One thing we still lack, and would love to have, is positive rapport with the Chinese. It’s amazing how segregated the expat experience can be from the local population. While I won’t reflect too deeply on the reasons for the entrenched segregation (some intentional, and some happenstance), suffice it to say that I imagine we could live here for years and not have any friendships of value with any Chinese. We obviously don’t want this. We ardently desire to make relationships with the people of this country. The Eternal One has given us patience in our time here, and fortunately we are cultivating patience to wait for opportunities to make Chinese friends. Gratefully, we see possible points of interaction on the horizon. We desire to learn more about this culture (especially now that we understand just how befuddling it can seem without someone to translate it for us!), and to have personal connections to this place.
Even though we currently lack relationships with locals, there are still aspects we love about life here:
* some evenings, we’ll hear beautiful flute music waft from the basement of our building. While I don’t know exactly who is playing or where, the music is heaps* better than what I hear during Edification Hour!**
* someone periodically draws various traditional Chinese motifs (dragons, Forbidden City, etc) on chalkboards at the entrance of our building. While these pictures reveal talent and pride, I wasn't sure of the source. I discovered last week that the mysterious artist is one of the front desk attendants—we saw him lovingly drawing a new picture as we left to go to dinner one night.
* many of the companies present in this city reflect the intriguing mix of peoples present. Wal-Mart and Carrefour both tout all the conveniences of supermarket shopping. H&M provides clothes with Western sizes (read: bigger than size two :), and Gap is opening here in about a month.
* while Starbucks has a formidable presence here, the British coffee chain Costa gives them a run for their money. Costa’s coffee costs the same as Starbucks, yet is infinitely better in quality. We’ve found one particular Costa right on the lake that provides ample, beautiful, and quiet space for curling in a soft chair for afternoon reading.
* there is a scrumptious dumpling and noodle place a block away where we can stuff ourselves silly for $2/person.
* anything goes as far as fashion here. Seriously.
I look forward to extending this list in the upcoming months! But for now, $2 dumplings, uplifting chalk drawings, and a Costa café latte go a long way :).
*apparently “heaps” is a common adjective in Australia, where my brother currently lives.
**see my eponymous post from September.