I returned from a two-week business trip to Boise this past Tuesday. It was great to see so many friends and family while I was in town and it was also exciting to once again be apart of the Christmas season in a place where people understand the meaning of Christmas. The Chinese have good intentions but just like we do not understand their holidays, they do not understand ours. You can hear “Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer” playing in department stores all year long.
While I was in Boise, I was able to get Christmas cards out to those people who I have addresses for, but I was definitely lacking updated addresses for many of you. If you would like to be on the list for next year, please send me your updated address (alecia@idahovandals.com). Unfortunately the selection of Christmas cards at the Carrefour was limited so we thought that the ugly-ish pictures on the front of the cards would be made up for by the Chinese characters on the inside wishing you a Merry Christmas, but when I actually opened the card, there was no Chinese writing so all you get is an ugly-ish card. Oh well…hopefully our holiday pictures (taken at the Badaling section of the Great Wall near Beijing and in Guilin) will make up for it. As you either saw in the picture with the Christmas card or as you can see in the picture above, our Christmas letter is virtual this year and will begin immediately…
2007 has been a year that we would describe as cultural, educational and adventurous. We have really enjoyed living in Shanghai and can clearly appreciate the many unique things the city has to offer while we also recognize some of the disadvantages of living here which occasionally make us long for the United States.
This blog site has so many examples of why we are so fortunate to live in China right now. We have had so many amazing travel opportunities since we moved here and have seen so much of Asia. As I look at the photos pages, I realize that we have been to over 19 amazing destinations in the past year. Wow! We recognize how fortunate we are.
Other great advantages of living in Shanghai have been the opportunity to meet so many international friends and experience so many different cultures and types of people. We have met so many fun, unique and interesting people. We both thrive on this aspect of living here!
The Chinese aspect of living in China is important to us as well. While we fought some of the cultural aspects of China at first, after over a year in China, we find ourselves captivated by this culture that is utterly different than our own. For me, really in the past two months, my attitude has changed from one of slight annoyance at times to one of awe. Part of this change was brought on by reading “Wild Swans” and gaining a better understanding of why people are the way they are. I hope to further this acceptance through further reading and research. Another part of the change happened as a result of going back to the states and recognizing our imperfections helping me to realize that every country has things to work on. Probably the biggest part of the acceptance process just simply takes time. Now I find myself walking around the streets with my eyes bright with excitement as I take it all in. We are no longer surprised when we see something new and unexpected because it happens almost every day.
While we were on our sailing trip in Thailand, I read a book called Mr. China that chronicles the stories of one man’s experiences doing business in China back when the country was first opened up to foreigners (again) in the 1980s. There are a couple times in the book where the author describes the enigma that is China in a way that we can relate to. “I had a sense of something so vast and so old so chaotic and so utterly foreign, that it took me right out of myself.” Also “an age-old culture had somehow taken a wrong turn, but I could feel the determination to catch up.” These two descriptive quotes from the book are things that we almost tangibly feel and experience on a daily basis. While this can sometimes be frustrating, it is also exciting and exhilarating.
Unfortunately for us, the disadvantages of living in Shanghai are things that are fairly important to us, namely the fact that this is an unhealthy place to live and of course that we miss friends and family. Being in Boise the past two weeks, running in the foothills with my friends at gawd-awful times in the morning reminded me yet again how much I love being outdoors and exercising as part of my daily routine. I still go to the gym here in Shanghai but it is not in the least bit inspiring and half the time I wonder if by exercising in the pollution if I am doing more harm than good. It is with these advantages and disadvantages that we ponder living a total of two or three years in Shanghai.
We are staying in Shanghai for Christmas this year. Andy surprised me when I returned from the states to have a Christmas tree up with a couple of presents already under the tree. Over the course of my time in Boise I had started to downplay our Christmas in Shanghai so I had mentally resolved that we would just take Christmas Eve and Day off from work (we celebrate Chinese holidays) and hang out together. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised to realize our Christmas will be more festive than I was expecting. On my first jet-lagged morning, I unpacked all of my bags and then wrapped the items I had purchased for Andy in Boise and placed them under the tree.
This past week at work, we ended up getting into numerous discussions on Christmas traditions. I had brought an advent calendar and put it up in my cubicle and spent some time explaining to co-workers what it was and how it is used. Fortunately each door opens to a German chocolate so people were eager to give this Christmas tradition a try. Andy put some Christmas lights up in his cube and received questions as to their purpose. At a Thanksgiving party where the Americans on Andy’s team treated the Chinese to their first “traditional Thanksgiving dinner” I was talking to one of Andy’s co-workers who went to college in Chengdu. I asked her if she celebrates Christmas at all. She said that where she went to school people would go out into the streets with inflatable bats and beat each other. I must have looked at her completely shocked because she replied with something to the affect of “by your reaction apparently that is not how you celebrate Christmas.” As I tell this story I still have a hard time believing that it is true but I have found proof on the web. Amazing… I wonder how this tradition was started.
Tonight we are going to the Nutcracker put on by a Russian ballet company. We are excited and are even doing the “big city thing” eating dinner late after the show. I have been giving into my jet-lag all week and going to bed early so tonight I will need to fight it to stay awake that late.
Yesterday we started our four-day weekend off with a relaxing and healthy day. First we went on a run around the city. After that I went to yoga and Andy had a Christmas errand to run. Next we met for lunch and then had an hour foot massage followed by a 90-minute full body massage. Finally we joined our friends Hernan and Alejandra and their kids at a restaurant that has a performance where the performer changes masks very rapidly. Their sons, Hernanzito and Bruno, loved the show but their younger daughter, Gisel, was a little freaked out by it. One funny thing during dinner was that we seemed to have a waitress all to ourselves and she spent most of her time giving attention to Gisel (their ~2ish year old daughter.) The waitress was feeding her food from the family-style turn table without asking Hernan and Alejandra if it was okay. I thought of how parents in the US would freak if this happened.
Tomorrow we do not have any concrete plans for Christmas Eve although I am trying to talk Andy into going to mass somewhere. I am very excited for our Christmas Day plans of a fancy French meal at the world-renowned restaurant Jean Georges on the Bund. I have eaten at this restaurant for lunch only because it is quite expensive (but the lunch menu is reasonable), but we thought that it would be a nice way to celebrate the holiday and our consolation to not traveling somewhere for Christmas. I know my dad is jealous because they have the most amazing molten chocolate cake. Even though Andy is “not a dessert guy,” I know he will love it!
This has turned out to be a non-traditional holiday letter. Nevertheless, we hope you enjoy it and have a wonderful Christmas and happy New Year!
Sheng dan kuai le! Xin nian kuai le! (Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!)
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