in transition once again

To quote my brother, " Hello everyone. This is [Reanne], the bad blogger."

It's been while since I've actually posted more than just a funny pic or video clip. So much has happened in the past month: Grandma dying; my vacation to visit Ry & Alletta in London; traveling to Edinburgh; seeing Eden; Joyce and her baby news (post soon to come on this one). Next thing I knew I was back home and I'm still getting back into the swing of things. I have these high ambitions about writing about all of these things, but we'll see what actually happens.

Right now, I want to write about this feeling that started when I was in Shanghai and then become even stronger when I was in London. My brother and I were walking through this park, Hampstead Heath, and I found myself telling my brother how I felt like I was entering the period of change in my life. It wasn't until I said those word that I realized just how true this is. I feel like I did right before college. When I was in the flux between high school and college, I remember having this feeling. Or rather, a sense of change. Like smelling the rain in the wind long before the drops start to fall.

Maybe its my growing involvement in the bike community here. Maybe it's some vicarious feeling from Susanna & Lindsay with them about to go off to grad school. All I know is that I feel like I'm about to enter a new phase in my life.

So since I'm in this contemplative mood, I feel like listing my current goals for this summer.

• Read more
  
• Been spending far too much time playing computer games (Civilizations or Settlers of Catan online mostly) or watching DVDs while I crochet. I used to be an avid reader, but lately I'm lucky to read anything more than comic books.
  
• Bike more
  
• Not just for commuting but for recreation as well. With Pedalpalooza starting I hope to part in more bike rides this month. But really I should do more independent bike rides on my days off. There lots of Portland I haven't seen yet, and it will only help my nervousness the more I ride.
  
• Eat healthier
• Been in a junk food phase, mostly due to laziness & not wanting to cook. But I really want to start eating more veggies. Lately my inner environmentalist stomps her foot when I eat meat, reminding me how bad the industry is to both the animals and the environment. So far my cheap side has drowned out her pleas, but she's getting harder and harder to ignore.
  
• Practice chinese
  
• I paid for a premium account for Chinesepod right after I got back from my trip to Shanghai, but I've barely used it. [hangs head in shame] I still dream of someday living in Shanghai (and hopefully work for Chinesepod), so I need to get off my lazy ass and make time for studying. My inner (academic) nerd seems to be in hiding. Perhaps that lazy, slothful side has her tied up in closet somewhere.
  

Horseback Riding in China

There were two animals I remember being obsessed with as a little girl: cats and horses. While my cat obsession was a little more... pronounced (freaked my mom out when I started wearing a cat costume and then liked milk from a bowl on the floor), I always had a passionate love for horses. Every long car ride while I starred out the window and imagine myself on horseback, riding through the passing countryside. Before my recent trip to Shanghai, I had only been on a horse 3 times that I can remember.

1) Someone had been riding their horse past my house when I was about 8 or so, and they were nice enough to let me sit on the horse for a little bit.

2) Reta, who is now kinda an aunt (living w/ but not married to my uncle Tom), let me ride one of her horses not too long after the first time. But I would hesitate to call it "riding" since I mostly remember sitting on the horse while someone else held the reins and walked the horse around for a bit. It still made my day then and is one of my first memories about Reta. By the end of that day, she was the coolest adult I knew.

3) I went on a Grey Fund horse riding trip, which didn't feel that different that the time I spent riding horses at Reta's. We rode through this mountain trail, single file so all I had to do was stay on and try to keep my horse from eating every 10 sec. While it was fun, it wasn't the type of horseback riding I longed for. The wild, fast pace riding that I had been dreaming about as long as I can remember.

Now I didn't get to that type of riding in China, but I came closer than I have ever before. We had a small "lesson" before we were went on our own. The track was a circle, so it wasn't the tromping through the countryside like I've always imagined. Still, I didn't get the horse to a nice gallup and felt an amazing adrenaline rush for all that afternoon.




That morning had started out horrible, so the change in my mood after we finished riding the horses was dramatic. We had gotten up ridiculously early after staying out late the night before to go to this mall. I was bored while we were there because everything was clothing and fake designer bags. Even if I liked that type of shopping, due to my size I couldn't have gotten anything if I wanted due to my size. Getting clothing that fits me right is hard enough here, its nearly impossible in China. To make things worse, Evelyn & I got stuck watching everyone bags when they suddenly ran off leaving us with their stuff. I thought they were only going to be gone for a little while, but by the time they returned (guessing a little over an hour later), I was pissed. Evelyn & I had a little emotional talk with Joyce after this so when we left to go horse back riding, I was in this frustrated/pissy mood. However I was starting to feel better because we did talk to Joyce and were on our way to ride horses. By the time we left I had a huge grin on my face, the kind I usually only get when I get all stupidly happy due to some minor romantic encounter. This grin only got worse after we went to dinner and ran into the Chinesepod folks (see my post about that here).

Now you've probably been asking yourself, why did we end up riding horses and unfortunately I don't really know. I was shocked when Joyce told us that we were going to do that for that afternoon. We rented a bus that took us about 1.5 hrs outside the inner city of Shanghai and into the outskirts. Patrick told me that we were still technically in Shanghai, but it was definately the countryside. The bus ride there made me think about the first time I arrive and the long ride from the airport to my school in Fuzhou. This picture here is almost iconic for what I saw in the countryside. A mix of agriculture and buildings in a state of disrepair.

I wish I had taken more photos, but at the time I thought I would have a chance on the way back, but it was far too dark. Though I did get this picture of a very brightly lit building.

The Wedding Ceremony

So there was a little confusion about what was going on for Joyce & Patrick's wedding. I thought Joyce had told me she was getting married twice, once in Shanghai & then another ceremony in Taiwan. She invited me to join either ceremony, and since I'm totally in love with Shanghai, I chose to attend that ceremony. Well, what took place wasn't a wedding and I think the closest approximation would be an engagement party. The reason for these two separate ceremonies has do with the restrictions placed on Chinese to visit Taiwan. From what I understand, if your Chinese you cannot easily visit Taiwan unless you have family there. Since Patrick's family are Shanghai-ese, they would not been able to go to Taiwan for the wedding.

There was some sort of the ceremony to the engagement party, but I'm not totally sure what it was all about. Joyce had to sit on this chair while the elder members of her & Patrick's family sat in a row next to her. A man conducting the ceremony brought out this display of a gold jewelry and talked for a while before Patrick came up and started putting some of the jewelry on Joyce. In this photo of Joyce and her mother, you can get a good close-up of some of the jewelry. Both Joyce & Patrick's mother also took turns putting things on Joyce and Joyce even at once point put something on Patrick. I asked Joyce about this and she said it was very traditional to give gold jewerly during wedding ceremonies. The style and size can depend on the region and she mentioned how what they had used was something of a cross between Chinese and Taiwanese traditions (one usually used larger sized jewelry than the other, but I can't remember which one).



After the part with the gold jewelry was done, Joyce & Patrick served tea to the family members who had been sitting in a row to on side (on the left side as seen in the pic below). While the man conducting the ceremony talked for a little while, they all sipped their tea cups then return the tea cup with a red envelope full of money. These red envelopes, 红包 hong bao, are a traditional gifts for Chinese weddings.


When all the tea & hong bao were given to Joyce & Patrick, a few more words were said then we all applauded the new couple. After that, we all sat down and began dinner. Since everything was conducted in Chinese, and I was still jet-lagged and preoccupied with taking photos, I really didn't catch much of what was said. Joyce told me she was going to have a western-style wedding in Taiwan, so I suppose this ceremony I witnessed was more of the traditional Chinese wedding traditions. I wish I had more vacation time and could have gone to Taiwan for the wedding, so that I could see what a Chinese western-style wedding was like. One thing that I have learned from my time in China is that anything that is done "western-style" is still done with a Chinese twist. I noticed this more with food than anything else, but it seems this applies to all cultural traditions that are used in a foreign country.

Serendipity

I have many stories to tell about my recent trip to Shanghai, but I'm going to break them up into individual posts. So here is the first of many.

I swear every time I go to China, I have a strange chance encounter. When I was first flying to Fuzhou, while I was waiting for a connecting flight in the Taipei airport, I ran into someone who knew my mother in high school. Then later while living in Fuzhou, when I went to have dinner at a classmate's house with her husband, turns out he used to be my neighbor when I was a kid. I didn't know he was my old neighbor until last summer when he happened to run into my dad and told him about meeting me (he didn't tell me he was my old neighbor because he didn't want to weird me out, all he said was that he was from Beaverton and knew people in Forest Grove).

This last trip only provided yet another chance encounter. I spent the entire week with Joyce and her family, and one night we went to a Japanese restaurant. Since we were a large party, we were seated in a room with another large party. As I walked in I noted that most of the people at this table were foreigners. A thought instantly crossed my mind that it could be the folks from ChinesePod, however I quickly dismissed it. At one point Patrick's father was talking to the other table in Spanish (him & Evelyn bounded over his spanish speaking ability), and someone said something to the extend of "oh you must be using SpanishPod". After having such great success with Chinesepod, they expanded into spanish with SpanishPod. Praxis Language was created as a sort of parent company and I believe there are plans to expand into other languages.

When I heard them say SpanishPod, my heart skipped a beat. I then looked over the crowd again and got that feeling again that it was them. While I still couldn't believe my luck, I knew I had to ask them if they were in fact the folks from ChinesePod. So I stopped by on my way back from the bathroom and after I apologized for interrupting their meal, asked them if they knew of ChinesePod. "We are ChinesePod!" someone exclaimed. I was then introduced to John Pasden, one of the hosts and Jenny Zhu, one of the co-founders (I could be wrong about this, but I know she's been there from the start). I must have blushed like a star-struck school girl and in a way thats exactly how I felt. For over a year I had been listening to this woman's voice on a daily basis. Meeting her was like meeting a celebrity. She was very sweet and even let me take a photo of her.

I told her how I wanted to move to Shanghai and work for ChinesePod. She encouraged me to send an email as they are always looking for people. Part of me still can't believe my luck. Shanghai is a big city and of all the Japanese restaurants, I happened to end up that the same one as them. The rest of that night, I keep repeating the word, "serendipity" in my head. Now my heart is all a flutter with dreams of me living in Shanghai, working for ChinesePod, hanging out with Joyce & Patrick.

Realistically, I know I can't move until sometime in 2009. I need to save more money and I really want to be here for the holidays for when Ry & Alletta return to Portland. Aside from all the other wonderful reasons I'm glad I took this trip, this encounter makes me especially glad. Now that I've met Jenny, I have a more direct connection than just being a subscriber. This dream of mine has taken on a whole new angle, and seems slightly more real. Gods I hope so. I fell in love with Shanghai all over again during this trip and could feel my brain begin to switch into Chinese mode during the 2 days. If I had stayed longer, I'm sure I would have been to improve my Chinese.