Friends

We said good-bye to dear friends on Sunday night, friends that have been with us here in Shanghai since we first arrived. We met the Allens at church literally the first weeks we were here in China, all a little shell shocked together. We've shared so many of our China experiences with the Allen family, among them men's bike rides, women's Bible study, family small group, travel, school sports, mission trips, kids' sleepovers, and even the adoption of their 5th child. We had a wonderful, emotional prayer time with all the kids, and then posed for this photo right after... thus the red noses. We didn't want to say good-bye, so we are planning already for a reunion in Michigan next summer. Maybe our senior boys will even end up at the same college!
No one can replace Sue and Rich, Stacia, Lucas, Lance, Elise and Wade for us.

We are grateful, however, for the open and friendly community of expats we live in here. New friends arrive in Shanghai, ready to plug into relationships. God has even given me a new upstairs neighbor with a daughter Gwen's age. We walk to school together, run up and down the stairs between our apartments... so good. Another new friend came home with me after school assembly yesterday and we promptly had a 90 minute conversation about life issues, as if we had known each other for years.

It is amazing to me how God has provided me with kindred spirits at different times in my life, often in unexpected places. Even sleeping on the floor in a room in the girls' dorm at Grove City College when I visited Scott for the weekend, twenty something years ago... dear Rebecca, I am so glad we found each other!

Friends... what a precious gift. Godspeed, Rich and Sue! You are loved, from the other side of the world.

Fruit

Not sure if this little fruit is available in other parts of the world, but I hadn't had it before we came to China. Lychee is in season here now, and oh so delicious. The sweet white flesh is wet and slippery, with a small dark brown oblong seed inside. Can I get this in the US? If you've seen it, please let me know. :-)

Real China

Jenna spotted this cutie when we were shopping in an antiques market area during their visit in April. Don't you love his bright eyes? This type of wicker stroller is still common among locals.

******

This morning I got up early and rode my bike across the main road into the Chinese area of Jinqiao, something I haven't done in a while. Swallowed up into the intricate dance of bikes, buses, and pedestrians on the road, and as the only foreigner in sight, I became a part of the morning landscape in a way that I don't usually experience. I biked to a fruit stall, where I chose mangoes, bananas, apples and a melon, then pedaled home with my purchases.

Only one more year to soak up China in an up close and personal way. Don't want to miss my chances, snug and cozy in my expat bubble. Planning on more early morning bike rides. Wish you were here, Lisa, to get me into the side streets where real China still lives. :-)

Good-bye, Friend

Mr. Wu arrived this morning to take Scott to work, as he does every morning. But he won't be bringing him home today. Gwen and I both shed some tears this morning about this fact, and I think Mr. Wu was a bit teary too.

Mr. Wu has been our driver here in Shanghai for exactly four years. When Scott first arrived, before the rest of us had moved here, Mr. Wu was the one showing Scott "beautiful Shanghai." He picked our weary, jet lagged family up from the airport and drove us through the summer rain to our apartment on the river. In the early days, before we knew anyone here, sometimes Mr. Wu even hung out in our apartment with us during the day, playing PS-3 with the boys and playdough with the girls. At first his English was spotty, but as time went by and we interacted with him, it improved greatly. I wish I could say the same for my Chinese!

I wrote Mr. Wu a letter yesterday, telling him some of the things I have appreciated about him. A big one is how great he has been with all our family visitors. I think everyone enjoyed meeting him and conversing with him in the car. Most recently, Andrew was trying to teach Mr. Wu some phrases spoken like a true New Yorker- I'm sure I can't do the exchange justice, but we were all laughing! He's always been friendly and a wonderful tour guide.

Scott has often called Mr. Wu "Curious George." He always pointed out to us anything unusual or interesting to him that he saw as we drove- someone selling a turtle by the side of the road, lots of people on one motor bike, etc.

It can't be easy to be thrust into the midst of family dynamics that are so often displayed on a car ride. I remember many rides in the first years we were here where Gwen fussed on and on about her carseat- she never was a fan of carseats, and made sure everyone knew. Mr. Wu patiently endured. We've had our share of disagreements while riding in the car- of course he was there to hear. We've been late and he's been late. We've had the usual last minute panic trying to get ready to leave the house for a trip, hurrying to the airport only to remember some essential that we needed to go back for... Mr. Wu was on the scene, turning the car around and taking us back. It's a bit like having all your underwear out for public view, to have this other person always in the car, but Mr. Wu has always handled us graciously.

One of the the bright spots for me when returning to China from traveling, the first thing I looked for, was Mr. Wu's smiling face waiting for us outside of baggage claim at the Pudong airport. I feel like he welcomed me home again each time.

So Mr. Wu is moving on, and we aren't yet. We've got one more year, and so when Scott comes home from work today, it will be with a different person driving the car. I'm sure it will be someone kind and friendly, someone who will become part of our family for the last year as Mr. Wu has been for the past four years. But we won't forget Mr . Wu, not ever. Praying that God will continue to show Himself to Mr. Wu so that we might see him again in eternity.

Have you tried this new mouthwash flavor?

I haven't yet, but I might...

May

What our family is experiencing this month...

Finished a wonderful visit with Jenna, Andrew and girls

Scott completed his many week project in Jakarta

Good-bye lunches and picnics for friends leaving Shanghai for good- bittersweet

End of the year concerts

Preparing for prom~ getting a suit made, figuring out what to do after, etc

Rearranged the living room with a friend's help

Flowers on front steps overflowing their pots

Helping to find summer homes for Baobei babies whose families are traveling

Beautiful Shanghai weather... precursor to HOT and HUMID summer

Studying for finals

Scott's 42nd birthday

Baobei 3rd anniversary brunch

Looking at houses in NC online with my sister for her upcoming move

Caleb getting braces off! Scott has another half a year...

Taking walks in the morning with my friend Carol, discussing the many issues of parenting

Thinking about which colleges to visit this summer

Two boys filling out preference sheets for fall high school interim trips

Seth's preparations for South Africa missions trip in June

Counting how many days of school are left

Blooming honeysuckle makes our whole compound smell delicious!

Seth and Madelyn performing in Concordia Idol

Middle school basketball tournaments for Seth and Madelyn, with Caleb coaching

Studying Revelations with our small group

Playing Words With Friends

Reading~ Grapes of Wrath, Joy Luck Club, The Things They Carried, Maximum Ride

Day trip to pottery town with girlfriends

Looking forward to being in the US this summer

Signing leases... for us to live here and for someone else to live in our Chicago house


There's probably a lot more happening this month, but that's what I come up with for now. I seem to be out of ideas for real writing these days... but I can make lists! LOL. Maybe I am tired of blogging, or finding it less important than I used to.

We are grateful to have a year left in Shanghai, but it is certainly seeming by now like we have been here a long while. We are "one of those" families who have stayed past the standard three years. Definite veterans. We wonder what it will be like to live in the US again. We love our life here. There is a lot of "daily-ness" but also a fair amount of pretty cool stuff too. :-)

That's all I've got for now, besides hundreds of photos from Jen and Andrew's visit that I hope to sort and post more of sometime soon!

Fair Warning

Just in case you had considered doing otherwise.

Swimming Newborns

A Chinese friend of mine just gave birth to a baby last week. I visited her several times in the hospital, and on the second visit she mentioned that the next day her baby would be going swimming. I was pretty incredulous... how would a three day old baby go swimming? My friend invited me to come watch the swimming session the next day. Here's what we saw!

The newborn swimming area... surrounded by glass on three sides for viewing. See the cute "under the sea" themed decorating? This room contains six or eight deep, round tubs (see bottom left corner of picture), each for an individual baby to "swim" in. Two adults are allowed in this room with each newborn, all other visitors can watch through the windows.
The baby is completely undressed, a special seal is placed over their umbilical stump to keep it dry, and an circular float fastened around their neck. In this picture, my friend, the one wearing glasses, is peering over the shoulders of the nurses fitting the the float around her baby boy's neck.
Then it is swimming time! After the water temperature has been carefully checked, baby is set afloat in the tub. The tub wasn't filled very full, so the baby seemed to be far down in! All the babies "swimming" while we were there were quite peaceful. I'm sure it is a womb-like experience for them- aside from the plastic inflatable around their neck! My friend's little guy moved his legs around and floated quite happily.
After a short "swim", the baby is taken out and bundled up in a cozy towel, lotioned and powdered and diapered, and then fed something out of a little bitty cup by one of the nurses before being returned to his parents. For this whole experience, the new parents pay 50 RMB, about $7.

I described this whole scene to Scott on the phone later in the day, before I got to show him these pictures. He said that if he hadn't already lived in China for a few years, he would swear I was making this up! It's just one of those things I don't picture happening in the West. But who knows, maybe it will catch on. :-)

One of these things is not like the others....

Seaweed sprinkles on a donut... not so yummy to my Western palate.

Behind the Wall

Earlier this week I was taking a walk down one of the main roads in Jinqiao, the mostly expat housing area where we live. I was surprised to find the wall that runs all along the sidewalk in this particular block had about a twenty foot section knocked out of it. I had not really considered, in the hundreds of times I had passed this way, why there was even a wall around this property. I had not thought about what was behind the wall, but assumed that maybe it was vacant land just waiting for another expat housing development to be built on it.

What I saw as I slowed to a stop by the missing section of the wall was this lovely garden being tended by hand by a couple of elderly people. Off to the right, outside of this photo, was a nice stand of corn, growing ten feet high. In the background you'll see what appears to be the blanket covered home of this couple. Their laundry is hanging neatly on a line in front of the house. As I stopped to take this photo, one of the two smiled and waved at me.
Now we've seen plenty of this type of living since we've been in Asia, some of it an easy bike ride from where we live. It's not that subsistence farming itself was a total shock. It's that these people had, by the look of their garden, been here for a while behind a wall across the street from a country club-type neighborhood and we didn't know it. And they smiled. They are happily working and living in a manner in stark contrast to those across the street from them.

How shall we then live? Does this change anything?

Little Bit of Chinglish

These signs posted in a park where I walk made me smile one morning last week. Enjoy!





This one is my favorite!

Mooncakes in Mid-Autumn

Mid-Autumn Festival is coming up this week. Feels kind of funny to call it "mid-autumn" when it's still as hot as blazes in Shanghai most days in September. Mooncakes are the traditional food enjoyed during this holiday, and Carrefour has been displaying these pretty little round pastries for weeks. On Friday when the girls and I were in the store, they wanted to choose some... not because they are very tasty, but because they're so cute! Traditionally, they are filled with a lard based paste flavored with a variety of different ingredients, such as egg, bean paste, coconut, etc. Last year we got some from Starbucks that had chocolate and hazelnut fillings. Yumm.
This giant mooncake has been displayed in Carrefour for quite a while... I'm sure it's thoroughly stale, but it's size is certainly impressive.
One more note abought the holiday... Mid-Autumn Festival is a one day holiday and this year it falls on Wednesday (it's based on the full moon) of this coming week. In order to get three days in a row off, most local Chinese companies have their employees work both Saturday and Sunday this weekend so after the holiday on Wednesday, everyone can have Thursday and Friday off too. Seems a little goofy to us, but they like it this way!

Cosmo Update

The cosmos are thriving! I have been so pleased that they have made it past the fragile, seedling stage and are able to make it more than a day without watering. The plants with the lacier foliage, which produce pink and purple blooms, were slower to grow at first, but are rapidly catching up with their sturdier looking counterparts, which will produce orange and yellow flowers.
The one attacker I've had to battle with these young plants is snails. I've lost probably a dozen plants to their feasting. You wouldn't think snails could be much of a threat, but they seem to thrive in the humidity here, and look at the shape this poor little seedling is in as a result of their midnight snacking:
Fortunately, most of the plants seems to have avoided the snails' munching. These plants look like they will have buds on them any day now!Here's a look at our funky front yard, and the raised round bed that I have the cosmos growing in. Hopefully soon there will be some color peeking above the bushes around the outside of the circle.I'm enjoying putting together these posts about my little garden. Again, thanks for indulging me. Mark, I hope you've gotten to read these posts... and I'm watching for updates from your backyard as well! :-)

Morning Playgroup

I came across this scene of grandmothers on their stools and toddlers gathered together on the sidewalk this morning as I rode my bike. :-)

And Again

Once again I sit in the Admirals Club in the O'Hare airport, waiting for the flight to Shanghai. We've just finished our third summer of visiting the US for the hot weeks of Shanghai summer. Now the kids and I head back to our home away from home for the fourth year of our sojourn in China. Scott has been back there for several weeks already. It's wearying in some ways, this being away from our own space and having our family separated for some of the summer weeks. But its also wonderful to have this kind of time that is so very different than our other life in Shanghai, with our extended families in the green of the Midwest.

We think we have two more school years in China, so that means next summer will be our last of this kind, where we leave our home for the summer and travel around the world to be with our extended family. I made a comment in a post a few months ago about how sad it will be to be on that final flight coming home from Shanghai someday, knowing that we wouldn't be returning there in the fall. I'm glad that final flight is still a couple of years away, as we still have lots to look forward to in our "China life," but this morning, on the early flight from Cleveland to Chicago, I had an inkling of the relief we might feel to no longer be doing this back and forth. Someday. :-)

So in a few hours we'll head out for the long flight, the fourteen hour one, to go home to Scott and China. I am still incredibly grateful for this whole experience of living on the other side of the world, and although it will be good to have it end in a couple of years, I'm glad it's not over yet.

Monday thoughts, on the last day of May

The girls are next door on the neighbor's trampoline. The boys are across the street at school, playing basketball with friends. I am sitting out on our little deck, having just finished preparing some chicken to bake for our supper tonight. Scott has probably finished up work for the day and is getting in the car about now to make his way across the river home to us.

There are less than two weeks of school left before summer vacation, and only a little more than two weeks until the kids and I head back to the US for the summer. Only one month until Scott heads back to the US to join us and together we join his family for a week at the beach, something we've all been looking forward to. I am excited for summer and the time we'll have with the people we love, but I'm not anxious to leave as I have been other times. The characteristic steamy, sticky Shanghai summer is late in arriving this year, so the weather has been lovely, but more than that I am more and more aware of how much I love this community, the people we've been privileged to meet and the life God has given us in China.

I said good-bye to a dear friend today. It's the time of year for good-byes in Shanghai. She and her family are moving back to the US tomorrow, after nine years here in China. Oh, how I will miss our honest conversations and her listening ear. She and I walked together, through the city streets on the Puxi side of the river where she lives, chatting as if it were any other day and not our last day together. She had a few last minute purchases to make, so I joined her in her errands. On the walk back to her house we stopped at a little stand for a made-to-order sushi roll. We chose the fillings, watched as the woman working the stand put the rice on the sheet of seaweed, added the fillings, and rolled it up. It looks so easy, I told my friend. Maybe I'll try to make it at the beach this summer...

It's Memorial Day in the US. I heard a patriotic song on a US radio program I was listening to online, and I felt a pang. It's not Memorial Day here. Have I taught my kids enough about the great country America is, the sacrifices made for the freedoms enjoyed there, unlike anywhere else in the world?

I've been holding babies recently, beautiful, sweet babies with bright eyes and wide smiles. They are orphans with varying medical needs, being cared for through several different venues run by expats here in Shanghai. God has opened up several opportunities for me to be a part of these ministries, right on the heels of Madelyn starting school. I am in awe of how God has given me significant ways to use my time.

Speaking of school and Madelyn, she is doing beautifully. She tells me many details each day about her friends, her teachers, the games they play in PE, the conversations at the lunch table, the prayers they say before lunch, the songs they sing in music class, etc, etc. It's wonderful to see her blossoming. Her writing, one area I felt I was weak in teaching her, has amazed me. She is incredibly creative! God makes a way when I thought there was no way.

I have more I could say, but I think I'll stop for now. Thanks for listening. :-)

Tomb Sweeping

Qing Ming, the tomb sweeping festival, was celebrated on the Monday after Easter in China this year. As our kids had the day off for the holiday, we took a family bike ride out to the shore with the Allens. On the way we passed a dozen or so of these "swept" tombs. They were by the side of the road, not in any type of marked cemetery but in this unofficial burial ground. The mounds appeared to have been literally swept or raked clean, and decorated with streamers and flowers. A couple had incense burning on them.

Swap

Just about to leave to take my cousin to the airport after a wonderful week together... while I'm there, I'll pick up Mary and Justin! What fun to go from one visitor to the next set!

Haven't taken many pictures at all recently, though I am still behind in posting some from our Xi'an trip. I'll try to get to that soon, but will be busy taking Mary and Justin to places they can photograph!

Seen on the Street

Just in case the picture is too small on your monitor to read this sign we spotted on the outside of a building this weekend, it says, "Friend-making clubhouse at half past eight."

Interpret it however you like! :-)

I've been wanting to take a picture like this...

...since we've lived here! It is a fairly common site where we live, these bicycle carts loaded with impossibly large loads of styrofoam or empty bottles for recycling, but I've rarely seen one when I had my camera with me. Today as I was walking back from Concordia with the girls, we saw this one coming from a ways down the street. I had the camera because we had come from a basketball game, so I stood the girls on the far side of the street and ran back to the middle of the street for a good shot.
There is a famous photographer here in China, known for capturing shots of daily life, who has a well-known print very similar to this one... his is of a load of empty bottles, but is a similar size load to my photo. I'm pretty pleased to have captured this China scene with my own camera!