Going to the Park.

Yesterday Elisabeth and I went to Sports Street to get new soccer cleats and shin guards.  If you think shopping here is like shopping in America...well, you would be wrong!
Sports Street is a actual several streets and an underground mall of small stores selling sportswear.  There is store after store of Nike, Adidas and other name brands.  It's hard to know what is actually a name brand and what is a fake.  We generally believe most are fakes.

It took us almost two hours to find soccer cleats and shin guards.  I know the Chinese words for "soccer," "play soccer" and "shoes" but not for "shin guards."  We only found one store that actually had women's soccer shoes and that was after texting and calling a friend to get explicit instructions where that store was.  It turned out we had walked right past it.  Getting shin guards required going to yet another store and acting out "shin guards" to three really delightful store clerks.  Prices for cleats and shin guards were pretty much the same as in the USA.

Before we went to Sport's Street, we walked through a beautiful park.  Paul and I ride past this park on an almost daily basis but have not gone very far in.  So Elisabeth and I took the bus to the park and walked through.  It was beautiful.

First we saw this man painting characters on the cement with water.  He has a huge brush and a bucket of water and he paints very artistic versions of characters.

These are actually poems or proverbs.  It's in moments like this that I am really, really aware that I live in China!

Next we saw a statue of the man the park is named after.  Forgive me for not knowing my Chinese history better!

                          

Same statue the next day after a Spring snow storm.

Next, we saw this man chopping at ice with a pick ax.

We saw huge groups of people playing cards.

This will be beautiful when Spring really does come!

We hiked to the top of a hill.

And down the hill to this solid ice path.

We averted our eyes (but not the camera) at this kissing couple.  Extreme public displays of affection are not all that unusual any more.  Young couples have very little privacy so they usually take it outdoors.  It can be quite uncomfortable, especially in a bus or other enclosed space.  This couple didn't stop even when an elderly couple walked by.

We heard music so we walked over to see a group of people dancing.  We see people dancing in parks all the time.  It's really lovely.

A man doing Tai Chi with a statue of a girl doing gymnastics behind him.

An elderly man exercising.  These fitness machines for the elderly are in every park and many apartment complexes.  They are in constant use.

Finally, basketball, right outside of Sport's Street.  Basketball is hugely popular in China.

That was our Sunday afternoon in the park!

Raising a TCK

In our household, we have a very special person- our daughter Elisabeth.  She moved with us to China last summer and has handled the move with a grace and maturity that is beautiful to see.

Elisabeth is a TCK- a third culture kid.  Basically, a third culture kid is someone living outside of their passport culture.  Their identity is not necessarily with their own country or the country where they live.  They form a unique identity as a Third Culture Kid, with a unique skill and gift set.  Being a TCK also can have many challenges.

See this link for more information on TCK's.  http://www.tckid.com/what-is-a-tck.html

Elisabeth spent the ages of two until six in a Korean environment.  She went to Korean Sunday School and was loved and spoiled by the community there.  What she learned in that environment was love.

She can't read but it doesn't matter.  She is accepted...as so is Pikachu!

She spent the next part of her life in a Chinese environment and then in an international environment (still in the US).  In 2007 we decided to take a trip to China.

There we marched her around Beijing and took her up to an English camp in Inner Mongolia.

Exhausted at the Great Hall            Dad is always happy to give      New friends made at the camp from

of the People.                                 a history lecture.                       Tianjin International School.

When we returned to the US, we began to consider seriously the possibility of moving to China.  I didn't believe it was the right thing at the time, but slowly God began to work in my heart.  My primary concern was whether it was the right thing for Elisabeth- would she thrive?  Would school work for her?  Would she resent us later for taking here away from a "normal" American life?

I considered friends who had raised their kids successfully overseas- places like Jordan, Germany, Papua New Guinea.  I thought about the international school kids we had met at the camp who were living in China and thriving.  I contacted a friend who was raising her kids in Papua New Guinea - they had moved as slightly older kids.  Her advice- Go for it.

So we did.

In the summer of 2008, we came back to China.  We visited a few cities to consider where we wanted to live.

              

Elisabeth met kids that she would be going to school with.  The apartment where she is playing hockey is actually where we now live.  She began to really see that it was possible to live here..and so did I.

So we moved here in the summer of 2009.  Has it always been easy?  No.  Has it been worth it?  Yes.

Paul and I were given a gift a few years ago when we were at a retreat in SW Missouri.  It was the gift of hearing a speaker talk about raising kids.  He actually was a Chinese man who had lived in the US and raised his family there.

While he was speaking, he told the story of his teen son.  One night they were playing pool.  He could tell that his son had something to talk about but wasn't quite ready.  So they kept playing. And playing.  And playing.  Finally, after midnight, the son started talking.

When we heard this story, Elisabeth was about 7 or 8.  But it made a huge impact on us, and that's why we consider it a gift.  Creating an environment where your kids can talk, really talk makes such a big difference.  We have tried to make that true in our family.  There is no taboo subject except for meanness about other people or gossip.  I truly believe that has been part of Elisabeth's success here.  She was and is allowed to say whatever she wanted about the move (and she had a lot to say as the two year proces of getting here went on!).  She (and all of us) are allowed to be sad-we miss our family, our friends, our pets.  We miss driving and other things about living in America.

We have two and a half years left with this terrific kid.  My friend who is married to a Bolivian man says that I only think that because I am a "Gringa."  Hispanic and other cultures don't think that way.  But it's true, I am a Gringa and I do think that way!  I hope the two and a half years is rich and full of memories.  We are so thankful for the daughter that we have.

A little foreign food shopping.

We do almost all of our shopping at the local markets-fruits, vegetable, meat.  We buy our coffee at a fun little store that is fairly unusual in China.  The owner invites us in and calls us "Madam" and "Sir."  We sit at a little table, drink coffee and talk.  It's super-fun.

However, about once every two months, I take a taxi across the city to go to a store called Metro.  Metro is a German import that is the equivalent  of Sam's or Costco.  It's huge, has wide aisles and doesn't allow pets or children.

"Due to epidemic bureau regulations, pets are not allowed in the store."   Talk about your misplaced modifiers!  Are the bureau regulations epidemic or are there bureau regulations about epidemics?  Either way...no pets in the store.  Whew!

While I am at Metro, I feel like a Western stereotype.  I fill my cart with familiar or semi-familiar foods.  Most are boxed or canned. There is no cultural prohibition about staring into peoples carts.  I want to say to every Chinese person who looks in my cart "I do eat fruit and vegetables!  I just don't buy them here."

Here are some of the things that we can find at Metro.

Yoplait yogurt!  A rare treat!  

Cheese, glorious cheese!

Tortillas!  Refried beans!

Of course there are a few things that I can turn down with no problem.

Seaweed potato chips.  I like seaweed-just not in my chips!  The one next to it is beef flavored.  No thanks!
Below are cucumber or lime flavored chips.  Again, I like cucumber and lime...just not in my chips!

Tiger Skin Chicken Feet.  I think they were frozen.

No, no and really no.

I don't buy this in America either.

I also resisted buying live cat for dinner.  Too expensive.

Just kidding.  Put away your PETA signs!  This is our cat who was rescued from a glass cage right before Christmas.  

As I left Metro (after paying in cash and bagging my groceries with my own bags), I saw this sign.

Fortunately, I didn't need to worry about parking vehiclebr oken, since I came in a taxi.  I hailed one and he took me home.  He only drove on the sidewalk once, honking at pedestrians to get out of the way.

You are welcome!  See you again in a few months.

A weekend in China

Our weekend started off a little unusually.  We normally both have class in the morning.  But this Friday, Paul's class was in the morning and mine was in the afternoon.  So I stayed home in the morning and did housework and homework.  When I took off on my bike around 12:00 PM, it was clear that there was something wrong with the crank on the pedal.  So I hopped off my bike, double locked it and got on a bus for language school.  I was only five minutes late!

When I left language school at 4:00, the temperatures had dropped quite a bit.  The buses took a long time (it takes two buses to get to our home).  So when I finally got home, I was tired and very cold.  Paul told me that we had been invited out to dinner by a couple we had met several weeks before.  We spoke about the true meaning of Christmas at their language school and they seemed enthusiastic to get together.  I was tired and not very enthusiastic about going out!

So they picked us up in their car (we don't get in private cars very often) and we took off for the restaurant.  While there, they told us the story of their journey of faith.  It was amazing to hear this story (in a mix of English and Chinese) of freedom from idolatry, of coming to understand faith, of learning about their Father.  It was a deeply satisfying evening and gave us such insight into Chinese people who share our worldview.

Here we are outside the restaurant with our new friends.

Saturday morning, we woke up to a solid sheet of ice everywhere.  This is the view outside of our bedroom window.  I have no idea what this worker is putting down on the ice.  It's too cold here for salt and no one ever uses it.

Yes- ice and snow in March.

Later, we rode our bike about a half a block to get my bike fixed.  There are carts like this everywhere.  They have inner tubes, air pumps, all kinds of tools to fix bikes.  This man fixed my pedal crank for 1 RMB or about 30 cents.  That is Paul standing by my bike because my Chinese vocabulary doesn't include words like "fix" or "broken" or "crank."

After fellowship on Sunday, we rode our bikes to this restaurant.  We stopped at the same bike man to have Elisabeth's bike seat adjust.  Again, one kauai!

We went to this restaurant by accident!  We meant to go to one in the next block but accidently turned in front of this one.  Notice the "Duan Lian" on the doors.  These are Chinese New Year's decorations that are on almost every doorway.   Some people believe there are some Old Testament parallels to these decorations as they have similar meaning of "passing over."

We ate this incredible meal for about $10.00.  It is "Chun Bing" or Spring Pancake-one of our favorites.

We needed to go to our friend's house for a birthday party.  We rode our bikes as far as we could and finally got off and walked them.  The sidewalks were solid ice and there was no way to ride on them .

We passed these guys in a store.  There were old mannequins on the sidewalk and Elisabeth took a head for a decoration.  If we could have fitted a torso into our bike baskets, we would have taken one.  Or arms and legs.  The workers thought we were nuts.  Sometimes we don't mind being the crazy foreigners!

We also stopped off at market to get our shoes fixed (5 RMB) and a pair of jeans hemmed for Elisabeth (again 5RMB).  Both services were done well and on the spot.  No waiting.

Finally we arrived at our friend's house.  Elisabeth spent some time holding the foster baby of one of her teacher's.  He is almost 9 months and a charmer.

Finally- the birthday party for JB.  JB is an orphan who has been fostered by our friends since last summer.  They have literally saved his life.  This is a picture of  JB when they got him.

This is JB today at one year.  Still with significant challenges ahead of him but alive and thriving.  We gathered to ask for his future, for a forever family for him and just to be thankful.

It was a good weekend.