Chinglish Christmas

Wasn’t your typical Christmas – Andrea, Rachel and I gave finals on Christmas day, after finals Rachel went into town for a root canal, Penny and I went Christmas shopping for an MP3 and then to the bank that of course was open.

Us 4 Americans decided to have an Almost American Christmas dinner. We say almost because most of the food was ALMOST like a typical Christmas dinner. Andrea made a green bean casserole without the French onions or milk. I made mashed potatoes with packaged mashed potato mix (I know it is cheating, but all that was possible). Rachel bought a whole small chicken that could fit into our tiny toaster oven. The only way you can buy a whole chicken here is with the head still attached. So she steeled herself into cutting the head off but when she got it home and out of the package she found that she also had to cut off the feet and completely gut the chicken. There were no convenient bags of edible innards stuffed inside the cavity. We are so spoiled in the US. Rachel also made a broccoli casserole made with Velvetta (it came in a greatly appreciated “Kris & Jim Christmas care package”) instead of cheddar cheese which has been impossible to get here lately. Extra “Kudos”! go to Rachel for tackling the chicken dissection!

Side Note – It was strange that the package with the Velvetta got thru Chinese customs because Beth’s package that had Cheez- ets listed got stopped (no cheese allowed) and she had to go to the customs place to pick it up – go figure - a big block of processed cheese got thru and cheese dust crackers didn’t. I just hope “my slow boat from China” box of clothes and stuff that I mailed 2 weeks ago will get to me in Georgia – Honest there was no cheese or cheese dust at all…….

After dinner we played 6 rounds of Scattagories. (I didn’t win but I did ok considering my age)

West Lake English Corner Elves

A couple of weeks before Christmas I gave each of my English Major classes 2 hats, 2 stockings, and an assignment. Each student in their class had to contribute an item or items to stuff the stockings with for the children at Sunday’s West Lake English Corner. Pictured above are the 2 Elves from each class that helped pass out the goodies. The cold dreary weather really cut down on the number of children that showed up so the ones that did really got lucky. One of the elves taught the kids to sing Jingle Bells so we were treated to a unique version of the song.

Very Cold

Did I tell you guys that it was cold? I even had to wear my funny hat.

The Dolphins

I swear the dolphins were really playing with Penny behind the glass. We stayed there for about 10 minutes and a couple of them played with us the whole time.

Dalian Sea World

Interesting aquarium, which was very uncrowded because it was in the middle of the winter and snowing, but it was fun.

Penny's First Kiss??

She won’t admit whether it really was her “first kiss” or not but I really hope the Walrus wasn’t it. Whiskers, tusks, and fish breath – yuck! I have to find her a stuffed walrus to remind her of her kiss.

Cold Dalian

Dalian is a modern (notice the 'disco ball') city with a Russian and Japanese history. People kept asking me if I was Russian because there are lots of Russian tourists. The cold Siberian wind was really strong and we had a few snow flurries that reminded us of how much we like Hangzhou’s warm weather. The hotel was great – softest beds I have ever had in China and a great location. It was close to an underground shopping area that we kept getting lost in - which wasn’t all that bad. On our “have no idea where we are” wanderings we found a great hat for Penny, hair thingys for Nicole and donuts for me.

Penny's First Plane Trip

She did fine – no fear of flying at all. Only problem is that the China Southern Air has spoiled her for all American airlines. Think back to our airline service in the 50’s and 60’s. The flight attendants are all young and pretty and look exactly alike and they actually feed you on all flights – no matter how short.

Proud Papa Getting Son Ready For a Cold Ride

Remember cars are a rarity for the average Chinese family. First big purchase is the motorbike so it is very common to see a family of 3 on a motorbike. Sharon, David and I saw this dad and son after we had visited their college’s great Science and Technology Museum. We were impressed with how many hands-on activities the museum had. It reminded me of the Ben Franklin Museum in Philly. Only problem is that all the exhibits were in Chinese.

Students' Water Jug

Colorful aren’t they! I have one too. I bought a traditional Chinese red one. This picture was taken at Zhejiang Normal University in Jinhua (25,000 students). These are standard equipment for every college student. There are big machines on almost every floor of every classroom building and dorm that boil water. It is a necessity not only to make your tea, and brush your teeth but also to keep your hands warm in the classroom. In the unheated classrooms students will wrap their hands around their small tea containers that everyone brings to class (including me – but I usually have tea in my container)

First Animal Hospital I Have Seen In China

Yesterday I actually saw a big dog. It was a German Sheppard on the back of a Police Motorcycle. Every once in a while you will see a small dog getting walked but basically you don’t see many pets in China. Rabbits are the only pet I have ever seen for sale in China and you’re pretty sure that it will be eaten in the end. (They sell them in the grocery stores) In Jinhua I actually saw lots of cats and dogs that seemed to fall into the pet category and we actually saw an Animal Hospital.

His First Sale ?

This artist made such a big deal over me buying this picture for 15 dollars that it was either his first sale or his first sale to a laowei. He made us take pictures inside and outside of his store with him.

Hopefully the picture will make it home ok - he folded it up.

My First Solo Train Trip

Took a train all by myself and went to Jinhua to visit Sharon and David. I met them in 2006 when they taught down the street at another college. They also went home for a year and then came back. They currently teach at Zhejiang Normal University. If there is the word “Normal” in the schools name it means a teacher college. Knowing middle school teachers as well as I do – I am not sure I would make the connection between Normal and Teachers so easily but this is China – maybe things are different here. Jinhua lacks a lot of the cultural and historical things to see when compared to Hangzhou but the big advantage is that the school is willing to hire us “more mature” teachers. So if I ever get the urge to do this again or I can’t get a job at Frederica – I do have other options.

They found me a great really cheap hotel, (less than 20 bucks a night) really close to their apartment, CNN, BBC, fairly soft beds, good water pressure and a western toilet – what more could I ask for. The free breakfast was lacking (they had run out of almost everything when I arrived) but there was a fruit stand right down the street. We toured and walked around the few local parks and shopped at their Wal-Mart but mostly we ate Sharon’s delicious microwave chocolate cake and played a game called “Farkle”. If you haven’t played before it is addictive, easy and fun. All you need is 6 dice, paper and a little friendly competitiveness.

http://www.farklerules.com/the-rules-of-farkle/

And A Happy New Year.....

This is your official 2008 Christmas Card. I hope you all have a great holiday and a wonderful new year.

I know it is a cop-out not addressing all the envelopes and licking all the stamps but if you could see the lines at the post offices here you would understand. Also most of you read my blog which is sort of like a never ending Christmas Newsletter anyway. The photo was taken in YuYuan Garden in Shanghai.

It has been a busy and wonderful year in China but I am looking forward to getting home in just a few weeks. Finals for the students are just around the corner and I have already started the daunting task of packing. I only have one more 4 day trip planned to Harbin with Cynthia to see the ice sculptures and of course maybe one more day trip to Shanghai for some last minute souvenir shopping.


Side Note: Here is something extra that can't be done in a regular Christmas card.... Click here

Thanksgiving 2008 - What I am Thankful For

We discussed Thanksgiving in my English classes this week. I listed my 5 things that I was thankful, which were very predicable: Family, Friends, Health, Being in China and My Pension.

I required the students to do the same thing. List 5 things – The approximately 200 students lists I received started out very predictably with FAMILY (but generally their grandparents were listed before their parents – remember child care is usually the job of the grandparents) and FRIENDS. After the first two the list really diverge from what we might predict that an American college student would list.

Third most often listed blessing was: TEACHERS – many specific middle school and high school teachers were mentioned having the a large impact on their lives
4th blessing – were BOOKS or a variation of acquiring knowledge
5th – Being able to ATTEND COLLEGE
6th - CHINA, which included a few mentions of hometowns, the Chinese government and even a thanks for their President Hu JinTao
7th – variations of COMPUTER, INTERNET AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES (yes even some computer games were mentioned such as War Craft)
8th –DELICIOUS FOOD (as how it was stated most often) – rice, bread, all the fruits and just one that even was thankful for KFC, McDonalds, Pizza Hut. There were a couple that mentioned a good harvest and one that said “all the animals who are eaten by me”
9th – most often listed “blessing?” was one that really surprised me – HARDSHIPS – here are a couple of ways this blessing was listed by my Chinese students. Sometimes I have to remind myself often that English is NOT their first language because their answers can be so poetic.
“The natural disasters because they let me know we should cherish our lives better”
“Difficulties that give me perseverance”
“The bad/terrible period of my life which makes me feel content with what I have.”

Some of the REST….
God
Cell Phones
Sports
CCTV (the different TV channels that are put out by the Chinese Government)
Pretty clothes
Shoes
Good weather
A smart and sensible mother
Policemen
Workers that make a contribution to the country
Rivalry opponents
Enough money
Environment such as the library, trees, water, and food
Being a gal
Being 172 cm tall
Blues and Jazz music

I have come to the conclusion that one of the biggest differences between China’s youth and America’s youth is that China’s youth EXPECT their life and future to be hard and have many difficulties whereas a large majority of America’s youth EXPECT life to be easy. Sort of makes you wonder what type of adult & work ethic develops from their different expectations.

Andrea and Beth in Shanghai

See – Andrea’s scowl was only a temporary thing, especially after the margaritas at Peter’s Tex-Mex. I was speaking in monosyllables after only one and Andrea and Beth had very few cares.

Side note: We found a real honest-to-goodness Dunkin Donuts in Shanghai. We decided to get up early Sunday morning so we could partake in a little American grease before our train trip home, but alas …..it didn’t open until 9. WHO EVER HEARD OF A DUNKIN DONUTS NOT OPENING AT 5 AM…but we are in China. It was probably good that we couldn’t stop there because we ended up catching the metro going in the wrong direction so it took us longer than expected to get back to the train station.

New Big Boy In Town

There are lots of tall buildings in Shanghai just a year ago the winner was the 88 floor (8 is a lucky number) Jin Mao building, now it’s the 101 floor World Financial Center. My favorite one is still the Tomorrow Square Building. Sort of neat to be able to see Shanghai’s two tallest buildings in the smoggy background of the YuYuan Garden’s ancient buildings

Here is a link to the tall buildings in Shanghai - remember most of these were built after 2000 - China is just growing so fast
http://www.emporis.com/en/wm/ci/bu/sk/li/?id=100213&bt=2&ht=2&sro=0

Crowds Can Get To You

On the way to Shanghai, Andrea and I both had an “incident” in a very, very crowded bus with a short laborer standing behind us. The poor little guy, somewhere in his 20’s, had probably never seen such large white women before and decided to see how we smelled and felt. The part that had me in tears was that he had to stand on his tippy-toes. He “got” me first, then after I maneuvered the object of his infatuation out of the way he went to Andrea for seconds. Beth was lucky and had a seat so she was just a voyeur. With the crowd it was very hard to move away and I was laughing so hard I didn’t think about stepping back and crushing his toes until I had gotten off the bus.

It takes a while to get used to the crowds here and sometimes it can just get you down. So on top of the bus incident, the crowds at YuYuan Garden (which really were not too bad by Chinese standards) really got to Andrea that day….which explains the photo.

Shanghai With The Girls

Before I left for the US, I wanted to make sure that I showed Andrea and Beth all the important places in Shanghai before I left: Where and how to get the train tickets, how to get to Peter’s Tex-Mex restaurant, how to use the metro, where to find the knock off market and where Lisa Pearl’s was located. We accomplished all of the above and actually squeezed in some touristy things such as YuYuan Garden, the Bund, and Nanjing St. Except for the crowds, Shanghai is a really nice place and getting around it is very easy.

Side Note: the full moon was out on the Bund and it was a remarkably smog free night. It is hard for me to believe that my little, throw in the pocketbook, Canon SD1000 PowerShot took that photo. We were blessed with the perfect night.

Street Food

At night 10-20 tricycle based food stands suddenly appear and line the sidewalks outside the dormitory gates. For less than half a dollar you can get a serving of either fried joazi, fried noodles, grilled vegetables and meat, squid on a stick, popcorn, sticky rice, stinky tofu, an egg concoction that sort of resemble a really thin omelet and other things that I cannot recognize and/or describe.

When Paula and I were tourists in ’04 we were warned about eating street food and I have generally heeded that warning but the smells and the low, low prices were just too good too pass up anymore. We had to walk by the various tricycle restaurants a couple of times to figure out which ones we would be brave enough to try. I have fallen in love with a pita type sandwich with grilled chicken, garlic shoots, romaine lettuce and a great brown paste slathered onto the bread. Other than the live snail that Andrea found in her lettuce – we haven’t seen anything else or experienced any ill-effects that would encourage us to curtail our street food love affair.

Side Note: Major depression – Government Officials have been hanging out at the West Gate for the last 4 nights so the Street Food Vendors have been hiding out at another college. I am missing my Chicken thingy. Students have told me the govn. officials will go away at some point in time and the tricycles will return, but I am not the most patient person in the world when it comes to food.

Just For Jim and Kris

We named our favorite restaurant “The Shortcut Restaurant” because someone would always uproot a tree so we could take a shorter route to the restaurants located under the stadium. Remember there are lots of gates, fences, guards and physical barriers to “encourage” you to walk where they want you to walk but there are also lots of people. Jim and Kris got to be friends with the owner who was just about ready to become a father. Well he is now a proud papa had here is the proof – I had promised to take a picture for Jim and Kris.

Chinese Birthdays and Birthday Cakes

Birthdays are celebrated here but differently. The birthday person buys their own cake and if there is a dinner gathering they pay for that too. I definitely favor our method where the birthday person is the one spoiled. Cakes are different too. They look really good with lots of beautiful fruity designs but they definitely lack something in the taste. Sort of reminds me of bread with unsweetened whipped cream on top. Definitely not worth the calories…and I haven’t seen a chocolate cake yet. Chinese Birthday candles are a lot more fun – they bloom, or shoot off fireworks and even play the tune “Happy Birthday” as it burns. Unfortunately it continues playing the song till you can’t stand it anymore and you have to crush it (water doesn’t even stop it).

The Most Popular Costume of the Night Was ........

Halloween Trick or Treat

To finish out the week the other English teachers and I had a Friday night Halloween Trick or Treat Party. We decorated the large space outside the elevator doors on our 6th floor living quarters. We had the required candy along with popcorn and tang. Students were required to wear a costume to attend. I was a witch and my duty was to stand at the elevator doors and not admit the ones without a costume. The majority of them had to be ENCOURAGED by the wicked witch to put on their masks. Some of them actually made their costumes with paper and pen but the majority took the easy way out and bought a mardi gras feathery mask to wear. No spiderman, kung fu panda, iron man to be seen in the bunch. There were lots of screams and lots of picture taking. The students were a little loud but we managed to finish up the party by 8:30 and clean up by about 9:00 so we only bothered the hotel guests for just a few hours. The hotel manager did pay us a visit and was a little mad – but we didn’t feel too guilty because we live with their hotel guests playing loud card games in their halls till 11 or later. The hotel has an open area from the 4th floor to the 6th which amplifies all voices to “can’t sleep” levels”.

Pictured above from left to right is me, Andrea the young English teacher from Michigan, and Penny my ever present Chinese side-kick, helper, and friend.
Photos from the last 2 trips and Zac are listed in the "BLOGROLL" on the bottom left hand side of this window so if you want to see more mummies etc.... just click.

Halloween @ ZUFE

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. In class to get them into their spirit I divided them into 4 or 5 groups and handed out a roll of toilet paper to each group to make a mummy. Winner was the group that finished their Halloween Crossword puzzle and their mummy first. Of course they had to use every sheet. It was hilarious.

Side Note: I was watching my magic Slingbox (my Georgia TV on my Mac laptop in China) and had the CNN Headline News on and I saw an advertisement for HANGZHOU CHINA. It is the same one that runs constantly on CCTV 9 the only English TV Channel here. It was so weird hearing that exact ad on American TV. Why not come –I got Zac here for less than 1000 dollars for a round trip ticket from Atlanta to Shanghai, which is right next door to Hangzhou……

Teacher Trip

Every term the Foreign Affairs Office and Language Department takes the foreign teachers out for an “adventure”. This term we went on a boat ride. The members of our group included (Andrea was under the weather and skipped the rainy outing) Rachel and JP, Steve, Emily, the 3 Japanese teachers and many more from both offices.

We rode a bus for about 3 hours to a spot where we got on a boat. It was the head waters for the QianTang river that runs by our campus. The scenery was sort of a poor-man’s Li River Cruise. It had nice mountains, but I have been forever spoiled by the unique shapes of the mountain in Guilin and Yangshua. We stopped about 4 times – once to hike up to a nice water fall, to eat, to see a historic battle site and the last stop was to pick mandarin oranges. You were allowed to eat as much as you wanted and you only had to pay for the fruit you left with. So Steve and I went around tasting the fruit from different trees to find the sweetest tree. After sampling about 6 bushes we found a good one. We each took a big bag back of the really cheap and really good fruit.

Zac - My Show & Tell

I am not above using all my resources to entertain my students so when Zac came to China I requested that he meet my 4 English Major classes and answer a few questions. He seemed to enjoy everything until photo time. He is not crazy about having his picture taken and he is definitely not comfortable with the number of photos taken in China, but I still tried to take as many as he would tolerate.

Zac and The Cheap Water Guy

I have one stall where I get my water whenever I go to Sunday’s West lake English corner and he usually charges people 3 yuan – I only have to pay 2 yuan. He always laughs at me trying to say hello and goodbye in Chinese.

Zac at West Lake English Corner

I took him to West Lake’s English Corner. We walked up to a spot in the shade and Zac asked me “What do we do here”. I replied “Just wait” No more than 20 seconds later he was surrounded with people that wanted to talk to him. He did fine and seemed to handle the crowd without distress. Americans and Chinese have a different sense of personal space that can take a little getting used to.

Zac in XiTang

That small yellow dot on the left is Zac as he is sketching early in the morning in XiTang

I took Penny with me so that she could help us navigate the second part of the weekend at XiTang, an ancient water town. I think I can do the trains by myself because they are posted on the Internet in English so I can print it out and point when buying tickets but I still can’t do the buses without help. Penny also found us a really nice traditional style hotel in XiTang with 2 bedrooms and one bath for less than 70 dollars a night. We stayed over night so we could take photos at sunset and then got up early and got the staff to unlock the hotel so we could take pictures at sunrise. We joined lots of college age Chinese students with really fancy cameras doing the same thing.

Side Note: Just finished a great dinner - Andrea and I went on a long walk (in the rain) and ate some of the best street food. It was sort of like a pita –but Chinese style. It had Chicken WITH NO BONES (always a pleasant surprise in China) with garlic shoots and a semi spicy brown sauce. Yum – I am going back there….

Blue Sky In Shanghai

You usually don't see these words together. Zac must have brought the perfect combination of weather. I don't think I have ever seen such beautiful sky in Shanghai.

Yes I Even Got Zac to Go To Lisa Pearls

I can't go to Shanghai without going to Lisa Pearls and the Bee Cheng Hiang Meat market - Baubles for Nicole and meat with no bones for me.

Zac in Shanghai

Shanghai with the Metro, Maglev, and train system makes it an easy city to get around. It reminded Zac a lot of New York City except that he said the Metro was easier to figure out than the NYC subway system. We stayed in a really cool apartment/hotel that was reasonably priced and within walking distance of almost everything we wanted to see.

We did the Shanghai Museum and Shanghai Art Museum. Both of these buildings plus the theater are located on the People’s Square, which used to be the old Shanghai Race course during the times when there were large British, American and French concessions in the mid 1800’s. Besides the very interesting architecture Shanghai really does have a unique and very interesting history and one of the best museums I have ever been to.

Do You Think I Could Get Zac and Nicole to Dress Alike?

Not only do they buy the colorful Hawaiian type shirts they also buy the shorts and hats to match AND they make their family wear the matching ones. I would estimate that more than 30% of the couples and families that came to the “End of the Earth” rocks wore such matching outfits. They sure must have cooperative kids - It would have never worked with Zac.

End of the Earth

On Friday it sprinkled most of the day so it was a perfect day to climb on the double decker bus that stopped infront of our hotel and we toured a large part of Sanya for 10 yuan. (about $1.50) Only disadvantage to sitting on top was every so often if I wasn’t paying attention palm leaves would hit me in the face. We got off at the “End of the Earth” There are two rocks that each have two characters carved into them. One has “Tian Ya” means edge of the sky and the other one has the characters “Hai Jiao” meaning end of the sea. Together they mean “End of the Earth”. The picture of the rock is on the two Yuan bill and millions of Chinese come here to have their photo taken infront of the rocks. We also joined the crowd and documented our trip.

Hainan Island - Sanya

Located in the south part of China, it is an island that is supposed to resemble Hawaii. Like Hawaii, it has clear ocean water, shells, mountains, colorful shirts (and more) and lots of palm trees. Unlike Hawaii it has a lot of Russian tourists and lots cheap tour buses. Our first full day was beautiful and sunny but not too hot. We took advantage of the great weather and spent the day on the beach and in the huge hotel pool - both times carefully positioning ourselves under the big umbrellas. We still got sunburned, Cynthia got the worse – I had a good enough “base tan” from St Simons that I just got a little pink. For Zac’s information and anyone else that surfs – In Yulong Bay where we were staying there were no surfable waves and this was just days before a typhoon (their version of a hurricane) would be passing by.

One of the biggest differences between the USA and China is they do not cover the weather as thoroughly as we seem to do. We looked for information on many of the TV channels and still heard little about when or where it would hit. Weather seems to be American’s “small talk” where as the “small talk” for the Chinese seems to be centered around food.

The Wave - Qiantang River Tidal Bore

Mid-Autumn Festival is a national holiday so we got Monday off. I didn’t do anything special because I was giving my back a break from the “adventure” of Chinese travel and because there was lots of rain due to a typhoon off the coast of China. During this holiday people in this province eat mooncakes, look at the full moon, and watch the famous Qiantang River Tidal Bore. Our school is located on the bank of the Qiantang River so we joined the thousands of other students and families in watching this event. This tidal bore is supposedly the biggest in the world, but it still looked rather small to me. Click here to read more about tidal bores.

I was initially more fascinated by all the people that came to watch the small dirty looking wave roll by but I changed my mind when I found a video online of Brad Gerlach an American surfer surfing the “Silver Dragon”. The "Silver Dragon" is a colorful name for this wave that runs from one side of the river to the other. The unfinished bridge that you see in the video is right beside our campus so we might have been witnesses to this event – but I doubt it. We did see a wave runner close to the other side of the river but no surfer.
http://www.surfline.com/video/video_player/video_player.cfm?id=17637

Mooncakes And The Wave

This is the Mid-Autumn Festival where everybody gives everybody else Moon Cakes usually in beautiful boxes and bags. Presentation is really important here. Moon Cakes remind me a LITTLE of fig newtons. But cake on the outside is much harder and dryer and the filling might not be fruit. Sometimes it is a sweet redbean paste with an egg yolk in the middle, sometimes it is a sweet green pea filling or a rubbery fruit filling (they are my favorite if I have to eat them). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mooncake They might be better if they were sampled with a big glass of ice cold milk, which is impossible here because all you can buy is the room temperature box milk which just doesn’t do it for me.

The Mid-Autumn Festival falls on the 15 day of the 8th lunar month, so the actual date will vary between mid September to mid October. I think it might have something to do with the harvests but I found lots of legends online – this web site had the most common 4 – just scroll down http://www.chinapage.com/Moon/moon00.html

Kris and Jim - Aren’t you Jealous?

Last semester, the Dalton Georgia couple Kris and Jim and I would frequently eat at the restaurant we called the “Short Cut Restaurant”. We gave it that name because someone would always tear out a tree so we could easily take a short cut to get to the restaurant (and they have already torn a tree out this semester too). Shown above are some of Kris and Jim’s favorite foods, “shoestring potatoes”, and “smells like fish pork”. (Don't worry Kris, the “cabbage hot pot” was on its way) The restaurant was full so they made us a table outside to eat. YUM – don’t you want to come back…. We miss you!

Things to Amuse Us While We Wait For Our Food

It takes talent to pick up 2 peanuts with chopsticks as shown by Steve but exceptional talent was shown by Beth, another English teacher from Hangzhou Normal University which is across the street from our University.

CTs, Dogs, Cows - Chinese Medicine

When I was in the hospital they asked me if I was willing to have Chinese Medicine- I replied that I didn’t care just so it worked. I was given these great patches that really do work and some pills that I take 3 of -3 times a day. I got Penny to translate the ingredients in the pills. And if she translated correctly there were various herbs along with the part of a spine of a dog and part of the knee of a cow. Woof Woof & Moo Moo…. But, I am still acting fairly normal after 6 doses of the pills with no cravings for grass or cats.

Pictured above is my CAT scan and medical records - they let you keep them and all my "medicine" ... all for the low cost of less than 100 dollars.

Newbies

We have 4 new Americans here this term. It is the first trip to China for all of them. John Paul, 24 and his wife Rachel, 22 are from the mid west, Andrea, 26, is from Michigan and Steve, 22, is from Long Island. They all seem to be adjusting really well (better than I did the first time) and will probably really enjoy their adventure in China.