Children's Day (Rewind)
A few months ago I toyed around with the idea of switching over to a wordpress blog. But then I found out that you have to pay in order to upload videos (isn't that right, wordpress bloggers out there?). Plus I was too lazy to put in all the effort to make it look cool, so I just did one post on it and never told anyone about it. Unfortunately, that post happened to be of a really fun day with lots of fun pictures (and wordpress happens to have a far superior slideshow option to blogger). So click here to see a bunch of pics from June 1st Children's Day. We had a great time going to Katie's kindergarten, and it made us appreciate so much more what a brave little girl we have!
Class photos
Time to play another rousing game of 'Find the Foreigner!'
This last one is sure to make all the grandmas cry. It makes it all too easy to picture Katie like this in another 13 years! (sniff)
The power of English
Several conversations recently have made me freshly aware of the power of English in our global society. In talking with different friends this week, we learned--
--that it's next to impossible to get a decent-paying job in a good company here if you cannot speak English (even if the job you want has zero English involved!)
--people often have to pass an English test as part of the interview process (again, even if the position or company requires no English)
--part of the all-important gaokao (the test that all high school seniors must take that essentially determines their future) is an English component. If students do not do well on that part, while they may still be able to go to college, they may not be allowed to choose their major. So if a kid wants to be an engineer but happens to be terrible at English, he may not be able to pursue that major if he fails the English portion of the exam. Yikes!
All of these facts produced several responses in me--
1. I am so glad to be a native speaker.
2. English teaching here meets a very real felt/actual need.
3. In light of all these facts, English teaching will likely be at least a part of our future here, in that it can be a great way to serve others in our community (like the free english class I gave on the bus) and also a great way to make some money while meeting a real need.
So, on days when I'm frustrated in learning Chinese, I find comfort in having English as my mother tongue! But that doesn't help me buy the right kind of shoes for Katie.... :)
--that it's next to impossible to get a decent-paying job in a good company here if you cannot speak English (even if the job you want has zero English involved!)
--people often have to pass an English test as part of the interview process (again, even if the position or company requires no English)
--part of the all-important gaokao (the test that all high school seniors must take that essentially determines their future) is an English component. If students do not do well on that part, while they may still be able to go to college, they may not be allowed to choose their major. So if a kid wants to be an engineer but happens to be terrible at English, he may not be able to pursue that major if he fails the English portion of the exam. Yikes!
All of these facts produced several responses in me--
1. I am so glad to be a native speaker.
2. English teaching here meets a very real felt/actual need.
3. In light of all these facts, English teaching will likely be at least a part of our future here, in that it can be a great way to serve others in our community (like the free english class I gave on the bus) and also a great way to make some money while meeting a real need.
So, on days when I'm frustrated in learning Chinese, I find comfort in having English as my mother tongue! But that doesn't help me buy the right kind of shoes for Katie.... :)
Mercy for a sojourner
A few months ago I reflected on the various trials of being an alien and sojourner, specifically how we often get taken advantage of in the marketplace. Well, I had a most amazing, surprising experience the other week that I had to share as counterbalance to my other experiences.
A couple weeks ago Katie had a dance performance coming up at school. Her teacher had told me that on the day of the performance Katie needed to come to school dressed a certain way. And that was pretty much all I understood. I didn't quite catch any of the specifics of how she should be dressed, except for white shoes and white shorts? Leggings? Tights? Yeah, didn't catch that part. But I got the white shoes part. So one evening we headed over to the market near our house (that place is a blog post unto itself) to look for Katie's shoes. We were having a really hard time finding shoes that were just plain white with no cartoon character emblazoned on it anywhere. Finally we found a pair of leather sandals that had enough support that she could dance with them on. (Keep in mind, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be buying, I just know they have to be white.) So we enter the bargaining process and couldn't get her to go lower than $12 (more than I wanted to pay for a pair of shoes we were only buying for a one-time dance performance....apparently they were some kind of special leather or something....)
The next day we ended up getting our tutor to call Katie's teacher to find out what exactly she needed (we certainly didn't want our child to face potential embarrassment by showing up unprepared because her parents can't understanding anything!) Turns out, we bought the wrong kind of shoes, the shoes we needed were actually only about $3. And the idea of making a return? A foreign concept here. Boo. For most people, this situation probably isn't a big deal, but for me with all of my money/waste issues this kind of a situation really gets at me. Ah well, an opportunity for my sanctification. So the next day, I went back to the market to get the shoes we needed...and being thestingy hopeful person I am, I took the newly-purchased shoes along with me, "just in case." My first stop was the lady we had bought the $12 shoes from. I figured she might have the shoes we needed and would be a little more likely to give me some of my money back if it were an exchange instead of a straight up return. So I pleasantly greeted her and managed to explain that I had misunderstood Katie's teacher and we had bought the wrong kind of shoes last night. I asked her if she had the shoes I needed; unfortunately, she didn't. Then I took a risk (deep breath) and asked if she would give me my money back if I gave her the shoes back. She looked at the shoes and asked if they had been worn (they were still sealed in the bag), and then said something I couldn't understand but it was probably something like this is not the way we do things over here, but then she reached into her money pouch and gave me back my money! If you have any awareness of how things work over here, this was a miracle. Mercy. I thanked the lady and told her that if we ever need kids shoes we will come back to her shop, then proceeded to another stall to buy the $3 shoes, and continued to rejoice in wonder all day at the mercy this woman showed to me, a totally undeserving stranger living in a strage land. I prayed that the Lord would bless her for the kindness she showed.
Is there a stranger in your midst you could bless today?
A couple weeks ago Katie had a dance performance coming up at school. Her teacher had told me that on the day of the performance Katie needed to come to school dressed a certain way. And that was pretty much all I understood. I didn't quite catch any of the specifics of how she should be dressed, except for white shoes and white shorts? Leggings? Tights? Yeah, didn't catch that part. But I got the white shoes part. So one evening we headed over to the market near our house (that place is a blog post unto itself) to look for Katie's shoes. We were having a really hard time finding shoes that were just plain white with no cartoon character emblazoned on it anywhere. Finally we found a pair of leather sandals that had enough support that she could dance with them on. (Keep in mind, I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to be buying, I just know they have to be white.) So we enter the bargaining process and couldn't get her to go lower than $12 (more than I wanted to pay for a pair of shoes we were only buying for a one-time dance performance....apparently they were some kind of special leather or something....)
The next day we ended up getting our tutor to call Katie's teacher to find out what exactly she needed (we certainly didn't want our child to face potential embarrassment by showing up unprepared because her parents can't understanding anything!) Turns out, we bought the wrong kind of shoes, the shoes we needed were actually only about $3. And the idea of making a return? A foreign concept here. Boo. For most people, this situation probably isn't a big deal, but for me with all of my money/waste issues this kind of a situation really gets at me. Ah well, an opportunity for my sanctification. So the next day, I went back to the market to get the shoes we needed...and being the
Is there a stranger in your midst you could bless today?
"Kind of possessive"
A recent conversation with a friend of mine got me thinking. My friend has been interested in Jesus for some time and lately has been intrigued by what Christians believe about things like work, marriage, friends, and family. As I was reading again what the Bible says about these things, I was struck by how it sometimes makes seemingly contradicting statements. For example, Scripture holds a high view of the family and encourages Christians to make the care of their family a central part of their life (e.g. Ephesians 5:22-6:4, 1 Timothy 3:4-5, 1 Timothy 5:8). And yet Jesus also says, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple." At one point, as my friend was reading these things for herself, she said in a rather perplexed and frustrated tone, "Jesus seems kind of possessive." I said the only thing I could say, "Yes, he is."
I went on, "But He's God, and He made everything and owns everything, so He's allowed to be. When people are possessive, it's usually a bad thing, right? But that's because when people are being possessive, they are usually trying to be God, when they're not. People try to be God so they can get what they want, for their own glory, at the expense of other people. God, on the other hand, uses His Godness for His own glory, too. But because He actually IS God, His own glory is actually good for us. He uses His Godness to glorify Himself by showing us mercy, giving us life, healing us, and sustaining us."
It is always good for me to think about these things. The possessiveness of God is what drives most of us away from God...we can't stand the thought of having a Master. What we don't realize is that we always have a master of some kind. We're always serving something, as others have said, the question is what. Am I going to serve myself, a cruel, fickle master that is never satisfied and whose labor only ends up in death? Or am I going to submit to Jesus, the only Good Master, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep and promises abundant life to all who lay down theirs?
I went on, "But He's God, and He made everything and owns everything, so He's allowed to be. When people are possessive, it's usually a bad thing, right? But that's because when people are being possessive, they are usually trying to be God, when they're not. People try to be God so they can get what they want, for their own glory, at the expense of other people. God, on the other hand, uses His Godness for His own glory, too. But because He actually IS God, His own glory is actually good for us. He uses His Godness to glorify Himself by showing us mercy, giving us life, healing us, and sustaining us."
It is always good for me to think about these things. The possessiveness of God is what drives most of us away from God...we can't stand the thought of having a Master. What we don't realize is that we always have a master of some kind. We're always serving something, as others have said, the question is what. Am I going to serve myself, a cruel, fickle master that is never satisfied and whose labor only ends up in death? Or am I going to submit to Jesus, the only Good Master, the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for his sheep and promises abundant life to all who lay down theirs?
Yigu Bigu and Bagels
Wednesday was an amazing day in the McCulloch household. First, we got an incredible package in the mail from our friends Ryan and Sarah...complete with Old Bay Seasoning and sprinkles! Wow. Not only that, but we got our first delivery of homemade bagels from our ayi's friend who is starting a home-delivery baking company. Let me tell you what...these bagels were awesome. Even more exciting is the fact that a few weeks ago my friend Mel took me to a wholesale warehouse in our neighborhood where I was able to buy a huge block of cream cheese for a great price (unlike the Wal-mart's dagger prices). Guess what's been for breakfast lately?!
I suspect though that a certain Chinese kids' show might be to blame for the pronunciation difficulties. You see, sometimes in the morning, while I'm furiously trying to get ready in order to be out the door by 8am, I let the girls watch this show on the kids' channel. I have no idea what the name of the show is, but we call it "Yigu Bigu" (pronounced Ee-goo Bee-goo), because that's apparently one of the characters' names (the girls have educated me about all this...I was pretty proud that they figured that all out since the show is in Chinese, and I had no idea what it was about. See, tv is great learning tool!) From what I can gather, it's essentially the Chinese version of Tele-tubbies, full of squishy, gibberish-speaking creatures who live in a very trippy alter-universe, with names that sound like "Maka Baka" and "Upsy Daisy." It's all quite frightening when I stop to watch it. Anyway, I think that show's the reason why bagels in our house are now going to be called "Yigu Bigus."
Update: After a little digging, I discovered that Yigu Bigu is actually a show from England called "In the Night Garden" (don't you think that name makes it even creepier?). The show in Britain features a character named "Iggle Piggle" (transliterated into Chinese as "Yigu Bigu"). Here's a crazy quote from the producer: "We wanted to explore the difference between being asleep and being awake from a child's point of view: the difference between closing your eyes and pretending to be asleep and closing your eyes and sleeping." What???? Click here to read the whole wikipedia article (which I found truly frightening and it made me thankful that the version we watch here is all in Chinese so we don't really understand what it's all about.)
The bagels arrived right at lunchtime so, of course, we had to sample them. What's so funny is that Caroline has not had a bagel since she's been developed enough to even say the word bagel, so it was a new vocab word for her today that came out sounding more like "eagle" than "bagel."
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| Just a little taste of Yigu Bigu |
Update: After a little digging, I discovered that Yigu Bigu is actually a show from England called "In the Night Garden" (don't you think that name makes it even creepier?). The show in Britain features a character named "Iggle Piggle" (transliterated into Chinese as "Yigu Bigu"). Here's a crazy quote from the producer: "We wanted to explore the difference between being asleep and being awake from a child's point of view: the difference between closing your eyes and pretending to be asleep and closing your eyes and sleeping." What???? Click here to read the whole wikipedia article (which I found truly frightening and it made me thankful that the version we watch here is all in Chinese so we don't really understand what it's all about.)
Favorite transportation moment of the week
Taking a bus in the middle of rush hour with two small children is always a gamble. Thankfully, people are usually very kind about giving up a seat for the mom with the squirmy toddler. I've finally figured out that a bag full of books is the best way to make the most of potentially terrible transportation situations.
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So, earlier this week I pulled out Dr Seuss' ABCs to read to Caroline on our quick bus ride to a friend's house. I noticed a mom standing near us was elbowing her kid, encouraging him to pay attention or to try to read over my shoulder to practice his English. Before I knew it, I looked around and realized that all the people standing around us were intently listening to every word, eyes scouring every page. I guess they wanted to take advantage of a free English lesson! And so, for the next 10 minutes, I read Dr. Seuss' ABC book to a busload of Chinese people (I made sure to turn the book so everyone could see the pictures, just like a librarian at story hour). It was classic...and so much fun. Though I'm not sure they ever figured out what a zizzer-zazzer-zuzz was....
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Blue day!!!
A blue day in our vernacular is a good thing. It means we can actually see blue sky! And boy, was it looking awesome today (especially after what seemed like weeks of white, smoggy nothingness out our window). Thank you, Jesus!
Everywhere we went today, people just looked happier and seemed to walk with a little bounce in their step. It was great. "The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made." Psalm 145:9
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| In the words of Katie, "Mommy, isn't today a glorious day?" Even Caroline looked up in amazement and said, "Blue, Mommy!" |
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| Just look at that "happy little cloud!" |
Faces and Places
A collection of photos of the faces and places that make up our daily life here
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| The horse-drawn fruit cart that sometimes appears in front of our complex. It's a little crazy to see a horse-drawn cart parked next to a BMW. |
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| Just part of the oil section at Wal-mart....whole lot of fryin' over here. |
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| Our vegetable lady, who is SO friendly and SO patient with our broken Chinese |
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| The sweet couple from whom we buy eggs, sugar, salt, soy sauce, walnuts, and tomato paste. |
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| One of Katie's kindy teachers |
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| Katie with a couple of the other kids who get picked up at lunchtime, along with one of the grandmas with whom I chat every day as we wait to pick up the kiddos. |
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| Our precious fruit lady, who has the most adorable 2 month old baby boy that stays with her at the market all day...what a mama... |
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