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| First McDonalds burger in 6 months! |
We've just returned from a 10-day trip to the east coast of China, and it certainly made the contrasts between east and west that much more apparent! Probably the biggest shock to our systems was the open space in WeiHai, the coastal city we went to first. The sidewalks were wide enough that I could have two kids (usually Noah and Hudson) both holding onto one of my hands while we walked. And we didn't even have to haul off to one side for others to squeeze past! The friends who we stayed with have two kids and they rode bikes regularly without fear of knocking over others. Amazing! It felt more like San Diego than anywhere else I've ever been in China. And the buildings were not all stacked on top of each other, but instead there were sections of beach strategically placed in between the high rise hotels and hotels all along the bay, which stretched for miles. It was just beautiful! You could even walk on the beach without shoes on, not fearing the usual trash and glass debris that is typical of a Chinese beach.
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| Waiting for the driver with bikes in tow! |
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| Is this really China??? |
Another huge difference was in the warmth of the people we encountered. After spending the weekend in the coastal city we took an overnight train back to Tianjin, the city where we used to live. We spent the week there visiting old friends, and I got more Mandarin practice in there in 4 days than I do in a month living where we do! I think this is partly because so many of the people where we live speak one of the minority languages, but also there is a huge difference in the friendliness of the two locations. Everywhere we went on the east people were wanting to engage with us, asking all kinds of questions about the kids, our work, how old I am to have 4 kids already, how much money we make--in other words, all the typical questions that are culturally appropriate in this country! It took me several days to get used to the transition of being asked so many questions and not be so suspicious of why. It made me realize just how closed off the people are where we are, something my mom also noticed during her visit her a few weeks ago. There is a general level of suspicion toward outsiders, and foreigners in particular. I think the assumption is that we could be spying for our home government, or trying to perpetuate some sort of thinking that could be harmful to the community. That and the general feeling of oppression that many of the minority people groups out here feel lead to a general sense of distrust that you can feel just when you walk down the street. I regularly jog around our apartment community in the mornings and there is a woman who I see out walking literally every time I am out. I noticed her the second month we were here, and particularly noticed her harsh demeanor. I've since made it my mission to get the woman to smile at me! I make an idiot of myself trying to crane my head around to catch her eye as we pass, I blurt out louder than appropriate "zao shang hao" ("good morning") greetings, and smile with as much gusto as I can. I
finally won her over this past month--after 4 months of pursuing that smile! (She has bad teeth, but I was so thrilled to come home and tell the rest of my family that I'd finally gotten her to respond that they too rejoiced over her bad teeth!) All this to illustrate my point--it's hard to win them over out here!
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| Yes it is, as proven by the number of people photographing our kids as they play! |
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| Bday cake for Eli on the beach w friends |
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| Noah's new best friend, Bumpy. |
Being away from our present city and situation also made some of our circumstances more obviously challenging. As our dear friends from our former city peppered us with questions regarding our new life out west, we were really saddened to have as few positive things to report as we did. We've seen the Father do amazing things, for sure; but the reality is that our normal at this point is really hard most days. The contrast between what we had and what we currently have was so much more apparent by our trip. So now the question is, is this just because we are still settling in and adjusting to what is still so unfamiliar? Or is this just the new normal that we need to accept and learn how to embrace with joy? I'll be honest. Getting on that plane to return to the west was hard. I even shed a few tears as I hugged dear friends good bye, friends who had loved and served me so well over the 4 days we were there, friends who I left feeling refreshed and encouraged by. I fully anticipated having a rough first few days back in the desert, but have been incredibly surprised at how okay I've been! I've had sweet time reading and reflecting on His goodness in spite of what feels so hard and so lonely so much of the time. I've felt encouraged and honored that He allows us the privilege of following Him to a place that not many want to go, where the things we are without are felt. (Part of my doing so okay might be the fact that I'm still flying high from my purchases while on the east coast! I must confess hitting up the import store where I stocked up on mac and cheese, powdered sugar, and even 2 boxes of cereal. We're living large! Oh, and the kids got Pop Tarts, which are their new favorite food. They even made a chart to make sure that no one took more than their allotted amount. We also made it to the European sporting good store that has great quality stuff at really good prices, so the boys are now all wearing tennis shoes that don't have their socks poking through! And Eli got a new soccer ball, which is being used at the moment with the neighborhood kids.)
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| Before the race with Barb, our dear friend from TJ |
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| Post-race selfie at the finish line! |
So the main reason we went to the east coast to begin with was to participate in a sprint triathlon. Kevin and I both competed this year and it was such a great experience! We've recognized that our mental health is so much better when we're working out regularly and when we have measurable goals, which are hard to find living this type of life overseas. So we loved the training part, but the race was maybe just as much fun. Besides our nerves, the biggest challenge was the inclimate weather. A thunderstorm started right when our race did, so as soon as we entered the water we were facing much bigger ocean waves than we would have. The other frustration for me during the swim was the number of swimmers wearing floaties. I know, "What?!" They were competing in a triathlon but had these oval-shaped orange floaties attached to a belt by a string around their waist. Besides the strings being an obstacle, the floaties also looked just like the buoys that were used to mark the course. So when you turn your head to quickly catch a breath and spot your course, it was so difficult to tell what was another one of the floaties and what was the buoy. Talk about frustrating! So my swim was not as fast as I thought it would be due to the crazy route that I'm sure was longer than it should have been as I chased floaties around the bay! And then with the rain, the mountain course for the bike portion was treacherous. The course is known to be the most difficult in China because of the hills and the sharp turns. There were actually 27 accidents during our race, which I think is quite a lot for a tri, especially with the number of participants being as few as there were (not sure the total number, but there were about 30 in my heat [same age bracket and gender] and about 50 in Kevin's; there were our two heats and an additional 5 going at the same time). While on the bike course I had several people pass me with blood streaming down from their elbows and knees, and one woman was taken to the hospital with quite a few broken bones from her fall! So the wet and slippery roads made both Kevin and me a bit more cautious than I think we would have otherwise been, but thankfully we both were able to stay upright on our bikes for the entire race! (This was my biggest fear--falling, most likely at the very end when I was dismounting my bike, because of wearing clip-in shoes that I wasn't really well-practiced in!) And Kevin's back not only survived through the whole race, but actually feels better now than it has in months! We think triathlons might be the answer to his back pain that he's managed all these years. Who would have guessed it?!
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| Celebratory dinner at Papa John's |
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| Overnight train ride (stacked 3 levels) to TJ |
So our experience in the race was fantastic. Neither Kevin nor I placed as high as we would have liked (what can I say, we're probably more competitive than we should be), but we both did well enough to feel good about our races and to know that we'd like to train for another. We're certainly thankful for any sort of stress outlet that we can find, and this race in particular is coupled with the benefit of being in the same city as dear friends (Some of our best friends moved from Tianjin to the coastal city for work, so we got to stay with them while there. It was such a blessing to our whole family! Their home is about a one-minute walk across the street from the beach, and they took the kids on all sorts of fun adventures, like the aquarium, while Kevin and I were doing registration and other necessary grunt work for the race. And being with them lifted our spirits in such a sweet way, providing lots of laughter and also heart-sharing moments.)
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| Kids at TIS, their old school (wearing new shoes!) |
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| Also visited our favorite swimming lake |
One other highlight of our time in Tianjin was connecting with old friends. We got to spend part of a day at the international school where the kids went and Kevin and I taught. This was one week into our time away from home, and I loved Noah's report to one of the teachers there when he asked Noah how he was doing. Noah replied with the following: "We just keep moving around. We get on a train and then in a taxi and then on a plane...." Ha. Pretty well summarizes our life... :) We also got to see our former Ayi, the woman who worked in our home for 5 years, and had a sweet time catching up with her. We had dinner at our favorite restaurants with local friends and went (twice) to our favorite Tex Mex place, too. My best buddy, Natalie, and I went for a pedicure, which should be counted as a highlight except that it turned into an hour and forty minutes of torture! The ladies working there literally would not let us up from the chairs, and they spent that entire time scrubbing our feet. No kidding. The entire time. We didn't even have them paint our toenails because we were so worn out and exhausted just watching them work. Oh, and we each had two women working on us at the same time! I can't even imagine how sore they were when they went home that night. We think they scrubbed two shoe sizes off our feet in the process. Don't think I'll go for another pedicure any time in the near future...
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| final goodbyes before heading to the airport |
I'm sure I'll be putting out another post sometime soon. This week is a big one here for us. There is a celebration called Kurban that is a religious holiday celebrated by a lot of the minority peoples where we live. I'll be honest--I'm a bit nervous. The main day of the holiday is on Thursday, and on that day every household is supposed to sacrifice an animal, usually a sheep. Of course we are living in high rise apartments in a city center, so there's not a lot of area open for slaughtering animals, so the courtyards end up being the main locale for the event. Supposedly you can't really go out without seeing the process, which can be really gross and bloody. I'm contemplating taking the kids to the open animal market tomorrow (Wednesday) where they sell many of the animals that are to be used as sacrifices, but not sure if we're up for it or not. Security is really tight right now, so the streets are crowded with more armed police than normal and traffic seems to be moving at a snail's pace. Will have to feel out what tomorrow brings and go from there, but certain to never be a dull moment!
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| Natalie still smiling 1 1/2 hours into getting scrubbed |
