On vacation, and a list

I've been away from here so long I feel as though I've been on vacation. Unfortunately, life has not been so exotic, though interesting things have been occurring:

1. PB turned 2. We are officially out of babyhood, even out of diapers. Quite a milestone for the entire family. She enjoyed her party, ate some cake, and received an incredibly noisy gift. All-in-all a success.

2. I ran the 5K portion of the Chongqing Marathon in about 30 minutes. I'm very proud. I have not run a race since my 13th year on this Earth. Pretty cool. We made it to the race just in time to begin. At the end, in classic China fashion, there was a large digital clock to show the time but it was unplugged. My 30 minute declaration is purely based on my cell phone which I believe runs a bit slow. Maybe I broke under the 30 minute mark?!

3. China is blocking everything. Internet freedom aside, internet capabilities have been compromised. I am only writing this now because we've had a good internet day. Usually, it is too slow to make going online worthwhile. At this point I am just trying to wait it out - let China do it's thing and I'll reconnect when they are done. If I seem to go on vacation again, this is why.

4. We are finalizing plans for our trip home this summer. It will be a whirlwind trip through Denver, Seattle, Portland, Taos, and Ketchikan. So much for keeping it simple.

5. We are also finalizing plans for traveling before going home. We will go to 秀山(Xiu shan) next week. It is a small (50,000), rural town in southeast Chongqing municipality. We hope to hike, breathe fresh air, and see some blue sky. I am also desperate to see uncrowded China. I know it still exists out there somewhere, and this is one place I have found. The train goes there which makes it convienent for us car-less folks. And it will be a great place for me to practice my Chinese.

In May, school is out for a week and we will travel to Malaysia, to the Perhentian Islands. 5 days of quiet beaches, amazing weather, clear water with loads of sea turtles, and sunsets, well, you get the idea. It's a tropical paradise. I can't wait.

6. My Chinese teacher has given me daily homework. I've told her that I improve faster when I write characters instead of pin yin, the latinized version of Chinese. Therefore, I am now to keep a journal every day of my goings on. She armed me with a page full of adjectives and modifiers and said 'go!' Here is today's entry:
２０１１年３月２６日 星期六 多云


今天上午我们去了市场买蔬菜。 蔬菜大。 蔬菜不忙。 昨天我们在了学校。
 
(Translation: 2011 year 3 month 26 day  Saturday  cloudy/ This morning we went to the market to buy vegetables. The market is big. The market is not busy. Last night we were at school.)
 
It's hard to know sometimes what to write about because my grammar is just now developing. I'm beginning to move past the memorizing-vocabulary stage into the this-is-how-you-use-it stage. It is frustrating, and liberating. In the market today, I told a lady in Chinese that I wanted to buy something (我要买) and she understood me! Not that I can understand anything she says back, other than the price, but it's coming!

Not a morning person

On Saturday I will be running in the Chongqing Marathon, though not the marathon part - the 5K. However, even that is a stretch seeing as I've done no real cardio work since leaving Portland last summer. Any-hoo, I've been training, a bit, and ran about 6K the other night, nearly fainting upon completion. I took a day off to recover and swore I would get up early and run every morning this week.

Then the cold front came.

Well, that's my excuse this morning at least. My alarm went off, the room was freezing, and I thought that my poor muscles wouldn't even be able to warm up and I would injure myself. So I layed in bed waiting for hubby's alarm to go off, the whole time thinking, it's okay, I'll run tonight.

But really, I'm just not a morning person.

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**Isn't it interesting how terms like "cold front" become part of our everyday vocabulary? This meterological term is not something I need to explain, though is very, well, scientific. I'm searching my brain for other examples of profession-specific words that have made it into our everyday lives but am coming up blank. Perhaps you know of one?**

Milestones

When I hear a little voice say pee or poop, I jump up, respond with a quick let's go! and run to the nearest bathroom or otherwise appropriate location.

Yes, my 2-year-old-in-7-days is potty training.

Tonight was no different. I got up twice for pee, once for a poop false alarm. Then I heard poop again, but rising to the occasion I saw a child already without underwear, a scary picture.

Though we ran to the bathroom, rather than needing to poop, PB was showing off the one she had already done. By herself. In the big potty.

**heart fills with joy**

PB's first solo poop. I feel like celebrating. Nice work, PB!

On the run

When I was 12 my dad asked me if I wanted to run in the Turkey Trot, a 5K and 10K race on Thanksgiving to benefit a charity or foundation. I thought, sure, I can run. I'll do the 5K. My dad at the time was running 5-10 miles per day and was doing the 10K race. I was playing soccer, and, as a half-back ran the field more than anyone other than the other 2 half-backs.

The day arrived, with little training on my part, the gun fired, and I took off. Though I was dwarfed by all the adults I was running with, the exhilaration of being part of that mob was, well, exhilarating. I finished the race in just over 30 minutes, only having to walk once.

I think I did two more races after that one before my decline into smoking and being cool began.

But now I rise up, having stopped smoking and being cool long ago, and I will again conquer a 5K-er.

This week I took my odd place as the school track coach, running alongside enthusiastic teenagers and giggling primary kids. The air here is thicker than I was used to in Denver in those long ago days, but not because of humidity or anything natural like that. No, here there is smog. A lot of smog. And I did alright. I ran as much as most of the kids, and more than others. I wasn't winded enough that I couldn't still holler across the field at them to speed up. And I was smiling when I stopped.

Next week, my kids have a 3K to test their abilities. 10 days later, teacher's turn.

I promise pictures.