Back Lake District

Today I want to take you on a 5k jogging route down the street and through Back Lake District -- a community of people living in relative poverty, with negligible social mobility and limited access to basic education and health care.

So let's run. Early morning, off the university main road pictured above, down this alley...

...here we are. Back Lake District.

This stall is a home and discarded school desks are dining tables.

The boy below was struck by an electric bike moments after I captured the photo. I carried the wailing child -- who in my arms felt exactly the size and shape of one of my own boys -- to his grandmother. The biker fled. 

Someone in the boy's family is a street garbage collector; the aluminum push-wagon and orange jacket are the equipment for that occupation on a low rung of society. (But certainly not the lowest -- sex slaves, so-called "one-bowl of noodles prostitutes", vagabond-beggars, ex-cons -- these are some of the lowest.)

"Mahjong" (a gambling game) "Little Store" and on the bottom, "Cold Popsicles"

How abouts we stop and shoot the breeze with these guys.
"Are you Russian?" is their friendly guess, just like most people assume of me, Russian.
Wonder what assumptions they would make about you, if you were really here?
And what assumptions have you and I made about them?

Boy.

Our first glimpse of Back Lake: mucky, stinking, filled with trash and slimy carp.

In the market for a new mattress pad?

Or a push-up bra?

 

Doing his best to make a living penny by penny, collecting recyclables from the trash.

If you lived in Changsha you would see this type of laborer every single day.
If you grew up in Back Lake you might be this type of laborer every single day.

 

When you're stir-frying the lotus root and suddenly the flame flickers out and you realize the gas can has just gone empty and dinner guests are arriving in 15 minutes -- call for a new tank to be delivered pronto. Does it sound as though I speak from experience?

 

Need to rent scaffolding? 

This man is very nice and he can help you out. Early in the morning, however, his hands are always busy stripping wires.

The unexpected: Back Lake is home to a few vocational art schools.

"Welcome!!! China - Changsha - Back Lake International Art District"

Auntie warmly shows us around her vegetable garden. Sigua! Loofa Gourd. My favorite.

Now we're jogging out of Back Lake and into university territory, which means: snacks.

City subway construction.

Nobody from Back Lake is going to be purchasing an iced latte in exchange for one day's wages.

Patrons are you and me, university professors, college kids from wealthy families and international students, usually Koreans.

Next door to Starbucks -- this shy girl is a friend. She was compelled to quit school at age 14 to work here in her parents' pancake and dumpling stand. Maternal family cites an ambiguous Christian background, from another part of the country. But that is a distant memory; they're not connected to any group here.

Still running, right!? Avoid getting creamed by a bus; at this intersection buses don't stop for red lights. Enter Central South University, main campus.

Sprint up the staircase behind the university cafeteria and we're home again, Gao Jia Ping neighborhood. Post-run AC and glass of cold water? Please come on into our apartment, it's here. 

Thank you for your words of encouragement and for your prayers. We completed day 3 of summer camp today. So far it has been a success in that the students are enjoying it and learning something. It's killer-fatiguing, but I think caring for the students' educational, social and spiritual needs is worth the labor.

counting the graces

thank you Father for

30 minutes to think

Lanzi was here when I got home, and she took the boys out, and being with her is the opposite of stress

you work through us despite our shortcomings

hope in failure, there's always hope

Dad on his birthday, he's a quality guy -- loyal, strong, hard-working, youthful, helpful, kind, and I like him

reconnecting with AV & PB in email

from Piper: a call to accept difficulties as we participate in the great commission, a call not to pursue an easy life but rather to pursue God

Drew is ever-gracious to this nutso woman

kids felt loved and peaceful today, it was evident

Dear gracious God, let us survive annual July summer camp

Year Four.

It's late July again. Summer break is upon us. Kids are out of school with nothing to do and everyone is dropping like flies in the heat-humidity. For reals, I got knocked out by heatstroke and I'm still out for the count. Barely functional. But I can type from bed.

The time has arrived for the annual 2-week summer camp hosted by the Chinese church of which we are very privileged to be a part. 

And I am privileged to be charged with responsibility for the 9-15 year-olds. Thirty+ in one classroom.

Privileged...and stretched...and stressssssed. It is a formidable task creating a curriculum in both Chinese and English, for such a broad range of learners, recruiting and coordinating help (is that why I have headache?), gathering materials, adapting to satisfy requests and remaining flexible when all of one's hard work and planning suddenly get chucked out the window cuz these things never go remotely as planned. Let's be honest. It is job for a crazy person.

I'm really sick right now. I never get sick! What is up with that?

So...God?

I'm offering a fatigued, heat-exhausted, diarrhea-and-vomiting, menstrual-cramping, sinus-pounding, febrile, voiceless, coughing, sniffling, aching body. A pathetic vessel! But a willing one. Okay, okay. Semi-willing. Make me willing.

I trust that you will show mercy and leave me a little bit of strength leftover for my own kids too...

We start Monday.

The most simple prayer: May these students know you, and all of us honor you and each other.

Anybody wanna join in that prayer? This team could use you!

counting the graces by Michael age 5

thank you Father for

watching a movie

letting us pick up

the last day of school

going back home

my birthday is in one more day

Qingzi Jie Jie came to our house

chicken legs

Bare-All, Tell-All Home Tour

I'd like to personally welcome you on a walk-through of the colorful 6th-story apartment that we've called home for four years.

940 square feet (inc. 2-season porch)

(funny I just realized it's slightly larger than half of a volleyball court)

3 bed, 3/4 bath

all furniture belongs to landlord

monthly rent USD $193

built in 1997

....

DISCLAIMER: HOUSE UNUSUALLY TIDY,

ACTUALLY NEVER LOOKS LIKE THIS.

Imagine a bunch of books, legos, clothes, papers, couch cushions, dirty dishes and what not strewn about.

Pictured above, that glass sliding door leads to the 2-season porch which is used for hanging laundry.

By the way, all walls -- interior and exterior -- are concrete, and there is not an ounce of insulation anywhere in this apartment.

South-facing view out the back porch windows. 

Back in the living room. The wall quilt made of recycled shirts is always a conversation piece. It was purchased from India via eBay right before we were married eight years ago.

Looking back at the front door, shoe cabinet and dining area.

Floors are real, warped wood with fault lines wide enough to swallow loose legos!

Left archway leads to kitchen, bath and music room, ahead you can see our bedroom, and out of sight further to the right is the kids' bedroom door.

If you were to open the dish hutch for a coffee mug...

ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzz....

Funny thing about those "antique" wood window panes is that they are identical to, if not in better condition than, the current exterior windows.

P.S. I almost never make the bed so, this photo only represents a potential reality.

 

Peering out our south-facing window. (These ubiquitous aluminum bars supposedly prevent burglars from entering and people/laundry from falling out.)

Right next door is the kids' room, which as the largest bedroom was designed to be the master, but my mom had the clever suggestion to designate it for the kids so they would have more play space.

Possible evidence that these photos were captured on June 4th.

Their window opens out to the porch.

 Looking straight out the door, through the dining area, to the bathroom door.

Bathroom door ahead, music room to right, kitchen hidden to left.

Our lovely squatty facilities! The toilet must be flushed by using a ladle to manually dump water down the squatty. Typically reeks something nauseating up the sewage pipe so the door must remain closed. The floor is always wet, so you must slip on shoes or deal with wet socks/feet. Mold finds it's true home here. Rats chew their way in through the window screen. The kids use a big round basin to bathe. And you see the covered washing machine there.

The music room is next door. Best of all: GORGEOUS-SOUNDING RENTAL PIANO!

Plus the kids' art wall and a painting I made six years ago when we first arrived and had no decorations. (I didn't know where to buy canvases -- it's acrylic on paper taped to cardboard from baby Titus' crib box.)

Quilt was a wedding shower gift fashioned by Drew's mom, and the electric guitar is on long-term lend or something from a friend.

The view.

Stepping into the kitchen now. The yellow pantry doors are the only upper cabinets, and you can see there are two lower cabinets as well.

Tight but sufficient. I've grown to love a tiny kitchen.

Not climate-controlled: Literally freezing in winter. Dante's inferno in summer. So I often cook in my parka and mittens December - February; bra and underwear July - August. Whoohooo! Is the latter even safe? Probably not.

Kitchen window facing north.

(Hopefully no neighbors notice me kind of naked, fixing lunch.)

Finally, if you were wondering, we don't have a car, garage or yard.
But we do have bicycles, and a shared space to stash them under the staircase.

Thank you for embarking on the virtual tour! What do you think of our place?

counting the graces

thank you Father for
when grateful goes wrong

3 volunteers to help with summer VBS

music, lyrics, prayers of commitment and adoration offered at the Young Adult fellowship

YF's loyal friendship

RZ's help preparing the plan in Chinese this afternoon

repentance -- and owning up to my part in making things even worse

amount on the bakery card just enough for a birthday cake
finding a squirt gun at the store, and the epic preschool water fight which thrilled my children
being able to stay in touch with family via email, wechat, skype, fb

Mike & Titus thrilled to play at the indoor gym

surprised by a quiet little pizza shop high above and overlooking the old city street at rush hour
I might be freaking out a little but I still believe it's all going to be alright