December 28, 2007: Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I hope that each of you had the opportunity to rejoice and share in the true meaning of Christmas this holiday season. If we had any hopes that our holidays would be less busy here in China, they quickly melted like this morning’s snowfall! Even so, it was a wonderful and memorable Christmas.

Last week was a quieter week for me. I spent the week giving exams, and meeting various people for lunch dates. Brad completed classes in some instances and gave exams in others. On Friday, Brad and I departed for Beijing on a 2:00pm train to celebrate our second wedding anniversary. We spent two nights at the Chongwenmen Hotel, where we enjoyed Western-style accommodations, treadmills in the exercise room, and the one English Channel (CCTV-9) on the television. For dinner we ate at a local Pizza buffet, and enjoyed the long-lost flavors of Hawaiian Pizza and Soft-serve Ice Cream.

Saturday was spent roaming the subways and shopping districts of Beijing. We bought lunch at a grocery store, and then headed for the Silk Market. We found a few Christmas gifts there, and then headed for the Clothing Market. On the way, we walked by the Worker’s Gymnasium and Worker’s Stadium and stopped for photos. We laughed when we saw an Outback Steakhouse, and then a Hooter’s restaurant here in Beijing. Who would have thought? We ended up eating a delicious dinner at the Outback before heading home. Sunday was spent much the same, as we snacked on our mantou (steamed bread), and walked around the Pearl Market to finish our Christmas shopping. After visiting Starbucks, we were on our way back home to our more Chinese-style of life in Langfang. It was a very relaxing weekend in all, and a great time to reconnect with one another, sharing long uninterrupted conversations over meals.

Monday was a hectic day, as we ran around finishing errands, buying groceries, purchasing gifts, wrapping gifts, and preparing food for Christmas. At 7:30pm we participated in the Christmas Program hosted by the English Department on campus. The students put on a fabulous talent show, full of music, theatre, dance, acrobatics, poetry, and humor. Over 1,000 students filled the auditorium, and many more stood in the back, the aisle, and in the lobby trying to glimpse the action on-stage. The foreign teachers were in three acts. Peter sang a song in Chinese, Shannon sang “O Holy Night” while playing her guitar, and Newt, Brad, and I sang our own version of “The 12 Days of Christmas,” which included “12 toilets flushing, 11 mantou steaming (bread), 10 plates of dumplings (jaozi), 9 popcorn popping, 8 Christmas apples, 7 chopsticks (kuazi) chopping, 6 bowls of rice (mifan), 5 laowai (foreigners), 4 chicken eggs, 3 knife-cut noodles, 2 bars of soap, and a pretty lady sitting on my knee.” We had a great time, and by the time we were done, the stage was a mess, and the audience was clapping and laughing as they sang along with us.

After the program, we headed back to our apartment for a candlelight Christmas Eve meeting. Newt led, and we all enjoyed the time of thinking about the true meaning of Christmas, and about our families and friends at home.

Christmas Day was probably one of the busiest Christmases I have ever celebrated. That is probably because I was involved in the food preparation for the first time! On Monday night I was up late preparing for breakfast, and on Tuesday it seemed I rarely left the kitchen. It was a good day though. We began with breakfast a 9:00am in Newt’s apartment. Tony, Lily, and Michelle joined Peter, Shannon, Newt, Brad, and me for the morning’s festivities. We ate egg casserole, apple muffins, orange slices, scrambled eggs, and cinnamon buns. Newt spoke about the true meaning of Christmas and then we exchanged gifts. We each bought a small gift for everyone, and a large gift for one person. It was fun to see what everyone received, and even more fun to play with the gifts! We took lots of photos of our China family, and of our festive Christmas tree.

I took a nap after breakfast, and then prepared for dinner. For dinner we had duck, chicken, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes, raw vegetables with ranch dressing, broccoli casserole, jello topped with apples, and homemade biscuits. We ate dinner by candlelight, and talked about the joys of the day. After dinner, we washed up and prepared for dessert, and then Tony and Brad watched “The Prestige” on the television. For dessert we went to Shannon’s apartment for pumpkin pies, mint brownies, Christmas cake, and no-bake cookies. Then we used Skype to talk to our friends in Qinhuangdao and wish them a merry Christmas. It was funny to hear how they had celebrated their holiday here in China, and how they’d figured out how to make homemade egg-nog! The evening ended back in our own apartments as we all called family and friends back home. It was good to hear their voices on this special day.

The days since Christmas have been very quiet by comparison, and I think we were all content to get some rest afterward! The apartment is clean now, the gifts put away, and most of the leftovers eaten. We continue to receive packages from home each day (3 packages in 3 days!) with fun Christmas gifts inside. This morning I had the wonderful opportunity to give two seminars about Christmas in the United States, including its origins and traditions. So it was a great opportunity to share about the reason for the season. Tonight, I also have the opportunity to share another favorite story with our Chinese friends, as I show “It’s A Wonderful Life” to my students. I enjoy these times of sharing with my students, and hope that you will be thinking of them and the conversations that may stem from these times.

As we close out the year 2007, thank you again for all of your support and encouragement. You are our greatest blessings at Christmas time, and our lives and work her would not be possible without you. Thank you and Merry Christmas!

Love,
Jessie and Brad

December 16th, 2007 Shake -n-Bake!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Langfang, China is full of the holiday spirit as we prepare to celebrate a Christmas to remember! The main highlight of this week for me has been the baking. On Saturday, Marian and Flora helped me to bake Oatmeal Raisin Cookies in our little kitchen. This first adventure was a great success, so on Sunday, Zeny and Skye helped me to bake Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yesterday, Cassie and Melinda joined me for a third attempt, this time with Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies.

All of the girls had a great time running up and down the stairs delivering hot cookies to Newt, Shannon, and Peter. They explained that they had never baked cookies before, and certainly not American cookies. They were quite mystified by the entire process, including the measuring of ingredients, translating the English directions, eating cookie batter, and using the oven. Their looks of wonder and delight in these discoveries were priceless. They loved eating the warm cookies fresh from the oven, and I sent each pair home with two dozen cookies, and later heard many thanks from grateful roommates! It was a learning experience for me too, as I learned to share kitchen responsibilities, to offer them HOT water (the Chinese preference) to drink instead of cold water, and to answer many questions about books, movies, photographs, kitchen tools, mistletoe, Christmas trees, and more!

Aside from baking, Brad invited Joseph over to talk movies, and found greater access to recent American movies through this new friend. Joseph is a student who lives next door to Shannon, and he does a great job of taking care of his American teacher friends. I also invited Vivian to go shopping with me, and we managed to purchase a Christmas tree, tinsel, and a few ornaments at Walmart. She even brought along her camera to snap photos of our Christmas adventure! Then on Saturday, I had a great time knitting with Maria and Wendy. I’m afraid that I found that I am not very talented at this particular form of knitting, as I had to begin again at least 10 times! I dropped a stitch (or more) on almost every line. Brad was quick to remind me that my success (or lack of) in knitting was not the goal of my time, but spending time with the girls was my goal. He also told me that my continuing frustrations were grounds for spending more time with them! I’m glad I have Brad to keep me looking at the glass as half full. ;)

Friday night was a new adventure for all of us, as Brad organized our first-ever American Dancing Night on the Western Campus. It was so much fun! We taught over 300 shy freshmen to dance the Hokey Pokey, Chicken Dance, Virginia Reel, Electric Slide, and Shout! Then we taught them to sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “Silent Night.” Wayne (Dean of the English Department) came along for the 30-minute van ride and prepared the sound system for us. He said that such dancing was very rare on this isolated campus, and even more rare in their rigorous high schools. We definitely felt like movie stars as student after student clamored for a photograph with us, and a few words of thanks. They obviously had a wonderful evening learning the American dances and spending time with the foreign teachers. Brad has done a great job of initiating evening events for this special campus, and hopes to continue them next semester as he and Peter will be doing most of their teaching there.

As this week marks the end of many classes, and finals continue for the next few weeks, we continue to covet your thoughts. You can be thinking of our times with students, that they will rich times, full of great discussions. You can hope that our creativity with students will be endless as we discover more ways to enjoy their company and companionship. Please think of our many conversations, both now and in the near future. Please be thinking of the team times—that they will be rich in love and encouragement. Thank you for supporting us, in all your hopes and thoughts.

Love always,
Jess (and Brad)

December 6: Happy Holidays!

Hello and Happy Holidays!

Brad and I are currently preparing for celebrating the Christmas and New Year's holidays for the first time in China! We hope that you are each enjoying the season, the snow, and most of all--the real reason for celebrating.

The past two weeks have been full for me as I have joined in Brad in his running routines. Believe me, waking up at 5 am on Thursdays and Fridays to run in the pitch black darkness is not an easy task! Brad still runs twice as fast as me, so I'm not keeping up by any means, but I think Brad appreciates the company. :) We have also been keeping busy with the upcoming Finals, as we write tests, schedule oral English interviews, grade papers, finish classes, and file grades. Finals will continue from mid-December until early January as classes end at different times.

Our routine of meeting with kids continues as usual! The team had our usual "big family dinner" on both Thursdays, hosting about two guests per leader. It's a great time of sharing toasts, delicious dishes, customs, and stories about ourselves. Vicki and I visited the seamstress together last week, and Vivian (a sophomore) and I visited the Kodak store twice together to develop photos. I used the photos to decorate the hallway in our home, so that we can share you with our friends here! Brad arranged a soccer match with some of the boys, during which I watched and chatted with a freshman named Vivian. On Tuesday I judged a debate competition and was asked to give a short speech to the group (about 150 people) when they were finished! I was very nervous, but it all went well. Yesterday I also had the opportunity to go out for lunch with Vicki for a delicious lunch (fish, corn biscuits, noodles, broccoli, carrots, and cucumbers), and we had a great time talking.

Brad and I have also had a lot of fun this week sharing "our story" with my students. The unit in our textbook was on marriage, so I spent the first half of classes showing digital slides of our wedding and sharing our love story. Then Brad showed up for the second half of my classes for a delightful question-and-answer session. The college kids really enjoy talking about relationships, so they told me that it was a wonderful presentation. It was great for Brad and I, as we were able to voice many aspects of our relationship, including our common musical interests, and love for our father. We hope that our presentation may provide fertile ground for many future conversations.

In the meantime, we have been preparing for Christmas. Claire has returned home, and again it is just the team here in Langfang. We are hanging decorations, Christmas shopping, baking, and sharing Christmas with our students. Please continue to think about us and our work here. We long to be with you during the Christmas season, but we know that we are here for a purpose as well. Thank you for your support and encouragement as you think of us daily.

Love,
Jess (and Brad)