Signs of Christmas in China

Christmas is beginning to be adopted here in China--not the part about celebrating the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, but the part about spending lots of money.

There is a big Christmas tree on a city square.  Lighted trees in front of stores.

And many stores sport cardboard Santa faces in their windows.  (And the face is always identical, and in some stores, they stay up for the entire year.)

These doors are the front doors to our apartment building, and about 2 weeks before Christmas,

the Santas appeared, along with a fake tree in the lobby.

We brought the artificial wreath to decorate our front door, Apt. 302. 

Even the street signs here in TEDA (notice the logo at the very bottom of the signs) wished everyone a 

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Interesting.  That statement is now controversial in the land of the free and the home of the brave, but is entirely acceptable in a land that doesn't have those freedoms.

Snow!

With a second winter underway, I was pleased to actually see snow this year. 

Last year was SO dreary--all gray, dirty, and so cold.  

The wind is always blowing 20 miles per hour and is always in your face no matter

which direction you are walking.  Now, I've lived in Iowa for 30 years and am no stranger to cold temperatures--the difference is, I seldom had to walk anywhere other than to the mailbox, or from my car to the door of my destination.  When it was time to walk the dog, if it was really cold, I'd just put her coat on her and send her out--she wasn't going to stray anywhere.

Here, walking is a major part of life.

 When it snows, there are no snow plows for the streets.  

Scores of workers with bamboo brooms or small shovels scurry about.

So far, we've only had a few inches but it has been so cold that it has stayed.

 Snow is rare enough here that suddenly snowmen appeared everywhere!  In front of stores, on sidewalks.

 And it wasn't children building them--it was the snow removal workers.

 Snow is so cleansing and magical.  Suddenly the world is a quieter, cleaner place.

But I hope it's gone before March!

Just Catching Up!

It's been awhile since I was able to access my blog, so here's a quick catch-up!

In November, I was able to spend Thanksgiving with five special young ladies,

and their parents, in Colorado.

As it drew closer to time for the big dinner, the girls decided they wanted to dress

like pilgrims, and their mom whipped up some bonnets for them, to go with the dresses

she'd already made for Halloween.

It's always fun to watch genius at work.

 We also were able to enjoy the warmer Colorado sunshine.

After cold, smoggy China, having clear skies was a nice change.

 Meeting and getting to know the newest young lady was the biggest treat.

After all, she was the whole reason for the 15,000 mile round trip!

 We baked.  We went to a science museum.  We drew with chalk on the driveway. We read lots of books.

I got to have lunch at school with the kindergartner and the 1st grader.

I got to attend their group piano lessons and see their progress.

 And I got to see the tender help the girls gave to their new sister and their mom.

It was the longest visit I've ever made for newborn help--usually it's a few days to a week (max!) and I  was a bit anxious that this might be too much for a daughter-in-law to have to deal with.

But everything went wonderfully well--she's pretty tolerant!

We always knew she had a dramatic flair...

For the past 2 months, Alice has been involved in play practice at her school.  Monday, Tuesday and Friday afternoons she stayed after school.  We are so fortunate in that there is now a bus (a NEW bus complete with the school logo on it!) for the kids with activities.  No longer does our driver have to make the extra trips into town to get her (a 2-hour round trip).

It took some getting used to, but now I kind of like that buses here look like caterpillars with antennae on the front.  Those review mirrors situated as they are allow for some pretty narrow passages.

But, back to Alice. 

 This weekend, the play "Backstage" was presented.  Alice played an "aging ingenue.  Oh, she was full of drama!  Self-centered.  Haughty. Clueless.  She spent quite awhile on the stage floor, in a series of dramatic faints.  Alice said it was quite the trick, learning to faint and fall without bruising important body parts.

(And I'm in the market for a nice pocket-sized camera as my camera is not up to the job!)

Alice didn't care for her "snazzy" dress.  The sleeves were itchy, and she had to wear hoops under the skirt. But it certainly added to her style!   And just for posterity's sake, that is her dad's arm as he handed her flowers.  Let it be noted.

 One of the really fun parts of the play was the age of most of the performers.  Tianjin Int. School does two plays a year, and because of the popularity of volleyball, most high schoolers opt to play on the volleyball team and do the spring play.  Since Alice has little experience, she decided to try out for this play, even though it would be mostly middle-school students (there ended up being one other high school student--Alice's best friend).  The middle school kids were SO cute!  And did a great job!   It's always a challenge learning lines and perfecting delivery, and when English isn't even your native language it can be daunting.  Sometimes it was a little hard to understand some of the Korean kids' lines.  But more often, the accent made it even better.

 For the Friday night performance, several friends from TEDA drove in with us.  And several of the Kennedy Center teachers that we know from church braved crossing the town by subway, bus and taxi.  They were smart--they brought along a couple of the Taiwanese youth from church who could help along the way. So Alice had quite the fan club in attendance. She had a great time, made a lot of friends, and got to let that dramatic self flow free.  

Way to go, Alice!

Girls' Camp in China

We experienced a new "first" this weekend--Girls' Camp in China!  Our church has a commitment to holding an annual camp experience for our young women, ages 12 to 18.  It can vary in length of time depending on the local circumstances, but is usually 4 or 5 days in length.  In nature and away from all electronic media, it is easier to connect with other girls and feel close to Heavenly Father.

Our girls' camp experiences have been in Iowa, with heat, humidity and tornado threats, as well as canoeing, swimming, and fairly tame hiking.

Things are a bit different here.

For one thing, the only "wildlife" we encountered was a teddy bear poodle with a collar and leash that wandered over to see what was happening.  And of course it didn't take long for Alice to be cuddling it.

 Some things were the same:  a night-time campfire with roasted hotdogs and s'mores.  Somebody paid big time for those items at the import stores!  

 This was an overnight camp and was held at the Goose and Duck Ranch in the mountains north of Beijing.  About the only way to get Alice there was with the driver, and Kevin and I decided to go along.  One thing very different--we had cabins!  With heat, running water, western toilets!!!, and almost-soft beds.  Wow!  (Did I mention the western toilets?!?)

We were comfy!  So, no mosquitoes.  No sleeping bags.  No tents.

 And the place was really cute.  But then, the fee was about the same as a fairly nice hotel.  

There's one thing that doesn't change, no matter where the camp is held:

sleeping chaos in the girls' quarters.

 I've been wanting to show the types of brooms used everywhere here.  Bamboo. Just tied together.

It doesn't seem very efficient to me.

 Yet it seems to get the job done.  At least as much as it needs to be done.

 The hike was also a bit different.

We started out in a parking lot, then got to ride gondolas up the mountain side.

 That silver snaky thing on the ground is a slide.  You ride the gondola up, hike around, then ride a tiny cart down the mountain--kind of like a luge run except no ice.  We were looking forward to that, but unfortunately, it began to rain and we ended up riding the gondola back down (with rain dripping in our faces)! Then came the real hike--the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall.

 A brisk day, in the 40's (another difference from our typical summer camps), and

the fall foliage was wonderful.  The misty morning made everything surreal.

Just to show how steep some sections are!

 And when we got to the end of the reconstructed portion, we kept on.  Hidden in the trees on each side are the two sides of the wall.  Bushes and trees have grown up between the stones.  Occasionally, an intact stone stuck up to trip people.

 The girls held up their yellow (poncho) flag to commit to virtue as Young Women all over the world have done over the past couple of years.  I, unfortunately, was in the wrong spot to record this picture as Alice is behind a bush.  In my defense, there were others also taking this picture, and I was on a sharp ledge with nowhere else to move to, except over the edge.  Sorry Alice!  Maybe if the official picture is published in the Church News, you'll be visible. 

We were lucky the rain held off, and only began in earnest the last part of our descent.

Back at camp, hot chili and hot chocolate was wonderful as we all needed a quick warm up.

Then crafts, and a service project of fleece blankets for an orphanage,

supper, testimony meeting, and off to home.

Another successful Girls Camp as the Beijing girls (and one Tianjin girl) bonded and had a great time.

My thanks to great leaders with the vision to carry this off.

Flowers and things...

One of the things I was first attracted to in this apartment was the huge balcony area.  Do I call it a patio if it isn't on the ground floor? Yet it is tile and has a patio "feel".  I can't really call it a deck (as I typically would call an outside congregating area) as it isn't made out of lumber or something that looks it.  So it has taken me awhile to get comfortable with what to call it, and I'm sticking with "patio".  

Over the summer, from my first visit to the plant store in April, I've been planting, nurturing, pruning, digging up dead plants (a succession of petunias just have not liked ANYTHING I did), replanting, and watering, watering, watering. (And hoping someone was remembering to water while I was gone for six weeks--and yes, there were some dead things when I got back.  The miracle was that some were alive.)  

Two weeks ago, we got our first tomato, and there are several more on the two plants.  Within the next couple of days I'll be picking the green ones and letting them ripen indoors as we are scheduled to commence freezing temperatures.   (By the way, there is a small bird next to the planter that sought refuge on our patio.)

 I've brought in the lemon tree (covered with blossoms and a few small lemons!), the peppermint,

the basil, a geranium, and a lavender plant.  Oh, the fragrances!  

 But our apartment just isn't large enough for the coleus plants.

 And apparently, whatever I've done that the petunias did not like, the coleus plants DID like.

(That's just one plant in that pot)

Not too bad for my first year of container gardening in China!

Now I can hardly wait for next spring to use what I've learned this year.

And we even rode camels in the Gobi...

 Mosques.  Forts.  Monasteries.  We saw them all!  In traveling with a tour group, there are times when you think, "I'm tired!  I'm just going to sit on the bus and pass this one by (and maybe read a book)."  But then that little voice inside starts saying "but this might be REALLY cool, and you'll miss the only opportunity to see it."  So, we saw everything.  And were exhausted by the time we returned home at the end of the week.

One delightful place I almost missed was the underground water museum that showed how ancient people began digging series of wells connected by tunnels to bring water to small areas of the desert to grow crops and live on.  Part of it reminded me strongly of the San Antonio river walk--except here the water is a small brook instead of a river.

 As we drove through a small village, I could not believe the low standard of living.  I'm sure there is no plumbing in these huts.  And since it rains so seldom many of the roofs were just twigs and branches laced together.  Rainstorms are categorized by the number of drops counted on the ground, i.e, "that was a 15-drop rain".  Occasionally, we saw TV satellites on these huts!

 I think a highlight of our trip was riding camels.  We thought it would just be one of those "photo op" experiences, where you sit on a camel and have your picture taken.  Nope!  This was the real deal--an hour ride through dunes to a hidden oasis.  With 53 of us in the group, we went in groups of 5,

but some groups are faster, or slower, than others and soon a long line was caravaning along.  It was a beautiful day, about 72 degrees with a light, playful breeze.  

Our jackets still felt good.  I can say I would not have wanted to experience the area in the 100+ temperatures of summer, nor with a real wind blowing.  The sand was very fine and would definitely have been unpleasant if it were filling the air.  (On the next picture, notice all the trees of the cultivated area in the background.  The government has been planting trees for the past 30-40 years, in an effort to keep the dunes out of the city of Dunhuang. You walk through sand and then cross into cool trees!  It's almost weird.)  

 The ride was actually quite comfortable.  The saddle fit in-between the twin humps of the Bactrian camel, with a metal rod to hold onto when the camel was getting up or kneeling down (for mounting or dismounting).  That part was a bit crazy as the camel lurches to his feet!  Otherwise, the ride was a bit more rocking than a horse, but fun.  The camels were tied to one another, so there was no individual control.  However, a pair of women in one group TWICE experienced a run-away.  Somehow, one camel became detached from the one in front and off he went, searching for some growing scrub brush to snack on--and he led the camel behind him off on his adventure.  The two women were a little anxious at first, but then laughing as their experience turned from scary to gastronomic.  

 The end of the ride was at an oasis, Hidden Crescent Moon (as the little lake looks like a crescent).  There's a nice pagoda there (and souvenirs, of course).  And Alice fell in love with camels.  (Now that's a surprise!)  The rest of the trip she agonized over buying a stuffed camel to take home.  Fortunately, most were not really stuffed (and cuddly), they were styrofoam covered with hair.  Definitely NOT cuddly.  And most had weird-looking faces.  Not something you'd want staring at you in the twilight of your bedroom.  

 But then we found the ONE!  Cute face.  Cuddly.  At the airport, of all places!  And it was a reasonable price.  So we took a picture, made a memory, and left it there.  After all, who wants to carry that around the rest of the week?

 We flew from Dunhuang to Xi'an (where the terra cotta warriors are), which is the eastern end of the silk road--where the kings lived who sent silk westward to buy better horses to try to keep the Mongols out.  It seems that their horses were bigger and faster than the Chinese ponies, so the emperor sent for some Arabians and others, trading silk and spices for them.

   I enjoyed watching the desert from the air.  First the dunes, then barren, rugged mountains.  I was SO surprised to begin to see snow on the mountain tops, and then GLACIERS!  Ones that were actually moving down the mountain and joining with others flows.  But what happens to the water that melts in the spring?  There was NO vegetation nearby.  Apparently the water flows away, or sinks into the ground, or evaporates.  

 Who would have thought we'd be able to visit Xi'an a second time this year?  We saw trees with leaves turning color that were just beginning to leaf out when we were there in April.  And we had a good time.

 We did get to spend some time on the inner-city wall.  It is wide enough for cars to drive on, but as they don't do stairs very well, there is plenty of room for walking, or if we'd had more time, renting bikes and riding.  The air was extremely hazy, which was a surprise for this area is usually quite clean.  

It was all explained as we drove out to visit the terra cotta site, and farmers were harvesting their corn fields and burning the corn stalks.  Plumes of thick, gray smoke rose from plot after plot.  And made it so visibility was less than a mile.

 What a great week it was, spending time with my sister, seeing things I never suspected were part of China.  But after 6 days on the road, we were ready to go home to our comfortable beds and familiar surroundings.  Some of the hotels had beds so hard, the carpet on the floor would have been softer but as it was sketchy looking and not clean, that wasn't really an option.  We'd had 3 flights, 3 different buses, taxis, a train, donkey cart and camel ride.  Yup, it was time to return to normal life.