November 26, 2017

First, a couple of catch up items.  One of our students from Tibet invited us to a Cultural Minority event on campus, held even though there was light rain.  There are five autonomous regions in China, where there is a high population of ethnic background other than Han Chinese.  In some of these, Han is still the majority, but the minority is recognized.  Some of the areas are made up of Mongolian, Tibetan, Hui, or Uyghur (closely related to Turks) people.  Anyway, we enjoyed seeing some nice costumes and dancing, and sampled some foods. Yak cheese is interesting. The students were very proud of their heritage and eager to share it with everyone.

A week ago, we toured a glass museum recommended to us.  Didn't know quite what to expect.  What can you see at a museum of glass?  Turns out, a LOT.  We spent several hours there.  There were many rooms--full of past and present glasswork and some amazing ambience.  It was great!

Each of these has a Chinese character on it.
If you read the characters in the right order,
it tells a story about a princess. Sadly, the
story is a mystery to us. As are many things
in this country where we don't speak the language!

It's Thanksgiving and we've been reflecting on how very blessed we are!

Then there is Thanksgiving in China.  Some Chinese know of Thanksgiving and the history, especially students, but they don't know it very well.  Certainly, not a "Rose Thanksgiving," so we shared with them: the history, what Americans do (floats, football, turkey bowls), and what the Roses do - cook all day, eat, and watch the National Dog Show!

It's not a holiday, so we taught classes in the morning, then scurried home to start cooking.  We had invited Young Single Adults from our church over for dinner (singles 18 and older).  These are mostly students that are here.  Many brought a friend.  We ended up with 14 of us for dinner in our little apartment.

We don't have an oven.  We have a two-burner stove. A microwave.  A toaster oven.  And a slow cooker.

The day after Thanksgiving, our small fridge
was a Tetras puzzle. The microwave lives
on top of the fridge; Kathy can mostly reach it.

When the food in the living room
crock pot started cooking and pushing
the lid up, we anchored it with books
about China.

We borrowed two more slow cookers.  We made two pumpkin pies on Wednesday, one at a time in our toaster oven.  We cut the turkey in half and did half in a large slow cooker, and the breast in the toaster oven. We made two slow cookers full of stuffing, glazed yams in the microwave, a large pot of potatoes, gravy, corn and a huge bowl of whipped cream fruit salad (with some interesting Chinese fruits).  We made two chocolate pies and a banana pie using Digestives (English cookies) to make crusts.  We had been discussing the lack of graham crackers in a little shop where "The Avocado Lady" sells a lot of Western foods. A woman from the UK overheard us and suggested Digestives. All in all, quite a feast!

Our friends represented Tonga, Brazil, Turkey, USA, Germany, France, and Russia.  Several were not members of our church. One is Muslim. After dinner, we each expressed something for which we are grateful.  We had wonderful conversations and a nice time together.

On Saturday, it was another wonderful experience.  Another couple hosted an "Empty Nester" dinner, inviting many people whose children are grown to gather for a Thanksgiving potluck dinner.  We took two caramel apple pies (new recipe we tried that is a winner!).  It was another wonderful dinner, but more importantly, a chance to meet more new people, mostly foreign to China, who happen to currently live in Shanghai.  Great conversations and new friendships.