Trying It On

So my partner recently was given notice that he's going to be laid off from work. For various reasons, including the extreme discrepancies in our salaries and the possibility of him taking a huge paycut if we stay where we are, we're considering moving together somewhere else where he can continue with his company and maintain his salary. I never thought I would be the kind of woman who moved house with her man to further his career, so this is a bit hard for me to swallow. On the other hand, I also know that if anyone is going to start over, it makes sense for me to do so, since I'm just at the beginning of my career.

I've been mentally trying on the various places that we could move and finding it somewhat exciting and sometimes very appealing. For example, there is a chance we could move to Phoenix, AZ. Every morning when I go outside and have to scrape the frost off my car windows, this appeals to me more and more. Coming from Michigan, my first few winters here in the Pacific Northwest were nothing, but it's been almost ten years and now this feels cold to me.

In one Phoenix scenario, we would only be there temporarily and would probably live in a friend's vacant home. In that scenario, I think about working at the local food co-op or doing some menial data entry job or even teaching, but having a regular schedule and weekends off with A. Sounds lovely, no? If we stayed more permanently, I would pursue my license and establish myself as a solo practitioner - and I imagine my space and my practice being smaller and simpler, more in line with the vision I've always held. Much more about acupuncture and hands on healing. In Phoenix, we'd have a pool and it would always be warm enough outside for Chibo and I. Either way, I have grown to love the idea of moving to Phoenix.

Another option is leaving the company and moving to Chicago, where A's parents live. My family would be a short drive or commuter flight away, which is incredibly appealing, but it's SO COLD. After thinking of Phoenix, the Midwest loses much of it's appeal. My career would probably take off there, though, due to the dearth of available practitioners and I could help my mom much more regularly. Hell, I could even stay there part of the week and work up the street where some family friends have a healing center. I can talk myself into it, but it's not really what I want.

There is also the possibility of moving to New England, where A's sister and extended family lives. If we moved there, his parents would probably follow which would consolidate his family nicely, however, I think there is little or no appeal for my mother in New England, though I would at least be closer. Cold, cold, snowy and icy winters, though. But I enjoyed New England thoroughly when I visited last October and have many friends in that area. I guess I could probably make the best of that situation as well, though, again, it wouldn't be my first choice.

The last and somewhat distant option is a recycling of the old idea of moving to China for a few years. If we moved to China, I would either not be able to work or just teach English, but I would hope to find someone with whom to further my studies in Chinese medicine and have even thought about offering my services through the company to the American employees. On the other hand, if I wasn't working, I would be able to get the rest I so desperately need, could practice my Qigong and Taiji regularly and would be able to prepare healthy meals for A and I and have more energy to go adventuring when he was free from his work obligations.

The spirit of adventure that comes up for me with the options of Arizona and China comes up for the other places as well and come summer, I might find them more appealing, but with spring still far away and more mornings of scraping my car off ahead of me, anything cold is less appealing. In any event, I've advised A to apply for anything he thinks and we'll decide when there is an offer on the table - I may regret that advice when he starts getting offers, but in the meantime I can dream of adventure, make my pro's and con's lists and bundle up to keep warm.

How to Read Chinese

I'm asked often about the tattoo on my arm. I specifically put this tattoo on my inner forearm, turned so that it is right-side-up to me, so that I would see it each and every day. It's a Chinese character. Because Japanese shares many characters with Chinese, it is also Japanese and one of my Japanese speaking customers explained it's Japanese meaning which was only slightly different than the Chinese. In Chinese, it reads Dao. Tao? Well, yes, because this is the same word.


Because Chinese as a written language is not phonetic (meaning there is not a letter or mark for every sound), Europeans developed systems for romanizing the Chinese language. Romanization made it easier for them to record things because they could do it based on how the words sound rather than learning and memorizing thousands of characters (if you ever wonder how the Chinese have such great memories, it's because they have to - every word has its own character!). The older Wade-Jiles system of romanization is the one that writes Tao, Taoism, T'ai Chi and I Ching. The newer pinyin system writes Dao, Daoism, Taiji and Yi Jing. The new system is easier to pronounce correctly and is the current international standard.


Dao = Tao and they are both pronounced like Dow, as in the Dow Jones or Dow Chemical. It is never pronounced Tow or Tay-Oh, except by most non-Chinese speakers, cute girls and I would venture to guess, stupid people. The Tao of Tea plays on this alternative spelling, but is still pronounced Dow of Tea. Taoism is still pronounced Dow-ism.


Another common mistake is Tai Chi. You might see it written T'ai Chi, Tai Chi or the more modern Tai ji (can also be written as one word Taiji). Either way, it's all pronounced the same - like T-eye G.


It bothers me when I tell what my tattoo means or that I'm studying Taiji and I have to mispronounce the words before people comprehend what word I'm saying. The point of this wasn't really to discuss my tattoos, but to rant about people mis-reading, mis-pronouncing and mis-understanding Chinese romanization, but if you want to know more about my tattoo(s), it can be found here.