Relationships

Kevin and I started to get a little concerned last week, feeling like our kids were lacking once again in the way of relationships. We've been so blessed to have such great family time, and we are thrilled with how well all the kids play together these days; and yet it still felt like something was missing. Thankfully, we feel like after this weekend--their "tanks are refueled" once again! On Thursday we had a play date with some friends who are in our Home School Co-Op group who have a 4 year old little boy and 2 year old little girl. We were going to go to the outside playground in their apartment building, but due to some snow flurries we opted to meet up at the E Mart play area instead. After allowing the kids to run around there for almost two hours, we headed back to our friend's apartment for lunch and a little more play time. The kids had a great time getting out and having some friends to play with, but to be honest, it was a little difficult for me as the mom. As much as we've been blessed by the relationships here that have begun, I still miss so many dear friends back in the States! I often find that when I come back home after spending time with new friends here, I have the mixed emotions of being so thankful for the people we've met, different as many of them are from me in lots of ways, and yet missing my old friends that much more. I guess this is something that people deal with whenever they move to a new place and kind of have to "start over", but it really is new to me. And if you don't mind me being totally honest--it's really hard! There are definitely days when it feels really lonely and discouraging! We were told that around 3 to 6 months into living in a new culture, the honeymoon phase ends and the reality of life sets in. I think we're there now, and as much as we are loving so much about life here and are so thankful for more than words can express, there is still a lot about these major life adjustments that are just dad-gum difficult and leave us feeling lonely and isolated at times. I'm not just saying this to come across as the super pious one, but it is through these challenges we know that we are drawn closer to the One who sticks closer than a brother. We truly count it a privilege to have to daily depend on Him more than we ever have before to meet ALL of our needs, and we are challenged daily to come to Him rather than so many other things that we naturally would like to turn to in order to fill our cups!

Anyway, after having good friend time for the kids on Thursday, we had more fun time with new friends on Friday night too. My teacher Zhen zhen and her boyfriend Victor came over (along with our western friend, Joel) to join us for dinner and a movie night. Victor and Zhen zhen LOVE the kids and have really developed a neat relationship with them, so the kids were pumped to have all of them over to play. At dinner, I jokingly asked Victor if he wanted to feed Noah his rice cereal--and I wish you could've seen how quickly he jumped up and switched chairs with me! He was soooooo excited to feed a baby for the first time, and Noah loved it too! (We've noticed that Noah in particular has a huge love for Chinese people!)
On Saturday, the kids were invited over to decorate Valentine cookies with our friend Ms. Barbara. She knows how much the kids are missing their grandparents, so she has stepped up to try to help fill in that gap in their lives just a little bit by spending quality time with them. And I loved it, because besides giving them a fun activity with an amazingly godly woman, it gave me an hour and a half of quiet time at home with only Noah (who was sleeping). When it was time to go pick up the kids, the day was so beautiful and the sky so clear that I decided to bundle Noah up and walk the 2 miles over to Barb's apartment. The photos are taken as I walked along the road, which was lined with more vendors than usual because of the good weather and it being a weekend. I was again taken aback by the sights, smells, and sounds. The burn in my nose from the charcoal briquettes used to cook the road-side sweet potatoes; the freshly caught fish laying out on paper on the side of the road waiting to be taken home for dinner; the honking of cars and ringing of bicycle bells as everyone wanted to be heard so as not to get run over by other vehicles. Noah jabbered away the whole time as we bumped along the uneven streets and sidewalks, and it struck me as strange that what we were seeing will be his "normal". I wondered how long it would take before it is mine as well!
Saturday night we decided we were in need of a little "western fix", so we went with two of our teacher friends to TJI Friday's for dinner. Afterward we went to our friend Holly's apartment for dessert and then back to our apartment for a movie. I even stopped at the Good Friend Store (the import store we purchase from) to buy a few more Dr. Peppers as a special treat!
Today we rejoiced to have our friends, the Morris family, come back to town. They came over to join us for our usual Sunday night pizza dinner, then Kevin and Jason took off for the basketball game. Kevin's baseball friend Leif got the two of them tickets, and even came over to our place to hang out this afternoon to deliver them and get in a little bit of language practice. We continue to be thankful for the friendship that is growing there! Kevin and Jason both came home with Tianjin Golden Lion jerseys on. They normally have to return the jerseys after the game, but Kevin and Jason were allowed to keep theirs for whatever reason (probably just a perk for being a western face at the game!). Go Lions!

Long-Distance Delivery?

On Wednesday all of our electricity and water shut off in the morning. By lunch time, it still wasn't working, and our ayi went to investigate! She found out that both were supposed to turn back on, but not until 7pm. We decided that it was best not to open up our fridge at all which made lunch a challenge, since all of our dining options were inside! We thought about just doing a lunch of peanut butter crackers (which we have a decent supply of thanks to wonderful Christmas care packages), but decided we all wanted a little more substantial. Since there aren't any quick options here within a half-hour walk, we decided to attempt our first ever McDonald's delivery. No drive-thru's in China--but you can get Mickey D's delivered to your door! So Kevin practiced his ordering before calling, assuming that he would need to do it all in Mandarin, then called the number he had been given at school by one of his teachers. After several minutes of trying to explain where we lived and being so confused as to why it was so difficult to locate us, Kevin passed the phone off to our ayi. After a few minutes of her attempting to give our address, too, our ayi hung up, laughing, saying that they were located in Shanghai! Our immediate reaction was relief that they didn't decide to deliver and stick us with the bill!
We called back and discovered that we did originally have the right number, but the way it works is they route your call to the right place after the call goes through Shanghai. We did eventually get our order to the right city, and enjoyed a lunch of Big Mac's and chicken nuggets within a half an hour!
On Wednesday night we had Kevin's friend Leif from the baseball team come over for dinner with his girlfriend Rebecca. We had a great time visiting with them, and were even excited to find that they loved western food as well as Chinese! (I had cooked some Italian pasta to go with the Chinese food our ayi had made because Rebecca had previously told Kevin she liked western-style cooking.) They had dinner and then helped us put the kids to bed, even reading to them in their rooms before "lights off" time. The kids loved it (and so did Rebecca and Leif!). They stayed after the kids went down and shared with us awhile more about their lives. It was amazing to hear! Leif has lived in the sports complex for the last 8 years. He is 22 years old, and he loves baseball. But there's no telling how long he'll be able to play. The government hasn't even told the professional teams yet if there is going to be a baseball season this year. Baseball was voted out of the Olympics for 2012, so that means that in China, where sports is all about what it can do for the country as a whole, there is a decent chance that it's future is dim. If baseball is shut down, or if Leif's career comes to an end for any other reason, he'd really like to pursue international business. A great goal, but as we asked more questions, also a seemingly long shot. The last 8 years he has been in the sports academy, he has had NO OTHER SCHOOL--other than baseball twice a day! Leif is in a better spot than most of the athletes, because he has taken the initiative to study English on his own (pretty much every day), so he has more language ability than others. But Kevin and I were blown away by the prospect of someone in his place in the States. Can you imagine being pulled out of school when you were 12 or 14 to do nothing but play sports? And we think there are problems with "jocks" in middle and high school getting away with too much in the classroom just because of their position on a school sports team! Talk about taking it to a whole other level! Anyway, we had a great evening and will hopefully get to spend time with Leif and Rebecca again soon. And Kevin and I were once again reminded of our burden for these players who have so little to offer them hope!

Igloo on Home Plate

Kevin continues to go to the sports complex a few times a week to meet with the baseball players. I would say "work out" with the baseball players--but that would be a very loose translation of what is really going on there! He's found the afternoon work out time to be quite varied, and quite honestly, pretty funny. He comes home with some great stories!

So after there was a big snow last week, the players used their afternoon work out time to clear the outdoor baseball field of the ice. Only instead of just pushing it off of the field, they made a sort of ice fortress around home plate! It was Kevin's first time of being a part of an igloo's construction during a scheduled baseball practice. (See photo.)

Today, he came back from the field sweating more than normal. The baseball team spent their practice time playing basketball.

During their weight lifting times, Kevin is continually amazed at how the team all does the exact same thing--regardless of size, strength, or the position you play. Rather than customizing workouts, as those of us from the States are so proud to do we even pay for personalized training, here in China they so value the collective identity that they take it so far as to have everyone doing the same workouts--even though it means that the stronger ones won't get pushed and the weaker ones either hold the group back or just do poorly executed exercises, not even helping themselves in the long run. It's amazing how different so much of the mentality is about so many things here!

Kevin had another first last week. He had a player come over to him during their stretching time and start tickling him! He came home and said that in all his years of baseball in the States, a "tickle bug" in the locker room was never a problem! I guess it's safe to say that male to male tickling here in China doesn't carry the same social stigmas that it would in a US locker room.

Besides being good for a laugh or two when he comes home, we continue to be thankful for the relationships that Kevin is building on the field and off. One of the players, Lief--who is also the basketball team's mascot and wants to be Kevin's language partner--is coming over for dinner tomorrow night with his girlfriend (who speaks some English, ptl!). (His picture in the mascot uniform is attached.) We're excited and thankful for the new friends that He's given us already, and I'm sure we'll have some more fun stories as we continue to walk the road of Many Cultural Differences!!

The Great Wall of China

After 4 1/2 months of living here, we finally made it to the Great Wall of China! And we must say, we really were quite impressed. We hired a driver with a large van to pick up our family, along with Sarah, Rob and Ben, at 7:30 Wednesday morning. We then drove for about 3 1/2 hours to a place called Mu Tian Yu, which is a small village in the mountains outside of Beijing that is famous for it's portion of the Wall. One of the most surprising things to Sarah and Rob during the drive there was the "Beijing Scramble". This is when we're leaving the provincial limits of Tianjin and coming into Beijing and works kind of like a check point for all vehicles on the road. The drivers pull up into this area that is blocked off with lots of armed guards carrying large weapons. (Please note: this is not an organized parking lot, but rather just the main road which is several "lanes" wide with concrete road blocks scattered all over--in no particular order.) So cars are just left there while the drivers literally run out of their cars and about 200m away to a little booth on the side of the road where they take their license and other paperwork. After waiting in line (which can be only a few minutes or as long as half an hour or more), they return to their vehicle with the required paperwork needed to enter the nation's capital. It's quite a site to see! And then you still have to leave the chaotic scene and get back on the road, which can be a real challenge. Because there is no rhyme or reason to this "parking area" or sorts, you may be blocked in by another car or two and have to wait until they return from their place in line with their papers! Each time we've made the drive we all kind of roll our eyes and think that surely someone with some creative problem solving skills should come up with a better system!

Anyway, we made it through the Beijing checkpoint without any major delays, and after snacks and even a movie in the car telling us about the history of the Great Wall, we made it to Mu Tian Yu. Due to the incredible cold weather and the ice that was on the ground, we opted on buying tickets for the enclosed cable car to take us both up and down the mountain. At the base of the mountain as we headed toward the cable car entry, there were a TON of vendors selling their Great Wall memorabilia for "One dollar!"--which turned out to be much more when you actually stopped and started bargaining with them!

We were all take aback by the grandeur of the scene as we rode up the mountain. Kevin and I both had lowered expectations, as we'd been told that it really just looked like a big wall. But we were in awe of the enormity and beauty of it. It really was incredible to think that men had built it more than two thousand years ago amidst such rugged terrain. We didn't stay up top for very long because it was so cold, and we didn't hike along the top for as long as we'd liked either because it was a very steep grade with a thin layer of ice covering most of the walkway, making it pretty dangerous, especially with the kids. But we were so thankful for what we were able to see and do while there!

It was after noon when we came down, and we were all absolutely shocked to find a Subway (oh yes, the sandwich place) at the bottom of the mountain! It smelled like a real Subway, looked like a real Subway, and even had a similar menu to what our Stateside tastebuds are used to. We loved it! We then jumped back in the van to warm up and make the drive into Beijing. Our plan was to go and spend the afternoon touring the Forbidden City--where several of the emperors spanning two dynasties several hundred years ago lived. Unfortunately, of the 9,999 1/2 rooms in the palace grounds, we were only able to see the the gate and entryway! They had shortened winter hours, and our trip took longer than planned to get there, so we didn't get to see all we'd intended. As we all laughed, the Forbidden City really was forbidden!

Our driver then took us to a hotel that was close to the airport, with the plan of making the travel day easier for Sarah, Rob, and Ben the next morning when they had to catch their flight back to the US. We had fun eating at the hotel restaurant, then crashing early as it had been a long day of travel. The next morning, the kids were thrilled to get to go swimming in the indoor hotel pool after a fun western buffet breakfast! (The pic is of the kids waiting for the elevator with their bathing suits and snow boots on--a great combo, I thought!) It was a great discovery of fun Chinese landmarks and a great place to stay while in Beijing.

We had a sad goodbye after our swim as Sarah, Rob, and Ben caught the airport shuttle. We could not have been more blessed by their visit! We truly didn't know that having guests in our home for 3 weeks could actually be a refreshing experience. But they truly served us the whole time they were here, had great attitudes amidst a lot of chaos and "China days", and really worked to further our development of relationships with friends here in ways that we didn't imagine were possible. I must admit to some tears this morning as I was upstairs and heard Hud downstairs wondering around calling, "Scooter, Rob, where are you?". As Kevin and I reflected last night in their absence, the things from the US we miss are so minor compared to the relationships. And yet we are soooooo richly blessed! We not only have family and friends who are wanting to stay connected with us (like you, even as a reader of this blog!), but we have people who are coming and having weeks on end of quality time under the same roof with us, getting to walk in our shoes and see the adventure of our lives here! We couldn't be more thankful for our support group back home. So THANK YOU, and know that you make a difference in encouraging us onward!

Exploring Tianjin

We had quite a few good laughs earlier this week on Sunday. It started off Sunday morning in the taxi on the way to church. One of the many great things about my brother-in-law Rob is his enthusiasm. He has thrown himself into learning and practicing as much of the Mandarin language as he possibly can during his time here in China. So combine that with a really difficult language where lots of the words sound the same to our western ears and your bound to have a few linguistic blunders. He and Kevin were in the taxi and Rob was attempting to ask the driver, who happened to be a woman, if she had any children. The proper way to ask this would have been, "Ni you haizi ma?" But Rob instead came out with, "Ni wo haizi ma?"--which translates into, "You, me--kids?" Apparently the driver was cracking up more than she was offended, and Sarah thought the story re-told was humorous, too. So no marital conflict to speak of due to the indecent proposal by Rob, only some good laughs about it the rest of the week!

After church we took Sarah, Rob, and Ben to a noodle place we were introduced to several months ago. It is right around the corner from McDonald's, which I think accentuates the contrast in the environment. As we walked in, Rob, who is always up for trying something new a little "out of the box" definitely looked shocked and asked (I think twice!), "So----this is where we're eating lunch? Really?!" His statement was that the entrance looked like something out of Pirates of the Caribbean as we walked past a man passed out in a random bed in the entry way and into the hazy restaurant. We watched them make the noodles, which is an amazing process. They string the noodle (that's right--one noodle!) between their fingers on both hands and stretch it out several times. Even after watching it several times I'm still not how it works exactly--but it turns out to make a really good lunch. We all ordered different dishes--with the meat reportedly being lamb--but we've been told that is only a loose translation and that goat meat is more likely. We finished our noodles and headed home after paying about a dollar per person for the lunch (including bottled soft drinks!).

Sunday night we had the awesome treat of a double date night! Our friends here who have 4 kids offered to come over to babysit all 5 kids, in spite of it being one of the girl's 11th birthday. The kids had a blast, and Sarah, Rob, Kevin, and I took off to try a new dining experience that is popular here in China--hot pot. It is just like fondue in the States, only you boil everything in water that is in the pot on your table. Oh--and no chocolate or sweets stuff, unfortunately! But we had fun trying to order (and were really thankful Kevin has learned as many Chinese characters as he has in order to do so from a menu with no pictures, English, or even Chinese pinyin!). We discovered that there was an abundance of lamb (for the second time that day!) and seafood, but only one beef dish. We were about to order the beef when Kevin remembered the second word in the description--stomach! We decided against the beef stomach and instead stuck with more vegetables. We went out to eat with money given to Sarah and Rob by my parents specifically for that purpose (thanks Papa!), and had some left over after our dinner. So on our way home with money to burn in our pockets, we decided to get brave and experiment with trying out some new foods from a street vendor. I think we made the sweet lady's night with all the goodies we got--dried fruits, squares of chocolate, sweet potato chips, and even gummy Cokes! It was a great way to end a fun evening as we walked the mile and a half back to our apartment. So thankful for sweet time with family making fantastic memories and sharing a little bit of our new world with them!

On Monday we went to Trash Mountain, as the weather was finally warm enough to make it out a bit (it was above freezing!). Our plan was to slide down the man made snow hill that is there on inner tubes, but decided against it once we found out the cost! They had it priced for one adult and one child--which was a reasonable rate. But they were going to make us pay triple that price in order for Kevin to use one tube and take turns with the three kids sledding down the hill. Kevin tried to explain to the people running the rentals that it didn't make sense and wasn't fair that he would have to pay three times the amount, but like so many things here, we could see the result of thinking that doesn't operate outside the box. There is just no category for things that don't fall in line exactly with the norm--like having more than one child per adult (as is the policy here!). Chinese people are really hesitant to make any sort of exception to the rules. It's really interesting to see how often this plays out and how seriously people take their jobs when it comes to issues like this!

So we came up with a plan B--to hike up to the mountain and give Sarah, Rob, and Ben a better view of the city. We had a great time getting some fresh air, although the fog was certainly thick which didn't allow for great viewing. We met again with my friend Jennifer on Monday night for dinner, and we had a great time visiting together and having her teach us more about Chinese culture.

We decided to lay low on Tuesday, as we knew we had a big day planned to head to the Great Wall on Wednesday and then into Beijing to spend the night before Sarah, Rob, and Ben flew home on Thursday. The last photo is of Noah and Ben sitting together and bonding as they watch a Praise Baby DVD. And the other one is of all the cousins together on the new floor cushions we had made last week. Kevin was trying to get everyone's attention, and I think Ben was the only one a little unsure of Kevin's flailing to try to get everyone looking the same direction!

Basketball, China Party, and Beijing By Train!

So the basketball game was a blog-worthy event in and of itself! Last Sunday night Kevin and Rob joined Kevin's new friend who is on the Tianjin baseball team to go to the professional basketball game. Now their friend's English name is Lief, which we think is funny because it seems more Norwegian than your typical English, and although he is a professional baseball player, he is also the mascot for the professional basketball team here in Tianjin! Oh, and did I mention that both pro teams, baseball and basketball, are the Tianjin Lions?!
Anyway, the guys met Lief before the game and got all the special treatment their heart's desired! They started off in the locker room with the team, then got to go on the court and actually shoot with the players as they warmed up before the game. Their seats were right on the front row in at center court. And since Lief was the one throwing out all the "goodies" to the crowd during the game, he developed a delivery system that worked to Kevin's advantage. Every time he would throw something up into the stands, he would simply hand one or two to Kevin and Rob as they sat in their seats! Kevin came home with his pockets filled with things that the kids loved--inflatable balloon-type toys, stuffed animals, t-shirts, etc. The highlight of the evening was when Kevin was "chosen" to shoot from center court (rigged by Lief, of course!) for the chance to win either $10,000 or a huge plasma screen tv (still lost in translation as to what the real prize would have been!); he rimmed it, missing the potential for an at-home cinema or mega shopping spree (especially considering China prices!) for his wife by a hair! He's already been invited to two more games this week, so I'm thinking there's a good chance he'll have another shot at that big prize. . .
The rest of the week was COLD! The guys watched the kids on Tuesday for Sarah and I to go with my friend Barbara to the fabric market to try to get material for Sarah to bring back to make curtains (see photo of Karis, Barb, and Sarah at the market). We were unsuccessful in making a purchase though, as the options are pretty overwhelming and the whole process fairly exhausting! Sarah and Rob both decided to take classes for a few days at our language school, and Rob in particular really is enjoying the challenge of learning Mandarin. Sarah has decided that maybe she'll let Rob work on the language and she'll invest more time in learning how to make the food here--particularly jiaozi, similar to dumplings, that she helped our ayi to make later on in the week!
This weekend has been full and fun once again. We had our first China Party last night! We invited our three teachers and their boyfriends over for dinner and a concert with Rob as the headliner. The guys did some research to find out the Chinese people's favorite English songs, and you should see the list they came up with! Chart toppers are apparently "Hotel California", Richard Marx's "Everything I Do", and anything Michael Jackson! So Rob did not disappoint, and at one point, one of our teachers was actually in tears! (I think that was during Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone". Our teachers loved it all and insisted on an encore. The photo is of them all singing along to the songs, as the guys had printed out the lyrics for a sing-along time. After the dinner and music, we played different games (word games, charades, etc.) for several hours--well after this old lady's bed time! Besides our one major social faux pas of not having slippers for everyone to wear in place of their shoes that you leave by the front door, the party was a smashing success. Oh, the kids even participated before bedtime. They displayed their exercise routine of running around the table to Rob playing "She'll be comin' round the mountain"--which our teachers LOVED--and Karis even sang "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" while sitting on Kevin's knee. Again--LOVED by our teachers!
Today, Saturday, we took off to Beijing. We caught the bullet train into town, then rode the subway to a huge Pearl Market (where they have pearls and everything else you can imagine!). We had fun bargaining and doing some shopping, but have never experienced such aggressive salespeople in my life! The most frustrating thing was how the salesladies kept putting things in the kids' hands as we walked by (things that they of course liked, such as light-up shoes and toys), making me stop to put them back and then trying to convince both me and the kids that we had to have them and they would give them to us for "cheaper, cheaper!" It was miserable! They saw I was outnumbered, and were taking full advantage! I finally was able to explain to the kids what was going on and convinced them to not take things from sales people without asking me first, allowing us finally to be able to move through the aisles of stuff at a slightly quicker pace. After the Pearl Market we stopped by the Temple of Heaven, a temple that dated back to the 1400's. We saw the grounds and the temple itself, but one of our favorite parts was the courtyard where so many elderly Chinese people gathered. They were doing everything from playing hackey sack to mah jong, and a large number were even dancing. (See photo of Kevin dancing with kids!) We made it home safely, tired, but not too hungry, thanks to the Dairy Queen (with Blizzards!) we found on our way.

Week in Review!

This week has been full of fun, and I've gotten behind! I thought the best way to try to capture the events of the week was to do a brief re-cap of some of our highlights, so here goes!

• Tuesday--Rob playing "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain When She Comes" on the guitar for half an hour straight, switching out the "comin'" with different action words that the kids would do while running in circles around the living room coffee table; we're counting this as their homeschool PE credit!
• Sarah and Rob getting to experience their first blueberry Lay's potato chips (oh yes, I did type blueberry)
• Wednesday--Anniversary celebration for Kevin and me--WITHOUT KIDS! Sarah and Rob babysat for us to go to the Sheraton Hotel and eat a fun buffet dinner of mainly western cuisine--such a treat! As we left, the live entertainment was singing "Eternal Flame", even in English!
• Ayi's brutal honesty; after picking up little Ben, Ayi started cracking up and told me that he was light weight; she then looked at me as I was sitting on the couch and said, and I quote (translating to English, of course), "Your son is FAT! This one is much lighter. When I hold yours, my arm hurts!" (Kevin came downstairs in time to hear the last sentence or two and help me translate!!) We all cracked up, and I apologized to Ayi for the workout that lifting Noah gives her!
• Thursday--psycho Chinese toy (the cow in the picture that twirls around with bright lights and creepy music that drives you crazy!) that we got free with our diaper purchase; we decided that if the kids develop epilepsy, we have a reason why!
• Kevin spent several hours with the baseball team, and kept us all up with our sides hurting from laughter because of the stories he told from his time there and the funny conversations that took place. Apparently, one of his new baseball friends loves Tom and Jerry, and went to a lot of trouble to explain to Kevin that their name in Chinese is the same word as "gourd"! He finally was able to clarify by pulling out a gourd from his desk drawer! (Yeah, I know. A gourd?) Anyway, Kevin feels blessed to have relationships continue to develop with this bunch of guys, even if the conversations take some strange turns! (see photo for a visual of a gourd!)
  
• I tried to use my software on my cell phone to look up some vocabulary words while trying to communicate with a taxi driver. The word I came up with when I entered what he said was "pancreas"--pretty sure I missed something in the translation!
• Friday--Sarah and I went to the blind massage parlor. Except for the part where the masseuse had me contorted on the table trying to pop a few spots along my spine, it was quite an enjoyable experience! (photo is of Sarah in the waiting area before massage)
  
• Our friend Jennifer came over for dinner and to hang out with Scooter and Rob. After 5 minutes at the dinner table of Rob trying to pronounce his and Sarah's Chinese names (which both have the letter "r" in them--the most difficult sound to make in Mandarin!) Jennifer announced, "I think maybe you should pick new names!" We all agreed that would be a simpler solution than the practice it would require to introduce themselves.
• Saturday--Ancient Culture Street and some fun shopping! The highlight for me was my "reverse bargaining"! I took Sarah to a store that I have been to two other times. The owner came out and told me the small purse was 15 kuai when I asked. I offered 12 kuai, and the shop owner replied. I kept offering 12, and she kept responding. After about 3 rounds of this, I realized that she was asking for 10! She remembered me from previous visits, and was offering to sell it for even cheaper than I was trying to get it for! I started laughing, as did she, and we got the best price at the market!
• We went out to dinner with my teacher and her boyfriend to a local restaurant. We branched out in our ordering, and ended up with a dish that had a chicken head in the pot! Yikes! (We all passed on that one!)
• We came back to our apartment and played the Wii after putting the kids in bed. We decided to try "American Idol", and it was a hit! The highlight was Kevin and Rob singing the verses of "YMCA" while Victor (my teacher's boyfriend) sang the chorus!
• Sunday--our friends, the Morrises came over to lunch to get to spend some time with Sarah, Rob, and Ben.
• Kevin and Rob got invited to a Chinese basketball game by some of the baseball players. They took off, running late, with a pizza and bottle of Coke to eat in the taxi on the way! We have yet to hear how the game was, as they are still out, but we're sure they will have some stories to tell!
• Sarah and I had a movie night with the kids, watching one of our fav's--"High School Musical"!
  

China Day

Before I started writing this I checked the temp on-line--it's at 0 degrees Fahrenheit, but feels like -12 degrees! We have never felt cold like this before! For the most part, we are trying to stay indoors when possible to avoid the cold and melting snow outside. But on Sunday, we had what some of our friends call a "China Day", which is a day where chaos and the unexpected seem to rule!

We decided to try to catch a taxi to go to our international church. We knew that with the large group and many kids it may be difficult (we have my sister, her husband, and their little boy in town with us), but really wanted to show how great our fellowship is. We bundled up and made the walk to taxi corner, only to stand there and wait in the falling (and hard-blowing!) snow for about half an hour while Kevin tried to convince a taxi to stop for us. When the weather is wet from rain or snow, the taxi drivers really get temperamental in who and where they will drive, especially when kids are involved. When kids sit with their backs against the seat back, their feet are just the right (or wrong!) length to have the bottoms of their feet hit the back of the front seats, often leaving dirty footprints on the clean, white seat covers that most drivers use. Taxi drivers take GREAT pride in their vehicles, usually keeping them very tidy and personalized, so the footprints are never received well! Our kids are pretty well-trained and constantly reminded to keep their feet down so that we don't leave our little "reminders" of our ride with the drivers, but it still makes actually catching a cab hard when they see what the odds are with our crew! (We have some friends here who have 4 older kids. They told us that they often have their kids hide behind some bushes or trash cans when they are trying to catch a cab and this helps with the drivers initial assessment of the situation. Then when the driver slows down enough for you to grab the handle, the kids pop out of the bushes and everyone rushes in at once! We're working on this tactical maneuver, but have yet to have it perfected!!)

So Kevin finally got one cab to stop, right as we were about to head back to the apartment for church at home, and he sent Sarah (my sister) and me zipping away with 3 of the 5 kids. It took us forever to reach church (about 25 minutes rather than the usual 10) because of the thick snow and ice on the road (it snowed 7 inches that day!). Kevin, Rob (my brother-in-law), and the remaining two boys were miraculously able to hail a second cab and follow shortly behind us. We were able to enjoy a neat service and message, and then started the trek back home.

Our plan was to catch another 2 cabs to take us to E Mart to eat lunch and get some large grocery items we needed there. After walking about 15 or 20 minutes in the blizzard, with Kevin trying to catch a cat the whole way, we realized that this just may not happen! Kevin was finally able to get one cab driver to stop for him, who then refused to take us once he saw our crew. Kevin got to practice both his linguistic and bargaining expertise, and convinced the cab driver to take Sarah, me, and all the kids back home for only about double what it should have cost! (Our friends who have lived here for years told us last night that we actually got off paying very little for our cab ride considering the weather conditions!) Rob and Kevin managed to walk the rest of the way to E Mart (probably about a 15 or 20 minute walk from there) WITH the two strollers in tow. The cab driver agreed to take us with all the kids, but refused to have the strollers in his trunk! Who knows? Kevin and Rob said they were quite the spectacle at E Mart rolling through the aisles with two strollers and no children but rather a large package of Canola Oil and diapers inside of them!

Sarah and I waited at home for the guys to return, trying to warm up freezing children, and we all enjoyed the lunch they brought home with their groceries. The guys of course experienced one more small miracle getting home. They weren't sure they could make the probably 2-mile walk back to our place from E Mart with all the groceries and the strollers in the snow (they definitely aren't equipped with snow tires!), so they were determined to wait for another cab. They waited for quite some time, then finally had a cab stop and ask the person waiting right in front of them if they were going to our apartment complex! (This has literally never happened before. We always tell the cab drivers where to go, not have them ask us about a particular location!) The other person waiting was not going to our Sunny 100 apartment complex, but Kevin jumped in to let the driver know that he and Rob were, and presto! They had a cab!

We decided to stay in the rest of the day, ordering pizza from our favorite pizza place for dinner (and waiting for it to be delivered, which only took an hour and a half, which we thought wasn't too bad, considering!). We're picking and choosing our outings a little more carefully this week than we did on Sunday--although the adventure of it was a blast and our guests couldn't be better "troopers" in spite of the crazy conditions that become a part of daily life here!

The last several days we've spent largely indoors, having good quality family time. Rob and Sarah could not be more of a blessing to all of us! From helping with food and dishes to doing crafts and playing games with the kids, we're having a great time making lots of great memories. Sarah and I did get out one day and walked to the market to get a rotisserie chicken and some chocolate popcorn. We also found a baby specialty store that carried "normal" high chairs, which we purchased for Noah (and Ben to use while he is here, too!). We bundled everyone up one afternoon to go out for a snowball fight, but Sarah and I only lasted a short time with the babies. We then left the guys with the older kids to endure the cold! I'm pretty sure that the time it took to bundle and strip down was double the amount of time that we actually spent outdoors! (And yet still worth every minute!)

Happy New Year!

Happy 2010! The Joseph family has had a fantastic weekend thus far ringing in the new year with both friends and family! On Thursday night, we had our friends, the Morrises, come over for a family slumber party. After having them over for dinner a few weeks ago, we all decided that it was so much trouble to get out and over to someone else's apartment that it would make sense just to do an overnight. So we did it! They came over with their two little girls, ages 5 and 1, had dinner, put all the kids to bed in sleeping bags (except for Noah and their littlest one who both got beds/pack n plays), and then had time for the grown ups to sit and visit. It was such sweet time! Jason and Sara have been here in China for almost 8 years, and Kevin and I feel like we have a lot to learn from them and their experience of overseas living. And we even celebrated with homemade eggnog! (The pic is of the kids on the sofa reading together the next morning.)

The next day (Friday), a driver with a van came to our apartment to pick up Karis, Noah, and me to take us to Beijing to do an airport run. We successfully found and picked up my sister Sarah, her husband Rob, and their little boy Ben (5 months old). We had a great time talking all the way home and catching up, enjoyed a dinner that our ayi had prepared while I was gone, and got the weary travelers to bed. Today Kevin and Rob went to get massages at the blind masseuse parlor and Sarah and I took the kids on a walking tour of our community--including taxi corner, the market, our real estate friends' office, and the local grocery store. All of our friends were so excited to meet Sarah and of course thought Ben was adorable! We have lots of fun adventures planned over the next 3 weeks that they will be here, but for now we are just thrilled to have precious family here and to see them recovering so well from the jet lag! We've especially loved seeing Ben interact with his four Joseph cousins. The picture is of Noah, who has really just started crawling this week, as he has made his way over to Ben to try to chew on one of his feet! The little guys are fascinated by each other!!

One fun story. Kevin was just sharing with us on New Year's Eve about the last book he's been reading about faith. In the book is a true story of a little girl who has two parakeets until one of them dies. She asks her mother for another, but her mother denies the little girls' request. She is heartbroken, and prays that God would bring her another parakeet. The very next day, the little girl finds a parakeet in her back yard in the middle of an urban area where a parakeet should not be! The parakeet proceeds to let the little girl catch it in her hand and carry it into her cage and into captivity. The author uses the story to challenge the reader into greater faith, or "God confidence" in what he asks God for and expects in response to his requests. So on New Year's Day, before our friends left our apartment, Karis' friend Adah had two temporary horse tattoos left that she brought over to share. Kevin helped Eli put his on, and then tried to help Karis. Unfortunately, Karis' did not come off at all, and she was so upset! She even went up to her room to have a good cry! Right after our friends left, we had lunch and she asked Kevin to pray before the meal that God would bring her another tattoo since her horse one had been ruined. I have to admit, I dreaded hearing Kevin offer up the prayer, knowing that we hadn't seen any tattoos like this since we'd been here and not thinking we had a chance of seeing this prayer answered! But of course, that afternoon when we got Sarah and Rob back home and their bundle of goodies for the Joseph family (two and a half of their 4 bags they brought were filled with things for us!) was unpacked, one of the gifts my mom had sent was a coloring book for Karis, complete with TWO PAGES of temporary butterfly tattoos! I wish you could have heard the squeals of her delight as she ran to find Kevin and tell him of how God had already answered their prayer! Is He good, or what?! We had a great conversation of how God can use even a tattoo to deepen our "God confidence" and show us His love for us and His goodness toward us as His children. We're hoping the tattoo story is not one she (or we!) will quickly forget!!