Coveting Your Trash Can

Yesterday, I was watching an American movie and flipped out during one particular scene.  It was not the dramatic event or the intense dialogue that caused me to jump up in my seat and point at the TV.  No, No.  As the family stood in the kitchen talking, I inadvertently observed their surroundings - a kitchen table, the kitchen sink, and in the back corner, what else stood there but AN AMERICAN-SIZED TRASH CAN!!  I immediately sat up straight and pointed at the TV, saying to my friend - LOOK! It's a trash can like we have in America!

Now, I know you all think I'm "off my rocker," and I have to say that some days I wonder the same thing : )  But let me do my best to explain just how exciting I think YOUR kitchen trash can is.  

Trash cans in China are only large enough to hold several items.  This is my kitchen trash can:

It is a mere 12 inches deep and 8 inches wide (smaller than most bathroom trash cans at home).  You can imagine how quickly it overflows.  I find it incredibly obnoxious because you literally have to take the trash out once a day.  It is a total waste of time and energy.  

To be fair, there is a very practical purpose that the Chinese use little trash cans.  Because you have to take the trash out so frequently, the kitchen/trash never smells.  You are forced to dispose of your trash every day so nothing has time to rot.  

Regardless, I still think that it is annoying that most things you want to throw away won't even fit in the trash can!

So the next time you walk into your kitchen to take out the trash, rather than thinking about how terrible the trash is, please know that there is someone in China who is coveting your trash can.  : )

Sharing Love through Sweets

Cinnamon Rolls with raisins before being iced

Growing up in a family of good cooks, I learned at an early age that food is a great way to show love to those around you.  Whether it was Grandma Irma making me mashed potatoes, Grandma Hazel baking me a birthday cake, or Mom making cupcakes for my sports teams, the women in my life always made delicious food for the people dear to them.  (Perhaps they are to blame for my sweet tooth!)  It was always special when they cooked for me, not only because it tasted great, but because I knew it was “made with love” … corny, I know!

Showing love through food is not limited just to American culture, however.  My Chinese friends also give food to one another as a thoughtful gesture.  In fact, a few of the moments that I have felt most loved in China are a result of people cooking for me.  I guess the saying that food is the way to a man’s heart is also true for me, haha.  Not sure if that’s good or bad?!

A few months ago, Liying walked into my office with a plate of “pancakes.”  (They taste like a combination of American pancakes and crepes).  Her mom had made them for breakfast and made extra especially for me.  I was so surprised and it meant so much that Liying’s mom (Click here to see a picture of Liying's Family) thought of me and cared enough to make me breakfast.  And ever since then, Liying's mom cooks things and sends it to the office every couple of weeks.  Isn't that so sweet?!  Sometimes it makes me want to tear up because it is just so thoughtful.  In the same way, JJ buys extra fruit at the market for me; and when she goes to her hometown, her mother often sends food – like dumplings- back for me.

It is just incredible how a plate of pancakes, fruit, and dumplings can touch a person’s heart and make one feel so loved.

________

Last weekend I was feeling adventurous and wanted to show these women how special they are to me.  What better way to do it then through food?!  so I decided to make them homemade cinnamon rolls! 

First, I made several trips to the supermarket and the foreign import goods store to buy the correct ingredients.  This is an important first step because although you can find many goods in China, many things do not have the same flavor.  For example, China has granulated sugar, but it is really coarse and the granules are large so it tastes grainy.  To rectify this problem, I buy South Korean sugar because it tastes like our sugar.  Similarly, Chinese brown sugar is terrible and can ruin your dessert because it is so dark and syrupy, so you have to buy it imported.  This means that white sugar, brown sugar, powdered sugar, butter, cinnamon, and yeast have to be purchased at the foreign import store.  For my cinnamon roll recipe, this basically means that the only Chinese ingredients you can buy here and still maintain the same quality as at home, are eggs, milk, and flour.  Pretty bad odds, haha.

The imported ingredients were worth it though as my cinnamon rolls turned out great!! They almost tasted as good as the many batches we helped Mom make as kids.  And best of all, I was able to give a plate of cinnamon rolls to Liying and her mother, as well as for JJ to take home to her mom.   It is true that there is no better way to show love than through sweets!  And I am just happy to show these women how much I appreciate the kindness they have shown me : )

Tada!  Finished product. 

Are these ready to be displayed at the State Fair or what?!?!

P.S. If this picture makes you hungry, you're in luck! Kelly is still selling HOMEMADE cheesecakes for her service trip to Jamaica.  Click here for more details. 

P.P.S.  Editor's Note: Liying informed me that her mom didn't like the cinnamon rolls.  Like most Chinese, she thought they were too sweet.   I guess this is where "it's the thought that counts" comes into play.... haha! 

House Hunters International: Kunming, China!

Home Sweet Home

Finally! Pictures of my apartment.  I've promised for many months to show you my home in Kunming, and it is just now clean enough for me to take pictures! (teasing... kind of : )  As you can see, I am incredibly blessed to live in a beautiful Western-style apartment.  

And the best part: I live on the 2nd floor.

Inside the front door: living room to the left, bedrooms and bathrooms straight ahead, and kitchen to the right

Our lovely kitchen table

Looking into the living room

My favorite part of the apartment - my Mizzou bookshelf!  Complete with pictures of family, friends, and a Truman the Tiger Bobblehead.  

(I definitely hold the title of #1 Mizzou fan in China!) 

The living room

My card basket, filled with all of the cards you have sent me : )

My bedroom

My Mizzou flag and desk in my bedroom

My closet

Bedroom 2 - Anna's room turned into the Guest bedroom 

and soon-to-be Erin's room

The only room in the apartment not painted purple

Bathroom

So thankful for a western shower, toilet, and electric water heater!

Kitchen

Beautiful Gerbera Daises  
(I bought 40 stems for $1.50!  love Kunming.)

Great-Grandma's Apron

JianJuan wearing the apron Grandma Hazel made me

I know I've said it before, but JianJuan is just as cute as a button! : ) Yesterday, I came home to her cooking dinner and wearing my apron. This isn't just any apron, however; Grandma Hazel made this apron for me out of my Great-Grandmother's feed sacks (chicken feed was sold in these cloth sacks; after they used the chicken feed, the women would sew clothes out of the empty cloth sack).  

As I saw JJ wearing my apron, I wondered what my Great-Grandma would think of this moment: me living in China and my Chinese roommate wearing an apron made of her feed sacks.  For me, it was a profound moment to share something that has such sentimental value with my dear Chinese friend.  

June 2010 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Thank you for your thoughts and pr-yers this past month.  I am excited to share that I have accepted the CWEF Development Coordinator position in Hong Kong!  It looks like my time in Asia will be a bit longer than I originally planned.  (Funny how He often seems to throw our plans out the window…)

The current plan is to come back to America in December of this year.  From December through April, I be home and will have the opportunity to share more about the work CWEF is doing in Asia.  I can’t wait to sit down with you and chat face-to-face!  If you know of any organizations that would be interested in hosting a presentation, please let me know.  I am excited to share about our work with as many people as possible. Then in May of 2011, I will move to Hong Kong to begin my two years of service as the Development Coordinator with CWEF. 

Again, thank you for your unwavering support. I can't wait to see you soon!

________________

This woman's children taught her how to brush her teeth

Training Children Helps 
Educate Parents

The month of May was highlighted by the surveying trip that Liying and I took to the villages where CWEF plans to implement water systems during the 2011 fiscal year. 


The villages we visited were incredibly impoverished; we heard many stories of suffering and listened to many desperate requests for help.  It was heart-wrenching to witness (I’ve shared a few of these stories on my blog).  There were also many positive experiences, however, from our time in the villages.


One village we visited is so remote that a dirt road was only built to it 5 years ago.  As we interviewed one of the village women, I immediately noticed a toothbrush and toothpaste sitting in a jar on the windowsill.  The woman and her husband were never educated and couldn’t even tell us their ages.  Needless to say, it seemed like an oxymoron that they would know the importance of good personal hygiene.  When asked about the toothbrush, the woman told us that her children taught her how to brush her teeth.  They gave her the toothbrush a few months ago and instructed her to brush her teeth every morning and night.  Since then, the woman has used her toothbrush every day.


Her children, students at BangBing Middle School, which is 30 kilometers away from the village, were participants in a CWEF hygiene training at their school last year.  They learned the importance of brushing their teeth and washing their hands from our CWEF service team!  And these healthy practices, brushing teeth and washing hands, that our team members taught them, they have now taught to their parents in a village 30 kilometers away. The impact CWEF is making in this region is multiplying!