What I will miss in China

We are now less than four months from the end of post here and will be returning to our home on June 12th. With the time left so short, I am getting a bit melancholy about the great parts of living here.
Here are a few things that I will certainly miss:
1 our e-bikes and not having a car
2. the easiness of life-- no bankbook, no cleaning, no yard work, no shoveling snow, no voting, no Church
3. lots of freedom for Renata and Luca
4. Watching them develop confidence b/c of all of their freedom
5. cute Chinese babies
6. my lovely students
7. struggling and sometimes succeeding with the language
8 learning about the culture from Cindy and Heather
9. Chinese food, duh
9 amazing travel
10 riding on the back of Vic's bike, even on silly errands
11 seeing unbelievable scenes of daily life everyday (yesterday mom and three kids on one e-bike, kid in front is facing her)
12 fabulous colleagues
13 walking to work
14 shopping everyday instead of once a week
15 cute little shops

That is all that I can think of for now. I am sure that I have missed more. Next post will be what I won't miss...
Renee

Flower Market, Shenzhen for Chinese New Year, 2012

Luca enjoying carmelized strawberries on a stick. Other treats featured at the Flower Market were baked potatoes, roasted nuts, corn on the cob, sugar cane juice and coconut juice. So healthy!
Red lanterns and messages of good fortune for a good year are sold in many kiosks at the Flower Market here in Shenzhen. Note the sky scrapers in the background and the smog. This guy who is making door messages with calligraphy was great to watch. He did laugh at my Chinese though when I asked how much twice. Talented, but kinda mean.

Year of the Dragon decorations abound. The year of the Dragon is an auspicious year to have a son. When we asked our Chinese friends, the Lius who have a son and a daughter, which sign of the zodiac was auspicious to have a daughter, Alex laughed and said, "None."

Entrance to the Flower Market. One part of this holiday that I love is having new, blooming plants and flowers in your home. We bought two paperwhites, shui shian or "water fairies"in Chinese. They are just now opening and so fragrant. They remind me of forcing bulbs at Christmas time with R and L.

China Day, 2012 Year of the Dragon

Luca getting a super sized cotton candy at China Day at SIS. In the background is the track and Chinese building on the lower school campus.

Renata and Michael, a grade 1 student from Canada, getting ready to play the musical chairs Zodiac game. He won a chicken card.

Ms. Cindy and I on the track. Cindy is my amazing TA. I will miss her kindness, wisdom, and humor so very much when we go home. Hands down, I have learned the most about China from after school conversations with her.

Even though this is the dog eating time of year, more and more wealthy Chinese in southern China have designer dogs as pets. As seen in this great shot of a chow-chow, many dogs are dressed up. Just another way to show how much money you have. Really.

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Renata and I admiring this corner piece of Angkor Wat.Ruins of Naga, the many headed sea serpent, who helps create the world out of an ocean of cosmic milk. Yeah, whatever.

Fish Foot Massage in Cambodia

Here is one for cheap thrills. For $2/person, we were able to get our feet massaged (nibbled on) by hundreds of fish. Yum!

Incredibly ticklish. Victor giggled so loudly when he stuck his feet in that he embarrassed the kids.

Definitely worth the price of admission.

Angkor Wat

This is a side photo of the BIG Angkor Wat. It is the one on the Cambodian flag, the one that you picture when folks talk about Angkor Wat. Look at that sky! We never get skies like that in southern China.

Here is one of many carvings in the sandstone in a smaller Wat in Siem Reap. After going to the museum, I learned that she is an ASPARA, a dancing Hindu nymph. Isn't she fabulous? She does that thing with her fingers and wrists that all the Cambodian girls in Portland can do. So cool.

Cambodia, first impressions

We are in Siem Reap, home of Angkor Wat, one of the seven man made wonders of the world. I honestly never thought that I would go to Cambodia, so this is such an amazing feeling to be here.

When we arrived at our airport which had Asian flares on the roof, we were greeted with the welcome smell of grass and various Christmas trees. Immigration was a breeze and then our driver from our hotel found us. He guided us to a motorcycle driven tuk-tuk. Luc's eyes lit up when he realized that that was going to be our airport transport.

Tanei Guesthouse is tucked into a busy street in Siem Reap. We walked into an entrance with a giant buddha and myriad plants and bushes. Luc picked up a fruit, asked what it was, and the driver said, "Mango".

We generously thanked the men who carried our bags up three flights of stairs to our room. The ATM gave Vic a $100US bill which is not so great for tipping. We thanked them a lot, tho'.

Then we turned on the AC, noticed the many TV channels not blocked here as opposed to China and fell asleep.

A 5:00 tinny, repeated tune carried up to our room from the street. It even woke the rooster next door who also started crowing. I thought it would be like Malaysia with a brief and loud call to prayer and then stop. So did the rooster, I think. But now it is 7:32 and the tinny tunes remain, unending. As my colleague Tami says, Really?