Around the World #31: Arthur and Xiao Ni

This is my continued discussion with Arthur and Xiao Ni. (To listen to my first podcast with them, click here.) Xiao Ni continued to impress me with her stories. Unfortunately, as she sojourned through Turkey and Lebanon, she was plagued by misfortune and people of ill repute. Maybe the theme for this show should be “That which does not kill you makes you stronger.”

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Show notes:

• In English, we have one word for the children of your parents' siblings: Cousin. But in Chinese, they have many words, depending on which side of the family this cousin is on, whether they are male or female, and whether they are the children of your parents' older or younger siblings. Confused yet? We're just getting started! Here are some of the words for “cousin” in Chinese: 表弟 and 表哥 and 表姐 and 表妹 and 堂弟 and 堂哥 and 堂姐 and 堂妹. On top of that, if a Chinese person refers to their “brother” or “sister” in English, they often mean their cousin or their close friend.
• Traditional Chinese Medicine has five elements, one of which is fire. Since moving to China, I've heard a few people talk about “too much heat.” I still don't fully understand this, but here is an explanation to get you started.
• Another ancient Chinese concept is that of Yin and Yang, the opposing forces which are also complimentary. Here is some more info.
• Xiao Ni used the ubiquitous Airbnb during her trip. I haven't used this service yet, but I have been using Couchsurfing since 2005. I occassionally host people in Beijing. Here is my profile. (You must be logged in to view it.)
• I mentioned Palmyra, thinking that the ruins were in Lebanon. They actually were in Syria. And I use were instead of are because ISIS destroyed them. This is tragic.