Cold-Snow-Water by Eric

Winter has officially descended upon Shiyan and we're diligently taking precautions against it's wrath. The high has routinely been in the 30s for the past couple of weeks. Layers and long underwear are the strategies of choice. Whenever I am outside or teaching in the classroom- where there is no heater and the windows are left open- I wear a t-shirt, 2 long sleeve t-shirts, a sweatshirt, and a heavy coat. Gloves and double socks don't keep my digits warm but the coldest part of my body is usually the tip of my nose. The first time our family donned the long underwear we had quite a laugh dancing and modeling our unfamiliar attire.  Tight,  black leggings isn't quite my style.

Our apartment has a heater that sits in the corner of the living room and a small wall unit in two of the bedrooms. We keep the living room unit set on 20 or 21 celsius (68-70F) whenever we are home and awake. The heater in the bedroom is turned on at night while we sleep. All in all we stay relatively warm inside although the tile floors seem to suck away the heat.

We've had two afternoons of snow flurries recently! The children (and their parents) were quite excited! Not something we saw very often in San Antonio. The forecast tomorrow is calling for more and might actually stick this time. A White Christmas might be a possibility.  

All the water in Shiyan has been turned off for 40 hours. Apparently this is a common occurrence in China; we're not sure if it's for conservation or maintenance. This is the third or fourth time it's happened since we've been here.  Thankfully they gave us several days warning so we were able to fill several containers of water in preparation.  As strange as it might sound, we had a little bit of excitement and a surge of contentment when we heard about it.  The chance to live simply and "rough it" for a few days was an opportunity to put things into perspective.  Many (or most?) people in the world don't have running water and we take it for granted.  Flushing, doing dishes, brushing teeth, and cooking take some forethought without running water but we've been able to manage.....and we're looking forward to the switch being flipped and the water flowing freely again.

All of our classes are cancelled for Christmas Eve and Christmas although the school is still open and all other classes are in session.  We're thankful they afford us this privilege.  The last day of our semester i January 4th but we still haven't been told when the new semester will begin; we think sometime mid to late February. We're looking forward to a break!  And looking forward to having time to write on the blog more!

Grace and Peace
Eric

By Ayden Pritchard and Happened to Ayden Pritchard

Well I had my first visit to a Chinese hospital due to a minor wrestling accident that gave me a dislocated elbow joint!  Well it was kind of funny because I couldn't even bend my arm or clinch my fingers.  I was in A LOT of pain.  The x-ray guy was pulling my arm really hard and it hurt really badly but while he was pulling, it accidentally popped back into place.  It hurt just as bad and even worse just for that minute, but then it was like nothing had ever happened and we were able to leave the hospital!

Fun with Friends!

Hannah is making cookies with friends at a 

D.I.Y. (Do It Yourself) Bakery in town across from our college.  So thankful for activities that need no common language to be enjoyed!

Taking it Seriously by Tiffany

Our kiddos have been so blessed with the opportunity to join one class each week at a local Chinese school! Ayden has taken his Wushu lessons quite seriously - he really wants to learn and do his best.  He has been practicing at home and last week his teacher really took note - after seeing him, she had him lead smaller groups in doing the same thing!  Needless to say,         Deryk and I were quite proud of him!

Lately....

Our school arranged for our children to attend a local school once a week.  Ayden takes Wushu (a form of martial art), Hannah and Aiden take a drawing class, and Brinson is in soccer.  The Chinese children there know some basic English.  Our kids have enjoyed being part of a Chinese school :) 

Our school has taken us to Wudang Mountain and a Dinosaur Egg Museum.  We're very thankful for both!  Views and scenes at Wudang were amazing!

Pics from a lunch banquet provided by our school.

Dinosaur Egg Museum

                                                             Making a friend while out

                                                              My first chicken pot pie

Fresh catch

Hiking with students

Big guy in a little chair

Creations by the Chinese By: Brinson

Well this is Brinson, again.  And I'll tell you about the crazy creations of the Chinese.  First of all they are very creative. I'm not saying Americans aren't, just that Americans haven't created a few of the things I will name.  First of all they created a big, clear, plastic ball that you climb into. They zip it up and push you out  into a small pond. And you can run with all your might but you won't go anywhere. Most likely you'll fall on your face but since the ball is plastic it wouldn't do anything to disfigure your face.  Also there is a pond that is about 1 foot deep with fish in it- some reaching 2 feet in length. You have to catch the fish. Any fish you catch you get to keep. It looks pretty easy and to my regret I silently mocked some men trying to do it.  Then when it was my turn everyone got to mock me. I tried and tried and finally after 28 minutes caught a small goldfish.   The catch is that you have to use your hands.  And after you catch one you get 2 more fish for free. Sadly two of our fish died and so we let the rest free in the little stream running through our campus. One other thing.  Aiden caught a miniature goldfish too so really we had 6 fish and "Thy two cheerless offspring of Eric and Wendy  mourned over the loss of their two scaly, slick children" ( that is part of a famous poem called "Mourning" by: Brinson Davenport; j/k).

Another creation is little cars you can drive in all around the big square at the center of the city. I can barely fit inside it. This might not sound very exciting but it did sound pretty cool until we saw a baby driving a small, miniature metal tank! Then we really wanted to do it.  We strolled over and payed for a small car, to rent.  I hopped into the drivers seat and started to go. The man who owned it wouldn't let me drive and I just sat in the drivers seat while the guy drove it.  After about five minutes the motor shut off and I tried to get off, but the man put a key back in and pushed me back into the car.  After this motor incident happened a few more times many people put in effort to stop the little army car, with helpless little me in it.



                                                               MORE COMING!

                                                                    BRINSON

Week in Wudang by Tiffany

It's funny how something can sound really good and then one detail changes and it takes on a whole new meaning!  This is how our two families felt when we got the news on Friday that our school needed two of us to leave on Sunday for the 600 year Celebration of The Wudang Mountains and the 4th World Taijiquan Health Congress - what we would be doing there was not made clear.  We had heard stories of how they would ask/tell the American teachers to go to these things and then once you got there you ended up having to do all sorts of things from picture advertisements, to speaking to singing?!  Ok, possibly a little awkward, but we also thought that it would be an incredible opportunity for one of our families to go to this Historic Heritage Site for free and get to know a famous spot in China - the ultimate home school field trip!  But which family would go?  Since we both thought it sounded pretty neat, we decided to flip a coin and just be happy for whoever won.  Tails...the Davenports were on their way to a 5 day, all expense paid vacation!  So we called and told our school what we had decided.  Upon hearing this they informed us that we would be busy working from early morning to late at night with government officials and mayors and stuff - the kids could not come with us.  They said that was a very American way of thinking.  I found that funny seeing how we are Americans!  So this changed everything.  We would be gone for 5 days.  We home school our kiddos.  Both parents couldn't just up and leave like that putting all the responsibility on the other family to watch all 4 kiddos, do their home school AND teach in the University.  The only thing we could see doing was to send one adult from each family.  We asked our school if Deryk and Eric could go but they insisted that it be one male and one female.  It had to be "balanced".  So now, what seemed so appealing just an hour earlier took on a whole new meaning.  Back to the coin - this time we prayed first!  So Eric and I packed our bags and headed out to do...well we hadn't been told what we would be doing so we just packed our bags and went with the flow!  A driver came to pick us up along with 4 other professors from Yunyang Teacher's College.  Fanny, Vera, Henry & James (their English names) teach English here but they are Chinese Nationals.   We quickly found out that they were invited/sent to the conference to translate all the speeches into English as there were going to be 30 different countries represented there.  We also found out that one of the reasons we had been sent was to do the proofreading after they translated because Chinese to English translation can be quite interesting without proofreading!  When we got to the hotel we were pleasantly surprised - it was a beautiful 4 star hotel and we got our own rooms.  We had been under the impression that all the female professors would stay in one room and the male professors in another, but instead we had private rooms!  So the translating began as did the proofreading.....until 2 in the morning!  Although we were sleepy, we had a lot of good laughs as we translated.  The Chinese have such good vocabularies but their choice of words are not always the ones you find common in our speech.  Eric and I made a deal that if either of us were asked to give a speech we would fit in the word "heady" at some point just for good measure (one of the words that they like to use)!  The next day we did absolutely nothing except eat the wonderful meals provided by our hotel.  We woke up early and put on the dressy clothes we were instructed to wear - just to be told to go back to our rooms and rest!  It was kind of funny and confusing all at the same time.  We still kept being told "I don't know", every time we asked what we would be doing!  It became our groups joke!  However, you don't have to tell me twice to go to my room and have some quiet time...a rare luxury...so I went and got to do a lot of reading and praying and resting - it was wonderful!

Well, it was a good thing we rested, because the next few days they obviously figured out what they wanted to do with us and kept us quite busy!  Eric and Fanny announced the scores inside the competition while Vera and I sat outside and were announcers at the awards ceremonies.  We had a blast!  We laughed a lot and we had some really good conversations.  Working and eating side by side with Fanny, Vera, Henry and James for those five days allowed us to achieve a closeness with them that would have taken a year to gain otherwise.  It was such a gift!  I can't wait to see where those friendships will lead in the future.  We have definite plans for some "reunions"!  And then, to top it all off, those in charge obliged our "American way of thinking" and allowed our families to join us on our last day there!  They hired a driver to take us up to Wudang Mountain for the day.  We were able to take a tram to the very top, tour many of the ancient sites, enjoy walking around on the gorgeous mountain and do a little souvenir shopping.  They even fed us and drove us all the way back home!  It was quite a treat that we were not expecting and we made some wonderful memories we will never forget!  So although at first we didn't know if being "asked" (told) to go on this trip was a good thing or not, it turned out to be blessing upon blessing in so many ways~ 

The hotel where we stayed

In place of the Gideon Bible, I found this in my nightstand?!

Not sure if this should make me feel safe or scared

Henry, Eric, Vera, Fanny & Tiffany

The flags of the 30 countries represented

Some of the competitors

Eric & Fanny announcing scores

Vera & I announcing first place winners

Mt. Wudang

Vera, Tiffany, Fanny & Henry

Ayden & Hannah at the top of Mt. Wudang

Together again!

This building was here before Columbus discovered America!

When in Rome...

I think this is the bridge in the new Karate Kid movie

Making candy