First real published story ever!

Today I wrote a story about the heritage day exhibit I visited yesterday, and it's published, photos included! I know that what we were doing with the VOICE mattered, but somewhere in the back of my mind, there was always that thought that it was for a class, and not a real, established publication (sorry, Jock!). But this feels awesome!

I wish I could have done a better job with it, though. I didn't know when we were there that I was going to be writing; they told me I should be taking pictures. So I didn't interview (or try to interview) anyone. Instead I had to rely on the press release that was translated by Keen, the reporter who took me along. So the story doesn't have a reaction from anyone who was there, which it needed. Otherwise I think I'm happy with it, although I'd love feedback from any of my JOMC friends who have thoughts about it.

Last night I went with Annie and Dan to the gym. We were going to a Yoga class, but when we walked in, it was very intimidating, so we went to a spinning class instead. Spinning is a cycling class where an instructor guides you through bike exercises. It was quite a workout, and I'm incredibly out of shape, but I felt great afterwards. I think we're going to go again the next time the class is offered. I also want to try a Zumba class sometime soon, but I'm worried it will bother my knees since I don't have any Dance Design sneakers!

After the workout, we walked a ways to a place called Food Cube. The menu looked great, but apparently I ordered the wrong thing. "Hot and spicy duck wings" sounded good to me, and the photo looked delicious, but when I got my plate, there was almost no meat at all--just bones and gristle. Even in places where it looked like there was meat, I'd take a bite into another bone. Very disappointing. The food that Annie and Dan had was good, though, so maybe we'll try again.
I also bought instant coffee packets, which aren't very good, but they're not intolerable. I also got this cute little mug with bears and smiley faces on it. I'm really starting to crave some U.S. food. Lunch today was better, but only because they served chicken nuggets. They weren't what I'm used to, but they were better than anything else on the cafeteria bar today.

I'm pretty tired; It's been a very long week. But now I get three days off. Tomorrow Dan, Brian and I are going to Summer Palace, and then to the Great Wall of China. I'm really excited! Of course I'll be sure to share photos as soon as possible. I hope it's a pretty day for photos, and not rainy.

I don't have much else to talk about today, since after dinner we just walked back to the apartment. By then it was after 10 p.m., so we just settled in for the night.

I guess this is a good time to talk about Celine, as I promised a few days ago. Celine is basically the foriegn employee coordinator, although her job might be more complex than that. She is the person who has organized our stay, and she told us the first day that we should consider her our Chinese sister, since we have no family here.

A few days ago, she drove us to the mall, which took about 10 minutes. During the drive, we asked her about her life a little. She's been married for 4 years. We asked if she had any children, and she said no, and she wasn't going to have any. Maybe this is more widely known and I'm just oblivious, but apparently the Chinese government only allows couples who are not minorities to have one child, and there is a high fee to register a second child. Celine said that if you are a government employee (which she is) and you have a second child, you have to resign. They're doing this to help promote the growth of minority Chinese races, and to stop the massive population from growing even more. Celine herself was an only child, she told us. "I call the only child policy the 'lonely child policy,'" she said. Because she has no siblings, her child would not even have cousins to grow up with.

What's more is that her husband is a minority, and the law allows minorites to continue to have as many children as they want, but only "pure" minority children, not half. Finally, because of the social structure of China, Celine said that there would be a huge burden on her child. When the child is about 30, the responsiblity of taking care of the whole family--both Celine's and her husband's families--would fall on her child because she and her husband are both the oldest children.

It's very sad that Celine can't make this choice for herself, or that she would have to give up her job and a lot of money to defy the law. I understand the reason behind it, but the way the policy affects individuals is heartbreaking. Wikipedia has more information about this policy.

Well, because of the holiday, it's quitting time at 4 today. Not sure what we'll do tonight, but I imagine it will be fun since we don't have to work tomorrow. I'll share ASAP.