China Chat

Beginner’s luck is a real thing and Jiajia says his beginner’s luck fishing has ended. The honeymoon is over.

Chris and Jiajia actually start walking in the park now that Jackie is fully charged, talk about appropriate outdoor clothing and make a little friend. 

Chris and Jiajia enjoy a leisurely walk through the park, looking ancient pictographs and tiny water fowl.

Chris and Jiajia talk about Labor Day in China, Golden Weeks and debate whether Pluto is a planet.

Jiajia and Chris are charging their car, talking about lounging in the park, cars with toilets and turkeys.

We speculate about where we’re going, AI and humanity as frenemies, the advance of technology’s impact on human brains, and Chris badgers Jiajia about sunscreen again. 

Yes, we’re different but what does that really mean? It means Jiajia won’t wear sunscreen and Chris will continue to pester him about it. In the end, we’re not really that different after all. 

Chris continues to bust JiaJia’s chops but he doesn’t care, they discuss the origin story of the idiom, “busting your chops”, goats, sheep, Starburns, Abraham Lincoln’s facial hair, and interesting tattoos.

Jiajia and Chris talk about Karl Fazer chocolate from Finland,  Chinese word order, what does “normal” even mean, busting your chops and meat pies. 

Jiajia and Chris discuss soft mattresses and stealing the covers, reminisce about Heilongjiang and sleeping on heated tile beds.

Chris can’t wait to finish recording so she can get back to playing Gummydrop, they talk about Daily Heiqiao chocolate, lotus root as a perfect soup vegetable and Chris reminds Jiajia that sea cucumbers are not vegetables. 

Chris and Jiajia go on a meandering journey of topics from life as a simulation, popular movies, childhood memories and whether snakes have scales or not.

Jiajia gives his true feelings about dark chocolate, Chris tells him he’s not wearing it correctly and somehow Jiajia again manages to steer the conversion back to fish.

Chris finally finds a translation for Tai Chi, Jiajia admits he doesn’t like dark chocolate and admits he’s been raiding the milk chocolate at night while Chris is sleeping. 

Jiajia speculates on why his shoulder is so sore, talks about how he has succumbed to the western soft mattress and can’t help talking about fish.

Chris and Jiajia delve into the interesting beginnings of Yang Form Tai Chi mainly because JiaJia’s family name is Yang. Yeah. Not a relative, but a guy can dream, can’t he? 

Chris and Jiajia take a look at the history of Tai Chi, give an update on Tommy after she ate digestive tablets, and Charlie continues to beg for fish. 

Chris and Jiajia talk about their hobbies, the benefits of having hobbies and why they’re not a waste of time. 

Jiajia is a little sad he has to talk with Chris and not fish with his new friend during the afternoon fishing window, we talk about Charlie’s youth and Chris gets ooked out by pictures of squibbed fish on the internet. 

It’s finally arrived and Jiajia is over the moon excited about his new fishing pole. We talk about the history of fishing lures, whether you need a fishing license and JiaJia’s favorite thing about fishing. 

Jiajia and Chris recount their pollen woes, talk about sleepless nights and how to combat Spring allergies naturally. Meanwhile, Tommy snores peacefully in the background.

Chris gets fooled by two news stories on April Fools Day, Jiajia talks about his mom refusing to listen to him, and they make a plan to take a look at the new Mahjong table and play some pool. Jiajia also promises to wear a life jacket while fishing. 

Jiajia and Chris dig deep down into the Coca Cola, Pepsi slogan debate, western names that don’t transliterate well into Chinese and fried chicken. Also our sincere apologies to anyone named Dick. 

Lao Zhan decides to get a new mahjong table, Chris can’t wait to get a chance to play, but she’s still too slow to play with the adults, and Chris reminds Jiajia to wear a life jacket when he’s fishing on the river.

A very rainy day means no fishing for Jiajia and time to record! Chris scolds Jiajia for not wearing sunscreen and tells him to get with the program!