Christmas Party

We recently had a small Christmas party with some of our students. Together we told the Nativity story, sang some Christmas songs and made Christmas cards. The students above are showing off their Christmas card creations. They enjoyed making the cards so much that after we had gone 45 minutes past our scheduled time Brian finally had to just start taking away the materials! In the end, we all had a good time, and the students heard the true story of Christmas.

People, people everywhere!

This is one of the many crowded areas you can find in China. Many of our friends say that the root of China's current problems is because of the "large population." Officially, the population is 1.3 billion, but friends here say it's more likely 1.5 billion. China just completed a census, so we are curious about the results.

Truthfully, you cannot escape overcrowding in China. The city where we live has about 1 million people and is considered a "very small city." But look at the photo above, taken while crossing a sky bridge. You see the effects of overcrowding when getting on the bus. People move in mass and push a lot. If it's rush hour don't expect to get a seat. The idiom of being "packed like sardines" is quite appropriate.

Overcrowding does have other problems too. Recently, we read an article about a stampede at a kindergarten. The children were going out to recess when one girl stopped and bent down to tie her shoe. over 40 children were treated for injuries.

Concert in the Park

This impromptu concert in the park is a common scene in China. This group was performing traditional Chinese songs. Other groups perform traditional Chinese dances. Some play card games and Chinese chess. Often, the people are retirees. With forced retirement at age 60 for men and age 55 for women, these folks have a lot of free time on their hands.

The parks in China are a fascinating mix of people.

"Civilized People"

After last week's "Crossing the Street" post we thought we'd share with you how to be "civilized people." This underpass is found at one of the major intersections downtown in our city. Increasingly it's becoming a problem with how people cross the street here. We know of multiple people here who have relatives who have been hit by cars or buses.

Crossing the Street

Crossing the street in China is always an... "adventure." There are many designated crosswalks, but in general everywhere is a cross walk. In larger cities, like Beijing, the city has built barriers down the middle of the streets leaving access to cross only at the crosswalks. This keeps most people from crossing in the wrong place, but we've still seen people jumping over the barriers too.

Above is a photo from a street in our city. Notice the layers of people and cars. Generally the method of crossing the street involves crossing halfway, waiting while standing on the tiny median (less than one foot wide) and crossing the other halfway when the coast is clear. The good thing is that people always cross the street like this, so when the cars pass you as you are waiting on the median they will swerve a little to give you some space. We enjoy the area of our city where we live because the streets are wide and there's little traffic. This means that often we can cross all the way across the street!

Lastly, for those of you wondering, there is no understanding here of "the pedestrian has the right of way." It's usually, "whoever has the biggest vehicle and wants to go faster has the right of way." Does this make you excited about visiting China?

A Day at the Park

We visited the main city park with some students on an unusually warm day. They took us to an area of the park where you can buy food and feed the white pigeons. This is one of the families that was also there. Our students tell us that the white pigeon (what they call a dove) is a symbol of peace. It's interesting that this is a similar symbol in Western cultures because of the story of Noah.

Candied Fruit

Here in China there are a plethora of street food vendors. During the winter season we often get the option to buy candied fruit. The fruit above is mostly hawthorn (the red ones), which is really popular and quite tasty. The fruit has been dipped in hot sugar syrup. When it cools it hardens to make a sweet shell for the fruit. One stick of hawthorn costs only 2 yuan, about 30 cents in USD. What a delicious bargain!