Making dumplings at a Chinese house!

From left to right: Sunny (Chinese teacher), Danielle (CTF in Harbin), me, other Danielle (CTF in Changchun), Brittany (CTF in Harbin) and Jen (UTP in Harbin)

This past weekend I traveled north to Harbin to visit some teacher friends. While I was there I got to meet a famous person (among the foreigners) in Harbin, her name is Sunny and she is a teacher at the CTF school. They had made plans to go to her house to meet her parents and make jiaozi (Chinese dumplings) so I got to accompany. I’ll tell you a bit about the day…

After getting off the bus we (7 teachers) followed Sunny through some crowded and somewhat dirty Chinese streets, up some stairs where you could see a little courtyard for her apartment complex, down some stairs, around and then up again to the top floor and the door of the apartment. We took off our shoes and put slippers on, as you always do in China, and were welcomed by her and her parents and ushered to sit down.

All of Sunny’s furniture was pretty low to the ground. Her sink and her stove were built into boxes stacked on top of each other. She had two bedrooms and a bathroom, all of which were separated from the rest of the apartment by a curtain that you stretch across and hook to the other side for privacy. It was a basic apartment but it was comfortable and Sunny was proud of it.

Her mom and dad, neither of whom spoke English, had already eaten and had gotten the jaiozi ready for us to make. So the 7 of us foreigners rolled up our sleeves and tried to copy Sunny and her parents. It takes a lot of skill to fold pieces of dough around meat. Most of us lacked the skill and our jiaozi didn’t turn out quite so pretty. We had fun with it though, one of the Harbin teachers made one that looked like a narwhal (the Harbin CTF mascot) in honor of their team.

Rolling out the dough for the dumplings

Doing our best to make them!

Brittany and Jen with their dumpling skills.

Sunny’s parents had to leave early and catch a train back home (that’s why they had already eaten) so her mom cooked for us and left. Chinese people are extremely hospitable so for her it was no big deal for to cook for us and not eat any of it herself. They didn’t leave without giving a toast- typical for Chinese – and a hug – not typical for Chinese (to hug a stranger).

Sunny and her parents

After lunch we had a good talk. Sunny isn’t a Sister but she noticed how ELIC teachers are different from any other group of foreigners she has ever met. It was awesome to listen to my teacher friends explain that it’s because we are part of G’s family, because we live to a higher standard of goodness. Sunny hadn’t always had a good idea of foreigners, one teacher had actually asked her (only her) to come to his apartment for dinner once. But the relationships she has built with the teachers at her school has given her a better idea of not just foreigners but given her an idea of the Family. Please lift Sunny up, she is surrounded by this Family and so has the opportunity to see the Father alive in them often.

The food they made us!

We finished up our time there with a fun game of catch phrase and then we headed out for our next event of the weekend. It was a tiring but definitely a good weekend, it’s good to see what the Father is doing in other cities.

The whole gang together.

Kelly in China

this is my team out to lunch one day. I wanted to introduce you to Kelly (and a group picture seems to be the only one I have of her) so if you look on the far left there is Kelly. She’s not my student but she has been one that I have been able to spend a lot of time with. Kelly recently began wearing make-up, we said goodbye for winter break and went our separate ways, she to her first part-time job and me to vacation. When I saw her again she had curled her hair and was wearing make-up. When I asked her why, she didn’t tell me it’s because she wants to be prettier (although that probably has something to do with it) but she told me she started wearing make-up because she looks more professional. Kelly is a sophomore in college and is extremely worried about her future. In Chinese colleges you can’t just change your major over and over again like you can in America. Once you choose your major, it is chosen. Often, you don’t even get to choose your major, it is chosen for you. The school will look at your test scores for the big college entrance exam, every high school student has to take, and place you in a program. As was the case with Kelly, she was put in the tourism program at Hua Qiao. However, inside this program she can go into two tracks. She can learn to be a tour guide or a hotel manager (how those are related I have no idea).

You may be wondering why I’m telling you this. College life is extremely different in China than it is in America. In order for Kelly to get a good job and support her family (which is what all Chinese students want to do) she has to work extremely hard. Kelly is looking for a part time job to help her get experience and in order to get a good (even part-time) job she trains herself. I don’t mean she practices in front of the mirror for interviews. I mean she does research. She wants to be a tour guide in Changchun over the summer, so she is now looking up and memorizing as much information about Changchun as she can. This is unheard of in America. But in China, it’s normal.

Everything in China is super competitive because of the big population. It is hard to get into college because there are so many students. And after you graduate it is hard to get a job because of the big population, everyone wants a good job that pays good money and has good benefits but it’s just not possible for EVERYONE to get it, so Kelly is now working her butt off and stressing herself out for her future.

Please lift my students up; this is just part of the pressure they face.