Thanksgiving with the Kings

Erik & I had an absolutely fabulous Thanksgiving dinner with the King family. Jungrok, Jon and Jon's mom very kindly invited us for Thanksgiving. The food was AMAZING and the conversation was so insightful and encouraging. It's truly amazing how our Father leads His children together in Shanghai. What a blessing!

Christmas is coming to Shanghai

It's amazing how quickly time flies. Christmas is coming to Shanghai too!

I was in various parts of the city this weekend (Huai Hai Zhong Lu, Xin Tian Di, Tai Kang Lu), and you can see Christmas decorations everywhere!

It's very interesting to see how elaborate these decorations are, but Christmas in China is celebrated totally in a secular way. It's more like Santa Day-

I'll be part of a Christmas play on December 20th organized by my church.

I hope this will help them realize Christmas is more than just Santa and Christmas gifts!

Ningbo Trip Nov 19-20

Class trip to Ningbo

Xikou city in Ningbo is the old hometown of Jiang Jie shi (Chiang Kai-Shek), the generalissimo of the Nationalist party from 1928 to 1948, opposite to Mao's communist party.

We went to see his old house, his family & relatives houses and we saw 'Mi Lo Da Fo' (The giant gold big Buddha in the picture. Mi Lo Fo in Chinese is the Buddha to come, 'the kindly one', who is a principal figure in all Buddhism)

We also crossed the World's Longest Sea Bridge in China - which connects Shanghai and Ningbo. The bridge runs 32.4 km (20.1 miles). It took more than 3 years to complete this bridge and it opened last year.

It was so cold on the first day......... on top of the mountain...but beautiful scenery of the moutains and the waterfall though.

The second day was quite warm... :) but I was so tired so no pictures today.

French Fly and Flied Chicken

I went to a Japanese restaurant in Shanghai

and it said:

French Fly

and

Flied Chicken

right next to each other...

mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Michiaki's Place

New friends from Shanghai

We hung out at Michiaki's place because his parents went to Australia for a business trip.

4 of us are classmates, and others were friends from Australia, Scottland, Columbia and Korea, Japan. Erik was the only "official" American. hehe

We ate dinner and played Wii, darts etc. I had sushi for dinner and I came down with a bad stomachache.......... :(

Chinese Jamaican Raggae Rapper at Church

Some pictures I took this morning on our way to Church!

I met a Chinese Raggae Rapper and his girlfriend (who is a great singer) at small group today.

ahhh the picture is too small..........

but apparantly he told me he is the ONLY Chinese rapper who does the Jamaican style raggae rapping. He has his own CD and all that. He tells me his music is underground. Really neat!

I love meeting people from different backgrounds. They are so interesting. Really unique brother and sister! I wonder if he will compose music for His glory. That'll be super cool.

IKEA!!!

Erik and I went to IKEA yesterday evening - because I had to buy a french press (sadly I left mine back in the States............sniff)

And while we were there, we went to their dining area and ordered Swedish meat balls (mmm the gravy and the lingonberry sauce taste the same whichever IKEA you go - not sure about the meatballs though...)

SO MUCH FUN at Ikea... I never knew IKEA was so much fun...

It's scary sometimes what MNCs and big corporations can do to your brain... because I have happy family memories associated with IKEA while growing up in Singapore.

Our family used to go there to shop, or to eat their Swedish meatballs and Salmon puddings, and on our way home mom & dad bought me and my sister a bag of DAIM (chocolate covered caramel noughats).

I found the exact same things in Shanghai that I remember growing up with. AHHH -

Shanghai has everything! I love this city.

Japanese Food and No Halloween

Our Chinese language class had a dinner this Friday (on Halloween)

My class has 2 French, 2 Americans, 2 Vietnamese, 2 Mongolians (who I rarely see them in class) and 1 Australian (I see this guy sometimes) and 1 Spanish guy (who's Chinese is really good)

and everyone else is Korean and Japanese! (we have 28 students)

We went to a Japanese restaurant and if you pay 158RMB (about 22~23 US dollars) you order unlimited food and drinks! It's kind of like a buffet but you order it from the a la carte menu! Anything! Until you can't eat no more. The food was really good! Not bad/cheap buffet food.

It was fun to interact with them outside of the classroom

I got to get to know them better too!

(one Japanese guy brought a milk cow suit! haha -)

Reflections in Shanghai

1. God already promised our inheritance
2. He wants to bring you comfort when you don't have it
3. He brings you sanctification
4. He brings us personal satisfaction and joy
5. God is calling us for a global awakening

Received some great encouragements from the ministry organized by our Canadian friends. It's nice to know that we're not alone.
We had someone flown in from Indiana to speak to us. There were people from America, Canada, New Zealand, Austrailia, South Africa, the Philippines , Indonesia, Taiwan (and me representing Korea). The place was definitely filled with the H.S. today. Shanghai is a city of 22.5 million people in need of His love.

5th Year Anniversary

Last Saturday was the 5th year anniversary for Erik and me.

Never thought we would end up in Shanghai for our 5th year. Thank God for the blessings He poured in our lives and protecting our relationship for the past 5 years.

We had a fancy organic hot pot for dinner (very healthy) at Qimin,

and then we checked out the bund at lounge 18,

and ended our day with a relaxing foot massage at ShenQi.

Tai Kang Lu & Soymilk Latte

We found a really neat area called "Tai Kang Lu".

The buildings are renovated from old Shanghai houses but it retains its architecture and some old residents too. The place has many little European-style coffee shops and stores selling arts and crafts. It's like a little getaway place where East meets West.

We met a friendly American friend, Kerin, from VA/CA and had coffee with her here. I had soymilk latte - it was kind of a treat for me, since I don't find it so often from where I live. She gave us tips about living in Shanghai and meeting the right people.

Wow, I've met so many different people ever since I came here. I think that's one of the beauties of Shanghai.

Suzhou Retreat Chinese Fellowship

I was so blessed to spend the 4 days of the "Golden Week" with my fellow brothers and sisters of a Chinese fellowship. We went to an island located in Tai Hu (Tai Lake) in Suzhou. Tai Hu is the third largest freshwater lake in China, covering an area of 2,338 square kilometers (about 902 square miles). It's so big, it looks more like sea than a lake!

I was the only non-Chinese person there, so I had some struggles in terms of understanding and expressing myself in Chinese.

But at the end of the day, I was so happy to be a child of God because I have family where ever I go. It's truly a blessing.

National Day 国境节 Guo Jing Jie

The first week of Oct is Chinese National Day and it is called the "Golden Week" because it is a national holiday celebrated for the whole entire week!

We went to Ren Min Guang Chang (People's Park) on the actual day of Guo Jing Jie (National Day) and it was absolutely packed with people. The street was very festive and crowded with people selling mini PRC flags and neon lights etc.

I really wanted to take a picture of the "sea" of people, but Erik and I were already stressed out and hungry so I didn't get a chance to capture the "peak" moment.

We experienced the power of the 1.3 billion Chinese citizens...on this very day.

So we went to Huai Hai Lu and we retreated to a quiet cafe called "Deli France" and hand our ham and swiss panini. haha!

Anti-Theft Starbucks in Shanghai

Before I came to China, I've heard stories of how women's bags and purses get stolen so frequently at coffee shops. I am a victim of having my 4-day-old COACH bag stolen in China, so I knew very well of this danger.

We went to starbucks with a friend (but I did not drink coffee because I boycott starbucks coffee, sorry) I noticed that there is a chain hanging down from the table.

I asked the Canadian friend (who's been in China longer than us) what the chain was for. He said, "OH, you don't know what this is?"

The purpose of the chain is for you to hook your bag to it, so when someone tries to snatch your bag, BAM! it will be stopped because it's chained to the table.

I find this facinating! Yes, women do have the tendancy to place their bag on the chair next to them, or put it behind their back. This is a big NO NO in China. Unless you want someone to take away your bag.

Halal Restaurant in Shanghai

On Tuesday, we met a lovely Canadian couple who was introduced to us by a friend from America. They are believers like us, and they really gave us strength.

They invited Erik and I to their home for dinner although it was not planned. It was so kind of them!

I had mint tea and lemon squares for dessert! (Oh, I SO missed having home made desserts). Erik had Swiss Miss hot chocolate!! YAY! We were so delighted to see Swiss Miss again!

So we went outside to buy some noodles and veggie dishes for dinner and we stopped by this "hole-in-the-wall" Chinese-Muslim restaurant on the side of the street. Their noodles are hand made and the man just churns out thin noodles by beating the dough and kneading it and just stretching it and folding it 9 times! And amazingly the fat dough magically shreds down into thin noodles!

We HAD to take a picture of him like a tourist...

hehe

Nanjing Xi Lu

A view of the skyscrapers from the overpass near Nanjing Xi Lu