Leaving for home in 15 days

We are headed home for good in three weeks.  I have thought about that first day in Maine in our home with our dog and neighbors so very much.  Will it be peace that I feel?  Elation? Exhaustion? Day after Christmas let down?  What does this whole repatriation mean?  I have been reading "The Art of Coming Home" about this topic and honestly it scares the heck out of me, so much that I had to stop reading it.  Can it really be worse than the culture shock of our arrival two years ago?

And I have been thinking about the collective effect this trip has had on all of us.  What if Vic and I have less in common because he is so sad to leave and I am pretty tickled to leave?  Had we not ever gone, which I am not suggesting would be a good thing, perhaps we would be more on the same page.  What about our real home is so distasteful to him? Is it any surprise that I take it personally and resent his criticism of our Maine life? That is our life, right? 

What if Renata is right, that all of her friends have changed and she will have to start all over again in school and life here?  Was that fair to make her go through that painful process twice?  Will she remember this time as a great time or a terrible time, this almost home time?

And Luca who is incredibly happy to return to all that has been familiar and good in his life in Maine.  What if his old life has also shifted slightly since he has left and it isn't what he wished for or imagined? Will he feel  the same kind of betrayal that I suspect his sister does?

What if coming home to what was a wonderful life in Maine for so many years is no longer that?  What if coming home is a solo trip for each of us?  What then?  How will we repatch together our life?

What Southern China is having for dinner tonight

                                                                     chicken feet

                                                                     dog feet

                                                                       octopus

                                                                  very fresh duck

                                                               very fresh chickens

Pandas in Chengdu

Of course most everyone knows that pandas are near extinction and live in the mountains in Sichuan Province in western China. They estimate that only between 300 and 1000 still live in the wild. So we went to Chengdu after our Guizhou trip to visit the Panda Research base. We learned all about panda sex and artificial insemination there at the base. We even saw male and female panda parts preserved in jars at the museum which claimed that Teddy Roosevelt killed a panda in his visit to Sichuan province in late 1800's. Fact check needed!
Anyway, blah, blah, blah. China is working very hard to repopulate their country's mascot. Want to know what we came away with? Pandas do not take uncute photos. Everything they do is inherently cute and kind-- chomping on bamboo, rolling over another panda, growling, strolling, sleeping in trees-- serious cute factor. Check out my pics!!!

Guizhou Project

We just returned from one of the most exciting trips we have had here in China. No beaches or Buddhas, or bahama-mamas ( I don't actually drink these, I am more a margarita girl, but it started with b) Anyway, we learned last year about a partnership between Shekou International School and the Guizhou Province in western China. Since 2004, Doris King and other interested and invested people have been traveling to and meeting with Communist party members, mayors, farmers, school teachers to find out what people need in this poorest section of China. So far, under the guidance of Doris King, a Chinese teacher at the school and the PSA, SIS has raised enough money to fund a new elementary school, water collection units for the farmers and most recently 31 biofuel units for Guizhou farmers.






Biogas or biofuel units look like a concrete well with a small pipe that leads from the unit into the farmer's house. The biogas is created by collecting and recycling all of the human and animal waste on the farm. The power of methane. And what I found particularly amazing-- this biogas source is enough to constantly power simple lighting and gaa fuel for cooking. What is left goes to fertilize the farmer's crops.

So a group of 6 seventh grade boys from SIS including Luca learned about this project and decided to create a plan to visit during spring break and capture film and still photos to make a documentary to showcase the partnership between Guizhou and SIS. Vic and I were invited as chaperones. Renata went as well.

We were warned to expect desperate conditions, but it really wasn't that different than northern Maine. In fact Guizhou is also famous for their potatoes and potato products. We took a train from the capital of Guizhou, Guiyang to He Shitou, one of the villages, and it was the most beautiful train ride I have ever taken, terraced farming interspersed with field of rapeseed flowers in full blooms, small, rural villages with dirt roads. People of all ages in the fields planting or walking their water buffaloes or resting on their haunches for a cigarette break. Really incredible.

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.