It was bound to happen… Danny told me it would… I dropped my phone and the screen cracked. I went 2 years pridefully thinking I didn’t need a case, but then pride does goeth before a fall (pun intended). I know there are at least 1,000 places to get screens repaired in Austin, but I wasn’t sure we’d be able to find one here.

Enter our first Chinese friend: Yu. He and his wife run a coffee shop near our university, and he told us that he knew of a place where we could get it fixed. Not only that, but he offered to take Danny there, AND take it to the counter himself so that we could get the local price instead of the foreigner price (at least 1/2 off… probably closer to 3/4 off).

He speaks as much English as we speak Chinese, so we mostly communicated through WeChat translate.

First order of business though: tea. Then more tea. Then more tea. It’s Yu’s hobby, plus they just drink a ton of it here anyway. We spent 2 1/2 hours just drinking tea with him and 2 of his friends before they even left to go to the iPhone repair place.

Eventually Yu, Danny, and the other 2 guys drove downtown to the repair place. This whole process took another 2 hours because the American thumb button thing is larger than the Chinese one, so the repair man had to try over and over until our Chinese friends were satisfied with the quality. Then, because it took longer than expected, our friends bargained the price down to just 260 kuai (about $43 USD). I was expecting to pay over $100.

When the guys got back, Yu’s mother-in-law came by the coffee shop with homemade dumplings and sautéed potatoes. She insisted that we have some… they were delicious!

After spending 6 hours of their day with us, we left with a fixed phone and a full stomach. We owe them big time. I plan to make some banana bread and take it by on Monday. Also, I found a case for my phone ASAP.

September 8th was one of China’s biggest holidays: Mid-Autumn Festival. Supposedly it dates back to the 14th century BC and is always held on the 15th day of the eighth month (according to the lunar calendar).  The traditional custom is for the Chinese people to gather as a family and enjoy fruits and moon cakes while admiring the full moon. Since people here consider the full moon to be a symbol of reunion and satisfaction, the moon cakes are sometimes called “Reunion Cake.” **Moon cakes are round and come in many different varieties with different fillings, and differ from region to region (think huge fig newton). Kristen and I also found out (after each consuming 4 in one sitting) that they are over 1,000 calories a piece.  After knowing that stat, I’m surprised the U.S. hasn’t taken to this dessert 🙂

Since ancient times, China has had many fairy tales and legends about the moon, among which the most famous is “Chang’e Flying to the Moon”. Chang’e was the wife of Houyi in ancient Chinese myths. Legend has it that she swallowed an elixir stolen from the Grand Old Lady of the West, became an immortal and flew to the moon palace. So, the mid-autumn festival is a time to remember this legend as well. But there are as many variations to this story as their are flavors of moon cake.

It is custom to give gifts to friends and loved ones. We decided to give moon cakes to our neighbors:

Two weekends ago we (and a bunch of other expats) drove about an hour outside the city to get some fresh air, see some green, and have a bbq picnic. It’s amazing that this exists just outside our city of 2.5 million! We drove through several tiny towns to get there, and it must have been slaughtering day since every town had a group of guys along the road somewhere in the process of slaughtering a sheep. One group looked like it was pumping the dead sheep full of air with a bike pump??

The picnic spot was gorgeous… We just pulled over on the side of the road somewhere and set up next to a stream.

The kids took off over the stream, climbing the nearest mountain/hill… so Danny and I followed close behind. There were herds of sheep and a shepherd roaming the hill too! Here are some more pictures from the day…

Getting up the mountain was easier than coming down. Danny found a way though :)…

So we have completed our first week of school. Needless to say, it was a humbling experience with small (very small) encouraging moments to break up each day. Our class runs from 10:30-12:15 Monday-Friday. Then we have a private tutor for an hour each afternoon. The tutor is followed by 3-4 hours of individual study/field practice each day for a combined 30-35 hours a week of intense language learning.

The first 2 weeks of school are solely focused on tones/sounds. We are not learning vocabulary or how to communicate with anyone yet – we are just learning how to produce Chinese sounds. Sounds repetitive, but the tones/sounds you produce are the basis for everything. Mandarin is a 4 tone language with a 5th neutral tone. This means that the same spelling of a word has 4 different ways of pronouncing that word which will produce 4 completely different words. Mind Blown? Ours is 🙂

Below, we have a video of me (Danny) trying to order water on the phone. In my defense, this was before we started class so I have no idea how to produce the sounds of the words I’m saying.

 

Sounds successful… but the person on the other end of the phone did not understand a single word I said, and called back 4 minutes later. At that point I handed my phone to my friend so he could repeat everything I just said (but correctly) and the water showed up the next day!

Kristen will be ordering water for us next time 🙂

Kristen and I have been in China for a little over a week now, which is really hard to believe. It feels weirdly normal to be here… like it’s home already. Except for the fact that we can’t speak to anyone. And it feels like just yesterday that we were hugging our awesome nephew.

We think we have finally kicked jet lag, although Kristen woke up at 4:30 this morning …soooo maybe we still need a few days.

To give a brief overview, we arrived last Thursday… However, only 1 out of our 6 bags arrived with us. The one that did come had 2 pillows, a throw blanket, and an ab roller… so at least we had the essentials. Thankfully, all the other non-essentials arrived the next day.

Most of this week has been setting up our place (although most of it had been done prior to our arrival by some awesome friends), registering for class, and walking around and familiarizing ourselves to the local markets/restaurants.

 

We have realized we’re going to have to get creative here. Even though school hasn’t started yet (begins Monday), our education has… I have already had to learn to fix the fridge, shower drain, and will next be working on the washer. For those who don’t know me well, I am not a handy-man. So this has been a huge learning process. I have also put up shelving in our bathroom and a coat rack by our front door. This may sound easy, but drilling into concrete is no joke!

Kristen learned how to bake bread, and make yogurt from scratch!

 

In other news, our stomachs are still in tact – check!
College football started – double check!!
Have been invited twice to join our neighborhood tai chi group  🙂

After moving out of our apartment, we realized that if saying goodbye to “things” was hard, it is going to be even more difficult to leave friends and family. Kristen and I realize the importance of leaving well, but why is it so hard to let go or say goodbye?

I (Danny) figure we can handle goodbyes in 2 ways…either avoid the goodbye all together (super unhealthy) or face the goodbye head on.

Unfortunately, I (Danny) didn’t realize that I was an avoider. Instead of allowing myself to grieve well, I become a busybody or just completely ignore the goodbye all together. Knowing this about myself, I am having to make a conscious effort to face the goodbye. At first, facing the goodbye is much harder. However, it has taught me how to have healthy closure. By not acknowledging that thing, place (apartment, austin), or person is gone, we all will have a much more difficult time living without it/them in the long run. Saying goodbye and proper grieving is what allows you to move on. On a positive note, Kristen and I are truly thankful for technology. Things like skype, viber, what’s app, ect. are a huge blessing in keeping in contact with loved ones. But, don’t let this be a crutch/excuse for not saying goodbye!!! 

Here are some pictures from our goodbyes and bucket list experiences:

Neighbors and friends from IMT:

Brunch at Chez Z with Kristen’s fam:

Fishing in Port O’Connor with Kristen’s dad:

Port Aransas with Danny’s family:

Other random things around Austin:

 

Well, after 4 really great years, our stay at IMT apartments has come to an end. I am serious when I say that we will truly miss our little one bedroom, 700 sq. ft home! So many great memories. As Kristen and I were going through literally everything we own and trying to decide what to do with all of our stuff, we realized two things…

1 – Wow, even though our place was super small, and we had taken pride in being “minimalist”, we had accumulated way too much crap. I had saved every receipt, bill, or anything deemed important since 2006. Our paper shredder overheated 4 times on me during the shredding process. However, we did have a few laughs when we looked at some of the old pre-Kristen purchases I had made. Namely the receipt I had found for $1700. In my defense…it was a trophy barracuda and never before had such a fish been caught off the coast of Florida. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it 🙂 Here’s an old picture of us with the trophy fish:

Another random thing we kept:

The second (most surprising) realization was how attached we become to “things.” I found myself finding it hard to give away a t-shirt that I have not worn or seen in 5 years. We are planning on taking 2 bags each to China… so we had to find a home for 98% of our stuff. Family, friends, and refugees in east Austin are the beneficiaries of Kristen and I moving overseas. I’m slowly realizing what it truly means to give up everything.

Here are some pictures from the move:

On moving day, these guys hung out on our porch the whole day!

They were literally coming up to the door and looking in, or trying to fly through the window. That had never happened before, and we couldn’t help but think it was a gift from the Lord — peace in the midst of a crazy time.

With just about 2 months left to enjoy life in Texas, we want to be intentional with our time. So here’s our plan… did we miss anything?

1. Breakfast at Donut Taco Palace I
2. Lunch at Franklin BBQ
3. See Willie Nelson in concert (pictured)
4. Walk the hike and bike trail’s new boardwalk section
5. Port Aransas
6. Camp at Garner State Park (pictured)
7. Deep sea fishing
8. See a show at Nutty Brown Cafe
9. See Bob Schneider play one last time
10. Barton Springs + Sno Beach
11. ?

 

On February 20, 2014 we boarded a plane to China. Even though we had never been before, and had only started to consider visiting 2 months prior, we were strangely confident that this would soon be our new home.

The flight went as smoothly as 20 hours on a plane can go. We had planned to spend a couple of nights in Beijing visiting our college friend/teammate who had been living there for 6 years. Thankfully, she picked us up from the airport and essentially held our hands all the way back to her apartment. I’ve traveled quite a bit in my almost-30 years, but I’ve never felt so foreign and helpless as I did then.

She taught us all the essentials — how to get around on the subway, how to eat soup with chopsticks, and how to pose for pictures Chinese style. We are forever indebted to you Meg! Eventually we got brave enough to wander off on our own and eat some donuts and scorpion 🙂

After our short-but-sweet visit with Meg in Beijing, we got back on a plane and headed to our final destination in Central China. We were supposed to meet up with friends from Texas and fly out west together, but they were delayed in Dubai. They had made all the plans arranging for our pick-up from the airport, so we just had to hope that someone would be there to get us. So we deplaned, got our bags, and waited… nothing. About 20 minutes later, just as we started to panic, two guys come through the doors looking for us. Saved again!

We stayed with a couple from England who had been there about 6 months — they were awesome! They showed us around town, guided us to all the good restaurants, introduced us to the BBC Sherlock series (so good!), and even took care of us when we got sick :). We’re excited to be seeing them more when we move this summer.

Here are some of the highlights from our time there:

1. Their cozy apartment. There are 35,000 units in their apartment complex alone!

2. We spent 2 days looking for the only gym in town. Not the World of Tennis, but it’ll do. We plan on being regulars here… Where’s the free coffee?

3. Our local fruit market.

4. Small village outside our city. The sheep was our tour guide, and lead us into the local home we visited!

5. Tibetan monastery/temple.

6. The surrounding landscape on the Tibetan plateau… we’ll need better jackets.