Six Moments of Gratitude

Before we completely barrel through December and the abundance of stories that come with this month, I need to take a blog moment. Life is so full, so abundant, which has made blogging a fringe endeavor for me this semester. Yet, the goodness of life must be acknowledged in this form. Therefore, I felt an assignment Zach and I gave our students would make a good post for some of those life snippets. 

During our Thanksgiving culture class with our students we asked them to answer six questions about thankfulness (which were then written on the feathers of the turkeys we had them craft.) In the spirit of gratitude, here are my six answers. 

A person I am thankful for:

Many individuals worked diligently to aid our return to the adopted motherland, but I feel that Jojo was excessive in his assistance. From taking a day off work (with a friend) to meet us in Hong Kong in May so they could carry our three large suitcases and one carry-on suitcase across the border, then to hold said luggage for the summer, followed by meeting us at the Guangzhou IKEA to schlep us, our luggage, and our new purchases to Zhongshan in his car. He even stayed to put together a dresser. Furthermore, he had declared that should we fly into Guangzhou upon our post-summer return, he was going to greet us in order to deliver us to our campus. Jojo has always been special to us, and his actions were merely a reflection of the incredible individual we have known for years.  

A memory I am thankful for:

It goes without saying that we missed a chunk of life with some dear friends being barred from the adopted motherland. (We definitely have some children we need to meet.) Therefore, it was a delight that one of our first events upon returning was a wedding - reunion combo. The Kingdom Girls were roommates in uni and have remained firm friends with each other and us since those days. They are a remarkable group. 

At the end of September, we convened in Shunde to attend the wedding of King. A precious memory in of itself, however an unexpected moment occurred when Zach and I were asked to participate in the tea ceremony. This ceremony is when the couple honor their immediate family members, especially their parents and grandparents. In return for a cup of tea, verbal blessings and hongbao are given to the couple. Thus, to be asked to participate was an immense honor. We cried. We sipped the tea and gave our blessing and hongbao. It was an honor to be her teacher. It is a privilege to call her a friend. It was a joy to celebrate her and her husband on their official ceremony.   

A food I am thankful for:

As a vegetarian, some concoction involving eggs and tomatoes tends to be my option when it comes to eating out in China. Yes, we laugh a lot that Chinese consider eggs and tomatoes their primary vegetables. Nonetheless, it has become a staple of my Chinese diet and I missed it fiercely during our virus refugeeing days. Thus, I have eaten tomato-egg noodles (fānqié jīdàn miàn 番茄鸡蛋面) often since our return. 

A place I am thankful for:

China has spoiled me with access to a 50m swimming pool. I absolutely adored having a pool 23 steps from my front porch in Chiang Rai and I loved my sweaty 8km walks for a swim in Long Khanh. However, in China, I get the actual workout I want in a pool. Now granted, each swim is a tale of survival. Every swim day includes the internal questions: How many people will run into me? Or hit me? Or randomly stand in my lane to be hit? Or loiter at the end of the lane so I end up kicking them on my flip turn? Or will the lane line attack me? But, hey, if I die it will be in my happy place - water.   

An item I am thankful for:

At the beginning of May, I not only said goodbye to Long Khanh but also a beloved, trusted sidekick - my backpack. After eleven years, its fabric could not hold its stitches, stuffing, or adventuresome self any longer. It disintegrated with each plop onto a chair, pull on a zipper, and swing onto the shoulders. When I purchased it so many years ago in Zhanjiang, I had no idea how many kilometers it would traverse with me - from airplanes to mountain hikes to ancient ruins to markets. It carried everything from mangoes to toilet paper to books. Much to Zach's chagrin, I do tend to use items to their demise; this pack was no different. It was everything I loved in a backpack and it was with deep sadness when I laid it beside the trash pile, extremely grateful that it was with me through so much of life.

A song or painting I am thankful for:

When we turned right into the gallerie, it was the crowd before Liberty Leading the People that immediately drew the eye. With a few more steps and a broader sweep of the exhibit, a much larger painting caught my eye just beyond the crowd. It was not an instant recognition, but rather the nudging of something familiar yet forgotten.

I knew the painting. 

I knew the painting very well. 

It was mere moments until I swirled into my internal pensieve; taken back to that art classroom at the end of the hall, my eighth grade year, standing in front of my art teacher, Mr. Smith, who was talking to me about a painting printout I had clutched in my hand. 

The Raft of Medusa, my chosen art piece for an art report.

I vividly remember being thoroughly entangled in the story - a shipwreck where the survivors did horrific things to cling to survival. I remember grappling with the macabre and the realism of the painting. I remember my dismay that people could be just forgotten. I remember being amazed that someone could paint such a captivating scene of a truly ghastly event. I remember Mr. Smith chatting with me about the clunky, big thoughts my pre-teen brain was trying to work through in order to vaguely understand such a painting. 

I do not remember learning that it was owned by the Louvre. Yet, here I was, years later, staring at a painting that I had scrutinized for hours in printouts, art books, and an encyclopedia. It was gigantic and overwhelming; the shock of the entire scenario causing tears to spring to my eyes. 

This is the power of art. 

Not only can it be the connection to things beyond our purview, but a connection to past selves. Because I really could not help but wonder if my eighth-grade self would ever believe she would be a girl who would cross oceans, travel far and wide, and one day gaze upon the actual painting rather than a picture clutched in her hand.

Football is Life

Life is wonderfully full for us, which leaves little time for writing here. However, Zach was interviewed recently and the article was published today. I wanted to share it because I think the reporters (Shao Wenjie, Li Siqi) did a fantastic job capturing all facets of the team; from their equality battles to the grassroots efforts of many who usually get things done. This has been translated via software, so it is a bit wonky grammatically and has those endearing flowery phrases that show up in every Chinese text. So, grab your beverage of choice, a cozy chair, and enjoy a (translated) glimpse into what has been keeping my husband busy since our return. 

Lianfeng Women's Soccer, Blooming Love

Editor's Note: On April 15, 2023, the women's soccer team of Zhongshan College of the University of Electronic Science and Technology (UESTC) won the "Sportsmanship Award" in the Andromeda Collegiate Women's Soccer League (Campus Division). According to the tournament director Tan Chaofeng, as the first large-scale women's soccer tournament in the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area, the Andromeda Collegiate Women's Soccer League will be based on the Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area, and will set up a good platform for the exchange and demonstration of women's soccer in colleges and universities and build a brand tournament of "Women's Soccer in Colleges and Universities", so as to radiate its influence from Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to the whole country, and actively promote the development of soccer programs by using brand events to promote the development of soccer programs. It will be a great event for the soccer circle in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao Greater Bay Area to make use of the brand event to actively promote the development of the soccer program.

In the game, the women's soccer team of Zhongshan College of the University of Electronic Science and Technology (UESTC) was not afraid of the strongest enemies, even when they faced the opponents from the national training team, they still had the courage to fight, and they competed with their own style and won the respect for themselves. Before participating in the game, the women's soccer team of Zhongshan College had been disbanded by the school, but they fought hard to save the team for the love and honor, and now they will continue to write their own story with hard work and sweat.

Soccer is a partnership, a team.

After achieving good results at the tournament, the UESTC women's soccer team abstained from pride and continued to train hard. Every Thursday night the women's soccer players and coaching staff showed up on time at the Peak Soccer Field for training.

Liao Zisan from the College of Humanities, majoring in Exhibition, is the captain of this women's soccer team. She is already a senior and although she is facing the pressure of graduation and employment, she still comes to the soccer field on time. She said to us, "Training is once a week, although usually the main time is on study, but this time I will still try to find time to come over for training."

Liao Zisan was shy in the interview, very different from her training time. On the field, she always has a confident smile on her face, and from time to time she makes a bright laugh, actively communicating with her teammates, full of energy. She told us the story of her relationship with soccer: "I started playing soccer when I was in the third grade of elementary school, and I like soccer probably because I'm not particularly interested in other ball games. I was more into sports before I came into contact with soccer, and it was a coincidence that I came into contact with soccer. When I was in gym class in elementary school, I tried to use my feet to grab other people's balls. After I snatched someone else's ball with my foot, this dramatic scene was seen by the physical education teacher. The teacher then called me over and I thought he would punish me for grabbing the ball, but he didn't do that and he asked me if I wanted to play soccer." After this incident, Liao Zisan began her soccer journey, but before that, she had also wanted to join the soccer team, but she missed the election due to illness. After joining the team, Liao gradually fell in love with soccer. Not only was she in good physical condition, but she also trained hard, so she progressed quickly and participated in the city tournament in fifth grade.

The main reason why Zishan Liao fell in love with soccer is the atmosphere of the sport. She likes the feeling that soccer as a team sport brings to her, "Soccer is a team sport, when we are a team and fight for the same goal together, there is a very hot blooded feeling, and the atmosphere of the team is also particularly enjoyable". Liao Zisan, who has been playing soccer since she was a child, tried other sports when she first entered UESTC, but she chose to continue playing soccer. "I joined the basketball club and they needed me, probably because I was taller, but after a while I realized that the kind of atmosphere they had was still so much worse compared to soccer".

Although the experience when she enrolled in the school is still fresh in her mind, time flies and now she has become the leader of this team. Talking about the dilemma that the team is facing at present, she said, "Although there are female soccer players in every college, the number of them is still relatively small in general. In this case, we don't have the opportunity to select more talented girls who can play soccer into our varsity team by way of selection". The soon-to-be-graduate sends her best wishes to the team, "I hope that the UESTC women's soccer team develops better and better, continues to grow, and has more and more people. And then I also hope that under the leadership of the new coach, our women's soccer team will go to glory."

Love is the oar, the light boat has crossed ten thousand mountains.

In addition to the hard-working players, there are also the meticulous and responsible members of the coaching staff. Currently leading the women's soccer team are Zach, the new foreign head coach, and Su Chuhao, the team leader, who joined the team this semester.

Mr. Su Chuhao, former head coach of the women's soccer team and former captain of the men's soccer team, worked in the Bureau of Physical Education of Zhongshan City after graduation this year. Even though he has a busy schedule, he still makes time after work to return to the school to assist in the training of the women's soccer team. Currently, he serves as the team leader, assistant coach and interpreter for the team.

He first introduced to us: "University of Electronic Science and Technology Zhongshan College women's football was founded in October 2020, initially a group of football-loving girls spontaneously set up a team organization and formed their own team for training, friendly exchanges and other activities, with men's football players serving as coaches and leaders. This team has gone through a rough patch, formed by enthusiasts on their own initiative, then taken over by the school sports department, and then disbanded and reorganized by the school, and finally rejuvenated this semester". It is understood that there are twenty-five members of the women's soccer team. This year ushered in a lot of freshman siblings who like soccer, there are six senior players, only one junior player, and the rest are freshmen and sophomores, making it a relatively young team.

Su Chuhao has been involved in soccer since he was a child. He started playing in the first grade of elementary school and trained for a period of time at a sports school in Guangzhou. His most memorable moments were playing street soccer with his buddies and classmates in the neighborhoods, streets and ancestral halls, and having fun with his buddies is what made him fall in love with soccer, "I have a lot of happy memories with my buddies, and that's why I fell in love with soccer and insist on playing it until today. When I came to UESTC, I was infected by the atmosphere of the school's men's soccer team, which was hardworking and improved, and I continued to play for four years on the varsity team.

Speaking of how he became associated with the women's soccer team of UESTC, he recalled the past: "In 2020, the women's soccer team organized itself to go to UESTC to have friendly exchanges with the women's soccer team of CUHK. At that time, I was studying journalism and volunteered to be a reporter with the women's soccer team, wanting to help them record some precious materials, and I became associated with this team. Later on, the women's soccer team went through a lot of difficulties, and the coaching team at that time, Mao and Bin, and I chose to stay on, and we told the players, 'As long as you don't give up, we won't give up on you'". During this stay-at-home process, he gradually took on multiple roles in the team. Later on, even though he was facing the pressure of school and employment, he still had no way to let go of his personal involvement in the team that was formed from zero to one, so he became the leader of the women's soccer team, and continued to help the women's soccer team with his own strength.

When asked why the women's soccer team experienced dissolution and reorganization, Su Chuhao looked a bit gloomy, he said: "First of all, the number of girls playing soccer is insufficient, and there is no atmosphere in the school for girls to play soccer, so we can only cultivate their hobbies and try to improve their motivation. Furthermore, we currently do not have a lead teacher from the sports department, and there is no way to apply for official leave for the players to attend training and competitions, so we can only 'survive' in the cracks. And we lack sufficient funds to support the team's operation, but this I have contacted off-campus "Chaopu" sports and cultural development company to provide free sponsorship". Speaking of the sponsorship, Su Chuhao's expression obviously relaxed, he continued: "At that time the school to dissolve the women's football, we could only reorganize the school soccer team into a women's soccer enthusiasts group, joined the school soccer association, back to the beginning of the state of self-organization to save the team, waiting for a new opportunity". In this difficult time, all parties have given a helping hand to this team, the school football association at that time is willing to help the women's soccer recruiting and run the game, the men's football players are willing to serve as a coach without pay, the school teacher can not directly lead the women's football team, but also behind the scenes for the women's football team to provide convenience and help, all because the women's football team themselves did not give up, their love and perseverance so that all parties are willing to help them. "The most important thing is that the players love soccer enough and did not choose to give up in difficult situations."

Participating in the tournament this year was an important turning point in the development of the women's soccer team, said Su Chuhao, "The lack of tournaments has been a major factor in our team's struggle to stay motivated. So when I saw that there was a huge women's soccer tournament organized by an organization, I immediately thought we could try to sign up for it. In the end, we were able to sign up and play against women's soccer teams from universities in Guangdong Province, and the team made a lot of like-minded friends". Although the team was successful in registering for the tournament, there were many difficulties encountered during the tournament. The venue of the tournament was in Guangzhou, and the team faced transportation difficulties every time they played, while going out to play also meant that the team had to coordinate their time and balance the pressure from their studies, "Transportation and time were our biggest problems, but the sports department of the school gave us a lot of help, and the team was especially grateful for that. The team is very grateful. Many of the team members were able to keep training and competing in between studying and exams, and everyone really gave it their best shot."

Su Chuhao breathed a long sigh of relief. We can't imagine how devastating the difficulties at that time were to the women's soccer team, but they persevered with love, and they were a team of true cohesion. After participating in the tournament and achieving good results, the team basically got rid of the crisis of disbandment and was reborn in nirvana. The arrival of the new head coach, Zach, also brought new hope to the women's soccer team. Su Chuhao was impressed by Zach's full commitment and meticulous responsibility, and he recognized the new coach very well, and was sure that Zach could lead the women's soccer team to achieve a better development, so he willingly assisted Zach with all his efforts, and after a month of bonding, they became a very tacit understanding of each other. Su Chuhao was able to quickly understand Zach's intentions and accurately translate them to the players, and this pair of tacit understanding partners will definitely bring the women's soccer team to a higher level.

Love is life. We have an equal right to love it.

One person who stands out on the soccer field is Zach, the new head coach of the UESTC women's soccer team, who is from Portland, USA. He's from Portland, USA, and he's also an English teacher at the Foreign Language Institute of UESTC. Zach was very enthusiastic and talkative, and he was very happy to have us interview him.

Zach is 44 years old and said, "I just came to UESTC this semester and have just been coaching women's soccer for about a month, but I had previously coached the women's soccer team at Guangdong Ocean University's College of Foreign Languages for four years." Zach has also been playing soccer since he was a kid. Zach's mother first let him try playing baseball, which Zach hated, but he fell in love with soccer at first sight, "Then my mom let me try playing soccer, and I immediately fell in love with it." Zach's smile is contagious and he was very happy when we talked about soccer.

Before Zach left the United States, he worked as a career counselor at a university. He left the United States in 2011 and chose to come to Beijing Normal University in China out of the many job opportunities available in the country, where he was working as an English writing teacher at the time. Zach was not used to being in a big city, and after six months he chose to go to Guangdong Ocean University in Zhanjiang City to work as an English teacher, and in 2013 he became the head coach of the women's soccer team at the School of Foreign Languages at Guangdong Ocean University, a team with which he spent four years. In 2018, he came to UESTC, where, in addition to his job as an English teacher, he also serves as the head coach of the men's soccer team at the School of Foreign Languages at UESTC, which is not yet the largest soccer team in the world. The UESTC women's soccer team had not yet been formed at this time. He was traveling in Thailand at the time of the severe outbreak in 2020, and China tightened its entry policies at that time, so he was forced to work in Thailand and Vietnam for three years. That's when he earned his U.S. E soccer coaching license through a combination of online courses and offline assessments. He returned to UESTC after the outbreak ended this year 2023 and volunteered to be the head coach of the college's women's soccer team.

Why the love for women's soccer? Here's how Zach and we explained it, he believes that women's soccer needs to grow and that they should have equal opportunities as men, "Honestly, I love coaching women. They have a different passion for the sport than boys because boys have all the opportunities and girls have very limited opportunities". Zach's philosophy in coaching women's soccer is that he wants to promote gender equality, to show girls that they can be just as good as boys, and to strive for equal opportunities for both men and women in all aspects of the game. He took the initiative to share with us how the women's soccer team trains, saying, "We start our training process with a warm-up, a dynamic warm-up. Then we'll do small drills, which will progress to medium-sized drills, and then we'll do full-field match practice." Zach's training method is very scientific and efficient, today he led the women's soccer team in a triangle attack and defense training, and the women's soccer team immediately used the triangle attack to score goals in the friendly training match with the men's soccer team later, which had an immediate effect.

Although Zach has been in China for many years, he still doesn't speak much Chinese, and usually there is a language barrier between the training and the players. But Zach will let the players understand the intention by posing the tactical board and making gestures, and team leader Su Chuhao will help Zach to translate at this time, so they overcame the language barrier very well in the training. "There is definitely a language barrier during training. My Chinese is very limited, but Stephen (Su Chuhao) is a great coach and his English is also very good. A lot of the time we communicate through hand signals or direct demonstrations so the girls understand what needs to be done. If something important needs to be said, I make sure Stephen translates." Asked about the gap between the current UESTC and Guangdong Ocean women's soccer teams he said, "I think the UESTC women's team is very similar to the Guangdong Ocean University women's team we had years ago. At the first practice of the Guangdong Ocean University women's soccer team, I asked the players how many of them had played soccer before. There were fifteen girls in the team, only two raised their hands, and the other thirteen knew nothing about soccer. For four years we learned how to play and be a team. The UESTC women's soccer team was formed a few years ago and they have been growing as a team, there are some really good players here and some who are just starting out in soccer, so they are still in the developmental stage."

We continued to delve into Coach Zach's plans and outlook. He said, "We will continue to train hard and will continue to do what we are doing until people see us and recognize our value." Zach's dreams for this team are limitless, and he wants the school to recognize the women's soccer team as a real team. Right now the school still doesn't take women's soccer seriously enough, so they aren't allowed more practice time. The soccer field is usually filled with boys playing soccer most of the time, while the girls rarely get a chance to play or only get to play on the small field next to them, "My dream is that the girls will have an equal chance in the future to be able to play soccer like the boys."

During the training, the female soccer players are using only half of the soccer field for training, but there are still many boys playing on the sidelines, talking about this, Zak changed the smile on his face and said with a serious look, "The girls are training hard and we have promised to use only half of the field, but there are still a lot of boys who are crossing the line and disturbing the girls. If this was a boys' soccer practice, no one would be allowed near the field." Even though the women's soccer team only occupies half the field, boys still try to come to the girls. They stood around the field smoking cigarettes, played between the cones that the women's soccer team had set up for practice, and disrespected the women's side of the field. "Honestly, boys may think that girls shouldn't be taking up the field for practice or are just interested in girls playing soccer, but they don't know how to stay polite and respectful." What Zach is really trying to push for is equality and understanding, he believes that girls have a right to like soccer, they have a right to be on the field, they have a right to practice, and they have a right to play like boys.

Zach believes that what women's soccer really needs in terms of support is simply equal rights and the same opportunities to play the game, not any extra help to differentiate it from men's soccer. He made a joke to make us understand the point he was making when he said, "I think the biggest thing that's lacking right now is the recognition that girls can play in tournaments too. A lot of times the men's team has the opportunity to play in tournaments while the women's team doesn't have the same opportunity. A lot of people think that girls can't play soccer, and that's the wrong view. Your Chinese women are better than your Chinese men, Chinese women can play in the World Cup and Chinese men can't, so who is better?" That joke aside, Zach thinks the biggest problem is that many people can understand boys playing soccer, but don't understand that girls have equal opportunities. So the biggest support girls need is support for their ability to play.

Zach continues to support the women's soccer team in a practical way. He has been serving the team he coaches without pay since the beginning, and his enthusiasm and meticulousness have made the Zhongshan women's soccer team more cohesive. It was his love of soccer that prompted Zach to become a soccer coach, he said: "I think if you've ever seen the TV show 'Ted Lasso', you'll know there's a character on that show. He constantly says soccer is life" and "I am an English teacher for money. I am a soccer coach for love".

This is a story of love. Behind the joy of success there are setbacks and failures, as well as confusion and uncertainty. UESTC women's soccer team has gone through the storm and blossomed on the top of Lianfeng Mountain with indomitable tenacity. They are training hard and uniting together, striving to go further and achieve higher honors in the next tournament. They are also striving to fight against the world and win equal rights and respect with practical actions.

Full Text Reporter/Shao Wenjie Li Siqi

Zach with Su Chuhao (right) Photo/Jianxin Zhu

Student Honesty

At the beginning of the school year, I have my students answer a list of questions. The questions tend to lean towards the typical get-to-know-someone: favorite hobbies, solar birthday, favorite holiday, etc. However, there are three that I ask that help me to understand a student's headspace coming into my class. They are:

1. What are you excited about during university life?

2. Did you want to be an English major?

3. What are two things to you want to learn in Amanda's class? 

The first is asked because this is first time most of these students have freedom from parents. I may be teaching at a uni, but the maturity of my students is closer to a beginning high schooler in America. Many of my students struggle with the switch from constant family micromanaging to minimal family micromanaging.

The second gives me an indication of their commitment level to my course. Unlike most of the world, Chinese do not get choices for majors. It is all based on a test called the gaokao, which is way more complicated and convoluted than I want to explain in this post. Let me just say that I had about a hundred students tell me in their first interview that they wanted to study law not English. 

The third is an attempt to get their input into the curriculum I plan for the semester. Unfortuantely, I get a lot of "I want to be fluent" or "I want to understand English movies" more than tangible potential lessons. 

After so many years, I know my questionnaire will return with a lot of similar answers. However, I do learn some gems. This year I learned one of my boys illegally played football for a high school and got caught, causing him to lose his ability to play in the sports school. I learned about a girl who lost her sister to cancer a couple of years ago (yes, there were tears for both of us.) I learned I have a student who is a twin. I learned I have a student who is really scared to be at this school because she is from Fujian. (There is an idiom in Chinese that Guangdong people will eat Fujian people, a tease at Guangdong people for their notoriety in eating anything and everything.) 

Then I get answers that make me laugh so hard and remind me that I absolutely love my job, translation comprehension, and the brutal honesty of students. Here are some of my favorite responses.

 I was asking for the Chinese characters of their name. 

Number nine was supposed to be the answer for "What are you excited about during university life?" 

I did not realize it was a yes/no scenario. But, kudos for being brave and acknowledging the fear.  

Whereas, this student has no time for fear and is ready for all the romance.

While this student seemed to have a twinge of existential crisis with the hope that love will be the boost needed. Also, Winnie the Pooh may be a bit tainted for me now. 

Number nine was the hopes for university life; number eleven was what two things you want to learn in Amanda's class. I commend the consistency in goals, but I am skeptical that learning to woo a girl in English is beneficial in a country that speaks so little English. 

Ah, I so love my job.

Break Out the Mooncakes!

 

Mid-Autumn Festival is firmly in the top three of Chinese festivals I adore. Strangely, it seems to be a major holiday relatively stress free for Chinese. Give a box of mooncakes to those deemed necessary to receive them, then wander off with friends for food and frivolity beneath a full moon (and recite a bit of moon poetry if the mood strikes.) 

My adoration for the holiday is definitely influenced by the thousands of mooncake boxes. This is the holiday where Chinese artistry is excessively on display and it is mesmerizing.

Lanterns also make a grand showing. Our uni lined the campus streets and bedecked the doorways for the occasion. 

For the first time in many years, Zach and I found ourselves alone for this Mid-Autumn Festival. It was a bit bizarre, but nice to follow our whims - which took us to the riverfront as the sun set. We had learned that a food festival was taking place in the area, so we wanted to join the throngs of merrymaking. 

It was a sultry, tropical evening to be among the masses. We quickly picked up drinks to aid in our meandering. 

In Guangdong, it tends to be a surprise whether the moon (or Chang'e) will show her face. This year, she was glorious; some saying it was very auspicious for such a showing after the hardships of the past years. I cannot deny that the moonrise over the walking street was a bit breathtaking. I was not the only one to stop and snap some pictures. 

 The masses snapping the main attraction of the festival. 

I loved being out with my fellow Zhongshanren. Zach and I commented that there seemed to be such an excitement among the crowd, which is when we actually realized this was the first Mid-Autumn since the covid restrictions had been lifted. We all had something to celebrate - for us, returning; for them, movement and gathering. 

 

Chang'e and Hou Yi cosplayers were out in full force. Plus, the number of children bedecked in traditional garb was incredible and an excessive amount of cuteness. I could not snap pictures of their microfashion for they were busy skipping and swinging their lanterns to and fro. 

 

I made sure to procure a couple of lanterns for myself. As I bought my rabbit lantern, the boss's daughter was stunned that I was a foreigner and could speak Chinese with her. I had her in a fit of giggles by the end of my transaction, teasing her that she was the foreigner and I was the Chinese person. Her mom was even backing me up to add to the fun.  

We finished our evening by partaking of a very traditional dinner - pizza. In our absence, Domino's Pizza made a mad rush in China by opening multiple locations across the country, including a couple in our town. We felt the shape of a pizza fit the circular theme of the night, so we decided to taste test the new establishment. I am still confused how peas and broccoli qualify as American pizza toppings. However, it was a fun taste test to conclude another celebration of the lunar orb which is home to a beloved wife and her jade rabbit.

十五夜望月 (唐·王建)

中庭地白树栖鸦，冷露无声湿桂花。
今夜月明人尽望，不知秋思落谁家。

翻译：
Moon-Gazing on the Fifteenth
Center court, pale ground and crows nestling in the trees,
Cold dews quietly wetting the osmanthus blooms.
Tonight’s full moon gazed at by everyone,
Wonder whose home is hit by the falling gloom.

Wee Bits of Life: Facing the Hutong

On the drive between the port and campus, Jenny informed us that our hutong had become a hub of workers. Internet was being reconnected. A cleaner was attempting to find the floor and furniture beneath the grime. Air conditioners were being cleaned and serviced. This meant a quiet reunion with our hutong was not to be. 

Zach and I had chatted about our visions and expectations of walking across the threshold of a home we had let go of so many months ago. We wondered if we be overcome with all the emotions. We wondered if we would cry. We wondered what a place would look like after so long. For while we had hoped for a return, we actually had made peace with this part of our journey being finished.

We trudged our jet-lagged bodies up the stairs, to face our hallway balcony filled with belongings and trash. Our homecoming quickly devolved into a frenzy to save our possessions. Through a flurry of Chinese, Jenny learned that the cleaner had been told to take everything out and throw it away (or sneak it out to re-sell.) 

Oh, the laughter. 

Everything had set for three-and-half years and, if we had been an hour later in arriving, we would have lost everything. The humor of this situation was not lost on us. 

After setting the cleaner on the correct path of cleaning and only cleaning (and visibly noticing her sadness at not getting to hawk our wares), we began to take inventory of the situation. We had requested that all couches and the giant wardrobe be removed before our arrival due to mold. It had been done (farewell, brothel couch!) and our rooms looked so much bigger. Furthermore, we noted that we had a new kitchen ceiling and a new toilet.  

It was also in this perusal, standing in our second bedroom by the back balcony, that I asked Jenny about the location of our washing machine. She was looking at her phone and replied, "On the balcony."

"Jenny, I am looking at the balcony. I am looking at spot where the washing machine should be and there is no washing machine." 

She quickly looked up and began a frenzied search of the hutong. It is not big, so the search was a mere minute and no washer was found stashed in a corner. 

Oh, the laughter.  

She is asking the cleaning lady if she has seen it. It was a no.

She contacts logistics. They ask if we are sure it is missing. 

Zach walks in the back room at this point and muses that whoever took the washer probably stole our mop as well.

Thus began our first week in China being a week of us discovering the missing and deceased of our flat. 

The refrigerator was absolutely rank in odor. It was also dead. The light turned on, but the cold never materialized.

The shower hot water heater had no spark. 

The stove was sparkless as well. 

A frying pan is missing.

Fans would not turn on.

Our days were filled with repairmen, appliance deliveries, and mopping at least twice a day. 

On the fourth day, we went to IKEA in Guangzhou. We needed the break, we needed to see friends, and we needed some furniture.

IKEA has become one of our favorite places to meet friends for it provides a place for food, a fun atmosphere for conversation, and guaranteed hours for visiting. And a few shenanigans thrown in for a good laugh.

An afternoon with Emma and Jojo was balm for the soul. I really cannot convey how good it was to spend time with them.

We did shop. We got our favorite chair. We procured two dressers. We looted the candles, napkins, and textiles. A few ice creams were consumed. 

Then, by Jojo's incredible packing skills, we were able to get all our purchases plus our three large suitcases in his car. It was a tight fight, but a successful ride to Zhongshan.

By our second weekend in country, our hutong was rather settled. Enough for Alice and Nora to visit for brunch and to hang couplets. It was surreal to pick off the few, tattered pieces of the last pair; ones we had hung mere days before we traveled. Those pieces had survived blustery typhoons and blistering tropical days. Perhaps they were a tangible reminder of what had happened between then and now to us - it was a wild ride and we were quite messy and broken through a lot of it, but we clung to the what could be.

Wee Bits of Life: The Return

We landed in Hong Kong as the sun was setting on a day we did not get to live. HKG welcomed us with a quick walk through immigration and all bags arriving at the same time we did. Thanks to stashed Agoda cash, we had reserved a night at the airport hotel. A wise decision in hindsight for Zach had not slept on the jaunt over the ocean and was so delirious that I was in fits of giggles. I am grateful I merely had to get him through a ten-minute walk and not an one-hour bus ride. 

The next morning, we had our traditional McDonald's breakfast, swam in the pool, and updated all our devices with non-restricted internet. Upon check-out time, we turned our sights to crossing a border we had not crossed in a long time.  

Our return to the adopted motherland quickly became a comedy of errors. It began with a message to our foreign affairs officer, Jenny, that we were booked for the 2pm ferry to Zhongshan. Her reply of, "What?! I thought you were coming tomorrow!" sent us into a fit of laughter. 

Zach messaged back, "So, we are not getting that welcome parade."

Jenny said, "Yes you are. Me, me, me, and me!"

We boarded the ferry not knowing whether we would have a ride to campus or not.

The Zhongshan port looked exactly the same and still retained the stale cigarette smell. 

We were the only foreigners, so we approached immigration slowly for we knew extra scrutiny was to come. We were equally parts terrified and excited - one never knows what will happen at a border checkpoint. 

Zach stepped up to the checkpoint stand first, to be asked immediately, "Can you speak Chinese?" 

Thus it began: pulling out all the documents to prove work approval and answering the questions about length of stay, the school, and our reasons. About five minutes into Zach's process, an official pulled me over to another stand.  

I faced two border guards - a trainer and a trainee, which meant extra scrutiny for training purposes. I smiled, handed over the pile of documents, and settled in for the duration. However, the trainer became very intrigued as to why I had a three and a half year gap between my Chinese visas. Her shock that we were caught outside the border was genuine, as was her shock that we were actually returning to the same school. 

For about ten minutes, she chatted with me while also giving directions and tips to the trainee. 

Finally, the official stamp was thumped. My documents handed to me. Then, the trainer looked at me and said, "Welcome back." I almost cried. 

To our delight, Jenny was our greeting committee. Hugs, squeals of a long overdue reunion, laughter at her mistake all took place to the sound of a thunderstorm that decided to deluge at our exact arrival.  

As we exited the port parking lot, Zach and I looked at each other in the back seat, high-fived, and sighed with relief. We had arrived after three years, seven months, and 26 days. We were thrilled. As the driver made way towards campus, Jenny regaled us with the happenings of our hutong. 

That was to be the next big hurdle of our return. 

Wee Bits of Life: Feasting

It is apt to say that we have eaten our way into the adopted motherland. The impetus for this has been twofold. One, we returned to a flat completely devoid of working appliances; second, we missed Chinese food so much. We really did not know the depth in which the sustenance of this country had become our staple food until it was abruptly snatched from us. Therefore, we have been sussing out which favorite establishments closed, which ones remain, and what new places have emerged.

  

A new mall near campus was under construction in late 2019, so to find it completed and occupied was not surprising. What was surprising was to see Tim Hortons, Dairy Queen, and Domino's Pizza as tenants. And, of course, another Starbucks. Globalization at its best! However, it is the noodle soup shop on the fourth floor that has wooed us. We found it on our first night in town and have returned at least once a week since. 

On another stroll through the new mall, we found a Xian restaurant. This find was exciting for two reasons - biang biang mien and Bing Feng. The first is a type of wide noodle, the second is an orange soda - both renowned from that city. Bing Feng is to Xian, China like Ale-8 is to Winchester, KY; therefore, it is Zach's favorite Chinese drink. 

It was within the first few days that we made a point to walk to the north gate to see if our beloved Lanzhou restaurant survived. We are sad to report it did not. However, across the street is a new Lanzhou noodle restaurant and the woman who runs the front is already smitten with us. There is no xiaolaoban (little boss) to keep us giggling during out meal, but the noodles are legit and I think the portions get a bit bigger every time we return. 

A surprise reunion took place at our favorite baozi establishment. Since we only have the 8am class on Monday mornings, we have decided to go out for breakfast at 10am. This past Monday, we strolled up to the counter to place our order, only to be verbally accosted by the worker demanding to know where we have been. We took one look at her, started laughing, and regaled her with our (broken Chinese) tale of our virus refugeeing. It was a beautiful moment. 

We are still in that weird tug of what was and what is in regards to our little town. We mourn the loss the vegetarian restaurant, but over-celebrate the tiny changfen stand. We lament the nearby fruit shop is shuttered, but are thankful the vegetable stand remains, but is under new management. We rejoice in the over-abundance of drink shops. We are curious why noodle eateries now outnumber rice eateries. We are also rather bemused that hot pot establishments seemed to have exponentially grown in our absence. The foodscape has always been ever changing in this country and we are currently enjoying our quest to catch up. So are our stomachs.  

The What and Why of Our Movement

 

When we walked through the Chinese immigration checkpoint on January 2, 2020, we had no idea how bungled our life was to become, nor how much of a clusterfuck the world would become. There is a lot woven into our days since that date of departure, which does not need to be rehashed here, yet must be acknowledged. The pandemic was a catalyst for a lot of change, a lot of unknown, a lot mayhem, a lot of conflicting emotions, and a lot of our "could we do that" actually being done. 

Three years, seven months, and 26 days later, we walked across the threshold of our flat as we did on the morning of January 2, 2020. Thus prompting a frequent question: "Why China?"

In our travels, we had wondered what it would be like to live and work in Thailand; even having a conversation during a trip to Chiang Rai in January 2020 that it was a town to live in rather than visit. We did it. Living was delightful, working was horrid. 

We never thought we would return to Vietnam, but we tried it. We call it our country redemption story. The little town we plopped into was everything we love, but once again the job was a disaster. 

The day the Chinese borders opened, our UESTC Foreign Affairs Officer called asking when we could return. The next day, an agent messaged saying she had two schools wanting us to sign contracts that day. The following day, our first uni messaged asking if we were available to return. After two and a half years of dealing with administrative bullying and continual degrading of our teaching skills, to be wanted by four different schools in three days was balm to the soul.

At the beginning of 2020, we had begun to ask "how much longer" in regards to our life in China. We even considered packing up our important belongings before we walked out the door, "just in case something happened." We had no idea what was about to happen. Three years and working in two counties later, we realized that, for us, China had truly figured out how to attract and retain foreigners. They provided great employment packages and (mostly) set schedules. Our jobs in Thailand and Vietnam ran their education like emergency room triage centers all while providing paltry benefits and crazy hours. We were constantly barated and belittled, and our work experience and expertise were devalued.

Thailand was an easy place to live, but a terrible place to work; Vietnam reminded us why we love living internationally, but poor work schedules, a bad boss, and an inept HR made staying there not advantageous in the long run. Because of this, when our school called with excitement and hope that we would agree to return, we didn't even have to think about it. The answer was a resounding, "YES!" 

Since this decision, our parents and friends have asked us many times, and we would continually remind them of what our life in China was like. We'd tell them to forget what the news was saying. For us, decent pay, freedom to travel, mostly set holiday schedules, experience and expertise that is respected, and a culture that values us as teachers and humans will always be what we're looking for. 

The End of Silence

Five months is a long time for this blog to remain mum. I believe it is the longest stint of silence since I started it so many years ago. The lack of posting is definitely not in correlation to the lack of living or stories. Au contraire, these have been very, very full months. It was filled with an abundance of reunions, a heap of travel, many decisions, and a good dose of change. It was us. 

The annual summer ABCs post is in the draft pile, as is the why behind the big life change of returning to China for work post. As well as, there are oodles of shelved stories spanning the globe. There is a lot to come in this space. 

I am eager to return to my writing ritual. For while I have become better at giving myself grace in not writing, I miss it fiercely. The stories still swirl in my head during these lapses of wordsmithing, at times making my mind very crowded and loud. With a bit of calm and routine on the horizon, I am ready to immerse myself in what has been, what is going on, and put more words into this space. Welcome back, to all of us.