Monday, December 20, 2010

Women Zai Mei Guo

Translation: we are in America

Nearly 24 hours after walking away from our Shenzhen home toward the ferry terminal, we were riding in cars with my parents toward their home. Annika did not end up with a seat, but United did manage to seat us all together. Everyone flew like true professionals - except Dave, who found himself miserably too tall for his seat.

Lilly and Annika have basically fallen onto St. Louis time already, as has Dave. Sophia and I were awake for a few hours around 2am this morning, but did manage to go back to sleep eventually. Poor Sophia felt flabbergasted by it, though. Why, Mommy? It's morning!

We made it to church yesterday morning, and had confirmed that 10 days is simply not enough time in St. Louis. Too many people we would love to see, restaurants where we want to lunch, and relaxation we want to find simply hanging out with my parents. This week, the latter will take priority, and I hope to return for longer this summer. But so painful to tell friends we have no time for them.

Still, it is truly lovely to be home. Further, it is truly lovely to look toward 3 weeks with Dave around all day. The girls clearly feel entirely at home in this house, with Nana and Poppa, which amazes me. Some sort of powerful magic must encompass the house of a grandparent.

Friday, December 17, 2010

And So It Begins

As it turns out, Uncle H-- only bought airplane tickets for 4 out of the 5 members of our family. Annika will be spending 15 hours sitting on someone's lap. Even better, they didn't link any of the tickets. And so at this point, none of us are sitting together.

We need to leave our home in about 6 hours. We will arrive at Nana and Poppa's house in just under 30 hours. And so it begins.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Current Climate

Our high temperature yesterday was 70 degrees. We hit 80 the day before. Our wind chill this morning was 38, with an actual temperature just over 40. The girls and I were freezing this morning as we walked to school - not least because I had them dressed in only their pajamas and bathrobes. Today was the last day of school before the winter holiday, and each class had PJ Day and watched movies all morning.

But if we struggled with the low 40s, the high temperature of 31 degrees should freeze our pants right off when we leave the airport in St. Louis on Saturday. After an estimated 22 hours of travel, our poor exhausted bodies won't know how to react to such extreme cold - 50 degrees lower than the weather here on Tuesday. At least we seem to be easing into it!

Taking only a slight tangent, the Political Climate has us worried as well. Dave will sit for the last leg of his Econ exam on January 3rd, and I feel confident that he will receive a high score. But news like this article from CareerDiplomacy.com leave us unsure about a call anytime soon. The next possible class is scheduled for the end of March, and so invitations should go out in January. This is likely early enough that new legislators will not have cut budgets or frozen hiring, so the call may be extended. Dave may just receive such a call. But enough future legislators are calling for a freeze in federal hiring that receiving that call is nerve-wracking in itself. Current diplomats share stories of the last federal hiring freeze, when a training class was canceled at the last minute. And when they last minute, they're talking the week before the class would begin. Everyone had already quit their jobs, taken their children out of school, packed their houses, canceled their leases, and begun their travel to DC when they learned they had no job after all.

Its not just the weather making me anxious these days.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Decisive Moments

Every life is full of Decisive Moments - that moment when everything changed. It may have changed because of a decision we made, making the name that much more apt. But it may have changed because of circumstance, another person's choice, or a sudden shift in the wind. Sometimes we recognize them in the present, but generally only in retrospect.

I thought for sure I had one last week.

Dave called in to Human Resources at the State Department in D.C. We waited up to make this call, because business hours fall during our sleeping hours. Further, Ms. H.R. Professional rarely answers her phone in her first hour or two at work. Dave called. She answered. He asked for the results of his Mandarin test. She put him in hold.

I idly tapped at the computer, trying to keep myself occupied, but fully aware that I was sitting inside a Decisive Moment. Ms. Professional would come back to the phone at any moment, telling us whether or not our fates were tied to China. Providing more clear direction for our lives.

I idly tapped for a ridiculously long time - clearly she did not realize we were calling from China. I refreshed email, stalked people on Facebook, refilled my water, and eventually sat by Dave on the couch. She came back to the line. The results were not yet in.

No decisive moment.

She had suggested calling back at the end of the week. We spent Friday night in Hong Kong, sharing a hotel room with our 3 children. Dave took the phone into the bathroom, and I fell asleep before he returned. He did not wake me with the results. He told me in the morning that he had failed the Mandarin test.

No moment there, either.

A week ago, I hoped for failure. I have no hatred for China, but no real desire to spend the majority of our time here, either. I'm eager to go somewhere closer to home, with a language closer to English. A week ago, word that Dave had failed his test would only have bolstered my resolve, that Dave will get into the Foreign Service and we will learn Spanish or French.

But the news this week doesn't look so good. Incoming lawmakers pledging to cut the budget of the state department, or to freeze federal hiring, making promises which they will hope to carry out within their first 100 days in office. It is possible that this dream won't happen.

Dave sits for another test on January 3rd. I'm expecting a Decisive Moment on this one - hoping he will walk out the door with a 6.0, the top score. And expecting the next Decisive Moment to follow shortly after, when he receives a call to the March class. But then, no offer is real until you step foot in the classrooms in D.C. on the first day of training. Hiring freezes could renig all offers, both tentative and firm.

Thursday, December 02, 2010

In the News

Sometimes, it seems that the newspaper speaks directly of our lives. A few bits of news keeping our lives interesting:

Air pollution engulfs China's Shanghai after expo

When asked, our girls will tell you that they're from Shanghai. Its a natural answer, as they've each lived longer there than anywhere else (although Annika will soon have Shenzhen tied for the same number of months). The World Expo closed in Shanghai at the end of October, and after a summer of nearly blue skies, it comes as no surprise that the air has now turned grey. But still, these photos are appalling.



Wikileaks cables reveal China 'ready to abandon North Korea'

Personally interesting to me in a few ways. First, the Foreign Service message boards are going crazy with the wikileaks stories. Its been called the September 11th of Public Diplomacy, and really messes with the jobs of plenty of Foreign Service officers. But also because we are Americans, living in China, with Dave spending the weekend in Korea. Should any fallout come from these tensions (short of WWIII, of course), we expect to feel it. It is of some comfort to me that China may agree with the rest of the world on the topic of North Korean leadership.
Nut jobs.


Water pump bursts in Shekou

This one really is in our own backyard. A water main burst at the bottom of our hill, flooding the main street outside our complex, and shutting off water for nearly 24 hours. I love how the article makes it sound as if they carefully delivered water to each household. A water truck did drive through our neighborhood, about 20 hours after the water ceased. They did not tell anyone it was coming, and the truck only stopped when flagged down. But at least we were able to flush our toilets... eventually.


Chinese man beats his wife

This last one didn't make the papers. No longer our ayi, many long-time readers will remember Wendy. She worked for us in Shanghai, and struggled with an abusive husband. We heard from her employer that she showed up to work this week with a black eye and a swollen face. This was the worst.

I called and spoke to her for a while. Wendy is such a strong woman, I felt encouraged from our conversation. She described the prototypical abusive husband, but she did not sound the prototype of an abused woman. She knows that he is wrong; she will leave as soon as she can; and she has no doubt that she is strong and worth much more than this. She described her daughter, and broke into tears. When he beat her this time, Lele didn't cry. I suppose that's good, I said. No, she cried, it means she thinks this is normal. Later that day, Lele gave her trouble, clearly looking for a reason to cry and release her tension. Wendy said, I have to leave. He has already hurt her heart too much. I thought of my Sophia, the same age as her daughter. Her heart has been hurt.

In his regret, he promised her in writing that he would allow a divorce if he ever beat her again. He wrote that he would award her full custody of their daughter, and pay regular child support. The police and the local hospital documented the abuse, and she's keeping all of these papers hidden away from her husband, as well as a slowly growing stash of money. She will spend some time with lawyers and doctors while her employer spends Christmas in the U.K. And she says that the next time he starts to hit her, she will leave. I am not optimistic about his promised support, but I think she may really leave. I just hope that next time is not too late.

Wednesday, December 01, 2010

A Time of Rest

The test is finished.

They spoke on the phone for about 10 minutes. Dave rarely vocalized that he didn't understand, and formed coherent responses to most questions. They spoke for about 10 minutes, and ended on a topic which he did not fully understand. Its possible he passed - its possible he didn't.

We will find out in a few days. I'll let you know as soon as I can.

Meanwhile, Dave's sleeping late tomorrow morning. A well deserved rest, before he must fly to South Korea for the weekend. Yes, the Korea on the brink of world war. Its been a stressful week.