Christmas

I spent 6 hours on a bus Friday afternoon, heading to Wuhan for Christmas. Once Heather and I returned to her apartment she gave a me Christmas gifts! I had told her I needed to buy some winter clothes since I did not bring many with me. Heather bought me a few clothing items and I tried them all on, layer upon layer. Of course we took pictures!

Sunday I attended a Three Self Church in Wuhan. It was incredible to worship with so many different people. I have never seen so many Africans and Indians together in China with a common purpose! The room in the church was packed! We sang in English, Chinese, and French! It was quite an experience, an unforgettable one!

Christmas Eve we had a dinner at Matt and Caitlin's with some friends. We cooked all day Saturday for the feast. We enjoyed the feast and fellowship with each other. After dinner we had various conversations and dessert! Following desert, those of us that remained watched A Charlie Brown Christmas and read out of the Good Book what the movie quoted. It was great!! We ended the night with National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and cleanup!

Christmas day I travelled that 6 hour bus trip home. We had our own Christmas party with our friends and students! They were so excited with everything we did. We ate some Western food (mashed potatoes and spaghetti) and played the Dirty Santa game. They had a lot of fun and really got into it. We had a few small gifts for them and Melody made each of us a scarf for Christmas.

It wasn't quite and American Christmas but it was still pretty good!! I miss all of you!!

Wudang Mountain

6 friends of ours came to visit us and go to Wudang Mountain, the birthplace of Martial Arts and Tai Chi, which happens to be only about 1.5 hours away. A group of 7 of us went to climb Wudang Mountain. The weather was not particularly what one would desire for this venture. Wudang Mountain are very large mountains and when standing on them you can see a great distance. When we left it was very cloudy (not pollution, but cloudy - sorry, needed to clarify!) After using another assortment of public restrooms and buying tickets we took the bus up some of the mountain to the beginning of the hike.

The beginning of the hike was cold and misty. We could not see very far in front of us. We climbed down many steep, slippery steps and up the same as well. The hike took a very long time. Even when you are in good shape (or think you are) it is tough.

During the hike we met some students from Virginia's school in Wuhan that had come to hike as well. We stopped and ate peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and oranges. At this point it was still misting. Once we began walking again the weather changed. It began to sleet for a little while! We continued to pass the students when they stopped to eat and rest and they passed us when we stopped. It was good to see that we, Americans, were not the only ones having difficulty.

After taking some pictures with them it began to snow. It snowed the rest of our time hiking the mountain. It was quite an adventure. I do wish we could have seen further into the distance. But I have to say that the snow made it an incredible experience. Not many people would go hiking like that in the snow!! I was blessed more than I could have imagined!!

Of course since it was the birthplace of Martial Arts we had to take some pictures!! After pictures we took the sky lift straight down the mountain. I mean straight down the mountain. I thought we were going to drop. Of course in the sky lift with the clouds, we could not see a thing! It was a bit frightening but we made it through. Once we were safely back down the mountain we had a little time to buy some souvenirs before meeting our taxi.

It was an unforgettable experience!! I hope to return in the springtime, maybe with my sisters, Beth and Debbie!

Thanksgiving in Wuhan!!

I spent my Thanksgiving on a 5 hour bus trip to Wuhan the capital city in our province. There I reconnected with an old church camp friend of mine, Heather. I stayed in her apartment with her. When I arrived Stephen, Kelli's husband picked me up and took me to Heather's. She and Kelli were busy cooking desserts for our Thanksgiving shin-dig on Saturday. We chatted, watched a movie, and just relaxed! I stayed from Thursday afternoon until bright and early Sunday morning.

Friday, Heather had to go to class (she is taking Chinese classes to learn the language), so I went with Kelli to the Hotel and Metro. We went to the hotel where we would celebrate Thanksgiving with approximately 60 other Americans, most teaching in Wuhan and a few travellers. At the hotel we explained how we wanted the room set up for Saturday and what we needed from them. After that was all worked out we headed to Metro (a Chinese type Sam's club thing). I bought a few American items and we bought another turkey!! I even bought a Santa hat, when converted to US money it was about $2! For the evening Heather and I hung out. We ended at Dairy Queen for dessert!!

Saturday, we packed a coffee maker, creamer, coffee, tea, a pumpkin roll, 3 pumpkin pies, green beans, serving spoons, Christmas movies, and many games to take with us. We looked like we were packed for vacation! When we arrived at noon there were already at least 20 people there. People continued to filter in for the next hour. Being the type of person to not sit back and watch but to help, I ended up in the kitchen. For the big private rooms they have a big hotel kitchen. This is where our turkeys, gravy, and rolls cooked. I took many pictures and helped where I could! One of the older couples began slicing the turkey off the bone and the chefs (that had been following us around the kitchen and watching everything all morning) took over. But, we had to explain no bones! It is very common in China to cut the meat and bones together. They took over and Kelli got everyone seated.

They dismissed us like a potluck! There was more than enough food, reminded me of feeding the 5,000. We even had enough for everyone for dinner! Once we finished eating people started playing games and drinking coffee. Since the Chinese did not want to come in and disturb us we figured it would be easier to stack the dishes on a cart so they didn't have to wait late. So I went into the kitchen and stole a cart. A few of us began stacking and clearing room for people to play games. We had a lot of fun!! It got pretty entertaining! Though most would agree I generally am!!

We played poker, Cranium, Taboo, Checkers, Chess, Mrs. Pacman, and other card games. Some watched Miracle on 34th Street.

All in all we had a wonderful time celebrating the holiday together. It reminded us we have much to be Thankful for!