A Photographic Week in Review

When I say that I have been SOOO busy and that is the reason I do not blog enough, I am for real! It has been two weeks again and I am thinking, "Where has the time gone?" So, I have prepared a review of last week in photos for you. Then, I will blog about this week.

The experience of returning to China has involved a lot more "firsts" because we know we are staying a bit and have to do things to make life a little easier and more normal for ourselves here. For one thing, we would like to have some more variety in our meal time, since we generally stick to a few staples we know how to cook, that are cheap, and easy to find. I decided I wanted to learn how to make 地三鲜 or Di San Xian (literally translated ground three fresh) which is a dish with potato, eggplant, and green pepper. Apparently a lot of oil and other ingredients as well. Needless to say, it took a while, and may not be that frequent of a meal side. At least it was still delicious! However, I also learned to make a popular egg and tomato dish I love, which is MUCH easier. 

Above: All of the prep work, Below: Cooking each vegetable individually then cooking it together with seasoning at the end

Last week was also the first week back for a lot of the church members, because school started back up. That meant a VERY packed church and me filling in as an usher. It also meant me squeezing into and awkward seat next to my husband behind the soundboard.

Our friends, Dave and Katie and another couple from our church had tickets to go see the Michael Jackson Cirque Du Soleil show in China, so I spent a Sunday afternoon/evening with these four kiddos, Josie, Asher, Grant, and Micah. What an energetic Sunday afternoon!

As the week began, I had an appointment scheduled with the Shanghai International Healthcare Center for a working visa. In order to get a working visa, you have to get an examination done to show that you have no diseases that are harmful or contagious. The exam involves filling out a form of personal health information and receiving a page of stickers with your name on them. You then change into a hospital type gown and go from one room to the next to get a series of tests done on you, including blood work, an EKG, an X-Ray, and eye exam, etc. Thankfully, I was only the 8th person in line for the day, so I got out a half hour after my appointment time.

The awesome news is that I have begun the process for a working visa. Please be praying that everything comes through for it, because we do not receive regular updates about the process. Another step in settling in here more was getting some things repaired and making it feel more like home for the four of us.

I made some TaoBao purchases (the Chinese Ebay, but much cheaper and delivery in a day or two) and hung some photos and such on the walls. All I really want now is some new curtains to match the colors and to get rid of our gold ones. We also have a GIANT closet/wardrobe in our room which holds everything we own (there is no space for other furniture). All of the drawers in it were not on tracks, so we were taking out the drawers every time we needed to get out clothing. I told Justin that we HAD to fix it. We borrowed a drill from friends and decided to make a trip to a local hardware store to get screws. It was a fun experience involving lots of random Chinese words and a game of charades, AND we actually got 50 screws (two different types) and a drill bit for under $1 USD. So crazy!

The hardware store and our acquisition

My awesome husband repairing the drawers and them finished

I actually had to return to the hardware store because the tracks were bad. We got way better ones and she gave me a discount because I returned. It is great when prices are suggested. Our jobs didn't finish in our room, though. We also had a desk donated to us for the studio equipment. Justin reinforced it (hence the rest of the 50 screws) and we rearranged the living room a bit. I am MUCH happier with the result. All we need now is some paint, some new curtains, and a little design to finish it off.

 
I finished off my week with some work at Zooligans, where I will be teaching part time. However, that is for another blog post. Hopefully tomorrow! The truth is, it really does feel like home here and we are settling in nicely. We are thankful for all of the support we have here and at home. Keep us in your prayers as we move forward for open doors and open hearts, people ready to hear about who we have to share with them.

Before I go, here is a picture of our transportation now. It was given to us right before we went back to the U.S. I have been driving it regularly and fearing for my life. However, it is much better than the alternatives in the temperatures we have had.

Returning to China, and All That Comes With It

As of today, we have been in China for two and a half weeks, and man has it been a whirlwind! We arrived at night on August 7th here and stayed at a friends home, because we had no idea what our apartment would look like when we got back. The next morning, our awesome friends came to our house with us to brave what we might find, and helped us clean up.

Thankfully, our apartment was not nearly as bad as we expected it to be. Before leaving I had wiped down our closet and filled it with dehumidifiers and then took everything out of the bathroom that was ours. Therefore, most of our stuff was concentrated in our bedroom. When we arrived, the main things we needed to deal with were washing all the clothing and linens left in the house and deep cleaning the kitchen and the bathroom. While I tackled a stinky fridge and mildewy floor in the kitchen, our friend Renee and her daughter's boyfriend Hunter graciously cleaned the bathroom and closets.

I actually ended up spending a couple of days cleaning the kitchen, because it was in desperate need of a deep cleaning beyond anything we had done before. I was pretty happy with the result, because I feel like it made our house look a lot less dingy and more like home. I also spent a couple of days doing load after load of laundry, due to the fact that I wanted to rid our home of any mold or mildew that might of occurred. Now we are feeling cleaner and looking cleaner too!

I have some beautiful picture of our kitchen to share with you, since it was such a project and accomplishment.

Our appliances looking new

The sink and cabinets scrubbed down

Stove, hood, and counter cleaned

Fridge with magnets and clean cabinets

Kitchen doors you can see through!

Also, we had a great travel experience. Thank you for all of your prayers. Our travels included a few firsts for us. It was out first time flying in a double-decker plane (we were in the absolute back seat!), first time in Japan (for our layover), first time having a layover in another country, and our first time flying on such an empty plane (from Tokyo to Shanghai).

So many empty seats!