New Year, new blog?

Happy New Year!  We've been in China for almost seven months now.  ...  That still sounds really weird.  Most of the shock of getting the kids in school has worn off, and the general craziness of having four kids plus also living in a foreign country and in a small branch where most of your church friends live far away and hardly any of your neighbors speak English.  Right.  So maybe the shock has mostly worn off, but it's still a lot of insanity for... well, me.  Hence the lack of posts.  In the words of the great Inigo Montoya, "Let me essplain.  No, is too much.  Let me sum up:"

Mark has been dealing with the urgent to the extremely urgent ever since we got here.  Seven months ago.  He took off Thanksgiving and the day after, three days for Christmas, today (New Year's Day) and will probably not need to work tomorrow as everyone he works with will be taking the day off, but other than that he's been working, including some Satudays.  And weird hours.  So he'll get the kids ready for school and often walks over to pick them up, but he'll also have calls at midnight from time to time, and mornings, and some evenings, and many afternoons.  Instead of working mostly from his office in the apartment, he has spent a lot of time going to other people's offices for meetings, and visiting factories.  He's pretty much exhausted, poor man, but he heroically soldiers on.  We think that maybe possibly the end (of this particular project of utmost urgency) is in sight, and his now-boss knows how hard he's worked and how many miracles he's pulled out of his ear and how much all the positive things about the state of this project are due to Mark's hard work and general awesomeness, so at least he's getting verbal appreciation.  Personally, I'm hoping they'll throw on a raise once the product starts selling.  Hopefully it will manage to do well in spite of what a train wreck the development and production process has turned out to be.  *rolls eyes*

Maddy and Jack are doing very well.  They get top marks in school.  Everyone is very impressed by their Chinese.  They seem to be getting along with their classmates.  Close bosom friends like Lily and Matthew are not to be found here, as yet, but they have kids they get along with, and, best of all, they play very well with each other and with Gideon and Juliet nearly all the time.  Without easily accessed playmates the siblings have turned to each other, and I think they are building bonds that will last throughout not only their lives but the eternities.  I think they will grow up truly being friends, and close, and understanding each other, which is one of the most precious gifts living here so far from friends and family could bring us.  I try to remember that on the hard days.

Gideon is in a growth and learning stage, which is not always comfortable for him or for us.  He has some of our insecurities and weaknesses, and we're not entirely sure how to help him through them.  That's true of all of our children, but Gideon is struggling with more things at once than any of the others.  He is, however, doing amazingly in spite of that.  He, partially due to Mark's careful tutoring, is beginning to blossom in Chinese.  He spent the first two or three months having essentially no idea what his teachers were saying to him.  Pretty much ever.  They recognize that he's very smart, and he does very well in English and math.  Chinese has taken a bit longer, but it's coming and he's starting to do fairly well.  We were surprised at how quickly the difficulty of his Chinese homework escalated.  Even Mark is learning new things as they go through it together.  It's reassuring to see him catching on and growing.  I hope his confidence is growing along with his understanding, because he has good reason to have growing confidence.

Juliet is a trip as always.  If she didn't so much dislike having people fawn over her as they do I would consider getting her into some kind of show business.  If finances ever permit I will put her in a dance class poste haste.  She's clearly gifted and charismatic.  I can't leave the house with her without someone telling me she's beautiful.  She doesn't like it when people speak Chinese to her.  She'll hide and/or glare, and tells me she hates Chinese people.  *sigh*  I don't think she really understands what "hate" means, and we've been talking about that lately, that it's a mean, ugly word and a mean, ugly feeling.  She'll respond much more positively to people who speak to her in English, but she still shies away from strangers.  It's not shyness, really.  More a discomfort with the unfamiliar.  In the right mood, she'll chatter and talk and sing and dance in the elevator and on walks -- just only to me.  She's my funny little diva and she makes life sunny and funny and exasperating all at once.  She's one in a million, and if I could bottle her charisma I'd be filthy rich.  I can't even imagine what she's going to be someday.  We're planning to start a sort of preschool class with the two girls her age from the branch who live close by.  Our three families do a lot together and hopefully will start doing more soon, including this preschool gig.  It should give me two mornings a week to myself and one outing a week to get me out of the apartment.

I'm doing pretty well.  I've found two chiropractors now.  One is in Hong Kong and it takes about 7 hours to get there and back and have my appointment, but I really like her.  One is in Shekou and takes about an hour there and back by taxi.  He's okay.  He does adjustments by poking at your bones with a machine instead of with manual manipulations.  I'm going to give him a try for a while and see how it goes.  He says he's has a "functional" focus instead of a "structural" focus.  I should ask him what that means sometime.

Mark and I have plans for the new year.  Better habits, focused goals, optimism.  And hopefully travel.  We'll be coming back to the States this summer to renew our visas.  Other than that, we're not entirely sure what the new year brings.  A year ago I was looking ahead to graduating and moving to China.  Now I'm not sure what's coming.  A year from now I may be right here, in this very apartment in Shenzhen, or I may be some place completely different.  When your future depends on visa approval it's hard to know.  I may be waiting to hear back from graduate schools or I may have felt inspired to push it off another year.  I'm beginning the research process.  Hopefully I'll get some good school-related reading in while Juliet is at other homes for preschool during the next few months.

While the holidays, starting with Thanksgiving (even Halloween) and going through New Year's have been challenging with the very different atmosphere here and being so far from family, we're coming up on interesting times.  Chinese New Year will probably be annoying in many respects, but it will at very least be interesting and different, and possibly quite awesome.  The children will have the ENTIRE MONTH OF FEBRUARY off from school.  (Heaven help me.)  I'll have to do some good planning on what to do.  It would be hard to travel because it will be expensive and extra crowded, but if we're stuck just in the apartment for a month somebody's going to die.  Or there will be a lot of yelling and fighting.  Unless I'm REALLY amazing and on top of things.  I'm sure going to try.  I'm starting to plan now.

As I reflect back on 2014, I've done some really cool things this year.  I graduated, which is awesome and amazing.  I've traveled to London and Hong Kong.  I moved to China and I've lived here more than half the year.  I've really grown as a person.  Even though I don't get to talk to her as much as I'd like, my mom has noticed it, too, and of course Mark has.  It's harder for me to see, but I can see it a little myself, and I trust their opinions.  I'm much stronger and more capable than I was.  The funny thing is we're not really happy here.  None of us actually enjoy living here.  Sure, there are nice things, but once you start counting nice and not-nice, the not-nice wins pretty quick.  There's so much we miss.  But we're here for good reason, and we have the opportunity to learn and grow.  There ARE wonderful things about living here -- wonderful people we would never have met otherwise.  If nothing else, the relative isolation we feel here has helped us weed out distractions and start focusing on what's really important.  We have spent more time with each other as a family, and started putting more emphasis on the spiritual priorities in our lives.  Lately Mark and I have been spurred to really ponder what we want and what makes us happy, what we want out of life and where we want to be.  We're still exploring those questions, but it's a hopeful and enlightening journey.

Here's hoping 2015 brings many more new experiences, new sights to see, new foods to taste, new dreams to pursue, new habits to create.  New joy to feel.  New friends to cherish.  And time with old friends we cherish, and family we adore, too.  Blessing to you and yours in this new year.  May the Lord bless you with what you need, and give you a glimpse of His wisdom and hand in your lives, and the same blessings for me and my family. 

With love from China,
Lyz

Hong Kong Temple trip

So this past Saturday we imposed on our friend John to come into Hong Kong with us and watch our kids while we went to the temple and did an endowment session.  We had to take the kids into Hong Kong because of our visa, so we all went and Mark and I were able to go to the temple for the first time in a while.  It was wonderful.  In this foreign land with foreign language and habits and food and noises the temple felt like home in a way no other place ever has.  It's a good reminder to myself.  I've felt homesick in my childhood home while growing up and in my home in Utah with my family all around me, and as much as I sometimes miss the US, the place that banishes all my homesickness is the House of the Lord.  My soul recognizes my real home when I'm there.  It was beautiful.

While we were in the temple and afterwards while we spent a little time at the distribution center it was POURING outside.  Of course, our kids thought it was the greatest thing ever and got themselves SOAKED.  Soaked with rainwater is fun and pleasant when you're outside in 80 or 90 degree weather, but once you get in the AIR CONDITIONED SUBWAY it's really cold.  We decided to drop by Hong Kong's IKEA on the way home and get some lunch and the towels and sheets I've been meaning to get for a while anyway.  We also grabbed some mugs, a bread knife, and a couple of throw blankets.  The kids were mostly dry by the time we checked out, but Juliet was glad to have a towel to sit on and wrap around herself in her stroller on the rest of the journey home.  She was also glad of the sunshade that's built into her stroller to shield her from the people staring at her on the train (because she's so cute).  She apparently doesn't like the attention.  I knew she'd get it and I wasn't sure how she'd react.  Apparently she things strangers that stare at her are impertinent.  ha ha ha  She still loves attention from people she likes, but she gets made at strangers who look at her too much or touch her.  I like that she's feisty.  <3

More soon.

Medical Adventures and our trip to Hong Kong

I should have written this a while ago.  Sorry.  It's going to be long.  REALLY long.  With LOTS of pictures.  Probably somewhere around 70?  Here we go!

So we went into Hong Kong the last Friday in June to try out a doctor that my friend recommended.  We were supposed to be there by 11:20, so we gave ourselves nearly 2 1/2 hours to get there (it's maybe ten or twelve metro stops in with one line change) and it was no where near enough. 

We had to reschedule for noon, but even then we were late.  And walking through the crowded streets from the metro station to the doctor's office was BRUTAL.  This is coming from a girl who grew up in high humidity with hot summers, so I sort of knew what to expect.

Hot, sunny Hong Kong streets.

This was a little shrine I noticed on the corner on our way to the doctor's office.  I got Mark to take a picture on the way back.  The only reason I noticed it is because of the burning incense.  It got my nose's attention.

Something strange is afoot at the Circle K.

Anyway, we got to the doctor's office.  I have never seen such a small office.  The entire thing would fit inside my living room back in Orem.  Mark and I went back into the tiny corner office to talk to the doctor.  Mark translated.  Then I went into a tiny cubicle and put on a dressing gown from the waist up.  He put a bunch of acupuncture needles in my spine and neck and then attached them to a little electric pulse machine and left me there for 20 minutes.  It really wasn't bad.  I've done acupuncture before and had the needles stimulated, so I wasn't surprised and it wasn't particularly uncomfortable.  Then he removed the needles and did some spinal adjustments.  This was clearly not the chiropractic style adjustment, but he made some of my bones move, and I did feel better when he was done.  The receptionist gave Mark medicine for me to take for two days, and they wanted to see me back on Monday (this was a Friday).  We scheduled an appointment for Wednesday instead, but then had to cancel it because of other stuff going on and I haven't been back.  I may or may not go back to that guy.  He was nice enough, but I really want a full head-to-toe adjustment that includes my knees and feet, so I may go ahead to the chiropractor I found online that seems to have fairly good reviews.

By the way, the medicine tasted like this:

Bitter bitter bitter bitter.  And it was a full glass, about a cup and a half of hot water with this powder dissolved in it.  It even came in little paper packets.  Cool!  (Not fun to drink, but cool.  Not that I want it again ever.)

After that we went and saw beautiful birds and flowers, but let me get the medical stuff out of the way first.  So this past week Jack broke out in hives.  Bad.  I mean head to toe, big, red, itchy hives.  By Friday night they were everywhere and spreading fast, and he had a slight fever, so Mark took him to a children's hospital on Saturday.  It's hives for sure, the doctor said, and it may take a week to get better.  This is when we started being worried, and before they got significantly worse:

So after that they got bigger and spread to more places.  He still has them.  The doctor said to expect them to take a week to really go away.  This morning he had them all over his face and the bottoms of his feet.  His lips were swollen on one side.  I'm glad he's old enough to understand what's going on and tell me how he's feeling.  I told him if he makes any weird noises from just breathing he needs to tell me RIGHT AWAY.  So far so good on that front.  But poor guy, he's got them EVERYWHERE.  In his hair, in his bottom.  Getting them on the soles of his feet and the palms of his hands surprised me.  And the hair.  But he's handling it really well.  He's a trooper.

So yay, medical excitement!  The part of living in a foreign country with kids that makes you think, "maybe one year will be plenty.  Maybe we'll move home next summer."

So, back to our day in Hong Kong.  We found a noodle place for lunch that had a Michelin star.  It was tasty, but frankly, not that exciting to me.  The beef brisket WAS really good, and the shrimp dumplings were very tasty.  The broth was pretty bland and the noodles were oddly almost crunchy.  I'm used to noodles being softer.  We had to order three times to feed us all enough, and we were at this little tiny table.  Gotta get used to how tiny the spaces are in HK.  Seriously small.  I got Mark to take and overhead shot to give you an idea.

Then we found the bird park. 

There were lots of pretty birds and lots of pretty cages and lots of BUGS.  It was really cool.  I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  (photo credits from here on to Mark)

The first bird we saw was this poor, bedraggled fellow.  Honestly, I don't know what's wrong with him and I don't want to know.  But it got better after this.  Most of the birds looked pretty well or very well cared for.

Not birds.  But very very cute.

Grasshoppers.  For feeding your pet bird.

Beautiful wood cages!  So pretty!

"Look at those tail feathers!"

This park is famous for old men coming with their pet birds.  Here's one, and he let me take a picture of his pretty little bird.  And Mark took a picture of me taking a picture.  How meta.

Then we went over Flower Market Road.  It was a feast for the eyes and the nose.  The smell was heavenly, and in China (even in HK) that's saying something.  They have all kinds of flowers.  I mean all kinds.  (Again, photo credits to Mark unless otherwise noted.)

Brain flowers!

Besides the flowers, there were a few stores with kitch.

We're not really sure what these are or why they're hanging decoratively from the ceiling (for sale).  Anybody know?

Apparently these catch bugs.  Maybe I should get one.

This was a store that sold garden stuff, especially various kinds of fountain.  Good feng shui.

'There are tadpoles in here!'

'There are koi in this pond and goldfish in this other pond!'

Jack really likes animals (including fish).

I had thought of staying for dinner and seeing some more stuff (I have a Lonely Planet guide to Hong Kong and I've been looking through it for awesome things to do) but we were all pretty tired.  I was REALLY tired.  So we headed home.

Juliet was making faces at herself in the glass.

Shenzhen as seen from the MTR train in Hong Kong as we head to the border crossing.

Gideon needed to avail himself of the lovely facilities at the taxi pick-up line outside the border crossing.

We will have to explore more another time.  (And if you got to the end of this post, congratulations!  Your stamina is impressive!)