ginger bread house

We were sent this Ginger bread house kit! Unfortunately it did not arrive until Christmas eve and we were just too busy to put it together. After the holidays and all our grades were turned in, things calmed down. We did not put this together until just a couple of weeks ago. But as you can see, they loved it! Thank you!

Christmas

Christmas in China is very different than in the U.S. You can keep some of the same traditions but you should probably add some new ones too.
Christmas eve after I got out of class we began our family celebrations. I had made dinner in the crock pot. Jon even baked some bread to go with it. It was all delicious! It was not what we would traditionally have for Christmas dinner, but it was still good. (we had roast and potatoes)

After dinner we opened presets! We set up Skype so that my folks could watch the kids open their presents.
We had a bunch of presents. I was going to be very good and keep track and write lots of thank you notes, but I got very crazy very quickly! Thank you for all the love and gifts you showered us with!

After that we cleaned up the living room, put out milk and cookies for Santa and went to bed.

The next day the kids got up around 7. They opened their stockings and played with their toys. We chatted with Jon’s family on the Internet. Then we got dressed and went out for the kid to enjoy their new scooters! (actually Eryn did not make it, and went in to take a nap)

Jason and Cecely were on their lunch break (they went to class that day) this is Jason trying out Hallie's Scooter.

Then we went into town for a nice family dinner.

We walked through a market to get to the restaurant.



We ate at a steak place. It was late for lunch so the place was quiet. They also had a salad bar. This is the first salad I have eaten in about 5 months! Not your traditional American Christmas celebration, but we may make a tradition of going out to a nice restaurant on Christmas day.

This is a picture of all three kids on their new scooters. They enjoy riding their scooters whenever they can!

Thank you so much for all that you did for us over the holidays! We greatly appreciate it! We love you!!

Christmas Eve

We were invited to go to a primary (elementary) school on Christmas eve. We did not have any classes that morning so it was a good time. We were met at the school by a 6th grade boy that spoke excellent English. He lived in the U.S. for a year. We were also greeted by this large red banner.





We went upstairs to a large room and were met by three classes of 6th graders. We were the guests of honor for a Christmas party.

We were asked a bunch of questions in English. Our favorite question was when one of the students asked Jon what his favorite book was. Hmmm....What is your favorite book? Ours is a (or The) Good Book.


We were treated to a couple of performances by some students. One boy played the piano--he was amazing! and one girl played a traditional Chinese instrument. Then the kids showered us with gifts for Christmas. We ended up with a large shopping bag with many cards and small trinkets. The school even gave us a very large scroll with Chinese calligraphy on it.



Even Santa was there!



Do you notice that all of these girls have a red scarf on? Most Chinese students wear these. They are " Young Pioneers". I am not exactly sure what all that means but it is basically the student version of the communist party. Well, not exactly. It is more like a communist version of the "model citizen club". The purpose is to teach them communist ideals. We were all given a red scarf to wear that day too. It was pretty cool.


After the party upstairs we went downstairs. Hallie visited several classrooms along the way.



What is a party without making Jaozi (Chinese dumplings)?

The girl in the red coat became Hallie's friend. What is really cool is that a few days later we ran into this girl and her mother at a McDonald's in another part of town. We talked with her a little and smiled and waved at her mom. We wished we could have communicated more with them, but we do know that we can run into people all over town. Even though we never thought we would see any those kids again, we did. Who knows what could come from opportunities like this?

Catching up with the Hardins

I have been trying for about a week to upload pictures to this blog and the team blog. It is just not working! I have only managed to upload 2 pictures to a draft. I am so behind and really want to finish blogging about Christmas, but can't get the photos up. I guess I can just write and add the pictures later. For most of you the holidays are long over and life is back to "normal". Here in China it is very different! Chinese New Year is on January 26 this year. Chinese New Year is their biggest holiday of the year. It is also called Spring Festival. I don't really understand all of the celebrations but I know the holiday season goes for about 15 days. The biggest day is the 26 or the first day of month 1 in the lunar calender. There will be tons of fireworks! We have booked a hotel downtown near the lake so we can watch the fireworks from our room. The kids are very excited about it! They are also very excited because there is supposed to be a bathtub in our room. A few weeks ago we finally bought a basin that can be used as a tub. It is basically a huge baby tub. It fits in the shower but is not as big or as convenient as a real tub. I will try to take some pictures of the fireworks and celebrations. Since school is now out and Spring Festival is just around the corner our neighborhood looks VERY different. Shops have closed down. Even our favorite restaurant will be closed for a few days starting tomorrow. My birthday was last week and Jon had a hard time getting a cake because everyone was closing. We usually see lots of people walking by and riding bikes, but there is hardly anyone around right now. It is really quiet too. It just seems strange. I think we might be glad when the students start coming back. Right now, we are enjoying having a break and a little quiet. It makes shopping a little harder, but before we know it things will be back to "normal".

Team Christmas

Christmas day was pretty crazy actually that whole week was crazy since we were giving exams. So we had our team Christmas party (or actually Church Christmas celebration) Saturday after Christmas. We all met at the Clark's and ate desserts. We drew names and exchanged gifts.




I made this fruit tree. I think my kids ate most of it.

Caleb enjoyed the pumpkin bread that Cecely made.

Yan got some sunscreen lotion as a gift.

Josh got earmuffs and hot chocolate and a chocolate bar

Jason got tortilla chips and Salsa! Yum...(he didn't share)


It was a good day. We are blessed to be able to work and worship with people that we really like and enjoy fellowshipping with.

The Clarks Go Wireless: A Marriage of (In-)Convenience

Today we went out and bought a wireless router.
The cable running from the wall into the laptop in our old apartment was so messed up that if you just barely bumped or moved the computer it would disconnect, so we'd been wanting to go wireless for a while. And in the new place, although the cable stays plugged in and connected just fine, it's so short that you have to sit about two feet away from the wall outlet to use the Internet. So, like I said, today we went out and bought a wireless router.
The short version of what happened next goes something like this [And believe me, if you can read the next couple of paragraphs in less than four or five hours, then this really is the short version]: We come home; I take the router out of the box; I read the instructions (sort of) ...as much as I could in Chinese; what I'm doing doesn't work; I make a phone call; I sound stupid; Cecely steps in; we think we have gotten our point across, only to find that the alternate phone number we've been directed to call is, like, a plumber, maybe? I still don't know for sure.
We call back to the first number; this time we sound both stupid and possibly insane; we make another, oh... say... about 17 phone calls; we send text messages to everyone we know and think might be able to help; we finally get someone on the phone who is able to get someone else on the phone, who comes over but can't figure it out but is able to make a few more calls and get someone else to come over... The next guy comes over, spends about an hour, has to make a few phone calls himself... Meanwhile, I'm scrapping around in our files looking for the original Internet connection receipt so that the guy who is over here now can make another phone call, this time to the Internet company to retrieve my password because I don't know my password because the first time we set up the Internet the guy from the company entered all that in by himself without asking me and... well, another side note, the whole thing isn't even in my name, so this guy in my house is having to say the name under which it was originally registered, which is Wei's husband, who is in the far north of China with her and the rest of her family in Harbin where they will spend the Spring Festival holiday...
And of course, the guy in my house is wondering what kind of idiot doesn't know his own password, but he was nice about it and just made the phone calls and got the information, because, after all, he is going to make 40 RMB off of this if he can get everything successfully connected. So he gets the information, he sets it up--which still took longer than you would think--and I give him the cash, and he goes home, and I am sitting here typing a blog entry from the comfort of our huge leather sofa, rather than hunched over facing the wall.
[Well, I'm still hunched over, but that just goes with typing, I guess.]
The moral of the story: No matter how much I try to get around it, simple technology and the Chinese language will always have the upper hand it seems. Oh well.

Clarks settling in and pressing on

Cecely here:
We are feeling settled in and at home here in our new apartment. It feels pretty warm and cozy here, which is a blessing since we had been warned that we might be colder in this apartment that is only one flight up, as opposed to our previous one, many more than six actual flights up. There are three small heaters here and one big one though, and they do well to heat the space. We don't run them all the time, of course, but enough to feel warm and comfortable in here most of the time. Also, our bed recently got more comfortable, as well, which was a very welcome relief. When we got here there was only a base "mattress", which was a hard base that you would set the actual mattress down on, sort of like the boxed springs in America, but more just like a hard plywood-feeling box mattress when you lay down on it. We knew that from the back aches and fitful sleep the first two or three nights that we would have to add something to it to make it more comfortable. On Monday, we went out shopping for dishes (the dishes we were using over in our previous apartment actually belonged to the landlady, so we left them behind) and a mattress. We found some dishes we really liked, but after a day of running around all over town, didn't find a comfortable and affordable actual mattress. The best we could do is ask Metro to order a correct size memory foam bed pad, and they said they would call us when it came in, and we wouldn't have to pay until we came to pick it up 3 or 4 days later. We were glad to have found the dishes anyway, and we headed home, as that evening I was hosting a ladies fellowship, pr-yer and Book reading time. We had a good turnout for that, and me and the five ladies were all with heads bowed in prayer when Jason got a call in the other room from our landlady liaison here, informing us that there was a 4000 yuan German mattress down in the storage area on the ground level below our apartment! She apologized, though, that it was so soft, warning us that we might not like it. Obviously, that is why the owners had removed it from their bed and stored it down there, prefering the comforting plywood bed feeling of the old hometown, perhaps???? Jason reminded her that we are Americans, and so it probably could not be too soft. She laughed and said she'd come over and help us to get it out of the storage area. It made for an interruption in our pr-yer time, but the ladies who were over here helped us move furniture out of the way of the mattress, get it up the stairs, etc. And when we had it safely up here, we resumed our pr-yer time. I think the ladies in the city (this particular meeting included ladies from W3, although the RJ ladies had had their own self-initiated meeting earlier that day as well!) are getting closer to one another. They really seem to enjoy sharing their struggles and providing listening ears to one another. I am greatly encouraged by this. Also, they welcome Seekers in gladly, and I sense that the Seekers greatly admire the spirit of love and sharing that they witness among us. Please keep this in your thoughts as much as possible, because I know that He can do great things from what is happening among our ladies here in Hangzhou.
Thanks so much for the care and concern you have shown to us. We watched our senders video this afternoon and thought of you and the loving way you took care of us in Chattanooga and how you made our parents and grandparents feel comfortable and cared for. We love and appreciate you very much; and what you have done makes the work possible and able to thrive. You truly are our partners in this work!
With much love,
Cecely (and Jason) Clark