{"id":11277,"date":"2025-01-26T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-26T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/?p=11277"},"modified":"2025-01-22T13:16:28","modified_gmt":"2025-01-22T21:16:28","slug":"hearing-again-from-ruth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/china\/hearing-again-from-ruth\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing again from Ruth"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m talking about Ruth Silbermayr of the blog, China Elevator Stories.<\/em> She\u2019s a writer and blogger I met online in about 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I started my blog in August of 2013 when I was getting ready to publish my first novel, Tiger Tail Soup, a novel of China at War.<\/em> My blog posts at that time were all about China and about being married to my Chinese husband. That\u2019s how I got acquainted with other Western women married to Chinese men. Ruth was one of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her posts were some of my favorites. She often wrote about interesting and funny little conversations she had with the local Chinese people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here is an example of the kinds of posts she wrote:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

#####<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cForeigners also need body scrubs\u201d<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I overhear employees at a bathhouse in Siping talking about me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20\/11\/2014<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ruth Silbermayr<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Author<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In October 2014, I stay in my husband\u2019s hometown, Siping. Located in Northeast China, Siping experiences winter temperatures that can drop well below -20\u00b0C. Like most apartments in China, ours doesn\u2019t have a bathtub. Northeast China is famous for its bathing culture, and bathhouses (\u6d17\u6d74) are common.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One evening, we visit a small bathhouse. I soak in the hot water of a wooden bathtub.<\/strong> For hygiene reasons, the bathtub is lined with a large plastic bag that is replaced for each person. After my bath, I decide to get a body scrub (\u6413\u6fa1). The bathhouse employees mention that body scrubs can be done up to once a week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\u201cForeigners<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As I\u2019m getting my body scrub, one of the employees says to the woman working on me: \u201cA foreigner!\u201d <\/strong>She laughs.
The woman giving me the body scrub replies: \u201cForeigners also need body scrubs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you ever been to a bathhouse in China?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

####<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure how or when I lost touch with Ruth. It wasn\u2019t on purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before Christmas, she contacted me in the comment section of my blog and asked if she could do a guest post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today is just a brief introduction to the Ruth I knew a decade ago when she lived in China with her Chinese husband and her two young sons. Since then, Ruth\u2019s life has changed, and her blogs have evolved. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You’ll find Ruth’s blog at chinaelevatorstories.org. https:\/\/chinaelevatorstories.org<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow I’ll put up an example of what Ruth is posting currently. Don’t miss it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m talking about Ruth Silbermayr of the blog, China Elevator Stories. She\u2019s a writer and blogger I met online in about 2014. I started my blog in August of 2013 when I was getting ready to publish my first novel, Tiger Tail Soup, a novel of China at War. My blog posts at that time […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[317,13,1340,1416],"tags":[2559,2557,387,2558],"class_list":["post-11277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogging","category-china","category-expatriate-life","category-interracial-marriage","tag-body-scrubs","tag-elevator-stories","tag-interracial-marriage","tag-living-in-china"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3Kn1e-2VT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11284,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/china\/cats-and-feng-shui-a-guest-post-by-ruth-silbermayr\/","url_meta":{"origin":11277,"position":0},"title":"Cats and Feng Shui, a Guest Post by Ruth Silbermayr","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"January 27, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"batik by Nicki Chen Ruth Silbermayr started her blog chinaelevatorstories after moving to China in 2012. Currently she lives and writes in Austria. Below you can read an example of one of her recent posts: Chinese Feng Shui and Cats by Ruth Silbermayr I am not very knowledgeable with regards\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "blogging"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/blogging\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/a-video-call-with-my-children-Ruth-Silbermayr-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/a-video-call-with-my-children-Ruth-Silbermayr-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/a-video-call-with-my-children-Ruth-Silbermayr-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/a-video-call-with-my-children-Ruth-Silbermayr-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2613,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/vanuatu\/vanuatu-vanuatu\/jocelyn-eikenburg-interviews-me-on-speaking-of-china\/","url_meta":{"origin":11277,"position":1},"title":"Jocelyn Eikenburg Interviews Me on Her Blog, Speaking of China","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"September 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2009, when Jocelyn Eikenburg started her blog, she said that she \"felt alone in being married to a Chinese man and ... wanted to find other people to connect with.\u201d Now, five years later, interracial marriage in China is still rare, but Jocelyn's blog, Speaking of China, a blog\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Vanuatu"","block_context":{"text":"Vanuatu","link":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/category\/vanuatu\/vanuatu-vanuatu\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"016_16","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/016_16-e1411107598878.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6076,"url":"https:\/\/nickichenwrites.com\/wordpress\/tiger-tail-soup\/can-you-count-online-friends-as-friends\/","url_meta":{"origin":11277,"position":2},"title":"Are Online Friends Really Friends?","author":"Nicki Chen","date":"July 23, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Most of the bloggers listed in the blogroll on your right are people I\u2019ve never met in the flesh. 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