Blogs from Jiangxi, China, Asia - page 2

It’s a beautiful night. It’s warm but not too warm. It’s not windy or too humid. It’s nice outside. So, Ava and I come outside at 8:00 p.m. so that she could play with the other kids. There are lots of parents chatting and watching their children. It’s a typical night in China. I sat next to Licho and Jia, who speak English well and have 6-year-old daughters. They are quickly becoming two of my best friends here. We are talking and laughing like moms do when their children are happily playing. I hear Ava scream. I see her sprinting towards me. She is crying but I’m not worried… until I see the blood. Ava has blood all over her hand. It’s dripping onto the ground. I ask her what happened and she says that she ... read more

Random fireworks several times per week, playing under evening streetlights, dance lessons at school, 6 male English teachers who dote nonstop, hoards to people asking for photos in the town square, delicious street food, celebrity status, a cafeteria with 3 floors of new and exciting food, and constant activity. These are some of the things Ava loves about China. Although several of my friends were concerned about a child’s life here, I have to say it has been an excellent choice so far. She is in love with the city lights and crazy crowds. I think she even gets a kick out of the garbage piles we see when we hit up a back street. We often go shopping on a back street that connects two college campuses. Sometimes, I will stop to look at something ... read more

We packed all the work in foam and bubble wrap before contacting the local shipper man. He brought in a crate maker who made five HUGE crates to ship work back to Minnesota thanks to funding from my Minnesota State Arts Board Grant.... read more

“Mom, look at the cute bunnies.” “Those are rabbits and people eat them for dinner.” “People eat cute rabbits?” “Yep.” “Oh.” Ava kept walking. We had seen snakes, chickens, ducks, bags of jumping frogs, turtles, and even clams that spit water at us. It seems like Shanghai Street had just about every live food we had expected to see and never buy. There were also stalls with cuts of meat that were unrefrigerated. Women were fanning the meat to keep the flies away. There was also booth after booth of fresh fruits and vegetables. Some of them were unknown to us, but most of them were familiar. There were stalls with spices, most of them hot, but some of the smells were familiar. It’s close to the Autumn Festival, so there were moon pies for sale ... read more

It’s 12:30 a.m. I’m awake because hunger has taken over. It’s definitely time for some dinner. This has been the schedule for the last few days. We wake up around 6 a.m. and go back to bed around 4 or 5 p.m. Then we sleep until 12 or 1 a.m., get up for a couple of hours, and go back to bed. I’m hoping it’s jet lag and that it will pass. By 5 p.m. yesterday, Lauryn and Ava looked like zombies; pale with bloodshot eyes and vacant stares. Zac and I power through to boost team morale. He has really been the team leader more than me, but sometimes he forgets that the rest of the team are a bunch of girls who need to stop frequently for food, water, and bathroom breaks. Still, I ... read more