yes, this blog is still up

we haven't posted in a while, partly because we have been very busy, partly because i am lazy and partly because until a few weeks ago the blog was inaccessible thanks to the Great Firewall of China.

So, Shen Rong and I got married on October 7 in Shanghai. We had a lot of fun and got lucky with some great weather, which let us to spend most of the reception on the restaurant's lawn.

We had a great time with my family in Shanghai. I will need to post some pics later.

We then spent about a week in Malaysia, which was also great. We went to an island called Perhentian Besar. There were some beautiful beaches and not a lot of people. We had a lot of time to chill out and recover from several months of being extremely busy.

We are now getting settled into marriage life. A usual day looks like this: we get up about 7:30, eat toast or cereal for breakfast; leave for work at about 8:30, me carrying Shen Rong on the back of my bike to her bus stop; the on to work. SR gets home a little after 7, Elias sometime before 8. SR is awesome enough to cook a lot of the days, or we order out or eat out. i do the dishes, then we hang out, watch a DVD, mess with the computer or whatever till about ten, then we get ready for bed. usually trying to sleepy by 11. the days are pretty tiring, but we are enjoying our life.

things aren't getting too settled, because we are planning for our big trip to the US from dec 22-jan 6. we are having a party/reception on December 27. we are really looking forward to seeing everyone.

anyway, i just wanted to post a little something since the site is accessible again in china; i will try to do more later. there is much to discuss.

-elias

cool in shanghai

i know in my last entry i was ranting about shanghai summers. well, it is now 80 degrees. one good thing about shanghai (compared to dallas at least), is that it will cool off some before october. so keep your fingers crossed that this lasts for awhile.

the new place

i know the shanghai contingent of our family has been pretty quiet the last few months, but things have been really busy. planning a wedding takes a lot of work. so it is now a month until the wedding, and i think we are doing pretty good. plus it is summer here, which means all you really want to do is sit in front of the A/C. for those that don't know, shanghai gets really hot and humid in the summer (but not as bad as dallas), but the experience is much worse in shanghai because A/C is not as prevalent. for example, i have to turn on the a/c in my office every morning at 9am, which means it is half an hour before it cools down, and even then we have to use a fan and extra stand-along a/c unit just to make it bearable. and they cut the air off at 6pm, meaning the last hour or so of work is done sweating. i usually strip down to my boxers before i make it ten steps into my apartment after getting home. there is also no central air in apartments, so each room has its own unit. and i ride my bike to work, so you can imagine the state i am in when i get to work. soaked. chinese people don't sweat like we do, so i get some strange looks when i show up with my shirt already completely soaked. but anyway, enough complaining, it'snot so bad. i am sure some of the more senior members of our family can tell us a few things about living without a/c. it builds character right? and it makes watermelon taste so much better. the chinese eat watermelon in the summertime like i drink iced tea - all the time. and it is soooo good. it's not really summertime until you start eating watermelon after dinner every night. it is almost as good as a/c. and cheaper.

Shen rong and i have rented a place. we really like it. a major upgrade from where i was ($170/month to $550/month), but we thought, you know, you only get your first place once. rong is moved in, i will be moving in later. the video above is of the new place.

SPI July 2006

Ive realized I have the gift of Tom Sawyering people.
I agreed only to go solo with the rents as long as I had a project - which turned out to be painting the condo green. I talked it up the whole way there and got them so excited on the idea that once I got them started they never stopped. It was a sweet trick. We only planned on doing one wall but mom got so excited on finishing that we did the whole place.
I also have a new interst of handstands on the beach. We cleaned out the old furniture and wierd decorative things and replaced with pictures of us. We discovered Isabellas, a sweet breakfast place (we ate there every morning) that serves dads favorite - chile relleno - and 2$ breakfast burritos 18'' long. You can get a full meal for 3 for less than $10. Also we discovered St. Piers, a sweet not-too-fancy place that occasionally has live music and has a big deck on the bay. In closing, cheak out mom in a bathing suit and her sun rash that she went on and on about, she worked hardest to not get any sun (100spf umbrella + 50spf sunscreen) but endedup most tan out of all of us. So Ill leave you with the Don Chaffer lyric of the day:
"now Jesus was a lover, he had fire in his eyes. . . that could burn away excuses and cremate your alabi's. . . he had a gaze that would expose to you all the subtle lies. . . that your soul permits your heart to tell, concerning all that it denies. . . " Chaffer 'Against the Window Pane'
So in e's theme of regaining that sense of wonder (SPI really helps in realizing that), I think about the subtle things in our hearts that we often feel but deny.

got my cast off

i got my cast off today. in case i didn't tell you, i broke the next to last little
bone on my right ring finger playing flag football. it was the first ten minutes of
the first game in a new league that was started in shanghai (the same group that
runs our basketball league). i broke it diving for this guy's flat - and in case you
were wondering, yeah, i got his flag. the incident forced me to visit a shanghai hospital,
which is never a good experience. how i got my cast: you go into emergency room, find the
bone people, they send you to the cashier, who sends you to register, then back to cashier
to pay, then in line to see the bone guy. he tells you you need an x-ray, so you romp across
the hospital campus, find the x-ray building, which is deserted, snoop around and find
someone, who tells you you need to pay first. go to cashier, who says you need to register again,
after which you pay again, then take your x-ray, then wait half an hour, get your picture, go back to
dr., who says you need a cast, then you go pay again for the cast, then you finally get
your cast. i have to say it is a pretty frustrating experience. maybe abi and david can
shed a little light on how this compares to the ER experience in the states, i guess
i haven't been in a while. but to be fair, i guess i can't say much positive about the
experience of going to the dr's office in the states either, where you wait 45 min in the
waiting room, then wait another 20 min in the examining room, then see the doc for 5 minutes.
and at least it is cheap at the chinese hospitals. i think my entire casting experience
cost about US$10.
so anyway, i have had this retarted little cast on my finger the last month, which has made
life extremely difficult. no, not extremely difficult. i know we all live priveleged lives
compared to a lot of the world, so we can not classify our lives as difficult. so the cast
added a few inconveniences to my life that i was not used to. i couldn't ride my bike and
had to take the bus. and it made typing difficult, also showering.
so the point of this post is that after seeing my finger today, i realized that it is
probably going to be a little crooked for the rest of my life (i already have crooked toes).
at first i was pretty upset about that, but then i thought, you know, who even knows how long the rest
of this life will last? i should be overjoyed if i get to spend another 50 years living with
this little crooked finger.
we should thank heaven above everyday for our health and for what we do have, because
every day is a gift. i have been blessed in so many ways that i can't believe i would consider
feeling sorry for myself for a little crooked finger. maybe this finger will be a reminder
to me to be thankful for what i do have.

this reminds me of another don chaffer quote:
"Mercy's born on every morning..."
-O Virgina

or something like that. maybe i will start ending all of my posts with don
chaffer quotes.

well, that was my thought for the day. i need to
stop now because my crooked finger is getting sore from typing.
-elias

GAP Camp 2006

Every one is broken baby - everyone in sight
Everyone is groping honey.. in the middle of the night
--Don Chaefer

I've realized you cant say a word to make everything perfect -- or i just havent figured out what that word is yet.
Truly everyone is sick in someway. . . Ha, why is it always the college student comming out with all the morbid stuff? But no, Maybe Im at that age where Ive figured out Im old enough to disagree with the way things are.
I dont know if it was the way things were at the camp, or the families where these boys came from, or the, just, evil that always seemed to creep into situations and these innocent little kids lives. I mean how can really fully protect them from harms way. I guess thats a parents greatest regret in having children - that they have to feel the paings of the world upon their sholders.
But no, I say if you are going to do it, you got to do it, meaning if your going to raise a son who is going to love God and not be rebellious your going to have to teach them obedience. And if you hope for your son to realize his hopes and dreams and be able to pick himself up off the ground when he fails miserably then your going to have to invest your lives. You are a reflection of your children. If you want to be proud of your children then you better raise them right! If you want your children to fully experience the fullness of life you better teach them the essence of life! The kids you have are going to experience the same sin, guilt, shame, sufferings that you had until you make a stand and say 'NO! Im sick of this sin and bondage and Im not going to have it anymore!' Then only when you break that cycle of continuous repetative slavery through sin then you will have that freedom that truly comes from Christ. "For freedoms sake Christ set us free". We have the power to stop the sin from passing on down to our children if we choose put an end to it in our lives. Our children and our childrens children are going to continue to feel the sin, and fears until we defeat them. Just as sin entered through one man, it has been inherited through every generation, but we can stop that sin through another man. Its all connected, our fears will be our sons fears unless we stop fearing.
Needless to say it was a bit of a frusterating but leanfull last week. It was harder not having a few friends to bounce things off of. But I'll leave you with the famous quote of the week:

"(I repeat) There is never a time when you do not flush."

when i get that feeling

so this is a really old picture, taken during SR, M and my's trip down to souther Yunnan province, a place called Xishuangbanna in chinese, near Myanmar (burma). this was a great sunset (picture never do a thing justice, do they?) after a nice bike ride through a small village, after a morning rafting trip down the mekong river. (it wasnt as hardcore as it sounds). maybe someday i will write more about that trip. what a great trip. anyway, i am sure most of yall have seen this, but i don't think it ever hurts to see it again. isnt this the kind of picture that just makes you want to thank god for giving us the chance to experience the beautiful world he has given us? i think one of the most tragic things is when we lose our sense of wonder about the world. i know i lose my sense of wonder many times a day, but then something like this just hits you, and you get this feeling in your gut that makes you want to laugh and cry and hug whoever is next to you. when does this feeling hit you guys? another time i get it is when i am enjoying a good meal with good friends and the conversation is just flowing, meaning and real, or when i hear a beautiful song with lyrics that really speak to me, like when don chaffer sings:

"when jesus raises up the dead, and gives sight to the blind; now there's a man that i can get behind."

-elias

hengshan church

this is a follow-up to the earlier wedding plans post. This is Hengshan Church, where we will hold the wedding. it is a beautiful old church, built in 1925 by missionaries in shanghai. they hold about 5 services in there a day, some for local chinese and some for the international community. the reception will be just down the street from the church.

keepin it real

my roommates and me after a trip to the sunglass store, sometime in march i think. that is fredrik, the swede on the left, and orion from chicago in the middle. yeah, we know we're cool.

the lunch hour

i need to talk about Kowloon Ice House. this restaurant is right around the corner from my office and i eat lunch there three or four times a week. it is a small Hong Kong style cafe, complete with cantonese pop music videos playing on a large TV. and i mostly eat there because of their bing nai cha, iced milk tea. it is my favorite drink in the city (though i am not sure how healthy it is). they make it by adding milk powder to black tea, along with a healthy dose of sugar. the food is ok, it is actually pretty similar to american style chinese food; what i have in this picture would be your typical sweet and sour chicken. i usually go there and read, a wonderful 45 minute respite from the office. i get a rice dish and a drink for about US$3, which is a little more expensive than most chinese alternatives, but i am happy to pay it because it is much cleaner than most other restaurants and they actually have decent service. i go here so much that they recently made me a VIP customer, that means i get 10% percent off each visit (except when i get a lunch meal deal, which is almost the only time i go!!).

so even though this is the restaurant i frequent the most in shanghai, i wouldnt say it is my favorite. that may have to go to Guyi, a hunanese restaurant (mao's home province and known for its great spicey food) i have only been to once, but it holds a special place in my heart because that is where i proposed to SR; well, out on the steps of the restaurant at least. plus, they have great ribs and a great fish head dish.
-elias

Wedding Pics, finally

Well, the people have spoken (ok, just Dad and Matthew), so here we offer some more wedding pictures to tide you over until you can see the rest. These were taken near Shen Rong's hometown. Some were at a park, and others were at an old town near her home called Tong Li.

We know Shen Rong is wearing a lot of makeup, but we thought we should make it clear that she doesn't normally wear any at all. She is all natural, baby! The wedding dress was borrowed from the photography company, she got her real one later on a trip to Suzhou. She has three dresses now for the wedding; at Chinese weddings, the bride usually changes outfits several times, so SR has one for Wujiang wedding, one for Shanghai ceremony and another for the reception afterwards. Pretty nice, huh, girls?

I am wearing my own suit in these pics, had it tailor made and the photography didnt have any clothes in my size. I think i will get a new suit made for the wedding.

In other wedding planning news, i have asked M to be my best man, and SR has asked an Indonesian friend of hers (Risah) to be the maid of honor. We have also asked Abi to be a bridesmaid. We are trying to decide who else we want to stand up there with us.

We have a cool venue picked out for the reception. It is just down the street from the church in an old redone villa. It is entirely enclosed with a nice yard area. a cantonese restaurant, called Abundant Green Garden, pretty sweet, huh? It has a nice deck and fountain with fish in it. So the ceremony will be at 10:30 am, with the reception following at noon - 3pm. we are still working on the plans for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

we are working on the invitations, but are planning on chinese-style, with english and chinese writing.

i know i havent posted in a long time, i will try to be more regular. but you know, we have been busy.

Wedding Plans

For anyone who doesn't already know, Elias is getting married in Shanghai, China on October 7, 2006. We are all excited and in the middle of making travel plans. The bride to be is Shen Rong, and they have sent this one picture from their wedding photos. We asked for more, but this is all we got. There is a wedding celebration in Shen Rong's hometown the weekend before and the church wedding at 10:30 am on the 7th. We hope they will be making a visit here soon after the wedding (Christmas is a possibility) and we will have a reception for them then. Be sure and offer comments to the news, they will enjoy hearing from everyone.

Some Lyrics

Here are the lyrics to a song from an old white guy, rapper/poet ....T Bone Burnett:

Blinded by the Darkness

The laws of man
They don't carry the same weight as the laws of God
Or the laws of nature. In the nomenclature

Do we want to inject the concept of sin
Into the Constitution. Is this really necessary
Does this not make you somewhat wary
Shouldn't sin be left to the laws of God
And to the laws of nature
Can we trust this to the legislature

And shall we trust sin to the wisdom
Of the criminal justice system
Which can't handle the criminals we have now
Why create a whole new class of them

Isn't crime dealt with by the laws of man
Isn't sin dealt with by the laws of God

If sin were dealt with by the laws of man
Everybody would be in jail for life in solitary confinement
With no one to go his bail. Or would have gotten death
Maybe I should save my breath
But this lunacy is bound to fail

But there would be no one to get the food
Or run the machines. Mercy on us dude

You shine your darkness on me
I am blinded by the darkness

In seven days God created evolution
When shall I expect retribution
From the counter revolution

You shine your darkness on me
I am blinded by the darkness

Not terrible profound, but kind of interesting. I wish I could link you to the song, but I think that might be illegal!!

SPI May 2006

Here is the latest from the Glenn's (at least some of us). We are once again the owners of a condo on South Padre Island!! We are not sure if it is a better investment than college tuition, but it sure is a lot more fun. We think Abi and David are a little concerned that we will spend our retirement and have to live with them. Oh well, CARPE DIEM!

Abi, Matthew, Kathy and I spent a long Memorial Day weedend there and it was great. I did a lot of nothing (I think with a little more practice I could get really good at it). Abi and Kathy worked on their yoga, new age dance moves and shopped. I have some concern that I may need to investigate a possible intervention or a 12 step program for their sudoku addiction. How many times can you count to 9 before you go crazy? Matthew got a good dose of the beach (see photos). Dr. Dave was too busy saving lives and practicing the healing arts to get away, and Elias said it was a little too far for a weekend trip. We need to plan some family trips so give us a call. Included are a few sample photos, but the good ones have been edited and omitted by the participants.

From H-town!

Hello from Houston, this is the long awaited Hoffman post. We have been busy: David with residency, me with a little work and several mini trips. We have been on the spring wedding circuit, three so far and more to come. see the pic of us, David has on a tux, he was a groomsman for one of them. (thats the groom in the background)

Our lives have been pretty stressful with Davids schedule and workload, so we are really focusing on the basics...be joyful in all things...trust in the Lord...but besides scripture my favorite quote right now is from a magazine and its perfect for our lives right now...

"You're doing one thing now-living your life. So live it right: Wear sunscreen. Never smoke. Get enough sleep. Exercise four times a week. Always be kind. Never lie. Laugh often. Don't tolerate less than you deserve. Let grudges go. Dream big. Remember that love matters most. Call your mom"

Thinking about hell

that was a great post by M about the archbishop's comments about the problems with the world. it really relates to what i have been thinking about the past few days. i just finished brian maclaren's (sp?) the last word and the word after that. the whole book is dealing with the issue of hell and rethinking the traditional christian view of hell. i have not thought through the issue fully at all, i just wanted to bring the issue up to see if anyone else had any opinions on it.

some of the main points that i came away with were:

- the idea of an afterlife/heaven/hell were virtually nonexistent in the OT. the idea seemed to be a new one in the NT, and most likely influenced by many other ancient near east cultures.

- Jesus actually does not talk about hell specifically very often; he often talks about the darkness, the outside, sheol, etc, but rarely hell in the way we think of the word. (i dont have the book in front of me so this is very rough).

- Jesus' focus was on building his kingdom in this world, making the world a better place (like what M was talking about), not just making sure we all believe some very specific dogma in order to get our behinds into heaven. look at the sermon on the mount, that is all about how we act (again, not looking at the text right now).

- God's desire is to save everyone, he does not want to see some weak little humans suffer for all eternity for a finite number of sins.

- Jesus discussion of hell may have just been a response to the pharisees, who talked about how the outcasts, unrighteous, unreligious would be sent to hell. however, Jesus turned the idea of hell back on them by saying God will welcome the despised, weak, outcasts into heaven. the book suggested that many present day christians have become like pharisees, saying that only those that agree exactly with what they say get a pass into heaven.

- Jesus is about bringing God's justice to earth now, which means helping the poor, getting rid of greed, ending injustice to the weak, poor, downtrodden. christians talk about everyone being judged for all the wrongs they did; but God's justice is not something to scare us into believing some doctrine - it should be something we welcome as an expression of god's love for us and that makes the world a better place, makes the world right.

ok, that is all i can come up with right now.

any ideas?

and oh yeah, i haven't mentioned it on the blog yet, but Shen Rong and i are engaged!

love is not against the law

politics is love
can make you blind or make you see
make you a slave or make you free
but only one does it all
and its giving up your life
for the ones you hate the most
its giving them your gown
when they've taken your clothes
Its learning too admit
when you've had a hand in setting them up
and nocking them down
because love is not against the law
love is not against the law
no love love love
are we defending life
when we just pick and choose
lies acceptable to lose
and which ones to defend
because you cannot chose your friends
but you chose your enemies
and what if they were one
one and the same
could you find a way
to love them both the same
to give them your name
because love is not agianst the law
love is not against the law
no love love love
--Derel Webb "Love is Not Against the Law"
http://www.nobelitythemovie.com/
http://www.nobelitythemovie.com/nobelists.html
see coments

Prayer Request

Kappa Upsilon Chi
Gamma Chapter
9:24 Officer elections begin with officer speeches.
· The newly elected president is Andrew Durrett
· The newly elected Internal Vice President is Sean Kissinger
· The newly elected External Vice President is Ben Johnson
· The newly elected Chaplain is Matt Glenn
· The newly elected Treasurer is Jon Jonse
· The newly elected Secretary is Kyle Marshall
10:01 The meeting ends in prayer

I wasnt expecting this, but it is exciting. I think I have alot to offer, but I know there are some doubters out there. It might be a heavy load for me, but hopfully I can have just as much fun doing this than doing anything else.

BJ business trip

(whenever i am in beijng, i always make time to pay mao a visit)

i took my first business trip last week: two days, three nights in beijing (incidentally, SR had a trip to beijing two weeks earlier). i went up with a colleague for a discussion session with google, yes, the same google that hosts this blog. they are cranking up their China business, and sent a bunch of US employees over for lots of meetings and discussions with chinese companies.

i have to admit, i enjoyed the trip. i like any kind of travel, and its fun to stay in a decent hotel and take taxis on the company dime. my previous trips to beijing had been pretty positive, most importantly meaning, the weather was ok. on this trip, however, the pollution mixed in with dust blown in from mongolia (which isnt far away), as well as it being unseasonably cold, made it pretty uncomfortable. and beijing traffic is the worst! just too many cars and some bad freeways. going to beijing made me appreciate living in shanghai. the city is just laid out better, it doesn't take 45 minutes to get everywhere, and the air, though still dirty, is much cleaner than in Beijing. however, one thing i do like about beijing is that everyone speaks mandarin there; there is no shanghai dialect, which doesnt really make my own communicating any easier, but does make it much easier to eavesdrop on other people's conversations.

so paul and i gave a short presentation to the google guy's about china's internet market and then took questions from them (we shared the panel with another research firm) for the next hour. i wore a tie for the first time in who knows how long. it went fine, no major blunders, and nothing too exciting. later in the day i interviewed a chinese internet company similar to youtube.com.
the big event of the trip was the next day, when google was hosting a party to announce the chinese name of the company, which turned out to be a word that means "harvest song", a pretty strange choice in my opinion. but it was a pretty fun party. google CEO eric schmidt was there (pictured on the left), though i didn't get to shake his hand or anything. and "the Chinese bob dylan" (that's how he was introduced) cui jian - pictured below) played 4 songs at the party. and google gave all the guests google lava lamps! so SR has now been introduced to lava lamps, as



have the security guards at the beijing airport, who could not for the life of them figure out what the darn thing was.

so a good trip, now i am just waiting until pacific epoch grows large enough so i can take some business trips to the US.

John Denver speech

My friend gave an infromative speech about john denver today, and how he got his name from denver's adopted son. at the sentimental parts, he gave me the signal and i started into "Country Roads", we finished the speech with rocking the class to a rendition of "Country Roads".. take me home, to the place, where i belong, west virginia, mountain mama, la di da my country home.
i started yesterday against Hardin Simmons on the bb team, a nice change.

helloooooo famiillllyyyy'ss!!! froooom geooorgetownnn!

well, right at this very second, i am drinking coconut pulp juice in my dorm room. I just got back from McDonalds and had a double cheeseburger with small chocolate shake and apple juice box.
this year is almost over and im not sure how to sum it all up. classes im taking-- post-communist politics, chinese economy, anciet chinese literature, and public speaking aaannnd public speaking. im making a C,A/B, ?, A, respectively. i think ill try a big push at the end of the semester to get em up. i had a great start to the baseball season but it ended with an irritating ankle injury. Im starting to work a little harder in school and everything else i do, so i guess im still getting readjusted to this way of life. im president of FCA and we just had a rally for this movement going around called Invisible Children. its just one of those things that goes around college campusses trying to save the world doing great noble things, which is what college is all about, joining movments and revolution for the sake of it riight? so we're right in the middle of it all, we had a discussion about our response to it in FCA tonight and it was great. so on the 26th a few crazy seniors got the crazy idea to walk from geogetown to austin and sleep out in the streets with teh rest of the country (only around college campusses-of course)- so im going with for no other reason than for an adventure. we plan to leave at 4/5 in the morning and walk allthewaythere.

I had last weekend off from bb so i went to a formal with a girl. here's a picture - the only picture I have to show, bc the only pictures i have are the ones people take of me and send me, -candid.
yes, i got a haircut, ive got mostly positive responses, so its ok, i havent buzzed it yet like ive promised everyone.
Im taking a maymester in political science so i can graduate easily with a political science major but working on an economics minor, we'll see about that. after june, ill see what flies my way, maybe an independent study, possibly another class, a mindless job, riding horses across the counrtyside-whatever, and im still counting on that family reunion at camp meeting!

camping in china

SR and i joined a camping group last weekend for a trip out to anhui province, about a five hour drive southwest of Shanghai. it was my first experience camping in china, and was not that different from what we do in the US.

in the end, it was a good trip, though i was feeling a little bit differently on Saturday morning when we were hiking in the rain after not sleeping on Friday night - that's right, we didn't get to the trailhead until 6:30 am (after getting lost a few times), so had no time to sleep and just had to start hiking.

SR ended up having a good time but i dont think she was so glad she had come on saturday. i was regretting it too. it rained most of the day saturday.

we camped in a big clearing in between two mountain peaks. we had to pitch our tents in a little wood cabin. they started some fires in the cabin, which made it so smokey i couldnt open my eyes, but i couldnt go outside because the wind was so intense - clouds blew in the door whenever it was opened.



so a funny thing happened with our tent - it was meant to be put up outside (which seems reasonable), and so you needed to put stakes in the ground to keep in standing up. well, since we were inside, we couldn't put stakes in the ground. so i was feeling pretty stupid, and SR was getting a little disappointed in her first tent experience.

but eventually we rigged something up - put one corner under a table led, a few others attached to other tents - so that it was standing up fine. we slept 11 hours that night.





got up at sunrise to beautiful weather. if i can see a nice sunrise, that makes any trip worthwhile. there is something about seeing a sunrise.
we then got to hang out on the mountain top for a few hours enjoying the sun.

the hike down was great. went through several small villages. folks from the countryside are often very warm. the people we ran into were very friendly.

so in the end, a good trip. we will hopefully be going again.

Huang Shan

i am playing around with Youtube.com again, so here is another video. this is a video from a trip we took to Huang Shan (the Yellow Mountains) over Chinese new year 2005 (a year ago).

another sunday at the park

this looks a lot like last weekends post. it was the same crew, another sunday afternoon at the park, though a different park. it was super crowded this day, as you can kind of see from the picture. we were especially lazy this day.

something you will only hear in china

"Oh, man!! I accidentally bought the green tea toothpaste!"

-Fredrik, last night at about 11pm

spring in shanghai

i know this is late, but i really wanted to blog about our weekend, LAST weekend. people sometimes ask what we do for fun in Shanghai, so here is one example. last weekend was the first warm weekend of the year, and it kind of had that affect that spring has on students at CU in Boulder - on the first warm day, you see everyone out on the grass just soaking up the rays. so we had to get out and enjoy it. it had to be at least 80.

so saturday i had a bball game at 10am at a gym way down on the other side of town. so SR and i make it just in time (SR is one of the head cheerleaders for our team) and we only have 5 guys. but anyway, we pulled out a win (for the record, my line was 8 pts, 10 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal; the league keeps stats). then SR and i went for a hair wash to freshen up. this is a common thing in China. the barbershops all offer hair washes and shoulder and head massages. it is great. costs about $1 usually. so after getting cleaned up we went to one of our favorite restaurants for a good American breakfast. after some impromptu shopping and some japanese tepanyaki for dinner, we headed home.

that night we went out to an old warehouse near Suzhou creek that runs through shanghai to see a show. shanghai has some pretty good nightlife, and even though we dont get out too often, we like to go see a band every once in a while. the show was pretty good, but the cops showed up after awhile because it was too loud i guess. it is easy to forget you are living in a one-party communist country a lot of the time, and china is doing a lot to open itself up, but things like rock concerts in old warehouses are probably still difficult for the local police to understand. so we took off after the music stopped.


sunday the weather was beautiful, so i got to work trying to put together a trip to a park to throw the frisbee and kick the soccer ball. i rallied the troops and we headed out to Chang Feng park near my old university ECNU. but when the weather gets nice in shanghai, EVERYONE goes out to the park. and chang feng park is now free, so it was completely covered up, plus they have taken out most of the open grassy areas to build new buildings. so we instead ended up on a field at ECNU. it ended up being very nice. we threw the disk, and taught our swedish roommate fredrik how to play american football.
We then got Korean for dinner.

another quote

"Reality is like a fine wine . . . it does not appeal to children."
- Donald Miller, Searching For God Knows What

one of my favorite all time quotes. i feel like i didn't really learn about reality until after college. i could go one, maybe i will later. but the two other americans are out of the office this week, so it was a long day today and i need to go to sleep.

another quote

"Reality is like a fine wine . . . it does not appeal to children."
- Donald Miller, Searching For God Knows What

one of my favorite all time quotes. i feel like i didn't really learn about reality until after college. i could go one, maybe i will later. but the two other americans are out of the office this week, so it was a long day today and i need to go to sleep.

a video from banna

i am having fun messing around with youtube.com, so here is another video. this is from me, Shen Rong and Matthew's trip to Xishuangbanna. we were riding bikes one afternoon. saw an awesome sunset this day. this was in october.

a cat video

this is a video of our kitten mooch and a crab we bought at the market to cook.
-elias

a quote stolen from brent's blog

"Sin is more than turning our backs on God, it is turning our backs on life! Immorality is much more than adultery and dishonesty; it is living drab, colorless, dreary, stale, unimaginative lives. The greatest enemy of Christianity may be people who say they believe in Jesus but who are no longer astonished and amazed. Jesus Christ came to rescue us from listlessness as well as lostness.He came to save us from flat souls as well as corrupted souls.He came to save us from dullness. Our culture is awash in immorality and drowning in dullness.We have forgotten how to dance, how to sing, and how to laugh.We have allowed technology to beat our imaginations into submission and have become tourists rather than travelers. Television dominates our time, alters our values, numbs us to life in all of its wildness.We have been stunted by mediocrity."

-Mike Yaconelli

Brent's blog.

SR's bday. i made a cake!

SR's bday was on February 13 (many of you may note that that is the day before Valentine's day). She got a new cell phone for her bday; otherwise we just took it easy. we cooked dinner and i baked a cake. it was my first time making a cake from scratch. thanks to mom and dad for the betty crocker cook book. so it took me most of an afternoon, but i thought it was pretty good. SR decorated it. with some chocolate sauce and strawberries. most chinese cakes have a lot of fruit on them.










i saw lindy say she spends a lot of her time baking. so do we. we cook almost every night now. we rotate chinese and western. SR is usually in charge of chinese with me assisting, and michael is in charge of western.



-elias

a quote (a lyric, actually) for today

can you deny
there's nothing greater
there's nothing more
than the traveling hands of time.
-son volt, tear stained eye

i am a big fan of short quotes from books or lyrics from songs. i am always underlining short passages in books, but then i always just forget about them. i am going to try to start putting some of them on here; you guys should add your own. there is something powerful in a short statement that presents a truth or a new perspective on something or something that offers a little hope is some way. reading these types of things just make you feel a little better about the world.
-elias

Mooch the cat

many of you are already aware of this, but we got a cat about a month ago. his name is Mooch, or Macgyver, or Mac. he is great. kind of a mental case, but a lot of fun. our hands and feet are his sworn enemies. we paid about US$15 for him at a market that sells pets and flowers. he is super energetic and likes to play a lot. these pics are from when we first got him, it is now about a month later and he is already a lot bigger. he is now attacking my fingers and not letting me type. he hasn't been too much trouble so far, and i would say orion and i have done a surprisingly decent job of taking care of him, and SR has helped out a lot too.

i hear abi is thinking of getting a cat - i say do it! if david will let you. then we can exchange cat stories!
-elias

virtual dorks

virtual dorks
file://C:/Documents and Settings\Owner\My Documents\My Pictures\2-4-2006
HOLA!! That's how we say hello here in Texas SR. This is Lindy and I'm here with my number one prima, Annagraciella the Fincher. It's a lovely Lubbock day, and yesterday was even sweeter because it was my birthday. Annagraciella came down last night, and we've had a rip-roaring time so far. I'm throwing a party for myself tonight. The theme is DIAMONDS: Celebrating Lindy's past, present, and future. I invited Matthew and I told all my guests to frost themselves with bling.
Lindy taking the bench.
Annagraciella signing in.
Well, things are exciting in our lives. Lindy has boy in her class, who has been eyeing her. He thinks he smooth, but his moves do nothing for her. As Lindy says, "He has the small guy complex," which is really the little man snydrome. I have young fourth grade girls who sneak of to the bathroom to make out with their boyfriends, unfortunately there is no joking around about this. Student teaching has overtaken our lives, and this is all we can talk about. The big news that is happening is my life, is my new beau! Haha, I figured this is big news for me and EVERYBODY should know about it. Well his name is Jordan, he is a football stud!
Annagraciella signs out.
Lindy substitutes in.
Ah, yes. Student teaching is now our life. I do have a bad boy in my class. I give the evil ice queen eye and some harsh chiding, and the problem is solved. Yes Annagraciella is seeing a young man. It is true, he is a football stud. She tells me he is so much bigger than her. That's good news. John is running his little tail off. He also has a small child in the form of a pup. Sophie is her name and she is his one true love. What other news for Lindy, you ask? Not a whole lot my friends, but times are good. I have been painting pictures and baking the days away. I also painted a chair in my room a pink shade that was called 'Sweet William'. It's really beautiful.
Lindy, down for the count.
Annagraciella checks back in.
Well, we tried to put a picture on the site, but we do not know if it worked. Well we are about to eat at Fuddruckers, finally, we have been waiting for John. He was spending some much needed time with his girl, Sophie.
Lindy and Annagraciella leave.

I just tried to post but I must have done something wrong because it didn't come up so I'll try again. Things have been busy at the Finchers but just with everyday stuff. Jeremiah just got back from a weekend in Lubbock visiting cousins John and Lindy and checking out TT again before joining the ranks of the college bound. JD's busy with Red, Rhythm and Blues. They performed at the Paramount Theater before a production of Peter Pan. They sounded great and it's always fun for me to see and hear them! Both Jeremiah and Annagrace are at Super Bowl parties with friends so Mike and I will have a party of our own with King Crab legs and guacamole. Go Seahawks! Aunt Mickey and Bodie were in Lubbock visiting also and Jeremiah gave a good report about Mickey's health. She seems to be having more "good" days lately and we are so grateful to God for that. Jeremiah is busy with Senior things and the moms are getting together this week to plan a big senior bash for the boys! Annagrace is very busy with student teaching, still working at the Country club and trying to manage her social life. The 7-7 working days are killing her! She's not sure she likes the "grown up " world. Mike turned the big 50 and we're planning a trip to the U.S. Open tennis tournament in NYC over Labor Day to celebrate. He was excited to win a tournament in Houston last weekend. He and JD are playing a tournament this weekend together - a good father/son bonding time. My life at school has been a little discouraging with heartbreaking home issues of some of my kids. However, after a couple of parent conferences, things seem a little better. We're looking toward the Houston trip for Mickey's surgery on the 15th and we're praying for great results. I love reading and seeing tidbits about Elias' life. I'll send pictures when I figure out how. I hope the rest of the family will start posting soon. It's great fun! Love, Aunt Patty

Just a short post from my trip with Grandad to Georgetown for Matthew's 2006 baseball banquet. We drove down Sat morning and got there about 12:30. We attended the alumni game (see picture with Matthew, Matthew and I) and saw all his friends. Banquet was nice (as alwys) and I think Grandad really enjoyed. I am sure the baseball coach thinks Matthew is from a split family since something has kept Kathy from being able to go for all 3 years. She is not happy about it and says that she is going next year no matter what.

kickin back in wujiang

an account of what SR and i did over chinese new year:
so we had a nine day holiday for Chinese New Year, which happened to fall on my birthday this year (january 29). chinese people all go home for the new year, so SR and i went back to her hometown to hang out with her parents. they live in a small town about an hour and a half from shanghai and close to Suzhou. the town is small (you can still pretty much walk anywhere you need to go) but is growing fast with the help of many new factories that have been built there. there are at least two KFCs and one McD's and wal-mart is building a store there.
i am not exactly sure what chinese people did traditionally for chinese new year, or spring festival, but nowadays it is mostly a time when families get together and eat a lot. the new year also initiates a confusing time when chinese people start talking of dates in terms of the lunar calendar, so new year's day is the first day of the first month, etc. it gets pretty confusing (we came back to shanghai on feb 3, but SR parents always said the sixth) for a week or so until everyone goes back to using the normal calendar.
there is a big meal on new year's eve (see the sideways picture to the left), when they make much more food than anyone can eat, which is supposed to allow them to eat leftovers and not have to cook for the next few days so they can rest at the start of the new year. after dinner, most chinese now have the tradition of watching the New Year's Gala, a four hour show that is pretty much terrible. a lot of chinese people also think it is terrible, but it is usually playing somewhere in the house anyway. there is a lot of celebrating china and the communist party through song and dance (this year there was a strong focus on the two pandas that china wants to give taiwan, though of course there was no mention that taiwan will likely not accept the pandas), though there are some funny skits thrown in .
then at midnight, everyone in the country lights off firecrackers. it sounds like WWIII outside as everyone rings in the new year. we of course did our part.
over the course of the next few days people visit relatives and eat a lot more. several of SR's aunts and uncles and cousins came to see us. we also visited her 80-something maternal grandmother. i had met most of her family before, so it was pretty normal.
we spent most of the six days we were there eating, watching TV (there were NBA games on almost every morning), taking naps, reading and talking to her parents.
i had a few of my own goals for the week: to take a nap every day and to finish one book. i didn't meet either of them. i took a nap every day except the day before we left, and i made the fatal error of starting on a less interesting book before switching midweek to walking the bible. while i did make good progress, i did not complete my mission.

they bought me an nice big cake for my bday.


this year is the year of the dog, which is SR's year. this means it should be a pretty good year for her. and she is supposed to wear more red (a lucky color). she recently bought a big red down coat, so she is doing pretty well so far.
so that was Chinese new year. nothing too crazy, but a restful and relaxing six days.
when we got back we had another taco night. our friend michael's parents were in town, he is from San antone, and they brought mounds of mexican cheese and tortillas, and they even bought some exorbitantly priced avocados to make guacamole with. we of course had our homemade sour cream and roasted green peppers, and it was an excellent time.
we also had a few snow flurries yesterday.
got to go back to work tomorrow. we are now counting the days until our next weeklong holiday in may.
-elias

Elias!! I have been meaning to post for quite a while...things get so busy that I just keep forgetting. I really enjoyed reading everyone's postings-it is a nice way to see what's going on with everyone. Has everything been wild and crazy in China b/c of the LNY? Everything in New York is good. It has been an oddly mild January so far. I'm actually kind of worried that February is going to come in with a vengeance and we are going to have to face some of that bitter cold that is so typical of a New York winter. It's actually 55 degrees out today!! Dave got through his first Glenn family Christmas beautifully. He worked on the puzzle with Aunt Pat and my dad!! My dad built a washers board for Grandad, and Dave even participated in that :) On December 26, we left for our honeymoon in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. It was SO beautiful and perfect. We were there for eight glorious days. As of late, I have actually grown quite addicted to the television show "The Amazing Race"-remember your grandmother liked to watch that? Anyway, on a previous season, the teams were actually in Shanghai-they had the WORST time getting around. By far the hardest location of the entire race! It was kind of funny to watch. I thought of you and how amazing it is that you managed to acclimate yourself so quickly when you first went. I would love to post a picture, but I'm actually not on our main computer, so I will sometime soon. I'm going to put the link to our wedding photos at the end of the post. I love to read about all of your cooking adventures. Though I am by no means a gourmet chef, I have really grown to enjoy cooking. Dave and I hardly ever order in anymore. There is something so therapeutic and nice about it. Like you've accomplished something :) I can't believe that they don't have stoves in China! Can you believe all of our family news? That Jeremiah is a talented performer, and that John has his own dog? And that Lindy and Annagrace are student teaching? So much going on...Anyway, I must go. Dave is building a computer and it's my job to read the various instruction manuals to him. Hope everything is well. -Katie Winarsky :)
www.kaitlin-david.lifemosaics.com

TEST/TEST

Trying this out to see if it really works, Us oilfield trash can't keep up with this new technology! A.G.
This blog is from your older sister in law, and aunt, Anna Grace, you don't think I can do this?A.G.

just trying it out for the first time. making sure we're doing it right? Aunt Patty
I was able to see the postings on the blog sight so I'm trying to add information. We'll see if it works. I loved seeing and reading about what Elias is doing in China. This is a great idea!
We've been busy with Jeremiah as he is performing in the Cooper musical Beauty and the Beast.
He's Maurice and a fine Maurice at that. We are so proud of him. This is really out of his comfort zone. We were amazed at his beautiful voice - even if he is ours and our objectivity is questionable. Mom and Dad came last weekend and Lindy, John and maybe even Matthew are coming next weekend. There are 6 performances and I am seeing them all! Annagrace is preparing to start her student teaching tomorrow. She will be with 4th graders the first part and preschool the last part. She's a little nervous about 4th but I think she's looking forward to it. I'm still teaching 5th grade reading and I love it. We're trying to get them prepared for the TAKS on Feb. 21 and that's not too much fun. I do a lot of bribing to make it a little more bearable for all of us. In answering the Christmas puzzle question. I always buy 2 Christmas puzzles each year for us to work on. Bodie is really good at these and Annagrace is a whiz. Dave was a great new addition to the puzzle working this year. He was a real trouper at Christmas! John got a puppy for Christmas -Sophia, a pug. He's really enjoying her. Well, the rest of the year we'll probably be doing Senior things for Jeremiah and Annagrace. I don't know what Mike and I will do without them here next year. Maybe we'll need to travel to China or somewhere!
We miss you and I'll try to send some pictures when I figure out how! Aunt Patty

just trying it out for the first time. making sure we're doing it right? Aunt Patty

January post holiday....

The trees don't drop their leaves until after Christmas, that is, FINISH dropping their leaves until after New Years and that means many bags of leaves out in front of the Lakewood houses along with the Christmas trees. It's a short time to view the trees; pecan, oak, sweet gum, elm, and the one with the big leaves and the curly bark that comes off too and leaves a big mess, without leaves. It has been warm for Dallas and the Bradford Pear already has buds, small, but nonetheless, buds, about to emerge. So, Woody and I raked leaves last Sat. Where are those boys when there are Large Piles of Leaves to run through and jump into? ....and help bag up? I'm pretty sure that's why Elias is in China, where there are no yards and all those leaves to rake. Matthew was skiing in CO, and Abi and David were back in Houston where they have landlords to do the leaves and I think have Live Oaks. I guess raking leaves is kind of therapuetic to me, because you pick a day that's not freezing, you're outside in the front with and occasional neighbor or friend who drives by and waves, and everything is so neat and tidy when you're through and then it's something that's DONE until next year.

more food news!

well, i have been wanting to post something lately, but not much has been going on because it is winter in Shanghai, and, well, we all know that means most of the time you stay inside with the heater with a blanket on your lap and watch 24. i have watched many more US TV shows over here than i ever did in the US (not counting the simpsons and seinfeld). It is so much better here - you buy the DVDs of the show and can watch them at your leisure. no scheduling your week around your shows and wondering for a week how Jack Bauer will convince the president that he really must help this convict escape from prison and return to mexico. so as you can tell we have been watching a lot of 24, but have also found time for Lost, arrested development, Rome, and, i hate to admit, desperate housewives.

but since no one wants to read about which old US TV shows i am watching, i will stick to my oven related posts. we have made two batches of cookies, and over the weekend made lasagna and carrot cake over the weekend, and this weekend have our sights set on an apple pie and maybe biscuits (for SR, who thinks everything we have made so far is tooooooooo sweet). the carrot cake has been excellent - we made everything from scratch, even the cream cheese icing. actually, i have to say most of the cooking has been done by our neighbor, a teacher from san antone. he is an awesome cook. the only problem we have run into is that there is no baking powder or almond extract in Shanghai, and it has been very difficult finding the right pans. but we have gotten by so far.

i find the longer i live in shanghai, the more western food i eat. i don't know why. i guess when you first get here the food is all new and interesting and good and you don't miss western food yet. but after a while you start to get the cravings and rice and fried veggies everyday starts to get a little old and you decide that you just need a good sandwich or cereal. and i don't really feel full after eating a chinese meal. but don't get me wrong, i still love chinese food and eat it most of the time, i am just adding a little more western food.

we have been doing more home cooking in general lately. i guess we are starting to get tired of the chinese food we usually order for dinner. we have this one place we call, we say jiang bao rou pian fan (matthew knows what i am talking about), and they know exactly who we are - the foreigners on the 28th floor. it is one of my favorite foods and only costs about US$.60, but everyday gets old, and the veggies aren't always fresh. so now we cook a lot more, usually chinese food. SR does most of the cooking, and i help as much as i can. michael and orion usually join us.

with all this great food, i think i have been getting a little bigger lately. i always weigh in kg here, so i was unaware what i was up to in lbs until yesterday. i think now i am at about 195. so i need to be carefull, 200 sounds pretty scary. or maybe i should just stick to weighing myself in kg so i never hit 200.

we got an oven

we bought it yesterday. chinese people don't cook with an oven, so no normal apartment in china has one built in. we have been doing more cooking lately, and we have this new neighbor - from san antonio - that really likes to cook and is pretty good at it. so we decided to get a small oven. it cost about US$55 and was sitting on out dining room table last night as we tried to make snickerdoodles using SR's new cook book. the only ingredient we couldn't find was cream of tartar, but they tasted pretty good without it. i had never mixed cookies by hand before - it wasn't easy. They came out alright, and we are now plotting our next cooking project.

we also made homemade dumplings yesterday. dumplings are one of my favorite foods, and this was my first time making them. we bought pork and cabbage (you can use a lot of different things for filling), and chopped them up very very fine and add some ginger and salt and cooking alcohol. you can make your own wrappings, but we took the easy way and bought some. they are little circular pieces of dough about the size of your palm. then you have to wrap the dumplings. SR was the expert at this, but i eventually kind of got the hang of it. then you boil them, then eat them with vinegar and they were sooooooooooooo good. it doesn't get much better than homemade jiaozi.
-elias