An Assault on the Senses

Sometimes a trip to the JinQaio Carrefour just begs you to take pictures and share of the adventure that we call grocery shopping! Now Carrefour is actually mild compared to the local grocery stores and also the wet markets where the native Shanghai people won't even take foreigners because they can't handle it! There are two sections of Carrefour that we majorly try to avoid...meat and dried fish...both as the title of this post suggests, an assault on the senses. As for meat there is really fresh - as in still alive, swimming in tanks, crawling on ice, jumping or slithering around; there is fresh - being cut off the slab and thrown into grocery carts, bare hands, no wrapping, lying fresh & bloody on ice; and then there is frozen - every body part included, legs sticking in the air! Last week must have been some kind of special on frozen as there were literally dozens of people in the frozen meat section (thus the reason it drew my attention!) What was most interesting is that in order to get the piece they really wanted everyone took the frozen meat and kept throwing it on the ground to break it up. So....you want me to buy meat first that everyone has touched with their bare hands and then second that has been thrown on the ground in the store where everyone walks with who knows what on their shoes?!?! Wouldn't surprise me if we had some people become vegetarians after this adventure!

Next comes the dried fish section - sometimes unavoidable as it stands between the fresh fruits & veggies and the bread! Let me just say as far as meat & fish go, apparently you can dry & preserve just about anything and any part of anything! This section isn't as much the sight but more the smell that is overwhelming! Tough to pick out french bread with the strong smell of dried fish floating in the air! Of course the time we saw a little boy (with his father's help) peeing in a coffee cup right by the open bin of dried shrimp didn't help either!

And I wonder why we order out 3-4 nights per week?!?!

Bringing in the Year of the Dragon

Xin nian kuai le! Happy New Year! This week all of China celebrated with fireworks and firecrackers to bring in the year of the dragon and our second CNY here in Shanghai did not disappoint! Noise (as Joseph calls it) started about 6pm and came to full crescendo (think war zone level!) from about 11:30pm to 1am!

Again fireworks like we would see for an entire show back at the 4th of July shooting off on every street, in our lane, and right on our sidewalk. Zoe and Abigail slept through it all - unbelievable! Joseph on the other hand cried at each noise early in the evening and then decided to manage by needing to see where all the noises were coming from - so we ran from window to window, upstairs to downstairs and looked for all the pretty colors...until he finally crashed at 1am! Andy and the older girls did what any typical American family would do...set off our small assortment of firecrackers, played some frisbee in the streets and wandered around in awe!

Chinese New Year is the most significant holiday in Chinese tradition and the year of the dragon is the most auspicious year of them all (the dragon is the only mythical animal of the 12 zodiacs). Births in China are expected to go up 20% this year as parents want their children to be dragons - still a one child policy but lots of people to have babies! Apparently hospital beds are already booked out through August for the maternity ward in the larger cities! Now that is planning ahead! Oh and another tidbit...for each zodiac sign, whenever it is your year, tradition is that you wear red every single day for the entire year (that's gotta be a lot of red underwear being sold here!)

With Joseph still not finalized and our desire to not join the hundred million people traveling in China, we decided to stay home for the week long holiday and it has been wonderful! Playing games, reading books, watching movies, relaxing and having fun...no where to go and not much to do (since almost every place is closed!)...something I think we all needed! Reality will be tough to take next week!

7 Days Too Many

7 days too many...this is our opinion of our recent week long adventure with Zoe at the Shanghai United Family Hospital! When we returned to Shanghai this summer both Andy & I agreed that we needed to be better prepared for an emergency here in Shanghai (maybe having an emergency with Joseph at the Detroit Airport was our stimulus!)...we thought we'd just do some research, collect the right business cards to give to a taxi driver, have our stash of cash for admissions and we'd be done. Guess God had other plans for our learning! She started with the stomach flu and somehow ended with a nasty multi-resistant urinary tract infection... thankfully now each are completely gone and we are headed home today!

A couple of interesting things about hospitals & this adventure....

* Even though the hospital is in Shanghai, it is about 60 minutes from our house. This has made one of us always being here quite a logistics challenge with one driver, work, school and after school activities. For those wondering, no I did not put it all on a spreadsheet to figure it out!

* Zoe was in the international wing of the hospital...I definitely would not say she was roughing it from her amenities - large private room, pull out futon for us, flat screen TV, DVD player, free Wi-Fi. What she liked most though was the bed that adjusted!

* In China before even admitting you to the hospital, even if you have insurance, you need to pay! So for Zoe they assumed a 3 day stay (at the time we laughed and assured her they didn't know what they were talking about!) and charged us $3000USD...thank goodness they take credit cards!

* Overall the care was superb! We also kept checking each step of the way with our wonderful pediatrician friend Lynn Morrison...and the treatment, changes & decisions all followed exactly what we would do in the States.

* One of the sweetest things was the envelope that Zoe got from her class filled with get well cards. Here are some of my favorite comments (remember these are from 8 year olds!)...

- Please come back to school before you leave China

- When you read this card does it make you feel better?

- Too bad you are sick you are missing out on great stuff - today we are learning multiplication!

- Get well soon - life is different without you!

- I hope you get well soon. Speaking of getting well, what sickness do you have - virus, pnemonia, cancer?

- I don't know you that much but I will pray for you to get well soon!

What did we learn besides the ins & outs of the ER services here in Shanghai...only what we already knew...how wonderful and amazing the network of family & friends is that we have back home. Despite the distance, we still were completely covered in prayer and are truly blessed by all of you!

More Pictures from Hawaii!

Mele Kalikimaka!

That's Merry Christmas...in Hawaiian! This year we celebrated Christmas in Hawaii with the Strack side of the family - the 'half way' point to meet between the East Coast and Shanghai! Eight days in Kona on the Big Island - simply beautiful! Our days were spent sleeping in (jet lag really seemed to hit all of us!), going to the beach in the morning and then the pool in the afternoon while Joseph took his nap. Really roughing it! Here are some highlights:

* Kelly & Megan spent one morning with their cousins Andrew & Daniel scuba diving - it sounded amazing (if you don't mind being 40 ft below the water!). A 'school' of dolphins swam over them, they saw sea turtles, pet an octopus and held a sea cucumber - not bad for their first dive ever! The next day the four of them plus Andy took surfing lessons - a bit harder than scuba diving but they all got up for lots waves.

* The beaches were wonderful and the water just amazing how clear and the shades of blue. Our first beach was actually a lot of lava rock and black sand and really made us question our paradigms of what we thought Hawaii was going to look like. After that we did find some gorgeous white sand beaches - which definitely matched the vision!

* For dinner one night we attended a luau...delicious food, lots of fun hula and flame dancing. Not exactly Joseph's favorite because it was a bit loud but he hung in there as long as we moved farther away from the stage. Zoe however loved the hula dancing and even more getting up to get her own drink of punch like a 'big girl' (thus the reason we think she had about 25 servings and was willing to refill everyone else's cups too!).

* We went to a wonderful outdoor church on the side of Mauna Kea mountain for a Christmas Eve candlelight service. Joseph's favorite part was blowing out the candles & having us relight them!

* The little girls especially just LOVED playing with their grandparents...out in the waves with Grandma, Uno back in the room, swimming at the pool, digging in the sand, staying up 'late' watching a movie. It was definitely, as always, very special time!

* We went to Target shopping - more than just a few times! We also ate at Taco Bell - again more than a few times! Can't get anything like a Burrito Supreme no onions with Raspberry tea easy ice in Shanghai!

We all appreciated the sunny days & blue skies, and mostly loved being with family again. Thanks Mom & Dad for an amazing time together! At the end of the week we actually sent Kelly & Megan on to Sante Fe, New Mexico to meet up with their wonderful friends in the Linn, Morrison & Schwartzman families for a fabulous week of snowboarding. Just got off the phone with them as they await their flight at LAX back to Shanghai - exhausted even before the 24 hours of travel, but definitely renewed by the time with friends. Now landing at 10pm in Shanghai tonight and having school at 7:30am tomorrow morning...not so sure how that is going to work but they agreed in advance to be cheerful (hummm....)!

As for New Year's in Shanghai I would call it woefully uneventful - Lindsey would call it pathetic! There is no ball dropping in times square, although we did watch earlier in the evening the fireworks display at Sydney Harbor Australia. With several of us still recovering from jet lag, the little girls & Joseph went to bed early and Andy & I fell asleep on the couch - we definitely owe Lindsey for being the only one to stay up to sadly celebrate on her own! As we look back over 2011 we are amazed at all the ways God has revealed himself in our lives and all that He has provided. We look forward to following Him in 2012 and wish all of you an abundance of blessings in this new year!

Birthdays and Breaking Records

We have yet another reason to celebrate in the month of December now...Joseph's birthday! Our little guy turned 3 this year and we had such fun celebrating with him! To start the day, Mr. Xu showed up early bringing two gifts for Joseph - a Transformer action figure and also a cake! Not sure if Mr. Xu knew we had been looking for a cake the day before (without any luck as usual) - suspecting he did as he is usually one step ahead of our plans! It was amazingly sweet of him and can we just say that in China everyone loves Hello Kitty - so I'm sure a Hello Kitty cake for a 3 year old boy is perfectly normal!! After some fun with his first action figure, it was off to the aquarium....sharks, sting rays, turtles, jellyfish, enjoyed them all except the section where there was a 'fake' thunderstorm (that part wasn't cool!). And for lunch - what other than Josephs's favorite - hamburgers! Unwrapping presents...what great excitement as he opened each one! Fun to buy boy's toys too...swords (good for balance!), cars and cash register! What a precious gift he is to us!

We also were celebrating as Andy crossed the finish line at the Shanghai Marathon this month. 4 hours flat...his personal record and personal goal since he started running races! Persistence & patience...oh and lots of training...finally paid off!

Changed Hearts

And last and late but not least...Megan's interim reflection blog post from her trip to the orphanage in Shaanxi province...

Getting off of the bus, you are greeted by bunches of smiling, yet uncertain faces. The children at the Duanmin Children’s Welfare Centre range in ages from a few years to seventeen years old. They are sometimes deprived of fun and interaction as the caretakers struggle to meet their daily needs, and they look forward to the hugs, smiles, and words from visitors. For four and a half days, we were immerged in the culture and family mindset surrounding the orphanage. It isn’t looked upon as a temporary place for children with special needs; rather, it is a home where the sisters who work there strive to make it a place of love, enjoyment, connection, and protection as the kids grow older. To spend even a short time there was a blessing, an insight, and a reminder.

The children stole my heart from the moment I arrived (leaving presented me with some of the most painful goodbye’s I’ve ever had to make). As I left, my mind filled with memories of the strong bonds we had formed over the short time we’d spent there...particularly to my time with Dang Tian Qiao, who is six years old. During an interim meeting at Concordia, I was matched up with her to be her special caretaker for the week we were there. I figured she would be a challenge because she is autistic and tends not to interact with others. However, God took my expectations and let them fall away slowly but surely when she took my hand, walked around with me, and sat with me. I spoke to her in my broken Chinese, knowing that she could not speak back, and my heart softened. She played with my hair, giggled, wanted me to hold her, and gestured where she wanted to be carried. For many other children, this would be no extraordinary event. But for Qiao Qiao, it was a step forward towards interaction with others, recognizing familiar faces, and building relationships.

The sound of her laugh as she played with me, as well as the sight of a smile on her sweet face, are memories that I will not soon be forgetting. They constantly come to mind, as they did when I kissed her on the head, told her goodbye, and cried over our departure from the orphanage for the last time. I have so many stories from interim, and I will treasure them in my heart and readily share them to make known the impact that can take place and the lives that can be changed—even if I was changed more than the children—with little more than a willing heart and God’s love.