The Meaning of Impact

Here I am again, and still like two weeks behind in posting. I am hoping to get a couple of blog entries up this week to make up for it!

We arrived here on a Thursday, and the following Saturday (a week and a couple of days later), Megan and I participated in a Youth event called "Impact Shanghai." The point of the event was to get the students out of their comfort zones and have them experience the "REAL" Shanghai. We had a couple of rules to adhere to, but a lot of freedom to do as we chose. We could only take public transportation, we had to experience 10 firsts among our group (somewhere you have never been, something you have never eaten, etc.), and we had to interview people to learn more about Shanghai.

I had the pleasure of working with the Middle and High School girls and our leader chose to visit the "Helena House of Hope." (http://helenahouseofhope.com/) This is a home for young ladies coming out of orphanages and the coordinators strive to assist these girls in acquiring the skills to survive in the real world. They are currently housing two girls that have been their for a few years and s couple more that are new.

We had the incredible opportunity of getting to know these girls and visiting with them for a while. However, as it is with all young girls we had to get past the initial barrier of awkwardness before we could really get to know them. Our leader decided to play a game called "Fruit Basket Turnover." If you are not familiar with the game, every person gets assigned a fruit. Then, all but one person is seated. The person standing must call out a fruit, and all people with that fruit must change to a different seat, while the person standing tries to grab a seat. Whoever is left standing must then be the one to call out a fruit. When the person in the middle calls out "Fruit Basket Turnover," everyone must get up and change seats.

This game had a great effect on everyone and really broke the ice. I am usually one who enjoys playing games, but I had trouble with this. I am even familiar with this game. The only problem I had was that EVERYONE but me knows Chinese, so they kept calling out the fruit names in Chinese. I kept missing what was called and getting stuck without a seat!

After playing the game we split into smaller groups and did a game of questions to really get to know each other. We started asking questions such as "What is your favorite color?" or "What type of music do you like?" After a while, a guy who was visiting with us (a boyfriend of one of the girls), asked us "Why do you believe in Jesus?" We were all quite shocked at first, because the questions got very serious, but it was awesome to share our stories together. Some girls chose not to share, but we got to hear his story.

Playing "Fruit Basket Turnover"

Our group and the girls from "House of Hope"

After we left the "House of Hope," we had a very late lunch at a noodle restaurant. I have to share with you about this experience, because these restaurants have become my favorite! The noodles are all handmade and it is incredible to watch them being made. They have dough that they stretch and stretch until it is thin. Then the maker pulls it through his fingers through it creating long skinny noodles. He then lays them flat on a pan and shreds them into a boiling pot of water to cook. They are absolutely delicious :)) They come in all varieties with all types of vegetables cooked with them.

I have found that one of my favorite thing at the noodle restaurant is not just the noodles though. They have this dish with eggs, tomato, and peppers. It is like scrambled eggs sauteed with tomato and pepper, but it has this juice with it that is a little spicy. I LOVE it! I want to order it all of the time. The great thing too is that eating noodles is inexpensive.

Following our lunch, we were very tired and had a LONG trip back home by bus, then train, then bus. We decided to stop in Zhudi town near our home to interview some people. We stopped at a street-side market and talked to some people selling various items. A man selling vegetables told the girls that he had been collecting stems from all kinds of plants and had collected some 4,000 of about 4,500 that existed. Another woman asked the girls about their clothing, because she thought they might be cold. They were in about two layers on a sunny day, but it is common for the Chinese people to be VERY bundled up.

We did not last long because our trip was so long and everyone was hungry. We went back and talked as a group about our experiences and then got to talk to the boys about what they did for the day. It was a huge learning experience for us all and we had such an incredible time! Here are a few more pictures before I sign-off for now.

Some of the girls riding the bus.

Walking in Pudong

That is all for now! I plan to write again this week, just have to find more time :)

Lots of love,
Blythe

Living... the Chinese way.

We have been in China for two weeks as of today. It has been a busy two weeks trying to get settled in so that we can function here. We have been doing everything to get our living space in order including cleaning, getting internet set-up, and getting repairs done (we will get to that later). We have also been meeting a ton of wonderful people in China and getting acquainted with the programs of the International Fellowship here. We have been flooded with so much information, that it is taking us a bit to process it all. This is why it has taken me two weeks to write.

Because it has been two weeks, I obviously cannot tell you the exact events of each day that we have been here. Even if I did, you would be thoroughly bored out of your mind! So, I would like to share a couple of stories with you and some photos that I have taken since being here. Before I start, here are some photos of where we are staying.

Justin standing outside of our building. We are in 26-102 :)

The view of our building from the street

The road that passes in front of Rob and Joy's apartment and ours.

The biggest obstacle that we have to overcome here is learning how to "do life" the Chinese way. First of all, the voltage for electrical outlets is 240V instead of 110V. So, the first day we were here, we used a converter to try to plug something in. We had a thought that it might not work, so we plugged a surge protector into the wall so that item would not get destroyed. We plugged in the surge protector and immediately heard a loud "POP!" followed by the terrible smell of electronics burning up. Not only did we kill the surge protector, but we blew out the main breaker. So, we had NO electricity! Thankfully, we had the help of Rob, Joy, and Beili to get in contact with and electrician and get it repaired.

We also have had to learn how to cook here. I know that it seems very simple, but it is not. Our kitchen has a gas stove (which the igniters were broken on), a rice cooker, and a convection oven in it. I have never used a gas stove and a convection oven is pretty small to cook anything substantial in it. We then took a trip to the grocery store, which is more like a Super Walmart. I do not recognize any of the meat in the store, and you are lucky if you can find something that has English words on it. The items that do have English are much more expensive too! So, we have had to learn from Joy and Beili what is good to buy and how to cook it. Below are some pictures of our first SUCCESSFUL Chinese meal (I won't even tell you about the unsuccessful one, which included my complete emotional breakdown and a trip to the market on the busiest night of the week!).

Justin cooking the salmon

Our table setting

 

 

 

Everyone sitting down to enjoy!

I have so much more to share with you, but we obviously have some catching up to do. Goodbye for now!