Too Fun Not to Share

Three words characterized our day today...Jedi's, Dr. Pepper (this counts as one word!) and Barbie. Last night we let Zoe watch Star Wars for the first time...she has already played many a game of Star Wars Wii and has Star Wars legos, so it was a natural transition to watch the show (once it arrived in the shipment!). As only a girl could when watching Star Wars, Zoe says "I am so excited I feel like I should get Fancy Nancy (the name of her Build A Bear stuffed animal) and put her in her Jedi clothes!" Megan, Abigail and Zoe spent this morning playing the "Jedi's of Shanghai" - we have a powerful spaceship made of a cardboard box, umbrella light sabres, and blanket uniforms. Love the imagination of children and the willingness of teenagers to join right in!

As the Jedi's were saving Shanghai from the dark forces, Kelly and I were out making a most wonderful purchase. For background, you can only find Dr Pepper at one import grocery store and it costs $1.25US per can (so we don't have it often!). Today in a 'I really miss the tastes of home' moment we wandered into the grocery store looking to buy two cans of DP when we saw that it was on special...just $0.35 per can! So we bought all we could carry - that would be 34 lovely cans! The checkout lady laughed at us and then our driver laughed even more...but we have 34 cans of DP, and they don't so who is laughing now?!?! We plan to go back tomorrow with our box and purchase the rest of what they have on the shelves!

To top off the day, we took the littler girls to the Barbie Store Shanghai - 4 floors of everything pink, girlie and Barbie! (Abigail and Zoe loved it most, but from the pictures you can see that Kelly & Megan had fun too!!) We watched the 'runway' show, ate Barbie cupcakes, drank huge Mango & Strawberry Shaved Ice, took lots of pictures, did lots of playing and finally selected a couple of fun Barbies to bring home.

Thank you Jesus for providing some fun times to just be a kid today!

Birthdays and boxes!

Still riding the 'high' from seeing Betsy & the girls on Sunday - what a perfect way to start the new week! Having sweet Courtney here has been a blessing - everyone is enjoying her visit and Andy has seen more of Shanghai as they sight see each day! A special trip for them was to the Healing Home - a pre/post op home for orphans who have cleft lip/cleft palette. The kiddos were so adorable and they just spent their time down on the floor playing with them - until the kids started to fall asleep (at which point Andy rushed to get one of the little boys before the Ayi's did so he could fall asleep on Andy's shoulder!).

Monday they delivered a new washing machine - hurrah, we can finally do our laundry again without lugging it in a suitcase to the nearby laundromat! And Thursday they delivered our air shipment! We are so excited to have silverware and the legos! Of course seeing what was shipped via air...I am now convinced that we were living in a blurr (perhaps a state of denial!) that last week in Fayetteville...much of what I was expecting in the air shipment isn't here because it actually got shipped by sea. Go figure - Andy is the only one who got more clothes, we got stuff from the garage and a mattress topper for a mattress that is in the sea shipment! Ah well...apparently the slow boat to China actually takes about 7 weeks as our shipment landed in country last Friday and we should have it at the beginning of November - just a little longer to wait (at least that is the plan!).

We also celebrated Abigail's 6th birthday on Wednesday! She looked right past the 'wrapping paper' (a pillowcase, sweatshirt and grocery bag) and just loved the opening the gifts. We made some progress since Lindsey's birthday (clearly not in the wrapping paper department!) as we had matches for her birthday candles. Of course we couldn't find a real cake and didn't have our pans yet to make one - so we got something in the shape of a cake that looked like carmelized flubber (as the girls define it!) with some chocolate swirls on it...won't be doing that again! Andy, Courtney and Mr. Xu get A+'s for persevering to find something to stick a candle in!

On the school (actually sports) front...Lindsey made the Division 1 Middle School soccer team - a more competitive league for the higher level players - great news for her and something she was really hoping for! Also Kelly was asked to coach one of the middle school soccer teams - something great for her as well and thankfully not Lindsey's team!

Thanks for all the prayers...living her in Shanghai is fun, although we miss our family, friends and pets immensely!

The Best Day

So we have had many good days in Shanghai...but yesterday was the BEST day! No we did not get our shipment (even though it was supposed to arrive last Monday), no we did not get the new washing machine (even though the old one has been broken for 10 days now), we did get...some of our BEST friends from Fayetteville to arrive in Shanghai!!!!! What a wonderful sight to see Betsy, Karina and Courtney Linn walking out from customs and how fabulous to give them hugs! The tears this time were tears of joy!!

Today we took Betsy and Karina back to the airport as they head further on to India...while we would LOVE to have them stay, we are so excited that they are spending the next two weeks with Katie Sue! We would stow away in their suitcases so we could see Katie Sue too (if they let you take more than one checked bag!). What a blessing it is though that Courtney does get to stay with us! It will be a fun filled and busy two weeks!

Yangshuo 2010

I, Lindsey, had the privilege of going to Yangshuo, China this past week with 6o other 8th graders. There is an old Chinese saying "The mountains of Guilin are the most beautiful mountains in the world. But the mountains of Yangshuo are even more beautiful." It was gorgeous there! Over the coarse of the week, we did everything from kayaking on the Li River to repelling from a 60 foot cave to the cave floor. We did two activities each day and were there five days total. We began with kayaking. We kayaked amongst water buffalos on the Li River. (In the "mildly acidic" water!) It was tiring yet beautiful! Next we did rock climbing. It was so neat to do actual rock climbing! Even though I only made it half way up the easy coarse, I had so much fun! The next day we went abseiling. Abseiling is just a fancy word for repelling. It was very intimidating at first but once you began repelling, it was so cool! Later, we went orienteering. During orienteering, we went through the country side in groups of four looking for different check points. It was a great way to learn how to use a compass and read a map. The next day, we went to a cooking school. We learned how to make an eggplant dish, pork with vegetables, black pepper chicken, and a veggie dish. It was so delicious! Afterwards, we went on a 17 kilometer bike ride. We stopped at a 400 year old village on the way and saw how they lived. At the end of the ride, we stopped at a bridge crossing over the river and had the chance to jump off into the river. It was very neat! One night, we went to watch the locals fish. The way they fish is very unique! They use birds, called Cormorants, to catch their fish for them. They tie a rope around the birds neck and throw them into the river. They wait until the birds have caught a fish then they pull them out if the water with their pole. Since they have the string tied around their throats, they couldn't swallow the fish. So they use their reflexes to make them spit it back out. It was so neat! Every day, we got at least a half hour of free time to do whatever in the city. Normally, I shopped! I had an awesome time there and I would go back in a heart-beat! I am so happy that I was able to go into God's creation and spend this past week in it! God really helped me to grow this past week! I can't wait to see how the rest of His plans unfold in our lives!

Going Places and Making Acquaintances

Mid-Autumn Festival is over (yes we tried the mooncakes - red bean, lotus flower - they all tasted like a bad fruit cake!). And the October holiday has finished too - lots of fireworks (the Chinese sure know how to do this right!) all celebrating the birthday of the People's Republic of China (established at Tiananmen Square in 1949). Regardless the reason I'll take a 7 day holiday anytime!! We did have visitors for one day over the holiday - Amy (the 19 year old from the Suzhou visit) came down with her 18 year old friend Emily...took the train down just to spend the afternoon with us! We were touched and really enjoyed just talking with them. They really like having Kelly as a friend! People have been shocked that all 5 daughters (well first shock is that there are 5 daughters!) but that they all came to China with us. It is very cultural here for the parents to live somewhere else working and the children to stay with extended family. They also laughed that we thought Chinese babies were so cute since they think Western babies are the cutest! We taught them to play Uno (yes this is still the only game we have!) and they loved it - maybe because they kept winning. Must have been beginners luck because Abigail is our Uno expert! Amy also did some translating for us with Ayi Shi...apparently Mr. Xu was very confused about his first visit for the night of fellowship that Andy invited him to (thought he was picking up DVD's for us??)...anyways he is very interested in going both Tuesday nights and Wednesday mornings and wanted us to know so we can try to work the schedule so he is free. He also hopped out of the van the other day wearing Ayi Shi's cross and was very excited to show me he was wearing it! We'll see where God takes this!

We have purchased 3 bikes - the others are, yes, in the shipment. These have given us a bit more flexibility than walking everywhere. It has also given the older girls a little more freedom to ride out to 'Bubble Tea' or Starbucks to meet class mates. A word on 'Bubble Tea' - if you like to chew things in your drinks you would like it! They add 'pearls' which are black tapioca balls to the tea - which I find as an unpleasant surprise when I am drinking but Kelly loves them!

We are starting to know people - had some 'home cooked' meals with three other families (note they did the cooking!), Andy has two running partners, Kelly's cell group has kicked off (Megan and Lindsey to kick off this week) and we attended a community group meeting. We were riding our bikes home from community group when we had another surreal moment of - can you believe we're riding bikes at 9pm home from community group in Shanghai China?? Some moments it just seems so unreal in a good way...and some moments we wish it weren't real (ha!).

We've done some more exploring of the Shanghai markets...the Dong Tai antique market, South Bund fabric market, Painters Street, underground market, and we found an amazing puzzle store! We were shopping for furniture (a new dining room table that actually seats our family) at the furniture market and then went to the antique market - as we were getting out of the car Mr. Xu warned us in Chinese to not buy anything! Buo Hao...not good. Helpful to know! We dined on fried dumplings, Snickers bars and Iced Tea and left that as our purchasing!

It is a big week at the Thielman house: Lindsey is in Yang Shao Guilin on the 8th grade interim trip, I am in Guangzhou for the week (a story in and of itself as GZ is drastically more Chinese than SH), we are supposed to get our air shipment (of course it was supposed to come Monday...), they are supposed to be getting us a new washing machine (as the old one broke last week Wednesday!) and we are OVER THE TOP excited because Betsy, Karina and Courtney Linn arrive on Saturday!!! It is such a blessing that they are coming!!!

Love to all of our family & friends in the West!!

Yunnan Water Project

Deep in the Yunnan province, up rural mountain roads, around dangerous curves, and away from the well-beaten path, there is a village. Last week I (Kelly) had the privilege of going to this village with a group of nineteen other students, 2 teachers, and 3 YEP (the organization that set everything up) ladies.

Bright and early Thursday morning we were off to the airport, after two flights and an 8-hour bus ride in the dark over muddy, rocky roads we arrived in Lincang to stay at a hotel and enjoy our last shower for the week. As soon as I stepped off of the bus I was surrounded by fresh air, something that I have missed so dearly in Shanghai. It was another 3-hour bus ride the next day to the actual village. The scenery on the way up the mountains was beautiful, it looked like something from a Mulan movie or a National Geographic photo, the women working in their rice hats, the men driving their cattle and goats up mountain paths, the kids running along the side of the road and sticking their heads out of their homes to see us… this is a much more simplistic China then you would ever see near Shanghai. The village is very far away from any cities at an elevation higher than Denver, without running water, with very little electricity, but somehow you can still manage to find full five bars of cell reception, gotta love China :) The boys sleeping area was at the top of the hill in the local school, a really nice building with desks, tables, a chalkboard, and windows. This is also right next to the “kitchen tent,” a tent with a huge fire pit and several tables where they prepared the meals that they served us. The girls slept down the hill quite a ways at the village community center, a large building with no windows, rats, bugs, a random chalkboard, a T.V, and a sound system (so we see where priorities lie). We were lucky enough to have the public squatty right out back, a convenient place to get to in the middle of the night; however I learned early on in the week that if you have to go to the bathroom in the mornings either wake up before the sun and the roosters to go, or deal with waiting in line and going with the locals. The mornings began early, it was so nice to be waking up early by an hour or two to have some time reading the Father’s word and praying before the day started. The first couple of days were filled with intense work digging ditches for the pipes to go in that would later take the water to faucets in each of the villagers homes. Digging through thick forests or in fields with hoes, not my favorite thing in the world. Jesus must’ve known that we were getting tired out because midway through the week he sent some rain. When it rained the villagers insisted that we didn’t work because they were afraid of us getting sick, and there was little for us to do in the village…. that’s when the kiddos showed up. All day everyday, in and out of our sleeping area, they laughed and played with us. many of the kids did not know how to speak Chinese, they spoke their own dialect, which made communicating all the more fun!

While we were there the village elder’s daughter was celebrating her wedding. One night there was a pre-wedding party, this involved dancing in a circle for over three hours to the same music, gutting fish, preparing cow (which we heard killed), pig (which we saw killed), and chickens (which just smelled). The wedding was a huge to-do because in this poorer village eating meat is very rare, many families said that they often go three weeks without meat. Even after we were able to sneak away from the dancing at midnight to go to bed we could still feel the vibrations of the villagers chopping food in the room next door. The wedding itself was surprisingly quiet, I think that it just involved of the entire village eating together and then driving her to her new home. That day we laid pipes and covered them up for a majority of the day, then we put together the faucets for the homes. That night there was an after-wedding party, those people are so funny! Right outside of the community center there was a T.V. set up playing a Chinese movie, a karaoke machine, and lots of noisy drinking games. They were out there all night. Every night on the trip our leaders gave us a thought provoking question to journal about, it was really good to unload things in a journal everyday. Its amazing how God shows up in places that you’d never expect, like in a child’s joy at receiving play dough, or in a villagers face when you sit to help them with dishes, or just in the silence of creation. Interim was a good time for me to get to sit back from how hectic life in the city is and be reminded of where my priorities lie.

Silk Road Dunhuang

A week ago on Thursday, I (Megan) had the opportunity to take an adventure with a group of nineteen students and two teachers from Concordia. We met at the school in a very crazy, busy mood, and two flights later we were surrounded by the simplicity and beauty of the Black Gobi Desert in Dunhuang.

The desert was like nothing I had ever seen before, like something out of a movie- so unreal. I enjoyed every moment of it- hiking up sand dunes, sledding down sand dunes on bamboo sleds, camel riding (which, by the way, is not as uncomfortable as one might think), camping, watching the sun rise and set, seeing the stars well for the first time since I was in Arkansas. Beautiful, simple, and away. That may have been my favorite part about the desert, and the trip as a whole- it gave me a chance to step back from my crazy, hectic lifestyle of transition and focus on what God’s purpose is for my time in China and at Concordia. Our team leaders gave us lots of free time, so I was able to think, journal, and read my Bible to look for answers- I really have it on my heart now to make the most of the time and relationships that I have here, as much as I may be wanting to be back in Arkansas… It made me realize that I should be living with purpose and focus on sharing God’s love with people, especially at school. I understand now why people from the Bible and other religious people would go to the desert. It inspires faith. How could anyone look at the sun rising over massive mountains of sand and deny the fact that there is a God? They really can’t. I realized that the desert not only inspires faith, but it is a representation of a stage of faith- a spiritual desert. God showed me some things about how it relates to my life right now, how He is the water in my spiritual life, and He doesn’t come to me- I have to pursue Him.

The desert was definitely the highlight of my trip, but I also enjoyed the rest of the trip- museums, caves, vineyards, markets, temples, lakes, historical monuments, the end of the great wall, and the cities of Jiayuguan and Dunhuang. I got a lot out of this trip, even if I didn’t get as much historical knowledge as I expected (which is okay). I got adventure, memories, relationships, and time to rethink God’s purpose for me in China. What I really learned is that God has a purpose and a plan for everything, even if I can’t see it.