Sheng Dan Jia Kuaile! (or Merry Christmas!)

Honestly, I have no idea how this happens. I could have sworn I just posted last week, but alas, it's happened again. Two weeks has past with no blogging. Whaddya do.

We had a fantastic and exhausting Christmas, but I guess that tends to be part of it, doesn't it? I realized that living here entails Mom isn't around to adorably wrap gobs of presents, decorate the house to perfection, or make a scrumptious Christmas breakfast magically appear. To all of you women who do this year after year, I applaud you. I'm looking into hiring a live-in elf for next year.

We had a great time hosting a large Christmas party the weekend before Christmas, and I think our head count topped out around 36. It was wild, crazy, and simply precious in every way . . . thank goodness we had a group of college students visiting to help! I can only imagine cleaning up the popcorn-garland/snowflake cutting/cookie decorating stations without them - Lord have mercy!!

Here's a pic of our sweet little Christmas tree, just ignore the strand in the middle that went out!

 

My favorite Santa helping make Christmas cookies for friends (thanks for the new pj's mom!)

With some dear friends opening presents after Christmas breakfast:

With our co-workers Tim, Molly and peanut (not pictured, he/she still has about 5 more months until he/she is ready for his/her closeup!) after dinner on Christmas night.

Do you think the Bentley's have the photo head tilt down or what? SHEESH!

All in all it was a great Christmas. We were able to Skype with our families, and participate via interweb in Christmas merriment. We of course missed them and being with our friends, but I feel like this quote best captures my feelings:

"When you have everything, you can see Christ in everything. When you have nothing, you realize Christ is everything."

Without question, we could hardly count ourselves in the "having nothing" category; quite the opposite really. But in the absence of some dearly loved faces and places, we were able to more deeply celebrate He who is everything more sweetly than ever before.

Apologies & Advent

Well, what's there to say. Life happened, blogging didn't. You understand, right? Of course you do - it's December all over the world for goodness sake! December all too often = complete madness. In a different but refreshing way, this holiday season has been unlike any other.

While songs on the radio, lights on houses, and crowds in stores have been the cultural cues of Christmas for the majority of my life . . . those cues this year are noticeably absent. At first it was a bit odd, almost as if we were the only ones in on the secret that Christmas was coming.  But as December has sped on, I have found myself looking elsewhere for what tunes my heart to the coming of Christmas.

Since our Truett days, I have had a growing interest and appreciation not only for the liturgical calendar, but Advent in particular. This year I found myself scouring the internet for Advent wreath lighting liturgies, tales of the Jesse tree, books and devotion to guide me through the season. And in true Katie fashion I might have gone a bit overboard (3 online and 2 pdf devotionals is too many to daily follow perhaps?), but I can honestly say my heart has never more fully anticipated and marveled at His coming.

While listening to one of my many Advent podcasts, I heard the following quote which perfectly encapsulates all this season has come to mean to me: "If we say that the birth of Christ 2000 years ago changed everything, then it has to continue to change everything." I love this, because it makes Christmas about so much more than a singular event thousands of years ago, but turns our eyes to see how Christ's birth continues to change absolutely everything.

I think I have spent much of my adult life wanting to make sure that "special" happened each Christmas; that I had just the right music, went to a poignant Christmas performance or two, and that our family was beginning and continuing just the right traditions. I think my heart has been in the right place, but I was missing something. Christmas isn't a magical lamp to be rubbed in hopes that nostalgia and warm feelings coming pouring out, but rather a season in which we are to reflect on how Christ did and does change us.

It's amazing to know that the God of all of creation, born in a pushed away corner to unremarkable people, loved so deeply that he stooped down and became one of us, part of us. Innocent, vulnerable and yet entirely perfect . . . becoming like us so that he might fully know and love us. In his birth, he brought hope that the ages longed for, peace that was desperately needed, and love that is unparalleled.

This season as I have marveled at the God who defied all logic for the sake of love, I have rejoiced in knowing that He continues to bring the same gifts as that first Christmas into my life.

Hope - For all the dreams He has put in my heart.
Peace - In knowing that He is Lord of all in it all. 
Love - Rejoicing that I am called His own, intimately known and treasured. 
Joy - Marveling that the God who did is the God who does.  

My prayer is that this Advent season would find you not only rejoicing in the miracle of His birth, but in the miracles He continues to bring. He was, is and will be all that our souls long for. And that my friends, is reason for "a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices!"

The Greatest Thanksgiving Ever

While myself and my kitchen are still recovering from the weeks events, I think I can confidently say that it was quite possibly one of our greatest Thanksgivings ever. We knew that cooking for, seating, and entertaining about 20 of our local friends was ambitious, I don't think we had any idea how special the evening would be.

Here is the first (of a few) grocery store/market trips to prepare all the bounty:

Lesson learned: when you buy new furniture, make sure it's not scheduled to come the day (4) rented tables and (15) chairs are also scheduled to be delivered, or that it's not the day before you host a major event in your home. Your home turning into a furniture warehouse in a 15 minute time frame can be a bit stress inducing. 

 

This is my "hair back, no makeup or shower in about 2 days, pretending it's all under control and you are confident that the 10 lbs of potatoes you put into this dish you've never made is delicious" look.

Table set and ready! (and yes, I am a bit OCD and had tablecloths made and stole colorful leaves from the park so that the table would look "pretty")

 Friends arriving and making "hand turkeys" of thankfulness. 

Friends sharing what they're thankful for, and me using the camera to hide my tears at the meaningfulness of it all.

My hand turkey:

 And quite sadly, there is no video evidence of our dramatic reading of "The First Thanksgiving". My genius husband wrote a brief summary about the history of Thanksgiving, and assigned a friend or group of friends a role in the story. When he read their name at any point in the story, they were to say a sundry of hysterical things. For example, every time he said the word "pilgrims" a group would say "ENGLAND STINKS", and give a big thumbs down. The Mayflower would say "All aboard! TOOT!! TOOT!! (I almost wet my pants every time this group said their part! The word "toot" is foreign to most locals here : ) But perhaps the best was Squanto, who said "HOW . . . can I help you?" It was an absolute riot, and our friends participated and enjoyed it immensely more than we could have hoped.

All in all it was a wonderful night, one that moved me to laughter and tears on several occasions. I can't imagine a sweeter way to celebrate all that we're thankful for!

Thankful and Thoughtful.

As I approach this week and all that it holds (a test (boo), THANKSGIVING, friends in town, and the Iron Bowl to name the big events), I am already giddy with excitement. There's not much more I love than hosting parties, laughing with friends, and delicious food - and this week I get to do all of it!

However, as I was perusing my usual blog reads, I couldn't help but be struck by my friend Callie's post. (Tip: the little link means you should stop reading and go there now). Callie was a roommate of mine in college, and I mentioned her situation earlier here. Long, super crazy story short, Callie is now in remission from brain cancer. (Yes, that's right. And yes, she is about to be 28.) Her bravery in the post above is one of the things I love so dearly about her, that and her faith that found new depths and life through her ordeal.

In her post Callie also mentions our friend Katherine, who suffered a massive hemorrhagic stroke a few years back. (And yes, you should again stop now and read about her miracle at the link above). While both Callie and Katherine's stories are the kind that shake us to the core, what stirs me the most is not just what happened to them, but how they responded.

These beautiful women, who faced medical, emotional and spiritual challenges I can't even begin to fathom, were not embittered by what they endured. But rather they weathered the storms of treatments, doubt, and despair, and found themselves rejoicing in the sweetness of the God who gives new life. I think Katherine's husband Jay said it best in a recent speech at our alma mater:

"We have become less concerned with healing, and more concerned with our relationship to the healer. And we are less concerned about deliverance  and more concerned about our relationship to the deliverer."

Tears fill my eyes as I read this again, and my heart so desperately longs that each day of my life would echo his words. This week is absolutely a time to be thankful, because goodness know how much we have been given. I am overwhelmed this season in particular at the new and abundant blessings before us, but in this, I don't want for a second to miss the heart of He who gives. My prayer for myself and you as well this week is that the remembrance of our blessings would not only compel us to give the deepest thanks, but move us to a greater love and intimacy with the Father.

A Few Things.

Today finds us neck-deep in the whirlwind that is mid-November through mid-December. We're on the road quite a bit these days teaching all ages and topics. Seriously - this week we will cover how to say "apple" as well as the dangers of HIV. You've got to be ready for anything around here!

I honestly have about 4 semi-meaningful topics whirling around in my brain, but for now here are a few things that have made this past week both interesting and great:

Don't worry, this is not my oven. Our situation was not so dire!

• My super awesome/huge for Asia oven caught on fire
• We began planning the "Ultimate Original Thanksgiving Party" for about 20 friends (meaning Baxter has plans of making foil pilgrims' shoe buckles and talking to our local friends about squaws and firewater)
• I was able to not entirely freak out about the oven and the implications on the aforementioned party
• I was able to locate AND communicate with an electrician who successfully FIXED the oven!! There was great rejoicing in our wigwam!!
• We taught 200+ itty bitty ones and did not catch any kind of airborne illness
• I taught my high school students the word "toot" (don't worry, it was completely appropriate for our lesson)
• We went joy-riding (legally! Teammate Tim got his license!! Woohoo!!) in a rented car on part of our travels and shaved a good 1.5 hours off of travel each way. SCORE. 

And to think, the craziness and adventures for this month has just begun! I often find myself truly astounded that this is my life, it's fantastically bizarre and wonderful all at the same time. While there are inevitable lows and moments of missing or frustration, I can honestly say the sweetness of these days overrides it all.

Here's to hoping for another wild and wonderful week!

A Lazy Girl's Blog

So . .  things are busy. There is so much swirling around around and inside of me, but somehow I haven't found the time yet to spill it all out for the remaining 4 faithful readers. But to pacify these faithful readers, I thought a few pictures of late might be appropriate. It's what's most interesting anyways, right? So here's a bit of what's been going on:

Our teammate and buddy Tim-o-tai had a birthday party for his 16th birthday . . .

 

Kidding Tim! I know you turned 21! (We like to give him a hard time because he's 2-3 years younger than us. What a young'un . . . )

At said party we carved pumpkins!

 

Ok fine, they were actually watermelons. The pumpkins here more closely resemble gourds, which wouldn't have had the same spooky/awesome affect as a watermelon.

Right after we got back from teaching in KM I got a nasty head cold, which I saw as the perfect opportunity to get all cultural and practice traditional Xnese medicine. What you see below is my tutor administering the "guasha". Basically it's a process of light scraping, thought to help the body release bad toxins and illness through the skin. (The red dots you see are the sickness coming out.) I would show you the final product . . . but I think my parents are still recovering from the picture I sent them. It doesn't hurt at all, but basically looks like you lashed yourself for a few hours with a cat of nine tails. Awesome, right?

 

So, here is Team Bentley (one of us slightly washed out from said head cold) hoping you had a Happy Halloween and are enjoying the greatness of fall! More to come soon!

Land O' the Little Ones

This past week we had the joy/challenge of beginning our stint as teachers in yet another realm of education - kindergarten. But before you think it's all legos and storytime, let me mention that kindergarten here includes tiny tots from ages THREE to six. Yeah, that's right.  Trust me, nap time is a TOUGH act to follow!

Now sure, our English lesson in each class lasted only about 30 minutes - but there were up to FORTY of these little bits in each class, and we taught six classes each day. So after this experience, it has been decided yours truly has officially earned the title of "buffoon". I will let the photos below give evidence to this. 

Ok, first one - not so bad. Eager teacher challenging the students to phonetically say "BIRD".

Hmm, here teacher has realized that screaming children means attentive children (for most - disregard Smiley Mcgee here in the front of the photo), and therefore pretends she cannot hear or understand. 

 

Teacher becomes delirious with the task of entertaining . . . I mean teaching 40+ 3 year olds, and secretly wonders if biting them might help. 

Dancing . . . surely dancing will teach these ankle biters that this is NOT my hand. What? They haven't learned foot yet? CRAP!

Teacher has officially cracked up after 6 classes in a day, and its starting to show. Or maybe she's just imitating the fly on her flash card. Scary. 

Teacher decides to quit teaching English, mash their little cheeks, and take them all home with her. Husband won't mind, right?

While it was an exhausting few days, there honestly isn't much more fantastic than being dogpiled/hug mauled by these little munchkins. And sure, I had lots of snotty noses rubbed on my pants and even a curious little devil nuzzling my backside at one point, but when you get a few "I LAUVA YU TEECHA"s, somehow all the exhaustion and buffoonery became worth it.

My Week in Pictures

 

 

 And to think that we once thought 20 years of education could ever been enough . . . riiiiight . . .

My Confession.

I had my first language test today.

I cried before it even started and then gave a less than stellar performance. (I might have test anxiety).

I wandered around town for about an hour trying to find a book store that was BELOW the very store I started at. (I don't do directions in my own language well, let alone another language).

I had a semi-meltdown when the new TV we bought arrived. (I hate spending money).

I let internal expectations dictate my understanding of myself and others. (I have issues).

I am learning.

I am growing.

I am hoping.

To be not as I once was, to see not as I once have, but to emerge wholly changed.

To bear witness to a power that continues to transform, a strength that sustains, and a hope that dawns new every morning.

I don't know about you, but I am grateful that in death - is life.

Praise Him who makes all things new, even me.

The Beauty of Familiar

This week is what we're considering a relatively "slow" week, meaning we will be at home for a luxurious consecutive four days. There's just something about having a space in the world that is your own . . . no matter where it is or what it looks like, it's your own. Although we have a full week of class and things to be done, we're home. In our space . . . able to rest, recharge, and reflect on all that's been swirling within and around us.

I feel like for me, I can balance a hectic lifestyle if a few constants can be sustained. This morning, after a run and trip to the market (have I mentioned I L-O-V-E the market?) - I felt like I could conquer the world. Being able to pound some pavement and chat briefly with my friend "the bean lady" was sweet to my soul. Those moments of just doing regular, ordinary things . . . afford me the opportunity to treasure how blessed we are to be here. I love being in a place and season of my life where I can't help but recognize how the Lord is truly present,  almost as if He's unavoidable.  Isn't it funny how ultimately He is most present when we aren't? And how He pours out and sustains in ways we've previously missed once we relinquish our sense of self and control?

This week's trip to the high school also provided some reassuring familiarity. The sea of faces weren't so daunting, the task of teaching English to students who giggle shyly at just saying their name didn't seem quite so impossible.  While we undoubtedly have much, MUCH to learn in so many areas, it's nice to do know you can do somethings. I know that if nothing else, I can act out vocabulary words and get a laugh from 25 SE Asian high school students.  But it's also nice to know that there are plenty of things that we absolutely cannot do or accomplish. Each day I find myself trying to live in that tension - confident in what little I can do, but humbly accepting all that I cannot and leaning fully into He who provides.

One of our views at the school . . . not bad, huh?

Thankfully, in all of this, there is such a beautiful familiarity. Blanketed across the challenges and treasures of each day, is the familiarity of a God who knows me, and has seen me through countless peaks and valleys. I love knowing that at whatever end of the competency scale that day finds me . . . I am wholly and deeply loved. I am accepted with all of my faults, fears, and failures - and am able to celebrate all that I am not with a God who is.

These days I'm contemplating just how it is that God makes a place so foreign so familiar. And how it is that when He turns the nastiness of my heart inside out, I see Him in a whole new glorious light. There are so many things about myself, God, and this place that I wonder if I'll ever understand, but for now, for today - I'm content in knowing that regardless of how dark or sunny my days are, He knows me and walks close beside. That my friends, is a truth I know and relish in any culture or language.

Whew.

Lord have mercy, where to begin.

First, let me give you a brief run down of the previous week. And this is just the past seven days, not at all counting the days previous it took just to prepare for all of this madness!

- find/sign/move to a new apartment (same city, new digs) * Tim Heinze = our hero/translator/dongxi helper/team member extraordinaire
- locate/purchase/arrange new house things into a livable state
- teach English classes at a high school a few hours away for 3ish days

- return and begin shopping/planning/cooking for Baxter's birthday bash
- have said birthday bash with 14 friends and all kinds of fun (and not to toot my own horn, but can I mention we had pulled pork, burgers, apple pie, hummus and MUCH more deliciousness for his highness? What the heck, TOOT! TOOT!)

 

- host our dear friend/supervisor from our fellowship in Texas for 2 days

 . . . and somewhere in here I think we had class . . . but honestly I'm not quite sure. So yes, things have been hoppin' around here, but we honestly couldn't be happier. We LOVE our new place, had a BALL at the party, and were SO grateful to see our buddy Dave. We're heading out again Friday for another weekend of teaching, and then hopefully/maybe/doubtfully some semblance of a routine will return.

On a random cultural note, today is Mid-Autumn Festival - which in our understanding is an excuse to get off work, eat moon cakes (get it? the autumn moon? took me a while), and celebrate with friends.  This is one of the boxes of moon cakes we received:

And here is a picture of what one of these semi-tasty goodies looks like:

I think this box was fruit flavored, which trust me, was WAY better than the meat flavored box we got. But don't worry, we have also celebrated the beginnings of fall in typical American fashion . . .

Some things never change - Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and Roll Tide!!

Meet Ma'Lady

She's a beaut, isn't she? 

As Baxter and I are about to move to a new apartment, we realized we both could use some wheels to aid us in getting around. Let's just say when I saw this little lady I was done shopping. I call her Tink, partially because of her lovely little bell that I thoroughly enjoy using, but also because she does have some "clankety-clank-TINK" type noises she lets out to let me know a large hill is not easy on a one-speed.  Used is used, but I am THRILLED with my new wheels - it's amazing how much smaller the world becomes with a little mobility! Well, me and Tink are off to conquer another day of moving. She moved my mop and cleaning supplies like a champ, but I wonder if she could handle a microwave . . . hmmm . . . .

The Potty, The Perv, and the Wardrobe

Sheesh, my life is good - if for no other reason than I can have blog titles like that. And yes, that title does in fact describe some of my recent experiences.

We are in the process of looking for a new apartment as the lease (read: prepaid & FREE) on our current location is about to expire. It can be a bit of chore to find a place, and as is true anywhere, it's all about whats available when - and how much you're willing to pay for said availability. Thankfully, we have wonderful friends and teammates who recently made moves of their own, and are willing to help us negotiate the finer points of contracts and "ma-tongs". (This is a word we love - its the word for Western toilet, which literally translates as horse bucket. Fantastic).

The whole process is really quite similar to the US, you meet some agent at a real estate office who shuffles you around to various apartments, all in various states and ends of your price range. Like many homes for sale or rent, previous owners leave a sundry of items behind . . . occasionally making you wonder if that particular locale is inhabited by squatters. And if I'm entirely forthright, the left behind "treats" have always given me the creeps. When you're looking to buy or rent something, you're trying to picture it as yours, not try and figure out what was for dinner based on the dirty plates in the sink.

Last week we had the pleasure of looking at one such apartment, and despite the remaining personal items strewn about, it was a great size and layout.  It was advertised as as a 3 BR/2 BA (I know! We're moving up in size from the 'Ville!), but after an initial walk through we only found 1 bathroom, and not with the advertised horse bucket.

That is, until Baxter opened the built in wardrobe in the master bedroom. Yes, exactly like the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe . . . a secret world lay behind those doors. Unfortunately, it was a secret world we wished we'd never seen. Our friend Tim walks in first (I'll admit, I was already freaked out, it was really dark!) and just dies laughing. He tells us he's found the bathroom and the matong, but we weren't too sure when he emerges with tears in his eyes doubled over in laughter. After steeling ourselves for what might lie ahead we all nervously shuffle in, totally unsure of what might be so funny. Sure enough, there on a TILE on the wall of the shower, was a picture of an asian woman . . . and not just any picture, but you know, one of "those" kind of pictures.

(Yes, this is way WAY more tasteful than what was in the shower.) After our own uproarious/uncomfortable laughter, we came back into the bedroom to realize . . . hmmm . . . the bed is on a funny platform . . . and what are those bottles next to the bed . . .NOPE, definitely not going to look around ANY more!!

Thankfully, that was one of the more eventful apartments we've looked at, and we feel quite confident we can find an apartment WITHOUT such "personal" items left behind.  I thought all such silliness was behind us, until today I passed a butt/buck (your choice) naked man walking down the street.  I couldn't decide what was weirder, that he was naked walking down the street in a city full of clothed people, or that he was tan everywhere. But don't worry, he passed me heading right towards the block where the police station was . . . I doubt his "personal" parade made it much farther.

Here's to hoping for week without seeing any naked Asians . . . or naked anyone for that matter!

A New Normal

It's Saturday here.

Today was filled with what many Saturdays have been and will be across the globe.

Sleeping late, a delicious cup of coffee drank leisurely, grocery shopping, laundry, and dinner with friends.

And sure, I woke up to small Asian voices loudly greeting the morning and someone pawing through the trash outside.

And yes, I had to use an electricity adapter to grind my locally grown coffeebeans. (Shameless plug HERE).

And like every week, I was the only brown-headed, fair skinned whitey at the market.

And my laundry did in fact dry outside this afternoon.

But this is our new normal.

And I have to say, I love it. As I elbowed my way through the market around stares to bargain over sugar snaps, Asian pears, and a host of other delectable goodies, I thought about how much I loved this moment, this new routine in my week.

Sure, there are frustrating days . . . days when I tell someone I'm going to meet my clothes instead of my husband, days when I probably pay too much for garlic just because of the color of my skin, and days when I wish my air-dried towels weren't so crunchy . . . but this new normal suits us well. (The past two days of 60 degree weather haven't hurt either.)

In the new as well as the normal lies an opportunity be stretched within and without, and I hope I never tire of either.

At Our House This Week

There was a significant intake of these . . .

This was a common site so that A) one or both of us could more easily access a nap and B) pajamas were always at the ready

And this is one more reason of which I am thankful my parents paid for years of acting lessons, my pantomime skills came in quite handy at the pharmacy when communicating what I needed. 

But per usual, these items were rarely out of arms reach.

I think it's safe to say -  

Southeast Asian bacterias: 1         Team Bentley: 0 

Thankfully antiobiotics only run us a steep $3.00, so we're on the mend. And currently I am growing some kefir grains in my fridge, and have begun reading up on this. (I mean, why not?) So have no fear, while we may have lost this round, I'm building up our immune systems for the war! Granola/rabbit/hippie health freaks UNITE!

There's No Place Like Home

WHEW. These past few days (weeks maybe?) have been quite the whirlwind. We had to take a little jaunt over to Hong Kong for a visa run, and had a fantastic time eating and seeing everything that HK had to offer.  While it was a remarkably full and occasionally stressful trip (FYI - no you still cannot take butter knives on a plane in your carry-on, even if you just bought them for very cheap in a very cute set from IKEA that you CANNOT get in country, and you completely, utterly forgot they were there), I thought I'd just cover the highlights of our past week or so.

Fun with friends in our city . . .

Enjoying the fruit of the trees outside my window . . .

And don't worry Southerners, it only took me the better part of a month to realize those big things were POMEGRANATES, and I just realized last week that the little guys were FIGS. Seriously, where do I live?! Asia or Eden?

This is what we later came to call "the divine pump fake". Imagine our elation when we got bumped up to first class on our flight to Hong Kong, and how that continued to elation escalate as about 50 (!) 3rd grade students in matching badges and backpacks filed past us on our their way to coach.

We got to our hotel around midnight, with plans to get up early and head to the consulate by seven . . . so imagine the abrupt end of our elation when this happened around 2:30 am. 

Yep, we got to make our way down 5 flights of stairs (did I mention it was around 2:30 A.M. ?!) to stand on the streets in our jammies for about 30 or so minutes. Thankfully Triple BBB has a little more where-with-all in the middle of the night than I do - he at least thought to grab our passports, all I managed was a shirt over my pj's.

I think my favorite part of the whole ordeal was the random man who meandered his way into our befuddled and bedraggled group, and calmly sipped his beer and listened while the firemen assured us it was a false alarm. And no, he was not a guest at our hotel.

His Hotness perusing the madness/fabulousness that is Hong Kong . . . 

And this my friends, would be the UNBELIEVABLE Indian food we had here one night.

The next day we had some delectable dim sum here (sure, we were there for a new visa, but we had to eat, right?) A Chef from the Four Seasons hotel opens a hole in the wall restaurant where lines can be up to 3 hours but cost less than $20 US Dollars? Yes please!!

Overall, it was a wonderful whirlwind of a trip, but we are so glad to be home. Not only because of the MUCH cooler temperatures (hate to break it to you folks, but we've yet to really crack 90 degrees), but because this place has become exactly that - home. We are grateful for time away us to get things done and experience unique things, but that also allowed us to miss the sights and sounds that are our life here.

There truly is no place like home, no matter where it is.