shanghainese lessons

Shanghainese is, how should I say it, a boisterous and colorful Chinese dialect. A sampling:

"nonh hoh" = Hello
"SAA ma zhi??" = What is this?
"saa ning?" = Who?
"va ling" = very BAD!
"doo bee bawh" = I'm full
"saa zing gwang" = What time is it?
"bung peh" = stupid person (my favorite)

Shanghainese Breakfast--totally un-South Beach

Yu Garden, with Pudong's towers in the distance

Yes, those are real children inside!

Yummies from "Dong Bei Ren"

Some of my former students

"Niu rou mian"

Jin Mao Tower overshadowed now by the Shanghai World Financial Center (the bottle opener)

The view from inside the bottle opener building


Happy Birthday to JH!

vacation notice!

In 3 days we'll take our first trip back to Shanghai together since 2004!
Since we only have a week it will be a mad flurry! The plan is really simple:

Eat.
Get massages and facials (me).
See as many old friends as we can.
Go on a day trip to Suzhou or Hangzhou.
Visit the school where we first met--and some of my former students (5th Grade then, 11th Grade now!!).

And maybe, probably--just a *little* bit of shopping.

african friends and money

Let me start this post by acknowledging up front that I have only spent 3 weeks in Africa and know that I know nothing.

During even just 3 weeks, it was impossible not to feel awkward and unsure of how to behave as a foreigner with money.

Walking around with our 1.5 liter bottles of drinking water, eyed by all the street children that followed us around.
Riding local buses with ipods in our ears and cameras in our bags.
Pulling out Power bars that we brought from home to eat, without having enough to share with everyone around us.

People we interacted with for an hour or two would ask us to buy them a cellphone, or pay their school fees. It was easy to judge these requests as outrageously forward and inappropriate. But hopefully, at some point, I'll understand a bit better.

A friend recommended we read African Friends and Money Matters by David Maranz. From page 4:

"What is the one most fundamental economic consideration in the majority of African societies? I believe the answer is approximately this: the distribution of economic resources so that all persons may have their minimum needs met, or at least that they may survive. This distribution is the African social security system...

What is the one most fundamental economic consideration in Western society? The answer is the accumulation of capital and wealth. This is possible because natural resources are bountiful and rationally developed. Consequently, most citizens have had opportunity to achieve a comfortable life with ample material goods."

humility

I've been challenged lately, by the realization that more often than not, the best way to love my friend is to listen. To not be in such a mad rush to fix things with my words of wisdom and advice and forceful attempts to be useful:

"Have you read this book!!?" "Have you heard this sermon!?""Have you tried yoga or counseling or eating less highly refined carbs?"

"Humility is attentive patience."
~Simone Weil

petits riens

Academic Earth
Because, minus the exams, I would go to school forever if I could.




Levain Cookies
They weigh like a pound, pack 800 calories (I'm guessing) and cost almost $4 each. But it's not so bad if you share.



Two-tone shoes. Just fun.

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"French women make sure they have lots of petits riens, those little nothings that are actually quite something to us." ~Mireille Guiliano

spring times

For some reason, springtime always prompts a kind of reminiscing of the different places I've experienced it, my favorite season.

Toronto springtimes I should know best. Spring was Easter Sunrise Service at the Exhibition Grounds, and coming back to the church gym for hot drinks. It was the cautious shedding of winter gear until that cruel April (or May...or June) snowstorm blasted it's way through the city and you were forced to don the trusty Mountain Equipment Co-Op Gore-Tex once more. Slow-coming, but when it comes--that smell, the steady trickling of melting snow, the emaciated squirrels scampering around Queen's Park--it is glorious!

Spring in Shanghai, like the fall, was precious because both of them held the few comfortable weeks of the year, weather wise. It was plum blossom festivals, photo excursions with RW to find the "real Shanghai", and planning May Holiday vacations--like our backpacking trip to Yunnan, "land of eternal spring". It was when our students were finally allowed back outside to roam the Living Quarters on their rollerblades and skateboards, when they would ring our doorbell (it was impossible to hide where you lived) to see if I'd go play with them or admire some crazy gigantic praying mantis they were holding captive.

In Boston, spring was running along the Charles River, me going one way, the crew teams going the other, with pink blooms and lines of poetry (Emerson and Frost, posted on wooden signs) dotting the route. It was begging for extensions on all four final papers, and then wishing the professors had just said no. It was celebrations with the BYOP youth after long months of campaigning for cleaner school bathrooms or some similar cause. Spring was when I roamed the city on a bridal shower scavenger hunt, from Chinatown to Fenway Park--thanks to MC.

Springtime in New York is gone before you have time to search for the right trench coat and rubber boots. It's trips to the orchid show in the Bronx, and admiring the tulips pushing their way through the median of Park Avenue, the long branches of willow and cherry being sold at every florist and corner store. It's the return of al fresco dining on every inch of sidewalk that can fit a chair and table--even if that chair and table are facing a dumpster. Spring last year, was saying goodbye to too many friends all at once and the beginning of our relationship with Tanzania.

Who knows what the Tanzanian springs will be like?

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(Photo by K. Brummit)

for no good reason

Except that it's been a rough day.
And a rough week.
And this was delightful.

(From several blogs, but chiefly, culture-making.com)

A little Lent Levity

When I'm tempted to take myself too seriously...

(Sent to me by KW.)

homework

Throughout the fall, it seemed like everyone was talking about Sonship,Friends recommended we do it in preparation for Tanzania, and so we are. The deal is this: For about 8 months, you listen to talks, read material, do 'homework' and speak with a trained mentor person every two weeks. 

At the heart of Sonship is the idea that even though Christians believe that Christ has not only set us free from death and judgment, but has ALSO, amazingly, made us sons and daughters of God--we still essentially act like 'orphans'. Trying to prove our worthiness to everyone (and ourselves) all the time. 

This week's 'homework' was, "For one week: 

Do not gossip (or spread a bad report)

Do not complain

Do not criticize

Do not blame shift

Do not defend yourself

Do not boast

Do not deceive others

But do: Affirm and build others up according to their needs"

And then to keep a log of what you actually end up saying. Or thinking. Things I've noticed: 

• I'm kind of ok (when I'm not tired and hungry and grouchy) at not expressing my criticisms or complaints out loud all the time, but I'll definitely think them--constantly (don't we call them 'critical thinking skills'?) 
• It's easy for me to pass gossiping off as some kind of benevolent paternalistic, "Don't you think So-and-So has been too this-and-that lately? How can we help him/her?"
• I kept finding ways to justify complaining: things need to improve in our workplace! In this marriage! In our society! We should not stand for inefficiency! Inertia! Inequality! Ineptitude!
• I can also pass off blame-shifting as "seeing all sides of the picture". What cosmic injustice would it be if I were to just admit the part where I was wrong and leave it at that?
• I'm good at not "boasting" in the way Asian parents teach you not to boast, but also like Asians (though it's not exclusive to Asians I know) I'm great at still drawing attention to myself with self-deprecation and false humility. Sigh.
• It's extremely difficult not to defend myself. My idol is approval after all--I want to set the record straight!

With all the recent food allergies, I've been good at keeping track of what I eat. Keeping track of what I say has proven to be more interesting than I thought or wanted it to be.

The promise: 

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor 3:5

His grace is enough.