November in a flash: good-byes, porn, and spicy duck neck

This month, much like October, seemed to fly by. We had the difficult task of saying good-bye to some people we had become very close to. God brought them into our life in an unusual way when we all needed it the most. We also got to say hello to a dear friend this month. When we were in China in 2008 I became very close to a Chinese woman named Chile and we stayed in contact over the years. This week she came for a visit and we had a wonderful time. I think she mainly wanted to meet Lyla and spoil her (which she did) for a few days. One of the highlights of the trip was taking her to find some traditional Wuhan food which is....you guessed it, spicy duck neck YUM (insert sarcastic tone here). Our trip was a success and we found all the spicy duck neck you could imagine.

We also had a funny experience today. Logan and I went out to do some Christmas shopping for lyla and on the way we noticed a small hut selling DVDs. I went in to ask if they had any English movies and they indicated that they did, I proceeded to tell them my husband would come in to look and they laughed (keep in mind this conversation was in Chinese). When Logan came back out he asked me if I said they had English movies and I told them they said they did. He laughed and said they were porn, not English, films. I am not sure where the miscommunication took place but now I understand why they laughed when I said my husband would come in to look... I know just enough Chinese to get me in trouble!

This month we have been able to have some deep conversations and experienced a bit of persecution which, not too surprisingly, came from Americans. Please pray that we will continue to be encouraged and have the discernment to know when to speak boldly.

We are currently having technology problems because my computer broke last week and for some reason I cannot upload photos onto the blog from the device I am using so pictures will have to come another time... For lots and lots of pictures, add me as a friend on Facebook.

Opportunities

October went by in a flash, I am in denial that it is holiday season again already...I think that might be a sign of aging. I think another reason it passed so quickly was because it was our busiest month yet. Our first 2 months here we were able to develop fairly surface level friendships with people and within this last month we have been walking through the steps accepted by Chinese culture to deepen those friendships. I do not have pictures from all the events, but it has mainly been hosting people at our house. We were able to have a group of 6 Chinese students over one night to make dumplings from scratch and a fish. The students were also able to interview us for their intercultural communications class.

Making jiaozi is something every foreigner needs to do with their Chinese friends



They went after that fish like nobody's business with those chopsticks!

We were also proud of ourselves for successfully making Western food for 5 other people. The menu included lemon crusted chicken, fresh broccoli, and rice pilaf. Logan has taken on an extra teaching responsibility for the next 2 weeks, this is a great opportunity for him! I am preparing for my upcoming midterms, I have 3 classes and each one has its own exam. I am mainly nervous abotu forgetting my characters or not knowing all the vocabulary I should to communicate my thoughts freely (probably not an irrational fear of somebody that has only studied for 2 months)! Lyla is busy being as cute as ever. I have now spent hours trying to upload more photos but the connection is not good enough. I will try to upload more soon!

The Girl Loves Food

I know most of you receive our updates so this blog is mainly to show some pictures of Lyla. If you have specific questions, we would love to answer them. Just e-mail us at parkersinchina@gmail.com Here are some photos of Lyla doing her favorite thing...eating

Mid-Autumn Festival

This Monday is a Chinese holiday called the Mid-Autumn Festival. I am not sure the specific details and meanings behind the holiday, but I wanted to share the basics for what it is all about. The Mid-Autumn festival is based on the lunar calendar.


The Folklore:
In ancient times there were 10 suns rising in the sky and they would scorch the crops and destroy all the food. A local hero Hou Yi was concerned about this problem so he climbed to the top of a mountain, used all of his "superhuman power" to draw a bow and he destroyed 9 of the suns with arrows. He made the 10th sun rise and set at specific times. Because of this, he was well respected by the people. One day on his way to meet friends, he met Empress Wangmu who gave him an elixir. He told Hou Yi that when one drank the elixir, they would ascend to heaven and turn into a celestial being. Hou Yi loved his wife, Cheng E,  very much and could not stand the thought of leaving her so he gave the elixir to her to keep hidden. Peng Me acted like a friend of Hou Yi and when he heard about the elixir he broke into Cheng E's chamber to steal it. Not knowing what to do Cheng E drank the elixir and immediately her body ascended to heaven. Hou Yi was distressed when he returned home but he noticed that the moon looked very clear that night and on it was a shadow that looked like Cheng E. He tried to catch the moon but to no avail, so he decided to set food out in Cheng E's favorite place as a memorial to her. When the people heard that Cheng E turned into the moon they prayed prayers of peace and worshipped the moon.


Today:
Today people gather with family members and enjoy the full moon. It is seen as a "family day" now. One of the foods they eat on this day is moon cakes. They are round cakes that have different fillings. Here is a picture of some moon cakes.

Mission Accomplished

My main goal yesterday was to register for classes and, thankfully, I can say "mission accomplished!" It was an all day event where I kept hearing, "do this then come back..." I have my schedule and will go to class 4 hours a day. I am still a little confusted about my next step, but I think it is just buying books on September 2nd and a welcoming ceremony on September 8th. (There is also still the small issue of visas, but I am confident that won't be a problem).

While I was waiting in line to register, I noticed a white couple wearing Michigan t-shirts. Since (I'm learning) Americans are the only ones that bother lining up, we quickly got pushed to the end of the group and had plenty of time to chat. It turns out that they are here on scholarship and for the same reason we are. Their housing is messed up at the moment so they are going to be staying with us for a few days while they find a place to live. We are excited to help westerners who have just arrived in China because, let's face it, if we don't help each other we are all in trouble! Hosting people is something Logan and I enjoy doing and one of the major reasons we got the bigger apartment. I want to also note that we are also having a sleepover for 3 Chinese girls this Saturday so it will officially be a full house!

A Variety of Flavors

I thought you all might like to know what varieties of chips Lays and Pringles offer you if you decide to visit China...

Breezy Blueberry
Cucumber
Italian Red Meat
Lemon Tea
Lime
Mexican Tomato Chicken
Cheese Lobster
Finger Licking Braised Pork
Numb & Spicy Hot Pot
Spicy Seafood
Hot & Sour Fish Soup
Black Pepper Ribeye
Seaweed

I'm sure this list is not exhaustive, but these were some of the ones I noticed on my shopping run this morning!

Life without a car in China

Let me go ahead and say that we knew what we were getting into when we signed up to come to China, but it still surprises me how crazy just one day can be. When we first arrived in China we were staying with our mentor about 45 minutes from the coffeee shop which required us to take 2 buses to get to "work." One particular morning we left with David and were on the first bus when it started to have a strange smell and we saw lots of smoke coming from the bus. All of the Chinese people started screaming and ran toward the front, we all got off the bus in an orderly fashion (yeah, right...), it was mass chaos. After about a minute of standing outside the bus everybody just got back on and drove off...we took a taxi the rest of the way. That was fine, no big deal. Later that night Lyla was getting cranky so Logan, Lyla, and I decided to go home on our own. We walked the 1/4 of a mile to the bus stop and ended up waiting about 30 minutes for our bus to come. We got on as usual but only drove about 8 miles before we hit stop and go traffic. After 45 minutes of this, the bus driver just turned off the lights and the engine and told everybody to get off and walk. We still had a long way to go before reaching home because we hadn't even reached our 2nd bus yet. We got out and walked a while and realized that the problem was major flooding. We decided to get a taxi to take us home because we weren't sure the next bus would be running even if we did want to walk that far. We got in the taxi and realized that he couldn't go anywhere either so after 15 minutes of paying a taxi driving to go nowhere, we decided to get out and walk...again. We walked quite a ways and were overjoyed to receive a phone call from David that he had found a back way and was coming to get us in a taxi. He left the coffee shop nearly 2 hours after us. When it was all said and done, our 45 minute trip took over 3 hours! That, my friends, is public transportation in China.