Hello everyone!

It has been a really, really long time since I have written on my Xanga.   You may remember that during my last months in China I told you that I could not access my blog.  We later learned that Xanga was being blocked in China.  Now that I am back in the US of A, I have access again. 

A lot has happened since my last posting.  I finished my semester in China and as most of you know already, I have decided not to return China for the fall semester.  In fact, I made a move I never anticipated, a move back to my hometown of Nashua, New Hampshire.  After 14 years of living away, mostly in the San Francisco Bay area with short stints in Bloomington Indiana (for an MBA degree) and Zhenjiang China (for teaching) I decided that it was time to head home.  Maybe it is the attraction of the slower pace of living or the inclination to be closer to family members that drew me back.   Whatever the case may be, things have changed a lot since I left at 25 and returned at 39.  Who knew that I was New England girl at heart? 

I have been back here for almost two months and have been living with my parents.  The hardest part about leaving California was saying goodbye to my good friends and my home church because I love them all very much.  But God has a plan for me here.  For the past six or so weeks I have been on the job hunt and have a few very promising leads.  My plan is to find a job and depending upon where that is (I am targeting the greater Boston area), that is where I will move to when I get my own place. Luckily, I found a wonderful multicultural church here in Nashua and have started to meet a few other Christians.  One thing I have prayed about is for God to show me what He is doing here in my hometown.  That prayer was answered last Sunday when the pastor had asked those people who were born in other nations to stand up.  I couldn't believe the response.  There were people from Russia, China, Iran, Brazil, West Africa, India, Puerto Rico, Korea and others.  Who would have thought that God would bring the nations to Nashua, New Hampshire?  For those of you who don't know much about New Hampshire, we have jokingly called it Cow Hampshire because of its small town, country feel.  Nashua has about 175,000 residents so it is not a small town.  But it is spread over a large suburban area and is very New England with oak trees, colonial homes, brick buildings and old mills, farm stands and main street USA.  When I left, there was not much culture about it and I couldn't wait to get out of such an "uncool" place and get to the big city where things were "happening".  So I was a bit nervous about coming back here because I thought everything would just be the same.  Time, not to mention maturity (in my case), has its advantages.  Although this city girl still loves the big city, after going to many parts of the world, especially China, I have a new appreciation for my hometown and the people in it, both old and new.  I bet you didn't know that Nashua was voted not once but twice by Money magazine as the "best place to live in America."  When I have lived here for a longer period of time, I will let you know what I think about that.

This is not the first time I have been between opportunities (read: unemployed).  It can be frustrating at times but I am really grateful for the time I have to spend with my parents, both of whom are retired and my sister Cathy.  Two of my dear friends, Todd and Erin, live in Massachusetts and recently had a baby boy (Holden, the cutest little guy)!  It has been great fun catching up with my two girl friends Christine and Heather and their families.  With the extra time on my hands I have been devouring books.  I forgot how much I love the library.  On top of all of these blessings, the New England Patriots are undefeated and the Boston Red Sox are in the World Series!  Many exciting things going on in Cow, I mean, New Hampshire. 

I have to say that I miss China.  I miss the friends I left behind, the students, the lifestyle, the food, the sights, the sounds, the smells.  Sometimes it is hard to talk about.  I have been in the States for less than four months but it seems like a year.  Although I am grateful to be back, I miss China. 

During this time of waiting, waiting for the results of my job search, waiting to get a car, waiting to move, the Lord has shown His faithfulness time and again.  When I am lonely, He keeps me company.  When I am sad, He comforts me.  When I am mad, He calms me down.  When I am wondering, He teaches me. 

Wishing you many blessings!  Love, Sharon

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."  Phil 4:13

Currently Reading Prayer: Does It Make Any Difference? By Philip Yancey see related

Happy New Year!  It is less than a week away from Chinese New Year (February 18), the biggest holiday celebration in China.  Like Christmastime in America, virtually all of China crowds the trains, busses and planes to get to family and loved ones by the holiday for feasts and celebration of this special time of year, called Spring Festival.   The Chinese calendar dates back thousands of years from when the Chinese zodiac was first introduced.  Each year on the calendar is named after an animal from the zodiac and there are 12 animal names in all.  Once the twelve have been cycled through, it starts over again.  This year is the year of the pig.  People born during the year of the pig are said to be regarded for their "chivalry, pureness of heart, often making friends for life." (http://www.chiff.com/home_life/holiday/chinese-new-year.htm)

A couple of weeks ago, I had the privilege of traveling with two other teachers to visit a brother's hometown.  He is from the Fujian province which is located in the Southeast of China directly across from Taiwan.  It is always interesting traveling with students because you invariably see things that you would never get to experience traveling on a tour or with other foreigners.  Unlike other trips I have been on, this was the first time that I got to stay in a village.  The student is from a village in Putian, located about 100 km from Fuzhou, the capital of the Fujian province.  The student is from a wealthy family so our accommodations in the village were in a six story house.  That is what I said, six stories.  His uncle has done well for himself in his business over the years and built the multifamily house for his family to live in.  Each floor has 4 bedrooms, at least 3 bathrooms, a sitting area, dining area and kitchen (or space for a kitchen).  The family members live on 3 of the floors and 3 of the floors remain unoccupied.  Suffice it to say, each floor is the size of a large apartment.  On one floor is the uncle, his wife and his son's wife and her two children.  On another floor is the uncle's daughter, her husband and their son.  That left plenty of bedrooms for guests.  Multiple generations of the family living together is pretty typical in China but especially so in the countryside and villages.  What was interesting was seeing this six story house right along side one or two room houses belonging to the villagers.

Although I see many examples that prove that Chinese people have much less than we do in the west, being in the countryside was eye opening.  These people live very hard, laborious lives just to survive each day.  Not to get ahead but to survive.  They work from morning until night and then start over again every morning.  Like most people in the countryside, the majority of work is through farming and raising animals. But because Putian is so close to the coast, many families also make their living as fisherman, catching and selling (no to mention eating) the things of the sea.  Although this area is one of the poorest I have seen, I doubt that this is the poorest there is, here or anywhere else.  Please enjoy some of the pictures that I captured of village life.  Please forgive the quality, the camera (or the user) didn't produce the clearest pictures. 

Two different style houses.  The one on the left almost looks like a garage but as you can see it is a small doorway.  Note the clothes hanging.  The Chinese use washers but not dryers so they hang up everything.  I would bet that most of the people in this village do not have washers so they wash their clothes by hand. 

In the middle of the town is an outdoor market where people typically do their "grocery" shopping, for food for the day's meal.  Vendors sell meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables on carts and tables.  Check out the meat section at this market.  If the pieces on the table are too big, the vendor just pulls out a knife and starts cutting into the size you want.  The lady on the right is weighing a piece for a customer.

The produce section.  Farmers sell the produce they grow in their gardens. 

A typical way to carry things is to rig two big baskets to a long pole and then sling the whole thing over the shoulders.  In the picture on the right, the lady to the right is either washing her dishes or clothes in the blue bucket. 

Sometimes a table is not even needed to present goods.  On the left, the live shrimp are just dumped on a cloth on the pavement and customers can come and pick how much they want.  The lady on the right is weighing what looks like mussels. 

Unfortunately, many of the villagers live with a trash dump right in the back of their homes.  They apparently don't have waste management services coming to collect their trash each morning. The little girl on the right is getting ready to dump the family trash down the embankment.

Each morning before we headed out on our daily excursions we would stop for breakfast.  One of the traditional breakfast foods in China is baozhi, pronounced "bow gh" (the "g" like in "giraffe).  Baozhi are steamed buns that contain filling like vegetables such as cabbage or meat such as pork.  We stopped each day at a small stand run by a husband and wife.  The shop is a one room shop with a small dining table on one wall and a large butcher block table on another wall.  I think this place also doubles as their home because I peeked behind the wall next to the dining table and there was a double sized bed in a tiny room.  According to my student, these people most likely make the buns throughout the day and at night and sell them through the day, each day, every day.  The routine is exactly the same.  The buns themselves are made of what looks like white floor and water made into a dough. The dough is put through some type of press and rolled.   Then fist-sized balls of dough are flattened about 1/4 inch thick.  Filling is put on the center and then the dough is sealed shut in a technique that I cannot really describe. When done, they look like rolls.  They are brushed with oil and then they are placed on a steamer basket and steamed until hot.  For four people, we had about 8 steamed buns plus three cups of hot soy milk.  The cost?  4.5 Yuan which is about .60 in USD. 

The picture on the left is the front of the shop.  The doorway is to the right.  The man in blue is the proprietor. A picture of the work table where the buns are made.

The couple are making a new batch of the buns.  After rolling, filling and sealing then, they are placed on a steamer basked and carried outside to be steamed.  The picture on the right shows three steamer baskets stacked on top of each other.  It looks like the buns on the top are almost sold out.

The inside of the shop.   This is the table where customers can eat.  Note the big bags of flour against the wall.  The picture on the right is of my student and our friends finishing breakfast for the day. 

I wish I had more pictures or words to describe the poor conditions that many of the villagers in the countryside live in.  The simple homes and the lack of cleanliness.  The trash everywhere.  Chickens running around the yard. What we see here is poor but is nothing compared to the dilapidated shacks that peppered the landscape as we drove by farms and fields in the countryside.  Often I have wondered how these people will ever have hope.  What do they strive for?  For most people, it is to give their children a better life but in the countryside where all of the work goes towards survival, the chance to give their children a better life seems almost impossible. My student is lucky because his family is one of the wealthy in the village.  He is smart, educated and could very well leave village life behind.  Most cannot say this.  However, he is burdened by the gap between the rich and the poor and has a vision in his heart to do something with his life to better the people in his community.  I wondered how the Message would ever reach poor peasants like these.  By reaching the students from these areas.

God bless you! Sharon 

"A silent call from a distant land crying for a helping hand. So how long will it go on?  Ignorance and vanity supercede humanity.  So how long will it go on?  I wanna know, how long will it go on?  We can't wait any longer!  They're crying out, doesn't it matter? We can't wait any longer!  No! No! Too long in a slumber. Shake it up, wake it up now!  We can't wait any longer!  No! No"  Words from the song "We Can't Wait Any Longer" by Michael W. Smith.

Currently Listening Shine: The Hits By Newsboys see related

Happy New Year!  Friday, January 12th was the last day of the semester and it was bittersweet.  While I am very ready for the winter break, the end of the semester means that I had to say goodbye to my current students and usher in a new group when the spring term begins in early March.  It is always hard to see students go.  Most of them will still be at the college but they will move on to other classes and I will not get to see them every day.  I guess that is the way it is in the life of a teacher.   

It has been a long time since I posted anything.  I have writer's block.  Every time I want to post I can't think of anything interesting to say.   Hopefully today will be different. 

Life in Zhenjiang.  One of my favorite winter foods is hotpot (huoguo, meaning "firepot").   Hotpot is big bowl of soup that sits on burner in the middle of the dinner table and you dunk various ingredients in the broth to cook them (See the picture below on the left). The ingredients can be things like meat, lamb, vegetables, tofu, etc.  A propane tank operated underneath the table allows you to control the temperature of the hotpot.  The soup broth itself can either be spicy or mild or you can order a pot that is divided down the middle and contains both types (below right).   

Although hotpot is incredibly popular in China during the winter months, it is also eaten by the Chinese during the summer, even when it feels like a sauna outside.  There are hotpot restaurants that vary by specialty. Some are well known for their fish hotpot, others for their lamb.  Little Sheep, where these pictures are from, is well know hotpot restaurant throughout China that is famous for its mutton.  For those who would rather not eat mutton, do not worry, Little Sheep also has beef.  You can also choose to go vegetarian at any of these places by opting out of the meat choices since there is a plethora of vegetable and tofu items on the menu.  The only catch? The entire menu is written in Chinese characters so it helps to bring a local with you the first time you go. Then you can ask them to write down your favorite things on a piece of paper and bring that paper with you the next time. 

We celebrated the birthday of our school foreign affairs representative (at the head of the table).  As you can see we ordered the combination of spicy and mild hotpot.  Two plates of meat sit on the table and although you cannot see it, there is a cart next to the table with all of the other items we will put in. 

It goes something like this.  You sit down at the table and tell the waiter what type of broth you would like, hot, spicy or both.  The waiter then brings over the pot and sets it in the middle of the table on the burner.  If you are at a fish hotpot restaurant, you go the fish tank first and pick out your fish and they will kill it, gut it, cut it up and put it into the broth prior to bringing the pot to the table.  In the meantime, you place your order of all of the other fixings you would like to add to your hotpot during your meal.  Some favorites of mine:  lamb, meat, sliced potatoes, mushrooms, lettuce, spinach, tofu strips, noodles and bean sprouts.  The Chinese tend to more adventurous in their choices, opting for things like tripe and that sort of stuff.  After you place your order, all of your fixings will arrive on a cart that sits next to the dinner table.  As you hotpot boils on top of the table you add things one at a time to your broth, or as you wish, to your broth.  As things cook, you fish them out with your chopsticks and eat them right from the pot.   Make sure you taste the broth too. The Hotpot table comes with small bowls and soup spoons in addition to the chopsticks.  The little plates can be used for garbage like fish bones that you encounter while eating fish Hotpot, or for things you may have tried but did not like.  If food drops on the table, never retrieve it and eat it.  Leave it there.  The Chinese consider the table itself to be very dirty and is a place to dispose of things like fish bones or other things you discard while eating.  I like to eat my Hotpot with a small bowl of sesame oil for dipping.  Others like a side of the Zhenjiang vinegar, a dark, balsamic-like vinegar that is produced in Zhenjiang but famous all over the country for its really tangy and robust flavor. This is one of the few meals in China where rice is not served and is frankly, not needed.  While at the beginning it seems like Hotpot will not be filling, at the end, you should be well satisfied.  If not, just order some more items to throw into the pot and keep on eating.  Hotpot takes a long time to cook and eat, giving you time to relax and enjoy the company of the friends you are with.

Have a great week!  God bless you, Sharon

"Taste and see that Jehovah is good; blessed is the man who trusts in Him." Psa 34:8

Merry Christmas!  As I write this, Christmas is less than one day away.  After a month of shopping for the perfect gifts, all of the planning, shopping, preparing, wrapping, and stressing will finally come to an end. Hopefully everyone will be able to relax and relish the real meaning of Christmas.  May your Christmas be joyful and full of peace!

The past three weeks here in China have been pretty eventful.  There is so much to say so please forgive this long posting.  Our semester is going by at record speed, we only have 3 weeks left of class!  Last weekend my teammate and I took yet another excursion to Shanghai, this time with two friends and two of their students to see an awesome Christian rock, the Newsboys.  It was especially exciting because the two students had never been to a concert before.  We took the Friday afternoon train and got there in time to eat dinner and head off to the concert.  Never would I have thought that in my travels to China I would get to see Christian artists like the Newsboys and Steven Curtis Chapman (last year).  It has been a blessing to say the least.  Here are a couple of pictures from the show:

A trip to Shanghai wouldn't be complete for any of us without the obligatory stops at Starbucks, western restaurants and grocery stores.  Of course, this trip was no different.  Fortunately, we also had time to explore something new.  We went to a place called Yu Yuan garden.  It isn't actually a garden like the name suggests but a big market with tons of shops selling all kinds of chinese gifts, textiles, scrolls, food, tea and the like.  Since it was Saturday, it was super crowded and it is the type of place where tourists frequent.  When buying anything, bargaining is the way to go.  We even found some shops selling Christmas ornaments, cards, paper, etc. albeit Chinese style.  Most of the top of the buildings resemble pagodas with detailed Chinese designs.  Here is a picture of us at the end of the day. 

Last night, my teammate and I, as well as the two other ESEC teachers had dinner with the presidents of our college and our foreign affairs officer to celebrate the new year.  This dinner resembled many other Chinese dinners that I have been to with many, many courses being served.  The exception was that the main course was dumplings, which all of us, including the presidents, prepared beforehand.  Dumplings are made from a pasta like dough and contain fillings such as pork and cabbage or a vegetable fillings.  Once prepared, they are either boiled (as ours were last night) or fried.  In America, dumplings are more commonly known as potstickers and are usually fried.  The way to prepare them is to take the dough which has already been rolled and cut into a thin circle, the size of a small pancake. Then about a tablespoon size of filling is added to the center (in our case using chopsticks, not measuring spoons).  Then you fold the dough in half over the mixture until you get the shape of a crescent.  Add a little water around the inside edges and then press around the edges starting in the middle first to seal the dumpling.  A little edging around the side makes it pretty.  Here is a picture of what one looks like before cooking and the four of us proudly displaying the ones we made.  All in all our whole group made about 216 dumplings.  Add that to the 12 other dishes that were served with dinner (including turtle, which I did not try) and suffice it to say, we had a banquet feast. 

Last but certainly not least, my teammate and I held a Christmas party today for all 48 of our students.  It was a great time!  Although many young people in China buy gifts for their friends and do something to celebrate Christmas, they don't really know what it is about.  So we donned Christmas hats and kicked off the class by reading them the history and real meaning of Christmas. This was followed by student teams singing Christmas carols. Each team was assigned a Christmas carol, had to download the words and the music and sing it during the party.  A good many of these students spend their free time at KTV (karaoke) so they are not shy when it comes to singing.  They even played a few carols that had been translated into Chinese like Jingle bells.   It was interesting to hear Jingle bells sung in Chinese.  We had students make their own Christmas cards in class and tell us what they know, or have heard about Christmas.  One student asked "Miss Fair, we hear the story of the Christmas man (meaning Santa) and how he comes down the chimney to leave the presents but what does he do if there is no chimney?"  I said that if he was real, he might come through the door but by the time most kids are old enough to figure out that their house has no chimney they usually ask questions that lead them to find out there is no Christmas man.  Here are some pictures from the party.  Check out some of the guys with their hats!

I wish you a very Merry Christmas and  a Happy New Year!  May you experience the riches of God's grace now and in the coming year.  I miss you very much.

"And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came in to her and said, Hail, one receiving grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women.  And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered what kind of greeting this might be.  And the angel said to her, Do not fear, Mary, for you have found favor with God.  And behold! You shall conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call His name JESUS.  He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give Him the throne of His father David. And He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end. "  Luke 1:26-33

Love, Sharon