Our Cats

We have talked about getting a cat for the last few years, but it never seemed like a convenient time. The talk starting getting serious about a year ago, and we decided that maybe after we returned from the States in July that we could look into it. At first we thought that we would buy a cat in Beijing from a reputable vet there to make sure that it was healthy and received all the shots that it needed. But we couldn't quite figure out the logistics of such a purchase - too much 麻烦 - ma fan (troublesome). So on our return we decided to risk the local pet market, which can sometimes be a scary place. Since I had made it known from the beginning that I wanted nothing to do with it - Laurel and the girls went looking on their own. By that time we had talked ourselves into getting two cats since we were already going to the trouble of getting one. How much more work could two be? We wanted to get females since apparently they are less of a problem for people with cat allergies (like me), but that was a problem as well. Apparently the local vets don't do very well spading females - usually botching the entire operation. So we were going to have them fixed for sure, we decided to get males.

Anyway, to make a long, boring story short (the purpose of this post was just so you could see a picture) we now have two cats in the house. Laurel and I wanted to name them Beijing and Bangkok, but the girls wanted Speedy and Spider. Somehow we ended up with the names BJ and Spider (the black one). For a while Laurel would sit with the cats in her lap every night and go on and on about how she loved having them. Lately they have been pretty wild, though, and there's not as much love going around. But she says that we should always have pets of some kind, that we are a pet family. Even I, who have never had a cat and never liked them very much, have grown to enjoy our two cats. Especially BJ, because he acts more like a dog then a cat. If you come and visit us he will probably jump right up in your lap, flip over on his back, and want you to rub his tummy.

Normal Life

One of my favorite movies is Tombstone, and there are many lines that I really like in the movie. But my favorite and one that has stuck in my head since I first saw the film is a line that Doc Holliday says to Wyatt before he dies in the sanitarium at the end of the movie. After listening to Wyatt whine about his life he says, "There is no normal life, Wyatt. There's just life." Most people think that we live some adventurous, exotic life overseas, but to us it seems pretty normal, and hence the title of this blog. Our lives are a lot different than the average American family - speaking a different language, eating different foods, never driving a vehicle, traveling to other countries a lot... but this is the normal expat life. The life of a home owner, a commuter, an aristocrat, a public figure, a cancer patient, etc.... these are the kind of lives that to me would seem foreign and exotic. But I guess that everyone's life seems pretty normal to themselves when they are wrapped up in it. This is why the questions that people ask us about living overseas are sometimes so hard to answer, though. Because they address what to us is normal as if it were exotic. It would be like asking the average American why they drive to work everyday. As if there might be any other way that one could get to work...

And you probably thought that I got the title from Watchman Nee...

Amazing Race... Asia Style

Every January during Chinese New Year you would think that either a plague, a coup, or a financial crisis was hitting most of China. Because almost every waiguoren (foreigner) in the country is trying to get out at the same time. I don't know why this is - perhaps tradition and perhaps just because everybody else is doing it. But it's amazing to see the flights leaving the country in those preceding days - they are full of expats like us. It is not uncommon to see other expats from Xining in Thailand, Cambodia, or Singapore or another SE Asia country - everybody enjoying some vacation and sun and western food at the same time. This year we will be heading to Thailand for a conference and then to a few other cities in Thailand for vacation. Maybe next year we will go back to Singapore because it was one of Laurel's favorite places. We met up with Singaporean friends a couple of weeks ago that said they could maybe find us a place to say. That would be great.

And if you didn't know... there really is an Amazing Race Asia. We watched the 2nd episode just tonight on the may/may not be illegal (but don't tell us) over the internet TV. Amazing Race is one of our favorite shows and this version is just like the US one, but all of the contestants are from a SE Asian country. And the budget is a little smaller so it's not quite a worldwide contest. They must be required to have a homosexual couple on the show, but it's interesting that at least in the Asia version they are being labeled as "best friends". We're pulling for the Indonesian brothers that every time they show on screen are eating.

Today's pic is of the KC cousins in a pumpkin patch. I wish we had big pumpkins around here. Carving jack-o-lanterns is one part of Halloween that I miss.

Breaking the fast

Every year at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan there is a large celebration for a few days. There are many minority groups in this area of China, but one of the largest in Xining is the Muslims, mainly Hui people and also a few Salar. The first morning of the celebration almost all Muslim men in the area will go downtown to the largest mosque for their worship service. The city closes the main street for many blocks as the crowds spill out of the mosque and onto the streets. I thought I would share a picture of this year's crowd taken a few weeks ago. They say that every year over 100,000 men gather for this service just here in Xining.

Welcome and Introductions

This will be about the 4th blog that I have started in the past 2 years. We'll have to see if this one gets more than a post or two before I lose interest. Since blogger routinely changes my password and steals my accounts, I will not spend much time posting now in case it all disappears. Just wanted to say howdy to the world from China.