Two colds were not enough for one season.

Mom, don't ever let me complain about your telling me how to take care of myself! Now I'm getting it from an entire country! Yes, yes, I know they just want to express their concern and affection, but I certainly feel more like digging out a saying I learned this summer, '别告诉做什么。我自己做.' It's probably wrong, but it's the closest thing I know to, 'Don't tell me what to do, i'll do it myself.' Oh the irony that I, Shelley who does whatever she wants, would come to China....

Here's another picture of my partner in illness (although he's recovering quite nicely from his (or that who was formerly a he) surgery. I settled on the name 'Hun4 Dun4' 混沌. Which means primordial chaos or something. You can check it out on Wiki. Most Chinese people assume that I named him after a certain kind of dumpling, and when they realize otherwise they wonder why I would ever name him that. Then again, I wonder why my students name themselves Super, So-so, Ice cream, Wancy, or D-star.......

Some things we will never understand.

(混沌：looks pretty chaotic and faceless to me..)

you know my christmas spirit is dampened when i listen voluntarily to an Aaron Neville Christmas album....

Oh dear.

Daily life

Another post for my 'Language and Culture Learning Course' discussion
board:
In my attempts to be more mindful of encountering what one of my
classmates from APU described as 'real locals,' I decided to plop
myself outside of my apartment building where many of the parents and
children of the teachers here congregate to chat, work on knitting
projects, show off their grandchildren's abilities to defecate, and
hang laundry. I took my crocheting along and waited. It did not take
long for a group of nai-nai's and po-po's (Chinese grandmothers) to
inspect my crocheting and strike up a conversation with me. Although
it was quite intimidating to be surrounded by chatty women firing off
questions in thick Sichuan accents about my salary, how much I spend
on food per week, etc., it felt really good to take this baby step
toward entering into my community of neighbors. Now when I pass them
on my way to class or as I leave to get groceries, I can say 'hello'
with more confidence, and I feel a new bond that gives me the sense
that I belong a bit more in the patterns of life here in this corner
of China. One of the women even offered to set me up with young man
that she knows—he's even a doctoral student!

这个两天

I finally have a kitty!!! Let the naming games begin. Sorry for the
poor picture quality, I just wanted to get something up! He has a grey
patch on the top of his head. So far i'm thinking about how to name
him something like the Chinese for 'toupee' or 'comb-over'

One week later

An update on my dabbles in Chinese medicine--the purple is all gone;
there's just a bit of yellow remaining. Shoulder definitely feels
different....Can't tell if it's better, but I can do a handstand
without pain if I'm careful....

Tuesday nights at 按摩 (massage)。

I usually go get a $3 massage every week with some of my other
American friends. This week I decided to tell our massage friends that
my shoulder has been hurting for the past year to see if they could
work on it. They suggested that I have the fire cups, and never one to
turn down an opportunity at new things, I decided to pay the extra
$1.5 and have it done. Thus far I'd been too freaked out by the
suction noises and pregnant purple bruises, but I sucked up my fear
and decided not to be 怕 (pa4, afraid). They insisted that it didn't
hurt, and so I found myself agreeing to become a voluntary victim of
the vampire jars. It really wasn't bad at all. The picture looks MUCH
worse than it actually is, mom. Remember those goldfish I had with
bulbous eyes? I think I understand what it feels like to be one of
them....it was nice, and almost comfortable. Plus it matches my
necklace!
They also say that it helps keep you from getting a cold, so here's
hoping that the sore throat I have will disappear in the morning!
Golly, I hope you get what I've written along with the picture!!!
Because heaven knows that it needs a good explanation!

Thoughts and reflections for today's homework

Here's a post that I just posted on my class' discussion board. Cindy is one of my classmates and Slimbach is Richard Slimbach, the author of 'World Wise: Global Learning for the Common Good,' a text that we are using in my course on culture.

Living in a foreign culture seems to have a knack for amplifying my shortcomings. My reactions here skate from 'host-culture bashing' to running with the 'natives' with a dizzying fickleness. There are only rare days when I can feel truly confident about how I have interacted with the people in my host country. Most days leave me wondering how I could have phrased things better or how I could have reacted more gracefully in a given situation.

Even when I try to have the best intentions in an interaction, I find myself questioning the validity of these intentions and wondering if the other person is baffled as to why I would have considered my intentions to be the most appropriate. When I try to see life from Chinese shoes, I find that even the method I use to tie those shoes is backward, and I stumble around with the right foot in the left shoe. There is always something that I could have done better. 

As I discussed this with my supervisor, she pointed out that we receive copious amounts of grace from the people here, and that most people understand that even if our intentions are skewed from time to time, they recognize that we come with the heart of a learner. I think that living cross-culturally presents many opportunities for guilt to take-hold in our hearts, but this is arguably just as destructive as entering a culture with the reckless and destructive ignorance that Slimbach is working so hard to combat in his book. Cindy, I'm glad you brought up Slimbach's words on retreating from the community because I think it pertains to this situation as well. It is tempting to go into solitude out of guilt for less than perfect cultural interactions, but it is only by honestly and transparently accepting our mistakes and embracing the grace of the community that the most transformative and freeing learning can take place.  

I recently had a wonderfully rich conversation with a Chinese professor from Sichuan University in Chengdu. When I asked him how I could better connect and learn from people here, he quickly answered that learning and using language is the best way to demonstrate respect for the people here and that language breaks down the wall that separates me the outsider from my hosts. When I use even a little bit of Sichuan dialect, it expresses that I am here to live alongside the local population.