Growing

My first thought was that not much has changed. My friend’s dad responded to this observation with, “Well, we’re all ten months older,” which seemed to be about it. But I’m starting to notice a few things. Pop’s gone so country that Jaron of Evan & Jaron is praying for tragedy to strike his ex-girlfriend. Country’s gone so pop, Reba is covering Beyonce. I saw Toy Story 3 in 3D, which blew my mind. Also, I get to drive past Des Moines Golf and Country Club every day, and for the first summer in three years I’m not serving drinks there. Yeah, unemployment makes me feel so grown up.

I’m daily amazed by how flat and open my home state is, how the blue sky goes on for miles and the stars are all visible at night. A while ago, Jason and I used Google street view to show Des Moines to a Chinese student. Wide-eyed as we showed him our former houses and favorite parks around the city, he said, “Wow, America must be like one big garden!” Drawing the distinction between “America” and “Iowa” for the millionth time, I conceded that there is a lot of green space in Iowa. Seeing it now, in contrast to “gardens” built on top of cement in my Chengde neighborhood, I understand why what he saw was so fascinating. Des Moines just has so much grass growing everywhere, shrubs and flowers wherever they’ll fit.

Of course, how and where things grew was my dad’s primary concern—well, secondary concern, after navigating chopsticks. My parents spent ten days with me in China before we flew home last week. I packed the schedule with as much must-see China Stuff as possible, from Shanghai to Xi’an to Beijing to Chengde. Me taking charge was an interesting role reversal for all three of us. I planned, I booked hostels, I mapped bus routes… I stressed.

And in the same way that a parent is really proud of a nice gift, and the child is more interested in the huge cardboard box it came in, they derived the most pleasure from things I hadn’t counted on, like our bus driver’s road rage battle with an eighteen-wheeler (wahoo, China!) and, would you believe, the fact that the Chinese grow corn in the mountains. It’s true, folks. All these years Iowans thought we had a monopoly on putting corn everywhere. But in dry, mountainous Hebei province, corn is growing out of cliffs and valleys at every turn, water and constant sunshine be damned.

And, er, speaking of sunshine be damned (forgive me for compressing three blogs into one), I have formally accepted a position working for the Seattle Red Cross, beginning at the end of August. My official title is “Capacity Building Grant Coordinator.” I’ll be doing a combination of research, grant requesting, and conducting interviews with people the Red Cross has helped so I can write those heart-wrenching stories that make people want to donate money. The position is through Americorps, so I can continue my streak of being moderately impoverished but satisfied with my job. Thankfully, I have the awesome opportunity to live with my brother and sister-in-law and their two little boys, just a couple miles from work! Rumor has it I’m paying rent in dishwashing.