culture

Cheese. I mean Cheese.

We have been learning alot about French culture. One important aspect has been the evening meal, and the order of the dishes. Near the end a platter of cheese is often served. Now, this is not North American cheddar cheese, the kind we put in Kraft dinners. No, this is _real_ cheese. Cheese like Camembert, Pont l’Evêque, Pavé d’Auge, Livarot, and Brin de Paille. Cheese from cows, AND goats and sheep! I admit, the strong scent and flavour of these are challenging for someone like me to manage. To eat. It doesn’t help that many other foreigners commiserate, and generally we all have been avoiding these cheeses. Now, this is fine in your own home, but what do you do when you are visiting French friends and they serve the cheese platter?

So, the other day Michelle, Liberty, Van and I went to a fair of sorts near our apartment, at the Parc des Expositions de Caen. It was called “Fêno, le meilleur de la Normandie à Caen”, and it displayed the best of various industries located in Normandy. We could read about the rockets developed for the French space program, to the last sewing needle manufacturer in Western Europe, to food and drinks. It was while we were walking through the food section, with its vast showcases of cheese from Normandy, that something was really driven home. _They love their cheese._ And I realized that if I was really going to fit in here, and settle, that I too would need to learn to love the cheese.

So today at lunch, I ordered a cheese platter. I think there was Camembert, and Pont l’Evêque, and another goat cheese. These were all cheese that I previously would take a small nibble and then drown with coffee, or coke, or anything, to mask the taste. But no. I had to eat it plain. Eat it straight. Without grimacing or gagging. So I did. It wasn’t easy, but, it wasn’t that hard either.

If you wish, try a new cheese from France this week. Your local grocery store probably has some. Give it a try, and let me know how it went for you. Bon appetite!

Summer 2017

Here we are a the end of Summer 2017. It has been a full summer for us, and we hope it has been for you too.

Zooming along chinese roads chinese style!

We traveled this summer to a small village 18 hours north of us to visit a student of Shane’s, and her family. It was an arduous journey with many police checks along the way. At each one Michelle and I had to register at that station, and then stand side by side holding up our passports with the ID page visible so the police could take a picture. However, it was worth it once we arrived at the student’s home. Her family was initially nervous because they had never met, nor hosted, foreigners before, much less ones who spoke their language – Kazak. But it was a good time. Liberty and Van especially loved roaming around the property with the younger siblings and checking out the animals such as chickens, chicks, cats, dogs, geese, goats, sheep, and a sleeping guard dog. One highlight was driving for about 3 hours towards the border of Kazakstan in order to watch a 20 km horse race, and the riders were mostly boys aged 10-15.

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The racetrack

Speaking of Kazakstan, we finally made a trip over the border to visit Almaty. You may recall me spending summers there from 1997-2002. There is now no need for a visa for many nations, so we were glad to skip the lengthy visa application process and simply show up at the border! Previous years required the better part of a day to get out of China, and into Kazakstan. This time we were through both sides in…. 1.5 hours. Unbelievable how much more smooth the process is now. While in Almaty Liberty could visit her best friend from earlier Urumqi days.

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We stayed in an AirBnB residence beside a giant mall. Inside this giant mall was a Starbucks and a McDonalds. Now, you can choose to go to these places anytime you want, but for us, it was an amazing experience. The province we live in has had no familiar business like these for years. So it was a treat to order a Grande Bold, in Kazak, as well as Big Mac, in Kazak. It was dizzying really.

On the bus to the border

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Liberty and Van had a great summer, grateful for a break from home school. We all went on many bike rides around the city. Probably one of our favourite memories of this season will be of riding around dinner time (5ish pm) and then stopping for our evening meal at a restaurant, eating a meal, then continuing the bike ride as the sun slowly sets and the street lights come on. Ili is actually fairly bike-friendly, so there are many streets where we can ride on bike lanes. There are still people to dodge, and e-bikes zipping around, but overall it is a safe and fun type of outing. There is also a pond full of goldfish, a turtle, frogs, and it is a fun place to play around. Van also learned how to rollerblade, and Liberty got better at it.

The Pond

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BBQ on the riverbank

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A life

There is an emotion we experience from time to time: Woe is me! Particularly these days as we wait for the paperwork and visa, initially with some uncertainty, certainly with faith, and now with anticipation. Many friends have had kind words for us, encouraging us to enjoy these extra days we have in Canada. I do not feel I am in a position to say that God held us back in order of us to be able to attend Michelle’s grandmother’s funeral. But I am glad we were still here so that we could do that. If God has some specific purpose for this delay I think it could very well be for something about which we may have no awareness. Some conversation with someone that would not have happened if we had left August 20. Some act of service or gift to someone we would not have been able to do if we were not here. More family time. More McDonalds or Tim Hortons time.

I am almost of the opinion that trying to figure what His purpose is behind some situation may simply be counter-productive. It sure can add to stress in your life as you wonder and fret, “Was this the reason? Did I miss it last night at that meeting?”

The couple in the photograph, as far as I can tell based on what I know about China, likely have done this job for decades, and will continue to this job for decades: Gather papers and other items which can sold (in these modern times, recycled). My Western eyes see a life’s possibilities wasted. No travel. No education. No broad impact on the world around them. But these people are also quite likely Christians! There are estimated to be 100 million Chinese Christians in China (that is, Han Chinese specifically, not counting other ethnicities such as Kazak or Uyghur or Dongshan, i.e.). Wondering if they are Christians brings to mind Colossians 3:17 (NIV):

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

This verse has been what is in my mind these days. I pray it be so for you too.

Couple

The lineup

As a cultural aside, we had an interesting dynamic in the China Visa Centre on Thursday. When we got there we were impressed by the shiny new entrance and huge waiting area (with comfortable seats!). But there were two lines to get into initially. At the front of the two lines was one clerk who would look over your documents before giving you a number. We were sent to Line Two. In Line One were at least 5 people already waiting. As we stood there thinking we would be waiting at least 5 peoples’ worth of time, the clerk looked up and called us forward. That sent several of the other people in Line One into fits, demanding to know why they were still waiting. But we went anyway. Why?

In China the bureaucrat rules! The person may seem like a lowly entry clerk, but their word can make or break your own attempts at whatever you are doing. In our case, let’s say we did what a good Canadian would do: We would say, “Oh no, please, these others were before me, we can wait.” But this would communicate the opposite of the intended meaning. Instead of appearing as polite people, we in fact would be telling the clerk that we think she did something wrong, either by not noticing those already waiting, or by not serving them first. And by saying it publicly we would also be putting her down, in essence, in front of those waiting. Those waiting would feel justified in their outrage and further berate the clerk. Pandemonium.

Her reaction would likely be as follows: She would stare at us, then glare at us, and proceed to serve everyone else, even those who came even later, and make us wait as retribution for our public rebuke of her. Once she ran out of excuses to ignore us, she would also have decided to make things difficult for us. All in all, in a moment of supposed Canadian politeness could turn everything upside down! So it pays to know a culture, and to follow its rules when need be.

Lineups

Lineups