Pumpkin

Pumpkin or nan gua is easy to find. But what the Chinese call pumpkin we might call squash. The big one in this picture is a nan gua. It is not really carvable. We did find a small regular pumpkin. A lady was selling them for decorations. Most of the ones she had had Chinese characters on them. Unfortunately this one grew too many gross black moldy spots before we could carve it for a jack-o-lantern.

We did however cut up the big "pumpkin" and made a bunch of pumpkin puree.

We baked the pieces in the oven for about an hour (until soft) then we took the peel off and ran it through the blender. This pumpkin yielded at least 6 cups of puree. I have already made 3 batches of pumpkin muffins and one batch of pumpkin cookies. I will need to get another one before Thanksgiving. We love pumpkin!



Since we could not carve a pumpkin this Halloween, what did we do?

We carved orange candles that I brought this year! We "carved" them with tooth picks and then colored the carved spots with black marker (Jon did not color his).



These won't rot!

They really ate it!

Jake and Shelly came to Hangzhou! Rob and Amber Jill came too. While we were out we found a street food stall that was selling some fried scorpions on a stick. What luck, there were three bugs on the stick. One for each of them! Yep, they really ate them. I have pictures as proof. How did it taste? Ask them!

See it's little legs!

trip to Xi'an

At the beginning of the month, Jon had a whole week off from classes for National Day. We thought we would take a short trip to Xi'an. The kids have been studying ancient China in school, so this would be a great field trip. The trip was not a bad trip, it just did not exactly turn out how we had originally planned.

The main problem is that most of the Chinese people also have 8 days of vacation at the same time. The train system is over loaded and it is very hard to get tickets. We did manage to get tickets to go to Xi'an and only one day later than we had originally planned. We could not buy return tickets while we were in Hangzhou. We packed up and went any way. We knew there was a chance that we would get stuck in Xi'an.

We took a hard sleeper train. This was our car. We had 4 top bunks. All in all it was not bad. Our car was not too noisy or smokey. The train trip was 23 hours long.

The country side on the way to Xi'an was beautiful!

Jon and I spent a lot of time just gazing out the window. We also read books on our Kindles. The kids played cards and video games.

We saw several sites while we were in Xi'an. But the most notable one was the famous Terracotta Warriors.

They really are amazing. These Terracotta Warriors were unearthed in the late 70's when a farmer accidentally found them while drilling a well. They had been buried for nearly 2000 years and no one knew they were there.

Xi'an and the Terracotta warriors are some of the "must sees" in China. I could go see them again! The kids really liked them too. (You can't tell from the picture, though).

Once we got to Xi'an we did get tickets to return home to Hangzhou. The only problem was that the tickets were not until Oct. 11. That was about 4 days longer than we had wanted to stay. We had plenty of time to poke around the city. We walked along the city wall, rang the bell at the bell tower, climbed the drum tower, saw a shadow puppet show, ate some great food at the Muslim quarter, bought some souvenirs. We didn't have to rush at all. When Oct. 11th finally came we were very glad to be on the train and headed for Hangzhou!

We had soft sleeper tickets. This meant that we were all in one room and we could close the door. The train ride home was about 22 hours.

We arrived at our apartment in time for Jon to change clothes, grab his books and take a taxi out to school. He arrived just on time for his class!

We spent the next few days recovering from our vacation!

While we were in Xi'an, Hallie helped us order food at a restaurant. She wrote the dishes we wanted in Chinese characters! The waitress could read them too! She is really improving.

What did we learn? We probably won't try to travel during National Day Holiday next year.

Reno

I had a conversation with Reno after class which truly made my long day. Reno wanted to check about his speech topic “What are you thankful for?”
Reno asked, “Can I talk about being thankful for Jesus?”
“Yes, please. That would be wonderful.”
“I don’t think my classmates are interested, but I want to say it anyway. I know you are a Christian from the stories you tell in class. Thank you for teaching us those stories from Bible.”
At the beginning of each semester I teach my name from Joshua fought the battle of Jericho. When I face fear and doubt in my life I pray to God.
Also we have studied the Prodigal Son. I show Rembrandt’s painting of the Prodigal Son and the students list three details they see in the painting. “One man’s shoe is falling off. One man holds the other and looks sad. One man bends on the ground.” Then we read the parable. From looking sad the father’s emotional face changes to deep down joy, relief, and compassion. Jesus told us this story to show God will run to us and welcome us home no matter what we have done.

Strep Throat

If you had strep throat in America, I suppose you would go to the doctor and get an antibiotic. When Caleb got strep here in China we called a car to the hospital (45 min), stood in line for a number (10 min), waited to see a doctor (30 min), blood test ordered (30 min), antibiotic IV prescribed (2.5 hours), returned home (45 min). Day 2 returned to the hospital for second dose of antibiotic IV (4 plus hours). Day 3 returned again to the hospital, stood in line for a number (10 min), waited to see a doctor (30 min), blood test ordered (30 min), antibiotic pill prescribed.

Actually my purpose is not to complain about China’s medical methods, but to praise our friends, the family of Chong Chong. It just so happened that Chong Chong was on a seven day stretch of IVs at the hospital for a “spot on the lung?” On day one, when GaoYan carried Caleb into the hospital with a 103 fever, Chong Chong MaMa was there for reassurance. She ran out and bought Caleb apple juice, potato chips, and chocolate. When the IV was finished Chong Chong BaBa drove us back home (in the BMW yahoo). On day two they picked us up (in the BMW). Caleb and Chong Chong played together during the 2.5 hours of IV time. On day three they picked us up again. Chong Chong MaMa helped me communicate with the doctor and led me through all the steps of getting a blood test and buying medicine.

God’s provision is so evident in times of need.

For Abraham, May He Steep in Peace (by Jason)

Sometimes the soil of men's hearts must first be cultivated if the seed is to take root in their lives.
In a culture where the scriptures are for the most part unknown (I'm refering to China, but according to recent studies, the same could increasingly be said about America) such cultivation can be a slow and painstaking process. You often need to come at it the long way around, and you sometimes have to make an opportunity where seemingly none exists.
Toward this end, I have cultivated the habit of turning nearly each and every school lesson, somehow or another, into a covert Bible lesson.
Take, for example, my literature class: In the study of early English texts, Beowulf becomes a lesson on the biblical origin of the nephilim, the story of Cain and Abel, and the sovereignty of God in battle; Robin Hood functions as a criticism of both paganism and Catholicism, illustrates the folly of the Crusades (in contrast to the grace of God and the love of Christ), and highlights the corruption inherent in state-controlled religion; and this week, Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales" allows us the opportunity to review (or introduce) the basic history of the three major monotheistic faiths--Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--including a detailed retelling of God's calling and promise to Abraham, also, to tell the story of Christ's triumphal enrty into to Jerusalem, and to explain why the so-called Holy Lands are... well, so called.
Usually very few, if any, of the students are even remotely familiar with any of these concepts nor do they have any idea where all this information comes from. But today was somewhat different.
There is a boy named--get this!--Abraham who thoroughly surprised me today by providing a number of correct answers during my lecture about the Middle East. He seemed to know everything, from the meaning of the word "pilgrim" to the muslim presence in Palestine to the history of the formation of modern Israel. It was very impressive, and I made a point to tell him so immediately after class. I sent a text message actually, and this was his reply: "I have long been interested in world history, especially the European culture. Last year I finished A Global History, and recently, A Survey of European Culture. Furthermore, I wanna embrace Christianity which enables me to steep in peace." (And yes, I think he really means to say "steep," like tea.)
As you might guess, I was amazed. I mean, for someone to come out and say "I wanna embrace Christianity" is pretty amazing in any culture, and certainly all the more so in China. And he's a guy. We've been praying specifically that more guys would show an interest in spiritual matters, so what an amazing answer to our prayer!
Hopefully, you'll be hearing more good news about Abraham in the near future. For now, join me in prayer that he may be steeped in Jesus' love and truth, and yes, His peace.

Personalized Spiritual Preferences (by Jason)

I ran across this quote in the news today:
"Actually, before the arrival of 'Avatar', the Chinese had already started to advocate personalized spiritual preferences. Some people queued for the new Harry Potter movies and books, some queued for Transformers toys, and some queued for precious stamps and souvenir coins," said Ding Chun, a professor with the School of Economics of Fudan University.
The phrase I would like us to focus on is that which I've used as the post title: personalized spiritual preferences.
What jumps out at me most is the very Chinese use of the word "spiritual" in this case meaning what we in the West would call "entertainment" or "hobbies" or "interests". We've run across this somewhat peculiar use of the word several times while living in China. For instance, I remember a news report in Hubei that lauded one city's efforts at "building up the spiritual life of it's citizens" by building more public parks. This was the first time, as I recall, that I'd ever heard the word "spiritual" used in this context and it struck me as quite odd, and frankly quite hollow and even a little sad. I wanted then, as I occasionally still do today, to jump up and shout "That isn't spiritual life! Spiritual life is found in Jesus! How could you guys be so..."
So... What exactly? Blinded? Yes; blinded by atheistic humanism promoted in public as the only rational way of living. Confused? Yes, that too; confused by a long, long history of religious influences of all sorts, which may in part account for some people's non-commitment and relativism concerning and discerning truth. Materialistic, also; in the sense that, ultimately what seems to matter most is one's personal fulfillment in this lifetime, to be achieved through whatever various means, including Harry Potter, Transformers, and IMAX films.
But truthfully, this way of thinking and speaking that equates the spiritual with the temporal, that would substitute mere and fleeting entertainment for substantial and everlasting salvation is rife in not only China but America too. Although we rarely, if ever, would talk about waiting in line for the new iWhatever as "spiritual" per se, we do nevertheless confuse the spiritual with the merely meaningful or memorable all the time. (If you need proof of this, watch Oprah for one week and notice the way she and her guests talk about "spiritual" issues.)
I guess it's part of human nature -- to search for meaning in our daily lives, all the while missing or intentionally ignoring the deeper issues and truths as revealed to us by God. Like the guy in James who looks at himself in the mirror, but then... Wait, is that my telephone?
Anyway... This (this essay, I guess) is at least one expression of at least one of the reasons that I am here: namely, to show others, while constantly reminding myself, that there is a bigger Truth and a greater Spirit and a better Way than that which we see with our eyes or touch with our hands. There is more. There is so much more.