fireworks, frogs, treadmills, taboo, and ten dust storms

Hello family and friends!

Miss you all and sending love from China (or last month, better known as Firework Land). As I told a few of you, Chinese New Year in Beijing is a firework-filled frenzy! So much so, that my sister and I theorize the new cracks in our apartment walls are attributed to the incessant "sonic booms" as Cay calls them. They were set off around the clock--all day, every day for the two week celebration. The purpose is to ward off the evil spirits for the upcoming year.... as i emailed a few of you, with all the constant and countless fireworks that went off here, we surely boomed and banged out the evil spirits in the western hemisphere too. It used to be illegal for people to have them but now they are permitted and it seems like EVERYONE takes full advantage... even releasing them on the cross walk outside our apt (that was a close one!). We definitely made a run for it on several occasions. We'd be walking down the street and the people we passed would suddenly set them off as we walked by. On the last night of Chinese New Year we were on our way home and they were going off in every direction, across the entire horizon. Poor Caitlin just kept yelling, "Run! Cover your head, Megan, don't look up!" All were good tips, pleased to report we emerged unscathed. My friend captured great footage if you would like to see his fireworks video: www.iaminchina.com

a runner's up essay

Transitions Abroad (www.transitionsabroad.com) is a very helpful resource for people living or aspiring to live abroad. This year is the 30th anniversary of their expatriate writing contest and i am not quite sure how this happened but my essay is one of the runner's up prize winners. Of course now that it is published I notice all of these things I wish I wrote differently...a natural reaction since I can't make any more changes. One of my professors at Skidmore once told me in his twenty-eight years of teaching, he'd had never seen a student "jump through so many hoops" to improve a paper. I am such a reviser! oh well, have to let it go. I can't wait to read the other writers essays. I think they are going to be posted soon, once they do I will put the link up on my blog.


Speaking of runner...a Great Wall run and a 200k in the works!

I figure while I am here in China, naturally I should be running races on The Great Wall. In May there is a full and half marathon. Only thing is, not surprisingly, it is supposed to be mad hard. The incline is killer, basically it's running up and down stairs for at least four hours. I was reading about it on marathonguide.com and people who ran it advised to ADD about HALF of your marathon time to the Great Wall Marathon. One woman wrote she runs a 4 hr marathon and finished the Great Wall Marathon in 6 hours and 30 minutes. yikes. While that is a bit intimidating I figure this is an opportunity that I can't pass up. I contemplated running the full for a few seconds before I realized that not being able to run outside to train pretty much precludes the 26 miler from happening. Since the air in Beijing is five times over the World Heath Organization's standards for safety (info I recently picked up from the New York Times) running outside is a no go. People get sick from it just walking to and from work and running errands. (See the dust storm section below). It's a challenge for me to envision running 20/22 miles on a treadmill to train for a full marathon so I think I am going to run the half one instead. whew, can you imagine running for four hours on a treadmill...

But speaking of treadmills and racing....my gym is actually having a race to see who can run a 200k the fastest over a one month period of time starting in April. So of course I am super pumped. I have been scoping out the competition and there are a few frisky fellas that are young and spry along with some fellow foreigners that are going to make things interesting. But I am not going down with out a fight...in to win, baby :) My sister and a few gym friends think I can win the fun sneakers (that's the grand prize, ooooo). I was thinking about it and it's like the track meet I ran for Sports Illustrated China back in October. Before the race--as I was spitting into my spit cup due to that nasty respiratory track infection--I decided to make up my mind to win. Even though it sounds silly, I think that's what helped me do it. Similarly, I've decided I can not/will not lose the 200k. I love the pressure that comes with running races. I was even competitive about signing up for the race! I signed up right after this athletic man did. When he saw me sign up he said something to me in Chinese (that I didn't understand) and I smiled back at him thinking "Oh yeah, buddy, it is ON." I am sure he probably said something very kind and sweet like "Good luck to you, Dear." But in my head I was responding with "BRING IT".

Caitlin, Joe, and Bud

Some of you may already know that the MLB came to Beijing and played their first game in China a few weeks ago. Sibling went to cover the event and chatted with Joe Torre and Bud Selig, Mister Commissioner himself. She also scored herself tickets to the gold medal game during the Olympics!

My 19 kids...a few NASA recruits to be

The kids are great, they have doubled in numbers since I have started teaching and so too doubles the daily adventures. One of my new students, Mimi, is a bit younger than the others and doesn't speak a word of English (yet). She can't say "Megan" and instead pronounces my name "Mei Guo". This is especially funny because "Mei Guo" is "America" in Chinese. The Chinese teachers--also amused--tried correcting her but whenever she sees me she joyfully exclaims, "Mei Guo, Mei Guo!" And I say, "Yes, dear, your America is here."

Also, my little friend Louie has started this new habit of standing up and saluting me when I enter the classroom. Although I appreciate the respect I have tried explaining to Louie that this form of greeting is unnecessary. I know I am trying to run a tighter ship these days with the increase in students but I think I might be just shy of drill Sargent. (Caitlin just saw what I wrote and said, "Nobody is going to believe you are tough on the kids, Megan." haha...). Oh
Louie. There are many tales to tell. Once he also almost turned trying to look like an animal. He had his hands wrapped around his neck as if he was trying to pull his head off and he kept telling me to "Look, look!" and then I finally put together he was trying to elongate his neck so he could be a giraffe (I had recently given him a giraffe sticker). Oh if only you all could know Louie and all the children. I have separation anxiety when I think about the future and how long I will be in China for and if I want to explore other job ideas....hard to imagine there will be a time when I will not be with them all the time.

As I often tell people, my kids are so smart and capable it continues to astound me. They can do so much more than I could when I was four...or fifteen for that matter.


An Aquatic Creature

My latest food adventure was listed under the "aquatic creatures" category on the menu at a Korean restaurant we went to a few weeks ago. Bull frog, it turns out, does in fact taste like chicken! As my friend puts it, it has the taste of chicken but the texture of fish. I know it's not quite up there with the craziness of past food reports--but I did notice "camel" listed in my phrase book under the "food" section so I will be sure to keep you posted on the next crazy creature consumption.

Dust storm season

Now that spring is here, dust storm season has also arrived. According to the weather forecasters, Beijing will have ten dust storm days this spring. We had one yesterday and by the time I got home I was covered in sand. In the elevator this lady and I were dusting ourselves off as we were covered from head to toe. I was spitting out quite a bit that had gotten into my mouth. I think this might be why I am sick again. It's almost reminiscent of playing in a sandbox as a kid, only you are standing up and the sand box is vertical with is full-speed fan blowing behind it.

Yahooo for Taboo

Last weekend Cay and I hosted a Taboo party at our place. haha, oh yes we did. Actually, I can't take credit for being a host because it was Caitlin's idea, she made all the food and organized the festivities...I just took out the trash and bought wine. Beforehand, it was so funny how excited people were about Taboo, as Cay had said, it will be so "lamely awesome" a party. 20 people ended up coming to our little abode, it was a wonderful crew that represented China, Italy, Lithuania and Australia. Our non-native English speaking friends kicked serious tail at Taboo. I could never play in a second language and they were beyond awesome, we were shell -shocked. Feel bad as our excitement and raucous joy definitely elicited a less-than-pleased-as-punch neighbor visit. oh dear. luckily our Chinese friends answered the door so i think that may have cushioned the blow a bit. If you would like to see some comical pictures (my favorite being Caitlin's no-messing-around-game face) click on this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/megan.e.rhodes/