"Say, 'Eggplant!'"

Know what the equivalent to our American "Say 'Cheese!'" is in China--Eggplant! Technically, it is "qie zi", which is kind of pronounced "chiez-zah", which sort of makes your mouth into the same shape as our "cheese" does--and I'm assuming is the reason for the word choice! We heard this numerous times on Saturday this weekend when we took a "field trip" to the Tianjin zoo. We had a blast spending all day looking for animals and trying to identify their Chinese names. (Kevin made up flash cards before we left with pictures of each animal on one side and the name of it in Chinese on the other. We then made it into a sort of scavenger hunt game to see how many of the animals from our cards we could find!) We had beautiful weather, and our friend Joel joined us, who the kids LOVE spending time with. The kids had so much fun that they didn't even seem to mind too much that they were as much of a main attraction as the animals were. Thus the frequency of "qie zi" being heard throughout the park as our kids were constantly asked to pose with other Chinese kids for photos!
And of course boys will be boys, so Kevin and Joel had to have some sort of competition, adrenaline rush thing going. They decided to make it a game to see how many of the dangerous animals they could touch! One major difference in the zoo here and the ones we've been to in the States--if you want to get in WITH the animals (as in, get into their exhibit on their turf!), you pretty much can do so! (okay, this is probably a slight exaggeration--but not by much. It would be difficult to get into the exhibits, but you can definitely reach them and be a lot closer than anything we're used to.) People are always feeding the animals and messing with them in different ways. So Kevin and Joel were actually able to reach in and touch a rhino, a camel, a long-horned antelope of some sort, and a tiger!
Some of the other pics are of the show that we watched that was unlike anything we'd ever seen before. There was a tiger riding on top of horse, a bear playing basketball and riding a bike that you would've sworn was actually a person with a bear costume on by the way it moved, and a lion getting angry at the "trainer" who had nothing but a stick to defend himself with! It was all quite exciting. And the whole fam was thrilled to have a sweet time together of enjoying the beauty and wonder of the creation around us!

Our First National Friends!

We had yet another "first" today--Chinese friends over to our apartment to join us for lunch! The two men in our real estate office here in our community who have helped us so much with everything from getting our internet set up to purchasing our 3 wheeler came over today for us to repay them with a meal. We had a great time--in spite of the fact that they speak very little English, and we obviously speak very little Chinese! But there was lots of laughing and smiling around the table anyway. We got a great peek into the general spiritual state of the nation when Kevin asked if it was okay if he prayed before we ate, and was met by one of the men with a total blank stare. After he conversed in Chinese with his colleague and then pulled out his translation device and typed away for a few minutes, he held it up with the word "religion" showing up on the screen. He then seemed to understand, but Kevin and I both agreed that even in the most secular homes in the US, praying before a meal is not something that would completely stump anyone.

Since we knew that the two men were coming, we asked our ayi to make traditional Chinese food for us to serve--which was definitely a good move. The men seemed to like the meal, and although it was intended to be both a gesture of initiating a friendship and also a thank you for their kindness, they ended up showing up with several large bags filled with all kinds of fruit! It is such a gift-giving culture, it amazes me every time. And it makes it really hard to properly re-pay anyone with them trying to re-pay you! My favorite part of the meal was at the end when I served fruit (what is culturally appropriate in China) and also a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies that the kids helped me do the day before. The men both enjoyed their cookies (at least they said they did!)--but ate them with their chopsticks! Kevin saw me trying to hide my grin at the table and asked me if I didn't want to take a picture for the blog. I thought it best not to embarass them!

Both men did want to take a picture with Kevin before they left, and requested that Noah be in the photo as well! Chinese people LOVE kids, and especially babies. And the funny thing is that men try to interact with them as much as Chinese women do! Both guys (who are single with no kids of their own) very comfortably scooped Noah out of my arms and started cooing away to him before taking the photo. I love it!

We have had a busy week with classes resuming, Kevin making it to work out with the baseball team, and friends (other westerners) over for dinner several nights. I'll try to back track and fill in more details when my eyes are feeling quite so heavy! For now, the dishes in the sink are calling my name. . .

Ayi

One of the concepts I've struggled with the most both in preparation for our time here in China and even since our arrival is that of an "ayi"--a helper in your home who is paid to do cooking, cleaning, and help with childcare. Ayi's are a completely normal way of life here in most of Asia; and not just for the upper-class, but for all walks of life. Even ayi's have ayi's normally at work in their own homes while they are away working in other's during the day! But having come from our home in Dallas where I did all of an ayi's tasks on my own, the thought of paying to have someone else in my home and doing them for me was really an internal battle. When we lived in the Philippines for 5 months, we were convinced by other Westerners that hiring an ayi was a great opportunity for us to be able to interact with and build relationships with nationals, as well as a great chance to be able to serve someone by giving them work that we could easily afford and for which they had a great need (both there in the Philippines and now here in China we pay the equivalent of about $1.75 or $2/hour for an ayi).
So all that to explain how our requests seem to be answered! We have a woman, Ayi Wang, but we just call her Ayi (pronounced like "eye-ee") who has been coming to our apartment the last 3 weeks. She comes Monday, Wednesday and Friday for about 5 1/2 to 6 hours at a time. She does our laundry (which takes a lot longer than we're used to with the smaller washing machines and no dryers--which means everything has to be hung up to line dry) and cleans the apartment thoroughly (which is a HUGE chore--the filth that comes from the pollution is impossible to describe; I just wiped up some water off of the floor in the hallway that I saw ayi clean only hours ago, and the rag still came up gray from the layer of grime that covers everything! And that is no statement on her cleaning, but rather on how dirty everything gets here.) She also does dishes--which is also a time-consuming task considering there aren't dish washers. Another huge blessing is how she cooks dinner for us on the days that she comes, and even purchases the food she needs to use for the meal! We just give her the money every few weeks and have asked her to make different dishes for us to try (all Chinese food, of course--although she did make her version of Italian noodles last week, which was kind of like spaghetti with a Chinese flare!). We LOVE her cooking, and it is a huge help to me as I am gone to class each afternoon she is here, so I can come home from school around 4 and she has dinner ready to go so I don't have to think about it! Her cooking for us also gives us the freedom to have Chinese friends over for meals that are more familiar to their tastebuds--which we have scheduled for the first time this week! (Kevin has invited two real estate guys who work in the complex over for lunch who have done a ton to help us get things taken care of around the apartment. More on that later this week!)
Anyway, Ayi is a great cook, thorough cleaner, and most importantly, really kind-hearted and sweet to the kids! She has obviously never been around so many kids at once (as is the case for most Chinese with the one-child policy), but she doesn't seem to get stressed out by the chaos and interacts really well with the kids. Karis and Eli have been the slowest to warm up to her, I think just because they are intimidated by the language barrier, as she doesn't speak any English. But Hudson and Noah especially think she is great! Noah smiles when he sees her and she is really gracious in helping hold him when she sees me with hands full trying to do things like get everyone's lunch on the table. I'm not sure we will ever get to the point where I would feel good leaving her with all of the kids, as that is overwhelming for me even on some days!, but hope to have the freedom to leave her with one or two of them at a time somewhere down the road. And I was so encouraged last week to walk in and see Ayi sitting at the table with Karis and Eli, going through a children's book of Chinese words and practicing their pronunciation (as shown in the pic). Kevin and I feel great about her gentle spirit and how easy she is to be around--and we're just looking forward to being able to communicate with her more so that we can get to know her better!
We did have one funny moment that really threw me for a loop the second week she was with us. I figured I maybe needed to give her more to do during the day when I went into my underwear drawer that night and realized that she had folded and organized everything in it! I must admit, I was a little embarassed to know that there were no longer any secrets among us--even about my undergarments! I'm still trying to get used to having another woman in the house doing "my" jobs, but am so thankful and realize with the many differences how much it really is needed here in order for me to be able to do so many other things that I want and need to do throughout the day! And as I progress in my study of Mandarin, Ayi will be a great help to me in practicing what I am trying to learn in the classroom.

Weekend Update

Our big news for this weekend is that our shipment of stuff from the US finally arrived! It really felt kind of like Christmas when all 25 boxes arrived--with everything even still in them that we had shipped over! The kids were elated. We had all forgotten most of what we had shipped, since we did so almost 3 months ago. And the timing couldn't have been better. Karis unfortunately got some kind of a bug that gave her a fever and bad headache, and she came down with it right when my thermometer and other medical supplies arrived in the shipment. PTL for his timing! (And she is doing much better today, 24 hours later. We're still hoping no one else catches whatever it was she had.) So we've been laying much lower this weekend than normal, trying to unpack boxes and figure out where to put things in an apartment that literally has only one really small closet! I think I'm going to get really creative at how to best maximize what little storage space we do have (like under the beds!).

Kevin watched the kids today for about an hour and a half for me to go with one of our Chinese speaking friends to a frame shop. They are framing 17 pieces for us! Everything from some family photos that we brought from the States to the local Chinese art that we purchased to hang on our apartment walls. I couldn't get over the prices once again. It's amazing how so many things here are so much cheaper than what we are used to paying! (And at the same time, you can't get around paying over 10 bucks for the cheapest and smallest bag of coffee! I guess it all depends on what you're after. . . )

The pics I'm including are of the boys (all 3 of them!) enjoying Noah's newly acquired Bumbo seat on the sofa during movie time this morning. (We've ended up doing lots of movie time on Saturday mornings as our neighbors beneath us have asked us to be quiet. I thought they originally requested silence until 8 am, but Kevin says that they actually want us to be quiet until noon! Anyone who knows my kids knows that is highly unlikely! But we're trying to do the best we can!)

We did our usualy post-nap, pre-dinner evening stroll around our apartment community, looking for friends again! The kids had fun playing badminton and tossing footballs that just arrived, and I took this other photo of one of our neighbor's decks. The apartments on the first floor all have a little deck area that people get really creative with. This one has been turned into a garden that is growing all sorts of large gourds. The Chinese are all about combining aesthetics with functionality!

Eating Out

One of our goals (not necessarily at the top of the list as far as importance goes, but on the list nonetheless!) while here is to find a fun restaurant that our family can frequent regularly. So we've started trying out some different more "hole in the wall" type places. A little risky, yes. But lots of fun! So far we've made it to one place that ended up being Korean (and we realized we're not huge Korean food fans). And then tonight we walked into another that was more of a bar than a restaurant. They were excited to have us come up to the door, but we decided it probably wasn't the best place to bring all the kids to! So our next stop was across a major street near our apartment community, similar to Central Expressway, minus the lane markings and any form of law enforcement! (We've learned that all traffic laws here in China are more like traffic suggestions; optional in whether they are obeyed or not!) I tried to capture the street crossing on film, but the photo does not do it justice. We did manage to make it across the street without loosing any kids along the way, and then found a fun place to eat. They even had live birds out front--I'm assuming that you could pick them out to then have put on your plate a few minutes later? Not sure exactly what kinds of birds they were, but they were great pre-dinner entertainment for the kids!
And we're not sure that we've found our favorite family spot yet, but we did enjoy the meal for the most part. We're still not sure either what we ordered. We thought we'd gotten a chicken dish and some sort of sweet and sour pork, but the chicken was not like any I'd tasted before. I was concerned at first that it wasn't cooked; but after a second bite I felt okay giving it to the kids as I think it was just a lot more fatty than I was used to, rather than raw! And our only disappointment was in the childcare. Normally in Chinese restaurants, if you go in with an infant, the waitress will literally take the baby out of your arms after you order and walk around with them the rest of the meal! Last time we ate out, Noah had a blast getting to know the entire restaurant. This time, for whatever reason (maybe because he was a little fussy?), he stayed with us, making our chop stick attempts even more awkward than usual! Oh well, another day, another new cross-cultural experience.

Filling the Holes

Today we skipped our normal routine of doing school in the morning and then running errands, and instead took off early for what we call "furniture row". We were in search of a chair for the kids' bedroom and a place to store shoes by the front door (a shoe cupboard, for lack of a better term!). We had tremendous success, and even in less time than we were expecting! And Kevin and I were thrilled that we did it all without a translator friend along with us! (We did call on one friend though to talk to the lady at the store we'd purchased our sofa from, which broke the second day we had it, to try to work out some repair details.) That aside, we felt a huge sense of accomplishment in being able to be out and about and do more things on our own in spite of the language barrier. AND I'm really pumped about the orange pleather chair with the cow print pillow that is big enough to fit me and all the kids on it for our reading time at night before bedtime! (The pic is of the kids as they were waiting at the furniture place for us to get the pricing and delivery details in order.)

On a more reflective note, I was able to put my finger on what seems to be pushing my "sad buttons" more these days. I've noticed that I will have emotional swings of sadness that wash over me every now and then--which is to be expected, considering the world we've left behind. But I keep trying to tell myself that many others do the same thing that we're doing in leaving loved ones behind to move to another place. But what I realized is that these holes that we have from leaving friends, activities, and what is familiar behind are holes that really can't be filled at this time. If I was moving to another city in the US, then my plan would be to establish as similar a lifestyle as possible to that which I'd had in Dallas as quickly as possible. I'd find playgroups to join and fellowship opportunities for me; maybe an area of service outside the home. But because our goal in being here is to develop meaningful relationships with CHINESE people in order to be people of influence among them, I'm much more limited. There are other Westerners here, many whom I really enjoy spending time with. But again, the goal is to reach the national people. However, I'm realizing that is extremely difficult at this point when my vocab is pretty much limited to hello, goodbye, the kids ages and genders, and answering that yes, they are all mine! (oh, and I am learning some fruit and vegetables also this week!)

So basically, even if we do meet others here who speak my language and might be willing to be my friend, it seems like that would be only a temporary investment as I think in terms of long-term goals. (But don't worry. We're not completely isolating ourselves from other English speakers because of this! Just trying to be wise and not over-commit. We even had a friend from Dallas who teaches at the international school over for dinner tonight. So no, we're not getting too carried away with all of this!) Which, Kevin and I agree, leaves us in kind of a tough spot. But the great news is that I was just reminded while reading a devo from the passage in Jn. 4 about the Samaritan woman at the well, that our father offers us living water through his son--water that keeps us from ever thirsting. So even when I do have these holes relationally that are unfilled, and really need to stay so for at least the time being, I have a source to turn to that can fill as many as arise! And it will never run dry. I think the hard part is being comfortable enough with this tension in my life--knowing that the holes are there and that I don't have to fear any loneliness or pain that may come from them--and being real and honest enough to let Him be the one to fill up each one. Talk about learning greater daily dependence on Him! Guess that's what we're here for anyway, huh?

Okay, thanks for letting me journal here in public! On a lighter note--our friend who came over for dinner tonight who teaches at the international school offered a huge labor of love--to babysit for Kevin and I to have a date night next week! I didn't know how much I was looking forward to that until it really looked like it was going to happen. But wow, talk about being excited about something! I'm sure I'll have an entire blog entry dedicated just to it. . . :) Love my kiddos, but love a little bit of time away as well!

Grilling Out

We had another "first" tonight--using our new grill on our balcony! After spending the morning at Trash Mountain hiking around and making a run to the larger grocery store in the neighborhood (called E Mart), we came home do a run to the market and get chicken legs and fresh vegetables. (The photos included are of my favorite market stores--the one run by several women where I get almost all of my meat and veggies, and the man that I buy all of our fresh fruit from.) I brought several different seasonings from Penzey's in Dallas, so we used one of them on the chicken and were even able to get the fire started--which is no small miracle considering the charcoal that they use here! (And no lighter fluid!!) We are super blessed to be on the top floor of the apartment--oh yes, we finally have made the penthouse status--so we have a large balcony that is perfect for grilling out! The kids had a blast helping Kevin and getting to run around out there, and we had a beautiful evening enjoying the outdoors. We all agreed while eating that it was the least "Chinese-ee" meal we've had since our arrival--and a warm reminder of what is familiar, especially to our taste buds!