Open Up and Say "牙医!"

This story is about Chris and his experience with the dentist in Tianjin, China. Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a young man named Chris. He was eating a very yummy blue raspberry jolly rancher on a beautiful, polluted, icy, Tianjin winter day. He was enjoying the jolly rancher so much, he decided to chip his tooth on it. This was a very good idea he thought, so he persisted in his efforts and succeeded. It wasn't any ordinary tooth either, it was his front tooth!

Now while chipping his tooth had seemed to be a good idea, he soon learned that chipped teeth can become very sensitive and a nuisance. The problem worsens when drinking liquids that are of extreme temperatures. So a trip to the dentist became mandatory. Now before going to any new places in Tianjin, especially related to health, a call the the Tams is of utmost importance. Chris was referred to a Taiwanese dentist that did an awesome job. We were in and out it less than 20 minutes and only 94 元 lighter ($13 USD). Who needs to waste money on dental insurance with these rates!

小龙饱 with Sandy Lee

Chris got an email last week from Sandy Lee, a Chinese church member he knew on his mission in New York City. She was here in Tianjin for a few days visiting Aunts and Uncles before going to her home town of ChengDe for the Chinese New Year. Chris and I seized upon the opportunity to take her out to lunch at my favorite restaurant 鼎泰丰 (Din Tai Fung). At 鼎泰丰 I ordered my favorite Chinese food, 小龙饱 (Xiao Long Bao, pronounced a little like Shalom Bow).

Xiao Long Bao are so delicious. They are little steamed buns of happiness!!! Mmmmmmm!!!

We had a great time visiting with her and catching up on what's been going on in her life. I first met her at my wedding reception about 2 1/2 years ago. It was good to see her again and meet her two children, Emily (2years) and James (1year). Chris also knew her parents in New York and they were visiting too. Chris had a good time talking with Sandy's mother while I played peek-a-boo with Emily, as I was having a hard time joining in on the conversation. It took a lot of persuasion to get her to really approach me. But I'm good and before we left she was begging to let me hold her. Okay, maybe not begging, but she had warmed up quite a bit.

We really had a good afternoon. It was fun to meet up with friends on the other side of the world. We're hoping to see them again before they go back to New York. Maybe Emily won't be so shy next time.

Bike Riding in Tianjin

No, I don't have tuberculosis. I just went on a bike ride today. I woke up semi early and took off with Amy (the oldest daughter of the family we are living with, she's visiting for a few weeks) onto the roads of Tianjin.

Bike riding is different here for many reasons. First, most people ride bikes out of necessity. These bikes are old, most of them have been stolen at least once in their lifetime and resold, and they suck. When Chris and I first came to Tianjin, we too bought bikes out of necessity. We had two options for buying bikes: the bike mart where we could expect to pay anywhere from $15 USD for a Chinese made Chinese brand bike to $200 USD for electric bikes or we could stand under the Ba Li Tai bridge on the north west corner on Wei jin Lu just before Fu Kang Lu and wait for someone to approach us with a bike to buy for $7 USD. Well, we chose the first option and paid $30 USD for two Chinese made Chinese bikes, two baskets and four locks. We figured we should follow the law of the land and not encourage the selling/buying of stolen bikes. My opinion has since changed following the loss of Chris' bike to thieves a few weeks ago.

The second reason bike riding is different here is, wait, there are really about ten other reasons, I should make a list:

1-There are more bikes than cars in parking lots
2-Side walks here are made for parking bikes and not for walking
3-Cars honk from behind to just let you know they are coming. Maybe they want me to move out of the way but like I can predict where they want to go, and wait...I'm in the bike lane.
4-Don't look left or right before passing someone or that someone will inevitably run into you (like what happened today to Amy)
5-Actually, don't look anywhere but straight ahead
6-Helmets? What are those? Of course, some motorcyclists will wear them to keep them warm in the winter. I guess that's a good start.
7-If your bike breaks down anywhere in the city, you can walk for less than two minutes and get it fixed for 1 kuai (0.13 cents)
8-Women ride sidesaddle over the back tire, Chris and I tried it and I bent the rim
9-Just because it's a bike lane doesn't mean you won't have to compete against cars or buses
10-Pollution? I just thought the sky was always gray. Warning!!! Don't breathe the air, especially don't do any physical exertion and suck in three times as much of the particulates. People ride bikes here on days that are so polluted I'm surprised I don't see them lying in the streets struggling for oxygen.

Anyway, the bike ride was fun. It was great to do something active that I love. I did get a million looks (literally) from the curious, jealous and who knows what other reasons. I am a foreigner, on a mountain bike, wearing a helmet and a mask, I was jumping off curbs and over man holes and going three times faster than traffic. That was a real rush, especially when I almost got hit.

Luckily I got home safe and hopefully most of the pollution stuck to the outside of the mask rather than making it's way into my alveoli.

Hopefully Chris can come next time. He was taking a final exam in Microeconomics. You think that sounds bad, it was all in Chinese.

Happy Birthday Chase

This post is dedicated to my little brother Chase. Happy 14th Birthday! I miss you and hope that you have a great birthday!

A Chinese Christmas

MERRY CHRISTMAS

This was Emily's first Christmas away from family and it was the first Christmas outside the United States for the both of us. So suffice to say it was different from the "typical" Christmas of past years. However, we did as much as we could to ensure that we would at least try to catch some of the Christmas spirit.

People might claim that the Chinese do not celebrate Christmas, but I beg to differ. Throughout the month of December I was amazed at the amount of Santa Clauses, Christmas trees and lights plastered all across Tianjin. Pizza Hut, an icon of Western-American culture in China, was even decked out with the fake frost spray paint and the words, "Merry Christmas" written on the glass. Apparently, whoever was controlling the can did not have much experience, because the "Merry Christmas" was backwards and the outside audience it was meant to convey the message to was unable to read it. Oh those times that you wish you had your camera. To say the least there is no shortage of the materialistic icons of Christmas. On the other hand apart from our church building and our own house I was unable to see any representations of Christ or his birth which is as we know the real reason for the celebration of this holiday.

The question at hand is what is the reason why there was no representation of Christ? Is it because of the religious restrictions imposed on the citizens on China? Or is it because the commercialism of Christmas is more profitable than the real reason for Christmas? Whatever the reason, we were able to still have opportunities to remember the birth of the Savior of mankind and of giving ourselves to others.



Our branch here put together a branch Christmas activity with a potluck dinner and a special holiday program, filled with Christmas songs and the presentation of the nativity. It was a special night to be with the other members of our branch who are basically our "family" while we are here. The kids loved it too. We dressed them up as the angels that witnessed the birth of the Savior but they were so excited that they couldn't wait for their cue and burst on to stage. While the kids jumped around most of the adults in the audience shed tears of joy. We sang about six Christmas songs, but six wasn't enough for Emily so she persuaded the guitar players to keep the songs rolling and we ended up singing for another twenty minutes.



On Christmas day we slept in and then we prepared a huge feast for the twelve guests that we invited over for our Christmas dinner. Emily and I started the meal at 11:30 am and didn't finish until 6:30 pm when all the guests started to arrive. All things considered I think that we did a pretty good job. We made a big beef pot roast accompanied with roasted potatoes, carrots and onions. Also, we had home made parker house rolls made by Emily, which I have to admit are getting closer to beating my mom's home made rolls every time she makes them. Then for dessert we had three types of cookies and a chocolate pudding cake served a la mode. To finish off the night we played multiple rounds of everyone's favorite trading game, "Pit." It was really interesting see the dynamics of the game with American, Chinese, Korean and Indonesian people shouting numbers in English as loud as they could. Moreover, I think we destroyed two of the cards in the process of playing.

To finish the night off we had a sleep-over party with the Larsens. Check out Ellie's tailor made Christmas jammies.

Despite not being able to spend the Christmas season with our biological families this year, we were glad to spend it with our pseudo-China families here in Tianjin.