Rebecca A. Foster

I swear I am not making this up. Tuesday on the bus coming home at lunchtime I had the thought that I should buy bottled water because if there is an earthquake, I'd have nothing to drink if the power went out. Which, I say this with love, with the infrastructure the way it is here, it will. (I have to prepare water with an electric machine or buy it bottled. And bottled still isn't super-clean of metals here, so we are advised to use our machine as much as possible.) So I made a mental note to pick up gallon or two later that day. (I used up all my previous supply when I had the Slumber Party Weekend.) And about an hour later, I'm having a rest, and the bed starts shaking. A small earthquake, only 5.0 but still: AAAAAHHHHHH!!! (Official report here .) Do I have earthquake premonition, like an animal? Or was it a prompting? Either way, my new goal for leaving China: don't die in an earthquake. This is added to 'don't die in a bus fire or a tunnel fire.' ...

I've been reflecting on my close-to-two years I've spent in China. How have I changed? How have I NOT changed? What have I learned? That sort of boring thing. And I've mentioned this before, but it's been a stronger feeling for me now: this is probably the silliest thing I've ever done. There is nothing wrong with Peace Corps, or China; they are both worth experiencing. But ME in Peace Corps China? On paper: ridiculous. I read a good book about grief after my dad died. It said you shouldn't make any major life decisions for at least one year, because basically you are too sad to look at anything objectively in your right mind. I applied for Peace Corps weeks after my dad died. It was just something I always wanted to do, and maybe I felt like life is short and fragile? So, yeah. That's how I ended up here. I had my education completed, a good job with opportunities, a super cute apartment I still miss and feel sad I don't live in now ( click here f...

This weekend our Peace Corps regional director came to Chongqing in anticipation of the big meetings going on this week in Beijing, so several volunteers from nearby areas came into town to have dinner with him. A few of them crashed at my place. I'm not a woo girl, but, WOO, so much fun! It was just one big slumber party, and I love playing hostess, so I had a great time having them here. Saturday lunch we went for noodles. I don't think I've posted pictures before of how delicious pulled noodles here are, so here goes. First, the cook prepares the noodles by pulling the freshly made dough like taffy, pounding it down, then pulling again and again until it strings up into noodles. It's magical. Here are a few pictures (notice the tables and chairs--these places are very casual): And a close up of the dough-- he's smiling because he's shy: The noodles are put into big pots of boiling water standing by: And then the freshly boiled noodles are added to ...

A recent article in the New York Times about the attempt to curb the wearing of pajamas as daily wear in Shanghai tickled my funny bone and made me realize how much I forget to write about here. (Click here to read the article.) You see, it is very common to see people in their pajamas at all hours of the day walking the streets of my city. And it would appear, other cities in China. And it is so common place, I've never written about it, because it has ceased to surprise me. My first year here, I was sort of in mini-meltdown mode 3/4 of the time. And a lot of the wonderful and strange things about China I should have been writing about then, I wasn't. And now...I forget they're remarkable. I have failed you, my dear blog readers, for bringing you the thorough reality of life in China! But here's one: people wear pajamas as daily clothes. I suppose it is not so different from running around in gym clothes/track suits? The most popular pjs here are quilted. They...

Several of you have asked why they didn't simply stop handing me certificates if I wasn't supposed to be handing them out, and laughed at me instead. I am not being facetious at all when I say, TIC. This Is China. We say this all the time here. Things don't make sense or have any sense of logic from an American cultural point of view, and you'll go crazy if you try. So you just say "TIC" and move on. My opinion? The certificate girl was freaked out she was helping a foreigner.  I often underestimate how nervous they get around foreigners. And she wasn't "in charge" so she didn't know what to do when I didn't stop after 4. (She was holding the entire stack.) If you are not the boss here, you don't get to make any decisions. I am sure she was expecting me to stop after 4, and when I didn't, she didn't have any power to do anything about it. So she kept handing them to me and let me keep going. I know that sounds strange, b...

After judging a speech competition all morning at a school that is not my own, I was asked to hand out the second place prizes. They also asked some other teachers, but I missed the details because they only gave them in Chinese and I didn’t understand everything. I was only supposed to hand out 4 of 12 prizes. But the prize girl kept handing me certificates, so I kept handing them out, while the audience laughed at me. I didn’t know what was going on, so I just kept going until someone stopped me. Later, I was interviewed for the school news, on video, and the girl interviewing me asked me this question: Random Girl: “When you made the mistake and everyone was laughing at you, what did you feel inside?” Really, random girl? Really? On camera you ask me this? Really? Two years ago, this would have devastated me. Now, I just have to laugh and say, “Oh well! Such is life in China.” Cultural mistakes will be made. It happens. For the record, I told her I felt that it is maybe go...

#362: The conversations I have here that I will have no place else. For example: T., holding out to me the t-shirt he wants to wear that day: "Does this shirt smell too much like hot pot *?" And I love that he doesn't ask me if it smells like hot pot, but if it smells too much like hot pot. I take the shirt. I sniff. Me: "It smells a little like hot pot, but unless someone buries their face in your chest, it'll be okay." T.: "Cool." (Throws on the shirt.) I'm really gonna miss China. *I routinely shower after eating hot pot, because yes, the smell somehow permeates everything. 

The Chinese name for China is ‘Zhongguo,’ literally ‘Middle Kingdom.’ In traditional Chinese culture, China is the center of the world, between heaven and earth. We like to use this name ‘Middle Kingdom’ when we are talking something that is really different from America. I don’t know why, we just do. That’s why I’m using it here. About nicknames: if you are a foreigner in China, you are gonna get called something. Count on it. Some common things I hear: 1. Laowai (pronounced ‘laow why’). This is a generic word for foreigner—it literally means ‘old outside,’ as in ‘old outsider.’ There are debates as to whether this word is an insult. It can certainly be used as an insult, but in my experience it is usually used passively. But, it is not friendly. This is not someone who is happy to see you. 2. Waiguo pengyou (pronounced ‘why gwa pung yo’). This means literally ‘outside kingdom friend’ and it is a friendly way to talk about/to a foreigner. I have had Chinese citizens say to me, “...

This past weekend I went to T.'s and we spent some time in the countryside. We biked to a mountain, then climbed up the mountain with the bikes, then stashed the bikes and continued over the mountain into a farmer’s valley. I felt so like Maria Von Trapp!  But I didn’t sing anything. There was a lake at the bottom of the valley, so we headed down there for some drinks and relaxing before hiking back out. Here’s a picture of the valley we hiked into:   It’s hazy from humidity, but you can see the lake down there in the bottom, and white farmhouses dotting the mountain side. It’s amazing to me how they can farm on the steep slopes of the mountain. We hiked past a farmhouse and the owners met us and brought us into their home. They gave us fruit soup to drink out of a pan— frozen apricot-like fruit that had been made into a sort of compote, then watered down and boiled. You could drink the fruit broth and eat the little fruits with a spoon. We sat on tiny chairs and took ...

I was asked to do a lecture this week on the English language for the Foreign Language students at my university. Part of my lecture focused on the ways in which new words are added to English. Two ways are*: 1. New meanings for existing words 2. Making up new words For #1, I used the example of the word ‘text,’ which used to mean only written works and/or speeches, but now also means SMS messages. And from this new usage of the noun, we also made the verb ‘to text’ and added the words texting, texted, etc. For #2, I gave the example of the words ‘sexting’ and ‘sext,’ which from what I read online are pretty popular words these days in American culture. I didn’t say much about the meaning of the words themselves, only that they were made up, derived from ‘texting,’ and meant that the text had a sexual topic. I explained that we went from ‘text’ to ‘texting’ to ‘sexting’ back to ‘sext’ in new word formation; that’s awesome from a linguistic etymological process point of view, and...

During our trip I found out my friend J. is going to Columbia in the fall to do a masters program, and asked me if I were interested in being roommates. Hells to the yes! J. is great, she is one of the nicest girls I know. I told her about Washington Heights*, which is where my cousin lived when he went to Columbia, and so we are officially putting WH on the table as a possible apartment location. Now, I have no idea if this will work out, or if I’ll be able to find a job in the area, but it’s fun to dream about. I have long loved Washington Heights, and even for just a year or two, would love the experience of living there. We agree living in China is great preparation for living everywhere else, because we have learned to live with so little. A crappy little apartment in Washington Heights? No problem. A couple of other people I know here are also going to NYC for work/school, so I would have some friends in the area as well. And we could go to Chinatown together and relive our crazy...

I am back in Chongqing after a full week away at my conference/music festival trip. It was great! I'm glad to be home, though. I got a sinus infection boo hiss, so I am laying low today while I wait for the antibiotics to really kick in. But, just wanted to mention a few things now: 1. Best taxi moment of the trip (and possibly of the last two years): our young taxi driver taking a few of us from the train station to our hotel asked me in Chinese if I like Lady Gaga. I said yes, knowing how popular she is here. The driver popped in her CD and started singing loudly to 'Bad Romance'; he had no idea what he was saying, but he was going for it, and it was covered in awesome sauce.  And of course I sang along, and when we got there he knocked five yuan off the meter! So my new nickname is 'The Taxi Whisperer.' I think I'm going to write a book just about about my taxi experiences in China. 2. The music festival was so much like a music festival in the U.S., we s...