From China With Love

Hello, friends and family. This past week, in addition to sightseeing, I attended a lecture. Tseng Cai Xia, my host mother, is both a pediatrician and an entrepreneur. She and several of her friends run a small company that markets and promotes products meant for bettering one's soul. I'm not entirely sure what that means or entails, but business seems to be good. And I'm not one to argue with success. Regardless, using their company sway, the were able to get two fairly prominent lecturers from Taiwan to come to Beijing and speak. Interesting thing to note, the lecturers were a married couple, but had two different last names. Apparently, the wife does not have to give up her name after marriage. Anyway, the topic of their lecture was how to use love and wisdom to embrace life. While a lot of what they said was lost on me, I had no trouble understanding their personal stories. The wife's name was Lin Yu Tan, and her story was particularly tragic. Her father was abusive to both her and her mother. And at the peak of his rage he would beat her mother. Lin Yu Tan, after witnessing her father throwing her mother down the stairs, begged her mother to leave. But her mother simply responded that that would be impossible. That she was just a woman and could not survive on her own. Eventually, her mother chose not to survive and took her own life. After her mother's death, Lin Yu Tan fled from her abusive home to live with her grandmother and the rest is history. All in all, the lecture really left an impression. And apparently so did I. After the lecture was through, several members of the audience came to talk to me and take pictures with me. Oddly, they were surprised to find out I was American. Apparently, I look like a Frenchman to the Chinese. Afterwards, I went to dinner with the Tsengs, the lecturers, and a couple family friends. There, I entertained with childish Chinese grammar and clumsy chopstick skills. At times like that, I find that laughing at my short comings is the best way to handle any embarrassing situation, and the Chinese seem to like me for it. A bit of humor never hurts. And finally, I would like to be the first to wish my mom a very happy birthday. It's not officially your birthday in the US, but it is in China. So, Happy Birthday, Mom! From China with love.