A Cool Wind

Wow I finally got into this blogger everyone keeps talking about.

Yesterday was the hottest day for me so far. I had to walk across campus, up the hill, and to the fourth floor carrying my backback. I happened to be wearing my nicest shirt. I said to my students "I wore my best shirt for you today, but look what happened." My back was completely wet with sweat. I taught for the first hour trying to stand under the fan as much as possible. The bell rang and all the students layed their heads down, also exhausted from the heat. All of a sudden the curtains flew open and a cool wind rushed into the classroom. The students gasped in unison "Ahhhhh." Everyone ran outside and stood on the balcony to enjoy the refreshing cool wind. There were scattered showers that afternoon, and I saw my first ever bit of a rainbow in China.

GaoYan, Caleb, and I are meeting lots of families with young children. Please ask for wisdom and our action to deepen relationships.

Yesterday I got a call from Jimmy another foreign teacher that is supposed to handle any complaints from us and take them to the powers that be. He was very instrumental in getting the door way made for us. I had mentioned to him, that I wanted to take off the day of Christmas (I have 3 classes that day and so does Jon). He figured that the other teachers would also like that day off too, so he requested it. They told him no! We are willing to make the classes up, or be creative. The Chinese teacher suggested that we just bring our kids to class with us and celebrate Christmas with the students. That sounds crazy now, and Jon has class at the same time, so we would not be together as a family.

Jason and Cec. said that we should complain to the school. Jimmy offered to take my classes for me, which is very sweet, but Jon has class too.

We are not sure what we will do, but ask that you lift this up. We also want to make sure that we show the right attitude. It is hard, and it makes me personally question whether this school is the place for our family in the future. We need wisdom and patience.

Thanks for lifting this up. We love you all.

P.S. For those of you that have Facebook, I uploaded a video of our apartment. I could not get it to upload to the blog.

Clarks: It's Tuesday Over Here!

It's Tuesday over here. That means it's "Hair Washing Day!" [It's not a national holiday or anything, just our personal schedule.] So, when Cec gets back from her one, two-hour class this morning, we will get aboard the... [drum roll, please] BRAND NEW (hand-me-down) ELECTRIC BIKE! Hooray!!! [more in a moment] ...and head up-town to the salon (the Chinese for which, I kid you not, is literally "sand dragon") and do some personal work with Liu Ling and "the other guy" while they do some sud-work on Cecely's head.

So, who are Liu Ling and "the other guy"? Well, I've already mentioned them, you know. They are the people at the salon, of course, but now you get to know their names (sort of): Liu Ling [pronounced "Leo", emphasis on the second syllable, and "Ling", as in... "Ling" I guess.][If you know a smattering of Chinese (Jake {haha}) then you might recognize that it sounds like the numbers six (6) and zero (0), respectively.][And by the way, have you ever read anything with this many parentheticals before in your whole entire life?!!!] ...and I'll try to find out the other guy's name today. [The "other" guy, is, by the way, the only guy, 6-0 being a girl.]

Anyway, to those of you who are considering this situation, thanks so much. The guy, I guess we've mentioned already (?) is a person who already has some knowledge but could certainly use - and is asking for - more. The girl is a tabula rasa, as they say in education circles - a clean slate. So, we are going to continue to spend time in - and out of - the salon with them, and "let come what may."

Now, what else was I going to say...?
Oh, two quick things: Elaine and I [did I mention, this is Jason, or could you tell?] had a great, long talk yesterday. She has really been struggling. [Ask the Rays.] We are going to be working to help get her back in the groove again. So think about that when you have opportunity.
And speaking of Elaine and the Rays... I have now inherited Bobby's e-bicycle. Sorry I don't have a picture, but if you still have access to the one Bobby posted a year ago, just clip-and-paste my head onto his body, and you'll get the idea, more-or-less.

We are doing wonderfully. I've been getting even more serious'er about my Chinese study these past few days. I am subscribing to ChinesePod.com, which is a great tool for learning at home in a fun and engaging way.
Oh, and the weather is miserable. Therefore we ask you: Please avoid any and all references to "Autumn temperatures, colorful falling leaves, cool evening breezes," and so on, in your future correspondence with us, as this will only serve to further exacerbate our agony.
Thanks in advance.
Bless y'all!

Clarks: another contact

Just wanted to post something real quick about our latest contacts: two folks at the local hair salon. One is a guy who was washing Cec's hair and mentioned that he was a You-Know-What and would be interested in Reading with us some time. The other is the girl who washed my hair, with whom I tried to discuss a few Things. When I told her that making lots of money wasn't the goal of my life, she was interested to know why. As an old Friend had once advised me, I tried to let her in the reason for the Hope that I have. Anyway, there's no dramatic or funny story to share, really. Just wanted to tell you that we are working on these two folks and ask that you keep them in mind. We are excited b/c their work puts them in contact with many different people every day; such folks are the ones who could spread Seed beyond our reach.

Today was super hot. I am not sure why it felt soooo hot, but it was! The fountain was on after our class, and we have been promising the kids we would let them play in it, so we finally let them. They had a BLAST! It was funny to see the students notice the kids in the fountain. A couple of guys even got brave enough to stick their hands in, and one put his head in the water. We were not the only ones that were hot today!

What a day!

Yesterday, I made a short video of our apartment, however I cannot get it up loaded. My computer keeps freezing up wherever I try to put it. So for now, you will have to be satisfied with still pics. I will add the video when I send a video home. I will take some still pictures of the apartment today after my class.
For now, I will tell you about my day.
It all started about 4:30 or 5 with Jon waking up with "China belly". Fortunately he was able to go back to sleep and was OK the rest of the day. We had planned to go to Century Mart to get groceries in the morning. We did not get going very early (liked we had hoped). We probably left the apt. around 10. Instead of going to the close one, we wanted to go to the better and bigger one. We took a bus to the end, but form there it fell apart. We needed to take another bus, but were not sure which one, so we walked for a while. Eryn was whining, Liam peed his pants, and Jon was mad. Finally we got on a bus and just watched out the window, we rode it one stop!
Once we got there, a student called Jon to meet up and look for furniture (mostly bunk beds). We did not realize that it would take us that long to get there! So we hurried through and then Jon went to meet the student and I stayed with the kids. We went to Subway to eat. What a treat! Then we took a taxi back to the school. It was my first time solo with the kids in China. It went well, and the taxi driver and I communicated well enough. We talked about the kids and Michael Phelps.

As we approached our building, I realized that I did not have the keys. Jon had them and he was still at the furniture market. The kids and I waited out side the building for almost an hour. Thank goodness for cell phones. Jon came back. He did not buy any furniture because he did not have enough cash with him on this trip! But he knows how to get back and can take more money
next time.

We were wondering if this was going to be a wasted day. We took quick naps and then went out to eat with Frank, a brother. We were running a little late, but it was ok. Once we met up with Frank, we got in a taxi. Then Liam started to feel carsick. We were close to the restaurant, so we got out. He soon felt better.

We had a great dinner! Beggar's Chicken was a hit with the kids until the noodles came. The kids loved it. They also liked the pancake things that came with our duck. The kids were full and happy!
As we left the restaurant, we ran into a sister that Frank knew. We walked with her and her 8 month old son by the lake. We watched the water show and then took a car back with Frank.

We are excited that we found some more foods that all the kids like! So we ended up having a nice finish to a day that was not so good earlier.

Meet Moonbeam!

Well, it has finally come to pass; we are, as they say, with cat.

Because it is Mid-Autumn (i.e., Moon-) Festival, we decided we should select a moon-related name for this silvery feline. Thus, his name shall be 月光 (YuèGuāng), meaning "moonlight" or "moonbeam". We like to call him "Guang-guang" for short.

We found him at one of the very nice cat shops we'd mentioned, but we didn't end up paying as much as we had expected. In fact, we were able to get him for less than half-price.

As you can see, he's still a little shy around the house. But he's very loving if you can keep him in one place! We'll say more later, I'm sure, but right now I gotta go -- the keyboard tapping makes him nervous.

The guys came to paint our new doorway today. We are assuming that we will only get one coat of paint. We are ok with that because these guys always seem to make a mess. They track stuff all over the floor, and we can't communicate with them very well, it is frustrating. Now that the doorway is finished, I need to get the pictures up.... We will probably finish moving over to the "big apartment" this weekend.

I had my first class today. It went pretty well. Jon had an afternoon class where only one student showed up! So he brought her back to our apartment and we visited with her, and she played Uno with the kids! What a way to improve her English. We are excited about these smaller classes, because they could be a way to share more important things.

That is all from this side of the world today.

Clarks: This just in: Major Moon-Mission to Launch

As you may or may not know - depending, I guess, on how closely you follow the festival seasons of the Chinese lunar calendar - this weekend and/or Monday (not sure, really) is Mid-Autumn Festival, i.e. Mooncake Day. This is the time every year when Chinese gather with loved ones to gaze upon the full moon, think of family and friends who may be far away, and squint just-so until they catch a glimpse of the rabbit who lives on the surface of the moon. [Who knew rabbits loved cheese so much?!]
All this in between bites of mooncake: a type of fruit-, or meat-, or egg yolk-filled pastry which has been delicately shaped and decorated. [Actually, they are pounded in a hardwood cookie-cutter-type mold, but they come out looking delicate.]

Anyway, who cares, right? Except that this year, for the first time ever, we have been invited to take part in the festival with a local family! I think once our students asked us to sit on the lawn with them, but we've never been close enough to any adult Chinese to be invited into this family-focused event. Until now. Wei, the landlady, just today requested that we join her and her husband Zhou [pronounced "Joe"] and their four-year-old daughter Meng-Meng, whose name means "dream-dream" (or basically, "little dream") to celebrate this most wonderful and ancient Chinese holiday.
We are, needless to say, very honored and humbled.
And thankful.
So when you look up into the night sky and see the "lesser light" of the evening, think of us and our Wei, and our Way.

Clarks: Minor Cat'astrophe (read Romans 12:12)

First, let me get this out of the way: we still haven't a cat.
I think we are being taught some kind of lesson about patience and waiting, although I'd really rather go ahead and "just get a cat already," if you know what I mean.
You see, Sunday we went out and bought all the stuff to host a cat: litter box, litter, cat food, etc. Then, we contacted our aforementioned cat-supplier: the guy at the music store who has this cute little cat that we had played with in the store and who had told us a week or so earlier that we could get a cat the same way he did by contacting this friend of his who would give us a cat for free and who lives really close by so we don't have to go out of our way to get one.
But the supply person was "out."
So, not wanting to wait until the two days later when she would be at home and ready to see us, we decided to travel waaay over to the east side of town to look for a pet at the HuaNiao ShiChang [lit., Flower & Bird Market]. Now mind you, some pet shops in China are, to put it delicately, not up to international standards. And in general, dogs get better treatment around here than cats, anyway. It's hard, then, to find a cat that's been treated well and is healthy.
Let me just say, we decided that none of the cats on display that morning were quite what we were hoping for - poor things.
Anyway, the next day we found out that all along there has been - in the very neighborhood where we live, no less - another, much nicer HNSC that has quite a good stock of pets, including no less than two very well-kept, cats-only, indoor pet stores. The only thing is, the prices are somewhat higher than we expected. [To get the idea of just how much higher, you should re-read that last sentence, swallowing hard at the end. As in, "gulp!"]
So... we went back to thinking we should just wait to see the free cats. And wait we did. Until this morning, when, after Cec was to get out of class, we would meet with the cat-lady.
Except that Cec never made it to class; she has been home sick. Sick through the night and into the morning and on up until the present - just before supper time.
It wouldn't have mattered anyway, though, because the cat-lady, when she showed up this morning out of the blue, came bearing the unfortunate news that her cats were sick and/or missing (!) and that she, regrettably, would not be able to show them to us today. Hmmm... okay. The cats, however, should be back home/feeling better soon, so if we still want to come get one later this week... And how is it that the one cat went missing? we stood wondering, And do we really want a cat who is getting over a case of diarrhea? [Yes, she really said the cat had diarrhea!] It was hard to convince her, though, that we might just rather buy a cat from the shop. "They're not healthy," she warned us - just before Cecely had to run up to our sixth-floor apartment and throw up once again. "And besides that," she noted, "those cat-sellers are just after your money - you being a foreigner and all."
I nodded and agreed as well as I could, but at the same time, I was starting to feel somewhat uncomfortable. You see, this lady and I had spoken by telephone a number of times the previous couple of days. I could sense, even then, that she was somewhat peculiar. I mean, the way she spoke, the way she repeated herself, the way she had called multiple times to repeat the same, ultimately pointless, information (ex: "I'm still not free anytime today.") To meet her in person and spend some time with her only served to confirm the slight awkwardness that seemed to mark her personality. For instance, as we stood outside just below our apartment talking, another lady was nearby, sort of pacing back and forth, probably waiting for someone to come down. The cat-lady eyed her suspiciously and then quietly insisted that we move away from this potential eavesdropper. Are these cats invovled in some sort of conspiracy? Could that be why she is so nervous? So there I stood, Cec upstairs sick, me trying to politely back out of an obviously ill-fated feline transaction.
Long-story-short, as they say, we have decided that we will probably end up getting one of the high-bred cats. But since Cec is sick today, and - assuming she feels weel enough to teach - has six hours tomorrow (then I start getting busy Thursdasy and Friday), we are looking at something like this weekend before we are both able to go pick out our newest bundle of joy.
By the way, Cec says she had a dream last night: she was trying to force a flower to bloom before it was ready, and [I know this is like something from a bad paperback novel, but no kidding...] when she forced it to open, it tore apart and was ruined in her hands.
Could this be a sign?
Geez, I hope we get a cat soon!

Clarks: Cat-quest Conquest!

Good news! We just found out that we can have a mao [cat] in our apartment!
We went to the Book store (wink-wink) this afternoon, and - as those of you from the STT will recall - there is a pet store just beside it, so we went in to check on cat supplies [i.e., "putting the cart before the cat"] and decided then and there to go ahead and call our landlady, Wei, and just ask her if we can have a pet. So we stepped outside and called.
And... her cell phone was turned off.
So we thought, "this must still not be the time, after all" and went on toward home.
When we got back we ate supper at the restaurant here in our complex - which was delicious, as always - and then trudged through the damp, clinging air back to our breezeway where we then climbed the six flights of stairs to our top-floor (and mind you, catless) apartment. We then began to unwind for the evening after a long day outside, and considered turning the cell phone off for the night, when it began to ring! And it was the landlady, wanting to know why we had called earlier. Well, then Jason asked the daunting question, and she ok-ed it. So we will be cat shopping shortly.
In case you are wondering, yes, more profound things are going on over here than cat-shopping and the like. But I am sure you understand, this has been an important part of settling in and feeling at home over here, which can definitely enhance all aspects of our life here. Thanks for keeping even this small detail in your thoughts.

A door way!

Well, it seems that we can post to the blog, but not see it. What a shame. But we can still post, and I will be adding pics. soon. (I hope).

Things are going pretty good as far as our housing. They came today and smashed a hole in the wall for our door way. They just used a sledge hammer. I did not hear any power tools until they cut the wood (or whatever they used) to frame the hole. In a day or so, they will come back and paint it all up. I will post pictures then.

The last couple of days have been hard because the kids have been sick. We think it is just getting used to the food and all. We have been thankful for our two bathrooms. Right now the bathroom problems have stopped, but Liam has been running a fever. When the fever is down (from meds.) he acts fine. Hopefully we will be able to get out again tomorrow.

Jon starts his first class tomorrow. We signed our contracts with the school today.

We are looking forward to finally settling into our apartment and getting a routine down.

Keep us in your thoughts, especially next week when all our classes start. Love y'all!

Clarks:News Brief & Prayer Request

Jason says: First, I would just like to echo the sentiments of thanks and appreciation offered by the Hardins. We do love y'all. Second, bad news... we can't see your comments! I can see, via an editing window, that someone has been kind enough to comment about one of our posts, but we cannot access the comment itself. I would therefore suggest to any and all who are reading, maybe you should e-mail any of us to whom you wish to comment regarding the blog. Perhaps this is some sort of glitch we can get around somehow, but until then, we would love to hear from you directly. Finally, a prayer request for us: We adore cats. We left behind our dear cat Tybalt [it's a clever Romeo & Juliet reference that only Cec could have thought of]. We lived cat-less in Chatt-town for two months. Now we are here in HZ, in an apartment that - as you'll recall - nearly got snatched out from under our long, foreign noses, and we would like to reestablish the cat-filled lifestyle. But will we be allowed to have a pet on premises? Would it put our home in jeopardy? Who knows? [Well, we all know Who knows, after all.] So, would you pray with us about this furry situation? Xie xie. [Thanks, in other words.]

Thank you

I wrote this LAST Sunday, but this is the first time I have had a chance to post. I will also try to update very soon.


I would like to express our gratitude for all that Clear Creek has done for us. We were told that we would move to Hixson, so that folks could get to know us and that we could be part of a family. We had our doubts. But so far, you have exceeded our expectations. We felt that you opened your homes, hearts and lives to us. We thank so so much.

As I am typing this (off line- I will post it later), it is Sunday morning. The team has plans to Meet and Celebrate later today, but we will be missing our larger Family. We will be remembering you and know that you will us. We love you all.

The Hardins