Our December

Finals are upon us and our regular craziness has somehow gone up a notch. Some students are almost frantic in their studies and in their effort to get everything turned in. Teachers are just trying to be patient as they go around collecting late work, helping tutor, and hosting study sessions. There is anticipation in the air. The month has flown by and I am not quite sure how we ended up a week away from Christmas. Eric and I are going to Hong Kong for the first week of our break. We decided since we will not be home or in Wisconsin with Eric’s family, we should do something entirely different and see a new city. We are traveling there with two friends of ours, Josalyn and Hana. Hana is a Hong Kong native and we are excited to have her as our part time guide.

Staff Christmas Party

Last Saturday night was our KIA staff Christmas party. It was held in the upstairs room at the Bank Hotel near downtown Kunming. It was an opportunity for us to dress up, enjoy a nice dinner with friends, and celebrate the season. I should mention that part of celebrating the season entailed a chaotic white elephant gift exchange. We all brought along a gift from home that we no longer wanted, but that someone else could use or would enjoy. Eric and I brought two mugs and a picture frame. All of the gifts were placed at the front of the room and one by one each table was released to select a gift, open it, and hold it up for all to see. After all of the gifts had been chosen and opened we were told that for the next unspecified period of time anyone who wanted could exchange gifts with us and we had to do it. If we wanted our original gift back, we had to first exchange with someone else and then go find our original gift again. We were not allowed to just immediately exchange back for the gift we wanted. If we wanted to keep our gifts we either had to run, hide, or be on the constant hunt for it so we could exchange for it. The trick was that we didn’t know how long the exchanging period was going to last so we had to be aggressive if we really wanted something, or we could tag team. The hilarious ensued. One person brought a large hologram picture depicting The Last Supper. It was huge and hideous (the eyes followed you around the room), but one of our national staff wanted it so badly that he grabbed it and hid under a table! I don’t think he realized that none of us wanted it. Eric and I ended up with Dove chocolate and a box of brownie mix- a successful night, in my opinion. We sang a few carols, our Director gave a speech, and the party ended. Afterwards a group of us walked to a large mall nearby and splurged on Starbucks coffee. In the large courtyard near the Starbucks was a huge Christmas tree and some sort of dancing blue creature. We took pictures with it, but I have no idea what it was supposed to be. Just another China mystery.



The Bank Hotel lobby




The blue dot. ??



Christmas Time is Here!

The tree is up, we found lights, we made ornaments, we purchased stockings, and Christmas music is in the air! Here is what our Christmas looks like:



We purchased our stockings at Threads of Yunnan, an NGO supporting migrant workers.




Homemade cinnamon applesauce ornaments.




 Dried orange and cinnamon garland.





We inherited our Christmas tree from a family that left last year .




Another homemade ornament.



Thanksgiving Weekend

We spent this past weekend giving thanks to the giver of all blessings and praising Him for His great provision in our lives. Although there was a moment of bittersweet at missing our family celebration back home, we were so grateful to spend the day with so many new friends. Our Thanksgiving was a truly international affair represented by people from South Africa, Thailand, China, Taiwan, Norway, Denmark, and the United States. In an effort to make sure the three American’s present were able to have a traditional Thanksgiving meal, our host, Solveig, asked me last week about all of the dishes we normally associate with a Thanksgiving meal and true to form Solveig delivered them all! We had all of the normal dishes you would expect (some with a slight twist) and then some. The Green Bean Casserole included bacon (an awesome addition) and due to the lack of fried onions was topped with crushed crackers.  The sweet potato dish was mixed with pumpkin and was easily the best Thanksgiving sweet potatoes I’ve ever had. The surprise addition to the meal was the curry chicken, but you will get no complaints out of me because it, too, was delicious. We talked and laughed and played games until midnight.

Friday afternoon we attended another Thanksgiving meal. This one was less traditional: in addition to the normal Thanksgiving fare, we also had sweet and sour chicken, shrimp on a stick, banana pudding, and fried chicken.  The group was an eclectic mix of Chinese nationals and American’s from different NGO’s. We spent our afternoon eating and watching our first football game of the season. So awesome!

We made a smooth transition into the Christmas season on Saturday when we joined friends, Kevin and Emma at their house for our yearly viewing of “A Muppet Christmas Carol”. This may seem like a silly tradition, but we have been watching this movie for years and it is surprisingly true to the original work by Dickens, plus it features Fozzie bear so you can’t go wrong.

Saturday night we hosted a group of friends for dinner and Christmas ornament making and later we set up our Christmas tree! Christmas is not typically celebrated in China, not even in its most commercial Santa Claus form. Chinese schools are in session on December 25^th and the holiday passes without much notice. Some stores have sections of Christmas decorations, but I don’t think most Chinese people take any notice of this. I have been told that younger Chinese nationals recognize that there is a holiday in late December, but it is only because all things Western are quite the rage among their generation. This all means that if we want that magical Christmas feeling we have to create it ourselves.

On Sunday we went to fellowship. Eric and I attend Kunming International Fellowship and I recently joined the newly formed Community Care Committee. I am responsible for setting up a welcome table and greeting people on Sunday mornings. Oddly, KIF has never had greeters before! When Eric and I first arrived in Kunming and attended KIF, we were surprised there was no one there to welcome us as newcomers to the fellowship. It was an odd feeling and left me with the sense of not fully belonging there. As M’s and NGO workers, we are a transient community. People come and go; they are called to other areas of the world or their organizations relocate them. There has never been a committee at the fellowship to promote a feeling of welcome and community within the group because most people who attend have a sending agency that takes care of many of their needs and provides other opportunities to fellowship with like minded people. Traditionally people have just showed up on Sunday mornings and left immediately after service without making an effort to engage with the people around them and create a community within KIF. We are trying to change that. Eric and I arrived early Sunday to greet for the first time ever. So many people seemed shocked to be welcomed at the door and some didn’t quite know how to respond. Hopefully next week, when we do it again, they won’t be caught off guard.

Our four day weekend ended with a time to reflect on our many blessings. Sunday marked our 4 month China anniversary. That the date fell on Thanksgiving weekend was not lost on us. G has guided us through every challenge and met our every need along the way. The transition hasn’t always been perfectly smooth, but every day we are more convinced that we are where he wants us to be.

Our Chinese Kitchen

There are a few differences between our Chinese kitchen and then one we left back home. Apart from the obvious (small fridge, large water dispenser, low counters) there are few things that make it especially Chinese.

It took us a good week or so to figure out what the metal contraption in the cupboard next to the sink is for. All I knew was that it was taking up vital cupboard space. Eric took a look and discovered that it was a rice dispenser. The rice gets poured into the storage bin and then dispensed out the bottom slot in even, measured amounts. Press the blue button on top and presto! Perfectly measured out rice for dinner. We don’t use it for this, so it is really not much of a help to us, but if we start eating rice daily like the typical Chinese family, I suppose it could come in really handy.



We have found that it is the perfect place to store plastic bags

  Another feature unique to our Chinese kitchen is the wok burner on our cook top. I, again, wasn’t sure what the concave burner was supposed to be for, but it is measured perfectly for a wok. We use ours on almost a daily basis now so I love the convenience of our uniquely Chinese burner.

There is also the presence of our colorful plastic tubs. While I don’t think I have ever seen these types of tubs in the U.S., I have found them in Kenya, Thailand, India, and China. Green is for water and washing, pink is for food use. Because our water takes forever to warm up in the mornings we have a green tub under the shower head catching what normally would just go down the drain. We wash all of our dishes by hand so the water we catch from the shower goes to the kitchen to do our dishes. We also use the green tubs for hand washing some of our clothing. The pink tub is the perfect size for mixing up pizza dough, muffin batter, etc. It is hard to find large mixing bowls so we make do with the pink tub.



Using our saved water to wash up vegetables




Making pizza dough



The Arrival of Autumn, Yunnan Style

The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler. With the passing of the rainy season, it is sunny and clear most days, but our morning bike ride to school now requires a jacket and there have been a couple of mornings that I should have worn mittens as well. Is it horrible of me to say that I kind of miss the Seattle rain that normally marks the season for me? We are so far south, here in Yunnan, that the mild temps and sunny days don’t seem quite right. There is one lone tree outside of our window that is changing colors and dropping its leaves. As for the rest, either they are just turning brown or they will remain green throughout the winter.

Without the Western commercial push into Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas, I feel like I have entered holiday no man’s land: Halloween has come and gone without much notice and Thanksgiving I fear will do the same. We have entered November and there has been little of the holiday anticipation that I love so much. In an attempt to feel as  fall-ish as possible in a country without stores full of autumn decorations, apple orchards, pumpkin patches, changing leaves, or even pumpkin spice lattes, I have managed to acquired a few things that remind me of my favorite season:

1.  Colorful leaves from the lone changing tree. I have them scattered on a side table in our living room

2.  Pumpkin/gourd type things from our vegetable market that are meant to be eaten, but instead are displayed around my house (our Bao Mu thinks we are crazy, I’m sure, for scattering food items around the living room)

3.  Fall napkins from Judi (Thanks, Judi!)

4.  Candy corn from my Mom and Dad (I practically had to wrestle the bag out of Eric’s hands- he swears they were meant only for him, despite the fact they arrived in a birthday package to me)

5.  Pumpkin Spice flavored syrup. This was a birthday gift from Kevin and Emma. Emma managed to find a bottle here in Kunming so I can make my own pumpkin spice lattes!

6.  I haven’t gathered them yet, but I hope to find some branches around the Xiao Qu to put in a vase on our table

Fall is here, I just have to embrace that it is a little different than I am used to.

My fall decorating. The roses were a birthday gift from Eric.



So pretty.



Halloween is not a Chinese holiday, but these students from the neighborhood English preschool are out celebrating!



Surprise!

My birthday was last Friday. Instead of spending the day like I planned, at work, I came down with the bug that is going around our school and spent my day at home by myself, sick. Eric had informed me that there was something going on for my birthday, but I didn’t know what or when it was happening. Friday afternoon I received a call from my friend, Michelle, one of our Secondary Principals, and she casually mentioned that she didn’t know if she was supposed to say anything or not, but we were supposed to go over to her house for dinner that night, so it was too bad that I was sick. I was so disappointed! I had ruined my own surprise birthday party! I told Eric about it Friday night and he confirmed that yes, the party was supposed to have been then and he told me about the people who were supposed to come and a bunch of the details. I asked if we could reschedule the party for next week and he said he would take care of it.

Saturday I was feeling better and we were schedule to go to Kevin and Emma’s for dinner. We had planned it earlier in the week and knew it would be a low-key evening because they were hosting two families from out of town and because there were some kids staying with them (two of them quite young) it would probably be an early evening. I felt up to it so we went. When I walked into their apartment Kevin, Emma, and their two boys Tim and Wesley were standing right by the door. As soon as I was through the doorway Kevin handed me a big, red Starbucks mug and said, “Here, we made you a pumpkin spice latte. We heard they were your favorite.” I was so thrilled to have my favorite fall drink that I didn’t comprehend that they were all wearing their pajamas and standing really close to me. I took a drink and set it down so I could hang up my coat and put down my purse and then, “SURPRISE!!” 30 people jumped out of the living room. The picture below is Eric turning me towards the raucous. I had unknowingly walked right into my surprise-pajamas and breakfast for dinner- party! It was such a spectacular party. I was surrounded by so many people we have come to know in our few months here. We told stories, played games and had a breakfast feast for dinner. It was worth the birthday sick in bed and the disappointment of a ruined party. It was a great night.

Out of the Rainy Season and Into the Sunshine

Local weather update for 28 October 2012: Clear, Sunny, 21 degrees C

It has been like this for two weeks now and it is so hard to wrap my head around the fact that it is almost November. While most of you reading this are in the midst of fall with all of its color and cold, we are warm and green and not a pumpkin in sight. I am enjoying the sun, but I can’t help but feel that it is not quite right.

Chinese Fast Food

Thursday morning, as a Parent-Teacher Conference treat to ourselves, Eric and I stopped at our local Baozi shop for a quick and yummy Chinese breakfast. We ordered 6 rou baozi’s for ourselves. Baozi’s are bread buns filled with mushrooms, vegetables, or meat mixes. They are steamed and eaten hot. We ordered meat (rou). So good!



Baozi in its industrial sized steamers.




Eric buying rou boazi for breakfast from the garage stall..







YUM



Fun Fair

This past Saturday was KIA’s yearly Fun Fair. It is a one day carnival organized by the school and open to the greater Kunming community. Each high school class sets up booths for playing games and serving food and all proceeds go into their class funds to help pay for senior trip (NOTE: in our international setting senior trip takes on greater meaning. Our students come from all around the globe and after graduation they scatter again. Many students will never see each other again after they graduate so having a final trip together is all the more meaningful.) Eric is one of two freshman homeroom teachers and I am one of three sophomore homeroom teachers so we both had our hands full on Saturday. I spent most of the day rounding up 10^th graders to staff booths, directing kids to fill up water balloons for our water war booth, and taking turns in the Dunk-a-Teacher booth. We weren’t being dunked, but we sat on a stool under a water balloon while people paid to throw bean bags at a target. Hit the target and the water balloon is popped and the teacher is soaked. Thankfully it was a warm day!

Before the chaos. Check out those KIA Flying Tigers t-shirts.



Getting soaked.



I love the look on Eric's face!



Amp Week!

Each year KIA has a week set aside to AMPLIFY our school year theme. Our 2012-2013 theme is Living on Purpose. We had a special chapel time each day with praise time and guest speakers. It was a time for everyone to focus in on what we are doing in life and, for Eric and me, what we are doing in China.  We know we are serving here with purpose, but sometimes it is easy to lose sight of that purpose because we get caught up just trying to maneuver everyday life. We have gone into this life transition with the idea that we don’t want to just survive China, we want to thrive here. Thriving, we have discovered, takes a great deal of patience, flexibility, and grace. To be honest, we are not there yet, but we are learning to rely more on His power and less on our own.

A Little Catch Up

A quick review of our Mid-Autumn Festival/National Day break:

Monday: We went to a get together at a fellow staff member’s house. I don’t know if it was for National Day or just because. Regardless, we had a great night playing games and enjoying an impromptu Christmas caroling session (slightly random, I know.)

Tuesday: We joined up with friends Kevin, Emma, and Kim and bused to Yun Feng, a shopping center where the entire 5^th floor is dedicated to western sized clothes. We spent most of the day sorting through piles and messy racks of clothes. There were many brands that I recognized and a few items of clothing that I even remember seeing in stores.

Tuesday night Eric and Kevin took me and Emma on a surprise date. I had no idea where we were going or that we were even going to meet up with Kevin and Emma, but at 5pm a hired car pulled up at our apartment and there they were! We had dinner at a Chinese restaurant on Green Lake and ate on the terrace overlooking the water. It was unlike any place I had been to in China in that it felt deliberately designed to create a relaxing, calm atmosphere. Most restaurants and stores aim for the opposite - if the place isn’t loud, so the thinking goes, then it isn’t a happening place to be. Having people yelling in microphones is a common occurrence in the grocery stores because they are trying to create a lively atmosphere which supposedly makes people want their product (I have a hard time believing this to be true.)

After dinner we were whisked away in a cab to the building where the Kunming Youth Group meets. Emma and I followed Kevin and Eric completely confused why we were going to Youth Group, but upon arriving we discovered that they had arranged for a dancing lesson! We spent the next hour attempting to perfect our waltz. Whether we achieved perfection, I am not sure, but we had a fun time trying.

Wednesday: We spent the entire day hiking in the Western Hills (Xi Shan) around Kunming.



Traveling up the mountain in style! Via gondola.



Thursday: This was Eric’s day to catch up on work and my day to get some projects done around the house. We had a group of friends over for dinner which was an exciting first for us in China.

Friday: We traveled with 8 friends to Anning Spa. Anning has 20 or so hot pools that range in temperature and size. Some are contain color and fragrance as well. There were rose pools, apple, coconut milk, strawberry, and what we thought was coke (as in Coca-Cola), but we were informed by a 7 year old that it was sugar cane (thanks, kid.)

Saturday:  I went back to Yun Feng with my friend, Josalyn, so she too could discover the joys of western clothing. Eric spent the day planning for class. 

Sunday: We mourned the fact that our week off flew by!

Holiday

This week we are celebrating Mid-Autumn Festival/Moon Festival and National Day. Moon Festival was technically yesterday (Sunday, 30 Sept), but we celebrated Saturday at a party thrown by a school family. National Day is today and commemorates the founding of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949.

Normally these holidays fall into different weeks and KIA has a few days off each week, but because of the lunar calendar the holidays fell into the same week this year and allowed us the whole week off! Everyone at school was so excited for this week and Eric and I were no exception.

Mid-Autumn Festival/Moon Festival is viewed as kind of a Christmas like holiday in China. It is a time to gather your family and celebrate the end of fall harvest. It seems to revolve around the buying, selling, giving and sometimes eating of Moon Cakes. Moon Cakes are small pastry things filled with either meats (savory) or fruit (sweet). Yunnan province is famous for its ham Moon Cakes. The fruit filled cakes remind me of applets and cotlets and I think they taste okay. The meat ones, on the other hand, were not anything I need to try again. It is customary to give Moon Cakes to your family and friends at Moon Festival, thus leading up to the Festival there were huge tents on many street corners selling these cakes either individually or in gift boxes. Some were only a few RMB, while the larger gift box sets could go for around a 1,000 RMB. We were told that Moon Cakes can be the Chinese equivalent to the American Fruit Cake: they are obligatory to buy and give, but no one actually wants to eat them so they get passed around all season. To some extent we saw this was, indeed, true.



Moon Cake



 The party we attended on Saturday night was a big potluck dinner with both Chinese and expats attending. After dinner we each received a paper lantern, lit them, and made our way to Wicker Basket, a large international Bakery and Restaurant in the neighborhood. We rented out the top floor deck there so we could have a clear view of the moon (it didn’t work that way as it was really cloudy Saturday night.) We had dessert up on the deck while each person attending shared a poem or a song with the group. Some people told jokes, others told sentimental poems; one person sang a hymn. I don’t know if the sharing of poems and songs is a traditional Moon Festival activity, but the hosting family had always celebrated that way so we were happy to join in.

Today is National Day and honestly, I have no idea how this holiday is celebrated other than people just enjoying the day off and hanging out with family. We are certainly enjoying it. I am celebrating by making crock pot apple sauce and unpacking our final suitcase. Good times with the Warrens!

Getting the lanterns ready.



Lighting a lantern.



At Wicker Basket with our lanterns.



Everyone gathered on the deck.



A Note Regarding Favorite Flavors

While it is safe to say that chocolate (unless you are Eric), vanilla, mint, coffee, and peanut butter probably top the list of America’s favorite flavors, the same list does not apply to China. I spent the first few weeks here searching out a plain dark chocolate bar, only to be disappointed. Chocolate is not that common. When I wanted something that tasted like home I reached for what I thought was a package of mint Oreos, only to be told that anytime I think something is mint that I should just assume it is actually green tea flavored.  The filling for most desserts and ice cream bars is not chocolate or peanut butter, but red bean, a decided favorite favor in our new home. The cultural favorites here are certainly different. Green tea, red bean, milk, and green pea flavors dominate most snacks and desserts. I have seen cucumber flavored potato chips, red pepper flavored snack bars, and chocolate ice cream bars filled with milk, red bean, and green pea custards. I am currently chewing lemongrass gum (it came in a combo pack with cucumber and lavender.) This will take some getting used to.

Tensions

Our adopted home country is in the midst of a territorial dispute with Japan. The islands in question have a long and controversial past and for whatever reason they are at the middle of today’s conflict. There have been numerous protests around the city and we have been told to stay away from the downtown area. There are a few families at school who are very concerned about the future of Japanese citizens living here. We know one family where the wife is Japanese, the children are citizens, but the husband is an American. They fear if the tensions continue that she and the kids could be deported. Monday we were greeted by two huge banners hanging on the Chinese school that said something like “The islands are ours and we have the sovereign right to protect them.” I, in my ignorance, didn’t even notice the banners and had no clue what they were about until that evening someone was talking about them. I tend to not even register things that I don’t understand, so you can imagine that there are a million things my brain just blocks out throughout the day!  We commit this to our Father and ask that you lift it up as well.

Spirit Week

This week was spirit week at school so we were able to take advantage of the dress code freedom that the week had to offer. On Multiplicity Monday we wore matching outfits with a bunch of other teachers. The white shirt and black pants/skirt combo resulted in us looking like Jehovah’s Witnesses riding our bikes to school. Or, participants in an Amway convention, as our Director pointed out.



Our Multiplicity Monday outfits.



For Toddler Tuesday we wore pajamas to school. I was so sleepy all day due to the extreme comfort. Eric commented that in reality, our pajamas would be considered normal attire to some Chinese people because they tend to wear odd clothes regularly. Wacky Wednesday was not too imaginative on our part. We wore mismatched clothes. Crazy, I know. Thursday was Time Travel Thursday- Eric wore a suit and either passed it off as classic 1950’s attire or future business meeting attire. I was a 1960’s French academic with a black beret and navy/white striped shirt. Today was Flying Tiger Friday (school mascot)/KIA Colors day.  The students loved spirit week. The atmosphere seemed a little more relaxed and they enjoyed seeing all of the teachers participate, even if some of our outfits were a little lame. Each day started off with a 1980’s rock song over the PA system and that seemed to make everything fun. There was no big event at the end of spirit week. No football game, no sporting event of any kind, just an awards ceremony out front for whoever showed the most school spirit. It was a good week.

Last Saturday

I don’t have any photos of it, but last Saturday we had a staff retreat at Fu Bao, a large indoor water park here in Kunming. Although, it was not the tropical paradise pictured in their advertising, it was a lot of fun. There were a few huge pools, a bunch of smaller hot tubs, a lazy river, a few water slides, and even a small zip line. In addition to water attractions, there were mahjong (Chinese card game) tables, a big resting room (literally a room of recliners to sleep in), and a mini spa of sorts to get massages. We had a great time playing and getting to know the rest of the staff a little better.

We returned home to our most frustrating China first- Eric’s bike was missing from the bike lot at school. Although it was locked up, under video surveillance, only about 20 yards from a security booth, and among about 50 or so other bikes, it apparently was a hot item. It was so frustrating to come home to that.

Having gotten used to how much easier life is with a bike, it was crucial to quickly replace it. Eric purchased a new bike on Sunday and we now double lock our bikes and will do our best to never park in the bike lot on weekends again.



Eric's new bike.



Fireworks

The sound of fireworks ringing off of buildings and interrupting classes is almost a daily occurrence here in Kunming. These fireworks are not the big, colorful, light up the sky kind; they are the noisy, cracking kind. We are surrounded by new construction and when buildings reach a certain point in the construction phase it is necessary to light off fireworks to scare away the evil spirits. This can occur at any time, day or night.

A Word on Smoking

Holy cow, there are a lot of people who smoke here. Tobacco is big business in Yunnan and the government does absolutely nothing to curb the addiction. It is odd to go into any shop and see a huge selection of cigarettes prominently displayed by the counter. Eric told me that earlier this week he saw the Chinese school P.E. teacher leaning on the third floor balcony smoking a cigarette between classes. Oh, sweet irony.

Happenings: A Random Telling of What is Going On

Twice a week I am involved in Beth Moore studies of Paul and Esther. On Monday’s I meet with a group of KIA staff in our Xiao Qu (neighborhood) and we study Paul. On Wednesday’s I bike with two friends to the center of the city and meet with mostly non-KIA people.  It is nice to get out of the bubble sometimes! The girls I meet with on Wednesday’s are involved in a variety of NGO’s: they work for groups that provide housing and job training for former prostitutes, bring clean water to remote villages, and teach art and music to children. Two of the girls work with the expat youth group. They are a diverse group and I really enjoy my time with them studying Esther.

On Tuesday night we went to a restaurant near our Xiao Qu that is lovingly named “Blessed Chicken” by the members of the KIA community because at one point there was a sign above the door with a chicken on it. As to the real name, no one knows.  Between Eric, Josalyn, Michael (another new teacher that just arrived in Kunming a week or so ago) and I, we were able to order a full meal. I knew two of the dishes by name; Eric used a toothpick to communicate that we wanted beef on a toothpick (common dish); and, Josalyn and I were able to point to a tomato and mime cracking eggs to communicate we wanted eggs with tomato. I am sure the poor waitress thought we were crazy, but the meal came and it was good! I am hoping to have this whole ordering thing figured out someday soon.

Earlier this week our living room and bedroom were painted! Our apartment is provided by the school and the walls hadn’t been painted in between the previous tenants moving out and us moving in, so the school painted them for us. What a blessing! We went crazy and had them painted white. Seriously.  It was previously pink/tan in the living room and purple in our bedroom. I think the white is out of character for us, but with such a mishmash of borrowed furniture and bright red couches, it was the only route we could take to create some sense of serenity.

Yesterday, Wednesday 5 Sept.,  we started our Mandarin classes. They are three times a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday during our free periods. I am in a class with one other new teacher, Josalyn and Eric is in a class with another new teacher, Tom. We are learning the four tones of Mandarin (there are secretly five, but my teacher denies it- the fifth tone is “Natural tone” whatever that means). I felt like I was attending a voice lesson as Josalyn and I repeated the tones sing-song back to our teacher. At one point she told us we needed to open our mouths wider, “Like you are at the dentist! AAHHH! ” (Again, what do I do with that exclamation point and the quotes? My middle school grammar teacher would be ashamed of me). I am excited to have finally started the class, but am somewhat daunted by the enormity of learning a language like Mandarin. If you remember, please lift this up for us.

Eric walked in his Master’s degree graduation ceremony at SPU earlier this summer, but for the last few weeks he was still finishing up his final class. Good news:  last night (Wed.) he turned in his final paper! PTL, he is free! He feels like a weight has been lifted off his shoulders and is looking forward to enjoying some more free time (as much as there can be here).

This afternoon I met with our new Bao Mu, or house helper. She doesn’t speak any English so one of her other employers, a family here at school, introduced her to me. I have struggled with feeling guilty about having someone come into help me clean my own house and with the idea of spending money on something that in the U.S. would be an extreme luxury, but the reality here is different. House Helpers are very common and employing a Bao Mu is seen as a great way to provide usually single mothers with an honest living. Our Bao Mu is a single mom and she works for two other families at KIA. She also trains other Bao Mus which means she has a lot of experience. She will be at our house Tuesday and Thursday mornings for a few hours to clean and cook.

Tonight Eric and I are attempting to replicate a Chinese dish that we get at a noodle shop near here. It is noodles, eggs, cabbage, green onion, garlic, and peppers. We will see how that goes.

Tomorrow, 7 Sept., we have a Professional Development day at school. The kids get off and we get to go to school and attend meetings and workshops. Eric will be leading a workshop on benchmarks and standards in the social sciences. Eric is fast becoming a valuable asset in the secondary because of his experience and his Master’s training in Curriculum and Instruction. Our Secondary Coordinator (basically the principal) is trained in Chemistry and Biology, so having Eric trained in a subject where benchmarks are somewhat more abstract has been a huge blessing to him. Eric is just happy to be of service. I am so proud of him.

The Chinese School

Kunming International Academy shares a building with a local Chinese school. The building is split down the middle between KIA and the Chinese JK-8 school, with KIA occupying the entire top floor (this is where Eric and I teach). There is a large auditorium at the end of the building that we both share.

The front of our building. Excepting the fifth floor, the area to the right of the red Chinese characters on the white signs is the territory of the Chinese School.

The Chinese School.

Every morning we are greeted at the entry gate by a small delegation from the Chinese school with an enthusiastic, “Good morning, Teacher”! (I have to admit that grammatically speaking, I have no clue if that exclamation point is supposed to go in the quotes or outside the quotes). It was somewhat shocking at first to walk through the gauntlet and be yelled at by a bunch of kids in powder blue sweat suits and red scarves, but it is pretty routine now. The powder blue sweat suits with accompanying red scarves are their dress down uniforms. Every once in a while (I don’t know what days they are yet) they wear their dress up school uniforms which are a more traditional navy blue sweater and pants/skirt.

The Chinese students waiting to greet arriving students and teachers.

On Monday mornings the Chinese school starts the day off with their flag raising ceremony. The kids line up in perfect rows in our school courtyard and with the Chinese national anthem blasting, they raise the courtyard flag and then recite what I believe is their equivalent to the Pledge of Allegiance. It is actually quite cool to watch.

The Chinese school starts at roughly the same time we do (8am for KIA teachers, 8:30 for KIA students; 8am for the Chinese school), but they don’t get out until 6:30pm! The older kids start their school day off by cleaning the school for an hour or so. It is not uncommon to see a bunch of them mopping the corridors in the morning. The younger kids go straight to class.  After lunch the younger kids have nap time for an hour or two before returning to regular classes. KIA students get out at 3:30 and about the time Eric and I are eating dinner, the Chinese school kids are finally getting out of school.

China Firsts

This past week Eric and/or I experienced a few China firsts:

-I ordered a dish in mandarin and the waitress understood me!

-We hiked in the western hills, on and off trails. It was beautiful. We were so close to the city, but we felt like we were the only people up there.

Top of the rock in the Western Hills above Kunming.

-I saw my first car-bike traffic accident. No one was injured, but it looked horrible.

-Eric gave blood at a Chinese blood bank. Instead of getting juice and cookies afterwards, he received packs of playing cards and a tea flavored marinated egg (he couldn’t get past the smell).

-We ate our first dragon fruit and white pomegranates. Yum!



Dragon fruit

 -I biked out of the Xiao Qu on my own. This doesn’t seem like a big deal, but biking in groups is safer and it is easier to keep an eye on traffic if you have someone with you.

-We had friends over for dinner. Again, doesn’t give the impression of being a daunting task, but since arriving we haven’t felt equal to the task.

-We biked to fellowship on our own and even had to lead another teacher there because she couldn’t remember the way.

There are probably more things that we don't even remember right now, but we feel like we are making real progress in the transition process. Kunming really is beginning to feel like home.

New View of Our Apartment



This is the front of our building. Our apartment is in the middle, right above the tree line, above the right side of the parking garage opening, with the open curtains in the big window and white closed curtains to the left.




These are the steps up to the front entrance.




To the left of the steps is our bike parking area.




Bike parking. My bike is the badly parked one in the middle of the photo.