Memories from China

So, on the blog poll question last week, it was a tie. 3 people asked to hear about all time favorites from China, and 3 asked to see some examples of bad English spelling. Since, I don't have any pictures of the bad signs right now, I picked the first option for today.

So, I thought I would just share with you some of our favorite/uncomfortable memories up until now. My first memory of China: I remember when we first entered China we were picked up by a friend at the airport who had already done a lot of work helping us find an apartment, etc. She picked us up and we were very excited to see her. We had a ton of bags, and it was a juggling act to get all of our bags and all of our bodies through the gate out of that place....and to keep everything from tumbling over. We then proceeded to all pile into a "bread van"--a little too tall....and a litte too narrow. The driver I promise looked like he was no more than 14 years old, and I wondered if we were going to make it to our apartment in one piece. I remember once we arrived to the apartment, we were all feeling a little jet-lagged, and then I heard "BOOOOOOOM! BOOOOOM!" I literally hit the floor thinking someone was firing at us. It turned out to just be fireworks right outside our window--those noises came quite regularly at all hours of the night.

Most uncomfortable memory of China: In our first city, we had a lady that came to our home every weekday to watch the children while we studied. She really became like family to us, and I think she felt the same way. She loved our children very much, and we never felt uneasy leaving them with her. We had been in country for just a few months when her mother passed away. It was a very crazy, stressful, and sad time. We told our helper, Nai Nai, that we wanted to go to the funeral. She was very touched that we wanted to do that for her, and she agreed. She told us that we were like her adopted son and daughter, so she arranged to pick us up on the day of the funeral and take us with her and her daughter. The first thing that we did was went to Nai Nai's family's home. There the people were eating a meal together --but really everyone seemed frantically walking around the house--eating on the run. They then took us into a room and the picture of Nai Nai's mother was on the wall. Under her picture was a Bible and there was a red cross hung on the wall. Everyone lined up in rows facing the picture. They put us on the first row in the center. They began bowing to the picture in unison. We had already decided we would not bow because we only bow to our Heavenly Father. Nai Nai stood behind us pushing our backs to try and make us bow but we would not. We were a little embarassed, but we also could not bow with good conscience. Again, it happened later in the day when we went to the place where the body was incenerated. There are pictures of us being the only ones not bowing. Later they found out that we were Christians, and we were given the priviledge of praying at the burial because her mother, too, was a believer. In the end, it turned out amazingly well, but at the time it was most definitely the most awkward cultural experience we have had.

The most enjoyable memory: If you would have asked me at the time, I probably would not have named it as one of the most enjoyable times of my life. However, I think our first Christmas in China was very special. There were a lot of our friends who wanted to see what Christmas was like, we had quite a few parties, and that was BUSY! However, for once Christmas was not about commercialism or about how many parties that you can go to in one month. It really was about the birth of our Savior, and we were able to teach our children that meaning in a very real way--without the distractions of what Christmas has become today in the Western world. For me, it was just a really sweet time. I will always treasure the Christmases that we have spent in China.

OK. I will try and post a couple other memories next week. Be looking for those...and for the bad English!!