Happy Chinese New Year.

As you probably know, the BIG, HUGE, GIGANTIC holiday in China is the lunar new year (not the calendar new year).

This year, I went bicycle riding into a nearby water village (canals run throughout) with a couple of friends. In China, it's appropriate to give "hong baos" or cash gifts to unmarried people, especially young children. We took the opportunity to hand out "hong baos" on our ride in the village. These children are some of the poorest in Shanghai. Their "homes" are barely heated, if at all and running water is a rare luxury. Many moms just wash their vegetables in the water canal.

I wish I had gotten pictures of the mob of children we met in the narrow alleys. Kids were coming from everywhere. Unfortunately, the small amounts of money will not be enough to raise their quality of life. But we pray that the scripture we also included in the traditional red with gold envelopes will bring the eternal life that supercedes any quality of life here on earth.
Here are some pictures from Sunday morning's ride into the water village.

Many kids who were shy at the sight of foreigners stopping to interact with them on the street. However, the nerves quickly melted when they saw the familiar red/gold envelope. Tim's chinese language skills also helped put them at ease.
These 2 girls were downright giddy after our stop. The older woman strongly encouraged them to come out for a photo.
This mother and small baby caught the excitement and actually tracked us down despite the cold weather.
Chinese mothers really layer the kids. We compare them to little Michelin men.
I grabbed this photo as we rode away. It illustrates some of the buildings that constitute the homes in this village. However, some of the homes are worse than this. Some are slightly better.

We went on an adventure to find this cool bridge. After a couple of wrong turns and some input from the locals, we found it.

You've probably seen and heard about all the snow in China. Well, that snow eventually melted in Shanghai and left lots of mud. We found some of it as we trekked through the countryside.

Catch you later.