China part 2

 

Too big to post all together…

 

 

Chinese food

 

1. Has more variety than I ever dreamed. Its ranking on my previous post about world cuisines is rising even as Thai fell a little after visiting Thailand. Thai food has its red, green, yellow, penang, and massaman curries which are all to die for. But the variety doesn’t even come close to Chinese food.

2. Is more mild and balanced than I expected. Peanuts and mushrooms are used in everything.

3. Doesn’t do desserts nearly as much as the US (fortune cookies were invented in the US I learned)

4. Is very fatty in the meat sense of the term. Not that I would know, seeing as if I’m going to avoid meat anywhere it would be China (there’s dog and donkey here for starters) but Jacob loves the pork and duck here. The goose, not so much.

5. The coolest thing I’ve tried so far is abalone soup. It’s a delicacy.

6. I want to learn how to make good bean curd. Even Jacob likes it as much as meat.

7. No food poisoning yet! I got a bad bug in Thailand but nothing here so far.

8. I can now use chopsticks when I eat. Admittedly, I hold it in a way no Chinese person ever did, but I can get food from the plate to my mouth. I’ll be happy to demonstrate it for you the next time we eat Chinese food together.

          

Our apartment

1. We ended up grabbing even though it’s quite expensive ($1400 not including utilities) because we didn’t want to be on an endless chase in our relatively short term here and twice we said we’d take an apartment we’d looked at and then got told “Oh, someone JUST signed the contract for it.” A Chinese marketing upsell ploy? We didn’t know, but anyways our apartment is quite beautiful and spacious. Turns out Beijing is ranked 16th most expensive city in 2010.

2. Was not cleaned and we had to hire a housekeeper as soon as we arrived because we didn’t have any cleaning supplies. Apparently that’s the norm here.

3. Has a super view of the city and is in between three shopping malls

 

Beijing ward

1. There are two. 800 members in Beijing I read online. We were kindly invited to a 4th of July celebration. 

2. We can’t bring up the Church and no one with a Chinese passport can attend.

3. This is really an atheist society. Religion has no role in the day-to-day activities of most people. Instead, work is the main activity. I said I though Americans were the hardest workers in the world, and Jefferson said, “Wait til you get to China.” People work 7 day weeks, 8 am to 11 pm here. It’s the norm. People want money! I have visited remnants of their religious heritage: a Buddhist lamastery and a Confucian temple.

  

               

 

Jacob

1. Has been asked to take part in an article in "Men’s Health” October issue. Its readership is 12 million.

2. Was contacted by Sports Illustrated for an article on vertical jump training.

3. Has been training people here at local gyms.

4. Did I mention how proud I am of him?

 

Kalli

1. Is a fitness guru’s wife, so I am training accordingly. Gym classes daily, as well as a new record of a one mile run at 9:13. I’ll admit that was with cheating and holding the bar. Hey, it’s not a world record but it’s a personal one.

2. made an important discovery. Apparently there’s a difference between eyeliner on your lower eyelashes and eyeliner on your skin between your lower eyelashes and your eyeball, called the waterline. It looks much better to wear it on the waterline. I am now a happy wearer of eyeliner (I share this in case there’s anyone else clueless about it like me).

3. believes it is worth it to come to China just for the shopping and the food. I have an admission: I don’t like shopping. Is that a betrayal to my sex? Am I unfeminine for that? I hate knowing what I want and being unable to find it, the process of trying on clothes, and worst of all in foreign countries, having to bargain. But here in China, shopping is sightseeing. I have never seen so many foreign, exotic products in my life. And the saleskeepers aren’t aggressive. Nice.

           

PS Hate to break it to everyone, but I’m seeing with my own eyes that at this rate China’s economy will easily surpass ours in a matter of years. They’ve got a billion more people and they work 70 hour weeks. It’s growing right before our eyes.

How I would fix the economy

So we are headed to Morocco in less than two weeks. The 21 of June is our flight at 5 am...probably shouldn't go to bed that night, we sleep in too easily. We will have a huge apartment there; you can see it at http://www.zoufi.com/
More by necessity than choice, it was the only one we could find with all our requirements. It costs less than our apartment here at least. So that just means you guys will have to visit us!!! (Anyone who is reading this)

And fyi, sometimes we are told we are brave for traveling to different countries the way we do. My answer to that is--childbirth sounds a heck of a lot scarier than relaxing on a beach in Europe. I am in awe of mothers for how tough they are. My friends who are also mothers--I am amazed by you!

We've just been doing what we do. Working. Jacob goes to the gym while I explore the city and take photos...

I'm going to post some political opinions now, in honor of the 4th of July, which we didn't really celebrate, sadly. I've been thinking a lot about this stuff lately because I try to keep up with the news on the other side of the pond. I tend to have strong opinions but am influenceable if your argument makes sense. So feel free to disagree with me. If you aren't interested in my spoutings, then skip to the pretty pictures below :)

To begin, I love America. The more I travel, the more I am proud of my nationality. But I naturally don't always (or usually) agree with our government.

There is a reason why I'm not a Democrat or a Republican. No party seems to match my views exactly. Neither can see the other's point of view, or recognize that the other must have some valid points to have half the population. I voted for Obama because I liked the guy better than McCain, almost as much as I liked Palin. Here is how I think he is handling things.

The economy: Well, things have gone from bad to worse from what I hear. Obama's excuse is that "we didn't realize how bad the economy was when we arrived in office." Sure. If only he had owned a business before, he might know a little more about economics. Now that Jacob and I fit into that group called "small business owners" I understand better than ever why raising taxes on people who are successful is very demotivating. I'm with the Republicans on this one. Keeping taxes low on businesses is a fundamentable principle of successful capitalism. George Bush, although Republican, didn't always spend money like one.

Now I wouldn't mind if my taxes were raised if I got to choose where my money went. If, for example, I got to check the box that said, "Improve public transportation" I would be very pleased. But unfortunately, I don't get to choose, and I tend to feel that the government squanders my hard-earned money.

Welfare: I think we give too much money to other countries. It's money that we don't have, and unfortunately, it's money that often isn't well spent. For example, we've given tons of money to the African country of Cameroon. The people there complain they haven't seen a cent, and the money has been squandered by the corrupt government officials.

I believe Americans are the most charitable people in the world. We are generous. I base this on the fact that I know so many friends who have gone abroad to help orphans in Ghana and Romania, Guatemala and Mexico, Zambia and within the States themselves. We have the Peace Corps; we have missionaries; we have celebrities who have donated millions to charities. Given the chance, Americans would donate their own time, money, and effort to people around the globe more than any other people I know. Therefore, in most situations I believe the US government should not transfer money to another government, but individuals should serve other individuals with their own free will and choice to their own individual causes. This can be supported through tax breaks (not raises).

Health care: Obama is right that we have a system that needs to be fixed. Ironic that we spend more than any other nation and yet have such a horrible record in terms of people insured. I'm willing to pay more in taxes for this benefit BUT I don't think it's right that the richer people should pay for other people's poor health choices. I think that the overweight, the smoker, the drink-and-driver should be paying the higher taxes, not the hard working businessman. Am I biased? Maybe, and that would be a hard system to enforce, but it's the most fair way. I don't know why Republicans are so against a national health care system along with privatized. Their solution is always "give a tax credit." It's true, tax credits are the answer sometimes, but really, do you think that will solve our broken healthcare system?
[Note to readers: Do. Not. Use. Humana.]

Abortion: Obama signed into law the ability to fund overseas abortions. So we're using taxpayers' money to fund something that probably half of the US population feels is morally wrong? Why can't we use that money to provide free birth control instead? Or to cover adoption costs? We're trillions of dollars in debt and we're funding women around the world to get abortions. Brilliant. To learn why I am against abortions, visit this site to learn the disturbing manner in which abortions are performed: http://prochoice.com/abort_how.html
It's hard to read but important to know. I think my view on abortion was fundamentally changed after I read an essay by an abortion nurse on how abortions are performed. It's fairly gruesome. I believe if women were educated on what they were about to do to their bodies they would be less likely to go through with it.
PS I believe birth control should not be prescription. It's not in Turkey and I think a woman can decide as good as a gynecologist can which birth control works the best for her personally. Actually, better. And abortion rate would be greatly reduced if women didn't have to go to a doctor to obtain birth control.

Environment: Sometimes it astonishes me at how little the Republicans seem to care about the environment. It would only take a little bit more effort on America's part to become more green, but the very idea seems to shake some people to the core. To give up your SUV is like giving up your life(style).

Climate change: I don't believe it's a real problem, but I know Obama does--he and his wife donated $25,000 to the cause each. I'm more worried about pollution and cancer-causing agents.

War: I'm with Ron Paul on this one. Send the troops home. We use taxpayers money to keep people based in Germany, Korea, etc and I just think it would make more sense to build up our defense at home. I think we'd stop encouraging our reputation as the world's bully, too. I'm not sure why Republicans are always so army-hungry. They seem to be a little bit more paranoid than Democrats. Maybe that's why they're so concerned about national defense. I know since we're the most powerful nation in the world, we've got to be able to protect ourselves, but if we just lowered our budget as little as 5% on this issue, think of how much money we could use in its stead towards, for example, health care. I'm not saying that war is never justified, I'm just saying that it seems our government tends to be far too willing to jump right in. And then in hindsight, "Well, that five year war probably wasn't a good use of resources... oh well" duh, how many times must history repeat itself.

Gay marriage: Although Obama said when he was running for president that he believed marriage should be between a man and a woman, apparently he told a gay rally that their struggle for rights was similar to the civil rights movement... thus implying that he actually supported gay marriage. Oh well, I'm going to be honest. I don't think there's any stopping it now. 25 years from now it will be the total norm. I wrote a pro-gay marriage paper at BYU, which was probably the only one written there in all of history, (I got an A) but I don't think I would actually vote for it, for reasons in the previous post. But it's so fashionable these days to be pro-gay marriage, really, it's practically très chic.

Guatanamo Bay: Congratulations, Obama. You did the right thing to close this up. Torturing our enemies will put us right along side the Nazis and Communist regimes. The saddest thing is, anyone would confess anything under those conditions. Think of better ways to get people to tell you what you want to know.

And...that's enough for now. Here's some more of what we've been up to. Berlin is a wonderful city- I love it!!

Marchenbrunnen in Volksgarten (an adorable fountain with fairy tale character statues (the Brothers Grimm are buried here in Berlin)

Jacob and a communist car
Alexanderplatz

Gorgeous...Berlin is so beautiful...

We went to the zoo... biggest zoo in Europe.
Rhinos
My favorite birds...

Nice shot, eh? In Prenzlauer Burg neighborhood

I think this is the River Spree.

Former Communist Prison. That's the wire tapping on the walls. These were paranoid times.

Beautiful Potsdam. Where the Prussian kings went in the summer.
Vomiting fountain

Jacob, not given to superlatives, gave a compliment of this area, saying it was among the most beautiful places he's ever seen...

Graves of Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn. It doesn't bode likely for a person, if he or she happens to be fantastically talented, to get a lot of whistles on their tombstone. You're much more likely to have a fancy grave if you are rich. Here is Bertolt Brecht's grave. He was a popular playwright.

About as plain as you can get.

Medieval choir stalls.
Alter piece. It's official. Italy has the most beautiful religious art. (This museum had a ton of stuff from Italy.) Free museum night is Thursday, so I walk around til my feet get tired.

Job

Hey this is Kalli. Usually Jacob writes these cause he's the techno guy, but I wanted to explain more about my new work.
First impression: Didn't know if I could handle it--too disorganized. Ever since, though, I've enjoyed it, because I've never worked at a job with as much variety and flexibility. Plus, I'm learning new skills every day. Like making brochures, sending business letters, creating decorations for walls, starting emailing lists, fixing fliers with poor English, answering English phone callers, and speaking in limited German to visitors (although technically I'm supposed to speak English.)

I was wary of the schoolmaster at first, because she yelled at Jacob even though he wasn't even a worker there, and she yelled at me on my first day for setting the wrong priorities, but she yells at everybody. Anyway, later, she told me she really liked my style and hoped that I would stay awhile. Everybody runs around here like chickens with their heads cut off and it's almost like they equate stress with efficiency. I decided on the first day, however, that I would not join that party. I'd rather work hard and stay calm.

But there is so much to do, another reason why I like the job. I detest jobs where you just sit around and attempt to think of something to do. This is the opposite; the list is long and you are always doing things that should have been done yesterday. Future projects for me down the road: Creating a yearbook with pictures from the year by Christmas, editing the curriculum handbook, and sending out a monthly newsletter to all the parents of the school.

Today some little girls said, "Wie heissen Sie?" and asked me how come I spoke such good German. I was quite flattered, and though my German is not so good, I hope to be fluent by the time I am finished at this position. Jacob is picking up German quickly. I read Vom Winde Verweht (Gone With the Wind) every day, and will one day start in on my German workbook.

I like the teachers at the school. They are all rather intense/extreme in their own ways, which may not be surprising considering the types of young people who travel and work abroad.

I eat breakfast and lunch in the school cafeteria. Who knew that I would return after graduating college to eating this kind of undelectable, yet healthy fare typical for school cafeterias? Today was Huenchen (chicken) cutouts, Broccoli und Blumenkohl (cauliflower), und Apfelmus (applesauce) und Schocolade Pudding. And, of course, Mineralwasser.

We are currently searching for an apartment. The dilemma is this: should we get a furnished one, one that is EBK (built with a kitchen) or unfurnished? Unfurnished means there is literally a hole in the wall for a sink. When Germans move, they take their sinks with them. Whoever came up with that idea I don't know. We also would like one fairly close to my work (I'm supposed to be there every morning at 7:30).


Jacob and I are sharing a bike. He is counting the days til we get paid in Euros and he can get a Motorrad. Right now he is headed to the court to play some basketball. Hopefully he can find it; he has gotten lost a lot this week. I think it's kind of cute how often he gets lost.

The food is delicious here. For me, there is crisp and tasty bread. For Jacob, there is flavorful meat like bratwurst and doeners. We go to the grocery store every day and eat at the bakery there.