Journey to Anhui

The weather has turned much cooler over the last few days with lows in the single digits (Celsius) and highs in the teens with lots of wind and rain.  We are preparing to leave Friday for a two day trip with our church to a small village in the Anhui province to deliver some needed supplies to the local orphanage and elderly home.  We will also be bringing some donated funds that will help students to pay for their final two years of high school education.  The state funds education up to the 10th grade and then students must pay for the final two years which are required in order to take the national college placement test.  The church has been working in this area for a couple of years and the people really appreciate the support.  Our whole family will be going on this trip and we are praying for good weather (specifically no rain) as the infrastructure is mostly dirt roads as well as opportunities to encourage those we meet.  We will visit several families homes who have been selected by the local church as having the most need for support.  The boys have purchased some small toys, crayons and balls to give to the kids we will meet.  Should make for a very interesting weekend and we would appreciate your prayers for safety, and that we will be used to make a difference in the lives of those we meet.  Look for photos coming early next week! 

My new pets

I am now the proud (?) owner of two yellow fighting crickets.  If I can figure out how to get the box open I might even think about feeding them but so far this Chinese "puzzle" box has me stumped - doesn't seem to affect their chirping however.  Cynthia elbowed me in the ribs this morning and said "What is that sound? Turn off your alarm!"  To which I sleepily replied - "Its just my crickets, honey."

Huang Ling

We were driving to football this weekend and I heard a noise in the van that I couldn't quite place.  It was coming from the front of the van and sounded like the squeaking from a fan whose bearings were going out - sort of a high pitched, rhythmic chirp as the fan turns.  I asked Mr. Dong to turn the fan off - which he did - and thought the annoying little squeak would be gone - it was not.  So now I had to explore other options - such as a piece of styrofoam insulation having been knocked loose and vibrating from the movement of the vehicle.  I looked, poked, pressed and banged all around the areas where I thought this incessant squeak could be coming from to no avail.  By this time Mr. Dong had taken notice of my quest and asked me what I was doing.  I pointed to my ears and tried to emulate the chirping noise and then made the universal sign language for "I dunno?!"  Suddenly a broad smile erupted across Mr. Dong's face as he reached into the breast pocket of his blazer and pulled out a small acrylic box containing two crickets!  The squeaking stopped (thank goodness as it was driving me crazy).  I asked what they were (okay I knew they were crickets but I knew he would respond in Chinese and I wanted to learn the name) to which he replied, "Huang ling!".  For the next several minutes Landon and I inspected the rectangular container holding 2 little yellow huang lings.  The container was divided into two cells lengthwise with a feeding station at one end and a ventilation screen on the other (which served nicely as an amplifier)  "Huang" means yellow and "ling" means .. um .. ling so the name is nicely descriptive of these 1/2" long critters with antenna that are twice their body length.  Upon noticing our interest Mr. Dong offered to make me the new owner of these small annoyances to which I immediately declined.  The entire time we were holding the box the crickets were quiet but as soon as we returned it to Mr. Dong and he put it back in his breast pocket  - chree, chree, chree, chree all the way to football!  The next morning I realized my mistake in showing interest in the "lings" and my further mistake in not accepting Mr. Dong's offer to become their new owner and savior.  As soon as Mason and I set foot in the van and said our good mornings....chree, chree, chree, chree....to which Mason replied "Dad, I think the fan in the Buick needs oiling"  To which I replied, "No son, let me tell you about huang lings"  My ride into work is one hour long and that is after we drop Mason at Fudan University.  As I finally arrived to work my head was spinning from the high pitched chirping which by this time seemed to me to be some sort of Chinese driver ex-pat torture.  I am hoping today for a quiet ride to work but I am afraid I am going to have to share it with a couple of insects who are clearly "morning" bugs!