Living in a make believe world.....

WHAT IS IT LIKE LIVING IN CHINA?    That is the question I probably get asked the most.   First of all, the community where we live is not really “CHINA”.    I feel like I live in a make believe world.   Our Chinese teacher that comes to our house every Saturday says that we live in "pretend China"    Thw international community that we live in has people from so many countries…..just on our little street there are families from:  Hong Kong, England, Philippines, India, Italy, America, Taiwan, and New Zealond.    It is a gated community with guards at each entrance.  The houses are huge (our house is the smallest in the community and it is still big).   Everyone has their own driver and house helper (more on that later).   The garbage man is a kind, older Chinese man who bikes through the neighborhood and loads up a trailer he pulls behind with garbage.    He bikes through at least twice a day...picking up and sorting through our garbage.    Also, there are Chinese workers that are always picking weeds, watering, and mowing our yard, and Chinese security guards that bike by every hour to check on all the houses.    If you were to drive through our neighborhood this is what you would see;     a security guard following you to make sure you aren’t doing anything wrong, you would see Chinese workers walking around; planting flowers, picking weeds, watering, etc…..     You would see nice mini-vans in most driveways with a driver sitting in the van or standing outside of it…..just waiting for when their driving is needed.    You would see “Ayi’s”   (Chinese house helpers) coming in and out of houses, sweeping, hanging laundry outside,  taking care of children, etc…   All the houses are immaculate....always clean and beautifully decorated.   The women are almost always very sylishly dressed, coming to and from social gatherings or tours of some sort, .There are security cameras everywhere....I know that wherever I go in the community I am being watched....Do you get the picture of why this feels like a make believe world?    Not what you pictured China to be, right?!    Real China would be a small apartment (very very small).   Not much heat in the winter, and no air conditioning in the summer.   No heated water.   Wash clothes by hand. No oven.  etc.....

So, you may be wondering how I fit into this "make believe China?"  When we first moved here, I was worried about fitting in with the women.    For one....I am hardly ever stylishly dressed.   Number two....my house looks like there are 10 people living in it....hardly ever all clean at once.   Number three.....rather than beautifully decorated...my walls are adorned with smudge marks, crayon drawings, dry erase boards with chores written on them, and school maps.   Number four.....I don't have time to do social things with other ladies, and even if I did, I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving my kids with someone I don't know well.    I came expecting that I might be a bit of an outsider.    Shortly after we moved in, our street had a block party to get to know new neighbors.   All of the women were together and were talking about the best places to get massages, where to get nails done, the best place to buy clothes (naming all the expensive brands that I know nothing about),  etc....I'm ashamed to admit  that in my heart I was very judgemental of them, and did feel like an outsider.   Since then, I have gotten to know many of them....and I can honestly say that ALL of them have been nothing but nice to me, and I have become good friends with some that I never would have imagined before.   I was much too quick to judge.    That was a good lesson for me.    (FYI, I have also found friends that are more similar to me....wide range of women.   In fact, I have a German friend who comes to my house every week and we talk together and then pray together....that has been a blessing.)    

Ok, there is so much I could write about....but that is all for now.....

Why I love China....

I am REALLY not a blogger...but I'm sure you already guessed that based on my blog address....joypeabody.blogspot.com.    Very creative isn't it?   :)    Also, the name of my blog...  "Ni Hao" means hello in Chinese.   (And you have no idea how long it took me to come up with even that!)   So why in the world am I setting up a blog?     I am not exactly sure.....but I think it is because I have failed so miserably at sending updates through email.....and my organization of keeping track of email addresses is just awful....so somehow I think I will update a lot more through a blog.   We'll see if that is the case or not.   :)

I'll start by saying that I LOVE China.   I have liked being here, and  at times I have tolerated being here, but in the last few weeks I have heard the words "I love China" come out of my mouth many times. I know I will never be the same when I come back to Minnesota....part of my heart will always be here.    So what about China has captured my heart?    Well it is NOT the air quality.   It is NOT the crazy driving conditions.   It's not the land itself (I have not traveled or toured anything yet).  It's NOT the language.    It's NOT my sense of adventure (I don't have much of one:-).   It' not the food.    It's not the crowds......It's not....It's not....It's not.     But it IS the old Chinese ladies that come and pick weeds in my yard and smile at us as they peek in the windows.   It's the guards that are all over our compound that Andrew goes up to and hugs.   It's the stern faced guard that never smiles at anyone....but when we walk by and Sarah yells NI HAO, he can't hold the smile back.    It's the Chinese friends that we've made and had over for dinner.   It's our driver who feels more like a friend than someone who "works for us".   It's the garbage man who bikes to our house multiple times a day to pick up our garbage and put it in the trailer he pulls behind his bike.   It's the old men that also come and work in our yard, and play with the kids.   It's the old women that scold me in Chinese for walking around without a jacket, or my kids in short sleeves (they don't understand us hardy MinnesOtans!)   It's watching Daniel and Jonathan speak to people in Chinese.    It's the Chinese lifeguard at the swimming pool who always brings Andrew gifts.   It's all the Chinese women who crowd around me wherever we go and tell me that I must be "happiest mom" (because I have so many kids).   It's the.....well I could go on for awhile, but you get the point!   It's the Chinese People!  Even though language is a HUGE barrier, I feel that we have so many relationships with the workers/security guards/lifeguards/ etc.... in our community.   And that is what will be so hard to leave when our 2 years is up.     It will feel different than leaving Minnesota to come here....I left knowing that I would be back.    But when we leave China.....we will most likely be leaving it forever.   That is a hard thought for me.