Rebecca A. Foster

This article in today's NYT reminded me of my first visit to NYC in the 90's after getting a cell phone. After landing, I was trying to call my cousin from the gate (remember when people picking you up could come to the gate??) and couldn't make a call. I called my service provider and was told that so many stolen cell phones end up in NYC, the carrier automatically suspended service for roaming in NYC; I would've had to call before my trip to ask for it to remain unlocked. Of course, I had no idea of their policy so I didn't make advance arrangements. They did unlock my service, though, and I was able to use my phone in NYC with no problem. I'd forgotten about that. Weird throwback cell phone practice history. This was the phone I was using:

Soap leaves are perfect for carry-on only, compact traveling because they are dry and lightweight. I buy mine from travelerssupply.com . Pull them out with dry hands and then just get wet to use. Magic! And no pesky leaks, which is even worse than having to pull them out for the TSA. They also have shampoo but I use solid shampoo from Lush , as well as their conditioner bar . R. turned me on to these products and I love them. Great for traveling, but I also use them at home and because they don't strip your hair and scalp with lots of chemicals, my hair doesn't get oily and I don't have to wash it as much. They are more expensive upfront, but they last a long time. The Karma Komba (green one in the pic below) is my favorite.

1. My wireless mouse 2. Paid housecleaning 3. A video iPod for traveling 4. MAC 'Underage' Lipglass 5. Bananas

I had a fantastic time in NYC in part because every day I did something new, and doing new things is exhilirating! Not a complete list, but a sampling of my new things: ~Stayed in a new hotel, in a new part of town. ~Went to Cloisters. ~Walked through Ft. Tyron park. ~Walked across Central Park. ~Saw the new Middle Eastern and Byzantine art wings at the Met. ~Saw what an FDNY Mobile Command Center looks like and learned about what it can do. ~Learned other interesting things about FDNY capabilities. ~Found out what a cigar tastes like. ~Walked and took pictures on the High Line. ~Rode three new subway lines. ~Went to the Jewish Museum for the photography exhibit. ~Sang along (by invitation) in a small Sunday afternoon service at Trinity Church on Church Street. ~Visited the 9/11 Memorial. ~Met Fiona, my friend's new daughter. ~Stayed a few days in Bushwick with old friends and explored the area. ~Got asked by a Egyptian halal vendor "Are you Arab?" When I ...

If you have ever met someone for the first time and been asked, "What are you?", I think we could be friends. It's a perfectly logical question, really. What I hear: "You look different than what I expect and I need to have a category to place you in, so I want to know: what are you?" I usually explain that my father is (was) American, my mother is Chilean, and yes I look like my American father but with the coloring of my Chilean mother, no I don't speak Spanish as my first language, yes I can speak some Spanish but it is Chilean Spanish, yes I prefer wearing dresses not pants, no I don't go anywhere without lipstick on, yes I dress a little formally, no I'm not Catholic, yes I have been to Chile and can make manjar and pebre and empanadas, no I am not expected to date or marry a Chilean. These are some of the common questions I am asked and I'm not offended by them.(Okay, it is a little embarrassing when I meet someone and they begin spea...

Fabric ceiling in my study/library: Closet w/ vanity: Mural in Spanish Harlem (I think, not sure where it officially begins): George Washington Bridge: Boston:  Boston Public Library:  St. Patrick's Day in Boston:

New York City makes me miss Chongqing dreadfully. It's a relief to not have to travel by car, to walk everywhere, to be able to pop into the corner bodega for shampoo and little cookies. I brought my iPad so I could work here and there on a work project while I'm gone because of a tight deadline. I activated the hot spot on my phone, uploaded docs to mobileme and downloaded them into Pages on my iPad. I'll use my phone to wifi power the iPad to send the docs back to the office. Technology continues to amaze me. Conversation T. and I had last weekend: Me: "I just want to live in an incense palace with houseboys, is that so wrong?" T.: "There is nothing wrong with wanting to live in an incense palace with houseboys!" I knew there was a reason I love him. And I would like that incense palace to be in New York City. Thank you.

Last Spring V. and I were meeting up at the train station to travel together to our end-of-service conference in Chengdu; I got to the train station first and it was an uncharacteristically sort-of sunny day (one of our five days of sunshine a year, whoot!) so I sat outside to wait for him. A couple of Chinese grandmas and grandpas came over to find out A: "What are you doing in China?" and B: "Where is your umbrella, young lady, that sun is going to turn you brown!" One of the grandmas clucked her displeasure at my insistence that I liked the sunshine and didn't mind if I got a little darker. She stood next to me holding an umbrella over my head anyway, like I was an Egyptian queen on a barge (but there were no be-loincloth-ed men around, darn it). Chinese grandmas do what they want. Just as she was giving me another speech about my poor sun judgment and how it was going to make me too dark, V. walked up; his complexion is a little darker than mine, and grand...

I'm a little bit enamored of the idea of Queens, NY. I've never been there except for riding to and from JFK and LaGuardia, which doesn't count. But I've heard there is a large population of Mandarin speakers in Flushing, Queens, and I really, really wanna hang out in Mandarin-speaking Chinatown for a day or two. Historically, the majority of Chinese who immigrated to the U.S. were Cantonese speakers; hence Szechuan food instead of Sichuan food. (I'm gonna call it: Sichuan wins. But actually they speak Sichuan dialect, not Mandarin, in Sichuan province. China is kinda complicated.) But some of that is changing and Flushing is one of those areas. I supposed not many people dream of a vacation in Queens, but I've rescheduled my Boston trip for St. Patrick's Day/Evacuation Day next March and I'm trying to work out swinging by NYC a few days prior. If so, I'm definitely going to Flushing. I need to eat some delicious foods and buy sketchy Chinese produ...

I had to take a picture to really illustrate Bunny. Our group of friends stayed in a condo just off of the main square in Jackson Hole. (For those who don't know, Jackson is a ski resort town in Wyoming, full of quaint little log-cabin style shops selling expensive stuff, most of it incorporating sheepskin and leather and/or moose. It's very cute.) We were there to go to this event ; we donated a quilt for the auction. The day of, I styled my hair in one of my favorite lazy-day hairdos, little buns atop my head: That evening I was trying to decide between keeping the little buns or shaking them out into curls. I kept the little buns, mostly because it turns out they fit nicely under my panda hat and I didn't care what my hair looked like. The event was fun! There was a live band, then a DJ. Around 1:30 a.m. we started dancing with a group of guys who all came to Jackson to work and be ski bums. Super funny, super fun, super good dancers. So I'm normally a kind...

Back in San Antonio, my friend Stacey had asked me to pick her up from the airport. It was full summer, and for those of you who haven't been in San Antonio in the summertime, you know that expression 'hot as an oven'? Well, I like to say San Antonio summers are 'hot as downwind from an exhaust pipe.' (Which means when you actually are downwind from an exhaust pipe, things get really unpleasant.) It's quite common for there to be a temperature difference of 35-40 degrees between indoor and outdoor air during a San Antonio summer. True story: I had a small heater at my work desk and turned it on in the summer, not winter, because the air conditioning was on so high in our building I froze to death at my desk. So anyway, I go straight from the gym to the airport to pick up Stacey. It's 10 pm but still around 100 degrees outside. Inside, it's a balmy 60 or so. Gotta give those tourists a false sense of comfort! I'm pacing a bit in the baggage area wa...

I've been sorting through old pictures from my travels; lots of pictures of bridges and buildings. You know those job/skill aptitude tests you can take? I always got my highest score in 'spatial relations', which I've thought is a pretty lame thing to have high skill in-- so I can figure out where things should go in space, big deal! Although it does probably explain my love of bridges, because bridges are inherently rather spatial, no? I found shots a friend had sent me of NYC bridges and other scenic shots; I won't post them here because they're not mine to post, but they still bring me so much joy. Maybe I'm austistic, y'all, and bridges are my thing? From looking at old pictures, I've noticed my perspective on what constitutes 'clean and nice and inviting' has drastically changed. For example, I took this photo in Manhattan because at the time I thought, "Wow, look at all that garbage on the street! And now I think, "Wow, ...

Note: this is a bit longer than most of my entries; it's something I wrote for an essay compilation a few years back. I hope it makes you laugh a bit. Hope you all have had a great weekend!  A couple of years ago I was in Washington , D.C. visiting m y cousin at Georgetown University and staying in the  fabulous old-school townhouse he shared with five other guys.  I had a friend with me and it was her first time in D.C., so on a Saturday the lot of us loaded up and went to Mt . Vernon , George Washington’s home, now a museum with various living displays of How Things Used To Be.  Along for the ride were three of their female friends, Tiwi, Kiwi and Regan. (I can't remember Tiwi and Kiwi's real names, but my cousin called them Tiwi and Kiwi, so I do, too.)  We had been at Mt. Vernon only a short while when a big storm blew in off the Atlantic , complete with tornado/severe thunderstorm/hail warnings etc. We were informed by bullhorn they were shutting ...

Most of you know Chinese culture views privacy differently than American culture, most easily explained as 'there isn't any expectation of privacy in Chinese culture.' I knew this affected personal space, family and friendly secrets, neighbors knowing what you're up to all the time, everyone always in your bidness, etc.  but I didn't realize it also extended to the body. It does. In my experience, bodily functions aren't considered private in China. Sneezing, burping, coughing, passing gas, peeing: all these things are viewed as natural functions of the body, so you don't have to say excuse me, you don't God Bless anyone, and you definitely don't feel embarrassed when they happen...if you're Chinese, that is! Many North Americans...it might take a while to get to that point. (I think this is also why babies and little kids pee everywhere and no one freaks out. Babies pee and poop...why NOT on the sidewalk?) When you first get to China, you...

I'm planning an East Coast trip for October; not only a chance to see my favorite parts of the U.S., but a chance to reconnect with good friends. My dream schedule is: fly to Chicago, visit the Art Institute, take a bus to Minneapolis and hang out with R. for two days; fly to NYC,  hang out with a few Peace Corps friends for a few days, bus to Boston to see E. who just moved there for work, back to NYC to take the Chinatown bus to D.C. and stay with friends there for a few days, fly to Orlando and see N., backtrack to Atlanta for a day or two, then fly home from Atlanta. Sounds great, eh? Most likely, though, I'll fly to either D.C. or NYC (whichever is cheaper) and take the bus between DC, NYC and Boston, then fly home. NYC is truly one of my favorite places on Earth. I've mentioned before that it is not as developed as Shanghai, but it has a flavor and character I adore. I need to add to my historical buildings photography project, go to Washington Heights, Chinatow...

My last day in China, I was flying out of the Chengdu International Airport, the first flight of the day to Shanghai. It was delayed (I'm pretty sure the pilot was still eating breakfast or something), so I was caught in a big cattle call of a waiting area. Every so often an employee would get up and yell into a megaphone about one of the 10 or so departing (late!) flights from that gate. Chaos in China? I know, shocker! So I pushed my way to the front of the crowd, and after about five minutes went by, I realized I was resting tmy arm and hand holding my boarding pass on the back of the guy standing in front of me. Like, my forearm and hand were full-on laying all over him. And it took me five minutes to notice I was doing this. And he never even turned around. And today this guy at the gas station was standing a full 8 feet behind the person in front of him in line, and it just annoyed me to no end. WHO NEEDS 8 FEET? It took all of my restraint not to cut in front of him in l...

It is harder to adjust to coming home than I imagined. A few things: 1. Reacclimating to American culture is stressful, because I don't always know how to act. And the cultural diversity I love so much (and missed so much) is unexpectedly stressful to deal with. R. and I have had some conversations about this and luckily I'm not just weird, it's hard for her too. It's comforting to know it's common, but still: it sucks. I'll write about some specific things when I have a chance. 2. I still dream every night I'm in China. My brain hasn't caught up with the fact I'm not going back to China. When this finally sinks in, I expect to have a little meltdown about it. 3. I'm on the road right now visiting friends out of state. I really needed this. Pardon my silence. 4. Some American friends I made in China have been very easy and natural to keep in touch with. Others have not. And without saying too much publicly, these categories are not popula...

The last time I flew to America from China I took Air China, which has a Chinese flight crew. This time I took United, which meant we had an American flight crew. The young Chinese guy in the row ahead of me brought a lot of carry-on luggage, and I watched through culturally enlightened eyes the way the flight attendant tried to deal with him. She was being so American! And he was being so Chinese! She kept telling him that it wasn't fair for him to have three bags, because it meant that someone else wouldn't have space for their luggage. And he kept answering in a very Chinese way: "But my bags are already here, and they fit." And she kept right on with her very American line of reasoning that the fair thing to do is to check some of his bags. And he wouldn't give an inch, because he didn't see why he should. In China, if you're first, you win. And that's that. And I'm watching this go on for 5 or so minutes and I want to tell this woman, "...

I made my way back to the USA this past weekend; I didn’t go straight to America after leaving Chongqing, but had a great final week with friends. I cried A LOT. Some people got the brunt of this, and because they are of the man variety, I feel a little bad. But the tears were in part because I would miss them so much, so hopefully they at least felt flattered I cared so much.  Reverse culture shock? Yes, absolutely a real thing. Not just for me, but for my family having to deal with me. I’m sure at times they are thinking,”Who ARE you now?” It’s the little things here driving me crazy: personal distance, driving with RULES, small talk, concepts of time, American germaphobia, and the utter lack of people everywhere I go. I feel like I’ve survived a plague. Don’t get me wrong, it’s wonderful to have so much calmness around me, but it’s also really weird. I feel really socially awkward right now. I’m pretty sure I’ve been rude to a few people because I got all Chinese on them in th...

I decided to have a traditional, formal qipao made for me before I left China. It's black with gold dragons, and ankle length. I picked out the fabric and the style and a local tailor made it: And here it is from behind. See what I told you about my butt?? Oh well, I'll soon be leaving you behind, Chinese stairs: The teacher at my school assigned to help me the last two years also became my friend. His father and grandfather survived the Cultural Revolution and have a collection of Chairman Mao pins from that era. It was important to show your allegiance to Chairman Mao, and one way to do that was to wear these pins. He gave me a pin from his family's collection as a going away gift; I was incredibly humbled by his generosity at giving me part of his family's history. I will treasure it always. I went to a Unesco World Heritage Buddhist mountain site near my city. It was a very Chinese adventure! It took me 3 buses to get to the mountain top, and I was 'ado...