Pictures of Chengdu!!

We, Faye and I, went to the Chuan Ju (Sichuan Opera) while we were in Chengdu.
It was a delight to almost all the senses. These first three pictures are from the traditional mask changing performance. Where the dancers had colorful masks on that would change at a moments notice.

These next four pictures are from the comic drama of the evening.

It was a physical comedy with lots of tripping, falling, face pulling, and acrobatic feats.

There was a storyline that had something to do with a husband who likes to gamble and the wife who wants him to stop.

Next were one of my favorite acts!!

The young man who performed these hand shadows looked to be about 12 years old.
The hand shadows fluidly flowed from one subject matter to another with no story but the music played while he performed just set the tone of each subject matter.
It was really marvelous to see his hands appear to be animals or other forces of nature.

The next three photos are from a warrior play that had actual singing during it. I don't really know the storyline at all. Sorry. The costumes and face paint were quite colorful.

Okay so these next two pictures are hard to describe.
The woman is actually an elaborate hand puppet. But she was so intricate that each of her fingers could move and function like a real hand. The man's head in the corner of the first picture is the man orchestrating her dance. She sang and danced.
I believe that the singer was off stage but her body movements and face movements were so detailed and amazing it was like watching a small person really dancing. So Crazy!!!

These are a villain and king story that had some sword play.

These elderly men were the ones playing all the music for the entire event. They got to be in front for about 10 min at the very beginning of the performance so that we as an audience could "meet" them. Are they not the cutest little orchestra?

On our travels in Chengdu Faye and I came across the trusty YMCA!!!

The Old Navy prices were almost double what you would pay in the United States!!
Bu Hao!! Not Good!!

The Fashion Strip was in full form in Chengdu.
Here are just some of the bright and shiny stores!!

I ate a foot long Subway sandwich every single day while I was in Chengdu!!!
Even now I wish Kunming had one. Sigh!!

New Passport!!

I know that most of you are unaware of the passport drama I had last year around July, but let me fill you in.

1. I had my wallet stolen and sadly my treasured Nebraska Drivers License was inside.

2. I had to renew my Student Visa and when my school's secretary looked at my passport she informed me that the Chinese Gov't would most likely not accept it as a valid passport. The reason for this was because my passport had suffered some water damage. The story behind this lovely damage is as follows: I had gone to the large International Import store called Metro and had purchased several items. Most of them non perishable items such as dishes or trash bags but one of the perishable items I happened to buy was frozen hamburger. Here in China you are not given grocery bags, you have to bring all your bags with you. And I had, I had two large bags plus my backpack to carry everything home with me. I put the meat into my backpack. Now I had brought my passport to Metro because like Sam's club you need a card to get in and so I had applied for a card that day with my passport, student visa, and letter of residence. Now the trip home took an inordinate amount of time and while standing on the bus for hours isn't necessarily a terrible burden, when you have meat in your bag that melts and drips bloody hamburger meat all over the bus is. And although the bloody drips all over the bus provided me lots of breathing room while on the bus (for people didn't tell me i was bleeding they just stayed as far away as possible) I would rather have been crowded and not had my passport all bloody. Needless to say the damage was slight but to some noticeable. Thankfully, not noticeable to the Student Visa Official. For I was issued a new Student Visa last July to last until this March.

3. However, this drama made me nervous about accuireing a new one. I did a lot of research to determine what i would need to do to renew and discovered that water damage to a passport is considered "a damaged passport" which cannot be used as a form of identification when renewing your passport and two other forms of personal identification must be presented. One that is a valid picture id. Which sadly I didn't possess any longer since my wallet had been stolen.

4. What to do? So when I returned to the U.S. last Aug my mom was going to act as a witness to my identity and we were going to renew the passport in Chicago....alas the passport location in Chicago said that I couldn't get an appointment until I was in the states and once there it would take too long to process the application and I would have to file something or other in order to expidite the passport....plus they would confiscate my "damaged" one and all the visas in them would be invalid...blah blah blah....all in all it was ma fan-which is Chinese for troublesome (but has a more deep meaning that is perfect for so many situations and indicates an emotional aspect to it).

5. So in the end I didn't do anything while in the states and just prayed that no one would notice that my passport was damaged. Which on my exit of China in Aug and my reentry at the end of Aug no one mentioned or suggested any problems with my passport. So the next step was coming here to have it renewed.

6. Today I go to pick up my new passport- in precisely an hour and a half I will pick it up and I am again nervous that some one some where will have noticed and i will meet with opposition to the new passport issue. Truthfully, I know that everything will work itself out because Father is in control, but there is a little niggle of worry deep inside. Please ask that my trust would deepen as I move forward from this day.

How Chengdu is like Kunming

So Kunming is a city of about 5,740,000 people. It is legitimately a city. Despite its cityness though, there is a small homey feel to it. There are small neighborhoods that break the city up and deflect from the bustling nature of a true city. Most buildings in Kunming are at least 7 stories tall and in the center of Kunming there are much taller buildings. We have some newly built malls and some very upscale stores such as Nike, Adidas, Levi's, Zara, Marc Jacobs but these stores are highly outnumbered by the vast number of knock off stores or Chinese brand stores. We have McDonalds and KFC, Papa Jon's, Pizza Hut and Dairy Queen. And I know that having Western or American products or stores does not make a civilization more civilized, but for me it makes it more comfortable.

At this point in this trip to Chengdu I am challenged to find the similarities and differences between my city and this one. Chengdu's population is approximately 10.44 million. There are vastly more people here. And so I will give to you 7 ways Chengdu is different and 6 ways that they are the same.

7 Differences:

1. There are buildings everywhere I look. Which isn't really a difference, the difference is that I cannot see any blue sky. Any amount of sky is filled with buildings or with clouds.
2. Chengdu has a very nice subway.
3. People only cross the street when the light tells them to walk.
4. There is no taxi tax, meaning that what to meter reads is what you pay. In Kunming, once the meter is stopped you pay 1 RMB on top of what it reads for petrol tax.
5. I have seen people sitting on public park benches without putting down newspaper. This strikes me as very odd indeed, for in Kunming, no one ever sits down on public property unless you have wiped it down or are sitting on something you put down first.
6. It is a lot colder here, in Chengdu.
7. Chengdu has a Mexican Restaurant called Pete's Tex Mex-worth every kuai.
   

6 Similarities:

1. People still spit on the sidewalks.
2. Both cities are under heaps of constructions which not only makes traffic bad but going places on foot slightly dangerous.
3. A river runs through both cities.
4. Around 5:30-7pm it is impossible to catch a taxi because either they are all full or they are off duty.
5. Food fenders are common, not legal in either city, and come out chiefly at night.
6. Foreigners hang out in foreigner spots.
   

The tourism committee needs to put together better maps, for I have gotten lost at least twice. The huge road closest to my hostel is filled with upper up scale stores such as Tiffany's, Gucci, Ralph Lauren, Burberry and many many others. Yesterday, I went walking and came to a mall that boasted that within it's walls lived: Calvin Klein, Old Navy, Victoria Secret, and others. I ventured in to take in the joy of going to an Old Navy and purchasing the in fashion at home. However, it was a huge disappointment. Dear Friends, what you can buy from Old Navy for 20 dollars the lovely Chengdu Old Navy wanted to sell it to me for 288 kuai. I counted 9 Starbucks while out my first day and now thanks to the Starbucks Marathon of 2011 have visited 6 of them.

I attended the Sichuan Opera the other night with a friend and it was so amazing. The performances ranged from playing the traditional erhu musical instrument to the fasinating art of hand shadows and finally ending in a crescendo of mystery during the mask changing dance. It was really such a jumble of experiences piled into one night that I was breathless with enchantment and truly do not know how to describe the evening.


I will post pictures later.

American Consulate Experience

So, I have traveled to the northern and bustling city of Chengdu. My purpose is to renew my passport. Destination: The American Consulate. Now this place "the consulate" is a place of mystery. I had fabricated a wonderland of everything that is American in my mind. I envisioned a vast space that was warm and inviting and filled with vending machines that dispensed things like: Dr. Pepper, Skittles, 5 gum, Cheetos, and Diet Coke. I think I really imagined that it was just like a really great Coffee Shop where American citizens just hang out and be really friendly toward each other while they wait for their appointed time to see an official. My grandmother had sent me 20 US dollars last year and I have been keeping it safe so that I could spend it at the consulate. I also was led to believe it was going to be a mecca of young American military men in uniform. How little I knew. Sadly, all those dreams were not to be. Here are the four reasons the Chengdu American Consulate is like going to the doctor:

1. If you arrive earlier than your appointment, they can fit you in earlier.

2. You have to sit on a cold surface.

3. You get scrutinized by a man or woman who has higher credentials than you.

4. Your name gets called into the waiting room and you still jump like you have done something wrong.

Here are the four ways the Chengdu American Consulate is not like going to the doctor:

1. Your appointment lasts only 10 min.

2. All the doors are opened by armed men. (in this instance Chinese Military)

3. You have to wear a guest pass.

4. All your belongings had to be left at the front gate.

Four things you may not know about consulates or renewing a passport:

1. I didn't see one American Marine at the Chengdu American Consulate.

2. To petition for a non-citizen relative, such as a husband or adopted child, finger prints and lots of paperwork is needed.

3. Consulates are not all knowing or the final authority. Some things need to be validated by the State of Florida and then the Chinese Embassy in Washington D.C.

4. A renewed passport will have a new number, but they give you back your old one so you can use the current visa and if you have booked flights using the number from the old one.

Four things I am thankful for about the American Consulate"

1. The office clerk (is this the appropriate term for a consulate worker?) was very patient and kind. He answered all my stupid questions and allowed me to leave to retrieve the passport pictures I left in my bag that the gate guards made me leave at the front gate.

2. The fee to renew a passport was less than I anticipated and I was able to pay in RMB.

3. There was one chair left in the waiting area for me to sit one while waiting.

4. People smiled at me.

Now, I wait. I was told that it would take 7-10 days for my passport to be processed and that the Consulate would email me. So for the next 10 days I will bide my time in Chengdu. When I return to pick up my passport I will see if any additional observations crop up.

Christmas Cookie Exchange!!

So this lovely Friday I have been preparing for this evening's event, a cookie exchange. It has been a very very trying adventure. I usually only bake one of about five different items and although they are delicious, none of them would be classified as Christmas. So I searched high and low for Christmasy cookie recipes. So technically it is my own fault that this day has been so hectic for everyone knows that you never use a recipe for a public event that you haven't tried at home first.

So my first great disaster was the Easy Coconut Macaroon recipe. The only ingredients were shredded coconut, a can of sweetened condensed milk, and almond extract. Mix and spoon drop on to greased pan and bake. Sounds so very easy. So I followed directions and instead of the beautiful light brown mounds emerging from my oven I got flattened out gooeyness with burned bottoms. No one wants to eat those, so I made an emergency call to Kristi and she suggested I add an egg white to the remaining mixture. I did and the remaining mix made 6 beautiful macaroons. Not really enough for a cookie exchange, but enough to take and eat.

The second almost disaster was a Chocolate Oatmeal No Bake Cookie. It was so runny that I had no hopes that it would solidify into cookies that one could actually eat, but they sort of did. Each cookie is a little more sticky than I had hoped, but they will do.

The third disaster slash mistake was my Oreo Snow Balls. Everything was going well until I began to melt the white chocolate to dip them into. This is when you realize that shelf life of products does matter. For when I tried to melt the first package of chocolate in the microwave instead of melting it sort of crumbled into a pile of white crumbly stuff and then proceeded to burn. It was really gross. So I used the other package on the stove this time and had a relatively good amount to use for half of the balls I had made. Once it was all used up I had to use the baker's chocolate. I forgot that it was unsweetened. So the other half of the snow balls are very dark chocolate flavored. I will take them to the party but will have to warn everyone regarding dark dirty snow balls.

My fourth disaster, Mocha Crinkles, will be the least noticeable at the party. Something went terribly wrong with the dough. It was supposed to be kept in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours until firm and able to mold into balls. I kept it there over night, assuming that more hours would mean firmer dough. However, it was the most sticky dough ever and it was disgusting. I had to put it in the freezer for several hours and then could only roll four cookies at a time before re-freezing it. It was a very slow process. The end result isn't too bad though.

I am finished and awaiting the time to go to the party and I am tired. And my baking self esteem is a little low. Tragic.

Weirdness Come to Life!!

So, I put up my little Christmas tree last week and it is so sparkly and happy and bright. I know that many of you have huge, beautiful, real Christmas trees and I am so very happy for you. Each ornament I placed on the tree had special significance to me. Most of them were from my parents. But some of them were gifted to me from very dear friends. As each one found it's own little resting place the tree became less and less a tree and more and more a reminder to me of how wonderful life is and how beautiful each one of us is to make our life, by adding our own little characteristics to what would be an ordinary life. Our little quirks and idiosyncrasisms are God's way of making each one of us special and beautiful. I am so very blessed to know so many weird and lovely people and I know that it is because of the weirdness around me that makes me happy.

Yesterday, I was walking down this little street and two little girls were standing on the side of it and as I got nearer to them one of them said hello to me. This of course is not an unlikely thing to happen to me, but this day it tickled me pink and so I said hello back and I smiled to them in my best friend smile. I continued to walk and when I got about ten paces past them I turned around and both girls were giggling and still watching me, so I waved and both little girls smiled and covered their enormous grins with their hands and as I turned back to continue on my journey all I could be was happy. Each of us giving a bit of brightness into the others life-but this would never have happened if we hadn't let in or out our weirdness.

Think back over your life and picture those you love the most the ones who have placed superior knowledge into your mind, the ones who have made you laugh so hard you almost peed your pants or had food squirt out your nose, what about the ones who know you so well they can tell when you are not doing well just by looking at you, or the individuals who you don't really know very well but stick out in your memories as one who knew who he was, and lastly those who made you realize that you were not insignificant. Each group made a very important impact in your life and why was that? Because they embraced what was special and let it out into the world to make it a better place.

Just like my little metalic green pickle ornament, it is special not only because it is a pickle and those are my favorite food but also because of the weirdness of it and because it was given to me by one of my favorite people, it has character and makes my tree a more beautiful species because it is hanging there.

Or take my tree topper, possibly the most simple of all tree toppers, a star cut out of cardboard and wrapped in smooth tin foil. WEIRD right? But I will let you in on a little family secret, we have always topped our Christmas trees with tinfoil covered stars. They are beautiful, in such a simple way. Every year my daddy writes the year on the back and every year my momma says that we should get a new topper. We always disagree about it and daddy always places the star in its rightful place. Our family star was made my my daddy and so was mine. My star is much smaller than our family's but it suits my tiny little tree just fine.

I am thankful for the weirdness of my Christmas tree and the things that it reveals about me, my family, and what is important to me. I am proud to exhibit my weirdness here in China. Where everyone values the ideal of being exactly like everyone else. But although there is something to be said for the ideal and value of conformity I must say that what my heart desires is to be known in all my uniqueness, even if it is weird. Because I know that the one who made me this different is pleased with my little weird bits and He wants me to live joyfully.

I was once accused of hiding myself from the world and although the bleakness the world often exhibits can be quite daunting I hope that in my desire to make each day I live in a more beautiful thing that I embrace the bleakness and instead of hiding from it I give my all to it.

May that be Chinese classes, volunteering at the rehab clinic, or interacting with the neighborhood children-my all.

Official December Newsletter!!

“And I pray on Christmas, He’ll get me through another day.” Harry Connick Jr

The climate in Kunming is considered Mild and compared to you all in Chicago, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wyoming, Colorado, Missouri, and Nebraska it is. However, having no in-door heating does take a toll on a girl and so I have finally turned on my heated floor. It is a genius piece of technology. A very thin patch of plastic encases a heating element and it lies directly on my marble flooring and when I plug it in and turn it on it can heat my floor up to 45 degrees Celsius. I am also debating on whether I will take a heated pillow to school to sit on or not. It is so much fun to bundle up in winter coats, sweaters, socks, boots, and such. Once the weather began to cool down I began to have the Christmas jitters. Anxious to listen to Jingle Bells, drink hot chocolate, bake cookies, and celebrate the life that gives True Life.

I have been feeling recently that my contributions to the world are vastly inferior to what they should be. In fact, going about my daily life of school, language helper, homework, the occasional social lunch or dinner I have felt that I have or am letting you and my Father down. I am not an asset. I suck air. I give nothing back into the larger whole. Life constantly gives me struggles and I am only just getting by. I have seen the Goodness of His hand in the lives around me and even in my own life and feel unworthy of it all.

Sharing those feelings to my small group of close friends here I was reminded of a few very important points. 1. My feelings are not always a reflection of what is real. 2. I am not just getting by, I am being prepared to be more successful in the future. 3. Father cares and thinks the day to day activities in our life are important. 4. When I continue to be obedient to what He has asked of me I cannot be a failure.

This time of year is one in which we all look back over the year and give Thanks for all the wonders that have been done for us, ask for Forgiveness for the failures that we have been a part of, and Request that our future may be in step with His will for us. Maybe you have been feeling like I have; that you are not fulfilling the expectations you had had and you never will, or perhaps you are also overwhelmed by the goodness He has showered on you but cannot accept that He wants those good things for you. Have you too forgotten Whose you are?

Those are Lies.

So this Christmas, please walk with me back to the Stable where an infant lies in a feeding trough and lets gaze at Him there. He is lying there because He desires us All to be free from all those lies and to be filled with a Joy that announces that we are free from sin and in every moment of every day we will cling to the Truth that He Lives so that we may also Live.

Joy Joy Joy is what I wish for you this lovely Christmas Season. Thank you for all your faithfulness in regards to me, whether in material or emotional support. You are truly a blessing to me.