Christmas Greetings - 2014

2014 has been a blessed year for the Meyer Family: We began the year in Shanghai, China and will close it out in Minneapolis, Minnesota - where we moved in June.  While we miss so much about our life in China, especially our dear friends, we are thankful for God's faithful provision to return to the U.S.  We are still adjusting to life here, including Joab looking for a new job after being laid off in September.  Overall, we have been encouraged to see how everyone is building more connections here.

Adjusting Well to the US: A lot of people ask us how the kids are adjusting to life in the USA. Truly, they are doing great: School, Church, Neighborhood and Time with Family - they love it all!
- Miriam and Asa: Our big kids attend a local Chinese Charter Immersion School - Ying Hua Academy.  This has been an amazing way for Asa and Miriam to continue in their Chinese studies. They both have made some great friends and love being a part of such a great community.
- Salome was fluent in Chinese when we left this summer and now has forgotten most of her Chinese. This makes us sad, but hopeful she can gain it again next year when she goes to Ying Hua for Kindergarten.
- Silas is talking more and more and when you ask him his name he replies "Elmo" just to see you laugh! He brings a lot of laughter to our home.

Prayers Answered and Fulfillment Awaited: I (Emily) had three prayers for our move to the USA: That we would find a house that feels like a home, a church that feels like a family and a job Joab loves. Truly the first two have been met as we are renting an incredible home in North Minneapolis near the kids school and in November become members of Sovereign Grace Church! Now we are just waiting on God for the job! God has answered so many prayers and we are eager to see Him do so again!

Leaving China: Leaving the place we called home for seven years was probably the hardest thing we have done as a married couple. It was not easy to leave a land and community that we loved. But have learned a lot, grown a lot and by God's amazing grace have seen God provide time and time again.  Below are some highlights from the last year.  As always, we would love to hear from you - either through posting on the blog below or e-mailing us (joabandemily@gmail.com)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Cutting the Christmas Tree

Halloween Costumes

Carving Pumpkins

First Day of School at Ying Hua Academy

Exploring Minnehaha Creek in South Minneapolis

Moving Into our New Home in North Minneapolis

Leaving Shanghai: Boxes and Goodbye

Summer Trip: Visiting Our Friend's Family in the Anhui Country Side  

Final Party with Local Chinese Friends

Spring Trip with American Friends (the Bowmans) to Nanjing

Ringing in the Chinese New Year with Lights in Downtown Shanghai

Tianjin Trip: Part 2 - Transition Seminar

The primary reason our family traveled to Tianjin the second weekend in March was to attend a "Leaving Well" seminar sponsored by the Tianjin International School.  Not only was this seminar interactive and fun - for Emily and I as well as the older two kids - but it also introduced us to key practices to help our upcoming return to the U.S. in practical ways.  It helped us understand healthy ways to both prepare to leave our life here in Shanghai and begin to set up a new life in Minneapolis.

The staff at the school did an incredible job of hosting, including having a delicious formal lunch.

The seminar was very interactive as both the kids and adults had an opportunity to make crafts to help us more deeply understand the concepts from the class.

Below is Miriam's beautiful picture of leaving China.  On the left is her Chinese nick name (美) transposed on top of "M" representing how she feels both Chinese and American; on the right is her heart that is a mixture of both cultures.

Miriam's Picture

Asa also got into the action by making a raft; this raft is a teaching tool to help the kids understand key practices for healthy transition through R.A.F.T. (Reconcile, Affirm, Farwell, Think Destination).

Asa and His Raft

Emily and I also got into the craft action by building a picture of transition.  A key concept was that of "apairofducks" or paradox, which points out that in any transition there are both happy changes (AKA "yeah ducks") and sad changes (AKA "yuck ducks").  We want to fully process both the happy and the sad while making sure we have a lot of fun in the process.

A Pair of Ducks Having Fun

It's impossible to summarize a day-long session on transition.  However, the fundamentals are captured in this slide I shared with a group of expatriates here in Shanghai.

Below is more detail about these 4 key ideas and how we are using them as a family:

• Transition is a Process:  We are already preparing physically and emotionally for our move date of June 29 and expect to need up to a year to feel at "home" after we move to Minneapolis. 
• Rock: Our family routines bring stability to our lives and the lives of our children - even as the world around them changes.  This means scheduled time as a family (Daddy Dates, Family Nights, etc) and as a couple (weekly dates) are even more important than normal.
• Paper: Time moves especially fast in transition and we want to intentionally capture favorite places and times with dear friends. Posting pictures on this blog plays a critical role as does being very deliberate about setting up time with friends before we leave.
• Scissors: It takes a significant amount of energy to prepare for and execute transition, which means we need to focus on doing less in the transition period.  

If you want to learn more about ideas on leaving well, these blog posts from the instructor of our course are invaluable tools:

• Rock - http://www.thecultureblend.com/?p=1056
• Paper - http://www.thecultureblend.com/?p=1124
• Scissors - http://www.thecultureblend.com/?p=1174

Tianjin Trip: Part 1 - A Changing Neighborhood and Friends

The first weekend in March we had the opportunity to visit my (Joab's) "hometown" here in China - Tianjin.  Believe it or not, nearly 17 years ago I had the opportunity to spend nearly 1 year in Tianjin, which is about an hour south of Beijing by train, studying Chinese.  Not only did I learn a ton about Chinese language and culture, but I met many dear friends - many of whom I am still in touch with today.

The first day we were in Tianjin we visited some of these friends who live in Tianjin's Muslim area made up most of ethnic Hui - one of China's largest Muslim minorities.  We were able to see first hand how this community is physically being transformed - as an entire neighborhood of one story homes are being converted into high rise apartment blocks.  In the midst of this change, the community is clearly finding ways to maintain their traditions and customs.  

A tower at the neighborhood mosque

The entrance to the men's worship hall

The Old and The New: 

The rubble of the one story buildings with the apartment buildings in the background

A panoramic view of the old neighborhood with the Mosque tower in the middle

The entrance to the new apartment compound with traditional architecture

Though our time with our friends was brief the kids enjoyed connecting with their children.  They have a lot in common having both grown up in China and attended local schools.

A trip to my old "hometown" isn't complete without some great food.  Here Em is enjoying candied haw-fruit, which we can get in Shanghai, but is much tastier (and cheaper) up North!  Em's hand signal is telling us the total (for 2) was only 6 yuan as apposed to 5 yuan each here in Shanghai.

The Lord of the Double Daddy Dates

Today the older two kids (Miriam 11 and Asa 8) dubbed "The Lord of the Double Daddy Dates as I (Joab) spent nearly the entire day with them going to special places and connecting with dear friends.  After serving at Miriam's Sunday School class we headed for our favorite restaurant for Shanghai food - Jesse Restaurant in Xintiandi.

The kids enjoyed some of the favorite dishes including - Shanghai Style Braised Pork Belly and Dates Stuffed with Sticky Rice.  We also had a blast reading our favorite sections of "The Hobbit" - a preview for our afternoon activity.

Later in the afternoon we went to see "The Desolation of Smaug" in 3D with some of their favorite friends - Anna and Elijah Bowman.  It is hard to believe it, but we have been friends with the Bowman family nearly the entire time we have lived in Shanghai, which began in the fall of 2007.

Chinese New Year Highlights - 2014

One of the biggest holidays of the year here in China is always Chinese New Year.  Below are some of the highlights from our family's Chinese New Year celebrations.

The New Year's celebrations begin with great anticipation as decorations went up around our complex - including a carousel style horse - this year is the Year of the Horse - at the complex entrance.

We knew the New Year's celebration was close when we began to see the extra fruit boxes and fireworks being sold in our neighborhood. 

There were also some great displays at our local mall - including a three story tall red horse.

We also got a great family picture at the base of the horse, which we then climbed and shot an arrow off in hopes of winning a prize.

On New Year's Eve (Jan 30, 2014) Emily cooked an amazing meal, which included fish - an essential dish in a Chinese New Year's meal

After dinner we went to our neighbor's house to set off fireworks - the kids had a blast.

The fireworks climaxed at mid-night and here is a short video I shot from the 33rd floor of our building

 

On New Year's Day (Jan 31) we went across town to with our good friends the Bowmans where the kids had a blast - including setting up a "Kids Cafe" and serving the dads.

After time with the Bowmans we had a chance to take a short train ride to nearby Kun Shan with families who are part of our home school coop.  Miriam had a blast at the party with one of her good friends from coop - Haley.

We spent the next several days of the holiday at a hotel downtown in order to avoid the nosiest fireworks.  Near downtown in the Yu Garden area there were some impressive lantern displays with traditional Chinese New Year scenes.

Unexpectedly, there was also a "Garden of Eden" lantern display where Adam and Eve were standing next to Jesus with a white horse.

From our hotel room - on the 33rd floor - we had a great view of downtown.

This is the westward view of People's Square, which was the horse racing track during Shanghai's colonial days.

From the eastward view there was a nice view of downtown Shanghai - including the Pearl Tower (lit up in red) and the Shanghai Financial Center (lit up in blue).

One of the highlights of our time at the hotel was the great view of the fireworks that were lit off at mid-night to celebrate the arrival of the god of wealth.  The fireworks culminate about 2 minutes into the video.

Celebrating Christmas and New Year's Day in Penang

This year we celebrated Christmas and brought in the New Year in a special way; we took a family trip to Penang, Malaysia.  In the end, this was a blessed family time of relaxing, re-connecting and enjoying a culture quite different than any other our family has experienced thus far.  

Beautiful Beaches

The first thing we all enjoyed was the beaches and clean air.  Here are the kids standing on a small beach near the National Park.  It was their first time to see the ocean, which Asa declared was "Awesome!".

The second beach we visited was Monkey Beach, which is inside the National Park.  As you can see each of the kids - including little Silas - greatly enjoyed playing on the beach.

Here are the older two kids enjoying a beach-side swing.

The younger two kids enjoyed this "baby pool" type section of the beach.

No beach trip is complete without a sand castle and digging for shells.

Hiking

At the end of the beach was a trail to a light house we heard had a beautiful view of the surrounding area.  Our guide told us it would take 30 minutes to hike (each way), but I guess he didn't calculate hiking with a 14 month Silas and 4 year old Salome.  In the end, the hard work was worth it as the view from the top of the light house was amazing!

Here are Emily and the older three kids while our guide patiently waits at the top of the hill.

This is the light house at the top of the hill, which was built in the late 1800's.

Here is the breath taking vista from atop the light house.

Food

Besides the view another thing that kept us going on the hike was the incredible lunch we ate before hand.  The new types of food we were able to try in Penang was certainly a highlight, especially for Emily and I.

This is our spread from Monkey Beach, which included grilled chicken, fish, shrimp and satay.

Another local treat is shaved ice with flavors and sweet veggies on top.  While the kids didn't go for the sweet canned corn, they loved the shaved ice.

Cool drinks were also a big hit.  Miriam typically stuck with her old standard - Sprite - while Asa discovered milk tea and Salome enjoyed pineapple or mango juice.

We also enjoyed the easy access to Indian food - even if Asa didn't like the Tandoori chicken 

I ordered in the "Little India" section of the historic Georgetown neighborhood.

Local Culture

Penang has a fascinating history that mixes influences from the majority Malay communities as well as ethnic Chinese, Indians and European settlers.  We explored Fort Cornwallis near Georgetown to get a sense of the European influences and also had an opportunity to interact with the local Malay Muslim community near where we stayed.

The kids enjoyed climbing on the old cannons at Fort Cornwallis.

It was also fun to see how much they enjoyed being together - especially the older three kids.

Everyday we were awaken by a call to prayer from this mosque in the neighborhood where we were staying.  The few Malay Muslims we had the opportunity to interact with were very hospitable to outsiders and at the same time earnest about their faith.  We have much to learn about this faith held by many people across the world and here in Asia.

This is a picture of our entire family squeezing with all of our luggage into a single taxi for the last leg of our trip in Penang.  I love seeing the joy on the kids faces - something common throughout the trip.  Not only from the amazing sites and food, but most importantly time together as a family and the opportunity to interact with and learn from many different kinds of people.