Music ManThe past few weeks have been a little crazy so I have been quite negligent in writing my blog. Jameson had the flu accompanied by a fever; therefore I was busy trying to keep his fever down so that he did not have any seizures. Luckily, there were no seizures and he was only sick for a few days.
Last week I spent most of my free time preparing for Jameson’s second birthday party. 31 people were invited and 30 people came to the event. I never imagined that we would make so many dear friends here in China who would become like family to us, but of course, we still missed our families. We are blessed to have friends to celebrate Jameson's life with us. I am no longer the mother of a tiny and helpless infant.
 Instead, I am the mother of a handsome, passionate, precocious,
intelligent and articulate 2-year old!   You cannot buy lashes like this!!!  I don’t yet have any photos edited from the party yet, but I love the above photos. Jameson adores guitars, drums and pianos; therefore his party was a rock-star theme. Whether he loves music because of us or if he loves music because it is in his soul, I do not yet know. But, he is definitely a music man. Sleep baby J
Four weekends ago Jim went on a mountain-biking trip in the bamboo forests of Mogan Shan. He tells me that it was wet, hot, a little dangerous, but he had a lot of fun and not a lot of sleep. Three weekends ago, we all went to Korea. Sleeping was not a priority there as our time in Korea was so short. Last weekend, Jim had to work on Saturday, so once again sleep was once again put on the back burner.
On Father’s Day weekend Jim traveled to the Mogan Shan Mountains
with a group of colleagues  I found Jim passed out on Monday night after playing his guitar….
The plaque on the wall says “live with passion”  On Tuesday night Jim was fast asleep snuggling with baby J
(who is nearly 2 years old, so he is hardly a baby anymore!)  This weekend, sleep will be a priority in our house. We may visit a neighborhood pool and shop for some recording gear on Saturday. On Sunday we are both playing at AGIF and I get to lead worship again, yay! But in spite of our plans, I promise to make sure that my sleep-deprived husband takes a nap!
Key to KoreaJim and I celebrated our 12-year-Wedding Anniversary on Sunday. Since Jameson and I are still required to leave the country every 30 days, we timed our anniversary with a trip to visit Jim’s best friend, Ouk ,in Korea. Ouk and Jim met on their first day of kindergarten (over 30 years ago?) and Ouk was also Jim’s best man. It was such a joy to see a friend who is like a brother to Jim especially a friend who attended our wedding 12 years ago.
Ouk and his fiancée, Yun, showed us around Seoul on Friday night and Saturday. Unfortunately, we had to fly back to Shanghai early Sunday morning, but we enjoyed the two days we had with our friends. We loved Korea, as the city is clean and the country is politically free while the Korean people are kind and educated. As tiring and expensive as it may be to travel every 30-days with a toddler, I hope to go back to Korea on another one of my monthly excursions. Hand-made Korean Court cakes made from solid honey and cornstarch.  Jameson was not so sure about putting something in his mouth that resembled a black-widow spider web. But thanks to Jameson’s large appetite and us living abroad, he will try just about anything.   Outdoor tea houses function as community living rooms in Korea.  5-spice iced-tea with watermelon and Asian pear is so refreshing!  On Namsam Mountain it is traditional for couples to lock signed pad-locks to the railing of the Seoul Tower.  In honor of our 12-year anniversary, we signed two padlocks and took the heart-shaped keys home with us, in the hopes of one-day visiting our locks again on day.   Seoul Tower lit up with flames during a laser show.  We took the cable-car from the top of the mountain where the tower is to street level.  I love this photo!  Argh! I wish we had our Nikon for this photo as it is our only family photo and it is blurrrrrrryyy!!  I loved seeing these two squished into Korean-sized bus seats!  Our group in front of the Hyundai building where they planned to show the Uruguay-Korean world cup game.  Whose brilliant idea was it to give our noise-maker a noise-maker?  After 12 years of marriage, my husband still possesses the key to my heart and now the key to a symbol of our love in Korea. Now we must go back to Korea! Sister Cities
It is San Francisco week at the Shanghai Expo as the two cities commemorate having been sister-cities for 30 years. National and state dignitaries (if you will) such as Senator Diane Feinstein, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, former US Secretary of State George Shultz and former Mayors Frank Jordan and Willie Brown all attended various gatherings at the Expo here in Shanghai.
As written in the "Shanghai Daily," “California's largest-ever infrastructure project, 67,000 tons of Shanghai steel will be used. When finished in 2013, the iconic San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge will symbolically "bridge" Shanghai and San Francisco...”  Yesterday we accompanied Jim to a San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge Showcase at the Expo on the Puxi side.  After the presentation and reception we spent the remainder of the day exploring the Pudong side of Expo. I have so many more photos to show you, but only one hour until Jameson will probably wake up. Since we are off to Korea for the weekend, I need to use this time to pack, call credit card companies etc… I suppose I could add a few photos while I complete those tasks. I can multi-task… just don’t be surproised if their arre alaught of spelling errorrs. The Ireland Pavilion Queue...  Jameson’s name-sake… Actually he is just "James' son", but he is the life of the party just like Irish Whiskey!
 Someone dared me to do my version of “River Dance” on this blocked off stage Never dare and Irish woman unless you are prepared for embarrassment.  Yesterday we visited the Pavilions for Ireland, Brazil, Columbia (where we were VIPs thanks to Carolina) and finally the USA. I will write more about my impressions and share photos of both the Expo and Korea next week. Thanks for reading, replying and keeping in contact with us! It warms my heart to know that we may stay connected with you all while we are on the other side of the planet! Choose joy
Last December, after finding out that we were most likely moving to China in 2010, I visited my favorite store in Albany called Emma Downtown. I purchased a few Christmas gifts at Emma’s, but I also purchased a necklace for myself that says, “don’t look back” on one side and “choose joy”. That saying has been my anthem since we moved to China. I do not always follow the idea, but I wear the necklace as a reminder to live in the present, not in the past or even in the future.
Last week I spent a little too much time thinking about home, worrying about the future and not enough time appreciating Shanghai. This week, I am reminiscing about the great summer we had last year, but beginning to find joy in the adventures we will have here in Shanghai during the summertime. Last summer was filled with daily walks to the park, concerts in the park, two trips to Oregon, a trip to Tahoe and tons of outdoor living. This year I am trying to accept that we cannot do many of the things we did last year, but instead I want to embrace the exciting things we get to do here. Next weekend we are traveling to Korea to reset our visas and to see Jim’s best friend Ouk, whom Jim has known since his first day of Kindergarten. That was then... Jameson's 1st birthday invitation photo  Parktime with Daddy and Jameson with his "cruising legs"  Our trip to Vertical Horizons in Oregon where we "camped" in treehouses last June  Grandma time in our treehouse  Jameson with his sweet little cankles!  Our poor little guy had a fever while I drove the 8-hour trip to Oregon  Everyone except Myra (who kindly looked after Jameson) went on the zip-lines!  We are definitely going back to the treehouses someday!  We had a great trip to Tahoe thanks to our neighbors Carl and Keala!  This is now...  Joy is a daily choice wherever you live. It is so easy to focus on what we do not have rather than what we do have. Now that we have lived in China for a mere three months, I know that we have soooo much more than we need. I choose joy because the creator of the universe loves us all unconditionally and we are free to share that love and joy with others.
Gōng yuán
I apologize for not posting a blog last week as I had a series of relentless migraines and an achy-icky flu. Unfortunately, my blog was postponed as staring at a computer was not my first priority during my nauseous and blurry-eyed-week. This week Jim is sick with the flu. He was sick enough that he needed to leave work early to see a doctor who prescribed anti-nausea medication to keep him from getting dehydrated and out of the hospital.
Now that he has been home with us for a day, I must ask what he thinks of our Chinese-speaking home. When Jim is around, I mostly speak in English, but when Ayi is here, I try to speak as much Mandarin as possible. Since Jim works such long hours, studying Mandarin is simply not possible, so he is a little lost as far as what is going on around here. Luckily sign language can be universal, and he already learned a few new words this morning before he went back to bed. There are days when I long to communicate to our nanny in English as she is co-raising my son, but today I am grateful at the progress that we have both made in learning her language. Whenever she talks about us understanding Mandarin, she says “Nǐmen míngbái, wǒ hěn gāoxìng” which means “You (two) understand, I am joyful!” I am joyful too, as I began writing the following list. This list includes some of Jameson’s Mandarin vocabulary in chronological order of when first spoken: Tsing Tao - Chinese Bear Māmā - Mom Bàba - Dad Āyí - Aunt in Chinese Yī, Èr - 1, 2 Chē - car Nǐ hǎo (heehow) - hello Péngyǒu - friend Bǐnggān - cookie Jítā - guitar Kùzi - pants Wàzi - socks Yì fù - shirt Gōng yuán - park Ěrduo - ear Sān, Sì, Wǔ – 3, 4, 5 Méiyǒu!!!! - no, don’t have I am learning that there are some words that Jameson has learned that I don’t even know yet. For example, just today our Ayi asked me to purchase more hangers and I asked how to say hanger (Yījià) in Chinese and Jameson answered for her. When we have no other plans for the morning, Jameson goes to the park or the “Gōng yuán” with Ayi. If he does not get to go the “Gōng yuán”, chances are he gets to see his friends Alex and Abby. Either way, he has the opportunity to play with either Chinese or Expats “péngyǒu” every day. Jameson now has short conversations with Ayi in the morning where he asks if they are going to the park. If going to the park is not a part of the agenda, he says “Méiyǒu”. The conversations they have are very sweet, but I just realized that my almost-two-year-old-son now knows how to say “no” in two languages. All of you parents feel my pain, I’m sure, but I am excited that he is picking up Mandarin so rapidly. A few weeks ago we went to a “Gōng yuán” in Puxi with Lenny, Melissa, Alex and Abby. The park was similar to Century park in that it had amusement park, a lake with boats, but the reason the boys (I mean “Men”) wanted to go to this particular “Gōng yuán” was because it had an indoor disc-cart racing track. "Bippity-Boppity-Boo"  I'm on a boat!!!!  We had to kill some time with Lenny, Melissa and the kids before the disk carts opened up, so we rented Chinese motor boats.  Aside from not having life jackets and the water being nuclear-reactor-by-product-algae-green.... it was great fun!  This photo was taken from the bar.... intoxicated indoor racing…. Only in China!  Lenny and Jim saddling up.  Of course there were no helmets, so our kids had to be spectators instead of participators.   Everybody wins when dad is around  Riding a "Mótuō chē" with daddy  I think we all agree that this was the best gōng yuán we have yet to visit. Now that Lenny and Melissa are moving off the island and closer to Thumb Plaza, we hope to have lots more fun adventures with them. We will soon be “neighbors” with one very large city block in between us. Yay for Yanlord!
Shenzhen Triathlon
As you already know, Jameson and I only have 30-day tourist visas, while Jim has a 60-day work visa. That means that Jameson and I must leave the country every 30 days. We decided to take the advice of our friend Carol (A.K.A. Tia Lina) who researched the cheapest options and helped us book our tickets to Shenzhen. Luckily I did not have to do the trip alone as my friend Melissa and her two children also needed to do the same thing. So, we decided to make our air-trip as fun for the kids as possible.
The triathlon included a 45-minute taxi ride to Pudong Airport and a 2-hour flight to Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong. We then took a 45-minute bus-ride to Kowloon, Hong Kong where we went through four lines. One line was to exit China, another to enter Hong Kong, then we turned around and got back in line to exit Hong Kong and one last line to enter China again. Our bus trips took longer than anticipated and so did our time in customs, so we missed our flight coming home. Luckily we were able to make a later flight to Hong Qiao and were home in our own beds by 11:00 PM that night. It was a long and tiring day, but the whole trip cost about $400 for both Jameson and I. It was awesome to travel with Melissa while Jameson, Alex and Abby enjoyed playing together and tolerated the trip remarkably well. Although I was so fortunate that Carol gave us such great advice in recommending this trip and very specific instructions as well, The taxi, plane and bus triathlon is not something I wish to do again in 30 days. Next month we plan to visit Ouk in Korea when all three of us need to leave the country. This week has been very busy because of our trip to Shenzhen, but it has not been all work and no play. Skyler (A.K.A. "Ginger"), an engineer who works with Jim, is leaving the project to go home this week so we attended his going away party on Chong Ching Island. Jameson has a little crush on Tia Carolina.... Tia Tango   My friends Debbie, Carol, Amy and Melissa  No pyrotechnic permit required, This is China   Skyler’s cake had a frosting Tinky Winky on it… Does Tinky Winky have a soul?  Tomorrow I am excited to join the Abundant Grace International Fellowship Touching Heaven band that is playing for an event called “One Prayer for the City” (Jeremiah 29:7) in Puxi. The evening is a night of worship along with prayer for the city and the people of Shanghai. The evening begins at 7:00 and ends at 9:00 PM at the Shanghai Community Fellowship 53 Hengshan Road, Xuhui District (cross intersection Wulumuqi Rd). Click here to view map of the area. If you live in Shanghai, please come! I have written enough for one blog. Now it is your turn to write! I have no idea how many people read my blog and I would love to get a general count of those who do. Please scroll down to the bottom of this posting and click on “Comment.” If you wish to remain anonymous, just say “hi” and do not enter your name. Also, I’d love to have your feedback. Since you are the reader, what do you want to read and see? What do you like and dislike about my blog so far? Do you want more photos and less writing or vice versa? What interests you in China? Do you have any questions about the Chinese culture, where we are or why we are here? I look forward to hearing from all of you! Groundhog DayNow I am not a big Bill Murray fan, but I am beginning to understand his plight in the 1998 movie Groundhog Day. Each morning when the alarm goes off at 5:30 AM it seems like I am stuck in a peculiar China time continuum. I often wake up in a daze and I am frequently a little shocked to not be in my bed at home in Pleasant Hill with Lady at my feet. Living in China feels either like a pleasant dream or a nightmare. Either way my life is still in dream mode.
Some days I get excited to explore the city and learn the language. Other days my brain is fried and I cannot think in Chinese any more. I go to Carrefour (our supermarket across the street) and the same annoying Dido song is playing in the clothing section, “My Favorite Things” is playing at the entrance, and a wacky French rap song is playing on the bottom floor. Sometimes, it is charming to hear these familiar tunes, but other days I want to scream “WAKE UP” just to see what happens. Since I feel this strange dichotomy, it makes me wonder just how Jameson feels about our new life here. There are days when I think he appreciates all of the exciting adventures we have had here in Shanghai. Then, there are other days when he just wants enough freedom to run around outside like he did in our backyard. There is no place equivalent to a backyard in Shanghai unless you are blessed enough to live in a house. Whether it is just the terrible twos, or the stress of living in a foreign country, Jameson’s frustration is showing. Life in a foreign country is equipped with both blessings and curses. I know what a blessing it is to have an opportunity to teach my son a foreign language at this time of his life. Toddlers have the unique ability to learn up to 10 new words a day. Jameson is learning words in two languages, and although I am told that I have a very good accent, his accent is much better than mine is. I also know what a curse it feels like for Jameson to constantly get so much attention. He grows weary of strangers talking to him, taking his picture, touching him while some even try to pick him up. Jameson has therefore developed a defense mechanism of yelling back at the locals. Now this sounds really bad, but because the locals tend to talk very loudly, I think he is just trying to match their volume level. To remedy these situations, I do a few things. I try to avoid tourist traps, and if we must visit crowded locations and people surround Jameson (sometimes a large crowd forms) I encourage him to be cordial (he says “heehow) then I move him away. When we visited Yu Yuan a few weekends ago Jameson became the tourist attraction that he dislikes so much. But once we were inside, he enjoyed running around wearing his "Monkey". Just getting to the 500 year-old Yu Yuan takes patience... but inside it is an oasis of peace   At least it was peaceful until we arrived... we disturbed the "Hall of observing in quietness".... oops  Sometimes Jameson enjoys the Chinese Paparazzi and other times he wants to hide.   Holding still for a family photo is not always possible for a 22-month old  There are days when I forget if our family has lived in Shanghai for three months or three days. But, not having a keyboard to play in our apartment has made our stay here feel even longer than it is. Jim and I decided to visit a local musical instrument district on Saturday as I was scheduled to play/sing with AGIF on both Saturday and Sunday and I needed to practice. Once I had the keyboard in our apartment, it felt much more like home. We also went back on Sunday so that Jim could purchase a Gretch hollow body guitar and an amp. Now we have a small studio and can do what we love when we want! I enjoyed playing with the AGIF worship band last weekend. The group of musicians is very talented and they aim for excellence in their musicality and authenticity in their worship. I hope they ask me to play again as it brings so much joy to my life and I have been praying for a creative outlet to serve and use my gifts since we arrived here three months ago. Because Jameson and I still only have a 30-day exit/entry Visa, we must leave the country by next Thursday. The cheapest option that my Shanghai-Veteran friend Carol found was to fly to Shenzen (a border town). Next, we will take a bus to Hong Kong, wait in line, get our visas stamped. Then, we will turn around, get back on the bus and the plane, and fly home. I know this sounds crazy with a little guy, but I am flying with Melissa and her kids who need to do the same thing. We’ve decided that we will make this “air-trip” as fun as possible. Since Jim does not need to leave the country for another month (he has a 60-day exit/entry visa) we plan to visit Ouk in Korea next month. Although our lives in California are on pause, our lives in Shanghai continue to play on here. Just like Bill Murray set out to learn a great piece of music in Groundhog Day, I plan to make the most of our time by completing a musical project. Now that I have several instruments, that goal is within my grasp. On the Town
It’s amazing just how quickly friends become like family when one is living abroad. We are all in the same situation over here; none of us have family in China therefore we learn to lean on each other instead. So, when someone has a birthday, we must celebrate! Carol and Melissa took me out for my birthday when they had only met me once. I had no idea that they would become such dear friends. I truly do not know what I would do without them. Thanks Melissa and Carol!
Carol turned 26 on Sunday; so on Saturday, her fiancé surprised her with a night on the town that included a jazz club, and ice bar and dinner with a view of the Bund. Jim and I had our first night out without Jameson since the weekend before we left the States.  The birthday princess with Will, Melissa, Lenny and myself  The Pearl Tower and Bund are so lovely at night...  The BinJian One Icebar...
 Of course they had to do a China pose with the obligatory peace sign...  This week Jameson and I finally visited the Shanghai Aquarium and made another trip to Century Park. We are both fighting a virus that makes us nauseous, tired, sniffly and so on, so our week was a little quieter than usual. Please pray that this virus goes away before Saturday when I have a chance to play and sing for Touching Heaven at AGIF Pudong. Please also pray that I may find a keyboard soon so that I may practice at home. Although I sing every day, I miss being able to play the piano daily and my skills are suffering from the lack of practice. Péngyǒu
I am fully convinced that as long as I have good friends, I could enjoy living on the moon! The Chinese word for friend is “Péngyǒu” (pronounced [pung yo] with a rising inflection followed by a falling-rising inflection) and we are blessed to have many new friends here in Shanghai.
We spend several days a week with my friends Melissa and Carol and Jameson’s friends Abigail and Alex. Last Friday we all went to Chang Xing Island where Jim’s office is and watched our husbands play basketball during their lunch break. The laborers live in these apartments; it almost looks and feels like prison. Our guys work 12 hours a day, 6-7 days a week. Their laborers work 15-hour shifts 13 days in a row, with one day off every two weeks.   Look for the giant cranes in the middle of the photo below...
this is the island where the Oakland Bay Bridge is being built.  Last weekend we went to a BBQ with some friends from Jim’s work in Century Park. A BBQ back home is no big deal when you just throw everything in the back of your car and go. It is not so easy when you do not yet own an ice chest or BBQ, have no idea where to buy ice and have to carry everything you need to take for one mile on a sultry-hot Shanghai day. Luckily we found an ice for our new ice chest and were able to load it and everything we needed onto our SUV (A.K.A. our jogging stroller). On Monday we went gift shopping at Yuan Gardens.
The kids were very patient and because this is a tourist location, they were not overwhelmed with people trying to look at them.  Expo 2010 is here along with thousands of tourists...  We also celebrated Cinco de Mayo at a Mexican restaurant in Puxi with both Tia Lina and Tia Melissa (as Jameson calls them.)  Yesterday I went to my first rehearsal with the worship band at AGIF in Jin Qiao. It had been 2 months since I last played the piano or sang in public. Although this was just a rehearsal, I so enjoyed being a part of a team again and meeting believers who are also gifted musicians. I think this rehearsal came just in time as I was beginning to get depressed. I long to worship and I live to worship the One and only true God. If Chinese access to my blog is taken away for saying that, so be it…. AMEN! This week I thank God for new friends who are musicians and believers and also for my dear friends Melissa and Carol who have been here for me these past two months! 
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