Christmas Break

We have entered the real world once again. Our two week Christmas break is over and we are back at school for the start of 2^nd semester. Over Christmas we traveled to Hong Kong and came home to spend New Year’s in Kunming.

Hong Kong is where East meets West, and depending on where you are coming from it will seem more like one than the other. Since we were coming from mainland China, Hong Kong felt very Western to us, but I can easily understand why those coming straight from the U.S. would think it is so Asian. So many of the things I appreciated about the city would have been lost on me if we didn’t live in Kunming. I was first struck with how clean (no spitting allowed!) and orderly the city was and how cars followed traffic laws and moved to the side for police sirens. Although it is a huge city, it was easy to travel around thanks to the MTR, buses, trams, trolleys, and taxis. We could read most signs and effectively communicate with people because everything was in English, as well as Cantonese. We almost forget sometimes that at home we are basically illiterate. We can’t read 99% of the signs around us and unless we are talking about a very specific subject (like fruit at the market) we aren’t able to talk to people either!

We traveled to Hong Kong via Guangzhou on the 22^nd and were there for 6 days. On the 23^rd we met up with a local Kunming friend, Liz, who was in Hong Kong visiting the Logos Hope ship she used to live on. I don’t know if you are familiar with Logos Hope or its precursor, Doulos, but LH is a large ship staffed by over 100 M’s that docks in harbors around the world and holds book fairs, hosts conferences, facilitates service projects, etc. It is an amazing organization and we were lucky enough to tour the ship with Liz and get a first-hand look at how the staff lives on board and what they do. We spent the rest of the day walking around Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, visiting Man Mo Temple, and enjoying the café scene. That night we huddled along the Kowloon waterfront to watch the “Symphony of Lights”, a light show on Hong Kong Island set to music.

Monday, the 24^th, we ventured to the far reaches of the MTR system with a visit to Lantau Island and its most famous resident, Big Buddha. Big Buddha is technically called the Tian Tan Buddha statue. He is 26 meters tall and has a spectacular viewing platform. We traveled from the last stop on the metro to Po Lin Monastery via bus over the islands hills and down by the beaches and finally up to the peak. We walked through the touristy village and then started the climb to the base of the statue. The views from the top were amazing; we could see all over the island. We spent the rest of the afternoon and evening enjoying the Christmas lights and festivities in Kowloon.

Christmas Day was celebrated at Disneyland. We arrived before the park opened and stayed until the last fireworks went off. We have never spent a Christmas away from family so it seemed like more of a random vacation than actual Christmas, but I suppose that makes sense since we have never been on our own before. We enjoyed the rides and the decorations on Main Street and were pleasantly surprised at all of the traditional Christmas Carols they played throughout the park (Silent Night, Hark, The Herald Angels Sing, etc.)

We celebrated Boxing Day by hanging out with fellow KIA staff member and friend, Hana, a Hong Kong native. She took us on the Peak Tram to Victoria’s Peak, the highest point in Hong Kong, out to Stanley to enjoy the market and awesome beach views, and to Ikea. Sadly, Ikea may have been the highlight of my day. Don’t misunderstand me, I loved the trip to the peak and I thought Stanley was beautiful, but I was thrilled to be able to buy a few much needed items that cannot be purchased at home (fitted sheets and baking dishes!)

On Thursday we visited a market, walked through Signal Gardens, and basically just wandered through the city looking in little shops and stores to see what they had. Friday morning we traveled back to Kunming.

Our second week of break was mostly spent at home and around Hu Pan. A cold snap hit Kunming for a few days and our lack of central heating became evident as we layered on the clothes and sat under blankets. We are thankful that winter is short lived here and that most days the sun shines into our large living room windows and warms the entire house.

We hosted friends for New Year’s Eve and as we rang in 2013 I had to laugh at how far we’ve come in a year. G has led us to this amazing new country and into a new community where we feel like we’ve found our place. We have jobs where we can contribute and are building relationships where we feel like we can make a difference. We are blessed beyond measure.  

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!