Celebrations, Coffee and Exhibits A-E

October began with a week-long holiday, and as you will read, we kept the celebrations going for the past three weeks. From September 29 to October 7, most of China had time off from work and school so there were plenty of crowds and increased traffic everywhere we went. Both Trevor and I enjoyed the break from our teaching. Two events of note that week were:

• Sophia Carpenter's 5th birthday party! As an unofficial auntie and uncle, we were excited to bus cross-town to help celebrate. Sophia's mom, Becca, planned a fun Mickey Mouse-themed party. 'Uncle Trevor' was even a good sport about styling some ears for the cause...well, at least for the first ten minutes of the party:

Becca's parents had arrived in China the night before and since we know them from our hometown, it was an extra-special celebration.
They brought Sophia some really fun gifts from the U.S.: a Snow White costume and Lego blocks. It was also great fun to watch Sophia open her birthday gift from her parents: ROLLERBLADES! It was her birthday come true!

• Later in the week, we attended the Chinese wedding ceremony of one of my colleagues. She actually got married in Wales over the summer so this was more of a reception to celebrate with family and friends in Wuhan. We brought 'Alfred' the furry cat to the wedding for fun. Not surprisingly, he soon found the plate of shrimp.

 

After the time off, it was back to the work routine, but fortunately the celebrations didn't stop. On October 16, Becca Carpenter's mom celebrated her birthday in China. We were really happy to be included in this special dinner at the Aloha Diner. 'Oma and Papa' (as they are called by their granddaughters) are very special people as they have shared their generous hearts and wisdom with both of us and our families since we were born. It means a lot to have them visiting Wuhan this month.

Later that week, my school held Field Day in which all staff, students and teachers were divided into one of four teams. We competed in all kinds of events and tried to win enough points for the year's Field Day trophy. I thought I was in ok shape from all the walking and biking I do in China, but after competing in the one-legged balancing act, hula hoop, sprints and the wheelbarrow race, the sore muscles for days afterwards told me otherwise. Trevor has Jianghan University's 'Sports Day' this coming Friday. We'll let you know how he does marching in the opening ceremony (wearing tai chi clothes no less!) and some sort of basketball relay. :)

 

This past Saturday night, we combined the continuing celebrations with coffee. Really.Great.Coffee. Our friends (and fellow Zhong Relations teammates) Paul Korson and Adam Carpenter, along with their Chinese business partner Louis, opened up their business--ROCC Coffee (Specialty Coffee Roasters of Central China). Their business space looks really great and there were about fifty people at the opening.    

There was a contest to guess how many coffee beans were in a small bag. I had flashbacks to learning estimation in third grade as I calculated my guess:  

 

And whatever my third grade teacher taught me about estimation must have stuck...because I won the contest! Thanks Mrs. Mattson! I will raise my coffee mug of Costa Rican blend to you! And thank you, ROCC Coffee for working hard to launch this business in Wuhan--we're so happy for you! 

 

 

All right, so just so you don't get to thinking that all our life in China is pretty 'normal,' I will wrap up this post by submitting these 'normal for China' scenes from recent weeks:

Exhibit A: That is one mean looking fish that gave his life for this grocery store. It startled me as a I walked by.
 



Exhibit B: It's very common to see recycling carts like this in the streets. It makes those color-coded bins seem a little too tame, huh?



Exhibit C: We have a restaurant called 'Teddy's Kitchen' where it's perfectly normal to have a giant (grungy) bear sit by your side. Around the restaurant, there are glass display cases of stuffed, dressed-up bears. It's just a little bit creepy...

Exhibit D: We spotted this one Saturday afternoon at Wal-Mart. Sure, kids in shopping carts are normal here...but an ADULT!?! We obviously had to take a photo, but none of the other shoppers batted an eyelash at it.

Exhibit E: These items were our first package from the U.S. this second year and it literally had me JUMPING UP AND DOWN with excitement. These just can't be found at the nearest grocery store in our neighborhood...or any store in Wuhan, really. Our dear friends Nathan and Kara sent us some wonderful smells and tastes of fall, and being remembered meant more than they will ever know. This package was definitely a highlight of the month of October.