The Q&A Section

Clearing some things up and answering a few questions and comments that have come in since we’ve posted about Shanghai.  First, to the buttheads that pointed out that Shanghai is actually on Lat 31.  Blah blah blah.  Close enough for guesswork and it fit the theme of 3s.  3rd largest city in world, we used to live in CA 3rd largest, Lat 33, 3 of us, 3 year contract, etc etc.  Y’all need to Jai yen YEN!  :P

Jai yen yen was actually the second question/comment.  It’s a fun little phrase.  Jai, like Thai, only with a J.  Yen like Zen, with a Y.  Jai, or J’ai depending on writer and how “proper” they are, but both are acceptable, means You.  Like YOU!  Self.  The make up of your person.  It is the sense of heart, mind, and soul.  Jai.  You.  Yen, is literally Ice.  Like, ordering an iced americano, I would order it Americano Yen, mai hwan (Americano yen, my wan - would be the closest I can do in English without making a voice file) and I would get an unsweetened Iced Americano.  So, Yen is ice.  Jai yen yen, then, is - You, ice ice.  Or, Double chill homey.  I used to tell Kiddo when she was getting rambunctious to “Take it down a WHOLE notch.”  Jai yen yen is the Thai version of that.

Doesn’t everyone in Asia bow or “wai” all the time.  No, is the simple answer.  We can’t speak for all of Asia, however.  In Vietnam, almost no wai happened.  When J took her trip to KL for the interview, she said it was much less and she didn’t see it much.  How will it be in China and Shanghai… We have no idea.  We do get to find out, however.

To that, why Shanghai.  It was the right fit.  J will go from Kinder to Grade 5, so that was a factor.  She likes Kinder, but now she has taught K-5, at least a year in each.  She is excited to get back to actual classroom and less social/emotional work, but now she has a sense of the process from K to 5, from the ground floor up.  It’s a good transition for her, since Kiddo doesn’t need to support and the mumma right across the hall security, but also allows her to do more than basics and really get her teeth into some lessons.  More than that, the pedagogy of the school is more in line with what J has a history with and prefers.  That same pedagogy will be in Kiddo’s classroom, so J is better able to follow up at home.

Besides that, when we first considered China, we reached out to constant reader Doc J and her husband and friend of the blog, Mr. E.  Both gave some thoughts and feedback, but Mr. E said something that made sense.  “Know your enemy.  Not that you have anything against China or its people, but the media and info is so controlled, you kind of need to see it for yourself to know it.”  That is 100%.  Also, back to the late Anthony Bourdain - “China, it’s unknowable.  I could live her for the rest of my life and still not have an understanding.  It’s too big.  It’s too diverse.  The history covers too much.”  It’s both of those things.  We get to see and live in a place that we have very little information and knowledge of, both a a family and as Americans, but we get to peak behind that curtain a bit.  Also, we have the same sense of adventure, wonder, and curiosity that we want to see and experience that.  Not to Know our Enemy, but to know someone different.  See the ins and outs.  Hear the language and eat the food.  Learn how Shanghai works.  

We are leaving Thailand with so much more than we came with.  Not in terms of stuff, but in terms of knowledge, understanding, acceptance, and even grace in ourselves.  Kiddo, yesterday, came home with Nanny Beer.  I’m not usually around for this, but yesterday I was.  Beer spoke Thai to Kiddo.  Kiddo replied in English, but she understood every word.  I didn’t.  I got about 10 words total.  They planned a snack, a show to watch, and then homework.  Beer, amazing as she is, switched to English when it was homework time.  Otherwise, she spoke to Kiddo in Thai.  We are adding Mandarin to that next year and who knows what else after that.  So, there’s another reason.

Yes, there will be challenges and it will be strange and hard sometimes.  We will have weather that is different than Hot, F&#$*@g HOT, and raining n F&#$*@g Hot!  Chinese New Year… In China.  We will live in the 3rd largest city in the world and even that is a benefit.  After this, where will we be?  Tokyo- No problem, we’ve done BKK and Shanghai.  KL- Piece of Cake, so much smaller than BKK and Shanghai.  Think about it for a second…. We went from America to Thailand, one of the hottest, hardest, most unusual places for an Expat family to go and we did that for three years, followed by Shanghai, the third largest city in the world and China in all its China*ness.  What’s hard after this?  Bigger can’t get that much bigger.  Stranger can’t get much stranger than Thai and then Mandarin and the Thai and Chinese cultures (at least to our American sensibilities) that we will see first hand.  Hot- we’ve done hot, believe you me.  Cold- J and I grew up in cold, we can do cold.  Food- yes please.  And if it’s smaller…. Well, SD was 1.5 million, BKK is 14ish million, Shanghai is 30ish million; I’d say we can roll with that as needed.  :D

Oh, and LaLa reached out to keep on radar for summer.  We gotcha girl and we will let you know.  Poke Nell and me.  Let’s find an app or iMessage or something and I can get you updates and on radar.  Also, the Au-Dawg poked.  He might be able to set us up for a wknd in SF, so that might change things with Schmittah and Doc J.  See, the pieces are always moving and as we get closer, we will start nailing things down.  For now, we plan and prep and just keep going with this life.  We have 8 months, so it’s not a sprint.  

It is a lot however.  Closing a life here, planning a summer trip to The States, moving and setting up in Shanghai; It will be a year of planning, doing, tasking, learning, growing, changing, and everything else that comes with it.  We’ve been out of America for 3 years, so we will have to acclimate back to that, while knocking the dust of Thailand off of our habits and routines, before we go to Shanghai and China and acclimate and learn that.  On the good news side, we won’t have to contend with a global pandemic this time, nor my awaiting a surgery before we leave as well, so we are in good shape for now.

More to come, I’m sure and no one have made comments on the previous post, so we won’t worry about or coordinate a mailing address.  Any other questions or concerns, just reach out and I’ll message back or take into consideration.  

Let’s go, Kiddo…. It’s a weekend and time to slow down before we speed up, but the next year is going to be exciting, fun, busy, weird, strange, mysterious, adventurous, and all the rest.  We’ll need a brave and bold leader to get in the middle of hugs and keep us laughing and smiling.  We love you and can’t wait for the next place and adventures there with you.