It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Where there is a will there truly is a way. Saddened by the lack of trees and decorations at Wal-Mart (overpriced Charlie Brown trees and limited selections of ornaments) and determined to make our first Christmas away from home a memorable one LaWanda set out on a mission. Aided by our friends in Tianjin (see previous three posts) she found a winter wonderland of everything Christmasy (well . . . not quite everything). Thrilled to tears (literally) she kissed the store clerk (literally), told her she loved her (in Chinese) and came back with a bag of Christmas stuff that slightly resembled the bag of stuff that the Grinch stole from Whoville. So we loaded our seven foot, twelve dollar Christmas tree and extra suitcase (donated by our gracious hosts) onto the plane and carried it to our humble abode. It has been quite the attraction for Chinese and foreigners alike.

As China does more and more business with the West there is a higher demand for all things Western including holiday items. Since the first shopping spree in Tianjin we have found a boat load of Christmas goodies. You have to know where to look or be gifted with and incredibly keen sense of Christmas radar (such as LaWanda) but Christmas is beginning to hit China. Here's the catch . . . in all of our Christmas endeavors we have seen dozens of trees, hundreds of snowmen, thousands of Santa's, about 3 million ornaments and one Jesus . . . a nativity calendar that now hangs on Rachel's bedroom door. You can't blame China though. Remember Christmas is not a Chinese holiday, ten years ago you wouldn't have found a trace of Christmas here . . . they just borrowed it from us as a gesture of kindess for foreigners living and doing business in their country. I guess the Christmas they got from us was heavy on the Santa and light on the Jesus. Hmmm.


Our living room


Not actual presents (I already snooped)


The dining room window


Christmas with a smile

Just one more Thanksgiving post . . .

Rachel and Elianna


La and Mande


The other Rachel and a very hungry Mande. Sorry Mande (at least your eyes aren't closed)


Isaiah with his future "look out ladies" smile 

Happy Pork Ribs Day!

What is the one question that Americans living in China get asked the most by Americans not living in China in late November? "Can you get turkey for Thanksgiving?" The answer (like all answers related to living in China is, "it's just not that simple." .Yes there is turkey in China . . . somewhere. However, if you are fortunate enough to stumble across one at an import mega mart or in a back alley (back alley is probably not actually turkey) be prepared to surrender half a month's salary. Some foresight is also required considering the fact that most turkeys in China are larger than most ovens in China. Not wanting to work harder than the original pilgrims just to eat bird meat filled with that drug that makes you fall asleep immediately after lunch we opted for a much easier and extremely tasty alternative . . . sixteen boxes of sweet, tender, fall off the bone, melt in your mouth pork ribs. Delicious.

Thanksgiving was a perfect visit with three families we met in Colorado right before we came to China and one new friend. We immediately became close friends in July and this visit only served to tighten the bond. It was really refreshing to share this holiday with seven other adults and seven other children who have all had a very similar last four months. We ate like pigs (no pun intended), laughed hysterically, shared our hearts and even got a little flag football in (followed by three days of whining and wound licking). Just what we needed.


A feast fit for . . . umm . . .us.


Rachel and Noah reunited.


Dan and Jason with the cheese on


The two prettiest girls in the world.

More pictures of Thanksgiving

The "kids table" is a universal phenomenon that crosses all cultural barriers.



However, when I was a kid we got the card table and the adults got the real thing. Not so this year . . . big people on the floor.

Good friends, good food, good fun . . . really great Thanksgiving. 

A Look Into Our World

This is the front entrance to our dorm/apartment building...LDI has 10 apartments just like ours in this building, the rest of the building is for other foreign teachers and some of the LDI students . . . their living areas are much different than ours, however. The other foreign teachers have one bedroom and a living / kitchen area with heat and air, the students have two sets of bunkbeds and no heat or air. We are very thankful for our small home!

This is our side of the building. We are three windows up and the last three windows on the far left of the picture.

The University Library on the west side of the University Square. We have been told this is the second largest Library in Changsha. Considering we are not even in the top five largest/best Universitys in the city, that's a pretty big deal.

The "back street". One day we went out back and all these buildings had just been demolished! They are needing to widen this alley/street to allow for all the traffic that has been created from the growth of the University. Always something new! 

Another Look Into Our World

Our most traveled street, up the hill from our apartment is the LDI classroom building.

The courtyard in the classroom building . . . looking down from LDI's 5th floor

The front of the classroom building . . . and the beautiful fountain in the University Square

The bulletin boards outside the classroom building and the entrance into the courtyard area. 

Game Night

Jenga Drama . . . this was a new game for our friends, but they were quick learners!

A very unruly game of Sequence . . . but in the end the Girls Rule and the Boys Drool! (Always trying to teach American Culture, even if it comes from Jr. High!)

The losers, or winners, depending on which ones the girls were, wore the victors/losers crown . . . or, the Chinese humiliation of choice: crawled under the coffee table. Shao Jerry was the loser here . . . but what a great color for him!

LaWanda, Julie, Holly, John, Da (big) Jerry and Shao (little) Jerry

The night began with some great food from one of the many restaurants near the front gate of the University, then Holly and I mixed up a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies . . . and the games began. It's a great way to spend a Sunday evening before beginning another very busy week. 

Wedding Bells are Ringing!

Jerry's student, Jane, and her new husband

The bustling banquet hall

One, of about 15 times they showered the bride and groom with confetti. . . the gentleman on the left is the MC for the reception . . . One loud and boisterous MC!!!

Rachel had a blast playing with the other children while we were enjoying the banquet . . . and the boy behind her here even informed Jerry that she didn't understand him and translated for her when he came to tell her that she shouldn't run aound the tables . . . quite funny!


This was our very first Invitation to a Wedding Celebration! (note I did not say the first wedding celebration we had been present for. . . one of the larger resturants we have attended a couple of times is a very popular "wedding banquet destination", but apparently not private, because both times we have gone during a wedding banquet and we were still seated and waited on as if nothing unusual was happening! We always wanted to crash a wedding reception . . . and i guess now we have!) It really was a fun time of celebration, Jane and her new husband were so very happy . . . and exhausted! I guess our cultures aren't that different when it comes to the bottom line of weddings. . . a happy and exhausted couple head off into the sunset! 

A Baby In A Basket

Shhh . . . we have to hide the baby so the mean king won't find him!

Ahhh . . . such quiet, attentive students of the word!

"Oh, Princess! Look what I found in the river! "

"Yes, sister Miriam, I would like you to find a nurse for me . . . "


On Sundays, when we meet as a group, everyone takes a turn filling all the roles . . . this week happened to be my week for S.S. and we had a spell-binding preformance after the lesson with each of the three girls taking a turn being "Princess" , "Mommy" and "Sister Miriam". . . they did such a great job pretending. Who would have guessed that I would move to China and WANT to be the S.S. teacher??? None of my girlfriends at FGBC, huh, girls??? 

Experiencing Technical Difficulties

In recent days we have not been able to access our blog. The university has kindly added broadband access to all the student dorms (which are at max capacity) thus making our access much slower during peak hours when students are not in class. . . this may be the cause, and may not be the cause, we are uncertain, but have been told that blog access here is quite a "hit and miss" situation (insert previously discussed reasoning for this here) . . . even now i am getting a message that says this post may or may not publish, I am crossing my fingers and speaking to him about it now . . .

So, just to let you know, we are still here, still wanting to keep you updated, but may need to find a more convienient form of communication.

My Identical Chinese Beef Twin

That's right! I have found him. This is Jimmy, my identical Chinese beef twin. We had a cookout with one of my conversation groups (students who get together every week to practice their English) this week and I found the one man in China who loves beef as much (or nearly as much) as I do. His excitement as the beef came off the grill nearly brought tears to my eyes.


Here are some more pictures of our day out. It rained most of the day but we were not intimidated.