More then I can ask...

I sometimes forget that He is able to do insurmountably more then we can ask or imagine. I sometimes remember when the thing is big, I almost always forget when the thing is small. Shame on me.

The other day I was riding home on my bike with a large load of dongxi; two bags of groceries and 5 jin of cotton stuffing to be exact. (It really is a blog post in and of itself describing how I am embracing the strangeness of the things I do regularly over here.) In the distance I saw a large truck spraying water onto the concrete street, which I guess produces a cleaner street. I saw my future and it meant I was about to get wet.

What did I do. Did I pray and ask for rescue? Did I remember my father who can do insurmountably more then I can ask or imagine. No, I just put my head down and braced myself.

But did I get wet? Absolutely not! At the exact moment I passed the street cleaner a large van passed me blocking my bicycle, myself and all my dongxi from the street cleaner's spray.

See...more then I could imagine...more then I could even ask...Thank you...You humble me...

Eavesdropping...

Recently a friend overheard this conversation between two little old women...

"What are you doing looking so beautiful today?"

"It's because I thought you would come by."

Cuties. I want to overhear conversations like this. Typically this is what I overhear:

Zou le: Which has a number of meanings including, I'm going, let's go, goodbye.

Ni kan, waiguoren: Which means that someone is pointing at me and telling their friend they see a foreigner.

Yi kuai ba qian: Which means those carrots cost 1.8 kuai per jin.

This can only mean one thing...if I want the world to be a beautiful place full of rainbows, sunshine and understanding then I'm going to need to study more...

Best enjoyed...

I've decided that I've been a little bit of a Grinch when it's come to fireworks this New Year's season. But I also have determined where this sentiment is coming from. It's coming from the reality that fireworks (including firecrackers) are best enjoyed not from your bedroom at 7:00 am, not from your kitchen at 7:00 pm and not while walking to the bike shed to get your bike and head to the store. Fireworks are best enjoyed when you have a front row seat and nothing else to do. And if that's you right now then here's something for you to enjoy:

But for those who thought I might be exaggerating about the propensity of our neighbors to set off fireworks several yards away from the building I submit this evidence:

We live on the sixth floor and have an attic in our apartment that would technically qualify as the seventh floor. And this is the balcony on that seventh floor outside the attic. So that little red tube that you see would be the case of a firework that was set off seven stories below only a few yards away from our window. You be the judge: Totally unsafe to be allowed to release fireworks purchased on the side of the road anywhere you desire. Or totally awesome. I leave it to you to decide.

Ting bu dong

Ting bu dong. Ting bu dong. Ting bu dong. Where have I heard that recently...well not out of my mouth I'll tell you that! Ting bu dong, meaning I hear but I don't understand, is a polite way of stopping any conversation while explaining to the other person that you can't make out their Chinese whether it's good, bad, or just out of your vocabulary range.

For awhile I would use this phrase every so often when I got stuck. But I tried to avoid it after the lady at the shoe store said that ting bu dong is the only thing wai guo ren know how to say. The irony is that in our short 5 minute friendship I eventually had to tell her I ting bu dong. Anyways, about four months ago I was elated when I heard someone say ting bu dong to me. Wow, I thought, it means I'm actually talking. Not very well, because the other person can't understand me, but at least I'm talking.

Well recently I've been bombarded with an onslaught of ting bu dongs. The lady sitting next to me on the airplane, the server at the restaurant, the seller at the market...it's amazing...they all ting bu dong me! Now I'll admit this is a sign that I should probably work more carefully on my pronunciation, tones and grammar, but I'm just so excited that I can talk now that I can't help but jump for joy. They ting bu dong me!!

My other huge praise has been that since coming back last week I've been able to comprehend maybe 75% of what's going on around me. So not only do they ting bu dong me, I ting dong them consistently nowadays! I'll admit that the majority of this 75% is either a) related to food b) understood while watching Thomas the Train in Mandarin or c) because another wai guo ren is speaking and I understand the context, but even so, I'm elated because I am also picking up on other conversations between locals that I'm eavesdropping hmhmhm* I mean happen to overhearing even without context. So, yeah me!

But before I go tooting my own horn I must be true to life and and describe what I heard today as I eavesdropped hmhmhm* I mean happened to overhear what a waitress said after I ordered some take out jiaozi.

“Her Mandarin is like a child's” she told her friend while looking at me and then quickly looking away.

Sad, but true. But I still have the last laugh...not only did I ting dong...I was totally stoked!!! Wow...my Mandarin is like a child's! I'm no longer a baby...I've graduated. I'm like a three year old now. And if you think my tongue is in my cheek think again. I actually am really excited. From 0-3 in eight months, not too bad! I'll need all the help I can get bringing on 3-6, but I'm ready for it!

*This is the sound of me clearing my throat just in case the context didn't dictate the random letters symbolizing a noise.

If I had only known...

When I was just a wee little lass my parents would take my sister and I to the 4th of July fireworks spectacular out at Lake Ray Hubbard. Don't be jealous of the ways we lived it up in good old Garland. We would put out our four matching lawn chairs in respective sizes to our place in the family, largest for Dad, smallest for little sis, and enjoy all that a fireworks show monitored by a local fire department could offer.

Unfortunately my parents had a quirky habit. About 10 minutes before the show would end, during the climax when all the fireworks were exploding at the same time, they would grab us, grab our lawn chairs and throw everyone in the car and hightail it back to the highway.

"What are we doing!?!" I would wail as I simultaneously tried to crawl into the little space between the backseat and the rearview window to catch the last glimpse of fireworks I could.

"Trying to beat the traffic. I don't want to be stuck for two hours trying to get out of this place for a 30 minute fireworks show," my Dad would reply.

Sadly I'm not making this story up. After our quick escape my parent's usually appeased us by taking us back to the house where we were allowed to run through the backyard with flaming torches called sparklers until we were reminded it was after our bedtime. Of course they were quickly forgiven.

But if I only had known as a child of seven that one day... I would be living in a country that for the last 8 days straight has released fireworks almost 15 hours a day, sometimes beginning at 7:00 am, and sometimes lasting until 12:00 pm...a country where residents in our apartment community release fireworks from the courtyard below our living room windows and sometimes from their own living rooms windows...a country that has as far as I can tell no fire codes or fire marshals monitoring official fireworks shows let alone private displays... a country where our friend recently said an average person could spend almost 20,000 rmb on fireworks during the average holiday season... Well if I could only know then what I do now, I probably would have just buckled my seat belt and told my Dad to get a move on it.

Thank You India...I mean Thailand...

One of my favorite songs is Thank You India by Alanis Morrissette. I love it. It's a song about what you can learn when you are in a place other then where you live. It's grateful, but in a very raw way, which I feel like is sometimes the most beautiful form of gratitude. It's completely different from her first album, but still very much her all at the same time. Someone told me she wrote this song after a trip to India to experience life from another perspective. I wikkied that story...it looks legit...which makes me like it even more.

If I was going to write a song to a country, it would be Thailand. India is certainly a little more gritty and I admit, I was a little more excited about sleeping late and eating Western food then suffering in another country, but I still can relate.

So here it is...thank you Thailand!

how about leaving my long underwear at home

how about morning runs and afternoons on the beach

how about green grass to walk through

how about going to sleep at the same time as my husband

thank you Thailand

thank you rest

thank you quiet

thank you sunshine

thank you lack of busyness

how about the sound of waves on the beach

how about the night market

how about time with people much wiser then I

how about salad bars and bubble water with limes

thank you Thailand

thank you rest

thank you quiet

thank you sunshine

thank you lack of busyness

the moment I stepped off the plane was the moment

I realized I could breathe deeply

the moment I stepped on the return flight was the moment

I realized I could go back without fear

how about "being still and knowing"

how about remembering your sovereignty

how about unabashedly admitting that it ultimately is not about me

how about spending time not complaining but worshipping instead

thank you Thailand

thank you rest

thank you quiet

thank you sunshine

thank you lack of busyness

If you'd like to see the real lyrics click here.

Oh how the turns have tide...or rather How the tides have turned...

If anyone can correct that horrible misquote of a title I would be eternally grateful. If you can't quite get the reference here are two words to give you a little clue: Michael. Scott.

I found myself in another country last week, more to come on the wonders of being in a warm tropical place, when this little interchange happened between myself and one of the ladies at the market.

Me: How much for these pillow cases?

Lady at Market: 170 bhatt

Me: They are beautiful. You have so many colors. I just love your country.

Lady at Market: Ok then, for you a special price. 190 bhatt.

I leaned over to CL on my right and said slightly under my breath: Did you just hear that. She went up on the price. Wow, I'm so happy I'm not the only one.

Lady at Market, sheepishly realizing her mistake: I mean 150 bhatt.

Me: Don't worry. I actually make the same mistake all the time when I bargain in Mandarin.

Lady at Market at first doesn't reply but only smiles at me since her English is limited to prices, colors and the very useful phrase "come and take a look, you will like" clearly doesn't understand what I have just said but understands I am not upset and am somehow attempting to make her feel better then lowers the price to 120 bhatt.

Lesson of the day:

5 silk pillow cases from night market: 600 bhatt

Feeling good that other people make the same mistakes in your language that you make when you try out other languages: priceless