The family had a busy weekend. Since my wife and child finally made the move to the US nearly six months after I returned, I’ve had much less time to do things like write for this blog. Even now, I write this post at my desk on my lunch break, looking out at Table Rock behind a screen of spring flowers.

Boise’s biggest music festival, Treefort, ended on Sunday. I took my family out to enjoy it. This year’s festival was the first to have great weather in a long time.

At the festival, my wife and son had their first corn dog. For my international readers, a corn dog is a deep-fried hot dog dipped in cornmeal batter and served on a stick. It’s delicious, if not particularly healthy. You can see pictures here or on Wikipedia.

We also had some Japanese street food for lunch at a local food truck. I enjoyed the takoyaki (octupus pancake balls).

The kimchi that came with our noodles reminded my wife of her home in Northeastern China, where there’s a strong Korean influence. Dandong, a city on the border between Liaoning and North Korea, is only a couple hours’ drive from her city.

This was also my son’s first prolonged exposure to the loud noise of a concert. He didn’t mind it when we were a few hundred yards from the stage, but he got cranky closer up.

We brought noise-cancelling headphones for him to wear, but he found them uncomfortable and didn’t want to wear them. A thoughtful friend got him a pair of children’s earmuffs. I was lucky enough to capture his reaction to them in a photo:

My wife didn’t like the music at the festival. She’s a K-pop fan, and you won’t find Blackpink or Itzy at Treefort. I’ll be keeping my eyes peeled for their next tour announcements so I can buy some tickets for her. It could be a fun road trip.

This weekend, we also went to Costco for groceries. The common wisdom is to avoid Costco on the weekend because it’s so crowded. That’s why I was surprised when my wife said she likes Costco because it’s 热闹 [rènao, “bustling”]. It makes sense that she would think so; Boise is basically a village compared to her hometown of three million, or Beijing, with its 24 million.

Indeed, the modern Chinese lifestyle is overwhelmingly urban. Convenience is the urban lifestyle’s trademark: restaurants, shopping, entertainment—it’s all just a bus or subway ride away. The tallest things you see in any direction are almost always skyscrapers and apartment buildings. By comparison, Boise’s skyline is dominated by trees and mountains. Coming to a place like Boise, my wife must feel like a fish out of water, swimming in her own tears of boredom.

Boise’s definitely a change for her. We’re working on getting her a driver’s license so she can at least go out whenever she wants without needing a ride. A car and the license to drive it are the keystone of suburban American life.

Having lived both lifestyles, I definitely prefer it here, where nature keeps close and the mountains always remind you how small you are. My son loves having the space to run around in Boise’s beautiful parks, but children are surprisingly adaptable. They can feel at home almost anywhere. I hope he maintains his resilience when he grows up, no matter where he goes.