The traditional gift for a 20th wedding anniversary is China, and Briant literally gave me that!  So here we are now on December 18th celebrating 21 years of being married while living in Beijing for five months, and after walking around in HelloMart with a variety of Chinese food options, we chose to be fancy and go to Taco Bell.  :)  It was the first time we'd eaten there since we left the States, so it was a real treat.  We were actually trying to make it to an early 3D showing of Wonder Woman 1984, and we didn't have much time from when Briant ended Mandarin classes to when the movie would start.  So we knew dinner needed to be fast and easy.  It was perfect.  It didn't taste like home, but it was as close to American Taco Bell that I think we could get.  I actually wish our Taco Bells back home served sweet potato fries like this one did!

And we had a laugh at Briant's little doughnut balls. He was expecting more than three.  ;) 

So I guess there's no real traditional gift for a 21st anniversary, but suggested gifts are brass or nickel.  I think a few of our purchases over the past few months qualify. ;)

 

All week we reflected on the last 21 years and the memories of different school and job opportunities and raising the kids in different states and countries, what we've learned about the world, ourselves, and each other.  We had moments of laughter, moments of thoughtfulness, and moments of wonder as we think of our future.  A number of times, we wondered about different "what if" scenerios--what if Bri hadn't gone to law school, what if I hadn't gone to graduate school and taught special education, what if I had just gone to the Indiana Jones Trilogy that Bri asked me to instead of telling him that I had to study for a test 3.5 years before the infamous barbecue where sparks flew after my mission, ;)  what if we had joined the foreign service earlier, what if we had invested my hard earned babysitting money in Amazon in 2000 instead of 2017, etc.  And the big question was, what if we could go back 21 years knowing what we know now, would we want to?  What pain could we avoid and prevent by going back and applying what we know now?  We concluded that every decision we've made has led us to where we are now and we think it was all important to actually get us to this point.  We don't know if there's anything that we should or could have changed, that would have still kept us on this trajectory of happiness and contentment.  We are where we need to be, and all of this crazy living we've done has helped develop us individually and strengthen our love and commitment to each other and our marriage.  Our rough imperfections are slowly, and beautifully softening as we help each other and are taught by our patient and loving children.  They seem to be our greatest reminders of our weaknesses and we appreciate their patience with us as we learn to be better parents.  The past 21 years haven't been easy, but they've certainly been worth it and I'm grateful to have gone through them with my honey bunny, cuddle bear Bri who I love with all my heart.

 

 

I bought some plants this week!  Without having any of our stuff still (waiting on our red cards), our apartment is bare, particularly bare of warmth and personality.  I thought for sure we would want to have some nature inside to "liven" up the place whether we had our stuff or not, and since it's becoming apparent that it's going to be months before we receive our shipments, I decided not to wait around to start making our house a home.  I asked around and after learning how to say flower shop in Mandarin,  "Huā diàn," and learning where one was located, I planned on going one morning after exercising.  There were a few days this week I was feeling "blah," and this day was another one.  So I thought I should just get out to the flower shop to bring home some plants to brighten up our home and my mood.  Luckily my friend and neighbor Amy put a text out to ladies from church here in the city asking if anyone wanted to play games or get together.  I texted her and told her my plan to go to the florist, and she said, "Let's go!"  Apparently she was anxious for some mood uplift and socializing with a friend too.  :)  So she and Gordon joined me, and I was grateful to have their companionship.  Amy took the full FSI Mandarin course, so I appreciated her Mandarin translating capabilities with my questions to the florist about how much to water the plants, if they needed sun or not, etc.  I was even able to find poinsettias for the Christmas season which I hadn't anticipated finding here in China!  I bought enough of them to give to our good friends as we Christmas caroled to them with "We wish you a Merry Christmas!"

I really wanted to just buy the whole store!  I passed up lemon trees and all sorts of beautiful flowers and leaves.  What I really wanted were a bonsai tree of some sort and a large plant for a corner next to our dining room table.  I found both and then some, but only spent about $150 for nine plants with vases and pots!

What was great was the delivery fee she pretty much waived because of the quantity of plants I bought.  Just a few hours after I paid for them, they arrived.  It was perfect timing because Sally, our ayi, had arrived so she could tell her the names of the plants and how to care for them.  Then Sally wrote it down for me in English.  Let's see how long I can keep these beauties alive!

 

It's December now, and winter is setting in.  The park is losing its fall beauty, but is still pretty in a way with, the water beginning to freeze with blue skies.Amazingly, the cold weather has not put a stop to the dance or Tai Chi groups, or deterred the exercisers from frequenting the park on a daily basis.  This dance group has been at the park every day from 7-8am since I moved here.  They move around a large rectangular fountain area with synchronized dance movements.I love watching this group with their swords.
I started attending this Rou li qiu class in October.  I had walked by this group of women dancing numberous times, and became curious as to what they were actually dancing with.  I could never get close enough to see, but soon found out that they dance with a small racquet with a ball balancing on it.  One morning when I was "walking and talking" with my dad that called after I got to the park, I approached a lady in the back and asked if I could see what they danced with.  Luckily a lady named Jing that was standing nearby, could speak English pretty well  That in itself was a miracle because it is very rare, especially in a group of older ladies, to find anyone that can speak English here in Beijing.  She had lived in the States for 20 years, and had come back with her husband as they get ready for retirement.  She explained what Rou li qiu wsa, and I asked if anyone could learn it, and the next thing I knew, I had the teacher and about ten other women standing around me helping me buy the equipment from the teacher through WeChat.  I had to hang up with my dad so I could join in and be taught for part of the lesson before it ended.  The ladies were so welcoming and friendly with their smiles, and I, with my limited Chinese, smiled back and thanked them for helping me.  Luckily Jing continued to help translate for me for the next 2-3 lessons, and then her schedule changed and I haven't seen her for a while.  A group of about 30 women or so meet every day, but I pop in on Fridays with my friend Amber that wanted to start coming with me.  This is our little "beginner group," with the teacher in the blue jacket.  They are such sweet women, that only speak in Chinese.  But they try and help us learn the dances they're working on, and I'm slowly learning some new Chinese words and phrases.

We get people walking by that get intrigued with two non-Chinese women dancing with the locals, and they stop and stare.  This particular morning, a man stopped and started video recording us.  I thought I might as well put him to work for me and get a video of us dancing before Amber leaves in a few months.  It was fun to watch the video and see how much we've learned and how much better we're getting at not losing the ball off our racquets!

 

For Family Home Evening before Thanksgiving, we took a moment to wrote down things that we were grateful for and shared them.  It was amazing that even in this year of crazy Covid 2020, we still had much to be grateful for.  There always is of course when you stop and look for your blessings.  And this year was no exception.  Most importantly, above all, we have each other and the gospel of Jesus Christ that continues to be the compass of our lives. No surprise that Dad got artistic with his gratitude list.  He's a creative express-or of thoughts. 

Dad:

Thomas

Mom

Rhea

Savannah

Thanksgiving is a normal day in the country that we live in when we live abroad.  Being an American holiday, life goes on as usual with stores, schools, etc. being open.  However, working of course for the American Embassy, Bri gets work off, while the kids still have school.  And at this stage of middle school and high school, the kids can't miss school.  This year in particular, they had tests and projects due on Thanksgiving day, so Bri and I enjoyed a quiet day at home, followed by another quiet day of Bri studying Mandarin with a little break for visiting and playing a new game called Qwixx with the Baileys, Ewings, Westergards, and Thompsons.

On Sunday, we finally broke out a simple Thanksgiving meal of turkey, mashed potatoes, beans, my annual French Quarter Cheese Pecan spread, and pumpkin pie made by Savannah.  After church, we made lunch (here's Thomas dealing with some overcooked sweet potato noodles) and we started cooking Thanksgiving.  Living abroad definitely keeps our cooking efforts and expectations more simple.  The menu depends on what food we're able to find.  Being new to Beijing, we didn't know where to find everything, and I wasn't on the ball enough to have ordered all the food items we would need, but we found enough.  At least I thought ahead and ordered canned pumpkin on Amazon!

About a week before Thanksgiving, I discovered that the embassy commissary still had a few turkeys left, so I bought one.  I thought I had missed the window of opportunity, but alas, they had a few left.  And at the same time, I bought a Christmas ham, which I was surprised to find in stock as well.  It was beginning to feel like the holidays!

We still don't have our UAB or HHE, so we don't have any of our nicer dishes or serving ware.  I usually like to set out "name pumpkins" on each plate that I made years ago as well.  All in due time, but hopefully sooner than later.  Keeping it simple this year.

Savannah did a great job with the pumpkin pie!  I'm amazed at her bravery in tackling new recipes all the time.  Her favorite of course being dessert recipes.  It's so wonderful to have her lift our dessert burden in the kitchen and we're always happy to partake of her contribution.  ;)

 

By Sunday night after eating Thankgiving turkey, Rhea was ready to move on to Christmas and she started making a tree for us.  :)  And it got put up on the wall.

 

Rhea even got out her Christmas earrings that Savannah made for her.

 

 So Thomas and I had our first "doctor" visit in Beijing.  Thomas needed new orthotics since it's been almost a year with his first pair we got back in Virginia.  We referred to "Dr. Avi," but he was stuck in Israel, trying to get back to China after being evacuated, so he saw his Chinese counterpart.  We were surprised to find that it was just an open room, with other patients, but mostly the receptionist, "Grandfather" that did massages, and friends of the Wong that helped us.  We were there for three hours, and so were they.  Not quite the quick and private visits we're used to back in the States!And this was the bathroom. :)

 

These orthotics were "homemade" so Thomas stood on this thing first, and then he brought some orthotics out which we then had to shave down, over and over for the next three hours, to give Thomas' feet the support where they needed it.  There were areas of pain and "too much support" that we had to address, and unfortunately it took hours.  Mr. Wang was a nice man though and he was very patient.

"Grandfather" had to massage Thomas' calves because the muscles are so tight and are affecting his feet.  Grandfather had to take off his walnut bracelets and other jewelry to do the massage.

Mr. Wang showed us orthotics he has made in the past for famous sports teams.

Here's the team.  ;)  After 4 weeks, we returned for some adjustments on the orthotics because Thomas' feet were still hurting.  Another long visit of 2.5 hours.  Mr. Wang said that "Dr. Avi" was back in China and would be out of quarantine soon, and that he could probably help more since his English is better.  We visited Dr. Avi and he suggested Thomas get better shoes.  He recommended New Balance shoes.  We ordered them from the States for $175, but they were $150 cheaper than we could find them here.  So now we're waiting to see if those new shoes will make the difference.  Here's to hoping!

 

I love fall, and I've been loving fall here in Beijing.  We've been slowly watching leaves fall with the different weather conditions of wind and rain, but this particular morning when I went out for my morning exercise at Chaoyang Park, I noticed that overnight, because of wind, a lot of the leaves had fallen to the ground.  I thought that I'd better collect leaves now before they disappear.  So after exercising, I texted my friend and neighbor Amy to see if she wanted me to take Gordon, her 18 month old, outside with me to collect leaves and give her a break.  She loved the idea of going out with me, so they both joined me after getting our jackets on. 

We had a nice walk around the block starting in front of our apartment building.

Funny enough, when I was walking to exercise at the park, all of these leaves were on the ground, so I snapped a picture of them.  When I went back with Amy and Gordon, they were already gone.  They had been swept up by men that are constantly sweeping and cleaning the streets.  

 

This is the type of broom they use when sweeping the sidewalks. 

So we had to do most of our leaf collecting from the bushes.

I got home with a nice collection of sizes and colors, and decided not to worry about pressing them all.  So I threw some out on the table to decorate with and enjoy now, and threw the rest into books to press. 

Luckily our friend Amber was getting rid of a few books, so those were the ones I used to press them since we still don't have our UAB or HHE.

 

It's sad for me to say goodbye to Fall, but I'm glad we get little pieces of it in our home until it's time to decorate for Christmas.  :)