Day 570 Peking Duck and Qingming Festival

I have lived in China for nearly two years now,
and I have yet to discover the pleasure of a
traditional Peking Duck dinner- until tonight.

It was the beginning of Carlos' four day fortieth birthday bash,
and about twenty of us gathered 'round the large circular
tables to enjoy the feast. Carlos is toasting with his chopsticks.

The piece de resistance of Peking Duck is when
they serve the duck head, split in half, at the end
of the meal.  At our table, Sharkey dove right in,
quacker and all.  Ewwww.  I'll pass. 

  

Birthday boy gave a speech, thanking all of his
new friends for joining him on his special day,
and for all the treasured memories we continue
to make on our crazy China adventure and this
thing called life.  There was a special salud! for
Robert, who dove in and saved Carlos in the
Philippines when we had a sudden asthma
attack while snorkeling. You da man, Robert :)
Gam Bei!!!

David was relishing in winding up Brit John over American politics.
I stayed out of the discussion, yet I couldn't help but laugh along.

Cheers to good friends, good food, and good times!
Gam Bei!!!

As I walked home from the restaurant, many people were already 
lighting their fires on the sidewalks here in the city. Tomorrow is
 the start of the three day Qingming holiday, alson known as the
Tomb Sweeping Festival.  As the name implies, familes gather on
this holiday to sweep and clean the tombs of their ancestors.
They burn paper money as an offering, along with pictures of
new cars, cell phones, clothing and such, as the Chinese believe
these things are still needed in the afterlife. This weekend also
officially marks the start of spring, when couples are often
'matched' to begin openly courting, and the farmers begin to
 turn the fields and start planting.  Qingming is a very important
 holiday for the Chinese that involves some much needed family
 time with extended relatives and eating lots of delicious
  traditional Chinese foods. I will be celebrating the three day
 weekend with a quick trip to Hong Kong- stay tuned!

G'nite, yall

Day 569 Spring, a time for reflection and renewal

Spring time is such a glorious time of year.  I can finally begin to feel the warmth of the sun on my face once again.  At long last I can shake off the cold and the funk that comes with it during the long winter months. Springtime smells so fresh, and new, and it holds such promise for what is to come!

While I love the blues of the ocean first and foremost, I love the greens of spring and summer almost as much.  I am an outdoors girl at heart, which is part of the craziness that STILL can catch me off guard..."Holy Crapola!  I live in freakin' Beijing, China! A monstrosity of a city of 22+ million! And I am halfway across the world!"  

I can tell you this much, just in the last week or two, I can feel the happy coming back :-)  It is due, in large part, to the fact that Spring has officially sprung in the 'jing!

Beijing is FINALLY waking up from her winter
slumber and the BNDS campus has come alive
and is in full bloom!  I like how Jade and Rob
chose to spend their prep period :)

We have been blessed with some beautiful blue
skies, clean air and the fragrance of magnolia trees...

And cherry blossoms...

And Momma K's favorite...hundreds of lilac bushes!

Every day I pick a fresh sprig on my way back
from the canteen.  My classroom smells heavenly!
The miniature paper kite was a gift from one
of my students this week- so sweet of her :)
Seraph knows how happy I am now that spring has sprung!

There are all varieties of flowering trees, and
Beijing has done a beautiful job of beautifying
their city of 22+ million.  Before moving here, I
was afraid that I was moving to a concrete jungle.
That simply is not true, there are beautiful parks
and green spaces at every turn. It does make me :-)

Early iris, daffodils, hyacinth, crocus and tulips
are beginning to pop up.  I can't help but snap
photos of all the beautiful flowers. 

And now, I am going to ask you to indulge me for a minute...

With spring in the air, and with all the flowers and trees blooming, I have had a pang of "what used to be."  I blame it on smelling the lilac bushes here, as I had planted lilac bushes outside my dining room window back home. I have been flooded with memories as of late.

 For those of you who do not know me well, I come from a very small town in east central Indiana.  My hometown folk could all reside in my apartment building- not even kidding.  I raised my family on a mini farm with forty acres, where we were surrounded by corn and soybean fields.  I had a vegetable garden, an herb garden, and I loved planting flowers. LOTS of flowers.  I just love to 'make things pretty' as my mother would say.

When we sold 'the big house' and built our little log cabin further up in our woods, I wanted to create a peaceful retreat, a place for the grown kids to come back for a visit, and to stay in the 'love shack' behind our cabin.  

The front of our property had early flowers that bloomed.

The side of the cabin had a working lighthouse.
When the girls went on dates, I turned the lighthouse
on when I went to bed.  When they got home (by
curfew!) I would hear them open the door by the
master bedroom to turn off the light.  I would
check the clock (you know this Momma K!) and
then I could rest easy knowing they were home safe.

The backyard was all landscaped in pea gravel, rocks, trees
and flowers.  Off the cabin's back porch, we built a 15' x 40'
koi pond with a waterfall, and beyond that was the love shack.

I built a 'dock' with pilings, that connected the log cabin to the
 love shack- as a tribute to our sailing life. There was an antique
lobster pot, and buoys that we would pick up in our sailing travels.
Yes, I really built the dock by myself- I love power tools :-)

I had a large potted palm, and a crab pot given to

us by our friends, Ken & Fran from Hatteras Island.

It was also a reminder of Florida, and every winter

we spent on the sailboat.

It was beautiful and peaceful in the woods, listening to the waterfall.

I was very proud of what we had created together.

I learned how to landscape a water garden, too, with all varieties
of water lillies, water iris, and other plants (and frogs- lots of frogs!)

It is hard for my Chinese babies to fathom that I lived in a log
cabin in a woods before I moved to Beijing.  They just can't
imagine that places or homes like this even exist in the world.

Nor can they fathom that their psychology teacher
is a sailor....

And that she lived on a sailboat for five months
each winter with her husband and her cat, Willis T.

And that she sailed across the ocean on her sailboat;
like that time we sailed to the Bahamas Islands.
"You are so brave", my Chinese babies say.

But, things changed.

Times changed. 

Fast forward two years..  

The log cabin was sold, I filed for divorce, and landed halfway across the world on planet China.  

And then I have to agree with my Chinese babies, I really am so brave, afterall.

While this may hurt some people, I cannot say I have regrets about where I am now. I do have regrets about how I handled things. However, this move to China has been about my own personal growing pains, and learning to come to terms with myself and my past.  All of it- clear back to my childhood. Growing pains are called just that for a reason- it is painful.  I have shed more tears in the last two years than I did in the first fifty years, and that is no exaggeration.  But by golly, I am getting there.

Back to my happy place.

I can honestly say that in spite of the painful times, I have also experienced tremendous joy and peace in coming to China.  I am so blessed to be able to see and do all the things I have done in these last two years....and the fifty years before that.  It has been an incredible ride, all in all, this thing called life.

So I keep snapping pictures of posies on campus,

...and in my neighborhood.

I breathe in the smell of lilacs, and magnolias,
and cherry blossoms, and the beautiful
CLEAN AIR, and I thank God that I am
right where I am, at this point of my life.

And while I look around me, and reminisce about
digging in the dirt, and working in my flower beds
or vegetable garden, I realize that while spring time
may look similar to what was once 'home', I am in
a different part of the world now. Here in China,
spring is celebrated by bringing your birds out
into the fresh air and sunshine.
Old Chinese men do love their song birds :)

Spring in the 'jing also means it is time to
take your pet turtle out for a stroll- you
wouldn't see that in Indiana!  I have to
wonder, just how LONG of a walk is it
to take your pet turtle out for a stroll???

My friend Carlos took this photo and the previous
one, so I cannot take credit.  He came out of his
apartment building the other afternoon to find his
 neighbors killing and dressing two chickens
in the apartment complex courtyard! While
I would expect to see that on the farm- it was a
shock to see in a city apartment complex!  I only
wish they had butchered the rooster that wakes me
 up every morning at about 4:30am.  I can't find
 where the damn thing lives- and believe me,
I HAVE LOOKED! Y'all know how much I
HATE roosters- I can't believe one lives near me :-(

But really, the true sign of spring in the 'jing is the diapers come off from underneath the split pants!

Which means one thing...

Cats, and dogs, and babies, and children, and adults, and old folks are back to pissing and sh****ng on the streets and sidewalks once again.  UGH. I dodged about a seven year old kid taking a dump on the sidewalk in my courtyard on my way home from school this afternoon.  I know he lives in my building, and he wasn't steps from the front door.

Seriously.

Awww, sweet spring....what a glorious time of year :-)

G'nite, y'all!

(This was a poster that advertised a lecture
I gave to the National School kids last week-
at least I think that is what it says!)

Day 566 He is Risen!

I now have over 10 blogs in the can, and I hope to soon catch up.

Since I returned from Florida in February, I have had the China blues, serious laptop issues, internet issues, and the government held political meetings for two and a half weeks, which shut down VPNs entirely- the Great Firewall of China was higher and stricter than ever.  There is a whole blog dedicated to that topic alone, as it just about sent me over the edge of sanity.  

The good news is spring has finally sprung in the 'jing...this weekend was in the low 70's, with gorgeous blue skies.  That, in itself, improves my mood and disposition immensely.  I have midterms this week, then we are off for a three day weekend for "Tomb Sweeping Day" this coming Monday.  I booked a flight to Hong Kong, and am taking myself to the beach alone for a few days.  This old broad needs to put her face to the sun, and I hope to pour though my photos and do some blogging while I am there. I need to reflect over what all has been going on with me since I returned from my February holiday. Blogging is my therapy, and with computer crashes and internet/VPN issues, even that outlet was not available to me much in this last month.  While I do have friends here, for social support and entertainment, it is not the same as 'home' and those who know me best.  I tend to keep my private thoughts, my private life...well, private.  With only a few here have I shared bits and pieces.  It has been a rough ride as of late, and I need to make peace with myself. Slowly, I am beginning to get there.

Peace has come, in part, because I am working out at the gym faithfully again. I also am attending church faithfully once again.  I fall down, time and again, and He is always there- no matter where I am in the world- waiting with open arms to pick me up.  Oh, how my heavenly Father loves me. I need to take a lesson from Him and love myself as he does. I am masterful at guilt and shame, anxiety and angst, and in the last month I have teetered on the edge of depression, beyond the seasonal affective type of depression.  I cannot afford to sink so low....China can try you, chew you up, and spit you out, even on the best of days.  The struggle was real, y'all.  

But today?  

HE IS RISEN!!!! HE IS RISEN, INDEED!!! THANKS BE TO GOD!!!

My heart was filled with pure love and joy today, and it felt So. Very. Good.  

I spoke to our headmaster about taking a group of students to a Christian Church for Easter Sunday. At the beginning of the month, two other teachers and myself took the Beijing Explorer's Club to a Muslim Mosque and to a Korean neighborhood and restaurant for a day of cultural activities.  (Blog is coming on that one, too).  While China historically is a Buddhist country, it is predominately agnostic.  Religion has dropped off the radar with these kid's grandparent's generation, it seems. They were so curious and full of questions at the Mosque that we thought it would be a great experience for them to visit a Christian church, particularly on the holiest of Christian holidays.

...and then we were gently reminded that we live in a communist country. There are Christian churches here, a few, but most of them are state registered, with sermons which must be approved by the government.  In addition, most of the churches require that you show your passport as you enter. The church I attended does not, however, and I have never had an inkling that the government is in control there.  

Haidian Christian Church is huge....six services every Sunday, over 2000 in attendance at each service. It is on the NW side of Beijing, near Peking University.  It is still over an hour's train ride and two exchanges away.  However, walking in the sanctuary, even though I am surrounded by Chinese faces, it feel close to HOME.  The 11:30am service is in English, and they have a band and worship praise team and choir.  I can close my eyes, and imagine being back at Mt. Zion Wesleyan Church, in New Castle, Indiana.  It moves me to tears.

So, while our attempt to taking the Beijing Explorer's Club was quashed, the headmaster told me that if students wanted to meet me at church for a visit, they were free to do so if they chose.  It just could not be a school sanctioned or sponsored field trip- even if it was for educational purposes.  I then invited the headmaster to join me on Easter Sunday, and she respectfully declined ;)

I gave it a few days pondering and prayer, and felt moved to extend an invitation to my small group of seniors.  I have taught this one particular group of kids for two years now, and they know me quite well.  We have had many honest discussions about family, cultural differences, religion, traditions, parenting and such.  They are awesome kids. Three of the seven plan to major in psychology at US universities, the others are all attending US universities (and one is going to London) this fall to pursue other majors.  We are a close group, and I wanted to share the Easter story and tradition with them.  I sent out a we chat message that said, "If you are curious, meet me on the subway platform at 10am to visit my church- Easter eggs and lunch included."  We have midterm exams beginning tomorrow (in fact their psyc midterm is the first two periods tomorrow morning), so I was surprised that three of them showed up.  We gave hugs all around and hopped on the next train; it was going to be a good day!

They were in awe of the mere size of the building,
and the giant cross.  They couldn't believe people
were waiting IN LINE thirty minutes before the
service began.  It's like that every Sunday, people.
The Holy Spirit is alive and well in this church!

As we sipped our coffees in the glorious sunshine,
the Chinese babies passed out eggs to everyone.
Volunteers in the church hand painted thousands
of Easter eggs in the last few weeks.  

The girls were so excited to receive their first
Easter egg.  They were beautifully painted
with Chinese characters which said things like
"Love One Another" and "He is Risen" and "God is Love"

The children were adorable in their headbands which had a
pink feather halo and shiny pink puffy wings- so China :)

The eggs were beautiful, but there was no candy!
I then told the girls the stories of our hiding 450
Easter eggs in our woods for the five kids to all
find. They were filled with candy and money,
and it was a free for all!  Those were happy family
times.  The grandparents would come and watch,
and then Mamaw especially loved to help the kids open
their eggs and count the money to see who got the
most! Afterwards, we had a big family dinner together.
Easter holds special significance for me, for many
many reasons, but for today, I told these girls
that they were to be my 'stand in' family for me.

They liked that idea :)

It was a picture perfect blue sky, clean air,
sunshiney morning in Beijing. Thanks be to God!

Soon the doors opened, and the earlier service
spilled out onto the plaza and the next group
began making their way up the stairs.  You
could feel the love and excitement in the air.
The girls were all smiles, as was everyone around us.
They remarked several times how happy people appeared.

We took our seats near the front where they
could have a birds eye view of it all, and they
were filled with questions the whole time...
they wanted to know everything, the meaning
and significance of everything they heard
and saw....trying to explain 'baptism', 'communion',
the story of 'Holy Week' and 2000+ years of
the Christian faith kept me on my toes! 

They loved the music, and sang and clapped along :)

They were curious about the building, and why some of the
diamonds in the ceiling were skylights.

When they uncovered the alter to reveal the sacraments, true
to Chinese kids' form, they let out a collective "woah!!!"

I continued to answer their questions, and they became very
excited when the picture of the Last Supper appeared on the
screen- they are familiar with the painting, and you could
see 'the light bulb switch on."

They continued to take it all in, snapping many photos and
videos. (In fact, these photos are all theirs that they shared with me!)

They could not participate in Communion as they have not
been baptized, and they wanted to know what the significance
was.  While the leaders passed out communion, I did my best to
explain the meaning of baptism.  Just as I finished, and the congregants
 all took communion together, the pastor (who was a Chinese female)
announced that a special Baptismal Service was taking place later
this afternoon- the church was receiving 65 new members into
the family of God.  The congregation all clapped, as did the girls,
and they let our another collective "woah!!!"

 Every service closes with a welcome song, and all new visitors are asked

to stand up.  The girls stood, and members of the church came around to give

them all a gift- a welcome CD from the church.  They were so happy to 

get a gift, they were fits of giggles and more photos :)

After church I took them to my favorite Indian
restaurant, Ganges.  They have never had Indian food
before, so they were excited to try more new things.

They loved the samosas.  The vegetable ones are my favorite.

They had to take pictures of the food, of course :)
The chicken khorma and naan were a bit hit.

They loved the copper bowls the food was served in,
and they had never eaten basmati rice before, so
even it was picture worthy, along with another "woah!!!"

To be away from my own family on yet another holiday was difficult as

always, but to share my love of Jesus, and what I believe, and to spend it in 

the company of these lovely young girls was more than I could ever ask for.

Thanks be to God.

G'nite, y'all!