February 14, 2010
Happy New Year!!! Happy Valentine’s Day!!!
The fireworks have been going off steadily night and day for the past week. Last Saturday marked the official beginning of the New Year’s celebrations though many had already begun the celebrations- especially the fireworks. New Year’s Eve actually looked and sounded more like a war zone than a celebration…living next door to a prison with barracks housing police officers and prison guards what would you expect a bunch of guys to do all night long with no limits on the types of fireworks or the amount with the goal being to “celebrate” more abundantly than those around you- can you just imagine. Every time they paused to light new ones I could hear the distant popping all around as though the city was being bombarded. However I can’t complain to much, though we did not spend all night shooting off fireworks we did take our turn at lighting up the front yard and making lots of noise. They told us it was for the children who were delightedly squealing from inside the windows, I think it was for the kid in all of us. We all spent New Year’s Eve (February 13th) making literally thousands of dumplings as that is one of the traditional foods which are supposed to symbolize good luck and bounty through the coming year. What a job! The cooks, the housekeepers, the ayis, the nurses, Dr. Zhai and his family, all of the staff helped. It was so funny to see how growing up shapes your dumplings, everyone made theirs slightly different which meant that each time someone new came to stand by me I was told “the right way” to shape my little circle of dough around the pork filling. However it ended up we had LOTS of dumplings to eat and since we were to eat them for the next several meals I was very thankful that our little nursing staff had put together some good “in-between” snacks so we did not have to eat quite so many at a sitting- although dumplings is one of the Chinese dishes that I enjoy the most. On New Year’s afternoon a large group of us went down to the large city park and gathered with a couple hundred thousand other New Year’s celebrants at a large “Carnival” of sorts. There were rides, games, street food vendors, cotton candy, dragon dancers, musicians, tigers in cages where you could actually put your fingers in, Ok so I was in awe of all that was around me, but mostly by the sheer number of people, the throng moved along and you just moved with it. In a city of over 7 million it was a “small” gathering, for me I cannot recall a time when I was so close to so very many people. The only thing that kept me from feeling very “stuck was the fact that no one around was taller than I was…the Filipina nurses with me kept asking, ‘What’s ahead?” or “Can you take a picture so we can see what is going on?” It was a great cultural experience, however between the cold and the crowd, I was very thankful to get back in the van and find some McDonald’s coffee to thaw out my hands- yes it did start snowing again.
Along with the holiday I have been busy with the day to day things here in our Big House, in the past month I have lost 5 little ones, had a YWAM group here for 10 days, made a trip to Beijing for a medical Meeting with the New Hope Physicians and several Pediatricians from Beijing United, met up with a dear friend, Susan Kennedy, who has moved to China with her family from Beaufort. What a wonderful taste of home that was- someone who understands good Southern Hugs and an occasional Y’all and I must admit our shopping trip to IKEA, was like chocolate fudge icing on one of those suicide cakes that you just have to share with a good friend because- well to eat it alone would be like, suicide. So many of you have skyped, written notes, sent packages, and lifted up prayers for me- Thank You. I am doing well; there are moments when I am homesick- not the kind of homesick that makes me want to leave just the homesick that makes me wish I could somehow pull you all just a little closer. I love what I am doing and after 7 months I am still feeling that this is what God has been preparing me for all along- “for such a time as this.”
With love for each of you,
Mariah
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