Stinky Tofu

My Early Birthday Present

noreply@blogger.com (Jessa) — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 02:11:00 +0000

For my birthday, my awesome husband bought me this life-changing piece of foam! Now instead of sleeping on a really hard mattress, we are sleeping on a cloud!

It was between going to the market (金五星) and buying foam or going to Ikea to buy a matress pad, but their pads are about 6x the price! So after hours of Chinese negotiation at the market, we stuffed this beauty and ourselves into a cab and made it home. Unfortunately, the whole story is that we got it home and the foam was really hard too. When we laid on it, we didn't sink down at all. The next day we had to bundle it back up, haul it back through town, and cross our fingers that they would exchange it for a softer version.

Luckily they did and even brought the new piece of foam to our house a couple of days later so we wouldn't have to lug it around Beijing anymore. It turned out into a kind of happy negotiation, which was like a bonus birthday present. Now, this softer version is GREAT and it's a little thing that is making a big difference!

Follow Up on the Onion...

noreply@blogger.com (Jessa) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 02:46:00 +0000

So I planted it! It turned out to be quite pretty. We'll see how long it lasts...

Now the rosemary and hearty other plant have a new neighbor!

Becoming Chinese Again

noreply@blogger.com (Jessa) — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 07:40:00 +0000

We're back in China busy getting adjusted to all our routines! I started school yesterday and Barrett has resumed working. He's back to school next Monday. This is what we had waiting on us when we got home to our apartment for the first time in 7 weeks...

I guess I forgot to throw away the onions and we had some beautiful new plants waiting to welcome us! Any ideas on what to do with them?

Back in the U.S. of A = culture shock

noreply@blogger.com (Jessa) — Sun, 09 Jan 2011 13:01:00 +0000

This is our first time back to America after 1 1/2 years of living in Beijing as you may know. It's so weird being back in the USA! I can definitely feel some reverse culture shock and surprisingly don't mind returning to China in several weeks. That's really surprising to me considering how hard it was at times to get adjusted to the dramatically different life in Beijing. Since we've only been here about 4 days so far, please note, my opinion is subject to change in the coming 38 days :)

Here are some of my observations and cultural responses so far about being back in America....

It's really cool to see the nutritional content on everything.
America feels REALLY risqué/vulgar/trashy (TV, and it didn't help landing in Vegas first)
Most things seem so expensive (when did a cup of coffee at Starbucks cost 5 plus dollars??) I wouldn't dream of spending that in China, but I find myself purchasing it here.
I like having all the new drink options to choose from at gas stations instead of just different types of cold green tea.
There are so many white and black people! Ha, everyone is so diverse! I'm used to being surrounded by people that all have dark eyes, black, straight hair, and are tiny. It's really neat to see how everyone looks so different. I have renewed pride and appreciation for our American diversity!
BLUE SKY. It is great to look up and see my new favorite color, blue. Surprised though that Vegas did look a little hazy too (but not close to touching Beijing's haze)
I'm drawn to people that have dark eyes, black, straight hair, and are tiny.
I've noticed that so many people speak Mandarin in America. We eavesdrop all the time, and I'm glad that 1.4 billion people actually speak this language that I've agonized over the past year and a half.
I'm afraid to drink the water out of the spigot in America.
In China I feel like a giant, nothing fits, the largest women's shoe size is a small 8.5, almost everyone is really skinny and short. Here I fit in and feel normal!
People feel sooo nice and friendly in America. From the clerks at the fast food restaurants to strangers on the street, everyone seems so polite. A stranger actually held the door open for me! So foreign.
I actually find myself talking less to people because I'm still trying to translate everything into Chinese first before I speak. I haven't got used to the idea that people speak English and I do too.

Well, I'll leave it at that for now and maybe add more things later as they come. I'm kind of grateful for this jet lag that woke me up at 3am and made me bored enough to write down my thoughts. :)

It is fun and interesting to be back and we look forward to our upcoming adventures in the good ole U.S. of A.!

This is a picture from Chinatown in Vegas with the Chinese execs that we are with. This is addressing a 9pm Chinese food craving that we all had. Barrett was taking the picture.

A Common Site at Chinese Grocery Stores

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 01:35:00 +0000

Which one would you like?

What's On Our Refrigerator Door

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 07:58:00 +0000

They say you can tell alot by whats stuck to your refrigerator door.

Thanks Ethan and Rory for the goodies!

Dirty Job

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 03:04:00 +0000

I sure wouldn't want to be the guy on the back holding down the unstable pile of trash as the driver speeds uncontrollably down the street.

Nothing is More Humbling Than...

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 02:52:00 +0000

Chinese class.

Jessa's Buddy

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:58:00 +0000

Jessa and her buddy enjoying a nice summer day.

The Funniest Thing We've Heard Lately

noreply@blogger.com (Jessa) — Tue, 26 Oct 2010 15:20:00 +0000

What should you say when someone says your wife is pretty in China?

Not what Barrett has said a few times, "I also think so," or "thanks." That doesn't quite translate in China, where there is a tradition of extreme modesty. The acceptable answer is...

都不好意思带出来,

which basically means...

She's so ugly it's embarrassing to take her out.

Oh boy. Ever since Barrett learned this, I think he's been a little too excited to use it.

Our adventurous A/C repair man

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 10:17:00 +0000

This is our landlord holding the repair guy while he fixes our air conditioner out the 12th floor.

Believe it or not, there is a rope around his waist attached to our heating pipes. We hope those heating pipes are strong!

Breaking out the Candles.

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:00:00 +0000

By Jessa:

So I was sitting on the couch after 6 hours of Chinese classes and watching the second part of an exciting movie. I was giving my brain a rest after class before I had to start studying for the night when the power goes
out (my movie!). I was systematically waiting a second to see if it would come back on and then I remembered I live in China.

Our pre-paid electricity points have been exhausted! That means there's no power until we take a special card to the electric company, pay money, and then come home and insert it into a box. And then I realize that special card is in Barrett's wallet over two hours away from home. Ha, it's always an adventure! :)

Here's a picture of me in the dark waiting on the special card.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

The Year of the Tiger

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 16:45:00 +0000

(Written by Jessa)

This is AMAZING. Unlike anything I've ever experienced in my life! It's Chinese New Year (CNY), February 14th. I've definitely forgotten about Valentine's Day (for the moment :). Fireworks are exploding all over the sky. It's a Grand Finale every second for the past hour. All day we've heard lines and boxes of firecrackers going off (see the below video), but it's nothing like the second the clock struck midnight and Chinese New Year rolled in...

Firecrackers in 5 seconds...

You just scan the horizon and hundreds of fireworks are glowing in the sky after midnight, including the ones that about 20 people are lighting right in front of our building. We live on the 12th floor and we are leaning out our window drinking milk tea. The fireworks are exploding right in front of our faces. At one point we emergently had to close the window because we were afraid our laundry hanging above our heads in our drying room would catch on fire! Barrett says he was more concerned about our faces! It's 12:54am and there is still a CONSTANT banging of firecrackers going off outside and huge fireworks still lighting the sky. Here's a few min. summary that continued for a solid hour. (If you get bored, fast foward to 2:14, that's when they start exploding only a few feet away from us!). Sorry it's a little shaky too. I was overly excited :)

Our Chinese friend told us that sounding firecrackers is a tradition to scare the ghosts away. I didn't know much about CNY before being here and the importance of the holiday in China. It's actually the most important holiday in the country, kind of like combining the family feasts, gift giving, and traveling home of Christmas with the pyrotechnics of July 4th. One of the biggest events for CNY Eve is for Chinese families to eat dinner together before bringing in the new year. We were so honored to be invited to our friend's family's house to celebrate with them. It's one of the first homemade Chinese meals I've had.

This is us playing games after dinner. We got beat. :)

It's also a tradition to light firecrackers as a family before midnight after dinner. Here's what that constant, loud noise looks like...

So the next 15 days will be spent celebrating CNY, and almost everyone has a full 7 days off from work. We're scouting websites to see if there are any last minute, cheap flights around China, but if not, we'll be happily spending the holidays in Beijing. We're also looking forward to my Dad coming in less than two weeks! He'll be able to celebrate the last few days of Chinese New Year too, aka the Lantern Festival in China.

Well, this has been such an incredible, memorable night! Happy Chinese New Year!

Give me a cookie...

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 05:59:00 +0000

Cause I made it to the grocery store and back by myself in a taxi for the first time! I know, I know, I'm 28 and should be able to go somewhere by myself by now, but China has a way of making you feel like a kindergartner again.

Just imagine everything in Chinese characters, no English anywhere, getting a cab, and depending upon your own choppy, unreliable Chinese to tell the driver where to go. I was going to Carrefour (jialefu in Chinese) which is about 15ish minutes away. I get to the store and sift through the curious and sometimes baffling Chinese goods to find the right flour (the green one), sugar and cream cheese (more about that later) and load up to the max of what I can carry on my back and arms. I was able to flag down another very precious cab during rush hour and tell him where I live. Back in our apartment, I felt like having a party. I felt like I won the lottery or something else very big. I'm growing up!

Today I'm going to attempt to make real cinnamon buns for Christmas morning. The plan is to get everything risen and ready today to pop in the toaster oven in the morning :) Complete with cream cheese frosting! Which is an especially special treat in China where cheese is almost on the endangered list.

The hopefully all-purpose flour....

Our Wedding Video

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 08:54:00 +0000

Check out our wedding video!
Our friend, Brody Bearden did a great job!

Barrett and Jessa from Brody Bearden on Vimeo.

Christmas in China

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 13:04:00 +0000

Barrett was quoted today on the front page of the China Daily (!) about how expats celebrate Christmas in Beijing.

But here's the inside scoop on what our Christmas in Beijing really looks like...

This year we have a home! And of course we have to decorate it for Christmas. This is where we do our Christmas shopping for ornaments in Beijing...

We decided like good decorators, the day after Thanksgiving, to go to the grocery store and buy our tree for our apartment. Here's Barrett putting the entire two pieces together that took all of 15 seconds. We timed it. And even though it only comes up to our waist, it's a good tree.

We decided to twirl it with ribbon...

Here's the finished product before our adventures to the market.
The birth of our tree to its' full glory...

Here's our living room finale... It really feels like Christmas in China! Especially when I'm in the kitchen baking pumpkin bread with my toaster oven :) It's great!

Don't miss the stockings. And yes, that is a pig on the right. You know how China feels about their pork...(they love it!)

Side Note: It's interesting here to see all the Christmas decorations and hype. There's absolutely nothing spiritual about it. It's all santa clauses and snowmen. I even tried to see if a spiritual Christmas card got snuck into the pile of "Happy Holidays". Yep, nothing. No baby Jesus, no angels, no wise men, no crosses in the mist of all the Christmas celebrations. It definitely makes for interesting conversations though.

An Early Surprise!

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:23:00 +0000

Last Sunday, Jessa and I awoke to a big surprise. We looked out of the window of our apartment and saw this...

Whoa! It was the first of November and it was already snowing! It was hard to believe since the weather had not been too cold yet. Just the day before, Jessa and I had a beautiful day at The Great Wall with some of friends (see last picture below). Somehow overnight it had dropped more than 25 degrees F and the clear skies had changed to white. This was especially peculiar since it generally only snows a couple times every winter and the snows generally don't come until January or February. In fact, precipitation of any kind is fairly rare in Beijing.

A few days later, our suspicions were justified. The Chinese government had "created" the snow. You've probably heard that the government of China often alters the weather through cloud seeding to manage air pollution, fight a drought or just ensure nice weather on a holiday. In fact, the Beijing Olympics were fairly rainless through these methods.

Jessa and I, being natives of Georgia where it almost never snows, did not let the fact that it was government made snow keep us from enjoying it. Jessa still got her share of snowballs thrown at her.

The day before the snow at the Great Wall...

Our Humble Abode*

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Hey Friends and Family! We want to show you our first apartment together so you know what to expect when you come visit :)

This is our front door. We live on the 12th floor in the middle of the university section of Beijing where hundreds of thousands of Chinese and foreign students live and go to school. Notice the sticker on the door. It is the Chinese character, "double happiness." It means after marriage you have twice the happiness and is often used in many Chinese weddings.

This is our living room during one of our small groups.

A pretty good kitchen! We've practiced cooking several American meals. Our favorite so far is hamburgers :) Don't miss my favorite thing in our kitchen. The toaster oven in the back!

This is the view outside our window at night looking towards the center of our area. The big buildings in the middle are Microsoft and Google.

This is another view out our back window watching the sunset. Beijing has mountains in the distance (on a clear day, that is)!

*Friends and family...We have a two bedroom apartment to welcome anyone who wants to come visit. You can stay with us for free! :) On a side note, please come. I, Jessa, talked Barrett into getting a two bedroom so we would have a place for people to stay. If nobody comes, I'll be in trouble!

India!

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:46:00 +0000

Wow. Let's just say that I have never been so hot. I think I know how a sloth feels cause that's about how fast I'm moving here in India in the actual 108 degree heat.

Yesterday was sort of painful. We woke up at 3am to catch a 3 1/2 hour flight from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Tiruchirapalli, India. Then we found a bus to the central bus terminal for a 6 hour bus trip to Pondicherry, India where we are now. Just think squelching heat with no air conditioner and 50 of your new close Indian friends. It was a great/hot experience. And the whole thing only cost $1.20 per person! Within the 6 hour bus ride, India met our expectations...colorful, captivating, and ...dirty. We found ourselves constantly staring which was a nice change from Indonesia where we were the ones constantly being stared at.

My husband is so sweet. A year and a half ago I read an article in the New York Times about this fascinating place in India that was colonized by the French years ago, and much of their culture still remains. There are many colonial buildings, many people that speak French (which I studied in college), and there is an array of good French and Indian food. So guess where we are?! Pondicherry! Barrett remembered that article and planned for us to go there on our honeymoon. Awww! It is our first stop in India.

Today was our first real day here and we took a tour around various must see places in the city. We stopped by this city called Auroville created in the 1960's to be a city for people all over the world to live in harmony. On the website it says, "Auroville is a city in the make in south-India, dedicated to human unity, and based on the vision of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother." Yeah, very (very) weird, but interesting to see. They made us watch a video and then walk a mile to see this Epcot like round ball building in the middle of the complex where people meditate to no religion. It was sad for me to see all the people living in this place worshiping nothing.

Then they dropped us off at a beach in the 108 degree heat and told us we couldn't get in the water or if we were wet above the knee, we couldn't get back on the bus. Ha! B and I still had fun soaking in the constant color and movement of India (and we ate an ice cream).

And finally they dropped us off at this temple to visit, but right as we pulled up, there was a school of about 150 kids walking into the temple to see it. Needless to say, we're saving that one for another day. So we just started walking and stumbled upon a great (clean) Indian place to sample new foods and walk on the promenade by the ocean.

Sorry for the long post! I'll try to get some pics up soon!

Now we are so thankful for air conditioning in our room, cold showers, and CHEAP delicious Indian food (about $1 total for two people)! More adventures to come!

West Sumatra

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 13:07:00 +0000

Hey family and friends! So much has happened that it is so overwhelming to think about writing about it all. So for now, let's just start with today.

Currently, we are in a little village in West Sumatra where I think it's safe to say that we are the only foreigners around for miles. We are staying with Barrett's friend that he met 7 years ago while Barrett was doing work in Indonesia through the University of Georgia. After all that time, Barrett was able to reconnect with him after having nothing but a name thanks to the internet. Within a few hours and a few forums, he was able to acquire his friend's email address and cell phone number. We are staying in his friend's room which is also in his English school. Needless to say, we are getting the real picture of Indonesia. We have showers by pouring a pan of cold water over our heads which we draw from a well. We're ashamed to say that between us with like 5 college degrees, we don't even know how to draw water from a well. So you can say we're getting a different kind of education now!

This area is full of incredibly nice, warm people that we have the privilege of meeting everyday. So many people are stopping by the English school to see "the tourists". We are signing autographs left and right and we are constantly answering questions like, "Where do you come from?, "What do you think about our village?, and "How many brother and sister do you have?" It's a treat for the many students to practice their few English sentences and learn a few more words from us foreigners.

We hope to post some pictures soon, but right now the internet is rather slow and it would take a week. We hope to post more in a few days when we are in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

As for marriage, we both think it's the best decision we've ever made! We love it!

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 14:33:00 +0000

Here is a really interesting video done by my fellowship about what average Chinese think of Christmas.

Vindication at its Best (or Worst)

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 10:09:00 +0000

This guy had it all right. Lots of people owe him apologies...

Bush Matrix

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 09:56:00 +0000

George W. and his superhero-like reaction times...

CityLife

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:28:00 +0000

A blind musician playing the erhu on the streets of Beijing.

The Gate of Heavenly Peace between Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City where Mao proclaimed, "China has stood up" and thereby, declared China communist in 1949.

Women washing clothes in a small village outside of Yangshuo, Guangxi.

The growing cityscape of Kunming, Yunnan.

The Seventeen-Arch Bridge at the Summer Palace, which is moments from my apartment in Beijing.

Old factories turned art studios at Factory 798 in Beijing.

The most content homeless man I've ever met. In Guilin, Guangxi.

Chinese New Year in Macau.

Children playing in the disappearing hutongs of Ho Hai in Beijing.

More vibrant Hutongs of Hohai.

An everyday sighting...men playing Mahjong on the street.

A door handle of a home in Ho Hai.

The bastion of modernity in Beijing: The Olympic Stadium with the Water Cube in the background.

Tiananmen Square, where nationalism, suppressed rebellion and persistent street vendors meet.

Shanghai's skyline, which appropriately looks like it will blast off at any moment.

Frustration = Confirmation

noreply@blogger.com (Barrett) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:03:00 +0000

In previous semesters, I have often felt like my final course grades were completely random and unsupported. I’ve often pictured my professors (or in reality, the TA’s) leaned back in their office chair and throwing darts at a dart board to determine each students grade. With the exception of one professor (who happens to be one of only 3 non-Chinese professors), the professors almost never notify us of our grades or give feedback on exams, assignments, presentations etc. until we receive the final course grade. Additionally, its near impossible to get explanations of your final grade. You simply do work all semester and receive a grade at the end of the semester without any sort of justification. This has driven me nuts since I never know what my grade is based on and I miss opportunities to improve weaknesses during the semester. Last week, after giving a presentation, I got an explanation for this phenomenon. Below is a paraphrase of our conversation. It excludes the constant repeating that I had to do because the professor’s English isn’t so good and my attempts to explain in Chinese are even worse.

Me: When will we receive our grade for the presentation?

Professor: You will get it in the future.

Me: Great, do you have any idea when?

Professor: At the end of the semester.

Me: Oh, you’ll tell us before our final assignment? We like to know how we are doing as we go through the semester.

Professor: Well, you won’t actually receive the grade.

Me: I’m sorry?

Professor: You’ll just get the final grade of the course.

Me: How can we track how we are doing in the course and make improvements if we don’t receive feedback during the semester?

Professor: I do not give any grades out until the end of the semester because students will complain that others received a grade higher than theirs.

Me: Well, that’s ok. You can just explain to them why they got the grade they got.

Professor: Students do not care. They just want the best grade regardless.

Me: They have to be responsibility for their own grades and performance.

Professor: but if they know before the end of the semester, they’ll give me a bad evaluation.

Me: [the light bulb turns on in my head] Ooooohhh, I get it now.

Professor: Yes, this is a Chinese characteristic [This very loaded term deserves a blog of its own one day when I'm more brave].

Me: Definitely.

I’m glad that there is some amount of accountability that causes teachers to fear a negative evaluation. Honestly, this alone was quite surprising to me. However, it’s disappointing that this accountability actually leads to less accountability of grades. Since the final grades are never justified, a teacher can essentially give any grade to anyone. It can easily turn into just another guanxi contest (Chinese equivalent of a popularity contest). I believe this, as many confusing cultural situations in China, is a face (mian zi) issue. Teachers are attempting to minimize the risk of losing face either through an argument with a student about a grade or through other faculty’s response to negative evaluations. Resulting is a weaker education experience, less accountability, students who are unwilling to take responsibility for their own grades and most importantly (sarcasm), really frustrated international students.

On the other hand, it must be noted…this is what I came to Tsinghua for. I didn’t come to get the best management education on the planet. I would have stayed in the US for that. I came here to learn management in a Chinese context. And with that goal in mind, there is no better place on the planet for me to be.