Serious Traveling Pictures

Currently reading: Passport: An Epic Novel of the Cold War by Bruce Herschensohn

Currently listening to: Pop by U2

The day after Christmas, I boarded a train to southern China. Getting out of our city was interesting because the fog was quite heavy. We got a train to Beijing and made it on the soft-sleeper car for our 22 hour journey to Guangxi province. An overnight delay turned it into a 24 hour journey, but it was uneventful. Once we arrived in Guilin, we freshened up and then headed out to see the city. In the morning rain, we walked over to a beautiful park and took in all the greenness that we could. In the evening, we took a bus to the paradise that is Yangshuo. An all-day bike ride occupied our Saturday. It was eventful--I fell off my bike and did a faceplant into a field (it was muddy!). Sunday was filled with good conversation and food. And Monday we spent traveling back to TJ. It was a great break and really fun to see another part of China. (Lots of) Evidence below--


Guilin Pictures:

The hills that make the Seven Star Park.



Ancient Chinese characters at the entrance to the Seven Star Cave.



Florescent lights colored the cave.



The park had some beautiful waterfalls.



The park had a zoo in the middle and it was at this zoo that I saw my first panda! Yes, that fox-like animal is actually panda--a red panda. Not exactly what you expect when you think panda, but still...



Bai Lan Hua, the flower that gave me my Chinese name.



A pack (herd? group?) of emus--what creepy birds.



Girls dressed in minority clothing.



A lily-covered pond (ah, nature, how I missed you!)



During our rainy walk through the park, we stumbled across a mosque.


Yangshuo Pictures:

The view from our hotel looking to the right.



The view from our hotel looking left.



A village dog protecting some chickens.



The roads were super muddy!



The Li River and the gorgeous mountains in the background.



These little bamboo rafts float down the river.



I love that the mountains are visible in the water in this picture.



An adorable sibling pair walking home from school and an older lady carrying water back to her village.



The bamboo boats docked at the village.



The toddlers all bundled up for the cooler weather.



Dave, Katie, Molly and I on a bridge from the 1200's!



A man herding his ducks to water.



This is probably my favorite picture from the whole trip.



Clothes and sausage hanging out to dry.



More sausage!



A grandmother and her grandson cleaning up at the restaurant where we ate lunch.



Mud, mud, and more mud--we were so muddy after our all-day bike ride.



Molly and I under the Yangshuo city sign.



The river is really low right now. Some locals explained to us that the river will be full again in the summer.



Crossing the Li River in a bamboo boat.



Our favorite winter fruit, you zi, growing on a tree. Pomelo (You zi's English name that I didn't know existed until a few weeks ago) is like a sweet grapefruit and has a huge peel.



The city of Yangshuo from the other side of the river.



The lady hacking the sugar cane into edible pieces with a huge knife.



Attacking our sugar cane!


Well, school is back is session. It was nice to get back to a regular schedule. I exited four of my students into the mainstream, and I gained one new student, so I'm sitting pretty with 5 students in both my 7th grade and 8th grade ESL classes. Only 3 more weeks until we have another break for Chun Jie (Chinese New Year).

It's cold now--the high today is a whopping 30 degrees F (-1 C). And at night it's getting down into the teens. Good times! There was a dusting of snow over Christmas but I missed it because we were already in Guilin. I want snow! It can only be this cold if snow is involved!

Signing off from frosty China,

rpm

"And The Soul Felt Its Worth"

Currently listening to: Some Mad Hope by Matt Nathanson

Currently reading: Passport: An Epic Novel of the Cold War by Bruce Herschensohn


December was a busy, busy month here, so again I find myself apologizing for the lack of blogging. The holiday season is an incredible opportunity to share our cultural, and more importantly, spiritual traditions and stories.

Our celebrations kicked off right after Thanksgiving. Sunday evenings we participate in an English corner at a local university. In preparation for their huge Christmas celebration, we invited Melva's entire conversation group to our apartment to learn to bake cookies. As a community, our goal was to make 600 cookies to take to this party so we wanted to contribute in whatever way possible. These students are so precious. Most of them are freshmen and are just beginning to adjust to university life. Also, many of them are from other parts of the country and they are having to adjust to university life while being thousands of kilometers away from everything and everyone familiar.

So twenty students arrived at our apartment and were completely spellbound for the 2 hours they visited. They were fascinated by our oven--they didn't realize that it was hot! We were baking cookies and one of the girls tried to put her hand into the oven to get the cookie rack without wearing an oven mitt. It's interesting the cultural differences that are hard to anticipate. We knew they would be surprised to see that cookies are made by following recipes (Chinese cooking is done by feeling, a pinch here, and a dab there), but teaching someone how to decorate a sugar cookie is counter-intuitive. Even though I'm a teacher, it was easier to demonstrate the process rather than having to explain how frosting works. So that was our cooking baking party.

The next weekend was the whole English club's Christmas party. It was quite the experience. The students got the opportunity to make Christmas cards and were finally able to eat the cookies they had decorated. Some students presented dances and songs and we presented a living Christmas story complete with a real baby! One of the biggest joys was hearing the sheer delight as He was "born" (when the blanket was pulled off of Mary to reveal a baby sling with a little baby boy).

In addition to these events, we hosted other celebrations not documented by my camera. The most entertaining was the weekend that I had my classes over. The best memory by far is of one of my tough 8th graders wearing our lime daisy-print apron while measuring out the ingredients for chocolate cookies.

The first weekend of break we had a smaller gathering of our university students. We read the Story from Luke and then watched the movie The Nativity. What an amazing portrait of the first Christmas!

Then, on Christmas Day, we hosted a party for the Kennedy's (their entire household was sick at some point in the last three weeks). It was quite the combination of people--our dear friend and her new husband, our Chinese teacher and his family, a Moroccan German, a German Canadian, a Pole, Kennedy grandparents, and other wonderful Chinese friends. Again, the legend of the candy cane was shared and a candle-lit, bilingual Silent Night was sung. I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to share and celebrate Christmas!


Cookie Decorating Party:

Melva as the Chinese-equivalent of Martha Stewart, demonstrating how to make cookies.



The pile of shoes! Thankfully, we had enough pairs of slippers of everyone.



Our friend Phyllis came to help us.



The students made all different kinds of decorations for the sugar cookies.



What color should we pick?



The girls also made Christmas countdown chains.



The cookies were so pretty--we had to refrain from eating them until the party the following Sunday.



We were able to share the Story--Melva is reading The Dream of the Three Trees here.



We had so much fun together!



University Christmas Party:

One of my conversation students and me before the party.



The 600 cookies were all eaten by the time the party of finished!



Acting out the Christmas story (complete with a real baby!)--The angel is telling Joseph not to be afraid.



Santa passing out candy canes with the Legend of the Candy Cane attached in Chinese.



A beautiful Tibetan dancer.



A candle-lit version of Silent Night.



This is my student who is Family--she is from another province and had not yet found a local fellowship. The girl who was the angel in the picture from the reenactment was able connect my friend with a group!


I am enjoying my break. Sometime in the relative future I will write about my trip to southern China. Until then, Happy New Year!

rpm

My (not) Thanksgiving

(12.23.07 Edit--I started writing this post a while ago, but I finally was able to finish it today!)

Currently watching: My Big Fat Greek Wedding

For Thanksgiving this year, I went to visit Wuxi--the city that I lived in last year. It was a wonderful time of reconnecting with old friends. I stayed at the apartment of a friend from my Fellowship. The evening that I arrived, she hosted the music practice for our Sunday meeting. The group is so diverse--Chinese, Australians, Germans, Rwandans, Filipinos, and one lone American (me!) While I had told many people that I was going to be visiting, word apparently didn't get around to everyone. It was heart-warming to see the look of shock and joy on their faces when they saw that I was back. Bittersweet is a good way to describe it--I was so glad to continue these wonderful friendships, but it was hard knowing that I was going to have to get on an airplane and leave again in just a few days. But it's comforting to know how easy it is to travel in China, so perhaps I'll visit again this summer! Anyway, I didn't have a traditional Thanksgiving meal or anything because I wasn't with any other Americans. It was a bit strange but being with local friends was a great way to spend the holiday.

On Friday, I was able to get reacquainted with the city. I enjoyed knowing what buses to take and the names of streets came back easily. Last year I wrote a few entries about how quickly things were changing in my old neighborhood but it was hard to fathom the amount of changes that just four months can bring. I went to my old school and finally saw first hand all the changes I knew they were making over the summer. A highlight was meeting up with some of my old students for dinner. It was fun to see how they are all doing.

Saturday brought a new adventure--going to the local sports stadium and playing badminton with friends from Fellowship. Badminton is a very popular sport here. It's easy to play and the only equipment required is space, two rackets and a shuttlecock. I can't say I've ever actually played before and, my goodness, my friends were competitive. Saturday's highlight was making rice pizza with my friend. She has a new apartment and even a small oven. Ovens are a complete luxury here. I didn't have one last year but now I do since our apartment is more Western-style. Anyway, her oven isn't a gas one like mine here in TJ, but it plugs into the wall. I was worried about finding mozzarella cheese, but good ol' Walmart came through. When we got back, my friend realized that she didn't have a can opener for the spaghetti (read: pizza) sauce. We solved the problem by attacking the can with a 3-inch cleaver knife. It worked! It was also quite scary! The pizza turned out great and they seemed to enjoy it. She has been Family for a year and her husband just made The Decision a month ago. We had great conversation about specific parts of the Book. My friend has a son in high school, so she is closer in age to being my mother than being my peer. It was so humbling to have her ask me for my opinion about those sorts of things. Although I grew up in the church, I find it hard being considered an expert at 24 years old.

Sunday was just like any Sunday last year. Fellowship and lunch out. And then a plane ride from my home last year to my home this year.


Pictures:


My classroom looked out over the foundation of these apartment last year. Over the summer the buildings sprouted up nice and tall.



Wuxi Oriental International School no longer exists but now the International School of Wuxi does.



This area used to have a bulletin board and my shining face listed on the faculty wall. Over the summer the space was converted into the new admissions office.



The beautiful but not kid-friendly garden was replaced with a nice, green astroturf field.



Last year this was used as a chess activity room, but sinks were added, doors were painted and supplies were bought to make it a kindergarten class.



My former students and I enjoying some pizza and good conversation.



My friend and her husband. Please Think of them as they continue to grow in their faith.



My friend and I waiting to play badminton together.



The hilarious Chinglish on the badminton racket cover.



Let the games begin!



My feeble attempt at playing badminton.



The girl in this picture became a friend over Thanksgiving weekend. Her story is amazing. She comes from a believing family (parents and grandparents!), which is quite rare. Many students come to faith when they are at university. She believed as a child, but in middle and high school became too busy and pushed it aside. She told me, "I was taught in school there is no Gd, but the whole time I believed that, I felt empty. Then I came to the university and got involved in this fellowship and I now feel whole again."



The other half of the gym was for ping pong. The Chinese are so serious about the sport--these athletes were amazing!



The amazing view from my friend's apartment.


Christmas break has officially begun! Now I'll have some time for posting. Look for more after I return from Guilin after the New Year.

Until then--Merry Christmas from China!

rpm