Homecoming

Since our last post, we've been pretty busy. The most recent event was a visit from our Moms and Callie's sister. (Pam, Nancy, and Jodi) They came to China for about 9 days. We had a blast! We packed so much into those 9 days, it made the time go by so fast. We wanted them to experience as much as possible. It was definitely an experience for them, especially for Pam and Jodi, since they've never been out of the country! We picked them up in the airport in Shanghai and headed to Hangzhou, Xiasha the next day. We had to take a taxi, then a train, then a bus, then walk a quater mile.....with 6 suitcases. They definitely got their initiation into the China public transportation system that night. They definitely underestimated how difficult it is to get around in China. We explained it to them before they came, but I guess it's something you have to experience yourself!

We hung around Xiasha (our 'little' town) that next day. We had a Sunday meeting in the morning, and celebrated Lantern Festival that night....with about a million other Xiasha-rens. They decorated our town with lanterns on all of the light poles, and tons of blow up "New Year" decor. Luckily it didn't rain that day, so we were able to walk around all afternoon. I think this was our family's favorite part. A group of 5 white people walking the streets of Xiasha was definitely a surprise for the locals, so they took the opportunity to 'sneak' pictures of us with their phones. After a while, we all started feeling like movie stars, and ending up posing for hundreds of pictures. By the end of the night, our mouths were tired of smiling for so many pictures! :) We were so glad they were able to be here for the Festival, it was so much fun, and definitely a China experience.

The next few days were spent doing the 'touristy' things in downtown Hangzhou. Like Westlake, Green Tea Village, Linyin Temple, and of course souvenier shopping. Then we hung back in Xiasha a few days so that they could meet our new friends. One day we went to our friend's, Leo and Shannon's, house. They fixed us dinner (which ended up being their favorite Chinese meal), and let us all play with Baby Charlie. Then we went to our 'Dollar Store' shop, next door, to introduce them to our friends there. We had been telling them for weeks that they were coming to visit, so when we brought them, they were so excited to see them and meet them! Then, on another day, we met a new friend on our way to the market. He was a 6 ft, old, Chinese man, with out teeth, who started following us on our walk. He didn't stop grinning at us. After chatting with him for a bit, we said goodbye to him, and kept walking to the market. A few minutes later, we turn around and he's still following us.....and still grinning. :) He ended up following us for about an hour, just looking at us and grinning. Precious!

On our last day in Xiasha, we invited about 8 of our favorite student/friends over for a little get together, so that they could meet our family. We had so much fun! We played games, Nancy taught them the Hokey Pokey, and all the kids got up and sang a song! One girl, Shelly's old student, sang 'As the Deer' in Chinese, all by herself. That was really bold of her, and it was so beautiful! It was a really fun night! We're glad they were able to experience how a get together with our students is, and how much fun we have! Also, they were able to put faces to the names of the people we talk about all the time.

We put them on their plane on Sunday. We were sad to see them go, but enjoyed the time way had together. We're so thankful that they had the opportunity to come!

Classes began yesterday. We've only had two classes so far. Those classes were really good! We have all new students this semester. We have still been hanging out with the old ones, and hope to make some new relationships this term. Please lift us up as we make new relationships, and build on the old ones. We're really excited about this term, and can't wait to see what HE has in store for us!

Fire + Water

Happy Chinese New Year!!! Yesterday we celebrated our first Chinese New Year (which happened to fall on the same day as Valentine's this year).

First, let's rewind.... A few days before New Years, we went to our friend Ricky's hometown. He lives in a city called Haining, which is about 2 hours away from Xiasha. We took a bus there, and were met at the bus station by Ricky, his Aunt, and his cousin (Ice Beauty....yes, that is her English name). We quickly learned that since many kids in China don't have siblings (due to the one child policy), that cousins are really close, basically like siblings. Ricky is about 4 years older than Ice Beauty, but they get along so great. Ricky has been helping her with English, so that she could communicate with us while we were there. We were the first foreigners she has ever talked to.

So, Ricky's aunt drives us around the town. Haining is pretty small and quite. They are 'famerous' (that's how our students say famous) for leather. We've realized that EVERY town or province in China is famous for something. All of our students will say, "I am from ____, it is very famerous for ____. Do you know it?" :) So....since Haining is famous for leather, Ricky took us to a huge, 4 story mall that sold only leather products. It was pretty cool.

Then they took us to Ricky's aunt's house. There we met Ricky's grandmother, who had never seen an American. She was the cutest little woman. She just sat there and smiled all evening, and kept filling our tea glasses, and giving us food. While we were there, they wanted us to stay to see their "Honoring of the Ancestors Celebration". Every year before New Years, all/most families in China will take time to honor their relatives who have passed away. On their kitchen table was a a picture of Buddha; a whole chicken, whole fish, and a pig leg; about 12 small glasses of green tea, some candles and burning innsense; and some fake money. Each family member went to the table, held the innsense, and bowed to the table. But Ricky chose not to partake in it. After they bowed, Grandma took the fake money outside and burned it. (This represents money, and wealth going to their ancestors in the 'after life') Then, they shot off fireworks. (Which represents their good wishes going to their ancestors) It was very strange, but glad we were able to see it and learn a little more about their culture and traditions. It was also encouraging to see that Ricky chose not to do it. Since lately he has been interested in what we believe and has said that he wants to 'study' when he gets back to school.

Anyways....we stayed the night, and the next day we went to a couple of museums, and toured the city a little more. We had lunch that afternoon with Ricky and his aunt, uncle, and cousin. They asked us if we had ever tasted Chow Dofu (which translates to 'Stinky Tofu'). If you ever come to China, there is this one smell that you notice when you're around some food markets, and it's the WORST smell in China. That smell is Stinky Tofu! All the Chinese say that it's 'deliciours' and that it tastes better than it smells. So, since the family ordered it, we thought we'd taste it. So, it comes around the table to me (Callie) first. So EVERYone is watching me, waiting for my reaction. I decided to take a small bite...surely it wouldn't be that bad. Well.......it was BAD!!! The WORST thing I've ever put in my mouth! The only thing to compare it to is a dirty diaper. Then, Thomas' turn.....he took a bite and made the worst face! He told me later that he almost threw up twice and that he couldn't even stand to chew the rest of it, and swallowed it whole. :) Other than the Stinky Tofu, we had a good lunch with the family. We headed back to Xiasha that afternoon.

Ok, back to present. Like I said, yesterday was New Years. All week fireworks have been going off like crazy. Fireworks are a normal thing in China. They shoot them off when a new store opens, someone dies, someone is born, any good/bad occassion; all hours of the day or night. But during New Years week, they've been more prevalent. On New Years Eve we were walking the streets and people were shooting them off in the middle of the road, on apartment balconies, sidewalks, through their windows. Definitely against the law at home.

So, we were in our apartment watching fireworks out our window. At about 9:30 or so, we decided to watch TV. About 30-45 minutes later, Thomas yells, "Come look outside, you'll never believe it!" There was about 3 inches of snow on the ground and more coming down! We didn't even know it was supposed to snow. So we go outside to play in it. We ran into our Chinese neighbor, who owns a little 'Dollar' Store next to us. Him and his family were there, with a box full of fireworks. So, we shoot fireworks with them in a snow storm!! It was a very weird combo of snow and fireworks....a first for us, since we only shoot fireworks in July. Then they invite is in for tea and snacks. They are the sweetest little family. The kids, who are in highschool, were our translators. So, we drank tea, had broken English/charades conversations, and watched the Chinese New Year count down show until about 2:30 in the morning! It was a blast.

We plan to go to another student's home this week. And on the 26th, our moms and Callie's sister will be here to visit!! We can't wait!
Thanks for the continued thoughts and support!

Two for the Road

We just returned from our trip through South East Asia. Our trip started with a group of 11 other American bro's and sista's. We decided to go the cheap route and travel by train, from Hangzhou to the very south of China, Nanning. Needless to say, our train trip was very interesting! 30 hours on a train is definitely a great experience. We played with kids and babies, giving them all English names; practiced our Chinese; the guys played 'Train Olympics' where they made up games - like who can hang from the top bunk the longest, etc. After the 30 hours were up, we arrived in Nanning. We stayed there a day while we waited on visas to get into Vietnam. Nanning was a beautiful city! It was so green, with palm trees and other tropical plants on the side of the roads. Really good change for us, and transition into Vietnam.
We took a bus to Vietnam, which took us all the way to the capital city, Ha Noi. It was a really cool city, and the weather was perfect! (in the 60s) We stayed in a cool little hostel in the middle of the city (about $4/night!) and spent most of the time walking around the streets exploring. On our first quest for food, we found a little Italian restaurant! That was our first of very many Italian meals in Vietnam.
We stayed in Ha Noi for 3 days. That's where our group decided to break off. Some of us (us included) wanted to head on down to the beach, while others wanted to stay in Ha Noi a little longer. So, us, and two other couples took off. (Kyle & Rebecca Hooper, Michael & Kris Bowen) We bought bus tickets that take you all the way from the top to the bottom of Vietnam. We decided to get the night buses so we could sleep on them, and not have to pay for hostels along the way. Needless to say, sleeper buses are very interesting! If you're taller the 5'8" and/or a little overweight, you won't have a comfortable night sleep. :) We traveled from Ha Noi to Hoi An the first night. During the day, we walked around that town, and got back on another night bus to get closer to the beach. Then we stop in another city, Nan Trang, to wait on another night bus that takes us to our final destination. 3nights of sleeper buses, and no shower in between, you can tell we really wanted to get to the beach.
We finally arrived in Mui Ne at 2:30 in the morning. We crashed at cheap little hotel to finish that night of sleep and take a shower. The next day we checked into our beach bungalow! It was amazing! We had our own little bungalow, where we could walk out our front door, and there's the beach! We realized when we got there that Mui Ne is the place to be for Kite-surfing; and it's also the place to go if you're Russian! So, there were alot of Russian Kite-surfers there, getting ready for a competition. It was really cool to watch and quite entertaining. Our first night out for dinner, we found another Italian restaurant called 'Good Morning Vietnam'. It's a chain of Italian owned restaurants in all major cities in Vietnam. They had the best pizzas that any of us had ever had! (Better than Big Ed's for those Knoxville folks reading, and better than Crust for those Chattanoogan's). They also had the best Tiramsu! In total, we ate there about 9 times. :) After a few days at the beach, the rest of our group joined us there. On Sunday, we were able to wor.ship on the beach at sunset, that was pretty cool! Two of the days that we were there, some of us went surfing. We rented surf boards and took them to another beach with good waves. It was really fun! Callie got up a few times, and crashed many more times. We stayed at the beach a little over a week.
Our original plan was to go to Cambodia and Thailand also, but we didn't want to stay gone too long, so we looked into alternate routes. The cheapest way back to Hangzhou was going to Malaysia first. We thought that'd be cool so, we flew from south Vietnam to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. We stayed there about a day and a half. Malaysia was totally different than we'd expected! The people all looked different. We saw people from every ethnicity - Indian, Chinese, European, African. And most of the women wore a hijab (headscarf) on their heads. Islam is the national religion of Malaysia. Throughout the day, we would hear the call to pray.er over speakers, which played all through the city. Very different! We spent most of the day visiting the Petronas towers (pictures on Flickr) and walking around it. Our favorite part of Malaysia was, wait for it.....Chili's!! We ate Wendy's for lunch, Chili's for dinner, and Dunkin' Donuts for desert! (As you can tell, we ate very well on this trip)
Now we are back in Hangzhou. There are no students here, so it's a little boring, but we were able to come back just in time for Lost and American Idol! :)
We plan to go to one of our students hometowns for Chinese New Year, in a couple weeks. After that, both our mom's and Callie's sister are coming to visit!
(Sorry this blog was so long, we had alot to share). Stay tuned

Thomas & Callie

Something Nice Back Home

We celebrated our first Christmas and New Year's in China! We had a blast. Our friends Nick & Haylee Hughes, from our small group, came to visit us. They got here on Christmas Eve, and we met them in Beijing. That brought us presents and a lot of goodies from back home! On Christmas day we went to the Great Wall. And oh my, what an experience!! It was -20 degrees with wind blowing 40mph!! The coldest any of us have ever been! We hiked up and down the wall, I think about 5 miles. Thomas wore a pedometer, but it quit working there because it was so cold! I had a full water bottle and it froze solid!! Needless to say it took us a while to 'thaw' out.

Another great thing about Beijing is that they have tons of American restaurants!! We got our fix for the rest of the year. (TGI Friday's, Outback, Starbucks....yum!)

We brought them back to Hangzhou for a few days. They got to meet some of our students and tour our campus. We took them downtown to do all the 'touristy' things (West Lake, Night Market, Temples, Green Tea Village). And of course we got 2 of the famous $6 China massages!

On New Years Eve (their anniversary) we went to Shanghai. We walked down some popluar streets, and to our surprise, found a Dunkin Donuts!!! (I think that was their favorite part of the trip!) We sent them home on New Year's day.

We had a great time with them! I was so nice to have friends from home be with us for the holidays, we're so blessed. This is definitely a holiday we'll never forget!

Students are about to start heading home for winter break. We're enjoying our last few days with them. We've had an American football day, dinner at our apartment, the usual ping-pong games, and going out to dinner. We're starting to build good relationships/friendships. We plan to visit a few students in their hometowns during the break.

Thanks for all the support and thoughts, we love and miss yall!

3 Minutes

So, tonight Thomas was busy tutoring, and I decided to have some students over. There's been a group of students who I've gotten closer to within the past few weeks. So I invited them over tonight to see our Christmas tree and make Christmas cookies. They were so excited. They had brought us a huge bouquet of flowers (Lilys and roses)to us. I'm pretty sure that it's Chinese custom to bring something if you are invited to someone's house. It was really sweet. So they came in and I gave them the grand tour of the apt. They went crazy over our 'soft bed' (air mattress).Then we started the cookies. I'd brought a Christmas cookie decorating kit from home back with us. So I gave it to them, and told them to follow the directions and I'd watch them. (They've NEVER made cookies before....or heard of an oven. Of course the directions they were following says to cook them for 9-12 minutes. Well, in our Chinese toaster oven, that means about 3 minutes) They were having so much fun. They kinda got bored with the one cookie cutter, so they started making there own shapes. We ended up having cookies in the shape of a foot, snake, smiley face, fish, star, cross, and a heart. After the cookies cooled, I got the icing out. I let them taste it first. They must not have liked it that much because they didn't put much of it on their cookies. I heard them say later that it's too sweet. :) I guess that's why they're all so skinny! Anyways, it was a fun night. It just amazes me how excited they get over every little thing. I love it! I wish I could be more like that.

-Callie

Man of Science, Man of Faith

Yes we know it's been a month since our last post, and for that we are sorry. We are going to try and update this thing a little more frequently going forward. A lot has taken place since our last post, and we are not sure we can remember it all if we tried, so we'll just hit the high points.

November 4th began as any other day, but turned into a day that we had hoped wouldn't come for many years. Thomas' father passed away, and the 2-3 days that followed were a blur. Thankfully arrangements were made very quickly, and we were able to be back in the states within 36 hours. Reverse culture shock compounded with fatigue and the numerous emotions made coming home very difficult. Once we were able to get some rest, and finish up all of the funeral stuff, we were able to see some friends and spend some good quality time with our family, and of course partake in all of the foods that we had missed the past 3 months. November 18th we began our trip back to China. Two weeks was the perfect amount of time to get things together and regain the weight that we had lost during the first 3 months. While sad, we understand that our work in China is only beginning, and there is work yet to be done. Many thanks for the prayers and words of encouragement for our family during this difficult stretch.

It didn't take long for us to remember why we fell in love with China so quickly. The students and school administration welcomed us back, and made us feel right at home very quickly. With being gone for 2 weeks, there is a lot of catching up to do. Callie is in the process of making up classes and rescheduling various classroom activities. Thomas is spending the majority of the time reconnecting with students and other contacts that we had established.

A few short stories that we think you will enjoy from the past 2 weeks...

We get back into town on Thursday night or Friday morning, and not wanting to have to make up another class, Callie goes and has the students make me a sympathy card, then explains to them why we send these type of cards and so on. Well when the cards were presented to me, I laughed and cried at what the students had written. I loved them, and is something I will keep with me forever. A few lines from the cards...
* Your PaPa must be a Christian man. The Lord just summon him back to give him more love
* Come on Thomas - There is always a light at the bottom of the tunnel
* Keep Happy Everyday
* Your father will be happier in the heaven
* That's not bad news...God will give him new life.

Ok so you remember elementary school right...When at Thanksgiving, the teachers would have you draw a turkey using your hand, and then spend time coloring it and writing on it what you are thankful for!! Well Turkey Hands say hello to Hangzhou Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. That's right, this past week I had the students draw a turkey hand and write what they were thankful for while we discussed what Thanksgiving is and how Thomas & I celebrate it. I must say that they had no idea that this was something they should have done in 3rd grade, but had a blast doing it, and being very creative.

I know its a crazy request, but can you slow down time?? I mean its already December. Please keep us in your thoughts as we wrap up this first semester in China. More to come very soon.

The Man Behind The Curtain

Don't look now, but its November 1st already. Time really does fly when you are having fun, and what a month October has been. It started with a trip to Xi'an, followed by a 2 week visit from the Hendrix & Ray families, and concluded with Halloween week.

October 16th was a date that we had been looking forward to for some time. Our friends, mentors, and a big reason we are in China, Jake & Shelly Hendrix arrived. It's funny how something as simple as seeing someone you haven't seen in a while, can recharge your batteries, and make you miss home just a little less. It was also nice to receive some goodies that our friends back home had sent with them. We enjoyed spending some time with them, and hanging out with their old students. We also enjoyed being able to share our new experiences with them.

It just so happened that the week of Halloween fell on the same week as mid-terms for our University. Thinking that the students had enough on their plate, we decided to make our mid-term as fun as possible. Something to keep in mind...Halloween is not celebrated in China. So the only thing they know about Halloween is something they may have read in a book, or seen in the movies. Their assignment was to create/purchase a Halloween costume, wear it to class, and give a 5 minute speech about the costume, what it means, and so on. After the speeches we said we would have a Halloween Party in class. Callie and I decided we would also participate, and chose a pirate & witch as our costumes. Going into class, we really didn't have any idea what to expect since they had never celebrated this holiday before. We must say that we were pleasantly surprised with their level of creativity, and enthusiasm. One student made the comment that being able to participate in this holiday has been the highlight of her college experience.

Costumes ranged from famous Chinese cartoons to Popeye & cowboys. We shared the story of Halloween, and how it is celebrated in America. We taught them Trick or Treat, and passed out candy during class. The night before Halloween, we invited our students to a Halloween Party, and opting to party over going to study, a few of them joined us. Everyone dressed up, and ate popcorn & candy and played games, and had a blast. We were told many times, how much they enjoyed this holiday, and that it was the first American holiday party they had ever been to.

In another piece of exciting news, Shannon, the lady Callie has been studying with, gave birth to a healthy baby boy on Saturday the 24th. We are going to visit them in the next few days, pictures and news to follow. Looking forward to November & December as we wrap up our first semester, and enter OUR holiday season.

Thanks for the continued thoughts and support!