LOST IN TRANSLATION

You know it was only a matter of time before I used that title for one of my entries, right? It’s not what you think though. I assure, at no point have I faux-hooked up with Bill Murray or become married to Spike Jonze’s doppelganger.

Instead, I was out with my Chinese Angel this evening for a fantastic dinner of soups. On Monday (11/27), my homesick-crankiness continued from Sunday evening, though it was lessened by the presence of my babies who tried really hard. Today was Tuesday and as my mother tells me, "There is a reason every job you will ever have will pay you." Tuesdays are the reason I get paid to be here. Tuesdays by and large suck ass. Fortunately, Tuesdays are very short. I have one hour of classes first thing in the morning with the Kindergarteners starting at 9-ish and then I have two classes in the middle school starting at 2:55pm.

When classes were over and my interest in teaching completely obliterated, I went to find my Chinese Angel. She too is having a bitch of her time with her job and we support each other in very realistic and maternalistic ways. We have similar interests and we teach each other our languages. She also is in possession of the urge to roll her eyes just a little too much for convention’s liking, loathes being in photos, has no problem maintaining her sense of self and loves to travel. So, we eat together quite regularly and it’s always a pleasure for me to be with her.

Tonight (11/28) we went to one of the restaurants nearby school for soups because I wanted soup desperately. Cold, blustery, overcast days demand soup and so that’s what we did. I had a sour soup with noodles, chives and sesame seeds. She had my favorite soup of tomato, egg and leek soup with noodles. We both shared, as a starter, the thick corn soup (consistency of egg-drop soup) with egg. (They like egg here, by the way. It’s in everything.)

The food was delicious. As I gobbled it all up, I am once again amazed at how much I can eat here and not just not put on weight, but lose it as well.

Once we left the restaurant, my Chinese Angel brought up my weight loss and, as she’s one of the few who possesses the subtlety to talk about it without declaring in the loudest voice possible how FAT I used to be and how SLIM I am, we talked about it. She asked how I did it and I told her I have no idea.

"I actually eat more in China than I do in the States but I just lose weight here."

"I guess you can say the Chinese diet is good for keeping fit."

"Yes, I think so. Or, maybe it was just lost in translation."

Once I explained to her what "lost in translation" means, she doubled over laughing.

As we were laughing there on the street, I heard a familiar, masculine, "Hello." Before I knew the voice rationally, I knew it in my knees. The sound made me want to peel off my glasses, wrap my arms protectively about the source of the voice, nuzzle my cold nose into the fabric-softner-scented body and lose myself in every sensation but sight. Everything about that sound begs to be snuggled.

I looked up and there was Alpha Hottie, smiling his broad smile and hand pulled out of his puffy parka to wave at me though he was not five feet from us. Alpha Hottie’s always rushing from place to place but he stopped dead in his tracks to say hello to me.

In my insomniatic crankiness on Monday, I hadn’t really looked for the opportunity to say hello to my boy and so we sort of missed each other. I had been feeling uber cranky Monday and figured the reason he’s not been more forward with me were all the reasons a Western boy would not be forward (primarily, "Thanks, but no thanks"). Frankly, that sort of thinking only feeds on itself, so in the inside of my head was confident he was not interested.

However, as he stood there smiling, my Chinese Angel studied him. The moment he saw her looking at him, he slipped behind the mask, nodded politely at her and continued on his way. She watched him scurry away, said, "So that’s him" and nodded. She then shot me an approving look and we continued on our stroll.

I guess some things are never lost in translation.