So Much To Be Thankful For

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration. Since Thanksgiving is a time of year to share the things that you are thankful for, I want to take a moment to do that now. I am especially thankful for each of you, my family and friends. Your love and support of me over the years, as well as your wisdom and advice has helped to shape me into the person I am today. I am thankful for the example that each of you has shown me in how to love and care for others and how to use what I have been given to make a difference in people's lives locally, regionally, and globally. I feel like "thank you" can never fully express my gratitude and appreciation, but I just wanted you all to know that I truly am thankful for each of you and for your selfless sacrifices that have impacted my life.

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I had a wonderful day spent with friends here. Our friends that have been in China for 7 years were able to order an American turkey for us to have for that day, which truly was a treat since you cannot get turkey here. We ate all day, played games, and just enjoyed the fellowship of one another. One of my Chinese teachers (she teaches my classes on Wednesday and Thursday) also joined us for most of the day. Obviously Thanksgiving is an American tradition; however, the Chinese that are like-minded usually set aside a day (usually on the weekend) around Thanksgiving to gives thanks to Someone. It was fun to have her spend the day with us and it really reminded me of all the things that I am truly thankful, but that I sometimes take for granted...things that others risk their lives for.

I am also thankful that I will be home for Christmas this year. Since I was in Colombia last year during Christmas I really wanted to be with family this year if that was possible. My friends here strongly encouraged it as long as I was not gone for more than 3 weeks. My parents and I started looking for plane tickets back in August / September and found a really good deal on one. So, my Christmas present from my parents is a plane ticket for me to come home for a few weeks at Christmas. I am so excited. I will be in Georgia the whole time, so unfortunately for my Florida friends, I will not be making it down that way during this trip. With the short amount of time that I will actually be in the States it seemed more logical to stay in one place instead of spending most of my time traveling. I would love to chat with any of my Florida friends while I am in the States, so if you do not have my phone number please email me and I will send it to you. I will be missing classes during the time I am in the States, but our school is really unique in that they realize foreigners will miss classes around the holidays, so they have built in times that I can make up the work.

I know I fell a few days behind with my post due to the holiday, but I will be back to once a week posts starting this week. Again, I am thankful for each of you and the different roles you play in my life.

Perseverance Pays Off

Well, as an update to last week's post, I wanted to let you know that I now have a 4-cup coffeepot, and that I am currently drinking some delicious coffee as I type this. My quest for a coffeepot proved to be an adventure with a few bumps in the road, but in the end was a success! A few days after going to Lotus to find one I decided to look at the German store called Metro where I found one and purchased it, only to find out when I got it home with it that all the water drained out the base of the unit instead of into the coffeepot. So, a few days later with the help of a friend we took it back to Metro where they saw the problem and offered to test out another one before I took it home, and this one works great. Sometimes it is the simple things in life that bring such joy and remind me that there is Someone who likes to provide even in the littlest of things.

I have also had a few other adventures in the past few days as well. From November 15 - March 15, China releases the gas throughout the country that allows you to run the radiators in the home for heat, and mine did not work for the first two days. I knew that I would need to find a maintenance person to help me fix it, considering I knew it was not smart for me to try to figure out how to turn on the gas / water combination for fear I would turn on the gas full blast. Well, to my surprise a maintenance man was in my hallway as I was leaving one day, so I motioned him to my apartment to play a game of charades to tell him my heat did not work. Of course I could not understand anything he was saying and none of my friends were able to understand either (translation on this matter is still somewhat difficult for those that know the language) so I was left to wait for another day to try again. And well, that day came yesterday when I blew a fuse in my apartment losing all power, which could not be turned back on by just flipping the breaker (which I did try). So, the maintenance department immediately sent someone out to fix the power and the guy was able to get the heat turned on for me as well. The maintenance man was so sweet in that he talked really slow so that I would have time to understand and when I did not understand he would motion to something he needed, and if it was still something I did not understand, he was kind enough to talk to my friend on the phone who would then translate for me. I am kind of glad that things happened the way they did because I ran into the maintenance guy again today on the elevator and he was so excited to talk to me and just smiled and tried again when he asked something I did not understand how to answer.

Well, speaking of weather, it did snow last week and again this weekend. I took a few pictures and have added them to an album that you can find by clicking on the collage of photos on the right side of the page.

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving is next week. Typically, you cannot find turkey meat here (other than the sandwich meat at Subway), but Metro and a few western restaurants will order them around Thanksgiving and Christmas time for the foreigners living in the area. So, this week my friends and I all decided on what we will each be making for our Thanksgiving meal together. Our day of celebration will include turkey, ham, dressing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, veggie tray, fresh fruit, bread, cheesecake, and another dessert. It may not be all the typical things you would find at Thanksgiving, but it is the closest we can get based on what you can find here, and I am looking forward to it.

Also, just for fun I have put together a 4 minute video of what laundry day looks like for me here in case you are interested in watching. The video is below and all you have to do is click the play button. Enjoy.

The Search for a Coffeepot

So, as the title suggests I have been on a search for a coffeepot here. Seems like a simple enough task, right? Not so much when you live in a country whose culture is all about tea. Now, don't get me wrong, I love tea (and have a current supply that will probably last a year), but for someone who has grown up drinking coffee since the age of 7, I would choose coffee any day over tea. I did purchase a 1-cup french press at Starbucks when I first arrived here, but that still lets a good majority of the grinds through and makes the coffee taste bitter. So, yesterday I headed out to Lotus (a local supermarket / store) to see if I could find a coffeepot. As I was walking around looking I was quickly approached by four people very eager to help. Knowing that coffeepots and a description of one have not been part of my vocabulary lessons yet, I was straining to think of what to say when all of a sudden a lady started asking me questions in English. In the conversation that ensued it became clear that this store did not have coffeepots, but at this point it didn't matter to me anymore because of my conversation with this lady. Her English name is Claire and while we were just talking about how long I have been in Xi'an and about her learning English, it was exciting to have the opportunity to just chat with her. So, while my initial search may have not produced the results I was looking for, I feel like I got an even better result in the end. I am hoping to visit Lotus more often and hoping to form a friendship with Claire.

Well, for a language update...the week started for me with the last chapter of book 1. That means that next week I begin book #2. To give you an overview of things I am still learning from book 1: all about the 4 tones, 450 vocabulary words, 10 different sentence patterns, and 30 Chinese characters. That may not seem too overwhelming, but let me remind you of a saying the author of our book has for vocabulary: 'If you can't remember the tone, you can't remember the word.' Oh, how true he is. For me is has been easy to remember the spelling of words, but when you begin to get the same word used in all four tones, and you are trying to remember which correct definition it goes with, it becomes a little bit of a challenge. Or even a completely different scenario of having one word with three different definitions; which can lead to some humorous moments in class when I need to translate a sentence from Chinese to English. My teacher also reminded me today that I am doing well, especially in regards to my pace of learning since all her other students are still four chapters behind me. In regards to learning the 30 Chinese characters, it means that I must know how to both read them as well as draw them in correct sequence too. I have a little more time to work with the drawing of the characters, but it is crucial from here on out that I can read the first 30 since the pinyin form of them has now disappeared in the past two chapters and will no longer be presented in future books. By time I get to book 3, which will be a ways off, ninety percent of the book will be characters with only ten percent being pinyin of new vocabulary being taught. Everyday I have more and more appreciation for the Chinese, and do believe they have one of the most difficult languages to learn.

Well, I am gearing up for winter - the temperatures dropped to the 30's tonight, and snow is predicted for tomorrow. By Thursday night it is suppose to be 16 degrees, so I may be staying in that night.

I know I don't say it enough, but thank you to all of you that support me and for thinking of me. I am truly grateful to have people like you in my life and I think of you often. I am sending my love to all of you.

Am I a Transformer?

Hey! I hope that you all enjoyed the extra hour of sleep that you got this weekend with Daylight Savings time. Since China does not celebrate Daylight Savings time I just slept an extra hour on Saturday morning in anticipation of what was to come for all of you!

Many of you often ask what I am learning in this journey called life, so I wanted to share with you what I have been processing lately. I have started reading the book 'Stand Against the Wind' by Erwin McManus and I feel like Erwin sums up pretty well in the first page where I am at mentally right now. (He begins with the story of Peter stepping out of the boat and walking on water)

"The TRANSFORMATION of our character is more REVOLUTION than reformation. It is forged from battles fought far more than by beliefs held. It emerges out of crisis, not out of classroom. It doesn't just come to you; you must run to it. It is like a gauntlet waiting to be conquered. Character is like a hero asleep within you waiting to be awakened. It's power sweeps through you in waves of transformation. In pursuing a life that is not about yourself, you find yourself living the life you've always longed for. And with each challenge faced, with each victory won, you suddenly come to the realization that you are a different person than the one who began the journey. Simply attempting the gauntlet has changed you forever. Peter saw the wind, was gripped by fear, and began to sink. But don't miss the point - he stepped into the storm and walked on water!

Being here in China has not been without its challenges. It's hard for me to see the people here so oppressed by the laws under which they are governed, to see statues of people / things being idolized, or just hearing about certain traditions that would make most of us cringe. Erwin's book has reminded me that the fight for others to experience the same freedom we have is often hard and tedious, but that it is something I must run to and being willing to fight for. And along the way allow Someone to transform me into the best person that I can be to love on the people I come in contact with.

May you all experience the abundance of joy this week and be filled beyond measure. You all are in my heart as well as my thoughts!