A Grandma and Child

"But you will not leave in haste or go in flight; for He will go before you, He will be your rear guard."

The little ham was bundled up like so many other Chinese babies, layers so think their tiny arms constantly stick out a little by their sides as if they are always in preparation for a hug. The Grandma was also like so many other Chinese Grandmas: a solemn face yet with a twinkle in the eye. She walked in slow, smooth shuffle holding her hands behind her back as she followed her little one around. I couldn't help but be drawn to this pair as I made my way own slow shuffle of a run around the track. There is often Grandparents and grandchildren at the track when I go running, so much in fact I often think of my running time as "baby hour." I think it is the jumping pit full of sand that really attracts them. This baby seemed to be full of joy as she discovered this whole new world at the track. She followed safely along the wall of the stadium, losing as regaining speed at each footfall. The Grandma the whole time just followed patiently behind watching her every move. A few times, the Grandma went out in front of the child and lead the way. At one point, the curious little one couldn't help but expand her discovery beyond just the track, but also to the trash can at the track. She stuck her little hands in and then tried to put her whole head, just before she could get it in there the Grandma came up and gently led her away from it. Good idea, since trash cans in China are a scary thing to think about messing with. The little ham just kept on going though after being pulled out and walked straight to the next trash can and did the same thing! There she went putting her head in the trash again. Grandma came not too far behind though and gently pulled her right back out again and showed her a new path to walk on around the side of the stadium. As I watched the simple interaction between this Grandma and grandchild, I couldn't help but think about my relationship with the Father. He leads me everywhere I go and also watches me as I make my way. How many times does He have to pull me out of horrible trash! I am so glad to know the gentle care of the Father.

Moments in Time

As I sat leaning against the fence protecting me from falling into the sea below along the road in Sanya, China (the most Southern city in China) I could not help but realize how blessed I was to be in that moment. The sun tingled on my skin and reflected off the water Ryan, Cameron, Tim, and Jon wadded in to get to an island off the coast. This moment was not a stand alone in my travels; in fact I am still overwhelmed at thinking of all the blessing I received along the way. Since it is impossible to share with you everything of my travels, and I know you don’t want to read all of that, I have narrowed down the list to my top ten favorite things or moments of my three weeks in the South of China. In no particular order….

1. My travels began by going down to the sunny city of ShenZhen. The purpose of going to this city was for a conference with IECS. It was such a good time to be with the whole team and to finally be away from Baoding for awhile. Don’t get wrong, I love Baoding, but I just needed some time away to get a little perspective. One of the best things about the conference was it meant the return of Newt and Claire, the IECS directors, as well as Lee and Paula Corder coming to be guest speakers. It was wonderful to hear them speak and be able to soak in the wisdom they had to offer. One particular stand out time was a big dinner we all had one night, where the whole team was able to sit around one table. Newt, Claire, Lee, and Paula told us thrilling and funny stories about things that happened in their lives in the past. One couldn't help but feel joyful leaving this meal and this time.

2. We had free time in the afternoons during the conference and Newt and Claire left it up to the Baoding team to fill one of these times with a group activity. We came up with the idea of doing a picture scavenger hunt. We broke everyone up into three teams: blue, green, and red. The majority of the events took place on the beach and consisted of things like leap frog with three Chinese people, find someone wearing a cowboy hat, swim in the ocean while eating an ice cream cone, propose to a Chinese girl on the beach, and so many more. By the end of it we all had great stories and lots of great pictures. Although, we never could decide on one winning team.

3. During the middle of the conference we switched hotels and moved from the beach

to downtown Shenzhen. While it was sad to leave the beach, it was fantastic to be in the

city. Benefits included a Starbucks right around the corner, pizza, getting to go to a cultural theme park, and seeing the beginning fireworks for the Spring Festival from the roof of our hotel.

4. At the end of our conference, the Baodingers headed even further South to the sunny island city of Sanya. This place is often coined the "Hawaii of China" and in many ways lives up to the name. On the first day we were there it was a little overcast and we decided instead of hitting the beach we'd hit the hot tubes. As a group we went to a spa for the day. Oh the wonder of soaking in some hot water! They had a coffee pool, coconut milk pool, tea pool, wine pool, and my favorite was the pool with live fish! In this pool you sit as still as possible and then let hundreds of tiny little fish come and eat the dead skin off of you. It felt so strange, almost like a soft pinch. At first, I had a little trouble not laughing because it tickled and, honestly, freaked me out a little, but if I didn't look down at my legs covered in fish and just relaxed it was quite enjoyable.

5. In Sanya, we found the gold at the end of the rainbow, at least foodwise! Only a block away from our hostel was a resturant called Rainbow Bar & Grill that served Western food. Almost anything we could think to want was located on their huge menu. Not only that, but they also had resonable prices! It was tempting to eat every meal there.

6. Sanya has many different beaches and one of the best is Yalong Bay. For just a 5 yuan bus ride, we could get to a beach with crystal blue water, and peraly white sand yet minimal amounts of people. When we went out there we stayed out for a few hours and soaked in the sun while reading. We also enjoyed watching the Chinese men dig holes and bury themselves in the sand to keep from getting burned. Which we should have followed their example, because we all got burned and are still peeling from the experience.

7. Since we did get so burned that first day, we decided to stay off the beach the next and instead rent bikes to ride around the town. It seemed easy enough, but we had to rent the bikes from two different places and had an assortment of big, small, old, new, two-person bikes. Emily and I ended up with a two-person bike and had to ride tandem together. Before leaving the bike place we practiced riding around the parking lot, trying to figure out how to stay balanced and work together. It was a little harder than it looks at first. We discovered later, while riding down many hills, a lot of the bikes didn't have adequte breaks and one of the petals on the bikes even came off! It was a great ride non-the-less.

8. The whole time we were in Sanya the Spring Festival was going on. The Chinese set off fireworks ALL the time during the Spring Festival. I love fireworks! Each night, people in Sanya went down to the beach and set off fireworks and sent lanterns up into the sky. Every night was a new show. My favorite were the lanterns. I loved looking up into the night sky and seeing twenty or so red lanterns just floating off into the distance. We even sent a few lanterns off too!

9. After a great week in Sanya, we ventured to Hong Kong in order to get our Visas renewed. Hong Kong is truely a unquie city. It is such a blending of cultures and places. While there I felt like I was at home, in England, and in China all at the same time. It was like someone just put all these places in a blender and the result is Hong Kong. While there the team went up Victoria Peak. It offers a sky view of the city. We decided to go up at night to see all the buildings lit up. Evey night at 8 the city puts on a light show, so this place takes lighting up their building seriously! From the peak, you can see all the skyscrapers lit in various colors and even changing regularing. It is a captivating glow.

10. Of our whole trip,

I think the thing I am most thankful for is how well we all got along with each other. We never had an huge arguments. We did disagree sometimes, but

it always worked out fine and peaceablely. What a blessing to be able to travel and share experinces with friends.

Be Joyous and Chairful!

What do you get when you combine skiing, ice skating, and sitting? A a glorious recreation only China can come-up with! I am going to call it chair-ice skating for lack of a better name.
A week or so ago the whole Baoding team got really pumped up to go swimming in a hotel across town. We arrived ready to swim in our "bathing suits" and with the idea of staying all day, until we found out the dreaded news...you had to wear a swim cap (that we didn't have) and the boys had to have real swim suits! Even if the boys did have the "proper" swim wear, look to the right for an idea of what the men wear here, it still was going to cost us each 100 yuan! No thanks! We resorted to plan B, ice skating. On the way back to change out of swim suits into ice wear, we stopped at the local park with ice skating to check it out and discovered chair-ice-skating! It basically consists of a wooden chair with sled like bottoms. You have a little place in front of you to put your feet and two poles to push yourself on the ice. I think mostly children do it in China, but aren't we called to remain child-like? There are also options in the chair, well...you can either go solo or get a chair with someone and slide all around the ice. The solo chair offers a faster take-off, but the double chair offers a faster top speed. Look to the left to see the little ham demonstrating the chair.

After one look at the chair-ice skating we knew we had to return! After changing, we gathered back together and grabbed the 29 bus through the rush hour traffic back to the park. Their were people out riding the chairs and people ice-skating as well, but as we approached the booth the pay for our chair, their was rope wrapped around two columns five or six times indicating it was closed. Bummer! Dismayed, we stood there for a moment trying to collect new ideas of what else we could do, when a Chinese lady breezed by, ducked under the rope and went out onto the ice. A moment later, we did exactly the same thing. For the next hour and a half we raced, pushed each other, made trains together, became friends with a seven-year old named Tom and generally didn't act too much older than him. It was a magnificent close to the day.

Me riding on the chairs! So fun!

Morphoo

How often I take second best! How often I will settle! Emily and I stood waiting for the 39 bus to come our way to take us to the Honeypool for a refreshing cup of whip cream-covered coffee, and started to chat about the movie we'd just seen. The team made a deal on New Year's day off right with a movie marathon together, that happened to turn into watching only two movies: Little Women and Braveheart. The latter was the main topic of discussion. "Yeah, it may have seemed okay at first for the men to take the land and take what the English government offered them. They were getting land and protection, but they also were being deceived. It was not the true freedom they desired, but a false imiation of it, that left them prone to abuse and a life of fear." Emily said along those lines. As we continued to talk about it I couldn't help but think of all the times I settle for what the world has to offer me, which can seem great with "land" but never brings the true freedom I desire. It is only through the true freedom from Him that I can really live life.

When you know the taste of freedom you can help, but desire to share it with those around you. I am finished with my exams and grading now and am blessed to have a flexible schedule to hang out with the students before they leave for their winter holiday. With both the New Year and the Chinese New Year on our minds it is easy to chat with the students. What do they desire for the next year? Do they have any new goals for their lives? Is there something they would like to differently? I've gotten a lot of study more answers, but my hope is some of the students are really thinking about how their lives could be different in the upcoming year. The same goes for myself as well. I never desire the place of stagnation! In a study I do in the mornings I came across the Greek word morphoo, which means "the inward and real formation of the essential nature of a person." It often was used to describe the embryo in a mother's body as it forms and grows. My hope for myself in 2009 is as I am being more conformed to the image of Him, that the complete essences of my nature will be changed. I want to be a person who will not settle!

Christmas Time in China!

When I was a little girl, my dad always wanted me to be an actress when I grew-up. In the depth, of my 7-year old, as I performed "Baby, Baby" for everyone in my family, I think I wanted to be a singer. Well, for now I am neither of those things, but in my current employment, I have to opportunity to practice my acting and singing skills on a daily basis! The latest practice came at the Christmas party we got to throw with the students and teachers on old-campus. We decided we couldn't let the season go by without throwing a proper Christmas party, complete with friends, a tree, food, dirty santa (white elephant, yankee swap), and of course the Christmas pageant. What better way to tell about the Christmas season than acting out the birth of Jesus?
Each of the team and our friend Cameron had a part in the play. Unfortunately, I didn't get to be the mother Mary, but I did get to play the part of the angel who shares all the good news to everyone! I think I like being the role that brings news of great joy. My hope is not only to do this when I am acting as an angel in a play. The students loved our play and enjoyed hearing the story of the birth of Jesus. The picture to the right shows us acting out the play.
So, now that my practice for acting is complete, it only leaves the need to practice my singing. Oh, but in China these opportunities are never far away. This past week's practice was especially wonderful though because it was singing Christmas carols in my class. I had the honor of teaching a Christmas lesson in my classes for these past weeks and of course, singing had to be included. I made the students sing the Twelve Days of Christmas and broke them into twelve different part for the days. Whenever it came for their turn they had to stand up and sing their part for the classes. Most students really liked it, although some were not loving the standing up and singing part. After working the students up by singing the Twelve Days of Christmas, I always calm them back down a little with Silent Night. Standing in front of my students as they they sang Silent Night always filled me with so much joy. Besides just singing in this class we also read the Christmas Story. Complete with the angels visit, Mary being a virgin, and Shepard's going to visit the baby Jesus! What a sweet time in class!
Not only have I been celebrating Christmas in class, but also with my IECS family here. The Baoding team knows how to do Christmas. We woke up and all came together for french toast and ham. Followed by a few hours of presents! It was amazing! Later in the afternoon the rest of the IECSers joined us here in Baoding! So fun! Em and me were in charge of the big dinner for everyone, so we spent the afternoon getting the food ready and had many helping hands from the boys. Ryan is quite the chef. We later opened even more presents with the rest of the IECS team. Reflecting on the day just reminds me more and more of how blessed I am!

Am I in Wal-Mart or China?

Standing just outside campus, Emily and I looked down the road in waiting and hoping to see the 27 bus. "Man, they usually come faster than this," Emily said as the 22 bus pulled in front of us. As the door opened, a college-aged girl came flying towards Emily with her arms-wide-open. She looked like a bat out of its cave spreading its wings to fly. "Hellooo!" She said and she warmly embraced Emily. A surprised expression crossed Emily's face, but also one of joy and delight. Emily chatted with her student for a few moments before Joy (yes, she lives her name out) ran off in the wrong direction, before running right back in front of us again a moment later. It is unusual for Chinese students to show so much excitement when seeing us. Often times they are really excited, but are also nervous, so they don't show their excitement always through their body language. This was a rare and beautiful experience.
Later, that evening, walking into the KFC for dinner, the first person I saw was two of my students. A girl, and a guy with the former name of Boobie until I made him change it, and now it is Alex. I said hello to them both and they offered me some of their food, which I declined. I think they were on a date because in China it is common for guys to take their girlfriends on dates to KFC. I think guys in the USA would love to hear this, along with their wallets. As I savored a huge gulp from my large cola, a boy came over and pulled the children's chair to our table and sat down. He looked to Emily and then to me. Emily then looked to me as if to say "I don't know him, he has to be your student!" Images of my students flowed through my mind as I tried to desperately local just who this boy could be. Before I could place it...."Hello, do you remember me?" Oh no, that is always the question! "Ummm, maaaybe....." I replied as I still shifted through the faces in my mind. "Do you know Jon Allison?" He asked as head did a sharp nod down, "We are his students. We ate lunch with you." Click and there it was! Jack and his friend chatted for only a moment more before leaving as abruptly as they came. We then finished eating and headed out to do our shopping for the night.
After making our way up and down most of the aisles in the store and examining the bake goods for about 20 minutes with no selection being made we headed for the check-outs. "Hello, Amelia!" I heard as I pushed my cart around the corner. Looking up I saw two of my students from my class that day. It was DeAnn and Jason! They are also both students who I had lunch with on Thanksgiving. I think I was as excited to see them as they were to see us. We chatted with them for a few moments before we all headed as a group through the bottom level, up the down ramp, past the toiletries, past the frozen food, past the boxed and bagged milk to the baking goods. "Is is this baking soda?" We asked as we held up a bag that had Chinese characters all over it and Saleratus written on it. After a consultation with their translators the students confirmed our guess. "Yes, we were right!" Emily yelled out. We all then went back to the front of the store and then left together to head back to our homes for the night. As I reflected on my night I couldn't help but feel joy at seeing so many people I knew. Over the past week, Emily and I have both felt a little homesick and it was nice to have an evening where even though we are in a still very unfamiliar country at times, their are faces popping up everywhere that we know. It reminded me of when you are in the US and you go to Wal-Mart and of course, run into somebody you know.
On another note, I decorated my room this week for Christmas and it is fabulous! Below are pictures of my Chinese Christmas tree!!!! Enjoy! I am so excited for Christmas.

This is my tree!

This is my desk all lit up!! Yah!!

A "Thankful" Everyday!

The Chinese have a funny little English saying here, "have a happy everyday" or just "happy everyday." I am under no impression this is possible, although I do believe we can have joy everyday. After spending a great Thanksgiving in China, I think the saying should be changed to "thankful everyday." Something I am learning each day in China is to be thankful and of course this can only be magnified by spending my first Thanksgiving away from home in China. Many of the events of my thanksgiving week allowed me to have both "happy everyday" and "thankful everyday" moments. I celebrated Thanksgiving a little longer this year, because I taught many Thanksgivings lessons in my classes and often told my Chinese friends about this great holiday. Thanksgiving week became a week of numerous "Thanksgiving" feast with different friends.

Out for a Thanksgiving feast with my students after class on Thanksgiving.

On the actual day of Thanksgiving, even though I was far from home it was hard to feel sad when I was getting a text from a student every hour or so. The students here all wanted to make sure we felt care for while here on the big holiday. Emily even received 40 text messages! That night, the Baoding team even got together to prepare a big "American" meal...although it was fajitas with a finish of chocolate-chip cookies! I am convinced nothing could have tasted better though.

A wonderful plate of cookies!!! Yummy!

Don't worry, I still had a lovely tradition Thanksgiving meal. This past weekend the whole team went to Lang Fang to meet the teachers there, Courtney and Wil, and even Newt and Claire who came all the way from the US to be with us. We had a great meal with turkey, green bean casserole, and even pumpkin pie. Better than the food though was being in the company of the team! I couldn't have asked for a better weekend. Often people will wish a holiday could be everyday, and I think with the case of Thanksgiving it should be.

Everyone on the team playing a little football in honor of the big day!