Family

Two years ago almost to the day I lost my ATM card and the experience of getting a replacement was such a hassle I swore I would never let it happen again. Until a couple weeks ago. It is pretty easy to lose an ATM card here as most of the machines spit out the card at a remarkably slow pace that for some reason reminds me of a tractor. Both times I lost my card I was stressed out about something and I’m sure I just grabbed the withdraw and walked away leaving my card to eject into an invisible hand. After realizing I lost my card and checking the cash bins near the ATM machine it was time for me to solicit Yang’s help and go to the bank. One of the things I dislike the most about living here is its difficult for me to do any kind of complicated transaction without someone’s help and in general I tend not to like to ask for help. ...

I stand up to get some water to wash down my lunch and I feel a bit dizzy and not for the first time in that day. I’ve had a bit of a cold and a Beijing smog fueled cough and I’m thinking now I might really be coming down with something. That and I was up at 3:45am to watch the 49ers NFC Championship Game. So I decide it is time to go home for the day and put the quarters into the machine again tomorrow. ...

I sit across from my friend’s date, yet it is not his date, it is an exploration. I cannot speak because they are flirting in Chinese and it is only with great effort that I can even follow. I also cannot speak because I’ve lost my voice. I’m not sure what was the cause of the voice loss and although it sounds like I swallowed a possessed frog, I’m pretty sure that I didn’t actually swallow a possessed frog. It is not clear that my voice loss is noticed because I don’t really speak all that much anyway and when I do people can barely hear me. ...

It is 5:10pm as I head out of the office 10 minutes later than I had planned and nine hours after I arrived. This would be a full day for most but for me is a short day. Like most of my days since winter started. I wish I could say it was because I’ve finally been finding the balance in life but that’s not it. I’m just not all that motivated. Could be my mom’s passing. Could be a month of below freezing temperatures. Could be a midlife crisis, mine or another’s. There is no “why”. It just is. Maybe I could rewind the chain of events and find the “why” but that’s not where I’m at right now. Mainly because I think there are many “whys” that can be blamed. Live in the moment and fix forward is what I aim for. ...

In the crazy world that is the Chinese holiday schedule today is my fifth day off of the past six. Tomorrow begins a stretch of working eight days in a row. For most of the five days off I’ve been inside alternating between reading, watching tv, playing with the kids, and eating. Today I decided to get out of the house for a bit. The plan adventure was a walking audio tour of Beijing. But not just any walking audio tour, this one was based on an unofficially unsolved murder of a foreigner in Beijing. ...

I get home at 6:30pm to the sight of Aidan and Lydia sitting at the dining room table, eating noodles, and watching videos on the laptop. Elisa is at the other end of the table from where she can see the living room TV while having a bite to eat. The two things that I’ve repeatedly asked is that the kids don’t watch TV when eating and that we eat together as a family. It is New Year’s Eve and I am not exactly feeling like the king of the household. It doesn’t help that Yang is out somewhere with her friends. ...

I wake up with a stuffy nose and a dry throat. It is five AM. It is 0 degrees Fahrenheit outside. It is Christmas Eve. I down a cup of instant coffee and eat three of brazil nuts and then begin my workout. 30 minutes later, drenched in sweat, I make my breakfast and listen to ESPN radio over the internet. I shower and dress for the office. Christmas Eve is just another day here. Well, mostly. The kids being in the international department of Fangcaodi have the week off school whereas the rest of the students need to go to school. For our house these means the kids are still asleep when I head out the door for work. Normally, they are leaving at the same time as me and I get to harass them about waking up and eating some breakfast. On this morning, I am missing that. ...

Foreigners (Laowai) are not expected to understand anything about China and that can be a haven for someone who has never felt like he belonged anywhere. Or it can just be really annoying. Today’s post covers a couple of annoyances. Yang’s mom, Pan Yi Hong, was set to land in Beijing after a six month stay in Boise, Idaho. The fact that she could stand spending six months in Boise, with her son, is incomprehensible but then again many things are incomprehensible about Pan Yi Hong. I was originally going to fly the San Francisco to Beijing leg of the flight with Pan Yi Hong, in fact I booked my return flight from the states to so that I might be of some assistance. Pan Yi Hong is fairly old after all and has the strange needs older people get. Well, I suspect, age is not a factor in her case. And as it turned out I did not take that flight with her as she missed her originating flight from Boise to San Francisco. And when she did get the originating flight the next day, it was delayed landing in San Francisco and she missed her connecting flight to Beijing. After spending the night in Fremont with her beloved daughter-in-law she finally boarded United Airlines 889 to Beijing. This is where I re-enter the story. ...

It is the day before Thanksgiving and I am at Carrefour hopelessly searching for a meat thermometer and pie crusts. This seems to happen to me every year and my Chinese is so bad that I cannot even begin to describe what I want and have it make any sense. And if I could describe it then it really wouldn’t make any sense. Not many ovens here to cook a Turkey or bake a pie. ...

During our first summer here I bought a bicycle. An old fashioned ten speed with narrow tires which I used it to bike to Chinese class and just get around town. Yang got a bike too and we would take Aidan and Lydia out. Elisa was just a concept. No baby wagons here, kids sit on the back in a simple seat. Here’s what the bike seat looked like when it was relatively new ...