The Joy of Public Transportation

This year overall in many aspects has been a very humbling experience. I’ve definitely learned that I don’t need all the things I’m blessed that I have. One thing that we couldn’t have done without is the public transportation system. Shenzhen has thousands of buses, a metro line that is still being built, and of course taxi’s. Out in our neck of the woods, buses are really the only practical way for us to get anywhere. So of course we have had many stories with running to catch the bus or broken English conversations with locals or the fact that 8 out of 10 times I get on the bus I fall asleep…the list goes on…but right now 2 recent incidents stick out as memorable.
1. I had been shopping a few weeks ago and after a fun packed girl’s day I was on my way home. Jordan had enjoyed having the afternoon to himself. I was headed home at a relatively busy hour just minding my own business. There’s this one stop “Dongmen”-in the shopping district- where traffic is always bad, half the bus usually gets off, and about as many get on- I always dread this stop. All of the sudden I hear this really loud whistle and I begin looking around to see what was going on. About that time, the bus begins filling up with about 20+ teenagers on ROLLERBLADES…I kid you not…they skate onto the bus and roll around grab a couple of seats, but mostly their just chillin’/rolling on the bus trying to stand still. I hear them say where they’re going and of course they’re getting off at my stop...from that stop we had about another 25 minute bus ride and as we got closer to the stop, I started making my way through the crowd to avoid being rolled over at the stop. I couldn’t believe that I was actually witnessing this…it seems like there are some things that only happen in China…
2. The next story happened about a week after the rollerblading encounter. This year I’ve learned a lot about Jordan and he’s definitely learned a lot about me one of those things being how inobservant and hard of hearing I can be and I’ve learned what a good sense of direction he has. Jordan and I were on our way home one night and the bus was fairly crowded. We managed to both get a seat (next to each other at that) which is quite a feat! So we’re on the bus probably have at least 30 minutes before getting home and Jordan starts laughing. The bus is loud and there are a lot of people on it so I’m thinking he’s got to be laughing at something he just saw. He tells me to look at the lady directly across from us and see if I notice anything. So I look at the lady, don’t notice anything (surprise!) except her head is down and she looks like she’s going to get sick (normal for China) At this point Jordan’s like, “C’mon you’ve got to notice it. That lady’s humming (making noise- not humming a tune or anything) to keep her distracted from getting sick.” **Side note: the Chinese are TERRIBLE when it comes to motion sickness. They even have little baggies on every bus for those just in case moments.** So of course I try listening to her and I’m pretty convinced that it’s not her, the bus. Jordan ignores my stubbornness and lets me think what I want, but the humming continues…So we’re about 3 stops away from our stop and we catch a red light. The determining factor that it really was the lady, was when the bus driver puts the bus in park, gets off the bus to figure out where the noise is coming from…even HE thought it was the bus…gets back on, walks around, tries adjusting a few things, and the humming continues. At this point everyone on the bus is looking around, and slowly everyone begins to notice what Jordan heard all along- it was the lady…

The Mystery Dish

One Friday night a few weeks ago after I finished tutoring, Jordan and I went out to grab some dinner. We decided to hit this little restaurant that serves great meat on a stick, crinkle fries, and other great little snack type foods. I need to note that as you're walking inside, they have a couple of fish tanks outside with different sea creatures in them. There's this bucket with what looks like snakes, but our Chinese friend swears that it's some sort of fish thing...We're always a bit confused by this but we chalk it up for it being lost in translation somewhere. But the snake fish things are so distracting while walking in, I can't help but scoot as far away as possible and squirm! So anyways, Jordan was ordering our meat sticks, some eggplant, and crinkle fries and the guy who's taking our order tries to offer us something else. Jordan doesn't really recognize the name but the guy is pretty adamant about this food. Jordan agrees but really has no idea what's going to be placed in front of us...So then Jordan looks at me after the guy's walked away and after looking on the menu to try and figure out the dish he says, "I've got bad news." Well, needless these really weren't the words I wanted to hear so of course I say, "What?" He proceeds to tell me that he thinks he's ordered one of those snake things and that the waiter has picked up one of the snake fish things (my back is to the door)...OH JUST WONDERFUL! So at this point I'm dreading our dinner...Great...I quickly and calmly tell Jordan that this "special dish" will NOT be placed on the table. He can put it on the floor or on the bench beside him, but I do NOT want to see this. Jordan's laughing at this point, our other food dishes begin arriving and as I'm eating I'm dreading THE DISH that's being cooked...So the first few dishes come out and it's exactly what we wanted. We're waiting for the mystery dish...
Well much to our surprise the guy brings over a plate of OYSTERS!!!! WHEW!!!! We both die laughing and enjoy the oysters and the rest of the evening. =)

Duck in a bag

Tuesdays are my busy days. I teach four classes in the morning and the afternoons I teach 2 grades in our auditorium. This is usually much more relaxed than the classroom and I can show movie clips, etc. During the English Show, Jordan has a weekly meeting with Mrs. Chen who helps make sure we're being properly taken care of. Well about two weeks ago, Jordan's meeting had been cancelled so he decided to come and help make a special debut to the 3rd and 4th graders. While we were watching a clip from Toy Story, Jordan got a call from Mrs. Chen who said she needed to see him. He exits quietly, while I'm curious to what's going on. About 5 minutes later he returns with a bag. Now of course I'm really curious. I quickly asked him what was in the bag and much to my surprise he says a duck. A DUCK?!?! Well dear friends, it wasn't a live duck. This happened to be a duck for cooking. It was the whole duck- head and all pre-packaged. It took all I had not to burst out laughing and be totally grossed out all at the same time. I had to finish the lesson I was teaching and not be distracted with the fact my husband was sitting there with a duck in a bag! Of course duck isn't one of those meals that I cook or ever plan on cooking, so we had a little photo shoot with the duck, then properly placed him in the garbage can. The price tag was on the duck which converted into about $7 US dollars, which we justified pretty quick that it was ok to throw away. Now duck is a very special meat here so we did feel bad throwing it away, but we were pretty sure that Mrs. Chen was "re-gifting" this so called delicacy and didn't feel as bad. If Chinese lady didn't want it, it’s ok if we throw it away right?!?!
Picture 1- The duck outside of our door
Picture 2- The duck (GROSS!!!)
Picture 3- Jordan and the duck

I know, I know…I’ve started slacking again…

For most of February we were on our nice “Chinese New Year” holiday. After returning from Thailand we were home long enough to wash clothes and not be motivated to do anything before leaving for Guangzhou to work at an English camp. We decided that this experience would be fun (hopefully) but also we’d pretty much break even after being paid and our vacation trip. The camp deserves it’s own blog post which will come soon…but it needs pictures and I’m waiting on a friend to email them to me. So until that blog, I’ll catch you up on everything else.

We started back school on Feb. 24th. It was only a 3 day week but it seemed to drag. Getting back into the swing of things, lesson planning, and waking up early was a little tough, but of course we managed. Things in school have been going fine. Everyone was very “refreshed” after the new year- quite funny actually.

I wanted to update on our church again. Jordan and I started teaching Sunday School in December (which is actually during “big church”)- main sermon. We had wanted a way to get involved and found out that the Jr. high and Sr. high age group had just started a class earlier this fall and the only teachers were a husband and wife couple, Ki and Jenni, from Austin, Texa . They had just moved here about the same time Jordan and I did with their two children and instantly saw the need and decided to break the Jr. high and Sr. high class up and begin teaching. Jordan and Ki rotate weeks teaching the Sr. high (about 12-14 teens) while Jenni and I rotate with the Jr. high (which has increased from about 10 to almost 20 kids now!!!!). Jordan and I have really enjoyed being able to help out and have loved getting to know Ki and Jenni! One week while Ki was teaching, something came up about short term mission trips and Ki was able to tell the class about some of his experiences. By the time class was over, the students really wanted to look into possibly going and serving somewhere. Ki took this opportunity and began looking into some options. For the past five years, he has gone with his church in Texas to Cambodia.

*Geography note: Cambodia is about a 2 hour plane ride from where we live in South China.*

Ki contacted the pastors that he knew there and since then we have been putting details together to serve in Cambodia during the last weekend in April. Yesterday we had a meeting after church to see who was interested and have a Q & A session. We’re really excited with the turn out and interest. Jordan and I would love for all of you to help pray for this opportunity that we have. We will be working doing children’s ministry during our five days there.

1. Please pray that God will prepare not only our hearts of the ones of us going, but as well the children and adults that we will be ministering to. We feel this is such a wonderful opportunity that cannot be passed up.

2. Pray for timing with this trip. Although it ultimately seems the end of April is far away, we have many details to finalize and prepare before going.

3. Please pray for finances for the trip as well. We have such an advantage of price to be going to Cambodia from China, but like always, money unfortunately can either discourage people from going initially or blockades find a way to slow down the process. We will be doing some fundraisers with the church and we hope those are received well.

4. Pray for our Youth. We really want our Youth to step up and really be a part of the planning process. Please pray for their hearts especially. Because of parents' jobs bringing theses students here during their middle school and junior high years, many students miss out on the opportunities that their home churches from the states have and have never been able to be a part of a short term mission trip.

Thank you wonderful family and friends!!! I know God will provide everything we need for this trip! Thank you for your prayers as we begin finalizing everything!!!

We love you!
Jordan & Tyler