life

Busy Busy Busy

(There is nothing special about this video! I was look for something that conveyed busyness!)

Summer has finished. September has begun. And that means homeschooling is in full swing. Michelle has worked hard prepping for the 2016-2017 school year, using a mix of Canadian and American curriculum. She is teaching Liberty, who is in Grade 4, and Van, who is in Grade 2. She is grateful for the amount of digital resources; but at the same time books are needed. It is challenging to conduct classes in Liberty’s bedroom, but there is room for two desks, leaving just enough space left for Liberty to have a play area.

This is one element of overseas life which is often overlooked but one which requires just as much prayer as the other aspects of our life and work here. Please pray!

The kids are doing well. I think the day we started home-school they were a little shocked! What? school? I have to go to bed early? I can’t play all morning? But after a week they were into the swing of things.

The students I have this year are the same as the ones I taught last year. I admit that I was sort of hoping to be assigned to the First Year students. One honest reason is that I could use a bulk of my lesson plans from the previous year with them and not have to come up with new stuff! But, I am glad now that I have the same set of four classes. They were glad too. You can’t beat a better start to your year than having an entire class stand up and cheer when you walk into the room!

The various literature projects are still on-going. There’s been a resurgence of sorts from others in sending feedback, whether it be spelling or grammar errors, or formatting, etc. For this I am really glad. I am still praying that a team of sorts can form to help with the last big push of combining

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into one published volume.

It is already cool here, weather-wise. We enjoyed the summer, and the heat, but not the mosquitos. We will be pulling out the suitcase with the Autumn and Winter clothes soon. I am looking forward to this winter actually. Since the kids are older we will be able to have more building adventures.

Liberty and Van recently became owners of their own individual guinea pig. The cage we have for them is too small, but we aren’t sure what to do about anything bigger. We don’t have room! One sad bit is that the first guinea pig of LIberty’s died. We don’t know how, or why, but after 5 days it went downhill quickly. Liberty found it in the morning, thought it was sleeping. And started crying when she realized the poor thing had died.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Moving and traveling

We recently had a lovely and encouraging visit from some Canadian friends who live in a nearby city. They are new; among the various stories and tales we told there was a bit about being happy and content in good living conditions, or not so good living conditions. The day after they left we received a message from the school: We are moving you to another apartment, and you need to do it in a week. What?! We went and looked at the other apartment and compared to the one we first moved into, it was a mess. Dirty, full of broken furniture, and missing important items that the contract stipulated would be provided. Saying, “NO” rarely works in China, so it is better to decide on how far you might bend, then start bargaining from there. “Bargaining when there is a contract??” It is true, that is how things are done here.

Long story short, we agreed to move but only after the school had improved the next place and included the missing appliances. We heard the expected, “But move now and we will get those things for you in the next few days.” IF they actually went through with it, it would involve an unknown number of weeks of us waiting, patiently, then reminding them, hearing “Oh, tomorrow!”, then more waiting, until we either give up, or they live up to the contract.

So it has been a stressful week, compounded by the fact that we also had bought train tickets and hotels for 10 days in Urumqi. We leave tomorrow.
The word from the school has been that they still want us to move “within a week”, the end of which would be tomorrow. That is the day we leave on the train. We have packed up alot anyway. But the apartment also is not ready. So we don’t expect that it will actually be ready since we saw them start the work yesterday afternoon. BUT, we would not be surprised if they break into our apartment and move everything while we are gone.

So a few prayer requests:
A) That our stress decreases as we lean on our loving Father who has all of this in control;
B) That the school won’t be sneaky and move us;
C) and that if they do, that nothing will be broken or stolen;
D) That Michelle and I can set a good example for Liberty and Van when it comes to attitudes, and trust, and being content.

Mid-Summer

Here it is mid-summer and we can’t believe how fast the time has gone.

Here it is mid-summer and it seems like we only just arrived. We realized that we have spent so much of our life overseas in Urumqi that we had developed something of a routine, in a good sense. We knew where to buy things, we knew where to meet people, we knew the buses, the traffic rhythm, the nooks and crannies. But here in Ili, after 4 months, we feel like we still don’t know it well. And it isn’t even all that big compared to Urumqi. I’ve in fact bicycled around the city, basically, only 25 km or so.

But we have noticed, bit by bit, people recognize us, we sort of have a few usual places to eat out, we have found an art store to which we make regular treks to buy brushes and paints, we ride our bikes along the crazy roads. It is slowly becoming familiar.

I am unfortunately still overweight which means finding clothes that fit is a challenge. Just nearby we walked by an aptly named store, I swallowed my pride, and we went in. Imagine our surprise when the clothes in this store turned out to be TOO LARGE for me!

Here it is mid-summer and already Michelle is planning for planning for the next school year! The kids are sure gonna be good learners!

settling in

Today marks the end of our 6th week here in Ili; the start of our 7th week! We have been busy settling in. We are grateful that just outside our apartment is a large public square within which all the neighbourhood kids gather and play. They have been very welcoming of Liberty and Van; Van just jumped right on in and started getting dirty with the other boys. Liberty enjoys talking with the small groups of other girls who, having gotten brave in a group, come over to Liberty to try their English. But Liberty also likes watching the boys do their crazy stunts, and when there is something they ca not do, such as climb a particular tree, she sort of wanders over there, then climbs the tree! “I am just trying to help them see how to do it,” she says when we ask her why she did that. 🙂

How many times?

Here is a question for you: How many times in the last year have you needed to confirm with the local police your living arrangements? How many times in the last 5 years, you know what, let’s make that TEN years, have you had to visit the police for any reason pertaining to your person (I am not including crimes or emergencies)? Well, in the first 6 weeks we have been here we have had 2 visits by police to our apartment, 2 visits to the main police station, 2 visits to the campus police office, and one interview at the university Foreign Affairs Office with the Chief of Police, 2 assistant police officers, and the University Dept Chair, and the Faculty Head, and 2 other people (I have no idea who they were). You may recall us saying this part of the world can be tricky to get into, and to stay in… these police visit and interactions are all part of it.

Through it all we have had deep peace. Praise God. Near the end of the interview with the Chief of Police she began to relax and become more friendly. She thanked me (and by extension, our family) for choosing to come to her city to help teach the young people. She said to me, “Do you know what the greatest lesson you can teach them is? It is to help them appreciate all that is around them, and to help them learn to live as full a life as possible.” All I could respond with was, “Yes, I totally agree!”

Our Home

Food as usual is delicious! So glad to have some spicy noodles again. And even better, because there are actual Russians in this city who have a bakery, we can actually buy loaves of bread! Remember, we usually only have flat nan-style bread. Do not get me wrong, nan is delicious too and comes in handy for making pizza. We Westerners love our bread but our style typically is not available in China. But, it is here! White bread, brown bread, and even rye!

We are thankful the apartment we have been assigned is more or less fully furnished. We do need to get beds for the kids, and we needed some curtains and rugs, but by and large it is fine. The building we are in is called The President’s Building… because this is where the President of the university stays when he is here! He stays on the 3rd floor, and we are on the 4th floor. When we look out the windows we see many trees, so that is a nice change from our Urumqi apartments which usually looked out on another building.

Schooling

I started teaching classes 2 days after we arrived. Currently I am teaching 8 hours a week, spread over 3 days (Tues, Thursday, Friday), with about 4 hours of prep each non-class day. All my classes are first year students, which means for most of them I am the first foreigner they have seen and interacted with! The other day I needed something from home, so Michelle and the kids interrupted their homeschool to bring the things to me. Well, it was like Justin Bieber came to the class when Van and Liberty walked in! All the students were oohing and aahing, pulling out their cell phones to take pictures, even rushing to the front with their arms outstretched to touch or grab Van, or Liberty!! Then Michelle came in! Oh my, some of the students almost fainted with delight at the sight of her blond hair and bright smile!

Homeschool is also back in swing. Michelle has been amazing keeping things on track and in order despite all the travel and upheavals of the past year. It has been interesting trying to explain to people here what we are doing. The previous foreign family actually sent their kids to a local school, so we assume everyone thinks all foreigners would do the same. It maybe worked for that other family, but we have chosen to not do that, and Liberty and Van are thriving.

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Onward

It is hard to believe, but it is true. We have visas for China. We have plane tickets for China. We have packed our suitcases for China. And we still have love in our hearts for China. On Tuesday April 12 we will board a plane and fly from Chiang Mai to Guangzhou, China, stay there for 4 hours, then continue on to Urumqi. We arrive basically at midnight. Our dear friends are arranging a van to meet us and bring us to a hotel where we will stay until Saturday. Assuming we can get train tickets we will then take a train to Ili, an overnight train leaving Saturday evening and arriving in Ili Sunday morning. Our plan is to have a few days in Urumqi to say hi to everyone, and to arrive in Ili on a Sunday so that we can at least pack a little before I need to teach on Monday.

That is a question we have… the school sent me a class schedule, but has otherwise been non-communicative about what exactly I will be doing. I suppose I will find out as we go. Please pray for us as that mode of learning can get very stressful, especially on Michelle who will be trying to make a home, set a home-school schedule, and figure out the neighbourhood for shopping, transport, etc.

As we say good-bye to Chiang Mai we asked Liberty and Van what they will miss. They said without hesitation, “motorbikes and songtaews!”.

Chiang Mai is a beautiful city, and we were blessed in many ways to have been able to stay at length, again. What was especially nice was the lack of smoky air. Usually at this time of year farmers all over the region burn fields. This results in such a heavy degree of smokiness that you can’t even see the building across the street. People need to stay indoors, or wear air filters if they go outside, etc. But… no smoke! The air has been wonderful, and we are glad for that. On the flip side, this is due in part to a drought that the north regions are experiencing. Please pray God’s mercy fall upon these people.

Homeschool has gone well. Michelle is glad to have been on-schedule, even in the midst of traveling, settling into new homes, and all that is part of overseas life. We participated in an expat homeschool co-op on Mondays. Liberty and Van quickly grew to look forward to Monday mornings when they would get to school and greet their news friends. Thankfully in this last week a few of these friends have been able to come over to our apartment to swim and say their bye-bye’s.

It is not easy for the kids, at least not as easy as they make it look. The other day I was explaining to them what our family life in our home would look like with me teaching classes. Even though they did not say much at that moment, Liberty has been asking if we can do this, or that, together as family, because, she says, “you will be so busy daddy once you start teaching, we won’t have as much family time.” I hope this is not the case. But it is a good reminder for me to be alert to how my kids are doing, even if on the outside everything looks ok.

As we move on, be prepared for some internet silence from us. Many VPNs seem to be blocked; social media sites are blocked; we will need to see if we even have internet at our new town! But in the meantime please feel free to keep emailing us, or posting on the blog here, knowing we will see your words of encouragement.

We made it

While Michelle was back in Texas to be with family during her paternal grandfather’s funeral, Liberty and Van stayed in Chiang Mai with me. Michelle did an excellent job prepping the home-school materials for me so that the kids’ education could continue. Except for a first-day panic, the two weeks of home-schooling went really well. It gave me a much better appreciation for all the work Michelle has put into schooling Liberty and Van.

The kids and I took many fun rides on our rented scooter. Van would sit in the front and Liberty would sit on the back. One scooter highlight for the kids was the day we went to buy tinted visors for them. Too many times there were either bugs getting into their faces while we rode around. Or, the sun shone too brightly. You can see in the pics below they were quite excited, and we even bought some stickers for them to customize their helmets. When we weren’t driving around, we were still on the scooter, having a snack.

Even though we had an excellent time together, we all missed Mom a lot, and were very glad when she returned. Her time with her family was a real blessed time, and we wish we all could have gone. Thank you for your prayers during this time.

health and 7-11

Dear friends, how are you? We want to wish you a happy lunar new year! I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it here, one perk of working in Asia is the number of New Year celebrations we get to celebrate!

Well, our family is well. Van had a spill the other day trying to do a daring balancing act on a concrete divider. He got scratched up, but is ok. I must say that we are glad for 7-11. What? In my youth 7-11 was my world, we would make weekly treks down the back alleys with allowance or bottles to return for cash, and then we’d get treats. But in recent years 7-11s seemed to decrease in number, and maybe even quality. Well, here in Chiang Mai the sheer numbers of 7-11s would make Tim Hortons’ saturation seem minimal. After Van had his spill we piled onto the motorbike we rent and went zipping down the road to 7-11. Why there? 7-11 has almost anything you need! So there we bought all manner of bandaids and gauze and tape and such, plus waters.

On a more sober note, Michelle is currently back in Texas for her grandfather’s funeral. You may recall her grandmother passed away in October. We were able to visit then too, and Michelle felt the time with her grandfather then, along with Liberty and Van, was a valuable time. We had already decided that if her grandfather were to pass away while we were gone we would all try to get back; at the very least Michelle would go. For various reasons only Michelle went, along with her sister who is in the same general area as we. It is a sad time, but we are glad Michelle could get back to be family. She and her sister return to Chiang Mai Feb 19.

In the meantime I have continued with the homeschooling. Thankfully (no really, THANK YOU Michelle) Michelle had organized and schedule the lessons for the next 2 weeks in a sweet calendar, so it has been going well. Except, on the first day we did two days worth of work until I figured out what was going on. So Friday was easy. 🙂

Please pray for Michelle’s family during this time. Thank you.

The question of leaving

The other day we had an experience that, upon reflection, made me wonder if I would ever have the same experience in Canada. What happened was that we ran out of coffee. And as I poured the last of the grains into the coffee maker I thought to myself, “Hm, do we get another bag, or no?” And that made me think about the myriad of other items whose purchase is affected by how much time we have left in a given place. Like sugar, flour, other foods. Clothes even are part of the picture. I have a drawer of clothes which I will not bring overseas with us, but will simply wear them out while we are here and then either throw them away, or pack away the more salvagable ones for when we are back in 3 years. The newer clothes wait in the suitcase ready to be used once we get overseas. Toys for the kids… do we buy new ones ‘now’ or will we just need to leave them behind, in which case don’t bother buying them. Our life possessions are chosen by answering the question, “Will it fit in the luggage?”

Now don’t get me wrong; once we are where we will be for the next year or so we feel free to get those things which make a house more homey, and meals more mealy (?), and relaxing more relaxed. But it is during these moments, just before leaving, that we are faced with the question: Do we buy more peanut butter, or no?

Tracking the kids

Up until this point in time Michelle nor I worried too much about keeping track of our kids. We have tried to not be like a Helicopter Parent, hovering over every move of our kids. We have made sure to point out boundaries, whether physical, emotional, even spiritual, when we are in whatever environment we live, with the kids. By and large, with the odd act of discipline here and there, Liberty and Van have done superbly with staying safe.

But what with Liberty saying all her friends in the Canadian schools have cell phones, and Van loving to play with phones too, has got me thinking about what we could do once we are overseas. So while googling “track kids” this item came up, the Tinitell. It is a way to both track the kids AND a way for them to call home if they need to (or either Michelle or I’s cell).

Tinitell. It is an interesting looking device, and one which I think the kids might like wearing. The only problem is it isn’t shipping until next year!

In the meantime, does anyone have any other suggestion?

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.

Cookes Overseas