Starting the New Year with a New Business

Most of you know by now that I am in the U.S. visiting family and friends. What many of you don't know is how I'm really spending my time.

I have projects galore!

While in Oklahoma visiting my mom and siblings for Thanksgiving I completed my profile on Elance and began working as a freelance writer, editor, and researcher. 

I visited Dr. Robert Davis Con-Undiano at the University of Oklahoma, who gave me a lot of information on my research topic of how Americans view Mo Yan, Nobel prize winner for literature in 2012. 

I met with another professor at Oklahoma Central University and ended up being invited to present at the Asian Center for Development Program's (ACDP) national conference in Houston this coming March.

I decided to make a quilt top while in Oklahoma and two days later I was finished.

I then took a 16+ hour Greyhound bus ride to Holbrook from OKC. I met a man who had been shot eight times in his life, twice in the head. I even felt where the bullet is still lodged in his forehead. There was also a German-speaking, elderly Amish couple on board, and a girl who drank a 2-liter soda in three hours. The Greyhound truly impressed me as very American, to say the least.

I wrapped a suitcase full of presents and got more excited than the kids when it came time to open them. Fortunately, all the clothes fit, albeit some just barely ;) 

I got food poisoning.

I signed up for a 10k. I train at home and around town when I'm not helping my dad with food storage and feeding chickens.

So now I am gathering my research materials, getting in contact with more professors, writing articles for various blog posts, and I've started preparing presentations on China for my younger siblings' classes. 

But the thing that I just have to share with everyone is my new business--selling t-shirts! It's been my goal for a long time to sell shirts with my original designs. Since I'm starting small, right now I only have one design and 10 shirts. I have until March 16 before I head back to China and I'd love to get them all sold before then. For now, expect to see a lot of posts on Facebook and other outlets about these shirts. If you're interested in making a purchase, feel free to contact me through my Facebook page or my Etsy shop.

 

 

What do you think? Do you know someone who would like an English-Chinese character mix that combines American humor with Chinese aesthetics? If so, pass it on or leave a comment.

Happy New Year!

American Stuff I'm Looking Forward to

With my upcoming trip back to the USofA, I have been thinking A LOT about what I want to do, where I want to go, and what I'll get to eat. In that I'm going back during winter vacation I'll be around for all the major holidays. It's been five years since that's happened, so of course there is plenty to look forward to! Just to name a few, there's turkey, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, pie, Christmas trees, singing carols, turkey, gravy, sugar cookies. Did I mention turkey? Those are all very normal (holiday) things and there's plenty more in the line of everyday American stuff (like English everywhere)!

What I'm looking forward to, however, are things you might not expect. These are things that I took for granted until I started living in Asia. They may not make a lot of sense, as they truly are the little things in life. If I make it to your house while I'm in the U.S., you'll probably understand why I might stare at the TV or stand over your shoulder when you cook. Don't worry, I'm just making lots of memories for the next time I'm sitting in a hot, crowded Chinese bus missing home.

Recliners. If you have a recliner, I'm coming to your house. I might steal your spot. That's the risk you'd be taking by having a recliner devotee back from a two-year absence sleep on your couch. Which reminds me, I'm also looking forward to couches!

Sandwiches. Not any one in particular, but rather the concept. Two slices of whole wheat bread, not cut in half or stacked on top of one another. Just two plain slices of bread, toasted. Real Mayonnaise, not any of the sweet variety. Fresh tomatoes. Pickles! Mmm, mustard. Any kind of meat and/or other veggies will do, as long as it's not corn. All this should be served with potato chips (although sometimes a soup, french fries, or a salad will do) at lunchtime. Unless it's breakfast time, in which case, I'd like to change my order to a breakfast sandwich. Makes sense, right?

 

Free access to sites like Google, Facebook, Blogspot, etc. This is a given. The second I'm allowed on Narita's network in Japan during my layover, my digits will be all over their proxy-less hand-helds.  

Salty popcorn. Again, it's the concept. I'm not saying I'm going to be microwaving popcorn every night for three months, but once I catch a sniff of hot, buttery movie theater popcorn, you bet I will be savoring each kernel!

Carpeted floors. I don't even care what might be squished between the threads, I just want to feel softness under my feet when I walk around in my own home.

Dryers. It would be nice not to have to wait a whole day for clothes to dry. Plus, I just really love the smell.

 

Stars. Sunsets. Real dirt. Mountains you can actually hike. Nature you can get messy in. No crowds. No cheating stairs. And in Arizona there are bound to be magnificent lookout points. Little pollution. So much sky you can make a blanket out of it.  

Football--American style. I know I'll be getting to the U.S. right at the tail end of football season (especially for high schools, which are the games I enjoy), but I am still looking forward to seeing those neckless hunks and all the other fabulous entertainment. Can someone say marching band or half-time shows? Is it obvious that I don't have a team to root for? If you're hosting any tailgating parties or at-home game nights, do count me in! 

TV. Commercials. Even the reality shows. I think it's finally my turn to hold the remote! Although I'll probably get tired of this within a week of being home, I really do enjoy watching TV on a big screen, in a language I can understand, and preferably, with the ability to DVR two shows at once. I also shamelessly like to tune in to almost every marathon of The Nanny or any other 70's-90's sitcom on TV Land. When it comes to reality shows, it's not that I particularly like them, but unlike other visits to the U.S., this time I am curious what's on and who's making it big. Plus, in my house, it's a cause for good, old-fashioned family time.

As you can see, I have some things to catch up on once I'm in the U.S. If I can do it with friends, it will be even better, so don't be shy about writing me a line or giving me a call! Lastly, chances are another similar list will go up soon after I get back: What I miss about China. Looking forward to that, too!

Niu Nai: China's Milk "Udderly" Foreign

While my Singaporean friend, Su, was studying abroad in Canada a few years ago she posted a Facebook update that caught my attention. She had posited the question 2% milk is two percent what exactly? At this point I was back in the U.S. after spending a semester in Singapore, where I had mostly stopped drinking milk. Being new to foreign countries, particularly those of Asia, I just couldn't see how milk could come in a box and, moreover, not be kept in the refrigerator. But I had gotten used to it, so with my newfound knowledge of our cultural differences, I commented on Su's post, explaining how whole milk, 2%, 1%, and skim milk are different from each other. To my surprise, she was pretty thankful for the information.

I want to tell you that story so that what I'm about to do makes sense. Below are pictures of how milk is sold in China. Strange, you might think. Yes, but not if you compare it to your dairy section at home. This is how milk is typically sold all over Asia, and since I've been here for a while, I suppose that's why it took me so long to write about it. Usually it is sold in individual packets. Some packages are thick-skinned, while others don a thin plastic cover. There are also boxes with straws. Very rarely you can find a 1 liter box, and those are often imported from Europe. A couple of brands sell skim or low-fat kinds, but again, mostly it's all the same. With all the choices and the sheer amount of individual packets, milk sections in China run on for half the store. NOT kidding. So get prepared to be "milked dry" for the day after seeing these!

 

 

 

The refrigerated milk section

 

 

"Pure" Milk (thin plastic package)

 

 

Nut flavors (from left to right): walnut, black sesame, red bean (thick-skinned package)

 

 

DA3's and other foreign students' preferred brand, also named "Pure" Milk. I have no idea what makes this 'pure' so different from the above's 'pure.'

 

 

The boxed stuff. One of the few national brands that makes 1 liter boxes.

 

 

Non-refrigerated 12 box pack. Perfect for 3 person families!

 

 

Look! Free yogurt attached!

 

 

Chocolate milk and what's that? Papaya milk!? It's only 45.60 RMB, less than $10. Actually I have no idea if that's cheap for a 12 box pack.

 

The flavor is different than in North America, too. I wish I could share that through a picture. It's thicker and, maybe because it's not usually cold, seems more flavorful. Or maybe I've just been living in Asia or too long. There are also a large array of fruit-milk mixtures. I really can't say which is healthier, though--boxed, warm milk or refrigerated gallons? Which would you guess?

America "Gun" Wrong

My mom is an art teacher and this is the first year that teachers at her school have been required to complete training exercises in preparation for a school shooting. The school district where I grew up started similar training when I was in junior high, not long after Columbine. Along with regular fire drills, we had to practice how to fortify our classrooms against the possibility of one of our own wreaking havoc out of the seeming blue. I, for one, took it very seriously as I had encountered a classmate with a gun once (to this day I don't know if it was real or fake, but not being one of those colorful water guns, I didn't waste any time in telling my teacher). 

Then I went abroad. In whichever country I happen to be in, no matter how developed or (usually) underdeveloped it is, one of the first questions I get is whether it's true that everyone in the U.S. owns a gun. If it's not that question, it's whether or not it's true that people can walk around in public with a gun. I know how we Americans would like to answer these questions. It would be very grand to respond with a vigorous, "No!" While you can't judge the whole situation based on the regular reports of shootings that make it to the front page, we can't ignore the true answer to these questions. The answer is "yes," I'm sad to report. Yes, people can carry a gun in public places. Although restrictions apply depending on where you intend to carry the firearm or whether or not it's loaded, it remains true that only 6 states and the District of Columbia forbid carrying firearms at all. Furthermore, the law is not the same in all states. Of course, not everyone owns a gun. But according to some statistics 1 in 4 people do. Huffington Post's graphic on the topic points out an interesting comparison. While China doesn't even have 10 guns per 100 people, the U.S. reports 88.8 guns per 100 people. So the answer is yes. The ridiculousness that makes these shootings even more likely to happen does exist and on a significant scale. 

Besides being asked such questions while I'm abroad, what does the gun topic matter to me? I come from a tiny town of fewer than 200 people. My dad grew up there, as did his dad before him and his dad before him. In fact, ask any Chinese person and it's likely that they have just such a family village. It's very rare in such small towns for violence in the form of terrorism to occur. Yet it's been happening right across the street from my family. They, themselves, have received threats. All from a low-class, uneducated, possibly drug-induced man who also happens to own a few guns, one of which he brazenly carries in a holster attached to his hip. There is no 'why' or reason to his active disturbance of the peace. According to this person's brand of "freedom," he's allowed to do whatever he wants. Now that includes toting a gun across the street--police presence aside--to "talk." 

Last year I lived across the hall from two Sierra Leone guys who had both grown up during their country's recent war. One of them had hidden with his family in the bush for the better part of a year. As I mentioned in a former post, one of Tunisia's politicians was assassinated and DA3 was horrified, partly because that was only the second time that has ever happened in his country. My South Korean friends are more concerned about a possible attack from their northern counterparts than a gunman in their classroom (the feeling is probably mutual in North Korea) and, honestly, it's a very slight worry at that. The last time my Vietnamese friend went home, his mother was robbed while on her motorcycle (a risk in itself in Hanoi). From petty theft to nuclear warheads, there are things that will break up the monotony of our daily lives whether we ask for them or not. So my question is: why does stupidity need to be one of them? 

 

The way I see it, my Sierra Leone friends are halfway across the world from their homes and working to get an education in order to go back and help turn the country around. I cannot imagine either one of them wielding a gun against his neighbor. DA3 could not fathom why a person would feel the need to kill a stranger, but to pull a gun on your neighbor would seem to him even more absurd and cruel. I'm sure that half the reason keeping North and South Korea from going back to war is simply blood relations. Unless the government explicitly demands it, I don't believe that either party would go against their own ethnicity like that. So how is it that America is getting so off-track? As education takes more and more of a back seat, people are forgetting how to build life instead of destroy it. For whatever reason, people are not learning that to cherish and practice one's own freedom means the active protection of another's freedom, too. Such self-centered recklessness is literally happening in my front yard. 

Some More S'mores, Please

Today I made an American classic: s'mores. I've been craving a good camp out for a while, so I think this was a result of that. I got the chocolate--the cheap Chinese kind. I got the crackers--no graham crackers, but round breakfast biscuits instead. Lastly, I got the peach flavored marshmallows. Yep, peach flavored, because there are no marshmallows as you know them here unless they're imported. When it came time to make my treats, I opted for the lazy way of doing it and stuck it all in the microwave. After the chocolate melted and the marshmallows swelled up, I ate the mash-up with my bright green chopsticks, true "Lehyla Fusion" style.