It's a phone conspiracy...

Tuesday morning, 4 AM.  Soundly sleeping towards the 4:45 alarm for Kevin to get up and go exercise.  My alarm goes off at 5:30, but I'm usually just dosing after he gets up.

My phone is sitting on the desk, and a text comes in.  Chime!  I come up out of the fog of sleep--did my phone go off?  Then comes the reminder chime.  Yup.  it did, and it's just one of those Chinese ads that come and I can't even read.  That was the end of sleep for the morning.  Now the phone gets turned off at night!  Take that, China Unicom!

Wednesday morning, 1 AM.  The phone from the U.S. rings.  It's an unrecognizable area code, and a wrong number.  Okay, that's forgivable... sinking back into sleep when 10 minutes later it rings again.  Same person.  Now sleep is really gone.  I guess we'll just have to shut off the internet router when we go to bed.  I do not like ruining a night's sleep!  And two nights in a row has to be a conspiracy!

And Basketball Continues...

Recently, on the way to watch Ellie's basketball game, we drove through downtown Tianjin.

And yes, that is a Ferris Wheel--the world's largest that is built on a bridge.

We've not ridden it yet, and I don't know that I want to,

but the view would be great, on one of the 10 days each year when there is no smog.

 Ellie's team is doing well this season.  They've won all games except

one.  Last weekend in Beijing they had an overnight trip, playing one game on Friday evening

and one on Saturday morning.  They lost the evening game.

They play other international schools--BIS (Beijing Int. Sch), BISS (Beijing Int. Sch-Singapore; there were several Muslim girls on their team with long-sleeved shirts and leggings);

THIS (I never did find out the actual name, but it is a Chinese international school for the 

kids of the wealthy or government officials), and there are British schools, German schools, etc.

I had no idea how complex the international school scene is!

 Our school, Tianjin Int. (TIS), doesn't have a gym, so they contract with a nearby

Chinese school to use their gym.  The facilities are adequate, but there is hardly any heat, which the players don't mind, but the girls sitting on the bench wear their coats,

as do the sprinkling of parents who come to watch.

 And meet Mr. Zhang, our driver.   

 TIS won this game, in their typical manner.  By halftime, the score is 20-5, and 

the second string gets to play almost the whole second half,

with the final score 28 to 18 or so.  

Ellie pulls down rebounds.  She has shot a couple of 3-pointers.

She's scrappy on defense, getting some steals

or at least tying up the ball and getting a jump ball.

It's been fun to watch her develop, and

it's interesting that if she hadn't been required to take the extra PE credit

she would never have known how much she likes basketball.

Sometimes what looks like a setback turns out to be a blessing.

Something New (to us)

One great part of this Chinese Adventure is trying new fruit.

At least it is new to us.  I don't care for the dragon fruit.

But we have all decided that pomelos are a new favorite.

Maybe it's because they are so big--just like a grapefruit but huge, right?

 Not quite.  

The fruit is dense, and you peel it and eat it with your fingers.

Less juicy, but sweeter. We were SO surprised!

We are working our way through the several varieties, seeing what 

the difference in taste is, because the price runs from 50 cents a pound

to $2 a pound (in converted money and measurements).

So far, we can't tell much difference.

 Then, on the other end of the scale, are these little, tiny oranges.  I'm not sure what they are called, but they are cheap (this basketful cost less than a dollar), and so sweet.  Maybe they are the true "mandarin" oranges.  Except they are smaller than what I've seen in the cans.  They peel easily, with a very thin peel, and then the fruit is just a bite.  We love them!

 They go fast!

Cure for the Christmas Rush... Move to China

    Since we’ve moved to China I have the curious feeling that I’m on vacation.  I guess with my location being so different, it just feels like “vacation” is the right way to handle things.  Except I’m not, really.  I do have a church calling, but it doesn’t take as much time as my previous callings did.  I do have a family to take care of, but I have an ayi who does all the cleaning, washing, ironing, bed-making, bathroom cleaning, and keeping the place looking spotless, except on the weekends.  I do get to cook.  My days are pretty free, which is nice because it seems that there are frequents lunches to get to know someone who has just moved in or say goodbye to someone moving home.  So my stress levels are pretty low, and I have only had one minor migraine since moving here.  

Hmmm.  Maybe they WERE caused by stress.

     I have had a harder time getting caught up in the Christmas rush this year, and that’s good… and bad.

     Again, I don’t feel stressed—that’s good.  But I’m also not getting things done, and that’s bad.  No Christmas cards done, no shopping done (but there are some reasons for that—our internet has been abysmally slow the past half month and most of what I need needs to be done on the internet); no holiday baking, no bustle and rush, and although each year I decry the pace and wish to just slow down and enjoy it, somehow it just isn’t the same.  No “25 Days of Christmas” programming on TV to flip on and have a sappy Christmas movie going on in the background as I finish up a project or wrap gifts. 

    But I did get some baking done—almost by accident.  On Monday, I suddenly realized we ALWAYS do baking on the first Monday in December (if not before) in order to have goodies to take visiting teaching or to neighbors.  So just after the ayi finished cleaning the kitchen in the morning I got out the KitchenAid, plugged in the transformer (so I don’t burn out my machine on the Chinese electricity), and set about making Christmas cookies.  Our oven is small, but I’m not complaining (too much!) because most Chinese homes do not even have ovens—they do not bake anything.  So, it only fits one cookie sheet at a time, and baking two batches of cookies takes at least a movie to finish.  (I brought out my laptop, set it on the counter and put on a DVD). 

Then in the evening after the girls got home, we did the frosting.  Ellie had too much homework so she just listened in, and Kevin was in India on a business trip.   We watched the First Presidency’s Christmas Devotional on the internet as we decorated and added sprinkles.

They looked “just like home” and taste just as good.  (Alice took some to the Korean student she is tutoring and she thought they were too sweet).

Yup, that’s what the Chinese think of American cookies. They don’t like them because of the sweetness—and I have to admit, they are REALLY sweet.

 For the first time in many years, I made candy cane cookies.  It had seemed before that the two colors (made in separate ropes, then twisted together) easily broke apart and were less than satisfactory.  I accidentally solved that problem.  After the twist is made, roll the entwined rope again—the two colors adhere to each other better and form a smooth cookie.  And then, since we Americans like our cookies SWEET, we piped some frosting to outline. 

 I even made some chocolate Christmas molds.  In our shipment were some bars of really good chocolate--but being in a hot metal container in July just murdered them.  The chocolate is whitish and crumbly.  I experimented with the bar of orange pecan chocolate. I melted it with a tablespoon or two of butter, and it reconstituted beautifully! Then I put it in the molds to harden in the fridge. 

 Smooth and delicious!  

I'm glad to know all that chocolate isn't worthless after all.