Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas 2009 (a little late)

Well, Christmas and now New Years has come and gone here in southern China. I have been trying to post for weeks but due to the "Great Firewall of China," my interent would not allow. Anywho...this year's holiday proved to be new, different, special, and memorable (such a change from last year. ugh). Praise God!

My Christmas 2009:

This holiday season I have been more aware, I think, than ever before, just want this holiday is truly about. As I struggle to share my life and therein my faith with those around me, my lack of words, my lack of close relationship, and the barriers and blocks of an ancient culture deeply rooted in tradition, have left my heart sobered and thoughtful as I gaze at the faces I pass daily. They don't know my Jesus, they don't know his grace, his hope, his joy, his freedom, nor the life that he brings. So I desperately tried to share that joy in the small ways.

Christmas week at school I scrapped "real" learning and we did crafts and learned holiday words. The kids were gearing up for their big dance performance anyway, and didn't need a load of new English words on top of their little pressured heads. So why not have fun?

we made hand-print Christmas trees:

I let each teacher make the star - to be a part of our tree :)



we made paper stockings that they sewed together with string.

I then filled them ALL with candy the night before Christmas for them to find the next day at school. It was a total hit ---> :)

we also made snowmen which ended up all sorts of fabulous colors:

And then Christmas Day afternoon the kids put on their dance and song performance. Pictures to come...too many to sort through right now.

My holiday weekend (in which I was given 3 days off this year! woo!) finished with the self- assigned challenge of cooking an "American Christmas" dinner for several dear friends I have made here. After 2 1/2 hours of cooking, 6 potatoes, 4 breasts of chicken, 2 lbs. of green beans, lots of yummy caramalized onions, 2 sweet potatoes, 1 loaf of French bread, and a box of Stove Top stuffing somehow balanced between 2 stove burners and limited cookware, equaled a pretty tasty dinner all eaten in paper bowls with chopsticks - Chinese style.

I don't have enough dishes to entertain and it's silly to buy them, so paper it was.
And no one here likes forks anyway.


My roommate Sammy even joined for a little while (that's amazing, trust me!).
R to L: Joy, Sammy, Johny (Evan's future boss and friend), Terry, and Anita.
These people have been an answer to many prayers.


beautiful people. beautiful experiences. a beautiful life.
I am truly blessed.

Happy New Year, everyone!

3 comments:

Nicole said...

Hi,

I work for Jetstar Asia in-flight magazine, and we are currently looking for people to help us with our section called 'Destination Guides' where we get locals/frequent travellers to answer a few questions about Shantou. It will appear in our next issue together with a picture of you, as well as the name of your hotel. Would you be interested in helping us for Shantou?

Please email me at nicky_tia@hotmail.com regarding your interest.

I look forward to your reply.

Thank you!

Nicole
www.ink-publishing.com

Anonymous said...

Hey Jenny! I read this post a while ago, but decided to finally comment :) I'm so glad you had a better Christmas than last year- it's nice to see that you are making some connections. It was equally great to see you and Evan when you were in the states- Nathan and I had a wonderful time w/ the two of you! i hope that you and he are enjoying being back in China together! What a joy it will be to experience life together again :) love you!
~alli

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