Kew Gardens - Christmas Light Walk

So much has happened these last six months and I have much to post, so I thought I would start with our latest adventure: Kew Gardens at night.  It was nearing 50 degrees F so it didn't feel very Christmas-y to us. But we were excited to explore the beautiful park.  I had traveled to Kew Gardens with the American Women's Club a month before but this was Patrick's first visit.  I look forward to going back in the Spring and the daylight.  

Dark comes late and early here in London, rising around 8:02am and setting at 3:52pm today. Lots of darkness these days. But when visiting a Christmas light production, the darkness is ideal.  

We enjoyed a pulled pork sandwich, trying to be in the best spirits to enjoy the festivities.  We started the festive trail and walked through 8-10 holly bushes wrapped in lights, each with a speaker emitting a different voice part. I enjoyed the sensory overload of lights and sounds. 

As we continued down the path, this magnificent tree was well illuminated.  Interesting view to see all of the branches of the tree, definitely a different view then summer. 

In the distance, we could see flames (controlled flames), so we continued down the path. As it was late Thursday evening, I didn't anticipate a large crowd, but unfortunately, I was wrong. There were many people, and large family groups so our movement was limited to following the pack which did bring back some unpleasant memories of China and just masses of people jostling you. But we tried to enjoy the views.  Then we came upon a large field with trees surrounded by small flames in jars. Each tree had flames surrounding the bottom of the tree and then the flames lead to this tree with a phoenix at the top.
To be honest the whole scene was fairly bizarre and didn't quite understand the statement the exhibit was trying to display. Unless there is a story in English literature that I'm unaware of about the Christmas phoenix? Maybe the fire represented the ashes the phoenix was reborn of -a somewhat odd analogy to the birth of Christ?

After the odd fire display, the scene turned much more festive with dangling lights, and even a light/water show on the main lake with timed lighting against the infamous Palm House. It was a pretty view on a beautiful (and rare) clear night in London. I probably wouldn't spend the money to go again unless we had a rare white London Christmas. Overall, I was underwhelmed by the lights. Lots of good potential.  Of course, there were kid's rides, a cafe and gift show. Even Santa arrived. 

I guess I'm jaded about Christmas-unless it's freezing outside, just doesn't feel quite like we've made it through Advent yet.  Ahh well, it was a fun date night, good to be enjoying the beautiful London evening. Here's more photos: 

Merry Christmas! 

Heading West: Moving from Shanghai to London

We've almost been in London a month! Time is certainly flying. I am so grateful to finally have moved and not have the stress of "moving someday" hanging over our heads anymore. As I start to settle into life here in London I am aware of how my body and soul are slowly beginning to heal after a (fun) but stressful life in Shanghai.

I definitely miss parts of China. We made some incredible friends that became our family in Shanghai and I know even though we live all over the globe, we will stay in touch and celebrate the family things (weddings, babies, etc :) ).
I miss the food a lot. The family style eating is my favorite way to eat at restaurants. Order a bunch of dishes and share. My favorite foods in China were: Hot Pot, Xiaolongbao, Lajiazi, and beef noodles.

Our last week we stayed in one of the tallest buildings in Shanghai-Jin Mao Tower . We stayed on the 79th floor and the views were incredible.  Only at these heights can you begin to see past Shanghai. Just barely though. As you can see, it is just a sea of tall buildings in Shanghai, makes for quite a different view than the ones you get in Northern Wisconsin. The concrete jungle is a little stifling. And often even in the parks with grass, you are just supposed to stay on the concrete paths, no nature for you!

Don't look down!

One morning we woke up in the clouds, you couldn't see anything all day besides the building I was in: 

Our last morning in Shanghai! From above! 

The move to London had been planned since before I moved to Shanghai so it made it difficult to get settled into Shanghai knowing I was leaving soon. Of course, it ended up being a lot longer than anticipated but it made it hard to dig in.

The absolute hardest part about living in Shanghai for me was not speaking the language fluently. Linguistics is not a talent I possess. I learned some Mandarin words so I could buy vegetables or take a taxi but that's it. Being unable to speak or ask questions and not read the signs or labels is so debilitating. It's making me anxious just writing about it. Needless to say, my anxiety and depression sky rocketed in Shanghai. It makes me feel so helpless to not be able to speak to anyone. I am grateful to my friends who would often translate for me!

I will not miss cars honking every .5 seconds -I jumped almost every time. Many of the issues I struggled with (besides the language barrier) were big city issues and not necessarily "China" issues.  I think we, as Americans, can learn from a society that's been around thousands of years and not just write them all off because they are supposedly Communist. I say supposedly because really it's a Capitalistic Dictatorship country. If anyone in the Chinese Communist Party has read Marx's writings they conveniently skipped over the rules about shared wealth.

As an outsider, you can see the wounds of General Mao's leadership-namely, people don't speak up or say their own opinions, they are happy to just exist in the box they are supposed to so they don't get killed or disappear.  Of course, some people do and get arrested.

I am writing this from the comfort of my new home in London. In China, I hesitated to write anything too negative because there is a real fear of the government. Don't believe me? See the news recently about the Human Rights lawyers all detained? Way to go IOC for supporting a country that has so much censorship and human rights abuses.

Anyway, the censorship in China is almost unbelievable to an American like me. The government there seems so afraid they keep trying to control every little detail. I think it will backfire on them at some point, but as long as the common man continues to make money and better their life, people don't have a big reason to riot. I did speak to some local Chinese that said the censorship doesn't matter because they all have VPN's and can get around the Chinese Firewall, everyone is a member of the Communist Party but that doesn't mean they support it.

We did some pretty incredible vacations in China. Harbin -awesome Ice and Snow festival, Great Wall hikes, Huangshan Mountain, Hong Kong, etc. And we barely saw the country. China is HUGE! So much regional history and culture as well, it's truly a fascinating place. There is natural beauty, it just takes time to get out of the big city to find it.


And now we've moved to another center of society: London. It's a big, loud city as well but we've managed to find a house that's not downtown and is so quiet at night our ears ring. There are been some unforeseen hiccups but we are finally starting to settle in and buy some furniture.
I'm auditioning for some choirs in the next few weeks so I'm excited about the music opportunities here. We've already been to two shows: The Book of Mormon and 1984. Those shows couldn't be more opposite.


Patrick wrote a fantastic blog post about life in China: http://trick.vanstaveren.us/wp/

Book your tickets now for a London adventure! We have guest rooms!

xo, Sarah

ps. I've had a few moments over the past few weeks that have confirmed that this is where we are supposed to be. One happened last night when there was a double rainbow directly over our house:

Genesis 9:16 "Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.”

Hiroshima and the A-Bomb

I've starting writing and rewriting this post many times of the last few months. I've sat down to write and just been at a loss. Visiting Hiroshima last November was a very powerful experience. Patrick's dad used the word "sobering" and I thought that encompassed a lot of the feelings I've had.

First, a bit about what you see there. In Hiroshima, there is a large peace park, memorial, museum and the Atomic Dome building.

The Atomic Dome building was directly under the bomb, as the bomb exploded about 600 meters above it. All of the people in the building instantly died but the building remained somewhat in tact. You can see here how there wasn't much left standing around it:

  Residents of Hiroshima decided (eventually, it was discussed to tear it down) to keep the building as an important symbol of what happened.   There is a fund that is maintained to keep the building as a symbol for centuries to come.

The Dome and grave for victims:

The Memorial, was very peaceful and quiet. There was an interesting cross section of what the ground under Hirmoshima looked like now. A foot of dirt, then lots of rubble. There was an exhibit in one of the memorials regarding the censorship by the United States of what happened and the aftermath of the bomb.  So many photos and stories were prohibited from being told during the US occupation. It is eye-opening to see one's country from the outside, from a new lens. The hypocrisy is baffling. Check out the story of Children of Hiroshima, one of the first first hand accounts of what life was really like that day and those following.

The limitation of information is a scary thing, and yet we have it all the time. We often just get one side of the story-today's new websites always have a spin, often it is only after seeking out various news pages one can get a glimpse of the different views.  I am often overwhelmed by how much news is available that I can't just stare at it with no compassion or sympathy as a defense mechanism.  (Although less and less is available with more and more internet censorship occurring all over the world) It is so often bad news-images of hate and anger. I feel so overwhelmed I don't want to get out of bed.  How can we cope emotionally any more? How can we change anything?

The museum was horrific. No one should have to experience what those people did. So many stories of parents looking for their children or vice versa. So many tales of physical sufferings.  It was heart wrenching. The museum was tastefully done, it didn't brag or make excuses-it just described what happened. That being said, it was pretty gory but because that's what happened. It showed many photos of the bodies that were hit that day or experienced many diseases in the years to come. One thing I had not really thought through was the damage done to the unborn. So many people's lives damaged because of pride, greed and warfare.

I wish that everyone could have a chance to visit Hiroshima and see the sights of what happened that day. Though, many people throughout the world live in a Hellish situation today. It was humbling as an American knowing that it was my government and my nation that brought this pain on this particular area. I know that Japan did a lot of terrible things during the war as well. But these bombs were the biggest of the time, and now there are many that are so much more powerful.

It was an overwhelming day. You know what was missing? Hate, anger and vengeance. What I was filled with rather was sadness, peace and a resolve to work for peace. That's what the people of Hiroshima taught me.

I know I will never know all the variables that went into the decision to drop the atomic bombs. I wonder if anyone really knew what all the affectss would be on those lives that were impacted by the bomb and the radiation aftermath.  Probably not. But hopefully, I can bring in some light to the world-work to bring in joy and not hate in my little daily actions. Maybe those will make all the difference.

Quite possibly the best photos I've ever taken, at least some of the most fun

Here in AZ, I've been enjoying some R&R and lots of packing time with my grandparents. Gram has a hummingbird feeder and Patrick left me the fancy camera to play with this week.  Here's some of the best ones I got today:

Enjoy! Much love!