Yummy....Homemade Cheesecake! Order 1 today!

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Glamour Shots

During our recent surveying trip, Liying and I spent a day in the county seat meeting with our government partners. We had some time to kill before an afternoon meeting, so Liying, a local government employee, and myself wandered around the downtown for a while.  We moseyed in and out of clothing stores and through a market, just enjoying the free time. 

At one point, our government official led us into a photo studio. He obviously knew the photographer as he walked right up and introduced all of us.  The photographer asked Liying and I to sit down, offered us tea, and suggested we have a rest (which is very standard in Chinese culture).  Liying and I sat down, thinking we would probably just hang out in this shop until our meeting.  Wrong!  

Next thing I know, the photographer is motioning for me to come to the backroom.  I follow her (because I have no choice) and she leads me into her photography studio. I'm surrounded by different hanging backdrops; there are props spread haphazardly around (fake flowers, children's toys, the usual...) and in the back corner is a rack of minority costumes. As I am looking through everything, the photographer directs me to stand in front of one of the backdrops.  She is holding her huge camera in her hand and wants to take my picture.  I begrudgingly shuffle over to the backdrop, not at all in the mood to have my picture taken by this Chinese woman.  I swallow my pride and try to give her a genuine smile.  

One photo instantly turned into a full-blown photo shoot.  It wasn't just a photo shoot though, think Glamour Shots!  She wanted me to give her sassy, Asian model-like poses ... staring thoughtfully into the distance, clasping my hands in front of me, running my fingers through my hair, looking back over my shoulder, giving her a pouty face.  I wanted to DIE!  Truly.  Some people are photogenic and would have loved hamming-it-up for this Chinese photographer.  I, on the other hand, do not have a photogenic bone in my body.  You would think that after all the hours of America's Next Top Model that my roommates and I have watched that I would have picked up a few tips.  Nope.  Tyra definitely would have voted me off the show. 


I stood there, mortified, and literally ran out of the studio after about ten minutes of picture-taking.  Liying saw my look of desperation and asked what happened.  I told her that I had become the target of a photo-taking frenzy and was so embarrassed.  I told her, "I NEVER want to see those picturesl" 

How silly of me to think I could get away free.  A few hours later, our government partner walks up to me and hands me a packet of my photos.  The photographer was so excited that she immediately airbrushed (she lightened my skin tone like 10 shades; in Asia, to be pale is more beautiful) and printed copies of my pictures.  She didn't stop there though; she asked permission to put a life-size picture of me in the front window of her store.  A life-size picture! She had never taken a picture of a foreigner before and wants to use it to promote her business. Talk about humiliating!  She also requested that I return to her studio the next time I'm in town so that she can take photos of me dressed up in a minority costume.  Oh China.... why is every day here so outrageous?

Definitely not in the running for China's Next Top Model

Sharing their Stories

*Reader beware: this might be the longest blog ever written.  So much to share  : )

Liying and I spent the past week visiting the villages where CWEF will implement water systems during the 2011 fiscal year.  As part of our intentional efforts to build relationships with the villagers, we drank tea in the villagers' homes, spent time with the school children, and endured many toasts during dinners with the village leaders.  (talk about being immersed in the culture).

It was sobering to visit village after village and witness the hardships that so many people in rural Yunnan face.  Hauling water jugs on their backs five times a day.  Educated only through the 2nd grade.  Homes built with adobe.  No doctor.  Working every day in their fields only to make a salary of USD $71 per year.  Yet through it all, the villagers have so much joy in their lives; and they were so kind to welcome us into their homes. The pictures below help to tell their stories:

A genuine smile

Wa minority leaders

Village home

Kitchen and bed, side-by-side

New friends

Meeting this man broke my heart.  He broke his foot last week as he was walking on a steep path outside of the village.  He has not seen a doctor because there is no doctor in the village and he cannot afford to go to the neighboring town.  Instead, he has attempted to treat his foot himself (see picture below) by wrapping a towel around his foot and tying a plastic bag around it.  He hopes it will heal within the next 2-3 months.

When I saw this man, he had no crutches; instead, he hobbled around, gingerly placing little weight on his foot.  He expressed great distress, not due to the extreme pain in his foot, but because he is unable to work in the fields.  As a result, he has had to rely on his relatives to feed him and loan him money.

What a view while hanging clothes out to dry!

One of our government partners teaching me to play Mahjong (China's most popular gambling game)

This villager's foot tells the tale of years of hard physical labor

Wild lilies growing in the village

Wa villagers singing me their minority drinking song as we toasted (I almost sang them the Theta drinking song in response : )

Springtime in China is the most beautiful time of the year. The rice terraces are flooded with water and the rice has just been planted, so you simultaneously see the green tips of the rice with the water reflecting beneath it.  Incredible.

A water buffalo plowing a rice terrace.  

First the terrace is flooded with water; then, a water buffalo plows the field.  Next, the farmer transplants the rice into the terrace.

The terraces in the background are green because they already have rice in them.  The ones at the bottom of the photo have been flooded but have not been plowed.

Sweet sweet baby... before she started screaming : )

When we first met this woman, she was hauling water jugs in a basket on her back.  She was making the 2 kilometer trip back from the well. 

The same woman holding her granddaughter

A village school for 1st and 2nd Grade students.  Once reaching 3rd grade, the students must walk 10 kilometers to the elementary and middle school.  Due to the distance, the students will live in the school.

Studying hard.  He was doing his math homework, writing out addition and subtraction problems.

The students and I gathered outside the one-room schoolhouse

The students' shoes piled outside of the classroom

The village leader helping me down the mountain. Such a gentleman :)

25 year-old Li Za Mu carries water from the river in these buckets.  He and his sister never went to school and live together because their parents have died.  They farm a few rice fields, however, the crop is only enough for them to eat.  For two months out of the year, he works outside of the village, hauling stones to make enough money to support himself and his sister.  When asked what he wants most for the village, he said, "I hope to have a water system that provides enough water for all of the families."

The water that the villagers drink

Carrying jugs to fill with water

A water trough that 5 families share.  The walls are cement and covered in moss; sometimes there is no water, so the families hike to the river to bring water to their homes.

All of the villagers were so kind and treated us with unparalleled hospitality.  This man was so generous to give me three of his prized feathers as a welcome gift.

Uneducated and over 80 years old, this man has lost his sight and lives with his son.

While eating at one of the restaurants, I heard this pig's squeals as it was slaughtered.  A while later I walked by the kitchen and saw him laying in this basin.  Now, is it just me, or is this pig TOTALLY smirking at me?!?  I think he knows that I am going to suffer as a result of his death when I'm forced to eat slices of his fat, his feet, or his stomach....so terrible.

Homemade rice cakes that one of the villagers served us with tea as we visited her home.

Adorable!

This village home uses a tree branch as a plant stand.  Love it.

Not all moments are captured by a camera, however.  In the last village we visited, the people were gathering to celebrate the birth of a new baby, born two weeks ago.  As I wrote in a previous blog post, women are not allowed to leave their room for 30 days after the birth (they can't shower, brush their teeth, or read.  They must wear a hat and eat hard boiled eggs with sugar as it is supposed to replace the blood lost during childbirth).  Liying and I had a nice time visiting with the villagers and proud family to celebrate the new baby, but let's be serious, we really just wanted to see the mother and the baby.  The family was so kind to invite us into their home to visit with the mother.  We left our bags and cameras outside (as it is not allowed to photograph them), and the grandmother led us by candlelight into the dark bedroom.  The mother (only 19 years old!) sat on the wooden bed with a crocheted stocking cap on, rocking her first born son with a timid smile on her face.  She had never seen a foreigner before, and here I was sharing an intimate moment with her and her newborn son.

We smiled at each other, and I told her that her baby is beautiful.  Liying chatted with the new mother and grandmother for a little bit.  We all shared many smiles as they struggled to communicate (because they never went to school, the mother and grandmother only know a small amount of Mandarin.  In the village, they only speak minority dialect).  After about ten minutes, enough trust was built that they offered to let me hold the baby!  Two weeks old, he was such a small little bundle.  He was SO small and absolutely perfect as he slept soundly in my arms.  I rocked him back and forth and marveled at the gift of life He gives us.  Sitting by candlelight in a village home with a dirt floor, loving on this two-week old Chinese baby boy could never be fully captured by a camera.

One Year Later

One year has passed since I walked across the stage on the Quad, shook hands with the Chancellor, and accepted my diploma. That moment, dressed in cap and gown with the Columns in front of me and Jesse Hall at my back, marked my graduation from Mizzou and my inevitable entry into the real world.

In the year that has passed since that beautiful (and simultaneously devastating) day in Columbia, Missouri, my life has drastically changed.

Ironically, I didn’t enter into the dreaded “real world” of cubicles, car insurance, and counting paid vacation days, after I left Mizzou.  Rather, I entered into what sometimes feels like a fantasy world.

China is its own world, and as a result, my life has changed more than I could ever have imagined.  The changes I have experienced in China range from broad visible differences in everyday life, such as the language, food, and living away from my loved ones; as well as changes slightly more obnoxious, like having to maneuver around “The Great FireWall” (China’s internet firewall blocks Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and all blogs), not finding clothes that fit when shopping (a sad, depressing reality), and watching people constantly spit all over the ground (even inside!).

Not only has my daily life changed, I have changed as a person in the past year.  Away from the comfort and security of my family and friends, I have been forced to be independent and self-sufficient.  I have to take care of myself when I’m sick.  I have to find the directions by myself when I’m lost.  And when something is broken, I have to fix it myself (no more relying on my Dad or the “Man of the House” at Ross Street : )

My perspective has been the most significant change however.  Experiencing poverty firsthand has rocked me to the core.  Seeing children who are covered in dirt because they haven't bathed in a month, talking with seventy year-old women who walk 6 kilometers every day to haul water, and living with a Chinese roommate who doesn’t have a bathroom in her childhood home are experiences that will forever be ingrained in my mind.

Sometimes I am overwhelmed by the amount of change I have experienced in one short year.  I also anxiously wonder how much life has changed at home while I have been away.  Sometimes, I wish things never would have changed.  Why couldn’t my friends and I just live in Ross Street forever?!? (oh yeah, that’s right: Dad said I couldn’t afford to stay in college any longer, haha).

During these moments of apprehension, I find peace and comfort in the one thing that doesn’t change: J-sus.  Hebrews 13:8 says, “J-sus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”  He will never change.  In this crazy world of constant upheaval, endings and new beginnings, we can have confidence that He will be the one constant.  Our rock.  Our foundation.  He is the Alpha and the Omega.  When we focus on Him, the changes that overwhelm us and the uncertainties of life melt away because our future is safe in Him.

Although my life has been bombarded with extreme changes in the year following graduation, I rest secure in our unchanging Savior.

Squirrel Fish

This is a squirrel fish.

My first day at the CWEF Office (also my third day in China), my co-workers took me out to lunch at a nearby Muslim restaurant.  As I sat nervously at the table, the waitress plopped down a plate directly in front of me.  I looked down and saw a pair of fish eyes staring right at me.  Startled, I let out a soft gasp, completely shocked that a restaurant would serve a fish head on the plate.  Tears welled-up in my eyes as I realized for the first time just how different life is in China.  For some reason, this fish embodied the culture shock I was experiencing.  And as a way of silent protest, I vowed not to eat the fish.

A few months later when I was better adjusted to life in China, I put our differences aside and tried the squirrel fish.  It was absolutely delicious! The fish has very few bones and is coated in sweet and sour sauce.  It's also easy to eat because you just use your chopsticks to tear the pieces away.  Granted, it pales in comparison to Roger Kammeyer's crappies or Grandma Hazel's catfish, but it is a fair substitute while I'm in China : )

Yummy! : )

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

May 2010 Newsletter

Dear Friends:

As you know, I currently serve as the Service Coordinator in the CWEF Yunnan Office. I am passionate about the work CWEF is doing in Asia, and I have come to love both the villagers we serve as well as my co-workers I serve alongside.

Truth be told though, I am still amazed that Our Father led me to rural China to work.  It is definitely not a stepping stone on the career path I had intended to follow (and I'm positive it wasn't an option on the career survey Mrs. Brunkhorst had me fill out my senior year of high school).

As if G-d wouldn't want my life to get boring or for me to get too comfortable, He has laid another stone on my career path with an opportunity to continue serving in Asia. I have been offered a two-year position as the CWEF Development Coordinator that would take effect in the spring of 2011. Living and working in Hong Kong, I would be based out of the CWEF headquarters and would be responsible for a variety of tasks including grant writing, cultivating donor relations, creating the Annual Report and writing the quarterly newsletter.

With abundant excitement and fear I consider this new position. Ultimately, I want to be two places, more specifically two continents, at once. I want to be home with family and friends for the everyday moments as well as for all the special moments that I currently miss (watching Kelly be announced on the football field during Mizzou's Homecoming game and cheering on the Lady Saints basketball team). On the contrary, however, this is an incredible career opportunity. And most importantly, it is work that I find fulfilling that also uses some of the gifts G-d has given me. You can understand my dilemma. For this reason, I ask that you think of me in the same way as Paul did for the Colossians when he wrote, I am asking Our Father "to fill you with the knowledge of His will.”

In addition to pr-ying for me, please ask that He gives my family peace with my decision as well. My choice greatly affects each of them, and their support is incredibly important.

Thank you for your thoughts; it means so much to me.  And I’ll keep you informed about my decision...

Blessings until next month,

Whitney

Lunch with Lucy

Like so many times with Chinese friends, my lunch date with my co-worker Lucy, turned into an all-day affair.

Lucy has been promising to teach me how to cook standard Chinese dishes, and we decided that Saturday should be my first lesson.  We met at her apartment around noon and went straight to the market, where we bought ground pork, tomatoes, eggplant, bean sprouts, garlic, and celery.  Altogether, our ingredients cost approximately USD $3.

For lunch, we made ground pork with celery, fried bean sprouts, eggplant, egg and tomato, and fresh soy milk.  We shared many laughs while cooking because Chinese people and American people do things very differently.  For instance, Lucy rushed over to me all of a sudden, shouting “what are you doing?!” as I was in the middle of chopping a tomato because I was supposedly doing it all wrong.  (note: all I was doing was dicing a tomato, I didn’t know a person could mess that up. Apparently I was wrong).  She explained that Chinese people hold the tomato and cut slivers off the outside until only the core is left.  Their reasoning is that by holding the tomato you don’t squish it and lose all of the juice and seeds onto the cutting board.  Interesting.

Although the food we made was delicious, the company was definitely the best part of our meal.  I know I have said it before, but just to reiterate: I am so blessed to have such wonderful Chinese friends in my life, Lucy being one of them.  As my CWEF co-worker, we partner together to lead service teams (recently we led the California team), and we are working together to plan the CWEF Summer English Program.  And as my friend, Lucy is always there to support, encourage, and laugh with me. 

We had so much fun during lunch chatting away.  She was telling me that she had spent the night at a friend’s house the night before, and they stayed up talking all night.  She said, “You know, girls just always talk talk talk!”  Then, she said, “Hey Whit, do you know the American television show Friends?  One time Rachel and Phoebe go shopping, and Ross has to talk to Phoebe’s boyfriend.  All the boys talk about is sports and beer.  But the girls are always talking!”  At this point, all I could think was, “I can’t wait to tell Lisa Dinse that my Chinese friend is quoting ‘Friends.’”  Made me so happy.  We also discovered many random similar sayings between Chinese and Americans.  For example, in Chinese there is a saying that money is too hot to hold so people always spend it, which is equivalent to the American saying that money is burning a hole in your pocket. 

Most meaningful to me, however, was the point in the conversation when Lucy looked at me and asked how my week was going.  She noticed I had been acting different the past several days; I quickly explained that I was struggling to find the path where G-d was leading me.  Lucy looked me straight in the eye and said, “Whit, we must search for G-d by giving up yourself, giving up your wants, your ideas, and your plan and truly looking for Him.”  She said, “When you search for G-d, you discover Him and his purpose becomes clear.”  First of all, I was impressed that Lucy could explain this idea in English. And secondly, I was touched by her advice.  Having a “sister” to confide in and to hear her beliefs was so encouraging to me and really helped give me a new perspective.  Friends are such a blessing!

After our two hour convo following lunch, Lucy invited me to go see one of her friends.  I thought, “okay, sure.”  Well we wind up at what looks like a classroom, and as we walk in the front door, I see a huge Mary Kay sign hanging on the wall.  I got a confused look on my face, and asked, “Lucy, where are we?”  She said, “Oh my friend sells Mary Kay.  This is her classroom where she teaches women how to use make-up.”

Lucy’s friend rushed to meet us and was obviously excited to have a foreigner in her shop.  We sat down and all talked for a bit (well, Lucy translated) about Mary Kay products in China and America and how they are alike.  Then I made the fatal mistake… I asked to see some of her Mary Kay Products.  I know, slap my hand.  I should have known better.  Nothing good was going to come out this request.  Little did I know that the next four hours would involve two Chinese women (Lucy and her friend) teaching me the in’s and out’s of Chinese beauty tips.  They used special face wash and cream, then made me use a face mask.  Next, they used a “holy” water from a special lake in China to rehydrate my skin, because according to them my face is much too dry.  (Picture this, I’m sitting at the table with a helpless look on my face, while four little Chinese hands are rubbing special water all over my forehead and cheeks).  

If that wasn’t enough, Lucy and her friend then get the brilliant idea to do my make-up.  Of course, they didn’t think of the fact that I am a foreigner so my complexion and coloring is completely different than all of their products.  Didn’t slow them down though.  They splattered this foundation onto my face that was literally five shades too light (I mean my face is pretty bronze after the beach in Thailand, not to rub it in : )  So after the foundation was rubbed in, I looked like a ghost.  Awesome, I thought.  Next on the list was eye shadow.  Out comes this palette of dark and royal blues.  Oh no.  Yep, pretty soon, my eyes lids are brilliantly blue.  We finished with eye liner, mascara, blush, lip liner, and lipstick.  Overall, how did my make-over turn out? You ask.  Let’s just say that I made Mimi on the Drew Carey Show look NORMAL!  No kidding, it was atrocious.  I looked like a member of the freak show; or maybe more accurately, like a clown.  Fortunately, no one had a camera so I don’t have any pictures to show you.  You can imagine.  It really was THAT bad. : )

Mimi looked normal compared to my make-over!

After my make-over, it was time to immediately go home to scrub it all off.  Thus ending my long day with Lucy, which began as just lunch plans, but ended with me not getting home until 9pm.  Regardless, what a fun/funny day! 

T-Land

White sand, crystal clear water, blue skies, limestone islands and super cheap flights. Thailand holds all of these qualities, proving that it really is paradise!

Megan and I had an amazing time swimming in the Andaman Sea, snorkeling, and as my favorite Theta sings "soaking up the sun." Of course, I was just as excited about being able to watch CNN in the hotel room, drinking Starbucks at the Bangkok airport, and speaking English the entire trip.  How glorious it can be to have a break from China : )

Here are a few pics from the trip: (if any of you want to come see me in Asia I promise we can take a detour and spend time in Phuket!!)

Snorkeling!

PhiPhi Island - where Leonardo DiCaprio's 'The Beach' was filmed