China's Central Heating Has It's Pitfalls...Namely, Flooding

This is a picture of my apartment today taken at around 5pm with visibility that would make an air traffic controller go nuts.  Our home, just like most every Chinese home located north of the Yangtze River, is equipped with radiators hooked up to the city's coal-powered central heating system.  Most of the time this gives us much needed warmth to make it through Xinjiang's bitter cold winters but today we learned that such radiators can also be effectively used to create a sauna in your own home...or a flood.

I can laugh about it right now because - as mean as this sounds - it wasn't our home that flooded!  It was our neighbor's directly across the hall.  As luck would have it this neighbor also happens to be a vice-mayor in our city who is rarely ever at home, so when my wife knocked on their door today after finding water streaming out of their apartment, we weren't surprised that nobody answered.

It's important to note that for some reason the metal door frames in our apartment building come with a two inch lip all around the edge so I estimated that in order for water to be coming out of door it would have to be at least that deep all throughout the house.  Unfortunately, I was wrong.

It was deeper.

Since I'm not in tight enough with the mayor to have his personal cell number it was our landlord who opened the door across the hall and unleashed all chaos.  I'm not kidding either...it was chaos!  Water gushed out of their apartment and carried with it all sorts of fun things.  Trash, boxes, shoes, and (believe it or not!) fruit all tumbled down the stairs toward the basement where all sorts of stored furniture and nick-nacks were just waiting to get ruined.  It may be difficult to see in the picture, but you could have surfed on the water that was speeding down these stairs.

And this is where the steam comes in.  You see, all of this water was made possible by a busted central heating radiator meaning that every ounce of this water was boiling hot!  Immediately once the door was opened all windows, glasses, and camera lenses fogged up, visibility was reduced to arm's-length, and sweat began covering our bodies. We might have reacted differently if it were our home getting more than this steam bath, but as it was we were dying laughing.

Over the next three hours we helped dispose of 13 beds (all in storage), a couple of wooden chairs which were ruined, a load of boxes and bags, and countless gallons of water.  In all, three floors were affected (2nd, 1st, and basement) but only the mayor's valuables were damaged.

So I guess the moral of this story would be to take caution if you have central heating in China.  This isn't the first time I've seen this happen and major damages are avoidable in most cases.  Since most homes in China are tiled you don't have to worry about ruining the carpet, just don't keep valuables on the floor.

And whatever you do, please keep your fruit off the ground.  Those poor oranges never stood a chance.

Back in the Swing of Things

Well, we know we've been here for a few weeks now - completely over our jet-lag by the way - but we want to finish our "Travel-to-China" stories before we get into everything else over here. So quickly, we were delayed in our first flight to get to San Fransisco but thankfully weren't too late to catch the connecting flight to Shanghai. The one good thing that came out of having to wait an extra hour (half-asleep, of course) was that the pilot was nice enough to allow people in the cockpit to answer questions while we were waiting. Two by two we squeezed into the cockpit and he allowed us to sit in the pilot's and co-pilot's chair. Here is a picture of Tiff at the helm of this multi-million dollar piece of metal - now there's the stuff nightmares are made of! Two things of interest that we learned: 1) an airplane is required to land itself once every 30 days - with passengers! - as a part of systems checks and 2) I finally found out where the "Fasten Seat Belt" switch is. It's got to be probably one of the most used switches on a commercial aircraft.

The next surprise for us came at the baggage carousel in Shanghai, when we found that not only had some airport security official decided that our bag looked suspicious enough to rummage through, but he (or she) had such a difficult time closing it back up that he just thought it would be best to use duct tape. Brilliant. Of course there's not a chance in the world he could have re-packed that bag after Josh - that would be like trying to repack an IKEA box after assembling and disassembling the furniture! At first we were amazed that the Chinese would not only look through our bag but even think of using duct tape to close it (the normal Chinese method is to use rope or a tie), but at second glance we found out that it was none other than our good friends at the San Fransisco International Airport. Yep, our fellow countrymen don't have enough faith in us - notice they didn't check the bag for our flight within the States, those sly detectives were worried about the trans-Pacific flight. Go figure.

The biggest news of this past month has been the birth of Heidi and Sam's baby! Tiff will have to go into more details there, but it was very nice to be able to be there for our friends and enjoy the excitement that is their one and only son. Mom and baby are thankfully doing well and are both healthy. We have two more pregnant teacher friends who should be giving birth before the new year begins which just goes to show how seriously Chinese people are about this "lucky year". This being the year of the pig, all our friends decided it was the right time to have a baby. How many births last school year? None. This year? There will be four in all before the year's end. On a more serious note, however, it is interesting to witness that although technically this is an atheistic society, it's really just a people who have replaced theism with the term "luck". Everything is either lucky and therefore acted upon, or unlucky and shunned. More on that possibly at a later time.

This year has been a very exciting semester for us, especially when we compare it to this point in our lives last year. Now that we know what we're doing, how our days usually run, and the people that we are working with, we are finding time to do the things we want. Both of us are engaged in books that are challenging us as well as entertaining us - which has been wonderful. Many times I see or hear people say they don't enjoy reading or don't want to find the time to read and I can't help but be saddened. I'm not judging anybody's schedule, for I know there will come a time when my life will be too busy to read as I am reading right now, but I don't think I will be able to stop reading. And we envy most all of you who read this because at a moment's notice you can drive down the street to pick up a book you heard about or suddenly decided you wanted to read. Ever thought about that? We can get any music we want at the click of a mouse. We can watch any movie over the internet now on demand. But if, while here living in China, we decide that we want to read something by C.S. Lewis, Bonhoeffer, Dickensen, Grisham, Elliot, etc., we have to fly - at the least - thousands of miles to get it. It's just not fair!

And now to finish this post we would like to ask for your constant "thoughts" while we are here. Our minds being free of first year worries, this year we have been able to focus on relationships - Josh and the young college freshmen with whom he plays basketball and Tiffany and the Chinese teachers as well as a very nice restaurant waitress we met. Heidi and Sam, friends in Dushanzi, the Edminsons - the list goes on. We'll try to keep you updated. That's all for now - we hope the beginning of your autumn season is beautiful and not nearly as cold as ours!

Back "Home"

Howdy Ya'll! It has been quite an adventurous last month and a half that we have had, both the ups and downs of it. Most of you probably know that we spent all of our time in August in the Dallas area because most of you who are reading this actually saw us while we were there! It was a blessing to get to see you all, whether it was frequent visits or just a dinner out. Thank you for the time that you took out of your busy schedules to accommodate us.

Well, here's a quick recap of our time: our first two weeks were spent attending parties, dinners, and our favorite of all - doctors appointments. We are very thankful for Grandmothers and great aunts and uncles on both sides who made the trip to see us. Nathan, Tiff's brother, came up for a weekend to relax and get all dressed up for family photos. Likewise Megan, Josh's sister, came up the next weekend and after spending a night in a cabin in Oklahoma also dressed up to take family pictures. In other words, all new Christmas card photos any of you receive in a couple months should be updated.

As a side note, it came as a surprise to hear everybody tell us how slim we looked compared to the year before. Now we did look at a few photos of ourselves last year and we have to agree a little, but that's beside the point. The point is that up until the day we left there wasn't a person in China who would not have characterized us as "fat". While that is a very general term for Chinese English speakers, meaning anything from "slightly overweight" to "obese", regardless it still has a belittling effect. Our level of confidence soared for the first week hearing this - and now we're back in China trying to work off any laziness and gluttony we enjoyed for the last three weeks of our stay!

Finally, for those of you who don't already know, our return trip to China was delayed due to an unexpected emergency room visit (I guess these things are never expected, though). Tiff had some major pains all through her abdominal area that came and went in intensifying waves. After our ER visit I am now thoroughly convinced that a Ph.D in medicine is merely a license to say "I'm about to charge you an arm and a leg for the following diagnosis" and then proceed to inform you that he has no earthly clue what is wrong with your body. But hey, at least he has a certificate on the wall that says that if it could be figured out, he should be the one to do it. Comforting. Anyway, a week later the family doctor narrowed it down to the possibility of a kidney infection and prescribed medicine that seemed to do the trick. Tiff is feeling good here in China, but we will be living this year under the daily protection of the Healer and in the faith that we are supposed to be back here this second year by His plan.

Well, I bumped my shin yesterday working out and have an incredibly sensitive bruise. It hurts like heck. I'm not sure if you cared to hear that but I knew for absolute that the thought didn't belong in the former paragraph, so I gave it its own.

To finish this off, we again say thank you to everybody to met with us, talked with us, and and especially pryed with us. We will keep you in our thoughts this entire year. This last August has been more than we could have hoped and we say a special thanks to both sets of parents who housed us longer than they had first anticipated. We say this now with the utmost sensitivity to the fact that we miss and love everybody back in Dallas - it's good to be back "home".

Chinese for...

While we were taking our vacation last February traveling all around the northern part of China we met some Australians whom we befriended quickly and still miss seeing. Of the many things that we talked about, I did ask them the question that I've always wanted to ask somebody from Australia - is Foster's really a popular beer in Australia? If you've never seen the American commercial for this product, their tag line goes something like "Fosters - Australian for Beer", implying the implicit devotion to this beer by all Australians. According to what I remember them answering, they said that it was actually one of the lesser beers sold in the country! For some reason this sparked the weird idea for me to write this blog using the odd translation errors made in everyday places here in China and applying a "Chinese for..." tag line. Here are a few products I hope you never find in your American market. Enjoy!

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Chinese For:
Ice cream. Seriously. The literal translation is "Red Bean Ice Cream Mountain". Traditional ice cream is just too boring. Why not spice it up with red beans, green beans, and pineapples? Because obviously those three things just scream to be combined with ice cream.

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Chinese For:
Comb-over. A tupee is so last year and balding at an early age can be quite unpleasant. What's a balding man to do then? With our special Chinese herbal medicines you can now grow out your sideburns long enough to cover any embarrassing bald spot you may have. Wow!

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Chinese For:
Mealtime Hairdo's. That's right folks. Have you ever found yourself about ready for dinner only to look in a mirror and find that the stresses of the day have messed up your gorgeous hair? Never fear, just pick up a bottle of "Supper Styling Gel" and fix up that mess! (Breakfast and Lunch Gels sold separately).

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Chinese For:
Cross-Promotional Advertising. Companies really do need to work more in harmony - and what better example than to try selling Coffee on a Pizza Hut billboard. I mean, those two products go hand-in-hand for sure. So next time your wake up to the smell of fresh coffee don't forget to pick up a piece of pizza on the way.

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Chinese For:
Snack foods. Sugar? Nope, that's bad for your teeth. Packaged? Nope, it's better fresh. If isn't not still squirming when it enters your mouth, it's not a real Chinese snack food.





Well, that's all we've got pictures for, although there's plenty more we could add to this list, I'm sure. Mis-translations are such a problem here in China that they actually set up a committee to get rid of errors in and around Beijing in time for the Olympics.

One last thing. We're not quite sure how many people read our blog regularly, but I've been assured there are more than a few. Anyway, if you're out there in internet world and have had an interest in our China experiences, we would love to invite you to an open house at the Summer's house on August the 5th (a Sunday). We'd love to share stories, pictures, and most of all just enjoy the company of an American. If you're at all interested, you can e-mail us at the links on the side of this blog and we can give you more specific details.

Thanks again for reading...only 14 more days until we step foot on American soil!

Too Many Foreigners in Karamay

Hello everybody! We hope that all of you are doing well and that the weather has been good this summer (especially you in Texas who we read are getting a lot of rain and floods!). We have finally finished our first year of school and have enjoyed this time of "relaxation" for a week or so. I put that in quotations because although we haven't worked, we have been anything but relaxed.

Last week a couple from Louisiana that worked at our school last year visited for a few days. It was really neat to be able to get to know them for the short time they were here and it made us wish we could have spent some time working together to get to know them. Their presence here was also a good occasion for many large banquets and even a chance to go bowling. The picture you see here was taken immediately after a big meal at a restaurant near our apartments that we frequent. From left to right they are: Wei Gong (our boss), Lisa & Blake (the teachers from last year), Heidi (a Chinese friend), us, Kyle, Dr. Best (the man who helped get us this job), Carolyn (a teacher at our school), Susan, and Bill (our boss's son and Josh's student).

Well, our first year here is coming to a close and as much fun as we've been having recently we're not ashamed to say that we're excited and ready to go home. We have a summer program where we'll be teaching for 3 weeks, something we have been dreading all year but will probably turn out to be enjoyable, I think. We leave on the day the program ends, so that will make for a good light at the end of the tunnel.

So that's it for now. Tomorrow will be the kindergarten graduation (weather permitting) so we'll post a slide show of all the cute kids on the website in the next day or two if you want to check back. Less than a month until we get to see many of you face-to-face again! Thanks again for all your thoughts and support (and for some of you, packages and letters). Take care!

...And Then May Flew By

Wow, I don't think we realized how much time has passed since we last posted here. This month has flown by very fast, thankfully, and as much as we wish that these next two months would continue that trend, I think the fact that we are counting the days until we visit home will cause it to slow to a turtle's pace. Speedy as it was, much has happened this May.

1) The weather has turned great. Tiff thinks its still a little cold, but I think when I can wake up in the morning and run a few miles in shorts and a long sleeve shirt the weather is perfect. The other upside to the warmer weather and the extended day (the sun is up from about 7am to 10pm) is that we are much more active. Tiff swims at the local pool about twice a week with a fellow teacher while I play basketball at the local university 4-5 times a week (the basketball court is much closer than the swimming pool).

2) We're working more. We're not overloaded, but we don't look forward to Saturday as much as we used to. First of all, on Friday nights we both meet at a nice restaurant and host an English corner where mostly middle-school students show up to talk with us. Most of the conversation is very shallow (beginners English), but sometimes we can get into some meaningful conversations that we hope to lead further. In return for our time at the restaurant we get a very nice western-style meal and a pretty good salary. On Saturday I teach a 2-hour beginners English course while Tiff now has 4 different advanced tutor students who come to the apartment. While she's finishing her last tutor I am taking music lessons at a local music shop.

3) I moved classrooms. This wouldn't be such a big deal except that they moved me to an absolutely horrendous room that Tiff and I worked hard to restore. I'm still missing a few windows as well as some tiles on the floor, but the paint job is much better than my old room. The biggest change has been walking up to the third floor instead of being on the first. For the next week or so I have posted a small slide show on the website which shows the change of this room from a trash dump to a usable classroom. As a matter of fact, there are a few things on the website now including a countdown to when we'll be back in the US as well as a current reading list.

4) Tiff and I both played at a small show for a few hundred people last Tuesday night. China is apparently promoting a new "harmonious society" policy, and this show was part of it. They asked Tiff and I to play the Christmas music we played for the New Years show, but since it's been so long since we played that and because we personally didn't care to hear Christmas music in May, I wrote the music for a couple hymns. It was really a neat opportunity. Tiff played the flute wonderfully and I sang "Oh When the Saints" and "Amazing Grace" as best I could. The words may not have been understood, but one thing we have learned in our travels is that sometimes music is its own language - and it is spoken by many different people. Most people probably had no clue, but I'm sure there were a few who recognized the song and were hopefully encouraged to know that there are foreign believers in their midst. I've posted the video of the performance (just Amazing Grace) in case you want to see, but be careful - it's a long video.

So that's about it for now. Tomorrow is "Children's Day" - a special day that kids here look forward to as much as kids in America look forward to Christmas. We're not sure what to expect, but when we know, we'll try to post some pictures for you. Please keep us in your thoughts as we try to finish out this year in China as strong as when we first came. Only two more months!

May Holiday on a Camel!

Hey everybody! We just got back from a nice 2-day holiday trip to Urumqi, the capital of our province and thought we should share some pictures (and a movie)! This week has been a much anticipated "Spring Break" of sorts which is just short of halfway through our semester. It seems like it's going so fast and yet at the same time our departure date for the US seems so far away. Anyway, this week is what they call May Holiday - I think it is equivalent to our Labor Day but I'm not quite sure. All schools are off from the 1st through the 7th of May every single year, but you'd be fooled if you didn't read the tiny Chinese fine print at the bottom of this holiday. If you did you find that it read, "The weekend before any week-long holiday here in China is preceded by a mandatory work-weekend." That's right, we were supposed to work an 8 day work-week before taking this vacation, and everybody does this! Isn't that crazy?

So our May Holiday is here and we spent these last two days taking a quick trip to Urumqi. For those of you who don't know or remember, Urumqi is a 4 hour bus trip from our town and although it is much dirtier and crowded than Karamay, it does have a Pizza Hut and a grocery store with an isle dedicated to imported foreign goods! We hopped a ride with our school's rented bus headed for an English competition in Urumqi, an opportunity which saved us enough money to more than pay for our hotel stay but also put us in a bus for 4 hours with about 20 kindergartners. We both ended up on a microphone singing kids songs at the front of the bus as entertainment, but hey, it was free!

Urumqi, like most of Xinjiang, is made up of two main culture groups - the Chinese and the Uyghur (pronounced "wee-ger"). The Uyghurs, who seem to outnumber Han Chinese people in many places, have their own language, food, and all-around look. They are much more open than the Chinese people and are very passionate about holding onto their heritage amidst strong Chinese influence. You can see a lot of this just looking all around you while walking through the city.

A small section of Urumqi, known as the Bazaar, is a touristy spot that highlights the Uygur culture, selling knick-knacks, food, special ice cream, and even camel rides. That is where we took this next video that you see. I must admit that if I were to travel on my own I would miss out on many things that Tiff seems so eager to enjoy. My first thought when I pass anything like this is "uh-oh, here's another tourist trap, and I don't want to be another sucker for a tourist trap." The only downside to such a mindset is that you rarely get to experience anything, especially if you are touring an area unguided. Thankfully Tiff stopped me and we got a fun and interesting story, along with a very large crowd gathered around to see a beautiful white-woman riding a donkey in the middle of a town square. Why didn't I ride the camel? There's a very well-known saying about camels, and let's just say that I would be that "straw".

Well, besides the camel, a VERY large meal at Pizza Hut, and some shopping for a few clothes, DVD's, and imported foods it was a very simple and short trip. We're glad, as always, to be back in our apartment with our cat and our own bed. This week we have a few dinners planned with various people around the city which makes us a bit nervous but we are also excited. I've found a good place to play basketball most any day I please, so Kyle and I have spent many late evenings intimidating small Chinese kids with our sheer size.

Lastly, we finally bought our tickets back home, so we know exact dates and times! We will be arriving in Dallas on July 30th, my dad's birthday and staying for exactly 4 weeks. It seems like a long time but we know it will go by fast. We're looking forward to seeing as many of you as possible, just give us a day or two to adjust our body clocks. We can't wait!

Attack of the Chinese Birthday Candle!

You've never seen birthday candles like this in America before! We had a great time today celebrating Tiff's birthday and we just wanted to share this video with you all.

American Day

We're closing in on our eighth month here in China and we celebrated our very first "American Day" last Sunday. If you happened to miss this grand holiday, then I send you a belated Happy American Day salutation! This holiday was actually the idea of our friends, the Edminsons, but we gladly stole and ran with it. We did everything American last Sunday - absolutely no Chinese. We had a HUGE brunch with scrambled eggs, pancakes, french toast, home-made syrup, fruit, hashed browns, and biscuits. Sadly, no bacon. We watched American TV shows, read American books, and ended the day with a great big helping of fried chicken and mashed potatoes, courtesy of the Edminsons. We sure do know how to celebrate American Day.

I would be willing to put money on the idea that any person who has lived most of there life in one place and then moves somewhere else with a completely different culture will go through what we've felt this past week. I know what you might be thinking..."um...guys, that's a well-known phenomenon called 'culture shock'". Well, we did experienced culture shock our first month or two here, but I don't think this is culture shock. There comes a point, long after culture shock, when all those cultural differences that you have actually grown accustomed to rally together and blindside you, temporarily making you think that you can't make it another day in this annoying, oddly enjoyable country. That's what happened to both of us, and unfortunately it happened at the same time so that we couldn't balance each other out with encouragement or nice words. That's when you need an American Day.

As you heard, our American Day was enjoyable and served its purpose for the most part. We're back to work at school, only two weeks away from our Spring Break known as "May Holiday". We had promised to put up some pictures of our new birds and our redecorated porch, so here they are! It doesn't look like much, but it is definitely an improvement over what it was. The windows used to be dirty, the floor was dusty and the whole place just smelled. The improvement is such that last week we had the Edminsons over for some fajitas that our mom sent from the States out on the porch. Oh my word, it was good! The breeze was cool, the meal was fantastic and the sun didn't set until well after 8:30. We stayed out afterward to play games and talk, the music from the bedroom serenading our lovely porch adventure.

Spring is in full force here in China, which means nice meals on the porch and an open (and cheap) vegetable market, but it also has its weird side. The parts of this concrete city that are designated for grass, besides being forbidden to walk on (which is strictly enforced), are watered in the most odd fashion. Once or twice a day, a water spigot connected to the city water main is just opened and allowed to pour until the entire plot of dirt-land is actually flooded under inches of water. They do it even when it rains. The grass is turning green, though, and the trees are blooming and adding color to our lives. While eating outside today at a local restaurant we noticed a man pulling down a branch from a tree nearby, picking the buds off and eating them right there on the spot. Apparently that's a common thing and everybody, even the children, know that these leaves are not just edible but actually good. I might have to try it someday, but only after seeing a Chinese man eat and not collapse - I'd hate to have to write home to say we're done here in China because I ate from the wrong tree.

Well, Tiff's birthday is coming up on Thursday, so we'll be celebrating it with a few friends. We already had a birthday party for Kyle last Thursday and a 3-person birthday celebration on Saturday for Kyle, Tiff and Sam (a Chinese friend), so we'll post pictures of the three cakes after we have this party. I sprained my ankle playing basketball last weekend so I'm recovering from that. There's no ice to get here so I had to ice my foot using a bag of frozen dumplings...I think we might be throwing that bag away soon. So if you get the chance, say a little extra something for Tiff this Thursday and for me that my foot would heal quickly and completely.

We might have gone through a rough patch this past week, but we are very much enjoying where we are right now. Our school kids are great, our friends are wonderful, and the weather is just gorgeous. The American Day we had was just what I needed, I think...pretty soon we're gonna be in need of an American Month, though, so come August be ready, cause we're gonna be on an "everything American" warpath. American Month - it'll be so much fun.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Easter here in China is not nearly the same as in the U.S., but we can imagine what most of you are doing at this exact moment. A teacher of mine asked me last week what we do for Easter in America and I informed her that just like during Christmas Americans celebrate two different stories on Easter – that of the gospel story and that of the fluffy white bunny. Even though they have absolutely nothing to do with each other we somehow make it work. So whether you’re hiding eggs or joining a congregation – or both – we’re pretty jealous of what you’re doing either way. 

It has been a bit disappointing to see how Easter is completely ignored here. On Thanksgiving we got a day off from school and Christmas (at least the Santa part) is practically a Chinese holiday now, but Easter, the foundation of our beliefs, is completely ignored. Tiff actually had an entire class of hers tell her that she was wrong about Easter being this Sunday. In one sense they were both right – of course Easter was today but as far as those kids are concerned today was like any other day.

So what have we been up to, you ask? Well, first I’ll tell you about the big event this last week before I go onto our Easter day activities. Last Friday the principal of our school took the Edminsons, us and a few other Chinese English teachers out to go bowling and eat! This is the first time either of us have been bowling in who knows how long. The word “alley” pretty much describes the size of this bowling arena which housed a whopping 4 lanes in the basement of some random building near downtown. The actual lanes were well-kept however and made for a few good games and some good times with our friends. In this picture here you can see Kyle, I, and Wei Gong, the principal of our school (and a mighty fine bowler).

Tiff began teaching a new tutor student on Saturday which turned out to be a 14-yr old girl who seems very nice. When her mom came and picked her up she invited us to go “mountain climbing” with them on Sunday (Easter) and we agreed to go. That is basically what filled up most of our Easter this year. They picked us up in their own car – a real sign of wealth here – and drove us about 40km north to a small range of hills near a winding stream. It was a very tiring trek but the scenery was an absolutely beautiful reminder of how our Creator can take something as boring as a dry desert and turn it into a living example of His attention to detail. I wish I could say I’m so deep as to draw some sort of parallel between this and Easter, but I won’t lie – I just loved the scenery and the outdoors. Tiff’s tutor and her mother got a free English lesson out of the deal just talking with us the whole time, but I think the exchange was pretty fair.

We had hoped to make an Easter dinner tonight but were just too wiped out to do so, and when we eventually did go out to eat with the Edminsons, Tiff became a little nauseous and we’ve had to call it an early night. So Easter hasn’t gone entirely as we had planned it but that’s really O.K. Anything we could have done just wouldn’t compare to being able to celebrate with family and friends at our own chrch, especially when the rest of society that surrounds us does not yet know the joy that is the meaning of this holiday.

Well, that's all we have for now. We hope that your Easter is turning out to be an enjoyable day! For those of you in Dallas we hope that the snow flurries turned into enough warmth so you could wear your Easter attire! Ha! We love you all!

Green Grass Growing, Birds Chirping...

I don't think that either of us have ever been happier to see spring roll around than we are this year! We have finally been able to peel off the long underwear that has been glued to our bodies since November (that's about 4 months if you're counting) and wear a comfortable jacket or ride our bikes to school. We're putting up some pictures from the end of February on this post of what is called the Lantern Festival (the pictures have been borrowed from our friends, the Edminsons), the festival marks the end of Spring Festival for the Chinese and to us marks the beginning of the death of winter. If only it would stay dead. Anyway, Chinese lanterns were hung all over the city and a huge display was set up in the people's park where hundreds of people gathered and walked around. The displays were nice, as you can see from the pictures, but it wasn't amazing. I think most Americans would have been bored walking around the town square whereas the Chinese here think it's just incredible. Sometimes I wonder if aimlessly walking is a national pastime here in China.

Now that it's warming up and we've committed to a second year here in China, we're also starting to spice up our apartment a little. I think it just makes it feel a little more like a home when it's got a few plants, a picture frame here or there, and book "shelves". We're trying to get our porch area to look and feel nice so that we can spend our mornings and evenings enjoying a book or just talking. We'll see how it turns out. Right now we have a few plants out there and now...(drum roll please)...two lovebirds! I should really let Tiff tell you about them cause she's done some research and hopes to have these birds somewhat trained. I didn't even know you could train a bird, but if she can do it then I think it's a great idea. Once we get a few more plants, a small carpet for the floor (it's just concrete right now) and a couple chairs we'll be set. Hopefully by that time the sun will be out much longer and it will be comfortably warm. I really can't wait.

There's a lot that I wish we could tell you guys but really can't. Another gentle reminder of "Big Brother" came this last week when our Internet site along with the Edminson's site was blocked here. We're not sure why they were blocked exactly, but we hope it doesn't last forever. Despite all that we've still had a few amazing opportunities in the past week and I even got a package in the mail the other day from our Australian friends with a Chinese/English "Word". It's very exciting! Both of our Chinese studies are coming along as well. I've been going through a book and doing individual tutoring between classes which has been really helpful. I'm finding it easier and easier to catch on to the written language but my ability to comprehend and speak is quite horrid. Sometimes I get so proud of myself after looking at the pages of Chinese characters and sentences that I'm writing until one of my second graders comes up and laughs, correcting many of my errors and I don't even know what they're saying to correct what I've written. Uggh. Progress is still progress, though, even if it isn't as easy as Spanish was.

As much fun as we're having over here, we're still counting the months (almost 4 now!) until we can visit everyone. This semester is going to fly by so fast I can already tell, but interestingly I would rather it go by slowly in order to enjoy this weather and the way this city changes in the different seasons. I've had two teachers tell me already that they could never be away from their family for this long, and as much as I miss seeing some of you I can't help but argue that we've stayed in better contact with many of our friends and distant family by being away. It will be very refreshing to be back home and even though we are not part of any organization, the meaning of the word "furlough" has just become so much more clear.

Well, we have a lot of work to do tonight - Tiff just learned some new Chinese dishes and we're going to try them out on the Edminsons for dinner. We can't wait for you all to try some of them as well! We'll be seeing everybody we can in Dallas and will even be taking a trip to Arkansas while home in August. We really wish we could hit Seattle and maybe Nashville, but we might have to wait on that until we get back in 2008. Thanks again to all of you guys for your love and support! Take care and we love you all.

Back to School

Well, the big vacation is over and it's now "back to work". We enjoyed the last week we had off in February, but I think we were ready to get back into the routine of school. The first step in our preparation for the new semester was to buy a couple bikes to make the commute to school much faster. Last week we went to the second-hand market which is basically an outdoor junkyard and searched for some suitable bikes. We weren't that picky - we just wanted good tires and good brakes and Tiff wanted a basket (ok, we were a little picky), but there were surprisingly few options that fit our description. Thankfully after a bit of digging we found two that we both liked and now our travels to school takes only 5 minutes as opposed to about 10 walking. It's still a bit cold, but the time saved is worth it.

The biggest thing that we did this past week happened during a meeting with the school principal. We sat down in his office last Friday and told him that we would like to stay for a second year as teachers here. That is what we had planned for and told our families since the day we left America, but even so, it is difficult to escape the weight of that decision. It's been a challenge to be away from family and friends this long, and now we've decided to do it for one more go-around. Why did we agree to stay? Well, for a while I (Josh) wasn't sure if I really wanted to, although I kept that mostly to myself. I talked with a good friend on the phone and when he asked why I wanted to stay I told him "Well, we both want to learn the language and culture of China and even told everybody that it would probably take two years (or more) to accomplish that." He replied, and I believe wisely so, "Well, you know Josh, I'm not quite sure that's the best reason to stay." The more I thought about that, the more I knew he was right. We were not placed here to experience China even though living in a completely different culture produces all new experiences. After talking with Tiff I remembered how long we had spent praying about where to go after she graduated, and then later praying about whether China was where He wanted us to be (funny how we can "forget" those types of things). It may have felt like leaving for China was such an instantaneous decision but in reality it was something He was preparing us for since the beginning of 2006. The decision to stay in China another year was made a while ago, but even so I know that our purpose here, whatever it may be, has not yet been fulfilled in this one year. Yes, we want to learn the language. Yes, we want to make good friends. But even more importantly we know that He's not quite done with us here yet. Whether He has us here to impact certain Chinese or just to continue teaching us what marriage really means we have yet to find out. We'll be here, though, and we'll let you know.

I'm in a contemplative mood today, so please bear with me as I share one more story. This happened to Tiff and I during our trip to Yili and really made me reconsider a few things. First you should know that a big part of China's culture is alcohol and its consumption. You should also know that Tiff and I are not big drinkers. Part of it has to do with our upbringing, part of it due to its high price, but the main reason is that we really just don't like the taste much. We don't have a problem toasting with champagne or a small bit of red wine, but that's about as far as we go. So now imagine us in the corner of a small room in Yili, no larger than maybe 15x15ft., accompanied by maybe 15-20 of Sam's relatives who are both smoking and drinking. We had just finished dinner and were waiting for the perfect moment to make our exit when I was approached by an obviously drunk man in his late 50's. In his hand he had a small shot glass of what is roughly translated as "White Lightning", a drink that is about 95% alcohol and has been aptly described by our friend Kyle as jet fuel. Although everybody had been playing games, talking, and basically doing the "family thing", they all stopped and starred when this man first approached us. "I would like to toast you to welcome you to China and small town Yili" the man said through Heidi, our impromptu translator. "Well sure, I'll take my small shot glass of watered-down red wine and accept that toast!" I replied. "No, I want you to drink this stuff, just a little of it" he mumble as he handed me the clear glass of strong alcohol. I wasn't cracking under the pressure yet, but as all eyes were on me I decided that it would be in our best interest if I just put my lips to the glass and pretended to drink. The second the liquid touched my mouth I knew the phrase "jet fuel" was no exaggeration. The old man didn't buy my act, though. "You need to drink all of it, because this is the tradition in China" he told me. "Sorry, but I don't drink alcohol like this, not even in America". Heidi went on to try to dissuade this man from pursuing this embarrassing conflict, but it was no use. For a total of about 20 minutes, with all eyes quietly gazing at us wondering what the Americans would do, we fought with smiles and simple refusals. The pressure was a thick blanket slowly suffocating us. What would you do? Eventually (thankfully) the man gave up and we escaped the living room for much-needed fresh air, but that night I couldn't help but wonder before sleep, did I really make the right decision by refusing to drink that 2oz. of alcohol? On one side of the coin, I did hold to my principles and hopefully gained the respect of both our friends and my wife for doing so, but on the other side I mocked the Chinese culture by refusing to partake in its customs, as absurd as they may be and even if it's a drunk man offering them.

It has been something that has plagued my thoughts for the past week, and I can only hope that in the heat of the moment I made the right decision. I am in China, however, and I want to involve myself in as much of it as possible without compromising me or Tiffany. It is the first time in my life I have experienced true peer pressure and I now understand why many youth fall prey to it all the time - I would never have been able to hold my own in the same situation back in high school. This event, along with my recent birthday, has also made me reevaluate which of my life-principles would crack given that same pressure. It's something to think about.

Well, that's about all I have. It's not all roses here in China, but then again we have very little to complain about. We love it here and that's why we are happy to stay for the second year. We hope to be back in Dallas either late July or early August, but we'll give more specific dates in the future when we know. Right now we're trying to focus our energy on our kids and on staying warm while spring takes its time finding this far corner of China. We still miss you all and are very thankful for your e-mails, packages, letters, and encouragement. Oh and by the way...Go Mavericks!

First Semester - Finished

Well, the first semester isn't officially done, but since we've both finished our examinations for each class, right now we're just watching movies, playing games and doing crafts. It's nice not having to make lesson plans for the classes, but it is also making these last 2 weeks go by at an incredibly slow pace. There isn't much news here from Karamay except the regular - IT'S STILL COLD! We've reached a new low this past week...-20 degrees Celsius, which officially brings us below zero on the Fahrenheit scale. It's so cold here that visible icicles literally form on our noses and on Tiff's eyelashes during the 10 minute walk to school. It's so cold here that we actually saw a Chinese person light a fire under his car to defrost it. I'm not exaggerating. We walked a little faster to get away from the car once we noticed that, but it did bring to mind that eternal question which burns in every person's mind - "Is gas explosive when in its frozen state?" We'll let you know if we find out.

To keep ourselves from going crazy from this cold we've been doing quite a few things to keep ourselves busy. In this picture you can see us using a "sled" on the outdoor ice-rink/basketball courts on the school campus. Mostly we've stayed within the same 1-mile radius of our apartment because anything farther is just too cold to bear. We've watched a few movies, experimented more with cooking, and hung out with friends. We've also been reading quite a bit - basically whatever we can get our hands on. Just for fun we are posting an updated list on the blog of all the books that we have read or are currently reading. We're actually running out of books (yes, even after Christmas!) so we hope to buy some other good ones while we're in Beijing this February because the bookstores here only sell Chinese-language books (what's the deal with that?).

And since we're now on the subject, we're eagerly anticipating our upcoming tour of "historical" China! We leave next Friday and couldn't be more ready. For those who don't know, we will be flying into Xi'an, the capital of a central province west of Beijing. We will stay there for a few days seeing all the different historical aspects of that part of China which used to be the capital of previous Chinese dynasties. We will take either train or bus to make our way north-east toward Beijing, stopping in various small towns along the way which have their own unique draw. We finally end our stay with about 4 days in Beijing, the capital of China and home to the 2008 Summer Olympics. We've seen parts of Beijing already but that was just a small glimpse compared to what there is to see. We can't wait to show pictures! Actually, we can't wait to take the pictures.

Before we end this blog we wanted to explain a few of the pictures we have also put up on this entry. The first is a picture taken of our performance together at the KBAS New Years Program, more of which can be seen by clicking on our photos links on this web page. They have promised to give us a video recording of this entire performance which we hope you will eventually be able to view. The picture here is another one of our cute cat, who is finally learning the rules of this household and therefore living more peaceably with us. It's a process, but at least she's cute. Until next time!

KBAS New Years Program!

Wow! We just finished our school's Christmas/New Years program and we have so many pictures we want to show you! Because people in China never tend to give any person advance notice or preparation on anything, we weren't sure how big this program was going to be. It wasn't until a couple days ago that we began to see the scope of this production - all the costumes, makeup, and set design - and it was nice!

To begin with, Tiff was asked about a month ago to co-host this big event which was supposedly attended by many big-wigs here in Karamay. We were excited at that time, but probably would have been more-so had we known what an honor the request was. A week ago she went in for a fitting and today they made her up to be the most beautiful I think I've seen her second only to our wedding! The dress was a traditional Chinese dress that is many times used in weddings here, but she displayed how beautiful an American can make Chinese clothes look.

Along with her co-host, a kindergarten teacher, Tiff announced in English (and he in Chinese) each program that was going to perform. Young kids from school danced and sang, firemen did a routine, military personnel sang, and the foreigners (that would be us) read the Christmas story, sang a Christmas carol, and Tiff and I played. Over the past month I have been toying with a new computer program which allowed me to write out music for Tiff's flute and my guitar, so we played a blues arrangement of O Tannenbaum and a fast jazz rendition of Jingle Bells I wrote. I think it went over very well, and Tiff played the music wonderfully.

Although the rehearsals for this program seemed to drag on forever, the actual program went by so fast. Tiff announced, the kids performed, the parents applauded, and I got to take the pictures. We wish you all could have been there to enjoy this amazing piece of Chinese culture. There are many parts of this city which seem to fall prey to the invasion of western culture, but this program did a good job of showing off the costume, song, and dance that is uniquely Chinese. We hope that you enjoy the pictures and we can't wait to show you the hundred more that were taken!

Kristmas in Karamay

Merry Christmas! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday. We had the unique experience of celebrating it here in China. We missed all of our families and friends terribly but are thankful for our opportunity to be here. It was quite different celebrating the holidays where there is not much festivity. At least that is what we thought at first. While America starts Christmas right after you cut the Thanksgiving turkey, China seems to wait until the Eve or just before. We were excited to find trees, lights and pictures of Santa in various places. We learned that businesses are the ones that really decorate, not so much people's home. But our home was quite the exception. We did our best to make the holiday come alive in our apartment. As you can see from our pictures, everything turned out to be quite cozy.

Josh and I got our fill of parties - Chinese parties that is. We went to three on Christmas Eve (each lasting about 3 hours). We've learned that to be a guest at a party here you must also perform. Josh and I sang at the first one (yes, it is true, Tiffany sang and was actually applauded, but then again they enjoy Beijing Opera so anything would have been okay). Then all of the foreigners hosted a game for the kids at the second party and then we all sang Jingle Bells at the last party. 

 

They enjoyed our voices so much that after we sang at the last party, we were requested to sing at a neighboring party as well. Ahh, the life of a foreigner...or show pony, sometimes we forget what we are. All jokes aside though, we are grateful for their including us in their festivities and making us feel very special. Of course, we were not the only entertainment - there were many other performers from singers, kids dancing, games to belly dancers.

This Christmas we added another furry member to our family. One of the kindergarten teachers at the school here gave us a young kitten!. She couldn't take care of it and her husband thought of killing it, so we adopted her. Her name is Bell (as in Jingle Bells, a popular song here) and she is a kitten through and through. She has been a ton of fun to have around and even Josh enjoys her antics when she goes crazy or just snuggles in his lap. And we always get a good laugh when she attacks herself in the mirror or when she gets all fluffed up in seeing her shadow.

As Christmas is a relatively new celebration here in China we are reminded of how fortunate we are to have been surrounded by the story that is so familiar to us. May we remember to think of those who do not know and hope that our lives can reflect the Christmas spirit of hope, generosity and joy throughout the year.

Winter Wonderland!

It'’s been a while since we last wrote but there has been very little to talk about. You never realize how fast days fly by until 4 months have passed and you still don'’t feel like you'’ve completely adjusted to life here. The biggest adjustment so far? The WEATHER!! As I sit here typing our thermometer reads -11° Celsius, which for those of you who forgot way back in elementary school, comes out to about 12° Fahrenheit. For us southerners, that'’s cold. So cold, as a matter of fact, that it has been snowing non-stop for the last week and a half. We were both sitting at the bus stop as it began to snow last week when a big snowflake landed on Tiff's jacket. We looked in astonishment at each other and said "Snow actually does look as beautiful as those paper cut-outs we used to make in school!" You see in Texas, we get sleet. When you throw a snowball in Texas you send somebody to the hospital. Here the snow is so light, so beautiful, that it crunches under your feet. When cars pass by in the street we are treated to a display of dancing flurries that I can only remember seeing in a snow globe. It is wonderful to know that our Creator knew that the cold weather would be absolutely mind-numbing were it not for the beauty of His snow. Well, that and He also knew how funny it would be to see two cold Americans who have to put on 5 layers and look like walking marshmallows every time they wanted to just take the trash out!

Last weekend we went out shopping - well actually it was a desperate search - and we found a Christmas tree! It's small, but it works perfectly along with the string of lights another teacher before us had left behind. It is next to impossible to find good Christmas decorations around here so most of what we have up in our apartment now are crafts Tiff and I have made. Tiff strung together an actual string of popcorn to put on the tree, I cut out paper snowflakes and some cool 3D snowflakes to hang in the window, Tiff made some nice stockings out of poster paper, and right now Tiff is finishing a nativity scene which we will put up in the dining room. Combine all of that with a continual snowfall out our large living room window and seasonal music and you have yourself what feels like Christmas at home. Now we're just missing our family - both literally and emotionally. I think we are so often we get trapped inside a false reality created by commercials, decorations, and music which blurs what really makes these holidays so special. Holidays just aren't the same without family, and even though we haven't spent every holiday with our family, I think it's the fact that we don't even have that option which makes us nostalgic.

We have much coming up in the next few weeks to keep our minds busy, though! School, although this semester doesn't end until late January, is coming to a quick close. We also have to prepare for the Christmas program the school puts on every year which from what we hear has little to do with the actual holiday of Christmas as much as it's just an opportunity for the school to hold a program. Tiff and I will be performing along with our friends Kyle and Susan so we will let you know how that progresses. There are a few parties which we will take part in and one we hope to host. We doubt it will be anything like what you will probably be attending over the next few weeks, so when you do attend please eat an extra cookie for us - we're jealous. We hope your holiday season goes smoothly and if yotravelingelling be safe. We miss you all and can't wait to tell you more about our Christmas here!