Rebecca A. Foster

A couple of random things: Last Saturday night I went for a quick run at my campus track. I was about halfway through when this guy decides to start running with me, like 6 inches from my elbow. Um, hello buddy, you are NOT welcome here! I hate running with a partner, especially an uninvited one who just decides he'll be my new best friend. I tried to speed up and slow down, to no avail. My only choices were to ignore him or stop running. I ignored him. I could see him turning his head to stare at me every few minutes, but he never said a word to me. I finished my last 6 laps and when I stopped, he left the track. Now, in Chinese culture it's okay to get really close to people. But I still think it was weird. If this had happened in America, I’d have been worried he was going to follow me home and eat my liver. As it was, I was just annoyed. I knew he didn't mean anything by it, but it made me uncomfortable. I am NOT A TOY OR AN ANIMAL! I am a person. I think some peopl...

My Chinese friend Cassie is having her wedding ceremony on April 10th, and this week she hand delivered my invitation: Isn’t that marvelous? I love it! It’s quite stylish in my part of China for this kind of wedding invitation to be used in place of a paper invitation. Cassie is a modern and stylish girl. The invitation is engraved with their names (the top two lines), the phrase “100 Years of Harmony/Togetherness” (the larger middle line), the name of the hotel where the ceremony will be held, and on the bottom line, the date of the ceremony. It was given to me in a nice satin lined box, along with a little box of candy. Of course, this wouldn’t work for a couple who needed to list all their parents info, formalities, etc. But, I quite like this style of invitation: interesting to look at, and to the point. I say she is having her wedding ceremony, not her wedding, because she was actually married last October in the license office. Couples who want to get married must be of age (20 f...

Phew! This turned out to be a much busier week than I anticipated. A good week, but busy. I recently was having dinner in a nicer Western-style restaurant in a local mall. I walked into the Western-style toilet stall at the back of the bathroom and saw this: I hesitated for a moment, then convinced myself the windows were treated on the outside with a reflective covering and no one could really see me. But honestly? I would have used it anyway. My privacy paradigm has certainly shifted over the last almost-two years of living in China. So if you want to see my bare bum, all you have to do is move to Chongqing. I do think it’s funny someone saw this space and decided it was a good spot for a toilet. ----------------------------------------------- As promised, a few more videos. This one shows me eating hot pot, the traditional Chongqing meal, at an automated rotating table. Each person at the table has their own little pot of spicy, spicy broth, into which you drop whate...

I’ve found a bunch of videos I forgot I made. I’m going to post a few today and tomorrow. They’re all with my camera, so not high quality. I need a Flip. Here’s a recent video from a restaurant. It shows us ordering a local specialty dish made with scalding river rocks; they are added to a bucket with oil, and when the oil is boiling from the heat of the rocks, beef and veggies are added. I especially like this video because it gives you an idea of the noise level in Chinese restaurants, and it shows how diverse Chinese food is. Here I am on a booze cruise last year on one of the rivers straddling Chongqing (this side is the Jiangliang, not the Yangtze). It gives a pretty good view of the Chongqing skyline. You can hear me in the background saying, “Does it have Anderson Cooper?” Names withheld to protect the innocent, but here I am with a few friends last winter in Xi’An. We were in our hostel room and maybe had a little cabin fever, but it was freezing outside! The dr...

Today in English class I needed to add up a large string of numbers from the chalkboard, the results of a poll we’d done in class. I got out my trusty calculator and was about halfway way through when the students started yelling out the total. I turned around with a surprised look on my face and said without thinking, “You did that in your head?” They just shrugged. D’oh! Dumb American teacher, twelve o’clock! I was tempted to tell them we don’t learn math in school in America, but they wouldn’t have gotten the joke. Er...yeah. Joke. I’ll stick with that story. Gotta love teaching in China.

The Hate: Last week I had to go back to Chengdu to get my permanent crown put in. I got up at 5:30 AM, caught the 6:40 AM bus for my 9:00 AM train, and all was well, until I realized my bus wasn’t going to the train station . The driver changed the route, for reasons that are still a mystery to me. In that moment, when I realized I had no idea if I were going to get to my train on time, I was filled with contempt for this place that can so haphazardly change things at the last minute with no notice and no concern for those affected. I really wanted to punch Chongqing in the face, and I felt like a Peace Corps failure for not being able to keep my cool in the face of this cultural crisis. The bus driver didn’t know which nearby bus went to the train station, but I did manage to find an empty taxi during morning rush hour (thank you, taxi guardian angel) and get the train station in time to catch my train. But it took me a while longer to get over that rush of anger and anxiety I felt....

Those of you who read here before I left for China know it used to be called “Stuff I Love.” In memory of times gone by, here are a few things I love right now: 1. Fit To Strip , the workout DVD by Carmen Electra. I know, I know, it sounds lame, but disc 2 is a calisthenics routine that has nothing to do with stripping and everything to do with building strength in your core, legs and upper body. I used this DVD before I ran a half marathon a few years ago and was the most toned I’ve ever been. I let myself get chubby after my dad died, so I’m back on a strength training/toning regime, and this DVD is part of my new routine (along with running, weights and yoga). It kicks your butt in a really good way. Amazon.com, $12.99 2. Community , the tv show on NBC. One of my friends in the U.S. prodded me to watch this show, and it takes the place in my heart that used to be occupied by The Office until The Office turned kinda lame. (Sorry, but you know it’s true.) Abed and Troy crack...