My Chinese Life - UPDATED

This is the traditional Drang (one of twelve Chinese minority groups) outfit I wore everyday in China. Okay, not really. I thought it could be a good introduction for my Chinese life. After flying from Paris through London to Hong Kong, I took a ferry to Shenzhen in order to catch a flight to Nanning, my final destination. That travel day, plus the time change, wiped me out for about a week! Thankfully, the week that followed was full of just living life with my friend Emily, her husband Eric and their two children, Evan and Elsa.

We did normal stuff, like going shopping at Walmart, having an ice cream cone at McDonald's. . .. . . and eating the King Arthur Special at Pizza Hut.

Of course, normal stuff certainly looks quite different in Nanning than in Long Beach. For example, the only section at Walmart that carried familiar brands was health and beauty (Revlon, Maybelline, etc.). And McDonald's had mocha, berry and green apple twist cones. While I haven't been to Pizza Hut in years, I certainly don't remember prawn or salmon pizza with corn on top.

Emily and Eric have a woman who helps with daily life necessities, such as laundry, cooking and shopping. We call her IE (spelled phonetically), which in Chinese is like "auntie". It is an endearing term that shows respect. She brought Emily and I to the market with her one day so I could check out her daily routine. We walked through the beef section, . . .. . . the poultry section, . . .

. . . the fish section and . . .. . . the produce section.I actually ate more greens during my few weeks in China than I have in the past year! They have a wonderful selection that just doesn't exist in the States. I even tried pumpkin flowers, which are really tasty. Do they serve those in fancy restaurants?

Emily and I hadn't seen one another in over two years, so there was lots of catching up to do. I think we talked non-stop for the first week. Many of our conversations took place while preparing for Evan's 4th birthday party. We made train-shaped sugar cookies and a train cake. Can you guess what the party theme is?
I contributed by making chocolate chip cookies. It actually just satisfied my craving to have one! The only challenge I had was getting the chocolate chips. I improvised by chopping up a Dove bar. That is SOME knife.Evan and I enjoyed playing legos together for our daily interactions. It's still lots of fun, for those of you who were wondering. I think I'll buy some for my nieces and nephews so I can continue the legacy.Elsa and I just hung out.My showers were taken in the bathroom, as usual. What is UNUSUAL is the close proximity to the toilet (see the hole in the ground - that's a Chinese toilet), which is used as the drain. Just another example of Chinese ingenuity. By the way - I actually got pretty skilled at using a non-Western toilet. In Africa, I would dehydrate myself in order to avoid them at all costs. Maybe a little TMI, but it shows personal growth.Emily and I used my visit as an opportunity to pamper ourselves. We started with manicures and pedicures at the Dolphin Gulf - Paris (perhaps a chain?). A couple of observations:

1. We had FOUR ladies work on us - one per hand or foot; and


2. We were told the service would take about an hour. It took 2 1/2 hours. They were very meticulous. In fact, three weeks later, my toenails still look almost perfect!

Another treat was to have our hair "dry" shampooed. I didn't get it either until I tried it. The gentleman added a little shampoo, then a little water, then a little shampoo and then a little water, to my dry hair. He then gave me a 30-minute scalp massage. Very relaxing and unique. I also had him straighten my hair for a grand total of US$2.50. This pampering process took 1 1/2 hours. Boy, beauty is time-consuming! The final indulgence was a facial and massage. Emily hadn't previewed the experience, so neither one of us knew what to expect. We decided on the special for US$4 which included a scalp, neck and back massage, as well as a facial. Who could pass up a deal like that? We were told it would take about 30 minutes.
Two hours later, we had lived through that beauty process. I say lived through because it was actually a little painful. Have you ever had someone massage the tendon between your bone and muscle? Or pushed on your face? Do you know the feeling of tensing up to prepare for the pain? That was a Chinese massage. Here's what I looked like at the end:A little beaten up and bruised, as well as whitened. The beauty products they used on our faces included a whitening agent because Chinese women value looking whiter. My face did feel quite smooth from their products, which they encouraged us to buy at the end. I chose not to.

For the first time in my life, I went to a tailor in order to be fitted for a dress. A qipao, actually, which is a traditional Chinese dress worn on special occasions. I fell in love with the silk material you can see on the lower left and couldn't pass up the opportunity to have a tailored dress for less than US$40. By Chinese standards, that is a large sum of money not normally spent on such an item. I felt a little decadent in my purchase, but I can't wait to see how it turns out. (Mom and Dad - it will be sent to you because it wasn't ready when I left Nanning.)

This typical scene in Nanning took place at the entrance of Emily and Eric's street. It really captures what I saw when we went on our excursions.Just as in Africa, the amount of people activity amazed me.

Overall, I have enjoyed my time in China far more than I ever expected. The language fascinates me with its profound way of explaining things in the simplest terms. In English, I use about 20 words to explain something that in Chinese would be about 3. The industrious Chinese way of doing things inspires me. They seem to work smarter, not harder. They also are quite fascinated by, and welcoming of, foreigners. In fact, this seems to be the case in most places I've visited. We Americans have much to learn about the meaning of hospitality as we welcome guests in our country.