No car for tomorrow, Sis...

Over the past three weeks I have been slowly packing and moving to my new apartment. I took a few car loads over by different friends. It was a long and tedious process, but it was nice to be able to take my time. Last Monday was the last day I could stay in my old apartment. I asked Jonathan Li (a leader in our Chinese group) if he could drive his car for my last small load. I didn't have much, but it was too much for me to take alone. He said he might be able to use his car, but his wife might need it.

Most families in China can only afford one car... a bit different than America. My family has about 7 cars with 5 people (more if you include my sister). He said that if his wife needed his car, he could still come and we could use a taxi.

The night before I needed to move, I got the message, "no car tomorrow, sis" Sis... that's right. Brothers and sisters. I have sooo many brothers and sisters here. In China, if you have a close friend you call them your sister or brother. When a Chinese person talks about visiting their sister, I often ask if it's a cousin, sister, or close friend. Usually it's not actually a sister as we think of it. Sister and brother is a term of endearment they use for someone who is special to you. It makes you feel closer, like your not just another friend, your family.

I need to take more pictures of my family here. I miss out on so many opportunities to get "family pictures" and remember the times I have here.

Renner... fun, fun guy...

Here is me with Chinese Nicole... not to confuse with American Nicole...

Family in China

Most of you probably know about the one child policy in China. Because of the growing population, families are only allowed to have one child. However, there are some exceptions. 1) If you are a minority- not Han Chinese 2) If you live in the country-side 3) If you are rich enough to pay for a second child 4) If you hide your second child from the government-not the best way, but it's better than aborting the child.

Because of this, most Chinese my age don't have many cousins. They probably have a few aunts and uncles, but each one probably only has one child. They are shocked to hear that I have 18 cousins and flabbergasted when I tell them my mom has 100! They also don't have many or any siblings, but for some reason they always talk about their brother and/or sister. Hmm... how does that work?

It's their cousins! Family here is very close. Everyone lives in the same town, probably in the same area, maybe even the same house. (Although as always, there are many exceptions). Being in Bella's hometown, I got to see first hand how close family is here. We went to so many relatives homes and by the end of the three days I felt like her cousins were my cousins. We were in the country, but the homes were still right next to each other. Children walk easily from home to home. Your cousin lives 4 minutes away walking. At one place we were at the grandparents lived in one part of the house, the uncle and his family lived in the other part (I'll show a picture).

I think it's amazing how close Chinese are to their family. They help each other with no question, they work together, they have each others' back. Most can't fathom the idea of nursing homes. You just don't do that.

Sorry, these pictures aren't in a very good order, hard to organize sometimes.

Hallway outside

This is their bathroom. A bit different than yours, huh?

Bella's brother with two of their cousins

I realize that I already uploaded this one, but I like it so here it is again. :)

apparently I like this one too.. second time for this one as well

Doesn't matter how simple the kitchen is, it can still produce amazing food!

Bella's Grandma's super simple kitchen.