Missing These People

Two months ago today I left Xiamen behind and returned to my safe and sheltered life in California. So many lingering memories, and still a few blog posts that I want to put in writing. Mostly it's these faces that I'm missing!

My last breakfast with these two lovely ladies before the taxi whisked teary-eyed me away. Missing our fruit salad, oatmeal and yogurt breakfast regimen. And of course missing Kynza and Christine who bring so much joy to my life. They are valiantly continuing on with life in China, and making impressive strides at learning Chinese!

The five young women who Christine works with were such a big part of my adventure! Talking with them about their lives, getting to meet their families and their friends, sharing meals, outings, and adventures with them were highlights of my three months in Xiamen.  Not sure how I would have coped without going to them daily for advice -- where to buy chicken, how to make sure you're on the right train, when to wear a jacket, where to find clean toilets! Thank you Sandy, Eida, Sunny, Jinna, and Michelle for such a generous, warm welcome to your country. So many memories to treasure -- haircuts with Sunny's cousin, crepes with Jinna, Dehua ceramics with Sandy, Golden Lake with the whole team, karaoke, and oh how I miss lunch time at the office!

One last picture with Ting Shian, AKA "the cooker," in her clean kitchen. Missing the sweet smile and the very Chinese kitchen. How pale and how tall I feel!

I cooked my first Chinese meal for my family last week, and it was a success! Their favorite was chicken with sugar peas, ginger, and some nice Chinese chili paste I found.

Christine often talks about how God answered her prayers and led her to our apartment that was so much nicer than anything else she had seen. I am of course thankful along with her, and loved the roominess and all the amenities down to the dish sterilizer. About six weeks into my stay, I discovered our apartment had an added blessing for me -- the owner wanted to be friends! We met when she had lunch at our house, and from then on she treated me like a special guest in her country. She graciously took me out to see the sites of Xiamen, took me on a day trip to the tulous, introduced me to her friends, invited me into her home, and learned how to do instantaneous translation on her iPad so she could communicate with me. Building a friendship with someone you don't share a language with is a rewarding challenge. Because Linda is from the north of China, she's an expert at making dumplings -- one of my favorite Chinese foods. I followed her around her tiny kitchen while she made these, and created a recipe for myself that works! Actually, I still haven't tried making my own dough and rolling it out like she does, but that will come. Her ten-year-old son Jack LOVES dumplings!

Usually when Friday night rolls around, I'm missing English Corner. The picture shows my group on the last Friday night I was there. Several marine engineering students, and we had a lively discussion about why bad things happen...

I met Mandy at English Corner way back in September, and we have vowed to keep in touch through telephone and Internet.We went for a manicure the night before I left... Both got red nails for Christmas.

And James came with us -- his first time to come and watch manicures!! He's a guy I met at English Corner, and it was a fun chance for me to chat with him. Who knew in China young men often come watch girlfriends get a manicure!

Mandy introduced me to Annie and David. So many memories of fun dinners and great discussions with the three of them. Love how they are willing to share their dreams and think big about the future! We spent hours talking  about marriage, how to build a business from the ground up, priorities, families. The three of them have so much hope when they think about their futures.

They came to our house for dinner, and we  introduced them to popcorn. You can find packaged popcorn in China, but they'd never seen kernels pop up in the air and come down puffy white. So fun to watch their delight.

My three months in Xiamen would not have been the same without Marilyn Phillips! She and her husband Dave have been teaching English in Xiamen for several years, and our second week in Xiamen we discovered that they lived a short 5-minute walk from us. They introduced us to English Corner, and Marilyn just took me under her wing. She taught me how to take the 951 bus without getting lost. We got pedicures together, went shopping together, shared meals -- all things that are not easy to do by yourself when you've just landed in China. She shared her love for the Chinese church with me -- her smile when she talks about Chinese Christians is just heart warming. And she introduced me to one of my favorite hangouts... The fabric market! As she describes it, "If color gives you a lift, this is the place to go if ever you're having a down day."

Love how bikers and cars are intermingled with sewing machines and fabric!

For me there was something comforting and cheery about sharing smiles with a few friendly souls I met up with most every day as I walked Xiamen. Even though our communication never went much beyond smiles because of the language barrier, there were three people who I looked forward to finding in their expected location each day, and I miss those friendly encounters!

The first was a street sweeper. Street sweeping is such an integral part of my visual impression of Xiamen. This city has thousands of street sweepers I'm sure! I encountered dozens of them on a daily basis. They were such a novelty to me with their brooms made of branches, their pointy hats, and their rickety carts. I'm sure I made a nuisance of myself with my camera more than once! But with one of them I managed to forged seeds of a friendship. When we first arrived in Xiamen, I walked with Kynza to and from her school bus stop a couple times a day, and this guy noticed that I kept walking up and down "his" street. Since he didn't have many other (no other?) non-Asians walking up and down his street, his curiosity got the better of him. So one day he smiled at me and made some hand signals to show he was amused with all my trips up and down his street... From then on I always stopped to greet him when I passed. He often signaled me to sit down and drink tea with him. He had a whole little set up with a tea kettle and a couple plastic chairs. I always declined the tea, but I did sit a spell with him on occasion, and since we couldn't communicate with words, I showed him pictures of my family on my phone. The day before I left, I got these fellow street sweepers to take my picture with my buddy. Chinese street sweepers almost always wear hats and masks to protect them from sun and pollution, but aren't these the cutest ones you've ever seen?
The one-mile trek from our apartment to the grocery store was doable even on the sunniest of days, but getting back home with bags of groceries required some kind of transportation. Taxis refused customers who only wanted to go a mile, so the only real option was the "cart lady." There were actually lots of carts that took passengers on short hauls, and all of them drove like maniacs. But I became partial to one lady who was fun and happy -- always madly waving to attract my attention and get my business. I was always happy to see her, because she knew where I lived, and in spite of her outlandish way of driving, somehow I trusted her to get me home. She put on her helmet, and then we would speed off, horn constantly blaring to let everyone know she was coming, driving on the wrong side of the road to avoid a U-turn, making left turns when the light was red, and driving on the sidewalk when that seemed like a better choice. Once she made a U-turn in the middle of the road, drove against traffic, then hopped out and left me facing oncoming traffic because she'd seen a 50 yuan bill in the road and she wanted to snatch it! Maybe it's because of all the adventures I had with her that by the time I left I felt like we had bonded. Of course I miss her, because there is nothing anywhere close to this crazy in California!

Our apartment is inside a gated area with one or two guards always sitting in this little shelter at the gate. One of the guards always had a smile for me, and just for fun I started addressing him in English with a friendly "Hello" every time I went by. Within a few weeks, he began to respond "Hello" and it almost felt like we were having a conversation! After he mastered hello, I added "How are you?" when I greeted him. And a some point, he begin responding, "How are you?" I never could get him to understand that he should respond "Fine" before asking me "How are you?" But in any case I was always happy to see him, and for lack of being able to share conversation, sometimes I would show him what I had in my grocery bags! I think he enjoyed seeing what strange things foreigners might eat. So I'm missing his friendly smile to welcome me home. My automatic garage door opener just doesn't have the same warmth!

So these are the faces that made Xiamen an extraordinary venture, and I won't soon forget them. Of course I'd love to see each one of them sometime soon, but for right now I do our best to stay in touch using We Chat, a Chinese texting app that translates Chinese to English for me. Indeed the world is smaller than I thought -- and maybe I need to be learning some Chinese!

Touring Xiamen

Linda on the left, and her friend Betty

Following the dumpling party, my new friend Linda offered to show me around Xiamen Island, and I gladly accepted. So many parts of Xiamen I would never have seen if I hadn't had this wonderful day tour. Linda invited one of her friends, and an added surprise was that we got to visit the city by car. The friend's brother-in-law was the driver, and he just drove us from place to place to place all day. First time I've been in a private car in China! I haven't written about my horrific bus experiences yet, but believe me, a day in a car here is beyond luxury!

I never imagined that I would be touring Xiamen with three Chinese people who speak basically no English. Sweet Linda had downloaded an app that does translation to her iPad the night before, and we actually managed quite well with that.

It was 9:30 in the morning when we got started, and Linda asked me if I'd had breakfast. I said yes, and she replied that we would start our tour with a special Xiamen snack. I was expecting  some of the special Xiamen cookies filled with red bean paste. But oh my, I was in for a major snack! We pulled up to a tiny what I guess you would call fast fish joint with a line out the door. Linda pointed to a row of seafood in the display case and asked me what I liked. I pointed to most of it -- large shrimp, oysters, calamari, squid -- but then didn't point to the few things I didn't recognize. We sat down in a row at a little bar-like table -- the only free seats in the house, and we each had steaming giant paper bowls of the most delicious fish stew or soup I've ever eaten. Wonderful flavor with just the right amount of spicy, tons of seafood, and Chinese noodles to round out the flavor. As you can see, I was a bit perplexed about how to eat this guy with chopsticks!

In what I have decided is typical Chinese touring fashion, we moved quickly from one spot to the next. I could have spent another half hour lingering over my soup, but left the last of it behind, as we were off to our next activity!

We had planned to visit Xiamen University, but visitors were not allowed in that day because the president of Xiamen was there (that's what I understood via very rough translation). So we were off to visit Nanputuo Temple located on the hill next to Xiamen University. Knowing I was a Christian, they politely asked if it was okay for me to visit a Buddhist temple, and I  replied that I was very interested in visiting it. The site of the temple was quite impressive and expansive. And there were hundreds of people who were there to worship.

Much of the architecture was very beautiful. We climbed way up the mountain, and there were worshipers and every level. 
Our next stop was Calligraphy Square, which is right along the beach. Chinese characters are so graceful, and there was lots of writing to admire here. Loved this inscription on the beach. It is the word for "longevity." And the stone blocks along the path all had inscriptions.

We quickly moved on to one of the beaches where Linda bravely waded into the water while we looked on. Winter has not come to Xiamen yet!

Next we were off to a little ancient village right in Xiamen with all kinds of fun stands and stores to look at. As always, I was fascinated by the food! I didn't try this treat, but it looks like egg shells filled with custard.




Aqua Resort was our next stop. It is a beautiful lake with ducks and birds of all sorts.



We saw numerous couples here taking wedding pictures. Couples go out several days before the wedding, and take pictures in a variety of beautiful dresses and suits. These are not the clothes they wear on their actual wedding day. If I understand correctly, often the dresses are provided by the photographer.

At one point the words on the translation iPad talked about more food, and I replied that I was still full from the morning "snack." But these sweet people didn't want to end the day without taking me to their favorite fish restaurant. I wasn't sure I could eat another meal, but it ended up being so delicious that I enjoyed every bite!

My favorites were the oyster stew and of course the crab! Oysters are a Xiamen specialty, and I think I would have gone home without tasting them if it wasn't for this outing. We had oysters in soup, in stew, and fried in little clumps that were molded into the shape of a seashell. And the crab... It was delicious. My hosts looked at the live crabs and chose the ones they wanted. They were boiled to perfection, and still piping hot when we ate them. The only challenge was that the crab wasn't cracked! When they put a claw on my plate, I motioned to show that I wasn't sure how to crack it, and they laughed and demonstrated using their back teeth to crack it. Yikes! I've put so much money into my teeth that I would rather go without crab than break a tooth. Feeling a bit trapped, I chomped down gently on it, and it cracked, teeth still intact. Delicious! I tried to use my hands to crack where I could, and tried to be gentle on my teeth. And made a note to myself to buy a nut cracker and keep it in my purse for any time I might encounter a crab.

So in one day, I had two of the best meals I've had in China. And I love that we had such a good time without really speaking to each other. Kindness and smiles go a long way. One of my favorite days!

The Dumpling Party!

Ting Shian (the cooker) and her daughter are on the far left

One day  a few weeks back I was talking to Sunni, one of the girls at Christine's work who is often the go-between between me and the cooker who doesn't speak a word of English. She told me the cooker thought I would like to learn to make dumplings and was offering to come to my house some Saturday to teach me. I said I thought that would be great. And then Sunni explained that actually, the cooker thought it would be good to come with her sister-in-law (who is also our landlord!), who is really good at making dumplings. And the cooker (whose name, by the way, is Ting Shian) also thought it would be fun if all the women in the office came too. Turns out Sunni had already asked around, and everyone could make it the Saturday after next.  This is definitely the easiest way to throw a party -- someone else organizes the guest list, sets the date, gets all the RSVPs, takes care of the entertainment (dumpling making), and the food (dumpling eating), and then tells you you're having a party. I need someone like this when I go back to California!

Chinese meal for 15 in less than two hours

One day last week I was observing the cooker make lunch, and decided I should document how she manages to start at about 10:15, and by 12:00 she has a beautiful Chinese dinner for 15 on the table. Every day she presents us with rice, soup, and four Chinese dishes -- usually some kind of pork, some kind of fish, some kind of greens, and something else like duck, beef, or eggs. Today, that something else was chicken curry, by special request from Christine.

The cooker works quickly and efficiently, and doesn't miss a beat. And here's my effort to follow her! It's a very detailed rundown of what happens, probably way too detailed for most of you. Sorry about that, but it's such an integral part of my months in China that I wanted to remember all the detail.

Adventures on Jinmen Island

My bravery skills got tested last week when I ventured off to Jinmen, a little Taiwanese island off the coast of Xiamen, all by myself. My Chinese visa stipulates that I can only stay in China for 60 days, then I must exit and re-enter, and so on day 55, off I went to Taiwan!

Journey to Big Golden Lake

Christine's co-workers opted to take a weekend trip to the Big Golden Lake Geopark near the city of Tai Ning for their yearly outing, and they were sweet enough to invite me to tag along. I am so amazed by all the kindness shown to me! Nobody gets a trip to China like the one I am experiencing. Just a little disclaimer on this post... There are so many things I might not have understood correctly! My apologies ahead of time for all mistakes. 

The trip started with a three hour train ride... My first time on a Chinese train.  I got a good lesson in how to navigate to the train, and then the right car and the right seat without reading Chinese. Was a modern, fast train, complete with a woman  who cleans as you ride. As she passed, she stopped, took the trash bag out of my seat pocket, and opened it for me. Wonder if she does that for all foreigners who might trash the train.

Xiamen Is Under Construction!

 I think the hardest thing for me to adjust to in Xiamen is the constant noise of drills, sand blasters, gravel trucks, jig saws or hack saws, jack hammers, and many, many other unidentified but very noisy demolition tools! It seems  everything is being torn down or being rebuilt. This demolition job  spilling into the sidewalk just a block from our apartment is a  new project that wasn't there yesterday!

Our apartment building is just a couple years old, and some of the apartments are being occupied for the first time. Apparently, when you buy a new apartment you just buy the shell, and it's up to you to build the inside the way you want it. So, that's is what's been happening for the last month in the apartment below us. And then there's the apartment above us. We're not sure what they are redoing, but there has been constant drilling and blasting up there for weeks, even though the apartment is occupied.

Whirlwind Days in Shanghai

Shanghai -- by population, the largest city in the world with 23.5 million people for us to rub shoulders with!  We spent Saturday and Sunday exploring, and were were amazingly successful at finding our way and not getting lost in  the crowd.  The center of  Shanghai is everything modern, with exquisite stores and breath taking skyscrapers.The subway seems decades ahead of the Paris metro. Beautiful, fast, clean, and easy for non-Chinese speakers to get around. It's very different than Xiamen, where we still haven't even begun to master the bus system!

We debated whether to go the five-star route for a pricey hotel or risk something a bit more "Chinese." After consulting Trip Advisor and China Tours, we settled on "New Harbor Service Apartments" right in the center of downtown Shanghai, and we were not disappointed. Not five star, but we were pleasantly surprised by the roominess, the cleanliness, the delightful staff, and the fun (but smoggy) view from the 18th floor. But oh how the Chinese LOVE their hard beds! It's pretty much like sleeping on the floor or sleeping on a rock. The majority of tourists in China are Chinese, and that's who hotels cater to, except 5-star hotels that tend to cater to westerners and have soft beds. My solution: I'm want to buy a little air mattress to tuck it in my suitcase!

The skyline, the gardens, the ancient town of Qi Bao right within Shanghai, the Bund. So many favorite moments that I don't want to forget.

We started Saturday morning with a long subway ride to the ancient water town of Qi Bao, which is right on the subway line. This little part of Shanghai is a stark contrast to the very upscale shopping in the center of town. We were delighted to find the same rounded bridges that we'd seen in Zhouzhuang.We loved exploring the streets and waterways.

Zhouzhuang, the Ancient Water Town

For our first venture outside of Xiamen, we flew to Shanghai for a long weekend.  So much to see, so little time to see it! 

We started on Friday with a day in Zhouzhuang, an ancient town an hour and a half outside of Shanghai where rivers and lakes abound. We saved ourselves a few hundred dollars by taking a tour bus from Shanghai with a Chinese guide rather than an English-speaking guide. It made for a fun bus ride with all Chinese tourists. The very enthusiastic guide had a loud microphone that kept us awake for the whole bus ride, although we understood nothing! We had read up on the city before we left home, and there were some signs in English, so once we got to town we could find our way around.

We got off the bus and took this boat across the lake to get to the town. How cute is that? The boat is set up with tables to sit around, and everybody else pulled out their food and had quite a meal. We may have been foodless, but we drank in lots of beauty and enjoyed sights we had never even imagined.
The winding rivers, stone bridges, and willowy trees have a very relaxing beauty. 













Zhouzhuang's history goes back more than 900 years, and many of the houses built during the Ming and Qing Dynasties are still standing with their courtyards and carved stone gateways. The roofing is fascinating! Loved the carving on the walls.

The stone bridges that link the houses on either side of the stream date back to the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties too. Bridge after bridge,  the reflection in the water forms a lovely circle.










Loved these narrow passageways.
Zhouzhuang  is very commercialized, and we had fun at the little shops. We came home with posters, purses, and pillows! The food was very fun to look at, but we passed on these eggs and  few other unidentified items. We did buy some very nice jasmine tea. And Christine and I ate a street food version of the specialty -- "glutinous rice balls." Love how they cook their own meal in the street in front of their store. Every wok has a five-quart bottle of oil beside it, and an extra one in stock!

To round out our day, we treated ourselves to a ride on one of the traditional boats. The charming captain broke out into song as he winged us down the waterway. Our day was over way to quickly -- we could have strolled the streets for hours more! Wondering if I will ever be back to Zhouzhuang!