WE'VE GOT MILK!

We've been very this week for it only being Tuesday, but even here in China we can't escape the crazy Holiday Season. Yesterday (Monday) I got up and took Emma to Korean class and then I planned to stay for Body Shaping class. Our instructor was sick so I stayed at the school and visited with friends. It was then that I made arrangements to have fresh milk delivered to our apartment every morning. The milk we can get at the grocery store is not refrigerated and because I can't read the labels, I've come home with apple milk before (YUCK!) Jim is scared of the milk and wouldn't drink it, but I was still cooking with it. The kids were really missing milk, so when I heard of this opportunity I jumped on it. The farmer who will deliver the milk said he could deliver to us last, which would be between 2 and 3 am YIKES! Is milk really worth hearing the door bell every morning at 3...I think not! So we came up with the solution to put a covered trash can (very small) outside ouir apartment door when we go to bed and when we get up at 6am to turn on our hot water heater (for our baths at 7) we can get the trash can with bags of milk in it. Well, I put a clean liner in a covered trash can that we had and Jim flipped out! It grossed him out that our milk was in our trash can. It doesn't bother me at all. Our stairwell is cold so it stays cold and the bags are sealed so I think it's a great set up. Jim is still hesitant. I invested in a box of cocoa cereal (very expensive import food for these parts) so the kids (and Jim) would eat it with milk as we try to adjust to the new milk. I'm not even a milk drinker but had trouble living without milk. I hope to get some milk fat and cream from this farmer too and make butter and whipped cream. It's only getting better. I did a little shopping later in the day and Jim finally took me to the bank so I can go by myself some day. He must have gotten tired of asking for money.....now he'll make me go.....I liked not knowing so I didn't have to make the 10 minute walk. It's been a big deal not having tea bags that I can make iced tea with. I found some yesterday but it still wasn't anything like Lipton. I thought it would work though. Then we received 2 packages in the mail. Tea bags were in one box and so we had iced tea with our dinner.....what a treat. Thank you to all who helped fill the boxes...we are so very blessed!

Tonight we went to the orphanage to teach English for the first time. We had 5 elementary students and we really enjoyed it. We didn't know how much English they knew, so we started with numbers and played games. A young man I see at the Foreign Language School sometimes was visiting there, and he offered to translate for us so it worked out really well. We also found a short cut to the orphanage. We live about 3 walking minutes away!! Not only is His timing always right, His location is too! It took us longer to get our coats, shoes and gloves on than it did to walk there. The directors (a married couple) said they'd love to see where we live....they are foreigners here too (Korean) and don't know very many people. The wife said " please invite us some day" Her desperation to "get away" made me realize the importance of meeting with them outside of the orphanage. Sometimes I feeel we don't get invited very many places because of our 4 children, could you imagine having 34!! I bet they get very few invites out. There's no way our loud household would frazzle them, so we plan to invite them over soon.

I am busy getting things in order for my English students' Christmas party and concert. Jim is learning a song for the same concert and Selah is learning a part for a play for a different program. Emma and Jameson are learning how to do the lights and sound board in the theater so they can help at various programs in the theater. Our Holiday Season is so very different here, but we still figured out how to stay busy.
Sorry. No pictures this time, but I should have alot after this weekends' events.

A LONG AWAITED ORPHANAGE VISIT

A new 8 month old friend and his caregiver at the orphanage.

Joseph making new friends at the orphanage ( He's the one with

the passy in his mouth!)

This past Thursday we got to visit the orphanage already established here. It is supported by an organization in So. Korea. The directors are a married couple and they live with their 2 sons at the orphanage. The orphanage is on the third floor of a 5 floor building. (The fifth floor is a skating rink...can't wait to try that out!) I think they use the full floor and there's alot of room. 34 children live there. They have a large kitchen/dining room, several bedrooms (4-6 children to a room), a large library and classroom for studying. They also have a rec. room with a pool table, ping pong table, weights, and a stage with karaoke. I was very impressed and it did not look like we expected it to. The children were studying and getting home from school when we arrived ( it was after 7pm and the high school students were just coming home from school!) The directors were very open with us and are willing to share what they know about Chinese orphanages. The husband, Daniel, expressed a need for fellowship and I hope he and Jim will be able to find time to just "hang out". His wife is Soo Son and she is close to my age. We made arrangements with them to teach Eng. on Tues. and Thurs. evenings. They seemed very appreciative of our volunteering. We are excited to go back....my kids will have fun there and I'm craving to learn the ins and outs of the orphanage world. We had an interpretter with us, but the directors' English was pretty good.....I don't think we will always need a translater when we go there. It is also only a 5 minute walk from our apartment.

We had dinner this evening with many of the volunteers. Cy is here now. It was good to see him again. We ate at the hotel that we stayed at when we first arrived. It was Korean food. I'm really enjoying the "grassy" and "weedy" side dishes. I have no idea what we're eating but because it looks like grass and weeds, I assume I'm eating healthy. Our helper Sunny makes these dishes too and I love it. Emma is starting to complain that we eat too much grass......but I'm not. We also had fried tofu (Jameson loved), duck, sweet and sour pork, kimchi, rice and other vegetable dishes that are too hard to explain. We eat veggies here that I've never heard of...alot of roots I didn't know you could eat!!

We have a busy weekend. Jameson is going to meet a boy who lives here with his extended family but was born in the States....English is his first language so we're excited to get the two boys together. Emma has a play date with a Korean girl from my English class. They live near us and after our spaghetti party, the mother invited Emma over to play at her house...she is only a year younger than Emma. Emma is excited to go. We are going to a Christmas dinner for all the Hope School teachers at the Pizza place we love to go to on Saturday afternoon. We are also meeting with a friend for family pictures.....and of course I teach 2 English classes on Saturday and we have mandatory meetings on Saturday morning and Sunday afternoon......is it even possible to fit so much in one weekend.....we'll find out!!

SHOWERS OF FREEBIES

Today wase a day of Freebies. It began this am when Joseph and I walked to Andrea's apartment. We walk there every Tuesday am to meet with the ladies on our team. The Korean, Belarussian and American women meet to spend time together and to eat lunch. On the way I stopped at a bakery to buy some sweets for the meeting. Joseph was with me and the workers at the bakery made over him, and then when I paid they gave me a free loaf of sweet bread with raisins. That'll work. Later in the afternoon Jim and I took the kids to the new mall by our home. I purchased gifts for the girls in my English class. The sales clerks fussed over Joseph, who was in a good mood and smiled and shook his head "no-no" for the ladies. Who wouldn't love that? When I paid for the gifts they gave us a free plush turtle puppet (I assume for Joseph). It really is cute and of pretty good quality. Hooray, a turtle! As we were leaving the mall, Jim surprised us all by suggesting we eat at the new chicken sandwich fast food restaurant. It's called "Do and Me"....I don't know why......it just is. I was trying to order in Chinese and I was pointing at pictures alot. As I was going thru all that a worker was filling cups of " ice-cream" for us.....once again free.....they must have gotten the memo on it being freebies for Howes Day. We were thankful for the pastel scoops of "ice-cream" . The consistancy was a little different than we're use to, but it wasn't horrible. Emma hated the lavendrer (she said it tasted like butter) but Selah loved the green (melon flavored). The white scoops were just a sweet flavor. We found a seat and studied our ice-cream and our fries were brought to us. And because Joseph is just so handsome, they brought toys for him.......a truck that goes when wheeled backwards, and a set of matching fork, spoon and chopsticks. Can't beat that. After dinner we walked to the grocery store. We knew the day was over and time to go home when nothing free was offered to us there. The walk home was slow with groceries and full bellies. But what a great day being showered with freebies!

OUR FAVORITE VILLAGE

JIM AND I HAVE REALLY FALLEN IN LOVE WITH THE VILLAGE OF YANG PAO. I WANTED TO SHOW YOU SOME HOMES AND A STREET SCENE. THE OPEN FIELD IS THE PROPERTY PURCHASED FOR THE ORPHANAGE WE ARE WANTING TO BUILD. ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAINS IS RUSSIA. NOTICE THE PINK OUTHOUSE IN THE FIRST PICTURE....PRETTY!

SUNDAY SHOPPING

(street scene by our apartment)

Today I went to the Russian market on the outskirts of Hunchun. The market caters to Russians who cross the border for cheap shopping. The shops (more like booths) are owned by Chinese, but they speak Russian and sell items Russians may like. The average Chinese person doesn't shop there. I went there with another team member and a translator to try to find shoes to keep in the studio I've been taking aerobics in. I can't find shoes because most Chinese women don't have a size 9 foot like me. So we ventured to the Russian market. First of all, all the Chinese spoke Russian to us, but when they realized we were with our own translator, they quoted us fair prices. I bought shoes, mens but they'll work, that are so name-brand they used two brand names.....on the side "goodyear" is printed and on the back "adidas" is printed (Did you even know Goodyear made shoes? Me either....but I now own a pair!) They just put any old American name on merchandise and most don't realize it's not authentic, or even makes sense. I also was tickled to buy Jim running pants for Christmas. (Then this evening at our Sunday meeting another team member gave Jim a pair that he loves.....just my luck!) I bought a few gifts for the kids, but not very much. We rode the bus home from the market and the 3 of us ate at a fast food chicken sandwich restaurant that just opened today. It was pretty good....salty fries and lettuce on the sandwiches (usually cabbage is on the sandwich instead, which I've learned to like.) We went to a new mall near my home that had it's grand opening today. I don't know how long it'll stay open. The prices were way too high for Hunchun. The shopping is more like our department stores and I can't wait to take Jim and the kids there. It's not like Chinese shopping at all. I'm glad it's there.

At our Sunday night meeting Jim led songs for the first time. He called the team member kind of in charge and asked what he thought about Jim taking over the singing part and was told that would be great. It really was a need. I could tell others enjoyed it and I'm glad Jim has that to prepare for each weekend. It gives him more of a purpose here.

A SPAGHETTI PARTY

Last night, Friday, we invited my afternoon English class to our apartment for an evening of games and American food. The students wanted me to make spaghetti, which is one of the only American dishes they could think of. I was excited for my 3 children have young people to play with for an evening and I think my kids were excited too. After a busy Friday, I walked to the nearest restaurant to meet my students (You see, I invited these students to my home but I still can't say my address, so I had to meet them and escort them to my apartment....maybe I need to learn my address!) It was extremely cold and 3 out of my 4 students met me at the restaurant. The only one who didn't show was my translator!! One student speaks much better than the others and so I use her as a translator (I still don't know why she didn't show) Two of the students brought gifts for me and one brought food to share. I had to make spaghetti sauce from scratch the night before and at the baby specialty shop I found spaghetti noodles (yes, I know that doesn't make sense...few things do here). We also had french bread with garlic butter. We found a bakery near our apartment that makes incredible french bread and if we ask for fresh then they make it and tell us when to return to get ift hot and fresh from the oven....such a treat for a family that doesn't own an oven! In fact, the bakery offered to deliver it from the oven to our apartment, but once again not knowing my address wasn't very smart. We played games like checkers and Guess Who and all the children loved the Wii. One mother stayed with her daughter, which was fine because she kept Joseph busy so I could play with the children. We had a wonderful evening. I don't think all the Chinese children enjoyed the spaghetti, but my Howe kids loved it!! For dessert we had American oreos and Chips Ahoy cookies. A delicious American meal. We had such a nice evening that we look forward to doing it again.

Jim and I have started Chinese class. We'll meet with other team members Mon, Wed, and Fridays for an hour each time. There is an expense but very small...$1.40 per person per hour! Nothing to complain about. We were given Chines names.....mine sounds pretty, but when translated means "day 10". Jim's name sounds similar to Jacob.....but not really! The class is casual, and I think we will enjoy it. I'm excited to build my vocabulary. I like learning the language from the public when I'm out. I talk to anyone who looks like they would talk back to me. Taxi drivers always want to say something.....my Chinese may sound like I'm a taxi driver! I repeat what they say to me and listen as they correct me....it's such a hard language to learn. The few phrases I know I say whenever someone speaks to me, like: it's cold today, I have 4 children, I'm an American English teacher, That's too expensive, thank you and no good (this is polite to say when you don't want something) In fact I say these things even if they ask me something I don't understan in hopes they start to talk about something I can respond too.

Our family may begin teaching English 2 nights a week at an orphanage for older children by our home. This would be another opportunity for our kids to be around other children. We don't know details yet, but we have offered to teach in the evenings and the orphanage is open to that. This will also be a great opportunity to see how a Chinese orphanage is ran and to get experience before our orphanage is built. All of our evenings are free right now, so getting out a couple nights a week is okay with us. Our evenings are so long because we're all home in the afternoons so I fix dinner early and I'm not a slave to dishes any more becuase I have a Sunny.

Times up! Joseph just woke from his nap. I'll write more later. Thanks for reading and being a part of this Great Adventure!

WHY I FEEL SKINNIER IN CHINA

I've been having a hard time finding time to post lately. My children love being on the computer and so I asserted myself tonight and kicked Jameson off, that's the only way for me to have enought time in front of the computer to post. Funny things happen to us all the time so I'd like to share just a few tonight in hopes it makes you smile. We have learned to laugh at ourselves daily....so it's okay if you laugh at us too.
When hailing a taxi here, you simply raise your hand slightly and a driver knows to pull over. It's a subtle movement. One day as Selah, Jameson and I began our walk to school, I realized the wind was cutting thru my pants and so to be the popular mom I suggested we take a taxi. Jameson eagerly said he'd flag down the taxi. He ran ahead of me and flailed his arms as if his pants were on fire!! A taxi slammed on his brakes and the man who was in the back seat got out to give us his ride. I imagine he thought we had an emergency and felt we needed the ride more than he. I refused to get in and explained the misunderstanding as best I could with body language. The man was kind but I couldn't see getting into the taxi and not saying "Take us to the hospital....quick!" Instead all I could say was " my pants were thin so I wanted a ride" We continued walking and I flagged down the next taxi. Jameson learned his lesson and now he flags down a taxi as well as the Chinese do.
The first several weeks we were here I thought I was shrinking! My jeans were so loose and it appeared I was losing weight like crazy. Then I realized that because we don't have a dryer and because all our clothes air dry after being washed, my jeans were not shrinking....and because I have to wear them a few days in a row I was stretching them out. I may not be skinnier in China but my jeans help me feel like I am!
Last Saturday in my English class, I asked one of my students if I was saying the Chinese for "English teacher" correctly. I said "ying yu" for English and she corrected me and said "ying row". I was surprised I've been saying it wrong for the past 6 weeks so I double checked with her. Once again she said "ying row". We discussed this for awhile and I said how do you say "English " and she said "mutton" Over and over we tried to figure what each other was saying. It was like the who's on first routine. Finally we realized that she thought I asked how to say mutton. I laughed because if I would not have persisted with correcting her, I may have gone around the city telling everyone that I'm a mutton teacher!!
I'll write more later.......so much to tell!

Andra