It Snowed!

Though we live in the foothills of the Himalayas, it rarely snows here. Winter is the dry season, so we miss out on the fluffy white stuff more often than not. This past weekend, however, we got a special Christmas treat! It snowed! And even accumulated about an inch or so overnight. We had a blast watching the city transform into a winter wonderland.

our place

We attempted to visit a nearby mountaintop for a snowy play date, but icy road conditions turned us back. Still, enough snow had collected by the roadside to keep us entertained!

Finally, temperatures plummeted to -17°C (or 1.4°F) overnight this week. That might not seem all that impressive to some of you until you consider the fact that buildings are not heated here. When was the last time you woke up indoors and saw your breath, huh!?

Looking a Lot Like Christmas

Christmas decorations are up, and the holiday season has been in full swing for a couple weeks now. It's an exciting and busy time of year for us.

Still, though it may look festive at our place, this is the time of year I miss home most! It fills my heart up to know many of you are thinking of us too. Thank you to all who have helped make the season merry and bright by sending cards and packages! Your words of encouragement and love mean so much to us. And though some of those gifts piled beneath our shrubby cedar tree are for teachers and local friends, once again it's obvious how spoiled we are.

We hope you have a Merry Christmas--one that is full of true joy and peace!

The Innnernet

For some reason, James and I have both shown symptoms of internet connectivity distrust in the past.

Have you ever noticed that my Facebook profile picture has never actually shown my face? When I first signed up years ago, it was my intentional mini rebellion to ease my conscience as I joined the masses. James just plain refuses to use it. Of course, he often stands over my shoulder to read posts, look at photos, and watch the videos our friends have uploaded.

Maybe we were afraid our virtual relationships would replace real life ones. Perhaps we wanted to protect our privacy and refrain from broadcasting the minute details of our lives. To some degree, I'm sure we thought ourselves too unique to jump onto all the internet-app-media band wagons. But I think it's time we admit we've caved!

Just recently we began using Instagram. It's James' first foray into social media since Friendster. A few weeks ago he began using WeChat with his Chinese friends here, and it seems like he's been texting and posting non-stop since. In the last few months I have become addicted to Pinterest. We may not tweet, but between the two of us, James and I have bought into the main-stream digital world. We have smart phones. We have a blog. We have Youtube channels. I watch Hulu while I fold laundry. Skype alone has changed our lives.

I have come to see the digital world as both a black hole and a glorious portal. Though it can consume a large portion of my time if I'm not thoughtful about my usage, I only feel mildly conflicted. As James and I find ourselves separated from friends, loved ones, and our home culture, it has been marvelous to connect in these ways! To know a favorite high school teacher recently retired, to hear my nephew giggle, and to get updates from far-away friends are such precious pieces of data. Though I once scoffed at "those people" whose phones seemed like a physiological appendage, I now use mine as my primary photo album, recipe box, stereo, alarm, camera, schedule keeper, and Chinese textbook.

So follow this, pin that, comment, post, and let's be involved in one another's lives. I am just so thankful I can be a part of your world, it no longer matters to me that the ways we're reaching out to one another are often digital.

Uncle James

So My Teacher Says...

One of my teachers this semester recently returned from a three-year teaching stint in the States. She often comments on her time in America, and I thought I would post some of her observations!

My teacher says these are the best things about America:

1. Americans are very independent. This is a positive attribute because they are self-reliant, have well-developed personal beliefs, and American children are not as tightly tethered to their parents.

2. Americans, by and large, are very friendly people.

3. People living in America experience an astonishingly high quality of life.

4. Americans tend to be very helpful and generous.

5. Americans value family far more than one would believe from American TV shows.

6. Americans living in the mid-west, south, and rural areas are surprisingly conservative in their political stances, lifestyles, and manner of dress. (I knew a young international student who was so shamed for wearing short shorts while jogging for exercise that he quit his exchange program and went home after only being in America for a few weeks. That's what the countryside is like. Very modest.)

7. America is extremely clean and littering is rare.

8. The western method of education in America allows students to become excellent critical thinkers and to hone their individual strengths.

9. Dollar stores are the best. (Everything is a dollar! Everything!)

10. Crossing guards are the most amazing idea ever. (Can you imagine crossing guards here? Impossible! There's no way!)

11. America has thousands of free museums and national parks that are open to the American public and foreign visitors alike!

On the other hand, she says these things are the worst:

1. Americans hate to be a burden and dislike accepting favors, even to the point of the elderly opting to move into assisted living facilities to avoid asking their families to care for them.

2. Some Americans can be very arrogant. Even more are fairly ignorant.

3. Americans are extremely wasteful. They take for granted their natural resources, waste water and electricity, and produce a horrifying amount of paper waste and other trash.

4. Americans are too direct. They are too forceful with their opinions, enjoy creating conflict, and think little of making someone else lose face.

5. Americans are too reliant on their government and are foolish to expect them to solve and pay for all their problems.

6. Americans can be very lazy, often spend beyond their means, and are too comfortable living on credit.

7. Americans eat way too much processed and frozen food. (It's gross. I refused to eat any of that while I was there.)

8. American students are disrespectful. Because all Americans view themselves as equals, they do not show proper deference to authority figures.

9. Too many American parents expect teachers to raise their children for them. (And they don't involve the grandparents in caring for their children either.)

9. Americans have too much stuff.

10. Though in general the policemen in America are more helpful, they are too strict about driving laws.

I had to laugh at most of these, but I'm curious! What do you all think of her observations?

The Unthinkable

Some people prefer predictable over spontaneous, inside instead of outside, comfort over awkwardness, leisure over adventure. Now I must say, Laura and I aren't always the ones taking risks, but this weekend, we did the unthinkable: we went to a Chinese dentist!

Laura's had a cavity that's been bothering her for quite some time. We both don't like dentists and put off taking care of it until the pain became unbearable. We were afraid a root canal might have been in order, so we started asking around about local dentists in Lijiang to see what was out there. We got a few hits, though deep down inside I knew Lijiang wouldn't have the standard of care we were looking for. We checked out the highest recommended dentist first. This dental clinic was tucked away in a tourist section of town. It looked like a guesthouse turned hospital type building that was absolutely desolate. We looked around and called out for people but nobody was around. We eventually found 2 very drowsy ladies in dirty lab coats watching TV in a small upstairs room. We asked if they were the dentists and they looked at each other like, "It's your turn. No, it's your turn." After a few awkward silent seconds, one of the ladies motions for us to go to the other room where her equipment was. Laura sits in the dental chair and we briefly explained the problem. She grabbed some tools from a wooden dresser and started probing around in Laura's mouth. After a few minutes, she said she could work on it. We told her we thought it might be serious and would like to first take an x-ray to see how serious the problem is. She said the x-ray machine isn't great and nobody can read it anyways. Then she asked us again if we wanted her to work on it. At this point, we realized this wasn't going to work out and apologized for the inconvenience. As we walked away we remembered this was the highest recommended dentist in town.

We quickly started looking for places outside of Lijiang. Kunming, our province's capital, would be the closest city with decent care followed by Thailand. A good friend of ours recommended a place in Kunming that was clean and affordable. After confirming with the dentist that they would be open this weekend, we decided to commit and buy overnight train tickets for Friday and return overnight tickets for Saturday, it was going to be a rushed trip. Well, the dentist ended up being great. They were professional, courteous, clean, competent, and willing to accommodate. Most doctors don't like to give pain medicine including novocaine but this clinic was willing to shoot Laura up. We got an x-ray of the tooth along with a few hot and cold tests to help determine the degree of the problem. The dentist said it was just a cavity and she could fix it up no problem. Bam, it was done. My wife is one tough cookie and I'm happy that she's able to eat on that side of her mouth again. We spent the rest of our 8 hours in Kunming drinking starbucks, shopping and seeing friends. Overall, a great time.

Nerves have been calmed after they decided it was just a basic filling.

We can all hear the nightmarish sound of those dental drills.

They Drink Blood

After a rainy summer, James and I took off this fall with some local friends for an adventure. The remote mountain woods--full of dew drenched moss and cobwebs--was a perfectly spooky setting. Foggy weather and a steady drizzle of rain cast an eerie mood. The plot was innocent enough; we just wanted to pick some mushrooms! But the villains, though small, were vicious.

As we searched for edible fungi, we didn't realize we were being watched. The hunters were being hunted, but we were unaware of the danger. From the soggy forest floor they reached out for us and grabbed at our legs. We didn't even feel it when they bit us.

Three of these suckers got me around the ankles! Once we realized the woods were crawling with the creatures, we were continually brushing them off our pants and boots. Because leeches inject an anticoagulant to better drink their victim's blood, I looked like something out of a horror movie by the time we got down from the mountain. Yuck! But it makes for a good story, right?

Happy Halloween, everybody!

Jiǎozi!

Who's hungry for some pot stickers? Jiǎozi are Chinese dumplings that are hugely popular where we live and considered a staple food in many regions of Asia. They are little crimped envelopes of dough stuffed with ground meat and/or vegetables, which can be boiled, steamed, or fried. James and I like them both boiled and fried, and we eat them the local way with a dipping sauce of soy, vinegar, garlic, crushed chili pepper, and cilantro.

Knowing how to make Jiǎozi by hand is as Chinese as knowing how to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies is American. It is surprising then that this August was our first Jiǎozi tutorial!  My new teacher for this semester invited James and I over and taught us the art. (Well, she taught me the art and James helped consume the finished product.)

James Can Drive

Summer and rainy season are synonymous here. While we needed the rain, the downpours caused flooding and washouts all over our region. During an excursion to the countryside this July, we encountered a small section of road that was less than stable. Fortunately, there was plenty of berm and the grade was level! Watch James navigate it like a pro below:

When It Rains, It Pours!

Our province has been suffering from a three-year-long drought. The fresh water spring, one of the main attractions in our tourist city, has been bone-dry for six months. Many locals are concerned that the glacier on our snow-covered mountain will completely melt away. Luckily for us, we've personally experienced only occasional inconveniences with water shortages.

The dry basin of Black Dragon Pool.

Not so for the capital city of our province, Kunming. With its ever-growing population, people there have perhaps suffered the most. The city has been rationing water to its residents for more than a year, with running water occasionally being only available to certain communities one hour per day! University students there must swipe a pre-paid card to flush toilets and wash their hands in their dorms' restrooms. Though friends living in that city have told us that the rationing is necessary and teaching people to use water responsibly should be a global endeavor, everyone has been hoping for rain.

Summer is rainy season, and the weather this week seems to be trying to make up for lost time. A four day deluge has made many farmers in our valley happy, but wreaked havoc elsewhere. James and I were forced to canceled this weekend's trip to the village because rock and mud slides have damaged the road. And suddenly, Kunming has more water than they know what to do with.

Check out the article and more photos of the flooding on GoKunming.

As I write, runoff is thundering down on our porch awning and pooling several inches deep above the balcony drain. James and I are thankful to be inside, dry and safe. Please think of those who aren't fortunate enough to share our circumstances!

Laura the Farmer

Holding a newborn bunny.

Grafting fruit trees.

Carrying around a baby goat.

Manhandling a stubborn horse.

Street Dentists

Dental work can be expensive. Luckily, we live in a city that offers dental care for all social classes.

My first thought was, "Maybe she's got something stuck in her tooth and her friends are helping her get it out. Like when you get a splinter in your hand or something."

Upon further inspection, my initial thoughts were wrong. It's just a street-side dentist.

Notice his dental kit tucked away inside his motorcycle seat. Classy.

In other news, I saw this VW van in my side-view mirror the other day.

Not Waterproof

No one has ever told me I'm a natural. At anything. If I've achieved anything in my life it's come through a certain amount of hard work and doggedness. But even when I've given it all I've got, I've been an A-minus student, B-relay anchor, and barely-above-average human being. Somehow "A for effort" has never satisfied.

I remember a time I spent weeks hunting for the perfect dress for a wedding I was attending as a guest, only to overhear some girls disparaging my appearance in the bathroom during the event. Another time I was kayaking alone on a lake in Florida, and some fishermen who idled by me in a motor boat called out, "you look like you're working too hard!" Perhaps these are superficial examples, but that I remember them is a testament to how I still wish I could accomplish things with effortless grace. I've yet to catch on to the trick of making life look easy. I struggle to accept that my absolute best is far from perfect.

Of course, I recognize life is hard, we are all flawed, and that we desperately need a Savior. Recently though, I've had to come to terms with the fact that the Heavenly Father is going to keep on reminding me how hard, how flawed, and how desperately. The past few years I've found myself in countless situations that have really been pressing my perfectionism buttons. My hopeful visions of myself as a wife, international student, friend and leader are far from the reality of me in the here and now.

A few months ago I met with an American woman who was speaking at conference James and I attended. She told me she thinks I've confused love with admiration. "It sounds like you'd rather have others' admiration than love. Love doesn't require perfection. In fact, Christ's forgiveness requires us to admit we're incapable of it! Why would you prefer to be a porcelain doll on a shelf? Don't you know a baby that eats, cries, poops and pees is incomparably more valuable?"

She's right of course. But with the fragments of my porcelain head scattered about my feet, it's hard to shrug off the feelings of discouragement. I forget that I can't please God, and that any effort to is in vain.

Sometimes when I listen to Tracy Bonham's song "Whether You Fall" I can't help feeling she's singing to me. Her lyrics are beautiful and capture my feelings of failure:

Whether You Fall

by Tracy Bonham

whether it's the sunshine

whether it's the rain

doesn't make a difference

'til you complain

whether it's the water

comin' in from the roof

does it piss you off

that you're not waterproof?

whether you fall

means nothing at all

it's whether you get up

it's whether you get up

and you hate the silence

as it fills up the room

and there's not much to say

to your blushing groom

maybe all eyes are on you

as you finish the race

and the world sees you struggling

for last place

whether you fall

means nothing at all

it's whether you get up

it's whether you get up

If the groom is Christ, and the race is the Christian life, then yes, I'm pissed off that I'm not waterproof.

So every day I ask God to help me to die to myself and live more wholly in Him. I'm trying to rest in His arms and not see my failures and flaws as disabling, but to look to Christ and be awed and filled by His power, love, and grace. I desperately want to walk closely with God and demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit. In weak, broken, messy failure, I give up and give in. Let me be the dirty, smelly, whiny, imperfect baby who is loved by God.

"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 2 CORINTHIANS 11:28

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. PHILIPPIANS 3:12-14"

Cornhole

James and I have long joked that we are a cross-cultural couple. James is a city boy from Californian, and I'm a small-town girl from Ohio. Though we're from the same country, it doesn't always seem like we're from the same planet.

It has been fun to introduce one another to novelties of our separate worlds. Once upon a time, James introduced me to avocado on a sandwich, carne asada burritos, and fish tacos. I served him up some blue crab and Trail bologna. He took me to see the redwoods, the SD Padres, and Weezer. I showed him a drive-through liquor store, the Amish, and Euchre.

I think the first time I mentioned the game Cornhole to James I made him blush. He'd had no exposure to this well-loved, Midwestern lawn game of bean bag toss. The only reference he had to the word "cornhole" was not a polite one! Though I explained the logic of the game's name, "but the bean bags are filled with corn kernels and you thow them into a hole," James was unconvinced. "Can't you just call it bean bag toss or something?"

It wasn't long, however; before his competitive nature and attraction to anything akin to a sport won him over. He now loves the game despite its crass name, and I've loved beating him at something.

For a long time I've wanted to give James a set of his own. For his birthday this year I finally made it happen! With the help of some amazing friends, I'm proud to say that my roots have rubbed off on him, and James is now a proud owner of a Cornhole set!

The boards and bean bags were all handmade by our good friends Bobby & Vanessa. (Vanessa's mom and I helped a little too.) They did an incredible job! Strangely enough, as Texans they had never seen, heard or played Cornhole either!

And I have to say that I am just about beside myself at the thought of introducing Cornhole into our Chinese community. I feel like such an ambassador of...Midwesternness.

玉湖 (Yùhú）

We celebrated James' 29th birthday this weekend by exploring a nearby village under Snow Mountain. It was absolutely idyllic. We played with puppies, picked wild blackberries, admired the ancient-style stone homes, and drank in the beautiful afternoon.

James kept looking for hobbits.  Don't these pictures make you people want to come visit us!?

Moo.

BFF

This is what friendship looks like in China.

UnPlugged

Our part of town was without power for 56 hours straight this week!  We've gotten used to frequent power outages and our water being shut off, but this was a longer inconvenience than usual.

James & I had to beg ice from local fast food places to keep our fridge and freezer cool (save the cheese!!!), and even still we had some nicely curdled milk for coffee the last couple mornings.  But that wasn't such a big deal, because the coffee maker didn't work.  Though the first two candle-lit evenings were kinda' romantic and fun, I was not looking forward to a third!

The electricity was turned on just about an hour ago, and James & I are happily charging all our devices and frantically trying to catch up on emails.  Hello everyone.  It's nice to be re-connected to the technological world.

projects

We recently came across a section of Lijiang that was being demolished. This section was on the edge of Old Town which is usually designed in ancient wooden architecture. These buildings they were demolishing weren't ancient, maybe 20-30 years old, but they used old style window shutters and wood work to make it look old. When we saw them taking down all the wood workings, we asked what they were doing with them. The said they were selling them! So we bought a few to decorate our house with.

For the last 2 months, they've been sitting on our patio as Laura waited for the "opportune" moment to refurbish them. Below are pictures of the work in process.

Window shutter before sanding.

Window shutter after sanding.

Only one step left, painting. C'mon Laura, you can do it! 

Missing Out?

The latest edition of the rosenBLURB was sent out yesterday! If you normally receive our newsletters but didn't get this one, it may be that we lost your contact information when Laura's hard drive crashed this May. Please send us a note and let us know! We appreciate your help updating our email list.

Also, if you've never gotten a copy of the rosenBLURB and would like to, James and I encourage you to shoot us an email to subscribe.

Keeping in touch with our friends and family is so important to us. We are deeply grateful for your comments, emails, and letters! Thank you for your encouragement, words of wisdom, prayers, and updates on what's going on in your lives. Nothing is quite so sweet as a note from home!  Much love!

-Laura & James

Aunt Laura & Uncle James

James and I recently became an aunt and uncle!  My younger sister gave birth to an adorable baby boy on April 9th.  He's so cute I can hardly stand it.  Just look at this little glow worm!

Tobin James Chleboun

This is the first grandchild on both sides of the family, so we all think Tobin is best thing since sliced bread.  My mom has been signing all her emails as "Nana" for two months now!  We're so excited for this new family of three.

Kimberly, Tobin & Jon Chleboun

Aren't they a good-looking trio!?  Love 'em.

Why do I love the village?

Oh, for so many reasons. Not the least of which is because there are so many cute, little animals running around.

If the life of a farmer didn't involve selling and slaughtering these critters, I'd say I was made for it. And if the price of moving to the village was merely killing my own chickens, I know James would be willing to help me with that, right hun?

Farmer Laura
(looks about right, yeah?)

Farmer James
(well, almost.)