Finally finishing China!

Alright, it’s about time that I finish up China, now that I’ve been in Thailand for 3 weeks. So I think I got through everything in Yangling, on to Xi’an for our last day in China. Since we only had one day we surely packed it as full as possible with pure goodness. We started the morning off by going to see the Terracotta Warriors. That really was so incredible. They have excavated three pits of warriors, chariots and much more and they haven’t even excavated the emperor’s tomb nor the area immediately surrounding it. The pits that they have excavated are a fair distance away from the actual tomb so who knows what else is still underground and especially at the tomb. WOW!!! No wonder some people call it the 8th wonder of the world. I don’t know the details but they told us that when the emperor actually becomes the emperor they apparently begin planning for their burial or death. This emperor that had the Terracotta Warriors constructed became emperor at 9 or 11 so he started planning his burial from then. Maybe being that young had something to do with his burial choice. So another thing I think is amazing about the Terracotta Warriors is how many thousands of laborers were employed for decades working on this project. The magnitude of it is just, wow!

Next we went on to one of my highlights from China. Really the whole trip was so amazing there are many highlights but this was one of the very top, spending the next few hours at the Starfish orphanage. These children were so beautiful! Most of them have cleft palates and they have been abandoned or dropped off at orphanages. The lady who runs the orphanage gets the children from the city or government orphanage and I don’t know any details about which children she receives versus who they keep but she has 46 children in two apartments that function as the orphanage. Most of the children in her care are adopted by American families and some European. Once again the spirit of those children and that place was just incredible. Those children were so precious! The name of the orphanage is really neat to because it’s relating to the story of the man and the starfish for any who recognize that story. The story is basically that a man is walking along the beach when the tide has gone down and is throwing starfish, which have been stranded on the beach, back into the ocean one by one. Another man observing him approaches him and says, ‘why are you wasting your time throwing these starfish back into the water, there are so many you’ll never even make a difference.’ And the man replies, “It made a difference to this one” and continues to throw the starfish back into the ocean. So that quote is written on the wall under the orphanages name, isn’t that such an incredible motto and perspective for that orphanage? It was truly incredible but I think that is plain to see from the pictures.

You know I think it is interesting to see what has happened in China since they have instituted their birth regulations or the one child policy; I think it has resulted in consequences they didn’t expect. Like the problem they are having now with too many females in the population compared with males. Because in China men are preferred over woman, some people would find ways of discarding female children to have a son which has created a population imbalance. And look at the case with these children, they are so beautiful and so precious but many are discarded or abandoned because they aren’t considered to be perfect. It’s so heart breaking to see but I’m so grateful for organizations such as this orphanage that are making a difference to all that they can!

Following the orphanage we dropped off our luggage at the Britton’s (the branch president’s home) where we stayed the night but there was much more to do. We went to the Xi’an city wall, since we weren’t able to make it to the Great Wall, this had to suffice. It was built by the same emperor, same dynasty and so on so it was pretty close, right? The wall used to enclose the city but now there are 8 million people in Xi’an and they surely don’t fit within the city walls anymore! It was really fun though, we rented tandems and Braden, Bill, Yi and I biked around the wall. Yi was a friend from the Northwest University, he is in one of Braden’s classes and he was our translator and buddy for the weekend. We also learned from this bike ride that Bill cannot handle not being in control and was definitely not prepared for the backseat of a tandem. I found this out first hand when I almost died after we switched positions. He moved to the back and I came to the front and then I almost died. He starting freaking out and he kept trying to steer and be in control of the bike, which for all of you who have ridden tandem before you know that you just pedal when you’re in the back. Well he kept jerking on the handle bars and I thought we were going to die and Bill started hyperventilating. Anyhow it was hilarious after we stopped and he got off of the bike and attempted to breathe again, oh good times. Needless to say, he and Braden have some work to do if they are going to be a team and win the great race! ;)

We went to the Muslim market after that which was really cool. It was a Chinese market in the Muslim sector and the place to go for cheap shopping. So we ate delicious foods and bought our China souvenirs there. Then came the water show, yeah, so cool! The Big Goose Pagoda, which we had gone to earlier, has a water show every night and we were there for it. It was a huge, incredible water show. The inspiration for the Bellagio we’ve heard but it was much bigger. And of course with all of that water and goodness we couldn’t not play in it. So in we went dancing and frolicking in our clothes. Yi, that great man, held all of our stuff because they have problems with pick pockets there. Understandable, thousands of people gathering every night to watch the light and water show. Once again we drew a crowd, everyone thought we were so crazy and a few people came up to us afterward and asked if they could have a picture taken with us. Yep, sure, have your picture with the crazy Americans!

We ended up searching out the hotel that the USU business students were staying in. They were on their Asian tour and just happened to come into Xi’an that day. President Britton was there host and coordinator in Xi’an. It was so great staying with the Britton’s, they were an incredible family. So we flew out the next day with Poi and Amanda. (The wife and daughter of a USU professor that was working at the University in China but his wife is Thai, so they were headed back to Thailand while he finished up some work in China.) Thus ends the China adventures for now but definitely not for good, I have to go back to China at some point in my life!

The Week in Yang Ling, China

So I better get to finishing up china before I get way too behind! I finished up the last post recapping Sunday in Xi'an. We went to an incredible branch there and drew the crowd at the Big Goose Pagoda. Alright, back on track. Most of the week from here on out consisted of sightseeing around Yang Ling (the town where we stayed and where the University - North West - that Braden and Ari teach at is located) in the morning, with attending & assisting with Braden and Ari's classes in the afternoon.

The students were incredible. Once again, the spirit of the Chinese was just so unique. There English was actually really good and the classes were so much fun to help out with. Bill and I learned a lot from helping out in the classrooms and hopefully we helped Braden and Ari out a bit.

So clearly there are more adventures left to tell, our week had barely begun in China. We did some really great things in the mornings we had. One day we went to the greenhouses that the University runs. That was super interesting. I have never been in such an expanse of greenhouses. They are conducting a lot of research there and doing a lot of their growing with hydroponics. For those of you who don't know what that is, a very rough explanation is that you are basically growing plants in a medium with a nutrient solution instead of soil. Anyhow it was really interesting and they just had rows and rows of plants all growing upward, maximizing growing space.

That same morning we went to some of the museums on campus. These were actually really incredible. The main attraction there is a Butterfly museum which was really cool. All sorts of butterfly and insect info and specimens. Then they actually had a butterfly garden with many varieties of live butterflies. But the coolest thing was the butterfly art. There were these incredibly intricate art pieces created from butterfly wings! It was so crazy and so beautiful. I'll put up a picture but it will in no way do it justice. This art is 3-D and created from various colors of butterfly wings, I cannot even imagine how many butterflies you have to acquire to make some of these pictures, nor can I imagine the time it would take to make the beautiful images they made. So that was really neat to see.

Oh, one of the major highlights for the entire trip was the spectacular bike ride we took around the Chinese countryside! We ended up borrowing some bikes from some other students in the International dorm and cruised out of the city to check out the countryside of the area and it was so awesome! As all three of us are definitely more country kids it was so great to be out of the city and it was just awesome. The countryside was beautiful and the people were just as beautiful!

Yes, my total wipe out surely did happen on this bike ride for those of you who have heard about this. I'll tell the story but really the video is really where it is at, since I was filming when I wrecked. So you can check out the video on facebook or when I figure out how to get videos up on the blog I'll attempt that. Anyhow I suppose the background for the story is that it is wheat harvesting season up there in China and everyone gets to be involved in the process whether you want to or not. I say that because they lay the wheat all over the roads so that all the vehicles will drive over it and thrash the wheat. Pretty resourceful I think! Anyhow, so we were just biking over the wheat, just doing our part ya know! Bill was filming and he asked me to bike up there so he could get someone else on film, then his battery was going out so he wanted me to film him. Well I think you can see the disaster developing . . . the camera trade off went well and I started filming Bill and then it went down hill. I totally lost control and started veering and by the way, wheat on cement is very slippery, and there was no hope for regaining control. I was all over the place and went down hard core. It was great! The camera went tumbling end over end and the screen went black. Bill was off his bike in a flash but don't worry not to offer any assistance, he was laughing so hard he was crying and pointing. He grabbed the camera, hoping to get it on film but the screen was black at this point, apparently cameras don't do well when thrown to the ground. Anyhow Braden was bringing up the tail end so he got the whole show. It was definitely a highlight for them. Everyone knew about it the next morning even before I had seen anyone and it was on facebook. So needless to say it was a great story to tell from our biking adventure. I just have to keep things exciting you know. :)

So to finish up our time in Yangling we of course had to experience karaoke in Asia. The karaoke is awesome over there, very different from in the states. It is really popular but you go to more private rooms where you can be with just your group or your friends, so you're not singing in front of everyone at the entire establishment. A much friendlier, less intimidating environment. And some of the karaoke places are super posh posh! So that was way fun.

We also had lunch the last day in Yangling with our dear friends Johnny and Susan. They were so great! They took us to lunch and gave us little departing gifts. They gave Bill a stamp, I got earrings and they gave us both a Chinese star for good luck. Oh and they also provided Bill with his favorite meal in China.

Okay, last thing in Yangling we played Werewolf our last night. It was so crazy. We played with probably 25 people from the international dorm and we had probably 10-15 different nationalities and languages all playing this game together, it was really fun. I must say though I have never played werewolf quite like that, it was really like playing with a bunch of teenage boys, but it was way fun! That mostly sums up the brief overview of our short time in Yangling. We left the next morning to spend the weekend in Xi'an.

The Wonders of China

So our first full week in Asia was spent in the great wide world of China, and it was incredible beyond belief! As you can see in the little spiritual reflection below, I was totally in awe at the incredible spirit in China! So if all of that hasn't said enough about the spirit of China let's get on with a bunch of the grand adventures we had while in China. The purpose for visiting China was two fold. Myself and Bill have a very good friend, Braden, teaching at a similar program in China. Braden and another friend Ari are doing a similar English teaching program in China but they have already been going for a few weeks. So China was a chance for us to get some grounding before coming to Thailand and starting our English teaching program and of course a chance to visit and experience some of the wonders of China! For the purpose of learning from Ari and Braden's teaching set up it was extremely helpful. We were able to share teaching materials with each other and we were able to get some experience in an international classroom. Even that little time there has been a huge benefit to us as we have been setting up our teaching course here in Thailand.

Okay now on the the grand adventures of China. There is no down time here, our adventures started the very first day. First off we were surely greeted at the airport with face masks and thermometers and informed we couldn't stay in the dorms with Braden and Ari, they were afraid we had the swine flu and they didn't want us to become "faces" of people who brought the swine flu to China. After all that to do though we spent all of our time, save sleeping in and on campus and at the dorms. So who knows, sometimes you just have to please the right people.

Anyhow, quick excerpt for a funny story, though there are too many to tell this one was great. Since we now couldn't stay at the dorms and the school hotel was full we ended up staying at a pretty sketchy hotel the first two nights. As we're driving down this random alley way to our hotel you can see a fairly tattered Chinese national flag hanging outside the parking entrance for the hotel; then Bill, in all seriousness says, "This is a five star hotel?" Braden and I were flabbergasted and answered almost in unison, "Bill, that is the Chinese flag." It was so funny. I don't know if any of you are laughing but it was so great, especially if you would have seen the quality of the room we stayed in. It became one of the many running jokes for the week.

Okay moving on to one of the greatest stories. Did you all know that Braden, Bill and myself are rock stars? That's right, you know bonified rock stars . . . or something like that. The first night we were there, Saturday, they ended up having a rock concert on campus. So we got there a few hours after it had started and met some friends near the front of the stage. Well, it turns out they really wanted the Americans to sing and it didn't help that our Egyptian friends were more than excited to get us up on stage as well. Now keep in mind this is a pretty legit rock concert, there were probably 750-1000 Asian students and rock bands performing at this concert. So they keep asking and asking us to get on stage, they're trying to find songs we know and on and on. So we finally consent and don't you worry we surely performed Journey's - Don't Stop Believing on stage at a Chinese rock concert. We sounded terrible, we were so off tune, we didn't know all the words and they absolutely love it! They went crazy, especially compared to how they reacted to the rest of the concert - definitely the tamest rock concert I have ever been to. We were definitely the crazy Americans there the whole time. Anyhow, after that they wanted us to sing the closing song of the night, which we did not want. We ended up sneaking out and the next day the students told us they were chanting for us. They wanted the Americans to come back and sing. As I'm sure you can figure out they don't see to many Americans in this part of China, so apparently they thought we were pretty cool. I'll try to upload the video and you can experience the awfulness of your performance for yourself but it was crazy fun. Oh and who knew I lived one of mom's dreams, so watch and enjoy and live vicariously if you so choose. :)

One more adventure for this post, then I'll have to break it up because these are getting too long, I am just too long winded. So the next day we went to Xi'an for church and spent the day there. Church was a little branch with an incredible spirit, it was such a neat experience. We also ate our first real dumplings in China and they were so delicious.

That afternoon we went to the Big Goose Pagoda which is famous for a water and light show they do, which we have heard is actually the show that inspired the Belagio's water show - this one is much bigger though. (It was awesome, but that story comes later in the week) Anyhow this day we dressed in Chinese traditional wear and took pictures. It was so funny, but the best part was the crowd we drew! This tended to be a common theme in China, we ended up drawing a lot of crowds - those crazy Americans!!!! Anyhow we had like 50-75 people totally gathered, gawking, pointing and taking pictures of us. Maybe the whole week could have just been labeled - they drew a crowd. ;)

A Little Spiritual Reflection from China

I have completely fallen in love with China!!!!!!! Truly, I was amazed just how quickly and fully in love I fell with those people and with that country! I can't even describe the immediate love I had for those people. I really felt overwhelmed with love toward them. I want to go back and serve the people in China so much. I love when the Lord let's you see into how much He loves His children and let's you feel a little bit of that. It's such an incredible, precious thing to experience. I felt such a connection with some of those Chinese people, truly spirit to spirit, or at least directed by God's spirit. I felt so much love and friendship for them.

If I haven't eluded to it enough already the spirit in and of China is AMAZING!!! Truly you can feel the spirit of God in that country so powerfully! You know that He is preparing to do His work there. I get chills every time I think about it or talk about it. The spirit is so powerful there, it was such an incredible thing to experience. I don't think I have ever felt anything quite like that before, it was amazing!!!! There are really no words to describe the feeling and the spirit there. The Lord is truly preparing those people, the whole country, and also us to be prepared to take the gospel there. I am so excited for when that country opens for missionary work, it is going to be dynamite! I hope that I get to be a part of that great work somehow!

From the Land of Asia!!!!!

Asia is AMAZING!!!!! We have already had such an incredible time here! I am here for the summer, teaching English classes; preparation for the TOEFL (Testing of English Foreign Language) examination. The University we are working with is Kasetsart University (KU) in Bangkok, Thailand and wow, what a crazy city! It is definitely a whole new world!

We've been in Thailand now for a grand total of about 12 days and it is so great! I am here with a friend from Utah State, Bill Munns - you'll see him in a lot of the pics - and we are piloting this program for our University, setting up a Service Learning Study Abroad. So for teaching English we get to come live here in Thailand for the summer and go on all sorts of adventures and weekend trips, I can definitely handle this. Since we are working with the faculty of Agriculture we get guided tours into parts of Thailand most tourists don't get to see!

So if you're reading this blog keep in mind that I am doing this for multiple purposes so some things may or may not be too interesting to read. As part of piloting this program I need to report weekly on how things are going here and my perceptions and thoughts on the experience, so keep in mind that you may want to skim or just skip certain posts. So being forewarned, enjoy what you will of this blog I am attempting to keep this summer.

First off my first thoughts of Thailand are . . . it's AMAZING!!! It's called the Land of Smiles and rightly so, the people are so nice and it is a very traveler friendly country! We have been so well taken care of, these people are the best hosts! Here and in China, we have received that same amazing hospitality. That is one thing I wish we were a little better at in the United States, the spirit of hosting and hospitality they have. Well at least it has been great for me to learn more fully and now I just need to put it into practice.

Oh, it must be said straight away, the food is SO GOOD!!!! I love Thai food! Yes, it is often spicy but oh so delicious, definitely not food for you TJ! ;) That being said, that is definitely one of the problems as well. The food is so good and we get fed so much, I think I might get fat over here in Thailand! Here is the dilemma, when you eat with a group here in Thailand you typically order the communal dishes and everyone scoops out for there own plate. But they order so many dishes and they want you to try them all and you want to try them all and they are so delicious that we eat to capacity pretty much every meal! I don't know how they all stay so little? Except there is a definite difference in the food and how it is digested for sure. Because you'll eat to capacity at a meal and an hour or two later you feel SO hungry!

But the fruit is SO incredible. Happy day for being in a tropical paradise! I have never had better fruit in my entire life and it is so cheap! Well the entire cost of living in general here is just really cheap. When we buy our meals in the canteen, you can get a good meal for around a $1.

Let's see many more posts to come but just to finish off this general account of Thailand, the traffic in this city -Bangkok is so CRAZY!!! I guess that is to be expected in a city with around 12 million people! Just the whole city is so immense, I can't even imagine how long it would take learning to navigate it?! Props to the taxi drivers! So Thailand and it's people are wonderful and I am loving this new experience here!

Just attempting . . .

Here is my first attempt at blogging and we'll see how it goes. Bill has already mocked me for every aspect of my blog so if anyone else feels to do so please go ahead. Give me some feedback on what I should change or could do better, especially you ladies who blog all the time. I'll tell you the first thing that needs to go is the background. I have definitely got to figure out this blogging situation. You know I am just going to stop now and play around a bit. I will update my real blog after I play for a bit and hopefully no one else will ever read this because I will be able to delete it or archive it in some way.