This is Wang QingShan (59) who’s son (Wang SiJing) died in the earthquake May last year. I found it quite special to meet Wang SiJing’s family as the guy would have been my age if he was still alive and the drawings made by his 10 year old daughter reminded of those that our 10 year old daughter makes. Their son was supporting both parents from his job in the coal mines. So, in the earthquake, the whole family lost not only a dear son, husband and father, but also his income and their home to survive.
Not surprisingly, (grandfather) Wang QingShan (58) wanted to give up after the hardship they faced during the earthquake. “Your support has given me the confidence to live on and build up our lives” he says and smiles. “Amity has worked with us to build up our lives again - you really care for us” adds his wife Li FanHui (60) as they show us around their new (earthquake proof) house that they have built themselves with the advice and help from Amity Foundation.
Amity has helped the family and other families in WoYun Village in SiChuan with many of of life’s necessities. However, more than anything Wang QingShan emphasised that the most important thing Amity has brought, “is hope and a loving care that we have noticed”. Amity has had project staff living in the area permanently from the 12th of May (the day of the earthquake).
The Scandinavian press seem to find it quite hilarious to present north American experiments that try out extreme criminal prison methods with no visible effects. As pick pocketing made national headlines in Norway when I was a kid whilst we read of mass shootings in other countries, you may understand why the dominant crime discourse was not all that easily shaken up there. Even though Scandinavian crime rates and society has changed decidedly in recent years and the political climate has too, Norway is still among the very safest countries to live in according international surveys.
Just yesterday, we were hanging some ginger bread hearts on the Christmas tree. Two of the hearts were broken, so we “had” to eat them. Funnily, I did not have to call the kids the same way I have to when we’re eating a meal. There was a lot of excitement in the air and they were treasuring every crumb of these gingerbread hearts.
As they were eating, one daughter asked: “So, what happens if someone eats the gingerbread hearts off the tree?” I answered that we were not to eat them until we were enjoying them as part of the Picada on Christmas eve. She then answered: “But what if someone is just too tempted and can’t stand the temptation to eat them early?” Rather than serving a threat, I simply laughed and asked “Hmmm…I wonder who that might be?” Being painfully aware that she is the uncontested “sweet tooth” in our family, she answered: “Oh, I was merely concerned that granddad would find it very tempting”.
So far, all of the gingerbread hearts are untouched. So, I guess we’ll see how it goes when my parents arrive this Thursday…I'll let you know if the hearts are still on the tree on Christmas eve.
Japanese food is not all that popular in this country generally speaking for several reasons. In this city, however, it's quite a different story (also for the same reasons). In Hong Kong, there seems to be more Japanese restaurants than places serving food originating from other corners of this country (i.e. non-Cantonese Chinese restaurants are far apart here) .When you go to a Japanese burger restaurant, I guess you're asking to try something new just by entering. When I ordered a "rice burger" I didn't realize that the "bun" in itself was entirely made out of sticky rice.
Verdict? It tasted very good. Much better than any burgers from any big burger chains (this burger had a lot of real meat in it!). Drawback: pretty messy.
When I was a kid, I had the usual dreams of what I wanted to be in the future. I remember in preschool being somewhat jealous of my friend who had a father who was a postman as Postman Pat was all the rage at the time (I don't really know why as Pat is actually very boring...). Later, I had the usual list of things I dreamt of doing until I came to dreaming of what my own dad did and feel very privileged to be on the wonderful adventure we’re getting to travel!
The other day, Jakob came to us somewhat distressed and explained that he just can’t decide what he’s going to be when he grows up. His three plans are: David (of the Bible who fought against Goliath), Spiderman & Buz Lightyear. I guess he still has some time to decide what “profession” he is going to settle for…
Sophia’s team of one other girl and boy(“young NIS dudes”), however, actually won first place in their age group and category! As they were racing against hundreds of kids, we’re of course very proud parents and just a tiny bit unsettled…
I thought I'd start a new series called "recommended blog posts" as I read a lot of good posts these days. As I recently wrote a blog post about thankfulness, I'm this time looking at 3 Nigerian blogs that have written some very interesting posts on thankfulness:
If you only have time for one, please do read Writefreak's blog post "like the leper...". Do read it to the end as the names are great if you take the time to reflect on how you have experienced these names in your life or how you could experience these names if you allow Him...
I would also warmly recommend "our love story" by "the girl next door". It is fairly short but lifted my day!
Finally, I'd like to recommend Olufunke's "Thankful Tuesday". It is a bit more of a "traditional" thankful post and it is very practical, but it will inspire you to think about the things you're thankful for!
Enjoy!
Yes, I had rabbit meat for the first time in ChangSha. I’ve never actually had it before though it’s been accessible many places I’ve lived. I can’t say that it was that amazing in comparison with e.g. dog meat or frogs. It was however not bad. Certainly a lot better than e.g. beef ice cream!
A friend of mine call pigeon “rats with wings”. This domesticated pigeon of NanJing, however, seems pretty clean and actually tasted very good. Recommended!
Yes, this duck tongue is a NanJing speciality. Verdict: quite good, but not a very strong taste. I guess eating tongues are supposed to make your taste buds more sensitive…So, perhaps I should have had a second one to check the difference. However, the first mouthful did not tempt me to try a second one.
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