Fu Nv

Technically, Fu Nv should be: Fu Nu with two dots on top of the u, but Chinese people would type it with a v to distinguish it, so I'll do the same.

It's Wednesday morning, and I'm forcing myself to get out of bed on my day off to go downtown to meet my Chinese teacher at Starbucks. I'm supposed to meet her at 10 and it's already 9:45. I'm still in my neighborhood, or xiao qu, and it takes a good 45 minutes to get downtown on the bus, which was my choice mode of transportation for the day.

I call her, "Ni hao! Wo zai gong gong qi che, ke shi, wo ying gai shi yi dian wan. Deng wo dao le de shi hou, wo gei ni da dian hua, hao bu hao?...Bu hao yi si!" (translation: Hi. I'm on the bus but I'll probably be a little late. When I arrive, I'll call you. Okay? Sorry...)

During the bus ride, I read a book, look out the window here and there or watch other passengers (I'm a bit ADD when I'm out in public...) and I arrange for an afternoon 'outing' amongst friends. (The 'outing' half-way fell apart while I was at class...long story)...

I arrive and I call her. I order a tall mocha latte "zai zhe li" (here). She comes in and we begin class. Meanwhile, the plans for the afternoon are falling apart and I'm a tad annoyed with text messages every 5 minutes!

In walks a foreigner that I've never seen before (there must be 1000 foreigners in Kunming...I'm always amazed when I don't know one though, considering I have connections to the vast majority of the families here through the school)...he's kinda cute too. Hmm...totally had ADD during class too.

Ready for the FU NV moment. Here it is. I tell her I'm going home for Christmas and I'm really excited. I'm buying the tickets hopefully tomorrow. It's really expensive "tai gui le!" ....and then BAM! Out of nowhere, she invites herself home with me for Christmas. AWKWARD! (and...actually, really odd in Chinese culture to do that...) So what do I say? NO? Um....??? This is what came out: "I think the visa will be hard" "What about your daughter? What will she do?" With both of my statements came responses that were still plowing through with determination to accompany me home for Christmas; my first Christmas home in two years!

I didn't give it much thought after that. I thought it was just part of the conversation, and she'd not mention it again except for, "Oh, I'd love to go to America! Wouldn't that be fun?!" BUT, I was wrong.

Skip forward to Saturday. Saturday morning I get on Skype. I have a message from Chen laoshi (Teacher Chen) and she's asking if it's really okay for her to come home with me. Do I agree? Can she stay at my house? She talked to the officials and the visa will be hard to get, but she'd do it if I said okay.

Oh dear. Panic. A tad bit of shock.

Typical Chinese woman? I don't really know. All I know is....weird. weird. weird.

In case you're wondering, she won't be on the plane from Beijing to San Francisco or the one from San Fran to Miami! She'll be in Kunming. With her daughter. Teaching other foreigners.