uoCnu1dMl4yZ0E7wog73UsPg2PAuXvi61ZVX7c1blRy3fT2EEPfvPBxsuukj1IcZNGeOXDt6dQktR1T4WwwwFBQro_NY3RYJ0pXDo3Vu1_9iWGq9E_sMg/s400/IMG_2037.JPG" width="300" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPrxWAEeYv6blBhRQ9fKvbSmRzvCosUwDKjVc00KFEtuSC7qihxmUyt_Ry2sX-moSIi3GkH466xL_xP54mAzyHHmGSmkCKhAjOVKfQqFtI9CI89VsZuBtiie-_0Mxl4CO4Qj_w5xdlWk/s1600/DSC_0181.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="375" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPPrxWAEeYv6blBhRQ9fKvbSmRzvCosUwDKjVc00KFEtuSC7qihxmUyt_Ry2sX-moSIi3GkH466xL_xP54mAzyHHmGSmkCKhAjOVKfQqFtI9CI89VsZuBtiie-_0Mxl4CO4Qj_w5xdlWk/s400/DSC_0181.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">As you can probably tell, most of these pictures were taken the day Adam and I went to the botanical gardens. I love these women for their taking into account both fashion/style and weather-appropriateness.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJPfQGBvs_0VQ-fvwwOkTBL2IZR4ZQFzVOI9DhmgGYcpPfMSaNsJnWPvUkob9cn8sCpsDg_JiMVgBbupCArefR-qh1BybLd-2pVSiq0kbwQ5r5zJv4KTg1mzE9qbKHtDgVYKr4H51q0_g/s1600/DSC_0153.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJPfQGBvs_0VQ-fvwwOkTBL2IZR4ZQFzVOI9DhmgGYcpPfMSaNsJnWPvUkob9cn8sCpsDg_JiMVgBbupCArefR-qh1BybLd-2pVSiq0kbwQ5r5zJv4KTg1mzE9qbKHtDgVYKr4H51q0_g/s400/DSC_0153.JPG" width="178" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9xPmS2F5MYenNHUmWxill8MXUfjG4LEvweb1ji-F3iVdL7LE6mdU3FmJyo7sh307G7ozrwINHVHFpv9mHqH_PBAQBBDpH-j9ELJt3OVsOsaAC_J2hTnauKu1lC_mJ58y87-x3lavRjj4/s1600/DSC_0179.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9xPmS2F5MYenNHUmWxill8MXUfjG4LEvweb1ji-F3iVdL7LE6mdU3FmJyo7sh307G7ozrwINHVHFpv9mHqH_PBAQBBDpH-j9ELJt3OVsOsaAC_J2hTnauKu1lC_mJ58y87-x3lavRjj4/s400/DSC_0179.JPG" width="207" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Enough about the ladies; we have also noticed 2 main trends in male fashion. One is the murse (male purse), which is generally leather and brown or black in color. Men also tend to carry the purse or bag of female companions, regardless of size. The other popular style is long fingernails (or at least just the pinky); this is apparently to prove that the man does not do hard physical labor and is a status symbol. Unfortunately, no photographic verification of these styles as of yet.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A final trend that Adam and I have noticed is that couples and families tend to dress in matching outfits. We have seen countless "his and hers" jackets/hats/T-shirts, etc. Luckily, I was able to capture a few:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvKKfA69IDklU8D-UMiz-3Zt5ZQcTMv466uUwJ5PTdjDdEQcLHwgnoC1BZ3J7tm79XC6UJaMCbOTyrjwCEXhnnWFVIFQd426dbMBzqFSVYoQ2VcqzdjYXZZgnpVQqzk9wOjZnM-B9gXo/s1600/DSC_0157.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsvKKfA69IDklU8D-UMiz-3Zt5ZQcTMv466uUwJ5PTdjDdEQcLHwgnoC1BZ3J7tm79XC6UJaMCbOTyrjwCEXhnnWFVIFQd426dbMBzqFSVYoQ2VcqzdjYXZZgnpVQqzk9wOjZnM-B9gXo/s400/DSC_0157.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvH-5WtTs0OG-U0paIf90QoG5WZyQSXBuR5eaUMznEwIg8rLY7nUj7jGcvB9YGtlbxWaIUlW59MayJcMlra0zm-SINYshoOmAvZys1GiE1te3F2mVIuAbfmsYm11S757dUAA-yhq0qAZk/s1600/DSC_0201.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvH-5WtTs0OG-U0paIf90QoG5WZyQSXBuR5eaUMznEwIg8rLY7nUj7jGcvB9YGtlbxWaIUlW59MayJcMlra0zm-SINYshoOmAvZys1GiE1te3F2mVIuAbfmsYm11S757dUAA-yhq0qAZk/s400/DSC_0201.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(this is a double whammy--a matching couple AND an awesome hair piece next to them) </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">After all of our travels, it appears that many of these styles are more popular in cities, which makes sense because they're not laboring in fields and they generally have a more disposable income. Also, with the rapidly expanding middle class, people are more interested in appearances. This is true with regard to dentistry as well--I have seen all of 4 people with braces in the past 9 months. I assume that number will rise as people have more and more disposable income and interest in appearance. The New York Times recently published an <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/world/asia/24beijing.html">article</a> about the growing rates of plastic surgery in China; this information is not so surprising, based on our observations and experiences. I would love to see what the styles are like in the next 10 to 20 years--I'm sure we will see straighter teeth and just as many heels!</div>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-61160072531180263912011-05-15T07:09:00.013+08:002011-05-15T18:35:11.632+08:00Lisbon, pre-conference<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">We spent the next few days exploring Lisbon proper, via walking tours and the "best of" series in Sarah's guidebooks.<br /><br />One of the first things we saw would be the SE Cathedral, which, as it turn</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">s out, would be the view from our rented apartment (we moved from hostel to apartment during the conference). On the outside, </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">I loved how grass and flowers grew between the big bricks.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyZtO8Jc9NP_cY4sDFKF3-rxyzVk802KmTrYHmBkbg34q802CwTtY_gEbAMaoWFRK7Pwb-silgCnmVjXH-E4VdtOgO76Xi0d4ODdXG2DsMI4Kc4z8axYG9ZwIpb_K9zX1YDt2b4iqeKjv/s1600/DSC_0088.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjyZtO8Jc9NP_cY4sDFKF3-rxyzVk802KmTrYHmBkbg34q802CwTtY_gEbAMaoWFRK7Pwb-silgCnmVjXH-E4VdtOgO76Xi0d4ODdXG2DsMI4Kc4z8axYG9ZwIpb_K9zX1YDt2b4iqeKjv/s400/DSC_0088.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606790948232072514" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> My favorite parts of the inside were the stained glass windows.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51dR0ZsoRrCBJit5kXJmFQrcQJBJskns6nLEHUNNgTPiqxPk1jb9zrGUcImj_-LqryZerhBsAacRejmljyjOH9OqF6z1PtTBwU80_sz8CPEtHA6IBT6blvuEivCfd373b4dK8N1cKlo3u/s1600/DSC_0084.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg51dR0ZsoRrCBJit5kXJmFQrcQJBJskns6nLEHUNNgTPiqxPk1jb9zrGUcImj_-LqryZerhBsAacRejmljyjOH9OqF6z1PtTBwU80_sz8CPEtHA6IBT6blvuEivCfd373b4dK8N1cKlo3u/s400/DSC_0084.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606791494556607954" border="0" /></a>This one is cool because the view from the bedroom in our rented apartment was of this window!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHI4aX4WEaW8ZXMYx0eqFzcFO_mqD0LPOZVECkjNqlADVOUmhjmngSS_wAjfhs10iPnvtOTxK5A87GhAJueq6Qqhk4OJE2ME1g5CQnGlQ2wMRF-OSk0T7ZApVHahAr4aKIQl0Z1SUBbWXH/s1600/DSC_0085.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 340px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHI4aX4WEaW8ZXMYx0eqFzcFO_mqD0LPOZVECkjNqlADVOUmhjmngSS_wAjfhs10iPnvtOTxK5A87GhAJueq6Qqhk4OJE2ME1g5CQnGlQ2wMRF-OSk0T7ZApVHahAr4aKIQl0Z1SUBbWXH/s400/DSC_0085.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606790954963187298" border="0" /></a>Like many cathedrals worldwide, the attention to detail was impressive:</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEictBrRNnfdqq9KeV_h7QXK5ZSaaTxj611a65TogltJ2hJHv-RoFAWkSCyeuRMGn6CEJSYS-KTxdom5Ft3Tf_Ov6xALHxnwSnXhrd8aAY378lEJV5AHBHoe8c8mxg2rvvXQmJ2SsJDWlEd4/s1600/DSC_0110.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEictBrRNnfdqq9KeV_h7QXK5ZSaaTxj611a65TogltJ2hJHv-RoFAWkSCyeuRMGn6CEJSYS-KTxdom5Ft3Tf_Ov6xALHxnwSnXhrd8aAY378lEJV5AHBHoe8c8mxg2rvvXQmJ2SsJDWlEd4/s400/DSC_0110.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606787617385073858" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> I also had fun playing with Alison's camera, changing the setting </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">to get very different pictures of the same columns:</span><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2Zley2ocINzJf6ZmbOOz0lyxVlo6RMYq8w5BmL2NHMWb-78zy4SZF3Z8TsbuP-SdMXF3gXEnZmKsPYW4iure2rivpBIheLl_oRhHjhK6TDGugKanXno-xSkmCDL4WxE60qjgikCpf5AR/s1600/DSC_0120.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM2Zley2ocINzJf6ZmbOOz0lyxVlo6RMYq8w5BmL2NHMWb-78zy4SZF3Z8TsbuP-SdMXF3gXEnZmKsPYW4iure2rivpBIheLl_oRhHjhK6TDGugKanXno-xSkmCDL4WxE60qjgikCpf5AR/s400/DSC_0120.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606787605695871138" border="0" /></a></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtmNB3o2eYxWsrzhfDZrK-oOm84VOGMLII42SV8q-0hH8hgWxXFY37X2XYFadnalrT-pFTTh0qFrRg-ExR24591MgwZuhw8xbmBmy6M3edVS0n0GPyYywUia7T_IiHSyA5QeSXr4AXWPjC/s1600/DSC_0125.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtmNB3o2eYxWsrzhfDZrK-oOm84VOGMLII42SV8q-0hH8hgWxXFY37X2XYFadnalrT-pFTTh0qFrRg-ExR24591MgwZuhw8xbmBmy6M3edVS0n0GPyYywUia7T_IiHSyA5QeSXr4AXWPjC/s400/DSC_0125.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606787601542042818" border="0" /></a></span><br /><br />We then headed over to the Roman ruins. I had no idea that the Roman Empire reached as far west as Lisbon, so it was pretty cool to visit what was left of a Roman Amphitheater! <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmdpm1y-BqqFf9PnPD1DZv_NQYZfjXwt7Lg63tuTRa4cMe3hGN1DkqWKcdWixGH6N5OBmt-2W2DC5ObKDEZKubCz_KTGrNnDUU1voWa5N_PRBavetwJtDvgYf6osVKgrT5oYCuA-_UpfEP/s1600/DSC_0091.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 358px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmdpm1y-BqqFf9PnPD1DZv_NQYZfjXwt7Lg63tuTRa4cMe3hGN1DkqWKcdWixGH6N5OBmt-2W2DC5ObKDEZKubCz_KTGrNnDUU1voWa5N_PRBavetwJtDvgYf6osVKgrT5oYCuA-_UpfEP/s400/DSC_0091.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606790946447941538" border="0" /></a></span></span>On our walk, we saw some pretty cool statues, whether they were alone near a view point<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-t-p1oJZ8DhoMM809Luddu89y4swaWxV7PIvUfiyNKWaknO5t8ijrQs-kekQmMHfI4Jlxl6bzdsNO19CuGEXsQ4LpPjNVmhRPjqNCTvCxeZpte0gYwjck9CQWyWtfws1aBG0aXPpKz9D/s1600/DSC_0099.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK-t-p1oJZ8DhoMM809Luddu89y4swaWxV7PIvUfiyNKWaknO5t8ijrQs-kekQmMHfI4Jlxl6bzdsNO19CuGEXsQ4LpPjNVmhRPjqNCTvCxeZpte0gYwjck9CQWyWtfws1aBG0aXPpKz9D/s400/DSC_0099.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606790936452994818" border="0" /></a></span></span>or in the middle of a big church.</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKNcW6PV7zHNdcKpZGqKbrhnOR834LSOPvfATATStx7haNzW6F63__4PQoOnnzTAupA3ydA1ofuEUFJMtJajMN4P2u_fMbzB4VBBgqMDqbBQLIEpN0jmaSB5pPNg28lUCq7478JGX5yx6Q/s1600/DSC_0106.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKNcW6PV7zHNdcKpZGqKbrhnOR834LSOPvfATATStx7haNzW6F63__4PQoOnnzTAupA3ydA1ofuEUFJMtJajMN4P2u_fMbzB4VBBgqMDqbBQLIEpN0jmaSB5pPNg28lUCq7478JGX5yx6Q/s400/DSC_0106.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606790941740943458" border="0" /></a></span></span>That picture makes me laugh bc one statue is a really proper looking Bishop and the other is looks like a wasted lady at Bourbon Street).<br /><br />On the inside of this church (I can't remember what it's called) was the tomb</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"> of Vasco de Gama, the famed explorer:<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEycN-ricNIYt-BYtlrLP7XOgWEa8OdEA5bvdLSyT7FQqwQBZsfU8S0tFyEZe7Tba5hSvH49AfYDIJBYDdC_VTiW_HbFs-MoIsvQ5TyW3aBBNCdBS5f59DhlOYXrAzTcTJMCckk8bDcxns/s1600/DSC_0119.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 318px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEycN-ricNIYt-BYtlrLP7XOgWEa8OdEA5bvdLSyT7FQqwQBZsfU8S0tFyEZe7Tba5hSvH49AfYDIJBYDdC_VTiW_HbFs-MoIsvQ5TyW3aBBNCdBS5f59DhlOYXrAzTcTJMCckk8bDcxns/s400/DSC_0119.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606787610360148802" border="0" /></a></span></span></span><br /><br />That afternoon, we went to Belem, which is famous for three things--these melt-in-your-mouth pastries (which we had 3 times over the course of our time in Portugal) and the Jeronimo Monastery, an example of Manuelline architecture. Basically, the Manuelline style is an elaborate, exuberant (borderline ostentatious) type of over-decoration of the building facades that were typical of Portuguese architecture when Portugal was considered the pre-eminent nation in the world. For example, here's an upclose of the doorway:<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDNtKAURdr1q5SMXTNbkk8VERcLGmxE0QCgbybRYfOy_MeX7zWu_z6AC85TgOeM3dm1TumAdX6Wad8r1bLPgcP-tM_ufDEnrxBzb2zcsxvMOlXJDDMLW4qBcJRkQVgPkTtewcUcBLUh5CY/s1600/DSC_0118.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDNtKAURdr1q5SMXTNbkk8VERcLGmxE0QCgbybRYfOy_MeX7zWu_z6AC85TgOeM3dm1TumAdX6Wad8r1bLPgcP-tM_ufDEnrxBzb2zcsxvMOlXJDDMLW4qBcJRkQVgPkTtewcUcBLUh5CY/s400/DSC_0118.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606786155593128082" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span>and part of a courtyard (notice the sky!)<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBODMO1bR8Vd5HDqdMOuCd_7MHKVzfOcO51pb3Kwuxkq4647FHd0h1PQ1jLmrsJj2JeW4vH4ZRSvQ9pbv8AZLYePhYk0jqMcUTPgCEAm78LUYClBRTsU_ckFFlCl6DFoWbsNd-LvPL6Z6R/s1600/DSC_0147.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBODMO1bR8Vd5HDqdMOuCd_7MHKVzfOcO51pb3Kwuxkq4647FHd0h1PQ1jLmrsJj2JeW4vH4ZRSvQ9pbv8AZLYePhYk0jqMcUTPgCEAm78LUYClBRTsU_ckFFlCl6DFoWbsNd-LvPL6Z6R/s400/DSC_0147.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606786139401082386" border="0" /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"></span></span></span></span></span></a><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHEEsrwDz1tzTp61gbK-kWlx3lMQYCazvlpisMkBJ_sH_pApBwG4pcxYfnzxnjhpYozdV83oAE6D2dnRzNfbIjz9Us3RcAnm1iSmispH4NkSeWIekZ4i7pC5XR_UrQGKnl1xP7-vDlT7gS/s1600/DSC_0138.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHEEsrwDz1tzTp61gbK-kWlx3lMQYCazvlpisMkBJ_sH_pApBwG4pcxYfnzxnjhpYozdV83oAE6D2dnRzNfbIjz9Us3RcAnm1iSmispH4NkSeWIekZ4i7pC5XR_UrQGKnl1xP7-vDlT7gS/s400/DSC_0138.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606786145639613874" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>(PS. I seriously took about 50 pictures of the clouds here because they were so beautiful juxtaposed against the white, carved marble.<br />PPS: I am not pregnant, I promise)<br /><br />The following day, we went to a few museums. The first was a modern art museum, which had only one exhibit that made sense:<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRsGfm8yHSXbofePnLyxinIQokdv09sn62ayxJk08NphzkdKsGiUjUDSsP2SgnMTv5Jfw6COQEE18dD35Qin6whzibHnxumdaMHjzHEz0wJ6UxTCG-O7s3t-A22GWHBfHT4bRY13ObQU6R/s1600/DSC_0156.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRsGfm8yHSXbofePnLyxinIQokdv09sn62ayxJk08NphzkdKsGiUjUDSsP2SgnMTv5Jfw6COQEE18dD35Qin6whzibHnxumdaMHjzHEz0wJ6UxTCG-O7s3t-A22GWHBfHT4bRY13ObQU6R/s400/DSC_0156.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606784708392879474" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span>Correction: it had no exhibits that made sense. We then headed to an exhibition of the Portuguese military in honor of the 100th anniversary of the <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">founding of the republic. Here, the weapons ranged from the expected,<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuv_WdRgBXlMZGl48vTEMmX0Xoml1dpKx99kfWq0dxUJN0Ee-jYG-7QXYSa3V7n2w6ikX2_cQ-1wJbR4IyYGkzceJPQJF8GeMk3ROIZO8SLhj77Bd6xkXh29CZxTrIRKJr8syDye-2v8X7/s1600/DSC_0152.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuv_WdRgBXlMZGl48vTEMmX0Xoml1dpKx99kfWq0dxUJN0Ee-jYG-7QXYSa3V7n2w6ikX2_cQ-1wJbR4IyYGkzceJPQJF8GeMk3ROIZO8SLhj77Bd6xkXh29CZxTrIRKJr8syDye-2v8X7/s400/DSC_0152.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606784698990940834" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span>which was used in Afghanistan or Iraq by Portuguese troops to the random:<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin9B4y6HiM5YIkBaa_wBC3a5SwguykiyJJU_N4huuWV_ooYd-7Eme7EvYJwF66wS_C4xGzREoXD-bjLb8KM2rt_JWBsCICgJkk-pCogOLXknTcdF2NfSVUbQrxamlamFQo6afjf5psnbLg/s1600/DSC_0151.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin9B4y6HiM5YIkBaa_wBC3a5SwguykiyJJU_N4huuWV_ooYd-7Eme7EvYJwF66wS_C4xGzREoXD-bjLb8KM2rt_JWBsCICgJkk-pCogOLXknTcdF2NfSVUbQrxamlamFQo6afjf5psnbLg/s400/DSC_0151.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606786133109223250" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>(Watch out for policemen on bikes! They just might have an AK-47 on it.) Final stop for museums was this really cool archeology museum that was housed in an old cathedral. In 1755, there was a huge earthquake, followed by tsunami and fire, that completely destroyed Lisbon. The original plans were to rebuild the cathedral roof, which had collapsed, but they lacked the funds. So, they now house the exhibits where the priests lived and you walk </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">through an eery skeleton of a cathedral to get there.<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVbAnaSz_L7_QxVh9Mbj3t6y5GUgLyyCewr7j30hlfNqO2Pam3Fh4NxBoWCL9BxDlK4ScDTd9NMIPlfN1ZNlHtlILU_NPSybRPFPuNCaLn4e3yaj-VEUKi0-l4ZbdtRlWtZ5aia6ARhZtw/s1600/DSC_0155.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVbAnaSz_L7_QxVh9Mbj3t6y5GUgLyyCewr7j30hlfNqO2Pam3Fh4NxBoWCL9BxDlK4ScDTd9NMIPlfN1ZNlHtlILU_NPSybRPFPuNCaLn4e3yaj-VEUKi0-l4ZbdtRlWtZ5aia6ARhZtw/s400/DSC_0155.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606784703840839570" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span>I enjoyed the walk more than the museum. Finally, we went to the aquarium, which had tons of penguins (none swimming unfortunately)<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp0QCsYvM5CU6qA0WGUvviQYz36mTMhTYU9-8i2QXOkFC37Ni-h2LaDGYOxsOO2FlayJhaDC9TVbhvxjgcTqCzoE-01dzeTOLpA122UvtGLFm5TIcjRURedXVPFeboYH7TjfTRVhYdaeGD/s1600/DSC_0159.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhp0QCsYvM5CU6qA0WGUvviQYz36mTMhTYU9-8i2QXOkFC37Ni-h2LaDGYOxsOO2FlayJhaDC9TVbhvxjgcTqCzoE-01dzeTOLpA122UvtGLFm5TIcjRURedXVPFeboYH7TjfTRVhYdaeGD/s400/DSC_0159.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606784711609633522" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>and I learned that Alison's camera is so awesome that it can take pictures from above, through water, and make it look like you're underwater!<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOAN3sdg7q0uSopYxHPs_83iqvhkIyL_o5TwjZmY8YjROvzGxxJbXS0PY_67ww6K6VMMLBBCIzV7rkszBfSibYg2dJe1pDaQXlL8nNKMtX5BpOCcxK8wCPw_qM6i0L-zUZfzcUUXc_VyS/s1600/DSC_0167.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOAN3sdg7q0uSopYxHPs_83iqvhkIyL_o5TwjZmY8YjROvzGxxJbXS0PY_67ww6K6VMMLBBCIzV7rkszBfSibYg2dJe1pDaQXlL8nNKMtX5BpOCcxK8wCPw_qM6i0L-zUZfzcUUXc_VyS/s400/DSC_0167.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606784717182856722" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span>Best. Purchase. Ever. <br /><br />After a whirlwind (though very relaxing) first few days in Portugal, we were ready for the final three days: the conference!<br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-44727100023164286982011-05-14T19:25:00.009+08:002011-05-14T21:54:13.133+08:00First day in Portugal!<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">After finding the hostel and crashing, Sarah and I woke up early (yay jetlag) and headed over to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sintra">Sintra</a>, a town that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. On our walk from the hostel, we couldn't help but noticing that we were in Europe! Between the shock of seeing so many ethnicities walking around,<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2WLFk15-7ODxGE_9QJJNKg1bLRzhmG_kUFw1J0omCkLMvnJ1BPQs_RqhZ8U6XJug-WFSY-HPa0Rp3sFdI5QA3y-oHJEWSzY6A21pwSDJtyEoep_MaemY-96ohL1RSi8O092lFkT_8y-aD/s1600/DSC_0001.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2WLFk15-7ODxGE_9QJJNKg1bLRzhmG_kUFw1J0omCkLMvnJ1BPQs_RqhZ8U6XJug-WFSY-HPa0Rp3sFdI5QA3y-oHJEWSzY6A21pwSDJtyEoep_MaemY-96ohL1RSi8O092lFkT_8y-aD/s400/DSC_0001.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606551478164035138" border="0" /></a>and walking through plazas with fountains, blue sky, and only one construction crane (!)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwYa5wVdXXL9UDcwwf9FMnjjnAN59OMsLzg7YDL6rvR1ijdcOnCFIH28daUv6o_f8xvNGPnaKUR0EI94pTREiEOILun8sEP9AShrJY2c_PAK6eMZGdHbtXoePxS-yrPUNmaBEnHo6aFWKE/s1600/DSC_0002.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwYa5wVdXXL9UDcwwf9FMnjjnAN59OMsLzg7YDL6rvR1ijdcOnCFIH28daUv6o_f8xvNGPnaKUR0EI94pTREiEOILun8sEP9AShrJY2c_PAK6eMZGdHbtXoePxS-yrPUNmaBEnHo6aFWKE/s400/DSC_0002.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606551483187989522" border="0" /></a>we knew we weren't in Kansas anymore. Another funny difference: the train station was historic and profound<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFrK8ROa67BKobsywW2bpdbQnpm3XvnmLX4vvkPzOaV47t36gs9h4FFJUj_yD9AXOwJCA8oV63MWN8oqJYC_q0vpXoy9Zmh1aHvNZjyofyTvfMIO2y2KiNJ1KeEAog45Dlg0KXPaG_sVeC/s1600/DSC_0003.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFrK8ROa67BKobsywW2bpdbQnpm3XvnmLX4vvkPzOaV47t36gs9h4FFJUj_yD9AXOwJCA8oV63MWN8oqJYC_q0vpXoy9Zmh1aHvNZjyofyTvfMIO2y2KiNJ1KeEAog45Dlg0KXPaG_sVeC/s400/DSC_0003.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606567297248588674" border="0" /></a>but the train itself was old and nasty.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFipFrQodVr3QFm-sgoR2jzReVKeI6ttcVKIpza-R4LUOttaLlsl6AvyU3lUIOHwMvmoiu-3zF3UFMFZSelrFVsvRpRFBQB-mbFWxHWzxxZA0Q3KCS7cQKPTYsHmtSPILak0efE7_4yP5/s1600/DSC_0004.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhFipFrQodVr3QFm-sgoR2jzReVKeI6ttcVKIpza-R4LUOttaLlsl6AvyU3lUIOHwMvmoiu-3zF3UFMFZSelrFVsvRpRFBQB-mbFWxHWzxxZA0Q3KCS7cQKPTYsHmtSPILak0efE7_4yP5/s400/DSC_0004.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606549100782222690" border="0" /></a>In China, the stations are all immaculate and the trains are state-of-the-art, but no one can afford to ride the nice ones...Anyways, our first stop in Sintra was the Palacio Nacional, which is famous for those two big cylindrical protrusions in the front, as you can see here.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9IbQ7Gr_Jyus3QNE4rmectd9-yncNesiHzlGTgs26qjrCHI_6BXjnb9Eua0EcNrxgCW1gv1X8dRN_-Xrk87e4ItksK5n1Fm79pPef1R__ccO8btLkdfVnsM0Jm_YzHHRSTwm2cGlC6Eu/s1600/DSC_0007.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp9IbQ7Gr_Jyus3QNE4rmectd9-yncNesiHzlGTgs26qjrCHI_6BXjnb9Eua0EcNrxgCW1gv1X8dRN_-Xrk87e4ItksK5n1Fm79pPef1R__ccO8btLkdfVnsM0Jm_YzHHRSTwm2cGlC6Eu/s400/DSC_0007.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606549094953602674" border="0" /></a>The palace proved to be a wonderful introduction to Portuguese history and architectural style. First, everywhere you looked were beautiful hand-painted <span style="font-style: italic;">azulej</span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-style: italic;">os </span></span>(<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">tiles) of various motifs.<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV_OUrBIxkTjLE62Ov_aaA5j2b-E5wToexE9y4gfLpoOOKHsBXYc6jsbwVZdwZVnnMvvZP5HeK1uawaOZ-CciJwxkU4ckWZ04YmgcMhN3W3YXAD5Nwdjgt_jTPIGhuASAezr2glChDzPex/s1600/DSC_0019.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiV_OUrBIxkTjLE62Ov_aaA5j2b-E5wToexE9y4gfLpoOOKHsBXYc6jsbwVZdwZVnnMvvZP5HeK1uawaOZ-CciJwxkU4ckWZ04YmgcMhN3W3YXAD5Nwdjgt_jTPIGhuASAezr2glChDzPex/s400/DSC_0019.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606549087420576658" border="0" /></a></span>The one above depicts a hunting scene and is actually painted into a corner of the walls. Sarah and I both thought they were reminiscent of Chinese white and blue porcelain. Turns out, they might have been influenced by China: Portugal had the longest lasting colony in the Far East, Macau, which was recently handed over to the Chinese in 1999 and was founded shortly after Vasco de Gama discovered how to sail to India </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">(I am SO IGNORANT of world history)</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">. Here's </span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">a gift from the Governor of Macau to the King of Portugal from a while back:<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxF-rrkx3m04xq_rNlyHJtJTRSHvQIKwSxevuFBdOEtTq7wfvSvVBpedI7eC_vmIGqsNCJBLBL4758SM8RFbgGGgjE4U3ZB66LmaPuutVIjVlvLiGRwCrctUadRqmYARBBAt89yRuH9mj7/s1600/DSC_0021.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxF-rrkx3m04xq_rNlyHJtJTRSHvQIKwSxevuFBdOEtTq7wfvSvVBpedI7eC_vmIGqsNCJBLBL4758SM8RFbgGGgjE4U3ZB66LmaPuutVIjVlvLiGRwCrctUadRqmYARBBAt89yRuH9mj7/s400/DSC_0021.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606549083826276962" border="0" /></a></span></span>It's made of pure ivory and is the largest such structure ever made (according to the sign...but who knows if that is true). And here's inlaid wood, which also looked somewhat Chinese.<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuDXfBs1A4BEuC3rt-wCXvK-dd5dCMKxV4cdDuzzJ8OfPLb1C5QKt9pqBWYZszGQ3lsU3VPq_D4K4qE_HuMVpdSfY4CQQzknAxIroDF_y6uAIM2heoXCqzecdUrfxJCYEDNRBXzgTwycKH/s1600/DSC_0016.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuDXfBs1A4BEuC3rt-wCXvK-dd5dCMKxV4cdDuzzJ8OfPLb1C5QKt9pqBWYZszGQ3lsU3VPq_D4K4qE_HuMVpdSfY4CQQzknAxIroDF_y6uAIM2heoXCqzecdUrfxJCYEDNRBXzgTwycKH/s400/DSC_0016.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606549089253830866" border="0" /></a></span></span>During our tour, we ended up in the palace kitchen, where we noticed that the ceiling went up remarkably high.<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7J0T47EmLyjYXDALfSBZlfG4PBsQe9bXW-Zjvk9viW9TU8VYzQcBDtGvdis13jNQvQ5wtHcf67khBCDHcgrClUtYaPVU3ZwU1SgzFO04ISMG4sVT4o8Q155yuA-KmOrIfwSAhdEpej-jY/s1600/DSC_0023.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7J0T47EmLyjYXDALfSBZlfG4PBsQe9bXW-Zjvk9viW9TU8VYzQcBDtGvdis13jNQvQ5wtHcf67khBCDHcgrClUtYaPVU3ZwU1SgzFO04ISMG4sVT4o8Q155yuA-KmOrIfwSAhdEpej-jY/s400/DSC_0023.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606545708563994514" border="0" /></a></span></span></span>(Cool seal, right?) Indeed, we were inside the big cylinders. We thought they were some master architectural design, but turns out...they were just glorified chimneys.<br /><br />After the palace, we walked about an hour on the side of the road (whoops) to get to the Castelo de Mouros (Moorish Castle).<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGe9TcD-0svJ6kVrD_DZ2VJhIM7rjOrCQ5AByrRQnZ-5sbnqHFAPtlpNshjkuGimEp39PoBpu28iEfOYgPt-xQ1U5XbeTK11FaqqaEa01q33ZWDTEiX-QJpjSDrbJSV16Icqj4bw8RBYwO/s1600/DSC_0025.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGe9TcD-0svJ6kVrD_DZ2VJhIM7rjOrCQ5AByrRQnZ-5sbnqHFAPtlpNshjkuGimEp39PoBpu28iEfOYgPt-xQ1U5XbeTK11FaqqaEa01q33ZWDTEiX-QJpjSDrbJSV16Icqj4bw8RBYwO/s400/DSC_0025.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606545701255975922" border="0" /></a></span></span></span>Does the castle wall remind you of anything?<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPTkYbPuSqtbt0KmCdZk2b8ZuPlamHKW3bLq8fU4ZVZlKq8JyTp_NtlUYRqMc7rS0TFUlVX0GJqP8ZnJw4M1Y6ngVLJZU6Ak2e0WFkXNc6mTNly5JBFVP4oWWUHk3sYS0aWYWg52NYnBj7/s1600/DSC_0039.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPTkYbPuSqtbt0KmCdZk2b8ZuPlamHKW3bLq8fU4ZVZlKq8JyTp_NtlUYRqMc7rS0TFUlVX0GJqP8ZnJw4M1Y6ngVLJZU6Ak2e0WFkXNc6mTNly5JBFVP4oWWUHk3sYS0aWYWg52NYnBj7/s400/DSC_0039.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606545679557609202" border="0" /></a></span></span></span>How about in this picture?<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlD80C-jA1mJF8QYNb6x3Y7kJESX3csdgmQATThDEAezscaNpH4x17SYH7gguSH5RGToRWAJDkJdyFW-aesW-McroyxvvvkJfBM7mJXmriCWYC7itXoAIZcU9pRe_ANyyykXTdBdhFf8GN/s1600/DSC_0029.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlD80C-jA1mJF8QYNb6x3Y7kJESX3csdgmQATThDEAezscaNpH4x17SYH7gguSH5RGToRWAJDkJdyFW-aesW-McroyxvvvkJfBM7mJXmriCWYC7itXoAIZcU9pRe_ANyyykXTdBdhFf8GN/s400/DSC_0029.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606545695668390962" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span>We were joking about how we flew 1/4 across the world to go to the Great Wall! Funny, right?<br /><br />We then walked over to the Pena Palace, a breathtakingly beautiful castle you could see from the Moorish ruins.<span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCmrc5QAjd8dx83Qw2HpY7x5o0gCsj6YpvrcBAwoh7eXnu7kDniKQBvqO5mOOwnum_ojuRiYIYxBevqO9I5LeO8WLSztpS5LL_zx66m_3kk3C1YcCC1jZEbRtyr0bxGduQDQCX6aU4nv2/s1600/DSC_0035.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihCmrc5QAjd8dx83Qw2HpY7x5o0gCsj6YpvrcBAwoh7eXnu7kDniKQBvqO5mOOwnum_ojuRiYIYxBevqO9I5LeO8WLSztpS5LL_zx66m_3kk3C1YcCC1jZEbRtyr0bxGduQDQCX6aU4nv2/s400/DSC_0035.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606535957977522002" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span>The inside wasn't too impressive, but the outside decoration--the bright paint and the blue/white tiles--was so beautiful. <span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMLFJKgPlJvYAPfV1hybTwteRUexCAP81YIwFXRLXT0vtizk-BQfVLT2aWAUFOkzHP_F7Ajn0Kj8O-tuw-9hyq1giVj3grmaCXC5PykkH5k53vaf-tLBdiww83u6BZQ8DejQ6wVI-SJSt/s1600/DSC_0044.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQMLFJKgPlJvYAPfV1hybTwteRUexCAP81YIwFXRLXT0vtizk-BQfVLT2aWAUFOkzHP_F7Ajn0Kj8O-tuw-9hyq1giVj3grmaCXC5PykkH5k53vaf-tLBdiww83u6BZQ8DejQ6wVI-SJSt/s400/DSC_0044.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606535956472159570" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggzCQJzFyqf_KkigmhG_5kkgqCWa84Z1Cnbg2iYsnQEn3uMhnsxRzFXIAY76G99QojMPE92bN1WJrPfipxUeMEiiK2Xa3HfZ7ewpbNfXtbAV001e8cMBL4ZHyf6BmL4hyphenhyphenEN6T0LJba77ty/s1600/DSC_0055.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggzCQJzFyqf_KkigmhG_5kkgqCWa84Z1Cnbg2iYsnQEn3uMhnsxRzFXIAY76G99QojMPE92bN1WJrPfipxUeMEiiK2Xa3HfZ7ewpbNfXtbAV001e8cMBL4ZHyf6BmL4hyphenhyphenEN6T0LJba77ty/s400/DSC_0055.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606535946874609474" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">And it reminded me a bit of Phoenix and our Mexican house. So of course, I had to take a picture of me in front of it:<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKwdQ9JG7Klg2uqluBZ3UOXdpKUtAp2uz9eupx8pRY7em1U1WSuFyywv0k0_qKygL08muP8v0EZfBSiyePSrJuiSUS4eZSFcGACzDEPjSnf-UfN36PSvAx6uqqd08AP_jJHd5Xp6Gt71pD/s1600/DSC_0066.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKwdQ9JG7Klg2uqluBZ3UOXdpKUtAp2uz9eupx8pRY7em1U1WSuFyywv0k0_qKygL08muP8v0EZfBSiyePSrJuiSUS4eZSFcGACzDEPjSnf-UfN36PSvAx6uqqd08AP_jJHd5Xp6Gt71pD/s400/DSC_0066.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606535944356313906" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span></span><br />After a long, fun day sightseeing, we went to an authen</span><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;">tic Portuguese meal, where I ordered fish...which came whole.<br /><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><span style="font-family:trebuchet ms;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAZPX3lkimqXCqYVWx3tZRLQBNmRIiEPfNFgD1oam6agTrIUTJZMl-xKvXGEGrG5ghR3VPje3h4DmfwXxK7m1B2Xs8H68KPXLH087MKvNQEYPUYtfWXLC04CFHTa4bj7xiGN0DwC1DJA8D/s1600/DSC_0082.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 268px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhAZPX3lkimqXCqYVWx3tZRLQBNmRIiEPfNFgD1oam6agTrIUTJZMl-xKvXGEGrG5ghR3VPje3h4DmfwXxK7m1B2Xs8H68KPXLH087MKvNQEYPUYtfWXLC04CFHTa4bj7xiGN0DwC1DJA8D/s400/DSC_0082.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5606535937616173442" border="0" /></a></span></span></span></span>Yet another reminder of my adopted country!!<br /><br />All in all, it was a fantastic introduction to Portugal, and a reminder that, no matter where you are and no matter how different it appears, food, buildings, and culture are far more similar than you would expect.<br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-54623905271007127152011-05-11T22:46:00.000+08:002011-05-11T22:46:44.893+08:00authenticity<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(You thought this was going to be about "being your true self" or something, right? Ha). </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I bought a DVD on the street tonight, knowing it was a movie that Adam had no interest in seeing ("The Kids Are All Right"). We have acquired several movies/TV shows from various street vendors, and as long as we get what we're expecting, it never really matters what the descriptions say. However, I happened to notice the cover and back of the case that this particular DVD came in. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">1. The title is in both English and Chinese (expected), but the "tag line' is in German. Luckily, I understand enough to know the tag line does fit the film (my fazzer vas an exterminator, my granfazzer vas an exterminator....[thank you, Sam!]) </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">2. The special features include the following: reversible seat, reversible handlebar, 2-wheel position for sand and snow, 5 point safety harness, aerosleep mattress, compact fold, parking brake at hand, etc. etc. etc. You best believe I was sitting comfy watching this movie in my...new car? Bike? Bed? I'm just glad it tells me that the bassinet can be used separately; I was worried!</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">3. Towards the bottom, where it lists the production company, cast, directors, etc., I learned that "Valentine's Day" is a synonym for "The Kids Are All Right." Appropriate. Also, I must have fallen asleep for the cameos made by Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Bradley Cooper, Patrick Dempsey, and a slew of other famous people. Gotta watch it more carefully next time.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In other news, Adam is en route from Portugal at this very moment, and I cannot wait to see him after work tomorrow!!! </div>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-57399096904155479842011-05-10T18:47:00.002+08:002011-05-10T19:21:39.888+08:00Double expat life<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I have a moment at the conference with internet so wanted to break radio silence.<br /><br />Being here has made me excited, melancholy, and reflective, mostly because it's the first time I've left Asia since we arrived mid-August, and it's SO ODD to be in the West again!!! <br /><br />Lisbon is a beautiful place to have a conference because it is such a relaxing city it's hard not to turn a work event into a semi-vacation. When I get back home (leaving tomorrow but arriving Friday afternoon), I'll start posting the pics and travel stories. For now, some very brief observations:<br />1) I've spoken constantly in Spanish to people and understood their Portuguese and even Italian (so cool!). It is so wonderful--priceless really--to be in a place where I can understand conversations on the street, communicate what I want, and feel that people aren't staring at me all the time. I also had forgotten (almost) how much I love Spanish--the language, the culture, the people--and it's been an amazing reminder.<br />2) I have really missed a bright blue sky and clouds. Even on the most clear days, Beijing is still pretty polluted. The first few days, I took about 70 pictures of clouds--sky in background of stuff, etc--because it was so shocking to me.<br />3) The city has 3 million people and (no joke) feels like a ghosttown--so few people on buses, walking around, etc. My framework for population density has definitely shifted after battling the masses.<br /><br />Now I have to get back to work preparing for my presentation tomorrow. The learning here has been incredible, and I hope to contribute. And the best part? Tomorrow my presentation ends at 11 and my flight leaves at 2 pm...meaning I'm almost back to Alison!!!!<br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-37568507612665774872011-05-09T14:28:00.001+08:002011-05-09T14:38:54.214+08:00Botanical Gardens<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Last week, we had Monday off to celebrate communism, so naturally we took a subway and bus 2 hours away, to the botanical gardens (still in Beijing, in case you were wondering). </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There were tons of gorgeous flowers in full bloom. The tulips were spectacular, both up close and far away:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4G7oZsJRO6izEfZ3tbxarsRYOEmuZdukYuNs_tduIyvIBx5l-uIiaVX7g7DvEI-oqa-7vRTWbpmIy8WvYIHehwo9oW-F0qzqYs1flSSOqnmPX_kiGDuLmQOC8rJtNtoh8B5xiuR2U5M4/s1600/DSC_0140.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4G7oZsJRO6izEfZ3tbxarsRYOEmuZdukYuNs_tduIyvIBx5l-uIiaVX7g7DvEI-oqa-7vRTWbpmIy8WvYIHehwo9oW-F0qzqYs1flSSOqnmPX_kiGDuLmQOC8rJtNtoh8B5xiuR2U5M4/s400/DSC_0140.JPG" width="267" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVn3D0Zh-4CHdYXVQG77BwKmxFAlSS3a565ZQBT2A09JAmM83aPay5OhhyphenhyphenJfFuV3vEGP3hMMZC26-qdoUyCfHsacKVzDVELqBOHVQcyLHrBxExMzjKKfxCOyXrWL7v99LkXwpuGEIk8BA/s1600/DSC_0145.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVn3D0Zh-4CHdYXVQG77BwKmxFAlSS3a565ZQBT2A09JAmM83aPay5OhhyphenhyphenJfFuV3vEGP3hMMZC26-qdoUyCfHsacKVzDVELqBOHVQcyLHrBxExMzjKKfxCOyXrWL7v99LkXwpuGEIk8BA/s400/DSC_0145.JPG" width="267" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(Adam took the photo with the colors; I've taught him well, if I do say so myself!)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
Here are a few other favorite flower shots:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRgMEtxfUuOKjMDadQPZZhfJJTrOkGulzsFsS4xqAXzklyap4TXPJXXx7Pb0zdkYT1jxm6-TM4YAEUHdwTBpznWH3vfs9KmLyEtbPti2ZEV36JLF9h5UH5I76gXVR-alywvd0ETfacyBQ/s1600/DSC_0159.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgRgMEtxfUuOKjMDadQPZZhfJJTrOkGulzsFsS4xqAXzklyap4TXPJXXx7Pb0zdkYT1jxm6-TM4YAEUHdwTBpznWH3vfs9KmLyEtbPti2ZEV36JLF9h5UH5I76gXVR-alywvd0ETfacyBQ/s400/DSC_0159.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBaQufF6vQaKt1zlFZFeQj0MHuemh8rVYFZy-m2PLEgszzt8qw4hMmpH6itPl7vBbwwv5FggsJsuhsbu0b-8GHXYtac3awrAIk3spp6aTdOlhnr2o-EpmEH7QVqGJZyLbwPvgvGeX5IkM/s1600/DSC_0165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBaQufF6vQaKt1zlFZFeQj0MHuemh8rVYFZy-m2PLEgszzt8qw4hMmpH6itPl7vBbwwv5FggsJsuhsbu0b-8GHXYtac3awrAIk3spp6aTdOlhnr2o-EpmEH7QVqGJZyLbwPvgvGeX5IkM/s400/DSC_0165.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4ziflO3Cu_hRbu79z4RL6iLE8N-CFZKJGiU1rUSJS0-r1_3TSP2FXpYAS-raPUHEJc-mdvNQqusYjSdyiPUu2whf78BwrIRNQbxclgvqorbFvkdJjB1rcRNVychfzpl4MshnowhcmrI/s1600/DSC_0204.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhu4ziflO3Cu_hRbu79z4RL6iLE8N-CFZKJGiU1rUSJS0-r1_3TSP2FXpYAS-raPUHEJc-mdvNQqusYjSdyiPUu2whf78BwrIRNQbxclgvqorbFvkdJjB1rcRNVychfzpl4MshnowhcmrI/s400/DSC_0204.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKF9q3YEDM3nN7jR_vcScUJ6dvK2TkvpymftwYr5ZnuqPnv-pxoZIXyKmzn6kSJg7H6H-coSjo1QrPo_SkNXeKXdo1Pc8i59xBV2hEQBFlzK1yJ8atvcLU4Y7YKosuFb5_0Mbd_H_JJMs/s1600/DSC_0193.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKF9q3YEDM3nN7jR_vcScUJ6dvK2TkvpymftwYr5ZnuqPnv-pxoZIXyKmzn6kSJg7H6H-coSjo1QrPo_SkNXeKXdo1Pc8i59xBV2hEQBFlzK1yJ8atvcLU4Y7YKosuFb5_0Mbd_H_JJMs/s400/DSC_0193.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(The last one is the of the peony garden. You know, the flowers that bloom on their own and don't need much attention?)<br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We were lucky to have clear, sunny weather, though that meant we were joined by thousands of others celebrating China's communism and general lack of smog. It made it difficult to get pictures without other people in them, as you can see:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWT_pWvGKr2TTr-o2yOwGa_YjSAiQNr5hQV8AmFke5PFEcyBcjitQVCBo5hiVtI2Pen86n_41-k-cP1jcdFdkIsz1QXbNSMi7NwTEyDQVkDMIYt1g3ulMH7FBRXCdgDQZkXgrBVKnYq0/s1600/DSC_0137.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcWT_pWvGKr2TTr-o2yOwGa_YjSAiQNr5hQV8AmFke5PFEcyBcjitQVCBo5hiVtI2Pen86n_41-k-cP1jcdFdkIsz1QXbNSMi7NwTEyDQVkDMIYt1g3ulMH7FBRXCdgDQZkXgrBVKnYq0/s400/DSC_0137.JPG" width="267" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I can't really be sad though because what would I do with a picture of a grass-and-flower rabbit? This picture is much more amusing; thank you random man making a ridiculous face.</span><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This was about the time that we realized that the Chinese have a fondness for taking pictures...anywhere. I mean, we knew the love for photographs and the constant posing, but at the expense of flowers at the botanical gardens? But honestly, we weren't terribly surprised.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijZVwRS-h9uRdEXPNaiDTjcbw5hlyHADxLW-u4HD5Alb_2E1CBlxV5_YoqnYiKux3eTFveySDg8JY51V6XVCyvyGebL0pZz11pL79wRDV5hKsFQ3JjlNRfgDY_SyA_7jrrKx3EAYAsVrM/s1600/DSC_0211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijZVwRS-h9uRdEXPNaiDTjcbw5hlyHADxLW-u4HD5Alb_2E1CBlxV5_YoqnYiKux3eTFveySDg8JY51V6XVCyvyGebL0pZz11pL79wRDV5hKsFQ3JjlNRfgDY_SyA_7jrrKx3EAYAsVrM/s400/DSC_0211.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtHBUk4SY2ME-RLFclzIE3KDGc6HOhNBtNQe9KwXRfIiaMfsiYAP0ie_57LJDgtoRU3QDivrrVumy567WGZ49z5YiPeMMdignIGphd6ItglmojGUVXHcb5nGlPzz6OWLP-nC-ri9RHDmQ/s1600/DSC_0175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtHBUk4SY2ME-RLFclzIE3KDGc6HOhNBtNQe9KwXRfIiaMfsiYAP0ie_57LJDgtoRU3QDivrrVumy567WGZ49z5YiPeMMdignIGphd6ItglmojGUVXHcb5nGlPzz6OWLP-nC-ri9RHDmQ/s400/DSC_0175.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Luckily the people who built the gardens anticipated this and made small paths amidst the flowers so that people could literally squat and take pictures inside. So we just took cues from the locals and followed cultural norms...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhjIJHLpvA-Up6j6TxABH-pCYwaWwwMScwTX0sJfbP4REGvLXhvli3fSLfWU0iwulELVEkOZNO6ZMu5zJrEAHDLo20CbeaOqD8sTHA-gJknKwlzEVtoiwscKLBBh5GzRjmqYBWDaVyNvA/s1600/DSC_0142.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhjIJHLpvA-Up6j6TxABH-pCYwaWwwMScwTX0sJfbP4REGvLXhvli3fSLfWU0iwulELVEkOZNO6ZMu5zJrEAHDLo20CbeaOqD8sTHA-gJknKwlzEVtoiwscKLBBh5GzRjmqYBWDaVyNvA/s400/DSC_0142.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyPovswe41Xn2HrwC2G_ucI8HwHDvVVSY_kdLLUnVU2x40WpnIXD3AsbFgznzHet-cEGJ-b0YBRUWhv9F8Q9opvvNMcL5209A941JpiTnXm3eYHylcHi1_x8lSzsA6At3va9pYkOPrZWU/s1600/DSC_0172.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyPovswe41Xn2HrwC2G_ucI8HwHDvVVSY_kdLLUnVU2x40WpnIXD3AsbFgznzHet-cEGJ-b0YBRUWhv9F8Q9opvvNMcL5209A941JpiTnXm3eYHylcHi1_x8lSzsA6At3va9pYkOPrZWU/s400/DSC_0172.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We enjoyed a picnic lunch overlooking a small lake, and people watched as we ate. While we would ordinarily just bring picnic blankets for the day, people here bring full-on tents like they're camping. There were babies napping, people playing cards, and picnics galore in and around these tents.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW7bsxUytgThXhuBNrpG1LIy7S_K-T7yX7iGfn8KQctioh_RUPpodo__HAQ-sprwAxaicQ_WGqh8J5yTOgk-0gBlVysEhw68cfpxST4WHitiidRaqHtm4Yqmqkzptiw-POIykIF2EJ8v4/s1600/DSC_0152.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW7bsxUytgThXhuBNrpG1LIy7S_K-T7yX7iGfn8KQctioh_RUPpodo__HAQ-sprwAxaicQ_WGqh8J5yTOgk-0gBlVysEhw68cfpxST4WHitiidRaqHtm4Yqmqkzptiw-POIykIF2EJ8v4/s400/DSC_0152.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We left the gardens and (after 2 hours of public transport) met some friends (we have [4] friends!) for drinks.Thank you, Communist China, for a wonderful day!</div>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-28484300262452543332011-05-05T20:19:00.002+08:002011-05-05T20:27:24.754+08:00Kids Say the Darndest Things<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I know I've posted a lot about the little munchkins lately, but I'm getting all sentimental as my time with them winds down. It's weird to know I'll never see them again and that I'll clearly remember them, but (as they are so young) it's unlikely they'll remember me. They're also just so freakin' adorable that I want to use this post for selfish, journal-related reasons--we have had some great moments this year!</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The thing about the kids is that they are SO funny. I'm sure they'd be even funnier if I understood half of what they said, but I laugh a lot even without understanding. Some examples:</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--When we were doing letter K and I had all of the pictures of my fam, one of the kids asked "Why do you have blue eyes and yellow hair?" The teacher's response: "Because she's a foreigner." Haha!</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--In one of those pictures, my hair is straight and I'm all of 13 years old. One girl looked at it and declared "She looks just like my mommy!" (Her mom is Chinese...and at least 20, I hope!)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
--When the kids first see me, they always run up and show me their zippers, buttons, dresses, and jeans (all words we've learned this year). It kind of reminds me of how we would see our childhood dentist at temple or the JCC and immediately show him our teeth.<br />
<br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--When singing the ABC song, the older kids like to yell out things that begin with each letter as we get to it (it's not the standard American version of the song; it's much longer). Lately, Billy has been saying "YOGA" for letter Y and then immediately goes into a yoga pose. Apparently he takes classes with his mother in the evenings...</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--I showed the older kids a video of Lucy (our family dog) eating peanut butter. They LOVED it for several reasons, including that the Chinese teacher's English name is Lucy. Now they constantly ask to see Lucy and then all make licking motions with their tongues. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--I change clothes every afternoon so I can leave my work stuff at school. When I emerge from the teacher's closet, Billy always exclaims "Alison, you look so bee-you-tee-ful!" and then the other kids follow suit. (Apparently gym clothes are a novelty here, as <a href="http://faruppereastside.blogspot.com/2011/03/chinese-gym-style.html">Adam noted</a>).</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--Today I asked the baby class who wants to come to America with me. They all said no at first, but then Simon said he wouldn't want to go because his mom buys him new toys. I told him that we have toys in America, and then he said he'd come. Hannah said she would come if I buy her a butterfly dress. Julie said she would come if there is ice cream. And Dora requested the steep price of 3 dresses.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">--The teacher who will be taking my place came to do a demo lesson last week. (They hire early here!) The following day, Clive asked "Where is Rebecca?" When I told him she is a new English teacher and will come when I leave next month, his face fell and said "You go to America?" He then gave me a huuuuuge bear hug. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(Side note: I made Rebecca promise to bring her computer once and a while so that I could possibly Skype with the kids. Thank goodness for technology!)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I love that I walk into the classroom to screams and shouts of "Alison! Alison!" It's such a bright spot every day and makes me so excited to be at school (and off the subway). In the small class, they always run up and show me their clothes and tell me stories that I don't understand. I usually say "Oh WOW" and act excited because they're excited, and that tactic works just fine. However, 2 kids would always repeat the same thing over and over, and when I finally asked what they were saying, it turned out to be "BIG HUGE FEET!" So random.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Now that we've been doing the same routines for so many months and the kids really do know the days and months, they have started little jokes that make them all dissolve into giggles. The older kids started say "FLyday" because someone slipped up once (big supplies there, huh?) and now we all discuss where we will fly on Flyday. The smaller kids say "Washday" instead of Wednesday because of another slip up and then all make hand-washing motions. It's refreshing and exciting to me because they have to own the original term in order to understand the joke about it. Yay for teaching successes!!</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">You're probably bored to tears with such a long, picture-less post, so thank you for reading and humoring me :) They make me crazy sometimes, but I love [most of] these babies!</div>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-40338997660758264932011-05-04T10:31:00.002+08:002011-05-04T10:39:24.872+08:00Portugal!<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">I'm about to go to the airport for my trip to Portugal, and it's very surreal--we've known about this for months with the mindset of "wow, once Adam gets back from Portugal we're like done with China!" And now it's here, and the end of one of the best years of our lives is abruptly heading to a close.<br /><br />Good thing we miss you guys something terribly and are SO EXCITED to see you or we may get depressed ;)<br /><br />In terms of Lisbon, I'm less of the mentality that this is a vacation and view it instead as a work trip. So, while I'm definitely excited to sightsee a few days, I am really looking forward to wrapping up a few loose ends with Dr. Smith and presenting in another suit (you'll have to tell me which one looks better!). The best part is that I'm bringing Alison's camera so I can take some high-quality pics.<br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-55569021145374050792011-05-01T14:48:00.004+08:002011-05-01T14:58:22.307+08:00KTV<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Unfortunately, Ben left for America last night (how did this year go by so quickly??), so on Friday night, we got together for a standard Chinese activity--KTV, or as we call it, karaoke! Adam and I have managed to avoid putting our incredible singing talent on display in China (so as not to make anyone feel bad, ya know?), so this was a first for us.</span><br />
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</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It began with music selections courtesy of Ben's friend (far right), and lots of liquid courage in the form of Korean sake and beer...and pineapple.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKY_hc4TX06_KCK-7RyPb4VVGdbnjV-rKP376xiJTMv9qyHS1Y3cdAclUWd3tj7ZcAoUXwFGdemtQN1U1hvGVA4p1oWY1MP4ThGAWB9Rj2Xw1h-0Sqa-rHhL30fnOYNeN8sgAQbm99gSw/s1600/IMG_2006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKY_hc4TX06_KCK-7RyPb4VVGdbnjV-rKP376xiJTMv9qyHS1Y3cdAclUWd3tj7ZcAoUXwFGdemtQN1U1hvGVA4p1oWY1MP4ThGAWB9Rj2Xw1h-0Sqa-rHhL30fnOYNeN8sgAQbm99gSw/s400/IMG_2006.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9hyphenhyphenNJRN4mdu7Y4ot_N2R7daDwnFR_LpUbuDNe6OXcrJHxxicYbu0IbNTa4QJNIk7GC-64PKl2wgAB4eXItSzoci72XxB4y9ZkU80ROC3V62dWUGr7cFtNEBFjDQMVhcX2zJzXs1gilw/s1600/IMG_2003_2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ9hyphenhyphenNJRN4mdu7Y4ot_N2R7daDwnFR_LpUbuDNe6OXcrJHxxicYbu0IbNTa4QJNIk7GC-64PKl2wgAB4eXItSzoci72XxB4y9ZkU80ROC3V62dWUGr7cFtNEBFjDQMVhcX2zJzXs1gilw/s400/IMG_2003_2.JPG" width="273" /></a> </div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Isn't he adorable?!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In most KTV places, you rent a room by the hour so it's not like in American bars where you're singing in front of the whole crowd. This made it much more intimate and comfortable for sure! (There are actually several places like this in NYC, and I went a few years ago with my co-workers and had a blast!) Basically, someone would select several [random] songs and we passed around the microphones.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidbOM8CcrpHxAOmgzsKNyV2ZUwOb7HJVPsjSWMNFndXLbpDquCj0-QhoaQnon5QqAYsJH8V5MCMCUgt3lUR_xcFyZMaeLsv0W3BYKTOk-JP2oYbrc62T14m-60XRoWGDdJcgpk6Ay_p_k/s1600/IMG_2010.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidbOM8CcrpHxAOmgzsKNyV2ZUwOb7HJVPsjSWMNFndXLbpDquCj0-QhoaQnon5QqAYsJH8V5MCMCUgt3lUR_xcFyZMaeLsv0W3BYKTOk-JP2oYbrc62T14m-60XRoWGDdJcgpk6Ay_p_k/s400/IMG_2010.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVVK0iir_WYtGDSDd0sympnoADlkgxI7yW3w1Q64Oo5maIgSCSKMjNUY2YvOGfCxQln-UVLMPfd0vhchNX2pWCkSTrsMYPujn7z-5e0Xdp05XmeTOulaPE6CKvzd5ssV7gCddjTd8Qu_U/s1600/IMG_2021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVVK0iir_WYtGDSDd0sympnoADlkgxI7yW3w1Q64Oo5maIgSCSKMjNUY2YvOGfCxQln-UVLMPfd0vhchNX2pWCkSTrsMYPujn7z-5e0Xdp05XmeTOulaPE6CKvzd5ssV7gCddjTd8Qu_U/s400/IMG_2021.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Someone picked a Justin Bieber number that Adam and I knew as "Blake and Victoria's Study Song" from the amaaaazing video they sent while procrastinating last fall. We just had to imitate their awesome dance moves:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqehJol4OUMqlrn1tIrg16xx5cQ5Oys9LWkz6cReAT3mMyJ818TS-16QnAp1GtSpdK0ViQp4Pj_rsVkZhkZuePY1-1tZ2F9olpT2xyybasIiFAjmhMoXh0xS0chuEocjZ9RkTNuMZx7WQ/s1600/IMG_2013.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqehJol4OUMqlrn1tIrg16xx5cQ5Oys9LWkz6cReAT3mMyJ818TS-16QnAp1GtSpdK0ViQp4Pj_rsVkZhkZuePY1-1tZ2F9olpT2xyybasIiFAjmhMoXh0xS0chuEocjZ9RkTNuMZx7WQ/s400/IMG_2013.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">And then we decided to step up and pick a few. One of our favorites from this year was Cee-Lo's "F* You," and apparently nobody else had ever heard of it because they were DYING when the lyrics came on and Adam and I pretty much knew every word. We couldn't stop laughing!</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCeZFD2BxXFAWN_eSNc5HKuUjPkmwir-9c53slHwMtGIyzQYlWu2cnbvmt43hrzV2gRkZmRko7x2NaJqNr08qMpvPKRtrhvp7bAdGGCVo_RLeewF337jljdK-aIu89GX1BQuOX5_IG-x4/s1600/IMG_2016.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCeZFD2BxXFAWN_eSNc5HKuUjPkmwir-9c53slHwMtGIyzQYlWu2cnbvmt43hrzV2gRkZmRko7x2NaJqNr08qMpvPKRtrhvp7bAdGGCVo_RLeewF337jljdK-aIu89GX1BQuOX5_IG-x4/s400/IMG_2016.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6VY2vY2oP43kHtyunZjaeYkTgAFnwKx7DE0eHdvxi_XrJVxfJaoISd-jjmx-99vxaKF1yDCmP_pH6SBS0T_RIPgS7cwReTzD1afe_dxF22DlDkNcs-CyY_C154veVGe2rzC6j2Wx96_0/s1600/IMG_2017.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6VY2vY2oP43kHtyunZjaeYkTgAFnwKx7DE0eHdvxi_XrJVxfJaoISd-jjmx-99vxaKF1yDCmP_pH6SBS0T_RIPgS7cwReTzD1afe_dxF22DlDkNcs-CyY_C154veVGe2rzC6j2Wx96_0/s400/IMG_2017.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWYoeGH-CQPNNSNkROyPtaVbALUhQGF25GHjvr6DsEJgWl6cGKD4nqkUN7sFRtbxTD45j3U-w9GvHbmc3yrnBBWc8Wz5nXlwcEj9mAKTMhOnw4J_wmm27ryklLkOxBTpEPIpWTntcp8GE/s1600/IMG_2018.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWYoeGH-CQPNNSNkROyPtaVbALUhQGF25GHjvr6DsEJgWl6cGKD4nqkUN7sFRtbxTD45j3U-w9GvHbmc3yrnBBWc8Wz5nXlwcEj9mAKTMhOnw4J_wmm27ryklLkOxBTpEPIpWTntcp8GE/s400/IMG_2018.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Then came my crowning moment: doing my kids' Christmas number, a wildly popular Korean song called "Nobody But You" (go figure). While I could only sing the chorus (the rest is in Korean), I did as much of the dance as I could remember...</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhR_91jfJjkO8fBZrHNol_b8OzAp8qbxFg_gOvwxDDxUw4vEA25Ub-peSJDxLy7xH_wI-zdxXy25TyUyBgFIk-ablAq1khANkCYrP8qBh9hTgBlZQcSMrAM7uD0YQZzoR_664rMVXxFM/s1600/IMG_2027.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPhR_91jfJjkO8fBZrHNol_b8OzAp8qbxFg_gOvwxDDxUw4vEA25Ub-peSJDxLy7xH_wI-zdxXy25TyUyBgFIk-ablAq1khANkCYrP8qBh9hTgBlZQcSMrAM7uD0YQZzoR_664rMVXxFM/s400/IMG_2027.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3LYr2fbjAa0Oeia114y79xi8cri0wa_pWa6rfWnQ5pfS-3csZGdTAeEu8ME-TqwyoFMZwWQDW3KI-8sa8p8hzwgunnld3jeub2J1I3NQq6ROXBhmpPh7Fz802UzNzKb5U4J6-0KkEqI/s1600/IMG_2028.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk3LYr2fbjAa0Oeia114y79xi8cri0wa_pWa6rfWnQ5pfS-3csZGdTAeEu8ME-TqwyoFMZwWQDW3KI-8sa8p8hzwgunnld3jeub2J1I3NQq6ROXBhmpPh7Fz802UzNzKb5U4J6-0KkEqI/s400/IMG_2028.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDHJpsY5Hf3JVUhR6ryIqoD5GyQASbA9DqenGBxsS-QzmPNoqaOYJeQgSYtt2BYeIF5ZHWDj02UtP2-YDplDMYkuWARYVjC0zOX_S932tpLG3dbKfSHqRE4LLFvclA_BzSKJJzaWEtFp4/s1600/IMG_2035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDHJpsY5Hf3JVUhR6ryIqoD5GyQASbA9DqenGBxsS-QzmPNoqaOYJeQgSYtt2BYeIF5ZHWDj02UtP2-YDplDMYkuWARYVjC0zOX_S932tpLG3dbKfSHqRE4LLFvclA_BzSKJJzaWEtFp4/s400/IMG_2035.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I'll leave you with the original dance, as performed by the Baby International Class of YiXianGuoJi RYB Kindergarten, courtesy of Herman Lewkowitz:</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyXMIZu6YZhpGbmrpmdgi6wZtOBSviLgN-JIQdknvanpmkY2F6Het51k4Zr6Tr03VzSnxQ8ENrJq5rUcO8VEQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It gets repetitive, so you can fast forward to the last 10 seconds of cuteness :)</span>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-74137796997464114412011-05-01T11:03:00.000+08:002011-05-01T11:03:25.620+08:00YiXianGuoJi Olympics, Part 2<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The games resumed Friday morning, after several days' worth of preparation, practice, and decorating:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj50mu-r8y0kxMDFZ_3Vzzsr1W8qqTcjtx4BkS1qMvAWrHDJOnckl-ELbpfaVHmPoUPIWDqHOR1fwbqznyehMF9eDXJuL-mKXlm0a3YbsE5hyheEhkvDkEc4ywpeSBQZsjus4SvWJybizE/s1600/IMG_1961.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj50mu-r8y0kxMDFZ_3Vzzsr1W8qqTcjtx4BkS1qMvAWrHDJOnckl-ELbpfaVHmPoUPIWDqHOR1fwbqznyehMF9eDXJuL-mKXlm0a3YbsE5hyheEhkvDkEc4ywpeSBQZsjus4SvWJybizE/s400/IMG_1961.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">(these teachers are basically the most skilled craftwomen ever!)</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">While most of the classes used the pom-poms and noisemakers from Monday, Pink 3 opted for more practical sun-deflecting gear--flower hats!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFR2TaNLsyA2B70O5TE_jQvvBqiALj2WvlLnVivPDg8asHVf7RJ79qSC-o5JfzLVYryYAdxZ9t9zAKNTJ_nbP7iS2yD1p35QACN6unioFR__-F5i5XqIjdsRrBB2X0_gY318TqHUhdyoo/s1600/IMG_1948.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFR2TaNLsyA2B70O5TE_jQvvBqiALj2WvlLnVivPDg8asHVf7RJ79qSC-o5JfzLVYryYAdxZ9t9zAKNTJ_nbP7iS2yD1p35QACN6unioFR__-F5i5XqIjdsRrBB2X0_gY318TqHUhdyoo/s400/IMG_1948.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It began the same way as Monday: lining up, marching out, watching the flag raising, and singing the national anthem. Then Jerry and Jasmaie (pronounced Jess-may) introduced the games; she spoke in Chinese and he "translated." Adorable.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4GYXD1o8Kg_59tAsmTRMZp-YupY6EkaWxNP64A2CE2rYuCZIrBQt-uLTVUwxfMzmOrFw0qMCTH1GjWPwl9WVmPFczTcvsLLIimn_WpvmdcKJ7Waoqo4luUj2wZSOlEeXrog9ytmkQWqM/s1600/IMG_1956.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4GYXD1o8Kg_59tAsmTRMZp-YupY6EkaWxNP64A2CE2rYuCZIrBQt-uLTVUwxfMzmOrFw0qMCTH1GjWPwl9WVmPFczTcvsLLIimn_WpvmdcKJ7Waoqo4luUj2wZSOlEeXrog9ytmkQWqM/s400/IMG_1956.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">By this point, there were tons of parents gathered around the gates, watching, waving, and taking pictures. It was a little strange for me because I don't know them but they knew me; I heard "Hello Alison!" several times, but just smiled and waved because I had no idea whose parent they were.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We then did the morning exercises (singing and dancing) and then suddenly everyone was lining up to go back inside. Turned out to be a bathroom break...minus the bathroom. Instead of walking our kids up to the 3rd floor, they took out the plastic portable potties, like from <a href="http://faruppereastside.blogspot.com/2010/11/chinese-halloween.html">our trip to the Military Museum</a>, and kids took turns dropping their pants in the hallway. My job was to tuck their shirts back into their pants as they lined up. I took some pictures because it was that unbelievable, but Adam said they're inappropriate to post. You know, the whole kiddie porn thing and all...</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Then the whole school trooped back outside, where chairs had been set up for them. Let the Games begin!!</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The teachers decided their class' events, so we had everything from running and crawling,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi32uYOknjyNpZVzpyQVQ58dfcnBWRFzf3Vxsnf2P3sCmRBCvQrww3Pc6WfqHeS-OobNmR_gvQIXOc6U2-BhpKgzcC1AYgzIZn1NGntTjgMWSk32tV7PFRsdAiw3SKKbC2YpSsaIJSYG7A/s1600/IMG_1966.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi32uYOknjyNpZVzpyQVQ58dfcnBWRFzf3Vxsnf2P3sCmRBCvQrww3Pc6WfqHeS-OobNmR_gvQIXOc6U2-BhpKgzcC1AYgzIZn1NGntTjgMWSk32tV7PFRsdAiw3SKKbC2YpSsaIJSYG7A/s400/IMG_1966.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">to feeding radishes to a rabbit,</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLTkwac7aGnLDm2OPtwj4IWHCNxJ0zOv6kp2eUNK9GBOD14w5AaMiuGtTMgilmA9XMfeqm4MxXJ_qWtWhco8C3IF2GP6ID9Y13-6QLl1JgH2HEqlCkzApGw3UB7GJ2TadQe1XvumwGwV0/s1600/IMG_1969.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLTkwac7aGnLDm2OPtwj4IWHCNxJ0zOv6kp2eUNK9GBOD14w5AaMiuGtTMgilmA9XMfeqm4MxXJ_qWtWhco8C3IF2GP6ID9Y13-6QLl1JgH2HEqlCkzApGw3UB7GJ2TadQe1XvumwGwV0/s400/IMG_1969.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">to crawling and rolling.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBk55nmOiCWFK1QMrdFXMBC564vXjehZ8IJIC7SlnYA24cb8hXZlLUXigQEcQnNuFbOv_DaJHbRJmFKWz32Qq1XLQt_11IrjkyhGyhlQiuQqPyA_Zp4mSF-l5yzHsXJwWS8SOHA7pSvPs/s1600/IMG_1974.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBk55nmOiCWFK1QMrdFXMBC564vXjehZ8IJIC7SlnYA24cb8hXZlLUXigQEcQnNuFbOv_DaJHbRJmFKWz32Qq1XLQt_11IrjkyhGyhlQiuQqPyA_Zp4mSF-l5yzHsXJwWS8SOHA7pSvPs/s400/IMG_1974.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">They were all pretty similar tasks, but the smaller classes went altogether, while the older kids competed 2 by 2. They all had a blast and the parents took tons and tons of pictures.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Then it was time for a teacher event: Tug of War! A few teachers from each class competed and the kids loved cheering them on. It was hilarious.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifEO35uOP7r1i6XvGR7lQ_H_q6e7wKW8gzx5RcvjrYRG3PkFLlO2RW_BjYlYE2iTA6jtPJmidAsr1jD6NSXv_DB5Jdf82eThMaRmcEwc88-1af_0XjOfC5Dj1Vf3Ni4G0BOxjhluDAmuQ/s1600/IMG_1981.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEifEO35uOP7r1i6XvGR7lQ_H_q6e7wKW8gzx5RcvjrYRG3PkFLlO2RW_BjYlYE2iTA6jtPJmidAsr1jD6NSXv_DB5Jdf82eThMaRmcEwc88-1af_0XjOfC5Dj1Vf3Ni4G0BOxjhluDAmuQ/s400/IMG_1981.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">At the end, each kid was awarded a "medal," a pack of markers, and a certificate from the principal before taking a group picture:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikeDs7ntuxuvHPyIlwMxi74O5ti0s0Q3TrNt5JvWROOS-udcIj-0nhGr0n-uEcH7JXqITY9OAPyyY4HjZmeITXAYjOt2bD1ZJfURRTUKyhZSDLnLIG3dNZ0RVcxZvIw8iIUTDPhutefg/s1600/IMG_1993.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjikeDs7ntuxuvHPyIlwMxi74O5ti0s0Q3TrNt5JvWROOS-udcIj-0nhGr0n-uEcH7JXqITY9OAPyyY4HjZmeITXAYjOt2bD1ZJfURRTUKyhZSDLnLIG3dNZ0RVcxZvIw8iIUTDPhutefg/s400/IMG_1993.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A very fun morning at YiXianGuoJi kindergarten!</div>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-68419274654548082722011-04-29T19:38:00.002+08:002011-04-29T19:48:52.966+08:00Perspective<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms;">Today, we had a picnic in the park near CICAMS instead of the weekly meeting. It was actually very fun, with yummy food...though one of the items someone brought was pre-packaged dog meat.<br /><br />Anyways, I was talking to a past Fogarty about Tianjin, a city that Alison and I might go to this weekend as it's 40 minutes away by bullet train, and supposedly is a fun day trip (it comes highly recommended by all four of our non-Fogarty friends in Beijing hahaha). During the conversation, I was stunned by the difference of perspective:<br /><br />Hao: I have to go to Tianjin this weekend.<br />Me: Have to? Do you not like it? We were thinking of going there Sunday.<br />Hao: I don't really like it. I mean, there's nothing to do. It's so small.<br />Me: Small? I thought it had over 7 million people?<br />Hao: Yea. It does. Way too small.<br /><br />So apparently, a city that is slightly smaller than the biggest city in US (our superstar metropolis, NYC, with 8+ million people in all 5 boroughs!) is too small to have anything fun to do.<br /><br />Insane, right?<br /></span>Adamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10000126350591152793noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6281423133625301155.post-32315358699135598692011-04-26T20:49:00.000+08:002011-04-26T20:49:52.197+08:00YiXianGuoJi Olympics, Part 1<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I arrived at school on Monday, taught 2 Pink classes, and then went outside to meet the Small Int'l Class for the Monday morning routine--flag raising and "exercises" (choreographed dancing to music). To my surprise, the whole school was lined up in preparation for the "Kindergarten Sport," whatever that means. I assume it's like a mini-Olympics. Each class had a sign,</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhayh85X-wNW-gVxSNgK8DVpBWTCuBYfQXOIHvx-FWnSY8NbwPaaulyE9jDJS82F2yu1nZcne1wBxCZnx3rrAeX0AF6gXQDrNsvKQ-uYuTab2fQuK8WglnCpPpzcEfJzc08X_AS0U2rx3o/s1600/IMG_1915.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhayh85X-wNW-gVxSNgK8DVpBWTCuBYfQXOIHvx-FWnSY8NbwPaaulyE9jDJS82F2yu1nZcne1wBxCZnx3rrAeX0AF6gXQDrNsvKQ-uYuTab2fQuK8WglnCpPpzcEfJzc08X_AS0U2rx3o/s400/IMG_1915.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Notice the great spelling?</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">and some sort of hand-held celebratory object (pom-poms, noise-makers, signs).</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfB-kC7rSmOAMM4UUTQszQxpAuAy2nLvp9IhQhoQe1msAH6_ssJk6C0AEeHjebCxLaNgI8b9dE5dsvuDj4kRhCy-5qYvHLj6Vh3FGb7vl3eAdNNHsR9knlfzGD0gig0YdekoeVqX61l-o/s1600/IMG_1916.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfB-kC7rSmOAMM4UUTQszQxpAuAy2nLvp9IhQhoQe1msAH6_ssJk6C0AEeHjebCxLaNgI8b9dE5dsvuDj4kRhCy-5qYvHLj6Vh3FGb7vl3eAdNNHsR9knlfzGD0gig0YdekoeVqX61l-o/s400/IMG_1916.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cindy, Jean, and Dora picked their colors--"I like blue!" and "I like PINK!"</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTCQWxV4Sn9o3MbuBboNp6MYuuCRoI5ol30fwb8LCd1Q9GBQlAvGEepRZF_ZXPj91PJUpb1vqrRdJq7ZW0D2Z2ztov0dq6htYxLfyhrEzMmVFCxOuYVuOvsOZU816mI348Fw3FM7_QLhw/s1600/IMG_1920.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTCQWxV4Sn9o3MbuBboNp6MYuuCRoI5ol30fwb8LCd1Q9GBQlAvGEepRZF_ZXPj91PJUpb1vqrRdJq7ZW0D2Z2ztov0dq6htYxLfyhrEzMmVFCxOuYVuOvsOZU816mI348Fw3FM7_QLhw/s400/IMG_1920.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">Bowen and Leon were excited!</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxTry3dthgJ9IojpKseCxnvM6lK97GaITh8ZSljG3BZ7NFfubPmTIIlTcPfIVJyvEIV9du_LyQbt9n1DBKanPEyiYt7l6ClxXY8795Ojp7UTVtJqaVM4i92HlMP6HigfKcgxW_aFXCTF8/s1600/IMG_1922.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxTry3dthgJ9IojpKseCxnvM6lK97GaITh8ZSljG3BZ7NFfubPmTIIlTcPfIVJyvEIV9du_LyQbt9n1DBKanPEyiYt7l6ClxXY8795Ojp7UTVtJqaVM4i92HlMP6HigfKcgxW_aFXCTF8/s400/IMG_1922.JPG" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ashley and Hannah made their pom-poms into hair!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Eventually, we got to the flag-raising and national anthem singing:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFUFm8jf2flPyx_jeNBmUBmT2C4ywzGqaXW-FHPt8SK2leSWWNxIQxXs1GjcRPUWG3BbErkhnr3gJ0b6l2VbqqOWjoc08makQ3L_xUqyljmeCGvdDXz-oBzvur6V-91DeTAG5BjjqSNsE/s1600/IMG_1923.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFUFm8jf2flPyx_jeNBmUBmT2C4ywzGqaXW-FHPt8SK2leSWWNxIQxXs1GjcRPUWG3BbErkhnr3gJ0b6l2VbqqOWjoc08makQ3L_xUqyljmeCGvdDXz-oBzvur6V-91DeTAG5BjjqSNsE/s400/IMG_1923.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I tried to record the singing on the camera, but it was just a bunch of noise. The kids shout at the top of their lungs, all completely off from each other. It's hilarious, and I imagine exactly how The Star Spangled Banner sounds in preschools in America.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Then it turned out that they weren't prepared for the sports and postponed until Friday. Stay tuned... </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Instead of sports, we went inside for a lesson and my favorite time of day--"Do a Dance!" We either do the Hokey Pokey or the kids' favorite--the Chicken Dance! Yes, I brought the Chicken Dance to China. The whole school does it and loves it. So funny! They usually gather in small groups and dance:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMONKD2MuXOXruzAyyC1a_4kyGu8U-kRKMl51lC16Dk2jizpPgmg8HEEL7URu6t6ZyzVfMwV35ontnrD34tmUiu7mbMX_zpO6L9MV0jpnaVKKoqGJKo58tzD4l58KrijZcYgYaJjmak90/s1600/IMG_1930.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMONKD2MuXOXruzAyyC1a_4kyGu8U-kRKMl51lC16Dk2jizpPgmg8HEEL7URu6t6ZyzVfMwV35ontnrD34tmUiu7mbMX_zpO6L9MV0jpnaVKKoqGJKo58tzD4l58KrijZcYgYaJjmak90/s400/IMG_1930.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">Cindy (left) and Sarah had a grand ol' time; I just had to post this series of them being absolutely adorable.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6FRtAj0bMu8psTl78NK6cz2Slxfnx2mhc0Xss-kOri-JBMv0ULygi234NRKKiopF1-zStY_gduutZfYgU-3eUzFpDdbtaYxIAnPHWAa8xlnrM3S-iiEXUXMdhKhJYVkfXbZbS7pCBj-Y/s1600/IMG_1931.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6FRtAj0bMu8psTl78NK6cz2Slxfnx2mhc0Xss-kOri-JBMv0ULygi234NRKKiopF1-zStY_gduutZfYgU-3eUzFpDdbtaYxIAnPHWAa8xlnrM3S-iiEXUXMdhKhJYVkfXbZbS7pCBj-Y/s400/IMG_1931.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuAp21SMUBgKmJyu8Hl5eV644sOqUNzoQk7OHSbty9DUJJylc_mne0W-YpQCw-RAexHCuR6nbtT94cJBXVL9A3HGShSc5BP0Uy404rtOeabshEuJHArjce_qlZbh2kckqa80TflTLjoXY/s1600/IMG_1932.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuAp21SMUBgKmJyu8Hl5eV644sOqUNzoQk7OHSbty9DUJJylc_mne0W-YpQCw-RAexHCuR6nbtT94cJBXVL9A3HGShSc5BP0Uy404rtOeabshEuJHArjce_qlZbh2kckqa80TflTLjoXY/s400/IMG_1932.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghF5-4-m_fAUHAtqDo7S5wDaqEUtaMOvlHGH0w-rCw99hDKF2Hg2f1LUDy2woietJvbR5Eq6w91DPvyQ_3XjhGJT_hVZiziBOqYY6xIdYjk25a1wlP6VOBZV4Nw2XxoZ_NAAHOoFjCEiU/s1600/IMG_1933.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghF5-4-m_fAUHAtqDo7S5wDaqEUtaMOvlHGH0w-rCw99hDKF2Hg2f1LUDy2woietJvbR5Eq6w91DPvyQ_3XjhGJT_hVZiziBOqYY6xIdYjk25a1wlP6VOBZV4Nw2XxoZ_NAAHOoFjCEiU/s400/IMG_1933.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">I definitely plan on bringing a camera on Friday, so get ready for YiXianGuoJi Olympics, Part 2 this weekend!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">Side note: there is a music room in the school, where the kids have piano lessons; it is also the new storage place for the Scholastic materials. When I first went in, I was completely confused by the pictures on the walls...2 white men with Chinese names?? I was sure that I must know these musicians by name, so I sounded out the Chinese, and this is what I came up with:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJHWYyhyphenhyphenofTig3vVN1kq_hDyn6ohgPyx-UfiA_g9n0jJgb-JWPJHnA6UKoCAt6bKjvK7u2R8ureTy6Xge1AFygVOJFW4G1av6AiwpKm1d7JLCSuDC4z_HYRYxpGDAIRe_pNhBh065irio/s1600/IMG_1912.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJHWYyhyphenhyphenofTig3vVN1kq_hDyn6ohgPyx-UfiA_g9n0jJgb-JWPJHnA6UKoCAt6bKjvK7u2R8ureTy6Xge1AFygVOJFW4G1av6AiwpKm1d7JLCSuDC4z_HYRYxpGDAIRe_pNhBh065irio/s400/IMG_1912.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Chai - keh - foo - suh - jee (literally) = Tchaikovsky!</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5LaYDX5IIUkSG0JFyzPnpndQVd7M1rYNcJkhhF-c7r7gdSmApWlSZ_dnWKCdvLSrCJyuS7LUwVPgSHawTEOvmVRZhUfLA3tjz5xNOnTwkWch0nyk4a02c6vs1VcMcodYVo016qYwndPY/s1600/IMG_1913.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5LaYDX5IIUkSG0JFyzPnpndQVd7M1rYNcJkhhF-c7r7gdSmApWlSZ_dnWKCdvLSrCJyuS7LUwVPgSHawTEOvmVRZhUfLA3tjz5xNOnTwkWch0nyk4a02c6vs1VcMcodYVo016qYwndPY/s400/IMG_1913.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: center;">Shao - bong (literally) = Chopin! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">Because every Chinese word has an associated character, they must "translate" foreign words into similar sounding Chinese characters. EX: Arizona = ya li sang na (yah-lee-song-na); Carrefour = jia le fou (jeeah-le-foo). It's so interesting how they have adapted foreign and international words to make them understood and able to be used in Chinese!</div>ARLewkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02415254695290388267noreply@blogger.com0