29 April 2011: Easter Sunday in Shenyang

24 April 2011

Greetings All and Happy Easter!

He has risen, He has risen indeed!  I always have fond memories of our times in Romania on Easter when the actual dates of Easter for Christian and Orthodox was different, so people celebrated twice!    The greetings exchanged when people met were "He is Risen" and the other person would say "It is tree, He has risen indeed!   Today, we went to church here in Shenyang and what a pleasant surprise to find that the big cathedral was open for Mass.  It was the first time I've ever seen the building open and when we looked inside (english mass was actually still in the little chapel..but it was packed!) there were a lot of people and I think they must have bussed them in from all around because the square was busy with people too!

Rod &Sarah Easter Sunday in Shenyang

Easter Sunday in Shenyang at the Catholic Cathedral

Inside the Catholic Cathedral on Easter Sunday

It was a nice service and the priest mentioned that during the Easter Vigil, they had over 100 baptisms here in Shenyang.  I was amazed and pleasantly surprised that the Christian church is growing so fast here in China!  After Church, we stopped by the market to see our friend Daisy and her parents.

Rod & Sarah Miller, Zhou Min (Daisy) and her parents

On the secular side  of Easter, the Easter Bunny did manage to come see us and left his loot in a little wooden frog basket given to us by some friends here in China.

Easter basket in Shenyang

Somehow or another the Easter Bunny knew that I loved the Reeses eggs this time of year!

Yesterday, Rod and I went out and about again and Rod took me to the spice market..colors and smells galore!  Here's just a quick snapshot of Rod buying some dried pineapple at the market.

I can't remember exactly what he was saying, but probably something like go ahead and take that picture, will ya?!

Rod at the spice market buying some dried fruits

We also saw some people who evidently went shopping at the tree/shrub nursery...interesting way they brought it back home!

Bringing a tree "home" from the market...or somewhere along side the road!

Bringing trees and shrubs back from the market...Chinese style!  Notice the trees and just now coming out!

I am leaving to be out of town again for a few weeks, so updates will be few and far between.

Have a great Easter Sunday everyone!

Sarah & Rod

17 April 2011: Rod's Tenor Tuba playing in the Park...and other adventures!

17 April 2011

Greetings all from Rainy Shenyang,

Thank God for the rain today here in Shenyang.  After a long, cold, dry winter, Spring is trying to arrive in Shenyang!  The wild plum trees are blooming along with the beginnings of Forsythia now and hopefully with this rain, it will green up!  Many of you know, I've been traveling a lot lately, mostly to France in preparation for a major milestone in my work.  I'll have to go back to France in a week, so for the moment, I'm taking advantage of my time here at home...jetlag and all!

While I was away, Rod was busy here in Shenyang!  Many of you have asked what he does...well, in this update, I'll give you a bit of a glimpse into my wonderful husbands life here!  Many of you know that we met in the 202nd KY Army National Guard Band.  He was, and continues to be, a tuba player and I was a trumpet player (we will celebrate 28 years of marriage in a few days!).  Music continues to be an important part of our life together...and Rod continues to play, and draw a crowd here in China!

Rod goes to the local park and plays his horn (which we bought in Austria, when we lived in France...it's a smaller horn than the tuba, so it's easier to move it around!) When he starts to play, other musicians just show up and join in!  In this case, there is an accordion player, singer and a drummer...then the crowd just showed up. The grapevine must be pretty efficient here!

 

Rod and the accordian player in the park at Shenyang

Rod again with the accordian player

Rod drawing a crowd at the park in Shenyang

The musicians with Rod at the park...and their audience!

When he's not in the park, he's out exploring and taking snapshots of our surroundings.  This time, he went to some of the local markets.  1st stop was the fabric market (when he saw my fabrics, he had to go for himself!  He didn't buy anything this time, but took a nice picture of some of the fabrics!

Silks at the fabric market in Shenyang

I'm pretty sure one or two of these silk fabrics will become a Chinese silk jacket some day!

Once through with the fabric market, he then went right next door to the spice market.   In the spice market, there were all kinds of spices, in bulk. The pictures are interesting...but the smells just can't be described!

Peppers at the spice market in Shenyang

Peppers...peppers and more peppers at the spice market in Shenyang

Dried fruits and nuts at the spice market in Shenyang

Dried fruits and nuts at the spice market in Shenyang

Just outside the spice market, was another street market...by vendors for vendors!  Always interesting to see what the local, locals eat!

The meat market behind the fabric market...get your lunch meat here!

Buy your pork here on the street...I don't think this would pass the FDA cleanliness test...take a look around behind the meat on the table!

Once you buy your meat, then get your shoe or purse fixed in the market!

The Shoe repair man...at your local market here in Shenyang

So as you can see, Rod keeps himself busy while I'm working or traveling!  

Thanks so much for your continued prayers and thoughts as we've now passed our 1 year milestone here in Shenyang!  Keep those emails coming!

Sarah & Rod