Kyle's China Adventures

A Furlough and Final Hangzhou Videos

2010-03-29T00:40:00.000-07:00

Hi guys,

As many of you may know by now, I am currently Stateside enjoying a much needed break from TIP after 7 months of living in joyful uncertainty, where everyday was an adventure. I have now been back for over a month, and have been greatly blessed to have spent time with many friends and family who I have dearly missed during my time away. Yet, as all good things must come to an end, I am now preparing to return to the "Middle Kingdom" and finish what I started by teaching the next 3 months through the end of June.

I am actually rather excited for this now, as I've missed my fellow facilitators and Chinese friends as well! I am also floored because I have been given the opportunity to co-facilitate with Dan Garrison, the amazing man of God who has mentored me throughout the year. He has done a plethora of teaching over the years, and it is a great privilege to be able to teach with him and learn from him.

Therefore, I will be flying out the day after Easter and will be back in Beijing on April 6th. I unfortunately will be forced to be in quarantine for 5 days before I can be around students, but (Lord willing) I will be able to jump in during the first Sunday of the session with the students. Then I'll be in the classroom all week and hopefully form some great relationships and be able to share my faith with the students through my actions and if lucky through God's Word. Please pray for opportunities.

Also, since Easter is just around the corner, I thought I'd quote one of my favorite Scriptures come Easter time:

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born. - 1 Corinthians 15:3-8

I love this text because it not only presents the Gospel, but it also provides evidence of hundreds of eye-witness accounts of Christ's resurrection! Praise God for Jesus and for His Word that testifies to us that our sins have been forgiven!

Finally, I am posting the final two Hangzhou videos. Sorry for the delay. Hope you like them!

Hangzhou Day 3: A visit to the lake, church, and more fireworks!

2010-02-16T21:08:00.000-08:00

Here is the next video in our "Spring Festival 2010 Celebration Series." We will probably have another 2 that we put up in the next week or so. I hope you like it!

Hangzhou Day 3:

Also, I want to say that the common theme that we have seen run throughout this trip is one of hospitality. The Chinese culture in general is unbelievably hospitable and the people take great joy in spoiling their guests in many ways, but always by providing more food than they could ever eat! Yet, as you know, this should not only a cultural thing because it is also very biblical to be hospitable. Therefore, in light of this and in light of the zeal and passion you saw our "Chinese father" Timothy preach with, I was reminded of the verse below, and encourage you to reflect on it:

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Romans 12:9-13

Hangzhou Day 2 - New Years Eve in China!

2010-02-14T08:00:00.000-08:00

Below is the video from our first full and eventful day down here in Hangzhou celebrating the Lunar New Year with Melody and her family. I'd suggest you read the blog post below and watch the video in that post (if you haven't already), and then watch this second video.

There should be another 1-2 videos in the next few days also. My hope is that they will give you a taste of what Chinese Spring Festival is all about, and a look at the amazing experience we are having. Geoff and I are both so thankful that God has provided us with such a priceless and extraordinary adventure - especially one that we did not plan and embarked on 48 hours after the thought popped into Geoff's head. Praise Him!

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing.

Psalm 34:8-10

Mandarin TIP and a Spring Festival Adventure!

2010-02-13T10:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Chinese New Year!

I am currently sitting on a bed at a Youth Hostel in the city of Hangzhou (close to Shanghai) where my buddy Geoff and I are visiting one of his students from a TIP summer session. We are in the middle of the Chinese Spring Festival (by far the most important holiday in China) where literally almost everyone goes home to their families regardless of the distance to celebrate Chinese New Year. The student's English name we are visiting is Melody, and both of her parents are Christian pastors! Her father chose the English name Timothy (very fitting!) and her mother's English name is Rose. Although this is only our first night here, we have already experienced incredible hospitality as all three of them came and picked us up from the airport in a 11 passenger church van (Quite funny to think about such a thing in China!). Then, they took us to this hostel where they insisted on paying for our 4 night stay here. After that they took us to their cozy apartment where Rose had already prepared some fresh honey dew melon to eat, Timothy cooked us some wantons for a late second dinner, and they shared Korean candy with us that some of their Korean church members gave them as a New Year's present. They even gave Geoff and I a brand new toothbrush, bottle of toothpaste, and small hand towels to take to our hostel. Unbelievable!

The funny thing about this trip, is that it’s one of the most spontaneous things I've ever done. Geoff posed the idea of traveling here for Spring Festival literally two days ago! We bought plane tickets that were 60% off last night since they were so last minute, and paid about USD$165 roundtrip!

As for an update regarding TIP, I spent all of January developing curriculum for our Mandarin TIP program as well as doing some facilitating with our students. And, ironically, not being in the classroom with 35+ students allowed me to develop some closer relationships with students. I even had time to spend 4 nights (about 2 hours per night) chatting with 5-6 of my favorite male students in their dorm room. One night I brought my computer and showed them some of my pictures from the States, and the next day one of the students said, "Kyle, after you left, we were all very excited and stayed up for a long time talking about your pictures! We did not get much sleep and I'm now very tired!" Overall it was a successful session.

Then, after a short three day break, we started our Mandarin TIP program! It's much different than English TIP in a number of ways. For one, we are all low, low, low speakers, and therefore it's obviously not a full immersion program (yet… the last 4 days we will attempt to have it be full immersion). We also have a pretty great ratio going for us. We have 11 Chinese facilitators/teachers who taught 15 of us. And, while it’s not quite as regimented as our English TIP we do have a packed schedule from 8:30am - 7:30pm with a 2 hour lunch and rest time in the middle of the day. Needless to say, my Chinese is improving and I've already been able to use it with Melody and her family especially since her Mom knows very little English. It's awesome… :)

Finally, we've also decided to Vlog (Video Log) some of this trip, and the first installment can be accessed here at the link below. I'll post again in the next few days! I hope you like it!

Kyle

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or could imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

Ephesians 3:20-21

Stateside visitors and developing a Mandarin TIP program!

2010-01-27T06:28:00.001-08:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/WallsCitiesIceTigersAndMapleTwist (Check out new pictures here!)

Dear friends and family,

As the students constantly say during their 10-minute English speech at the end of their 20-day session, "how time flies!" It really is incredible to think that I have already been back in China for almost 6 months! And, what an exhilarating 6 months it has been.

In my last post, I mentioned that my friends Anna Veldt, Eric Chen and Kari Kutrich had come to visit me. We ended up having a marvelous time together, visiting many of the Beijing attractions including the Forbidden City, Great Wall (this time we thankfully weren't forced to camp on the wall!), and various shopping markets around the city. Some of our best times were also spent simply hanging out in my dormitory too, where Anna blessed many people on the team by making her signature (and my absolute favorite) dessert/breakfast pastry known as the Maple Twist. Give me a piece (or 2, or 3!) of cinnamon, sugar, and maple goodness and enjoyed with a vanilla latte (also courtesy of Anna) and I'm a happy camper. We also made a couple of different pancake and bacon combo meals and a marvelous Indian curry that everyone greatly enjoyed, and which had leftovers lasting for two separate meals for me and my friend Abby once they left. Needless to say it was a big blessing to have something other than my Kung Pao Chicken or Sweet and Sour Chicken go-to's and of course the fellowship and deep theological conversations we enjoyed were also beneficial and cherished.

We also took an exciting trip up to the ice and snow world known in Harbin. I think the best way to portray this experience would simply be to point you to the pictures (see link above) and allow you to read through the captions accompanying the pictures which would do more justice than anything I could write to showcase our trip.

It has now already been two full weeks since Anna and Eric left and I am now nearing the end of the January session which has been completely different than anything I have experienced so far. This is because I have been a part of developing a pilot version of a Mandarin TIP 3-week program that will be launched in February. What this means is that I am developing curriculum for a program that will enable the other facilitators and I to learn Mandarin TIP during next month because Spring Festival falls in the middle of February and therefore it is too difficult for us to get enough students to run a regular TIP Program. It will basically be an intensive 8-hour a day program where we are taught by Chinese staff members and former students. It will be a challenging 3 weeks but it will pretty neat to be able to communicate better with our Chinese staff and the locals we see around campus and in the restaurants we eat at. I will update more as the program gets underway.

Lastly, I thought I'd just list some things I have observed or have been learning over the last few months.

I am learning that it is very important to cherish the time you have with close friends and family, especially when you are given so little of it. After spending a week with my sister in Chongqing in November, and then spending two weeks with Anna and Eric, I have learned to be very appreciative of the time I have been given to spend with loved ones.
On a lighter note, I am learning that the Chinese people can be very blunt and direct which initially seems rude but once you realize its just the culture it makes it hilarious. For instance, I had a red pimple on my nose (so attractive I know..ugh!) and a Chinese person who I had met once before and hadn't seen for a few months said, "Oh, you have a big pimple on your nose." What do you say to that.. "Uh.. Thanks?" Then, I was talking with a student last week about another person, and she referred to her by saying, "Oh yes, you mean that lovely fat girl who is always so happy?" Again, a bit awkward, but both people were not afraid to point out the obvious!

Prayer requests:

Pray for the students we have this session, for opportunities to share the hope we have in Him with them, and that they would go back and be a blessing to their students after learning at TIP
For Mandarin TIP and the ability for us as facilitators to endure 3 weeks of so much Chinese!
For perseverance during the second half of my year here, and direction for what I am to do after this year of TIP is over in late June. There is a possibility that I could stay for a second year here, but I am also praying about other options closer to home as well. Please pray for discernment and clear direction.
That I would find peace and rest in Christ daily, and trust in Him alone as each day really is a new adventure with all sorts of different challenges and opportunities.

Thanks for reading, and please send me an email if you have the time! Also see the pictures if you haven't already.

Kyle

Stateside visitors and developing a Mandarin TIP program!

2010-01-27T06:27:00.001-08:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/WallsCitiesIceTigersAndMapleTwist (Check out new pictures here!)

Dear friends and family,

Lastly, I thought I'd just list some things I have observed or have been learning over the last few months.

I am learning that it is very important to cherish the time you have with close friends and family, especially when you are given so little of it. After spending a week with my sister in Chongqing in November, and then spending two weeks with Anna and Eric, I have learned to be very appreciative of the time I have been given to spend with loved ones.
On a lighter note, I am learning that the Chinese people can be very blunt and direct which initially seems rude but once you realize its just the culture it makes it hilarious. For instance, I had a red pimple on my nose (so attractive I know..ugh!) and a Chinese person who I had met once before and hadn't seen for a few months said, "Oh, you have a big pimple on your nose." What do you say to that.. "Uh.. Thanks?" Then, I was talking with a student last week about another person, and she referred to her by saying, "Oh yes, you mean that lovely fat girl who is always so happy?" Again, a bit awkward, but both people were not afraid to point out the obvious!

Prayer requests:

Pray for the students we have this session, for opportunities to share the hope we have in Him with them, and that they would go back and be a blessing to their students after learning at TIP
For Mandarin TIP and the ability for us as facilitators to endure 3 weeks of so much Chinese!
For perseverance during the second half of my year here, and direction for what I am to do after this year of TIP is over in late June. There is a possibility that I could stay for a second year here, but I am also praying about other options closer to home as well. Please pray for discernment and clear direction.
That I would find peace and rest in Christ daily, and trust in Him alone as each day really is a new adventure with all sorts of different challenges and opportunities.

Thanks for reading, and please send me an email if you have the time! Also see the pictures if you haven't already.

Kyle

Christmas in China!

2010-01-03T02:31:00.001-08:00

Happy Holidays friends and family!

While I don't think I need to be "politically correct" in China by saying "happy holidays," I thought I'd start with that because Christmas and New Years has already passed and I have failed to blog before now!

Anyways, the Christmas season in China has been quite different then anything I've experienced. Having spent every prior Christmas at home with family and friends, it has been a hard season but also rather exciting and rewarding. We spent our Christmas Eve and Christmas "in session" with our students, and this was a special opportunity to witness to our students and share our culture and traditions with them. Even though it was hard to work on Christmas, it distracted most of us from thinking about being with loved ones at home. It also was unique because we were not only celebrating the birth of our Savior but we were doing His work on the day that we were remembering his birth. If you click the link below and navigate to my new album called "Christmas Session" you will see some new pictures that will explain more. Enjoy them!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/ChristmasSession#

As of now, I am spending quality time with Anna Veldt and Eric Chen and we are about to hop on a train to go north up to Harbin where the annual Ice Lantern Festival is held. It's supposed to be between 25 below and 8 degrees above freezing. It will be epic!

Kyle

Class A Aces Pictures and Video!

2009-12-05T09:16:00.000-08:00

Below is the link to a new photo album as well as two new videos. One is a video of me and my class doing our class chant I wrote for them. The second video is from an adventurous motorcycle ride that my sister and I took in Chongqing. :-)

Class A Pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/Session3ClassAAces#

Class A Chant Video: http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/ChinaVideos02#

Since our class letter was A, I decided that we should be called "Aces." We obviously needed a song or chant to go with it to build some class pride and comraderie. The following is what I came up with. :)

Lyrics

We are we are Aces!

We are we are Aces!

We will we will rock you!

We will we will rock you!

We are we are awesome!

We are we are attractive

We are we are amazing!

We are we are Aces!

Class A!!

Motorcycle Video: http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/ChinaVideos#

Finally, I just wanted to say thank you for your prayers! As I mentioned in my last post, I have been missing home quite a bit lately with my sister leaving with the SPU study abroad group just a few days after Thanksgiving, and Christmas quickly approaching. Thankfully after a long week of rest in between sessions and after receiving multiple encouraging emails from friends and family, I am rejuvenated and ready to rock and roll in the new session that starts tomorrow.

This session I will have another medium+ class and will be co-facilitating with a 24 year old guy named Geoff. We're pretty excited about being two young, tall American guys teaching people who are our parents age. :-)

Cheers,

Kyle

Thanksgiving and Homesickness

2009-11-30T05:24:00.000-08:00

Another session has come and gone. As I mentioned at the end of my last post, it was my first time with a medium-high class which was a much needed change from two very low classes. I co-facilitated again and this time it was with a girl named Laura, who is a 26 year-old second-year facilitator with a ton of energy and a great person to work with.

My lunch conversations with the students were much more meaningful as well. I was able to get beyond simple conversations about my chopstick skills, favorite foods, and China travels and on to discussions about the differences between Chinese and American culture, the challenges of being a teacher in China, and values and beliefs.

And, since Thanksgiving fell in the middle of our session, during lunch one day I was able to explain how we celebrate it and how we pray the Lord's prayer at dinner. This was a simple conversation but one where the students showed interest and a desire to understand. I also learned more about Buddhism during that meal as well. After talking about my beliefs, my student told me that she believes there was a god and goddess who were brother and sister and created the earth many years ago. I asked her where they are today, and she said that after they created the earth the god became all of the mountains and the goddess became all of the rivers. I asked her where people go when they die, and she said they go "to the west." I asked about the Buddhist temples, and she said it is there that people bring food and paper print outs of houses, cars, etc., because they believe that those who die need it in the next life. This was all very fascinating to me and revealed to me the stark contrast between our belief systems. Unfortunately I wasn't able to go much deeper than that.

Experiencing Thanksgiving over here was also really challenging. In fact, it was just this last weekend that I had to say goodbye to my sister who left China just yesterday. This, coupled with the fact that I had to say goodbye to some of my favorite students was really rough.

This has and will likely continue to be a hard season as I make it past the 4 month marker and experience my first Christmas overseas. This is especially the case because it was this time last year that I was heading home to be with family and friends for over a month long break at my parents house... it was therefore even harder to say goodbye to Lauren and see all her classmates so excited to get home. This has really put me through the ringer, but by God's grace I'm hanging in there. I am thankful He has graciously provided a big family of fellow believers for me to live and commune with.

Needless to say, I could really use your prayers during this time and the upcoming months as I am stretched and challenged in many new ways. Pray that God would remind me of His love and how He is always working for my good even in the midst of hardship. Pray for our team, that God would unite us and draw us closer during this Holiday season.

Thanks for your prayers and your emails!

PS: To end on a positive note, my class monitor who was one of my favorite students sent the following text to me towards the end of this past session after we had the TIP Talent show:

"You are a great facilitator. After arriving here, I changed a lot. Thanks for you and Laura. Tonight we all feel very excited and have a wonderful time. Have a good dream."

It's comments like this that encourage me and keep me going. :)

Class A

(more pictures to come)

Subscribing to my blog

2009-11-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

Dear friends and family,

If you would like to subscribe to my blog, simply enter your email address into the box to the left and follow the easy instructions that will appear in a pop-up window. If you are using a pop-up blocker, you may need to turn that off momentarily to open the page.

Subscribing to my blog means that you will receive an email that will notify you that I have updated my blog.

I hope that helps!

Kyle

Chinglish, burnout, rejuvenation, and Tracey's baptism!

2009-11-15T03:04:00.001-08:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/PhotoScavengerHuntSnowAndVisitingMySister#

So the last session came and went very quickly. I taught another "low-level" class with Abby, which had its ups and downs. First of all, you can always count on some pretty hilarious Chinglish sayings. One of my favorites was in a journal entry from one of our students who wrote that on the first day she was "afraid to open her mouse," but now has "built her confidence so that she can open her mouse." Another one of my students created a new word. He was writing about the Photo Scavenger Hunt we have the students participate in here and he said, "Today is the most interciting day at TIP for everyone!" I actually really like this combination between "interesting" and "exciting" and have thought about integrating it into my vocabulary.

Perhaps the funniest recent realization has been the fact that most Chinese people cannot pronounce my name to save their life. To try and help them, I have started introducing myself at the beginning of each session (in front of all 200 students) by telling them that if they can say "smile" then they can say "Kyle," and that every time they smile they can remember how to say my name. The only problem is that Chinese people don't know how to say "smile." Instead they pronounce it "smell." So my master plan often fails, and I usually get people pronouncing it "Kael," "Kell," "Karl," "Kerry," or "Kielly." In fact, one of my students last session called me Kael, Kerry, and Kielly all in one 20 minute dinner conversation! Furthermore, during the Photo Scavenger Hunt, one of the students came and asked me if I was the facilitator who was from Seattle. I said yes, she said thanks "Kael," glanced at my name tag, and proceeded to spell my name Kely . I don't know what to do with that… perhaps I'll change my name next session to something simple like "Tom."

As for the downs of last session, one of the problems with a low class is that after the first week at meal time, you no longer have anything to talk about with your students. You can only ask so many times about their hometown, their family, and their favorite food. You can also only tolerate for so long hearing them say you can use chopsticks very well, ask you if you prefer noodles over rice, and tell you "My hometown is very beautiful. Welcome to my hometown!" Additionally, the 10 minute speech that everyone has to give at the end of TIP becomes almost identical for all 30+ speeches. We encourage them to talk about a "meaningful life experience," and while some tell us about an experience in the past, many simply talk about "Life in TIP" which makes for a long 5 hours of speeches!

Therefore, at the end of last session I was a little burnt out. Thankfully, however, I was able to go and see my sister for a week in Chongqing where she is studying through the SPU Business Abroad program. This was an absolute God-send and breath of fresh air, as I was able to hang out with her and about 20 other SPU students for a week. It worked out well because her room had a living room so I could sleep on the couch, and her roommate was traveling during most of the time I was there. Consequently, I had my own bed for 4 nights. This was an important time to recuperate and enjoy some quality family time. Lauren and I spent a lot of time relaxing and skyping our parents, and we also took a crazy motorcycle taxi ride 20 minutes up a mountain and then hiked to a pagoda. (See pictures!)

Additionally, Tracey accompanied me on the trip because she needed to work on getting her visa to go to San Francisco next March. Therefore, another awesome part of the trip was getting to be a part of Tracey's baptism! It was actually pretty crazy how it came about. On Tuesday night Tracey had met with a pastor and a friend's mom for dinner. They spent the whole night together talking about Tracey's life and how she came to faith. At some point in the conversation, the pastor asked if Tracey had been baptized. She said she hadn't, but wanted to get baptized around Christmas time. The only problem with that was the English fellowship we attend in Beijing requires people to go through a 6 month(!) baptism class. When the pastor heard this, she told Tracey that was far too long and that new believers could be baptized after they made a commitment of faith like they were in the early church.

So, the following night I joined Tracey, her friend's mom, and the pastor for dinner. We ate "duck pot" and had a long conversation about the pastor's ministry in Chongqing and the fellowship in China in general. As we got close to the end of dinner, I asked Tracey if she wanted to ask the pastor about baptism again. She asked, and the pastor said we could go baptize her in the nearby river that night! Therefore, despite the fact that it was 9:30pm, we went to my sister's dormitory and got a change of clothes for Tracey and headed towards the river...

What happened next was absolutely hilarious but also very special. First of all, I should tell you that night baptisms are actually quite common in China because the Chinese like to get baptized in their undergarments for some reason and don't want a bunch of people to see them in this state. Therefore, the pastor and Tracey's friend's mom stripped down to their underwear (50 year old women mind you!). Tracey remained in her jeans, and I remained in my shorts, and with Tracey and I laughing hysterically, we waded out into the river. Then, once we were in deep enough water, it got more serious and the pastor prayed in Chinese over Tracey. Then I quoted Matt. 28 saying "And Jesus said to them, 'Go and make d1sc1ples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.'" I also asked, "Tracey, do you believe that you are a sinner?" She said yes. I then asked, "Do you believe that Jesus came and died for your sins and made atonement for you?" She said yes. Then, with me holding one of Tracey's hands and the pastor holding the other, we baptized her at 10:30pm in a river in the heart of China!

This was such an amazing experience for me and Tracey because it was in Chongqing where we first met and I first began sharing my faith with her when I studied at the university the year before. Then, after our group had left China, I continued to skype with Tracey and helped d1sc1ple her by encouraging her and teaching her biblical truth. In March, I heard the glorious news that she had become a believer, and I continued to skype with her trying to help answer her questions. Then, I came back to China to work at TIP, and as I talked about in my last post, I was able to serve with Tracey in ministry. And finally, everything came full circle when I was able to be a part of her baptism back in Chongqing where we first met! I am so thankful that God allowed me to not only witness this but be involved in it! It's mind-blowing how God works in our lives. :)

Lastly, I am now back at TIP and co-facilitating a medium-high class which has been a completely different experience than a low class. Everything is much faster, and in my opinion much more exciting because I can actually have intelligent conversations with some of my students! While the low students are fun to work with because they are very child-like, I am enjoying a higher level class because I am such a relational person and am actually getting to know our students.

I will try to send another update at the end of this session. Also, see the blog below if you want to read the "Great Wall Fiasco."

Thanks for reading!

The Great Wall Fiasco

2009-11-15T03:00:00.001-08:00

New Pictures!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/GreatWallFiasco#

After the end of our September session Dan, Tracey, 4 other facilitators and myself, went on a crazy adventure to the Great Wall. We took a bus about 2 hours away from the city and had planned on hiking to the wall in the late afternoon, watching the sunset over the wall, and then hiking back down with our headlamps at night. We had rented a hostel that afternoon, took 20 minute van ride from the hostel to a trailhead that would take us to the wall, and then began our ascent at about 4pm. The sun was to set at about 6pm, and the locals had told us we could make it up to the top in in less than two hours if we hustled.

The hike started out smoothly. It was a beautiful sunny day and we were excited to be away from campus. Yet, after about a half an hour in, the terrain started getting rather steep. In fact, as we continued moving upwards, there were some points of the hike that became more of rock climbing without safety harnesses and ropes! And, since we had started so late in the afternoon, we eventually got to the point of no return and had to continue to the top and hope to find an easier way down. The sunset was gorgeous, yet unfortunately it started to get rather cold when the sun went down. Thankfully we had packed some warmer gear and headlamps since we had been planning on hiking down after sunset. But we ended up not making it to the actual wall until about an hour after sundown and realized that there was no way we would be able to make it down on any safe route after an arduous 3 1/2 hour hike. So, we ended up camping the night in a large watch tower on the top of the Great Wall where we started a fire with sticks and small trees we ripped up from the forest below the wall! We hung out and talked for hours until it was around midnight, and then tried unsuccessfully to sleep for a few hours on the hard stone floor with our backpacks and nearby shrubbery for our bed. The temperature dropped to about 35-40 degrees and no one slept much, but we made it through the night.

And, eventually when the sun came up, it was by far the most beautiful sunrise I had ever seen and I think the pictures will prove it. Then, with plenty of light to guide our path, we hiked down the mountain toward the bottom a different way than we had gone up (though it was still very rugged and steep). We arrived at the bottom after about 2 1/2 hours sleep-deprived, exhausted, and hungry, yet most of us were stoked to have spent such a crazy night on the Great Wall of China and were excited to tell our epic tale to others.

We then took a van back to the hostel, where we told our story to the hostel owners. They informed us that 2 college students had recently died hiking in the same area. This was crazy to hear, and left us feeling humbled and thankful that God had brought us up and down safe and sound.

(See the pictures for more details)

Curious Students and Short Stories

2009-10-22T20:58:00.001-07:00

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/RecentFavorites?authkey=Gv1sRgCJqSjIDitsKM7QE

Our first 3-week total English immersion session ended a few weekends ago. I think the best way to describe it is to have you think of a three week summer youth group camp where you are a counselor for 20 days and are constantly exhausted. But in this “camp,” you don’t get to enjoy a game of capture the flag, a blob, or a high ropes course! Yet, even though it was tiring and not always exhilarating, the session overall was a great success and there were many opportunities to “reach out” to people as I will discuss in a moment. Although I have nothing to really compare it to, alumni facilitators and administrators alike said that the session went very smoothly. For me personally, it also went well. While teaching a low class requires a great amount of patience, I really enjoyed learning how to teach and getting to know my students. Furthermore, I had 3-4 separate conversations with students who wanted to know more.... They were all seemingly random too. I didn't even initiate them. It was like He said, "Sow seeds here!" and I simply responded to His nudging. Therefore, I thank you for your prayers, because God is answering them!

In order to illustrate this let me share a tactic we use. One way that we try to encourage conversation and get students thinking during meal time is to provide “conversation starter questions” on small slips of paper that are discussed while we eat. This way, we are able to ask questions that work as “hooks” to potentially have students ask deeper questions... One day in the middle of the session we were discussing the questions, “Is it possible to be a perfect person? Have you ever met a perfect person?” Below the questions, the vocabulary words that accompanied them were “sinless,” “remorse,” and “conscience.” That day, one of my students, came up to me when I was about to go and take a much desired nap. She asked, “What does the word ‘sinless’ mean?” I answered her by tying it to His life, and by reminding her of the Passion scene the students watched during Holiday club when they learned about Easter. This led to an hour and twenty minute conversation where I was able to explain the meta-narrative of The Book and the good news two or three different ways. By the end of it she said she wanted a Book, and I was able to give her one before she left for home. Needless to say I’m glad I missed my nap that day!

This experience was quite amazing because after going to so many book studies and community groups where we talked about sharing with others, I am finally on the front lines doing it (and, since the students’ initiate by asking questions, we are able to do this in a legal manner). Moreover, about half way through our conversation, it dawned on me that I was potentially taking part in Matt. 28 instead of just talking about it. And this wasn’t the only conversation I had this session either. There were two others just like it. Additionally, my buddy Dan has had similar conversations with students as well. One in which a woman emotionally broke down on the sidewalk and was balling because she was so hopeless. She was disheartened because she has seen her husband only three times a year for the past ten years, and has raised her child by herself. In that moment, Dan was able to tell her about the great Hope we have, and see her eyes immediately light up. She wanted to know more, and Dan spent 2 ½ hours unpacking the Story.

What makes all of this even more exciting is that my friend Tracey, the girl who had befriended our study abroad group last year in Chongqing and joined the Family only six or seven months ago, is now working for TIP and has been a big part of reaching out to these people. We have worked together with three different students to explain in Chinese and English (after the session ended) about why we have such a great Hope. She even spent those 2 ½ hours with Dan helping explain things and providing credibility. This is all very special because not only have I been able to see Tracey completely change from His saving work in her life, but I’m now seeing her “on fire” filled with the Spirit and wanting others to share in our joy. How providential.

Aside from this exciting news, I thought I’d just number off some other discoveries and short stories to tell you what else has been going on in daily life:
1) My sister came to visit me while the SPU gang was here in Beijing for a week. We (of course) almost spent an entire day shopping at the infamous Pearl Market where Lauren and her classmates all utilized the bartering tips I taught them before we went so they didn’t get ripped off. Don’t worry mom, I didn’t let her spend too much money!
2) Lauren also came to visit me at school during our first session with her friend Carissa. And, while I told them multiple times that they can’t practice ANY Chinese with the students (we have an English-only environment), a student of mine gave her a chair to sit in during our class and she blurted out quite loudly, “Oh xie xie!” which means “thank you” in Chinese. While she broke the biggest rule at TIP, the students thought it was hilarious!
3) There are multiple candy vendors that sell candy similar to delicious treats you would find at the Sweet Factory in the States. They ride around on these large bikes, and one can buy about a pound of candy for a little over a dollar. I’m not quite sure how safe or smart it is to be eating “street candy” but it’s sure tasty!
4) I ordered a banana split in a coffee shop a few days ago and instead of giving me a “cherry on top” they gave me cherry tomatoes with my bananas, ice cream, and whipped cream. A little strange if you ask me.
5) There is a group of foreigners who play Ultimate Frisbee under the lights on a turf field on Tuesday night, and a fellow facilitator and I have been going out the last few weeks to get some exercise. I never thought I’d be playing Ultimate in Beijing, and definitely not competitive Ultimate – these guys travel around the world and play in tournaments, and they are definitely the best players I have ever played with. Crazy.
6) I went on an English-fellowship church retreat this weekend where we stayed out in a beautiful location about 2 ½ hours outside the city in He Bei province. The glorious landscape reminded me of the Great Northwest. We had a bonfire by the river at night and sang worship songs in Chinese and English under the stars. This was a really special and unique experience. We also went white river rafting with no helmets and really sketchy lifejackets. Some parts of the river were calm and peaceful, but other parts were actually pretty intense. Thankfully no one got hurt! There were also many young believers on this trip which made it an excellent opportunity to mentor and teach people. There were about 25 people, and I was asked to lead a morning devotional where we worked through a leadership assessment (Jesus leading through us) that was Book-centered and rather useful. People enjoyed it, and it was a great experience for me to lead. I’m excited about further opportunities to lead people there. (Also, check out the pictures if you haven’t already.)
7) We have had a two week break because of the Chinese national holiday. I’m trying to redeem the time by learning some more Chinese. Tracey is a great teacher, and the other Chinese staff is willing to help as well. Furthermore, while it will be hard to continue to study during the session, a Chinese staff member is willing to meet with me 3 times a week to help me continue learning. I’m excited to see how God might use this in my work.
8) Last week, the other facilitators and I attended a “Foreign Experts” dinner reception in The Great Hall of the People celebrating the Republic of China’s 60th Anniversary (Since I am an English teacher I am considered a foreign expert. It is weird to be called that at 23, but I’m not complaining!). This is right next to Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, and is where the Communist Party of China holds its National Congress meetings. It is perhaps the most extravagant buildings I have ever been in. This event was also broadcasted on TV, and when I was riding the bus the other day I saw a rerun of our reception. Pretty cool. Also, the Beijing parade for this Anniversary was the most extravagant thing I have ever seen. When you get the chance, YouTube “China 60th National Day parade” or something and watch some of the videos. They put the Big Apple New Year’s celebration to shame. Unbelievable.
9) Going places around the city can be almost a full day event. It took Tracey and I 4½ hours (3 bus transfers both ways) to go to Ikea where I bought a room lamp. While this has been perhaps my best investment in China to date, it was sure a trek to get across town!
10) A group of us hiked to the Great Wall a few days ago… and ended up being forced to camp on the wall overnight in 35 degree weather without any of the appropriate gear… it was a crazy story and too lengthy to tell here, but I will share it in my next update.

Finally, I start my next session next week Tuesday where we will have 450 new students and I will be co-facilitating another low-level class with one of the new facilitators who just arrived. Her name is Abby and she is from Indiana. I will update again in a few weeks.
I would love to receive any news from the homeland when y’all get a chance to write. Also, thanks again for your prayers!

In Him,

Kyle

Let the Games Begin!

2009-10-22T20:47:00.003-07:00

Here's the link to the pictures from my Inner Mongolia trip. There are also pictures from training if you haven't seen those already.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/InnerMongolia#

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/BeijingTraining#

New pics!

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/InnerMongolia#

http://picasaweb.google.com/kyleghansen/BeijingTraining#

The chaos has started. We’re only on day 4 of the 20 day session, and I feel like it’s been a week and a half. Why? When one combines lesson planning, two hours of teaching, one hour of game time, 2 staff group meetings a day, and speaking “special English” when one is with students for most of the day, one gets pretty exhausted. Furthermore when one spends 2-3 hours trying to work with the unbelievably slow and temperamental internet access so one can update their blog and do something as simple as email, the day feels much longer then it should.

Yet, even after only 3 full days of teaching, my experience has been very rewarding. Let me first explain my circumstances and then express the rewards. I am co-teaching with a girl on our team and we have a class of 27 Chinese teachers. Amanda and I are the two youngest facilitators, and so it’s kind of funny that the program director put us together because most of our students are twice our age! Speaking of them, most have pretty poor English, so I find myself talking V E R Y S L O W L Y. I have also had to find creative ways to explain concepts and ideas. Yet, while this can be a challenge, it is actually allowing me to gain confidence in my teaching because I have so much time to think about what I want to say before I say it. The Chinese passion to learn English and their respect for foreign teachers also makes teaching a lot of fun. They are easily likeable and a joy to teach, help and serve.

As for some of the already apparent joys of teaching (I’m sure I will be writing more on challenges and frustrations in due time!), students have to give a 10-minute speech in English at the end of the session. In order to help our students think of a topic, we had them discuss multiple questions including, “Who has been the most influential person in your life? Why?” And, when walking around the room and talking with two students separately, they said that we (the facilitator’s) have been perhaps the most influential because we have challenged and encouraged them to practice and excel in their oral English so they can go back and be better teachers to their students. Our students’ have no reason to suck up either, because they aren’t getting “graded” by us. Therefore this was a significant complement and not only made my day, but inspires me to be the best facilitator I can be.

Additionally, they are also very "hungry" for truth. Some of my students learned about "The Story" from watching some clips from The Passion in a class they are taking on American holidays. At dinner that day, I was able to strike up a conversation with three of them about what they learned. Even with their limited English, I could sense their curiosity and desire to understand. And, with the help of another teacher, I was able to share the heart of His passion with them. While I am unsure if they understood everything, I have 2 more weeks with them and have faith that other opportunities will arise for me to fill in some of the gaps. Please pray for a softening of hearts and opportunities to share.

Furthermore, another teacher has already had a student approach her after learning about this holiday and asked how she could "join us." She even asked how she could get "dunked" to make it more official. This was quite exciting news and we (teachers) rejoiced when we heard it! He is definitely working over here and we earnestly pray and expectantly wait for more to join The Cause. Please join with us and continue to pray for Him to glorify Himself through me and the others on our team, as we work and take part in making others glad in Him.

What I’m learning:

1) Chinese people pick the funniest English names. One girl’s name in my class is ‘Petty.’ One man’s name is ‘Johnson.’ Another student’s name in a different class is ‘Easter,’ and he is this short, shy, middle-aged man!
2) Chinese people, especially teachers have a serious respect for their teachers even if they are a foreigner who is half their age. I had one 35 year woman ask me the other day if she could go to the bathroom during one of our classes. This was strange coming from her, but it was a powerful expression of the respect they have for us.
3) I’m learning the importance of punctuality. For almost my entire life I have been “fashionably late” (however late that happens to be) to many of my classes, appointments, etc. Yet in TIP I am forced to be on time in order to set a good example for my students, and not delay our multiple staff meetings. I’m also learning not to be late because one rule in our class is if a student (or teacher) is late, we lock them out. Then, when we let them in, they must entertain us with a song or dance in front of the entire class as punishment for their tardiness. And, if you have known me for any amount of time at all, you know I can’t dance or sing. Seriously. It’s bad. Consequently there is a great incentive not to be late!
4) The older I get, and the farther down the road of sanctification I travel, the more I am realizing how little control I have over my life. But God, in His sovereign grace, brings great joy to those seeking to discover what He has already planned for their journey on that road. In other words, I am experiencing the great thrill of following God’s will for my life. Yes, trials, frustrations, and suffering undoubtedly will accompany the journey that still lies ahead, but godly joy and peace will be there through it all. Therefore, I think I can say with John Paton that "Nothing so clears the vision and lifts up the life, as a decision to move forward in what you know to be entirely the will of the Lord." Namely, my decision to come to China. Or perhaps more accurately, God’s ordination for me to come here. God initiated, I responded, and I am enjoying this leg of the journey so far. J
I really should try to shorten these... sorry!

Pictures!

2009-09-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

Inner Mongolia: Beautiful scenery, not so beautiful transportation.

2009-09-05T19:33:00.000-07:00

I have a long story to tell but it’s rather comical so it might be worth your time…

Last year, while I was studying here for 3 months, I had dreams of going up to Inner Mongolia to ride camels in the Gobi desert and go sand boarding on the dunes. Unfortunately, since Chongqing is in the southern part of the country, it would have been something like a 36 hour train ride (one way) to make it that far north. Therefore, I abandoned the idea and traveled to locations closer to the school.

Beijing, however, is a mere 10½ hour train ride from Inner Mongolia. So, what I thought was a dead dream, became a reality during this last week during our 5 day break before our first teaching session begins. Four other year long facilitators and one of the Chinese staff members (Chris, who happened to have a nephew up in Inner Mongolia) and I headed up on the train this past Saturday night. Yet, we had multiple frustrating and hilarious complications in getting there (and back).

First of all, we had paid for a sleeper train which accommodates you with a soft mattress and air conditioning in a compartment with only 3 other people. So, after hauling our luggage from our campus, on a 15 minute bus ride and then almost an hour and a half long subway ride with 3-4 transfers, we arrived at the train station 25 minutes before our train was to leave which was at 9:40pm. Perfect timing right? Well, under normal circumstances it would have been, but upon looking at our ticket, Chris realized that we had come to the wrong Beijing train station! As a result, with 25 minutes to work with we frantically rushed back to the subway and began making our way as fast as we could underneath the city to the other station praying with all our might that God would either speed up our subway or delay the train. Yet, to our dismay, we arrived 17 minutes after it took off (China, for once, was actually efficient!).

At this point, I thought we were completely out of luck and that I had just thrown 250 kuai ($37.50) down the drain. But, after talking with someone at the train station, Chris was able to get us on a different train at 11pm that same night. The only problem was that we did not have a seat and were told that we may have to sit on the floor or stand during the trip.

This is where the “fun” begins. After eating dinner at McDonalds, we walked to the terminal, past the comfortable sleeper boxcars that we should have been on 2 hours earlier, and down to the “hard seat” part of the train. Here we were met with absolute chaos. The train was 300% overbooked and was more like a cattle car than an actual train! The seats, which only cost 76 kuai/person compared to the 250/person we paid for the sleepers, were all full and dozens of people were standing in the aisle in a single file line due to the crowded condition, with their luggage sprawled all around them. It was so packed that one of the train attendants had to loudly yell at us to squeeze closer together in order to get the doors shut. There were people sitting against their luggage in every nook and cranny possible. Being an American didn’t help our situation at all. For the first 10 minutes or so everyone couldn’t stop staring and laughing at us. Being foreigners, it was simply assumed that we would be in the sleeper cars, and they got a kick out of our misfortune.

To make matters worse, I got stuck right next to the only two bathrooms available for the hundreds of people in our section of the train, and was forced to stand there for the first 4 hours of the trip from 11pm-3am. Therefore, people were constantly coming in and out of the horribly smelly “squattie pottie” bathroom, and lining up right next to me to wait their turn. The doors were constantly slamming shut adding to the noise and the overall messy situation. Furthermore, this part of the aisle was no more than 3 feet wide, and I had my large suitcase at my feet which made it very difficult for people to get by. I constantly had to move back and forth to make room for people to pass, and on two occasions they pushed a snack cart (like what you see on an airplane) through this 3 foot section – and I had to lift my 35 pound luggage above my head to allow them to get through while being careful not to step on the people sitting around me!

As if this wasn’t bad enough, before the train even left the station there were more than 6 Chinese men smoking within 5 feet of me. And, in such a small space with no open windows and weak air conditioning, there was instantly a tobacco hotbox that made me feel even more claustrophobic and nauseated. This smoking continued throughout the journey.

By 3am, a handful of people got off the train at one of the midway stops and I was able to move away from the bathrooms and back towards my friends. Yet, without an actual seat, I had to take turns with Tim sitting on his uncomfortable luggage to rest our legs. Then, at about 5:30am, when I thought I could stand up no longer, I was offered a seat by someone who was getting off at the next stop. Exhausted but grateful, I sat down and fell asleep with my head on the table in front of me within seconds. When I awoke we were still about an hour and half out, but I couldn’t sleep any longer because my throat was too sore and scratchy from all the second-hand smoke.

Finally, at about 10:30am, the train pulled into the station. We slowly made our way off and were welcomed by the sunny Inner Mongolian weather. We went to the parking lot and were greeted by Chris’ nephew and uncle. They had managed to borrow two cars from some friends, and while we had hoped to go directly to a hostel to sleep, Chris’ family told us it was a perfect day to go to the Gobi desert and so we decided to go. This included a three hour drive, where most of us were able to catch up on a little sleep. Once we arrived we realized that the suffering we had experienced the night before was all worth it. The desert was beautiful as the pictures will reveal, and we were able to go on almost an hour long camel ride in what ended up being a thunder and lightning storm. We also were able to go sand sledding, and enjoyed two rainbows and the sunset over the Gobi.

The next day, we took a trip out into the Mongolian grasslands and stayed overnight with a family of shepherds in a traditional Mongolian yurt. There, we ate multiple authentic Mongolian meals and were able to go on an hour long horseback ride (As a side note, I now have much more appreciation for people who lived earlier than 150 years ago and rode horses for hundreds of miles. My whole body hurt after this, especially you know where, but it was still a great experience.)

Additionally, I should mention that the yurt was rather unusual. While it had no running water and the bathroom was the open range, the family had a satellite dish and had wired in cable TV. Also, while we slept in a traditional Mongolian yurt, it had a television and sound system and so we watched the movie “Hitch” once the sun went down. Furthermore, while the family was shepherds, they used a dirt bike to herd the sheep!

In the middle of the night, I was awakened from my slumber by a loud thunder storm accompanied by bright lightning that lit up the entire inside of the yurt. The rain water hit hard against the metal roof and prevented me from going back to sleep. So, I crawled out of my covers, put on my rain jacket, and precariously leaned out of the yurt to watch the lightning. This was an amazing sight to see. Gigantic lightning bolts were striking a mere 2 miles away, and they lit up the entire night sky. I was immediately thankful that God controls the storms and decides where each lightning bolt will strike!

In the morning we hiked to a nearby shrine which consisted of a large pile of rocks and multiple cow and pig skulls. Our host family told us this was an offering to the “sky god” and locals come from miles around and put a rock on the pile and make a wish after sacrificing an animal to this “god.” This was very fascinating, and I couldn’t help to think of the pagans in the Old Testament who made idols of wood and rocks and made sacrifices to make-believe gods.

Next, we drove back to the city of Hohhot and went to a hostel where we stayed for our last day and a half. We explored the city that afternoon, and chatted with other travelers at night. We also had traditional Mongolian hotpot for dinner. This tasted good, but didn’t sit so well with many of our stomachs. We were in and out of the bathroom multiple times during the next 24 hours drinking pepto like it was a juice box.

On our trip home, we took a sleeper bus instead of a sleeper train from 7:40pm to 5:30am. This mode of transportation was only slightly better than our train disaster. One problem was that the beds were not built for lengthy 6’2’’ people, but rather for 5’6’’ Chinamen. Consequently, my legs had to be continually bent to where my knees would hit the two metal guard rails on the side of the skinny bed. Other frustrations included constant bumpiness due to pot holes and poorly constructed roads making sleeping almost impossible, blinding lights due to other vehicles leaving on their high beams, toll booths every 20 minutes with multiple speed bumps further hindering my ability to sleep, people smoking on the bus, and 4 separate bathroom stops including one 15 minutes into the trip, and then one half hour stop at 1am at a restaurant for people to eat a “midnight snack.” Ridiculous.

A few lessons learned:

1) Never miss your train. Ever.

2) While the train ride was specifically taxing, it allowed us to empathize with the Chinese working class. It was humbling to think that millions of Chinese take trains like that every night.

3) Pack lightly. I lugged around my huge suitcase with bedding in it because I thought we would need it if we stayed in one hotel room with 5 people. Next time I’ll take the floor, or rocks, or sleeping sideways on a picket fence for that matter if it means I don’t have to haul that suitcase around.

4) Sometimes God ordains suffering so that we will appreciate His beauty and His grace more than we otherwise would. The desert and the grasslands were a sight for sore eyes after the miserable train ride.

Lastly, I’ll mention that our first session starts this coming Monday and I will be in Beijing at least through September because things have fallen through once again at the “new campus.” I’ll update at the end of the first week.

Kyle

Shopping and Sightseeing

2009-08-25T07:00:00.000-07:00

After two weeks of a regimented training schedule, the other facilitators and I finally had a weekend off. I spent some of my free time on Saturday going to the Silk market which is similar to the Pearl Market where you can buy almost anything from actual silk to electronics to tapestries to shoes. Most of it is obviously fake, but if you enjoy haggling, it is a great place to practice your skills. While it took about 45 minutes to get to the market including a bus ride and 3 subways, it literally cost 45 cents to get there! The transportation here is awesome. Seattle should take lessons.

So anyways, I personally had a lot of fun at the market because I have learned how to barter in Chinese and enjoy joking around with the vendors who tend to be small 5 foot 2, 100 pound Chinese women. In one encounter, the girl said "Do you need a belt? Very cheap price for you!" and I said, "mian fei?" which in Chinese means "free?," and in English she said, "I kill you!" Needless to say we scurried away from that stand pretty quickly. In the end I bought a pair of knock off Oakley's for myself for about $7.50 and then bartered for my Chinese friends (the Chinese staff) who were baffled by my ability to stand firm on the price they wanted. They were happy because I probably saved them $20-30 in all.

Apart from going to the market, we also checked out the Beijing International church this morning. It was in the lower level of a very fancy shopping mall, and has been sanctioned so that only International passport holders can attend. The sermon was pretty good, and was a little more "meaty" then the English service at the Chinese church, but my friend Dan and I have decided that our best option may be to videocast, Driscoll, Piper, etc. on the 10 foot projector in our lounge. This will provide deeper, more challenging sermons for us, and save us about 2 hours of our limited time off.

Finally, I think I will start to post my favorite "Chinglish" quotes of the week. The top two this week were.

Chinese Staff Connie: I want to be able to speak English better than Americans
Facilitator Geoffry: Not going to happen. (jokingly)
Chinese Staff Connie: It is happens!
(She meant to say "It is going to happen")

When walking through Yuan Ming Yuan park and looking at an old Chinese monument, my friend Dan had the following interaction:
Dan: What is this monument?
Student: Oh, uh, its a "China something."

The students are always so eloquent in their descriptions. :)

Alright, thats all I got.

Kyle

Ahhh! It is so great to be out of quarantine!

2009-08-20T03:20:00.001-07:00

(Pictures coming soon)

Life in China is chaotic and constantly changing, and is beginning to redefine my idea of “flexibility.” These first few weeks have been a rollercoaster of ups and downs as the program is continually evolving even as I write. There is currently a 20 day TIP session that is going on now with 350 students, and is being led by a short-term summer team. While this session is going on, the seven other new year-long facilitators and I have been undergoing extensive, intensive training that will last almost 3 weeks. It encompasses everything from how to teach in a small group or large group setting, to how to cope with culture shock and homesickness. We have also learned about the history of China and the history of “our religion” in China.

Furthermore, we have been able to participate in multiple 20-minute practicums where I have co-taught with another facilitator, and we were in charge of game time a few nights ago where we played a game called “Find the candy” and “Move if.” “Find the candy” is where one student is blindfolded and his teammates hide a piece of candy and then give the blindfolded student directions for finding the candy. The students’ practice giving directions and listening to directions and have a lot of fun doing it. “Move if” is a game that most people have probably played in school or at camp where there is a large circle of chairs which everyone sits in except for the person in the middle. This person’s job is to say “Move if you like ____” or “Move if you are wearing ____,” etc., and if the people sitting in the circle like or are wearing what was stated then they must make a mad dash across the room to find a new seat. Then, the person who can’t find a seat is stuck in the middle and says “Move if____.” While this game is very simple, the students have a blast and fight and push (similar to getting on a bus sometimes) for the last seat! It is hysterical to watch and play.

Of all the training we have done, practicum and the prep work that goes into it has been the most fun. While there has been great advice given from alumni facilitators who taught last year, nothing teaches better than hands-on experience. It is great to be slowly eased into the teaching process though, and so I am grateful for the long training.

There are a plethora of things that I have learned during my time here so far. Here are four:
1) When you think you are speaking English slow enough, you should probably s l o w d o w n to half that speed and then you may be close.
2) While this program is now in its 4th year, each 20-day session can be vastly different and therefore not only will every month or every week be an adventure, but every day! This, of course, forces me to trust and rely on God. It’s like He planned it this way or something!
3) The Chinese teachers we are teaching tend to be very respectful and easily loveable, and those who are in the lowest classes who know the least amount of English are childlike even if they are 50 years old. You could roll a crayon back and forth across the desk and they would love it.
4) God is faithful in providing other Christians for accountability and fellowship. I have been meeting with Dan, a fellow facilitator from Texas who is 43 years old, and is a genuine man of God and he has agreed to mentor me this year.

There are also a few very specific things I need prayer for. First of all, my friend Tracey, who
came to faith last year, is considering working here as an Administrative Assistant for one month. If she likes the environment and the Chinese staff likes her, she would be able to come on staff full-time. How providential would it for me to be able to work with a friend who I was able to help (in part) come to faith! Secondly, the administration is planning on starting a traveling TIP in about a month and a half, and they are asking for some facilitators to come with them. As of now, I have very few details regarding this because they simply don’t know where it will be except that it will probably be in the province of Yunnan (which is beautiful by the way). Please pray for God’s discernment as Dan and I consider this opportunity (if the program is better organized), and pray for Tracey and her decision for whether or not she will work here for a month and then potentially join the Chinese staff.

Thanks!
Kyle

Pagodas, Pandas and Wild E Mei Mountain Monkeys

2008-11-16T07:35:00.000-08:00

(So I got an Asian style haircut the other week for about $2.30. They gave me two 5-10 minute hairwash headmassages and shaved for me. A pretty sweet deal eh?)

One of my recent adventures in China was hiking with five friends on a sunny afternoon to the top of Jin Yun Mountain where a giant pagoda sits. We left around 4:00pm, took a five minute taxi to the trail head (its amazing how close our campus is to the great outdoors), and began our ascent hoping to make it up and down before dark which would hit at about 6:30pm. The hike itself was great exercise and filled with beautiful scenery along old country roads and narrow dirt paths. We saw waterfalls, bamboo forests, mountainside farms with Chinese people working their land, and many of their barking dogs. The view from the top was also pretty beautiful, though unfortunately we missed the sunset and found ourselves standing on the top resting from the climb in the dark! And of course while I brought my useful headlamp all the way to China, I decided against taking it on the hike. So, our group found ourselves precariously hiking down in rather dark conditions dependent on the backlight’s of our iPods and cell phones, and the bright pictures we could find on our cameras to light our path. To make matters worse, the stone steps, and dirt paths themselves were rather slippery or muddy and there were multiple times where one of us would slip. In fact, one of the girls with us ended up slipping two or three times due to her poor quality shoes acquiring some minor scratches and mud stained pants. Yet in the end, I think while we all agreed that while hiking during the day or at night with a head lamp would have been better, we enjoyed our little escapade. (pictures below)

Another awesome opportunity I had was going to the city of Chengdu this past weekend with a big group of friends for a four day trip. In fact, nearly our entire class of 32 students ended up staying at the same hostel together in the middle of the city, though I kind of explored the city with a smaller group of 7-8. The hostel itself was very accommodating and rather eccentric. The walls were filled with hundreds of quotes, pictures, and artwork from past visitors, and the rooms themselves were well-decorated. Furthermore, the hostel even came outfitted with a western style toilet, hot showers, and two cute kittens that would cuddle up in your arms and refuse to leave!

Apart from our impressive and inexpensive lodging (about $4 a night), the city itself and the surrounding “attractions” were also exciting. Our first night there we enjoyed eating at Peter’s Tex-Mex – a western-style restaurant where many of us ate tasty burritos, enchiladas, cheeseburgers, and mouthwatering chocolate-peanut butter milkshakes or hot fudge sundaes. I enjoyed two separate meals there as well as a third trip for a mid-afternoon snack. We also found a store filled with a plethora of other western food. They had everything from bagels and crème cheese to Chex-Mix. Unfortunately, everything was overpriced even for the States, but I was stoked to find some Nature Valley Granola bars to remind me of home.

However, our primary reason for taking the four hour train ride to Chengdu was to visit the Giant Panda Reserve and stay a night at the top of 10,000 foot E Mei Mountain which is home to the bold scavenger monkeys and arguably the most beautiful sunrise in the world. First of all, seeing the pandas was a pretty neat experience. We went early in the morning when the panda’s were “most active.” Yet pandas are never really very active and we soon learned that as we would stare at one panda for five minutes and watch it barely move! Thankfully some of them were more playful and we saw a group of three of them wrestle for a tire for almost ten minutes. (see pictures below)

Finally, probably the most exciting part of our trip was our adventure on E Mei Mountain. Though getting there was rather tedious. In order to get to the mountain itself, we had to take a fifteen minute bus ride across town in order to get to the bus station, and then a three hour bus ride from Chengdu to the bus station near the base of the mountain. Then from there we had to take a taxi ride to another bus station and then a bus that took two hours to drive us up the mountain. Once we were dropped off at the end of the driven road, we realized that we were still a two hour hike away from the peak and at that time it was already dark outside. And, while all common sense said that we should have just stayed at the hotel that was available to us at that elevation, my friends and I refused to settle for staying any lower than the peak of the mountain. So, we paid the $2.50 it took to rent large black and red down jackets for a day, bought some water and a few cheap flashlights (thankfully I had my headlamp this time!), and we made the arduous 2 hour trek in the chilly 35 degree weather to the top.

Once at the top, we stayed in a relatively cheap hostel (about $7/night) and woke up at 6:15AM with high hopes to see the sunrise. But sadly we were fogged in and stood around for an hour and a half freezing our tails off! Nevertheless, the trip wasn’t ruined as we were able to see the Golden Summit Elephant Statue and some crazy wild monkeys on our way back down to the bus. Then of course we had the reverse bus commute back, but this was a good time to take a nap and rest from the hiking.

Alright that’s all I got! Enjoy the pictures below. I’ll probably post once or twice more before I head home in two weeks! I’m looking forward to seeing everybody soon!

Kyle

Tracey terrified by a monkey.

Three rather active pandas battling over a tire.

I'm not exactly sure what was going through my head here...

A semi-blurry picture of Andrew, Tracey, and I on the bus in Chengdu.

A cute kitten we found to play with.

Read the Chinglish carefully. I evidently didn't and look what happened.

Our hostel rooming situation. Just like church camp all over again!

Aboard the 4 hour train ride to Chengdu. Fairly comfortable for only costing $14 round trip.

Bamboo breakfast.

So on our way back from E Mei Mountain we needed to get to the bus station and instead of taking a normal taxi our group of 8 piled in 4 rickshaws and raced to the bus station. Josh and I happened to be losing so Josh jumped out of our and gave us a healthy push. We won!

Our Chinese friend Tracey with David in a bicycle rickshaw.

Feeding those crazy monkeys.

This monkey stole that orange right out of Josh's hand. No fear.

This lazy panda was actually sleeping like this!

People burned candles on top of this elephant statue i guess for good luck?

This statue was literally about 50 feet tall. Unfortunately the fog complicates things...

It was so cold in the hostel we stayed at that we had to wear coats during dinner! Thankfully the electric blankets in the rooms saved us.

This was at the top of the mountain close to campus with the pagoda.

Some bamboo forests and waterfalls.

One of many ferocious barking dogs that we saw on our way up to the pagoda

Some friends that hiked down in the dark with me from the pagoda.

A trip to the Terracotta Warriors, a gigantic spider, everyday life, etc.

2008-11-01T05:18:00.000-07:00

Xi'an!

Ahh how my time has flown by here in China! It feels like I updated my blog just a week ago but it’s been nearly three! And boy have they been a fun, an exciting, and a somewhat terrifying three weeks.

I’ll start by recapping our five day excursion in Xi’an – the home of the Terracotta warriors that happened about a week and a half ago. The plane ride to this relatively small city that used to be the capital of China and the home of the Emperor’s of old, was only a mere hour long. The weather was also quite inviting as it is North of Chongqing and therefore less humid and chillier which reminded me of our typical October weather in Seattle. The food there was a bit different (a pleasant difference) then at the University, and the first night we were there we enjoyed a dumpling feast where we were able to sample 18 different dumplings. Many of the dumplings were cooked in the shape of what was inside of them. For example, the dumpling that had fish in it was shaped like a fish, and the dumpling that had duck in it was shaped like a duck. Most of these were delicious. Furthermore, the Tang Dynasty Dancing and Music Performance that we saw after we ate dinner, though a bit boring was very colorful, and the dancers and musicians were pretty impressive to watch and listen to (pictures below).

The Terracotta soldiers themselves were pretty awesome to see as well, though it was a bit different than I was expecting. I didn’t realize that so many soldiers had been found, and I was surprised to see so many of them almost fully intact. I was expecting that they would have been in more pieces since they were made thousands of years ago, but amazingly many of them did not fall apart or deteriorate over that long period of time. We also went to the Shanxi history museum while we there too, and we were able to see other artifacts as well as some Terracotta models up close. I’m not a huge fan of museums, but this was a fairly worthwhile experience. Then of course we had to go see the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which is an ancient relic of the city. I really don’t know how it got its name, and after seeing so much other Chinese architecture in other cities this wasn’t anything special.

Apart from seeing the soldiers, the museum, and the Goose, we spent part of a morning on top of the city wall walking around and taking in the sights, and an afternoon shopping at an underground market where most people picked up some stylish knock-off clothing and accessories. And, while my conscience is still a little uneasy, I must say I’m pretty happy with the one Nike and two North Face dry-fit shirts I picked up and the soccer jersey and shorts I bargained for. After seeing the Chinese locals buy their clothing in the underground markets, I guess this is just a part of engaging the Chinese culture that we American’s have found acceptable. As the saying goes – “When in Rome, do as the Romans.”

Yet, as fun as bargaining for fake gear was, it almost got a friend of mine named Troy and I lost in the middle of the city after dark! I had been bargaining for a pair of soccer shorts with one of the shopkeepers for quite awhile when all of a sudden I realized it was 5:57pm and we were supposed to meet up with our group at 6pm at a restaurant that was a fifteen minute walk away. And, the hard part was that the tour guide who had brought us to the market had taken us through this underground walkway that had 6-8 different stairways leading to different streets throughout the city! So, upon realizing how late it was I quickly bought the shorts by succumbing to the lady’s price, and Troy and I hurried our way through the maze of shoppers towards where we hoped we could find our way back to the restaurant. We ran into our first problem when we realized we couldn’t even remember where we had entered the underground walkway. We walked and walked in almost all directions hoping to find it. I recognized a “China Post” building and so we ran toward that and thankfully found the entrance. Then, there was the whole problem of figuring out which exit to take. We would have had to try all of them and hope that we recognized something at the top of one of the staircases, except for the fact that Troy remembered that he had randomly taken a photo of the entrance on our way to the market. What luck (or gracious providence)! The picture happened to be extremely blurry, though thankfully we were able to make out the name of the right exit and we rolled into dinner about 25 minutes late. Next time I think I’ll just pay the extra .75 cents the woman wanted for the shorts and head back with a large group of people who hopefully know where they’re going!

Besides our trip to Xi’an, everything here on campus has been pretty low key. Again, while I don’t have a lot of class work, I am constantly finding myself doing something whether it is playing soccer or ping pong with fellow SPUer’s, hanging out and getting to know some of the Minnesota students, or working on my Chinese while exploring the campus and the city with the Chinese girls I have befriended. In fact, I have really enjoyed finally knowing enough of the language to make or at least attempt to make sentences when I’m with Chinese friends. And, while I’m still not sure if I will ever really master Chinese, I feel that it is respectful to the Chinese people to make an honest effort to learn as much as I can while I’m here.

Finally, I must tell a brief story about the scariest, most disgusting spider I have ever seen outside of a bullet proof glass case in a zoo. Over a week ago now my roommate and I had been getting ready for bed around 12:30am when all of a sudden we heard Andrew, who lives across the from us, say (after a bit of yelp) in a rather high-pitched and petrified voice, “Guys… come here quick!” Foster and I hustled to our door to see what was up and were met with the sight of a 5-6 inch in diameter spider that was running across the hall from Andrew’s room to our room! And, while I wish I could say that one of us would have shrugged our shoulders and said “Oh. Its just a spider. I’ll take care of it.”, we both started yelling and nearly peed our pants! Before we knew it the spider had ran into our room, up the side of the wall and was resting by our door jam. It was then, when it was sitting still, that we knew we had to get a picture to document the size of this thing because we knew no one would believe us otherwise. So Foster snapped some pictures (below) and I ran like a little girl down the hall to ask a Taiwanese friend from Minnesota if he had ever seen anything like it. When I told him and his roommate about the spider and mentioned that we were going to try and whack it with end of a mop, he calmly said something to the effect of, “Ah. Don’t kill it. I’ll get it out of your room for you.” He then preceded to walk into our room, chase it off of the door and into the bathroom. Once in the bathroom, he asked if we had a bigger towel because our hand towel was too small (and obviously Kleenex wasn’t going to do the trick like it usually would). Both Foster and I didn’t want a giant spider touching one of our shower towels. So Ethan, our brave friend, ran and grabbed his towel from his room and brought it back to the bathroom. Then, the situation got a little crazy. The spider somehow escaped Ethan’s grasp and ran out of the bathroom and directly toward Foster and I! We back peddled instantly practically knocking over our computer chair and damaging Foster’s $3,400 Apple Mac Book in the process! The spider took cover under our mini-fridge and Ethan was able to coax it out and catch it in a towel while Foster and I watched from the top of our beds completely terrified (Oh what chickens we were!).

Once it was caught, Andrew, Foster, and I contemplated pulling a rather cruel prank on two girls’ room by unleashing the spider there, but thought better of it once we realized how scared we were. So Ethan took the monster up a floor and tossed the him off the balcony into some bushes. Foster and I then proceeded to check every part of our room to ensure that another one wasn’t lurking somewhere waiting to end up on one of our faces while we sleep. The scary part is that these beasts can go under doors and since we are on the bottom level of the dorm, one could easily crawl into our room again. Therefore we have put a towel in front of our door almost every night since then to deter any other spiders from joining our slumber party and look for another.

Alright, that’s all for now. Thanks for reading this far if you made it!

Kyle

So that door hinge is about 5 inches long...

That beedy eye was staring right at me I swear!

The most disgusting thing I've seen yet in China!

A striking resemblence my friend Josh and I found while in the Shanxi History Museum.

A picture below the Big Wild Goose Pagoda which you can see in the background. These candles were just a few of over a hundred that were being burned outside a Buddhist temple.

Inside the underground market. See any shirts you want me to bring home for you? =)

Wild Goose Pagoda - we climbed the stairs all the way to the top. All 7 levels. It was okay but nothing magical.

A picture of the thousands of years old Terracotta - unfortunately the lighting wasn't the best in there.

Hanging out on the infamous city Wall in Xi'an

Terracotta Soldiers

More of them!

I think this guy was the Commander.

A tasty .75 cent snack.

A sketchy looking street vendor reminiscent of the one that left me sick for 3 days, in the hospital on IV's, and forced to get a shot in the butt!

There were dozens of these little clothing stores throughout the markets.

My friend Rob and I enjoying pancakes, a sausage, and a hashbrown at Mickey D's. We've been meeting one on one to talk about life, Scripture, etc. and McDonald's seemed like a fitting place to read and discuss His Word.

From the traditional Chinese performance. This was decent but a bit boring. In fact, towards the end, many of us were nearly dozing from the food coma after all those dumplings!

And again.

And a third time.

Friends in the market!

Darn Those Sketchy Street Vendors!

2008-10-17T02:17:00.000-07:00

Wow it’s hard to believe that my time in China is already half over! Today happens to be the midway point for this unique adventure, and therefore I think a good day to update the blog. Most of it will unfortunately be a rather unpleasant, but somewhat comical story:

This past weekend on Saturday night I was in downtown Chongqing (pictures below) which is about a 50 minute bus ride from the University with a group of six fellow students. We arrived a bit early for dinner and therefore decided to grab a snack. And, while there was a great supermarket with all kinds of American snacks about 50 yards away, a few of us decided to eat some spicy, sketchy looking “lamb on a stick” from a conveniently located street vendor. At the time, the meat tasted fine and myself and the other students enjoyed a nice night in the city shopping for DVD’s and clothes, and eating at Pizza Hut for a taste of home.

When we got back to the University, however, my stomach began to hurt. I was hoping it would be just another stomach issue that could be resolved by Tums, but as I watched a movie with my roommate and a couple friends, the pain in my stomach slowly began to increase. By the time I was ready to go to bed around 1:00a.m., it had compounded to the point where I wasn’t going to be able to sleep. Therefore my roommate convinced me to throw up (thankfully in our dorm rooms here we all have our own private western style toilets!). So I tossed the pizza, which was relatively expensive by the way, and popped some NyQuil hoping to pass out for the next 8-10 hours. Unfortunately, this plan backfired because I woke up about half an hour later feeling very groggy, disoriented and extremely nauseous. I limped my way to the bathroom, puked a second time for about 5-10 minutes and basically for the next 6 hours I puked 3-4 more times, dry-heaving. My body became very achy, and a fever flared up accompanied by a migraine. I tried eating oatmeal around 6a.m. but my stomach wouldn’t have it. That went too. To top it off, by the morning the food was coming out the right end but the wrong way!

Then at 8a.m. I called Robb Willett who came with another Chinese friend and they helped me limp up to the campus hospital which was about 10 minutes away. They translated my symptoms to the doctor who had me take a blood test. After discovering how dehydrated I was, they put me on an IV drip for 9-10 hours. And, while in the States this wouldn’t have been too eventful, the Chinese hospital was a bit different. The room they put me in was only a little larger than my dorm room and already had 3 other patients in it with 3-4 visitors. The bed I laid on was a bit dirty and had unwashed sheets with urine and bloodstains, as well as saliva from past patients. There were ant’s crawling on the ground eating crumbs, flies buzzing around the room, and the bathroom was a stinky squattie pottie with no soap, paper towels, or hot water. The IV equipment itself thankfully wasn’t that sketchy, but everything else was and I was in terrible shape being dehydrated, dizzy, nauseated, and exhausted though unable to sleep. To make matters worse, my fever wouldn’t go away so the nurse had to give me a shot in the butt in front of 7 other Chinese people! My bed was in the middle of the room and she had me roll over and pull down my pants. The shot wasn’t quick either. It took about 15 seconds to administer and made me sorer than I already was for over 2 hours! (While this was humiliating it was rather hilarious and my friend Tracey who is a Chinese student here who stayed with me in the hospital to translate taught me “Wo pigou tong!” which is “My butt hurts!” and the nurses got a kick out of me telling them this when they asked how I was feeling.)

When I finally got out of the hospital that night around 8:00pm, I tried to eat some rice porridge for some sustenance but my stomach said no and I puked twice more off of a 30 foot balcony outside the restaurant. Thankfully, however, when I got back to my room I was able to take a long, hot shower and once I took the 3 Chinese medicines the doctor gave me I slept rather well for 9 ½ hours. The next day I went back for another IV for about 2 ½ hours. For the next two days all I ate was rice, crackers, and bananas and I stayed home from class to rest. And now, five days later, I am slowly getting back to being healthy, though my diet is still rather meager. While this experience wasn’t glamorous at all, it is something I will always remember and I will definitely be more appreciative of American health services.

Aside from this painful experience, everything else over here has been going well. My classes have very little homework so I find myself with a lot of free time. Somehow, however, I feel as though I almost always have something to do especially since I am in the International Dorm and have made friends with the Minnesota students and other foreigners. I’ve spent time playing soccer, ping pong (losing to Chinese freshmen girls on the tables outside the other day was humbling), playing badminton, reading the Bible (Robb, Andrew, and I are reading it in 90 days), tutoring and being tutored 2-3 times a week (Tracey is teaching me Mandarin, and I’m helping her English pronunciation and teaching her “big” words), watching movies/tv shows (a group of us are watching “Freaks and Geeks” right now – a classic one-season-wonder TV show about the 80’s), and exploring the city and 2-square mile campus.

This next week our group is going on yet another traveling adventure to the city of Xian which was the capital city of China during six of the early Dynasties and is home to the Terracotta warriors. I’ll update again sometime after that with hopefully some sweet pictures!

A couple more observations:

1. Charades or other games like it would have been great to play before coming over here as we continue to struggle to explain what we are trying to say using body motions and hand signals.

2. Since such a small amount of Chinese people own cars, they walk nearly everywhere here. And besides the times we opt to take a motorcycle taxi (a little freaky – I’ve only done this once), or a campus bus, we also walk everywhere. Therefore I find myself walking up to 3-4 miles in a day sometimes. Quite a different story than in the States considering at home I’ve definitely driven from Ashton to class before!

Downtown Chongquing. As you can see I'm nearly a head taller than most people and am therefore able to see over the masses that were there during the holiday weekend.

Some delicious little fruit pancakes we found in downtown Chongqing.

A couple of friends in downtown Chongqing showing me their beautiful smiling faces.

A statue of the infamous Mao ZeDong on the SouthWest University campus. I still need to walk around campus and the local city BeiBei and take some pictures.

A break from "real" classes for a trip to "Chinese Hawaii"

2008-10-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

Andrew, my roommate, and I from the top of the rural version of the Great Wall.

So the Chinese people conveniently have a week long holiday when we should be having our second week of classes, and therefore I spent the last four and a half days in Hainan or what is known as the “Chinese Hawaii.” Unfortunately, the islands aren’t nearly as nice or as clean as Hawaii, and also tend to get typhoons! Furthermore, the trip was planned by the foreign exchange director at South West University known as “Dirty-toothed Di” (as Robb Willett so kindly nicknamed him) and therefore all of the accommodations went significantly downhill since the SPU professors weren’t in charge.

Overall, the food was subpar, we had to buy our own beverages every meal, we switched hotels 3 times, the body wash in the bathroom smelled like urine, we couldn’t put toilet paper down the toilet…, and we spent multiple hours a day riding in a tour bus with a driver who kept loudly grinding the gears when shifting, and a tour guide who spoke broken English. Not exactly the equivalent of spending a weak at a Kannapol’i resort in Maui.

Yet, before I bash the trip too much, I will admit that there were a few redeeming qualities. The first day we were there it was 85 degrees and sunny with warm water and a sandy beach to body surf at and enjoy “cold beverages” with lime for a reasonable price. Also, at one of the hotels we stayed at they had this large round pool that was about a foot deep and had probably close to 1,000 little fish in it and when you put your feet (or your whole body as some of us did) into the pool they gracefully swim up to you and nibble all of the dead/dry skin off your body (while this sounds dangerous, its actually quite relaxing especially since the water is about 80-90 degrees [see pictures]). The closest feeling I can relate it to is having dozens of cat tongues licking you at once – quite ticklish at first but you get used to it.

Another redeeming quality of the trip was driving out to a river that was about an hour from our hotel where we had a giant water war while sitting or standing on these bamboo rafts while natives paddled us down river. This sounded like a waste of time to us at first, but it actually ended up being one of the most exciting activities we did. Furthermore, though it rained off and on a few of the days, we went to the beach for at least a few hours every day and we were able to pool hop (enjoying really nice hotel pools) by playing the “oblivious white American card” and pretending we were hotel guests.

Now it is Friday morning at 10:45AM and I have a three day weekend to let my sunburn heal and get over this cold I’ve been battling for the last week or so. Below I’ve written out some of the observations I have made after a month in China.

Early Observations of Cultural Differences

1. The pedestrian never has the right of way here. Cars, motorcycles, mopeds, and bikes never slow down and wave you across the street even at cross walks. Furthermore, red lights don’t guarantee that people will stop, and people are always honking horns because this is the customary way of telling someone you are passing them. Observing this showed me very quickly why Chinese drivers have so much trouble in the States. It’s not that they’re necessarily bad drivers, they’re just used to a different system.

2. Breakfast food here is disappointing. We’ve had many buffet breakfasts during our travels (some better than others) and most of the time its this bland tasting steamed bread and watery rice porridge along with some gnarly looking steamed vegetables and cold noodles. The most filling food has been hardboiled eggs. Thankfully, however, there are some bakeries here in Bei Bei that make a variety of breakfast pastries, though most of them are quite sweet. Oh what I would give to have French Toast with powdered sugar and bacon on the side or blueberry pancakes with sausage or…. my mouth is starting to water I better stop.

3. Doing laundry is quite frustrating EVERYWHERE we’ve been in China. While food, drinks, and other items are significantly cheaper than the States, doing a load of laundry at a hotel would cost around US$25. Therefore, I bought laundry detergent for about 3.5 yuan or .50 cents in a local 7-11 and washed clothes in the sink/shower for about an hour in our luxurious Shanghai hotel bathroom. This was a bit time-consuming and the clothes took about a day and half to dry, but at least I didn’t waste 175 yuan! Furthermore, laundry at the University isn’t much better. Thankfully it’s free, but the only dryers available are spin dryers that don’t use heat and still leave one’s clothes damp and heavy. Consequently my roommate and I have two clothes lines in our room and have also hung some clothes outside on the second floor balcony. (pictures below)

4. Taxis are very cheap here especially when multiple people are riding with you. We took over a dozen taxi rides in Beijing and most of them cost around 20-25 yuan to get anywhere within 5 miles. Split 3-4 ways, one typically spends less than $1 per ride. Additionally, the underground subway systems in Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Beijing are phenomenal. In Hong Kong it would cost maybe $1.50-2.00 to get all the way across town, and in Beijing you can go anywhere in the city for 2 yuan or around 30 cents! (The buses only cost 1 yuan and were also convenient.)

5. Eating at a restaurant is different here. Besides the obvious difference in dishes, almost every meal is family style. Additionally, in Bei Bei at the university you can get a delicious meal for about 10 yuan a person (about US$1.50) – that same meal would cost about $10-15 in the States. Plus it is not customary to tip here so meals are even cheaper. And, while cheap Chinese meals are often tasty, unfortunately there isn’t a lot of variety.

6. There are a lot of people in China. Smoking is prevalent in China. Smoking is legal practically anywhere in China. Therefore one runs into the smell of smoke almost anywhere including inside our dormitory, on the bus, at restaurants at the table next to you, in the elevator, inside hotel rooms, etc.

7. While the Chinese people have adopted multiple western ideas, for some reason they have yet to succumb to the idea of the Western Style toilet. They have what we call squatters or “squattie potties.” Thankfully I have yet to use one, though with some of the food over here you never know when you’ll have to go!

8. Finally, the majority of Chinese people have no concept of God. Providence, sovereign grace, and God’s will are completely unknown concepts for them. Instead, they talk about luck, good fortune, and happiness. For instance one of our professors on the first day of class said “I hope you are very lucky in China and lucky in life.” And another said “I hope you have a happy journey in China.” This is clearly a different philosophy on life and has no doubt proven to be a tough barrier for missionaries trying to reach the Chinese people with the Gospel (more on that later).

Pictures from Hainan, Shanghai, and Beijing

2008-10-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

A night shot from Shanghai that a British dude took for us.

Something got lost in translation here seeing that this sign was indoors.

A picture Professor Steinke took of me inside the Forbidden City.

If you enlarge the picture and look closely you might be able to see the ravenous baby lizards that hover around the lights at night munching on misquitos and protecting innocent bystanders from getting misquito bites.

In Beijing, we rented a paddle boat one night and went out on the lake that sits in the middle of the various bars, night clubs, and shops.

A dissapointing part of the Chinese culture known by us as the "squattie potti."

While we did see a lot of awesome things in Shanghai, the streets also held some sad sights.

Another depressing sight to see.

An alley in Shanghai.

Yum yum!

Andrew, Josh, and I opted for the full body immersion into the fish hot springs. It was a bit awkward but totally worth it.

Doing laundry in the dorms.

They loved my right foot and helped remove some of the dead skin that came from playing soccer.

A picture of the beautiful buffet breakfast we had in Shanghai. While there were fried eggs, most of the dishes you see there were full of noodles and sketchy looking meat.

A cool picture my roommate took of me when we touring the fishing boats in a Shanghai harbor.

Our two clothes lines stretching across our room!

Beijing Recap and the start of real classes

2008-09-23T09:16:00.001-07:00

(Quite a different experience. I guess if you were pressed for time and needed to multi-task this style of bathroom might come in useful...)

Ni Hao from Chongqing! (Yes, that is the actual name of the city I didn’t just make that up.)

So until last Sunday I was in Beijing and it was an exhausting but breathtaking six days in the Chinese capital. In less than a week I experienced the Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, a Chinese acrobatic show, the Paralympics, the rural version of the Great Wall, the tourist packed version of the Great Wall, the Temple of Heaven, the Summer Palace, the Pearl Market, the U.S. Embassy, and the sights, sounds, and tastes that come with walking the streets of Beijing.

From the list of places we visited above, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and the Temple of Heaven all kind of blend together because of their similar architecture and history. The Forbidden City was obviously where the emperor’s from the Chinese Dynasties of old lived. The Summer Palace was where the Emperor would reside during the hot summer months because of its cooler climate. The Temple of Heaven, which is regarded as the most beautiful and elegant Chinese complex, was built to offer a sacrifice to “Heaven,” and was used by the Chinese people to offer animal sacrifices to “Heaven.” (That’s about all I gathered… it’s probably a little more complex than that.) All of these monuments (as well as walking through Tiananmen Square where the 1989 massacre took place) were exciting to finally see especially after learning about them in my junior high and high school history classes. I’ve posted some pictures below that show the beautiful Chinese artistic architecture.

The Chinese acrobatic show was also a treat. The performers’ incredible flexibility, balance, strength and aerial stunts were phenomenal and it became evident very quickly why the Chinese are always so good at gymnastics in the Olympic Games. Going to the Paralympics was additionally a big highlight of Beijing. We arrived at the “Olympic Park” about two hours before the track and field finals in the Bird’s Nest and therefore were able to walk around to look at the Water Cube, the Olympic Indoor Stadium, and some of the other artistic structures that were made to celebrate the occasion. And, since we were some of the only white Americans at the games, the group of eight people I rolled with was asked by dozens of Chinese people (primarily teenage and college-aged girls) if we would take pictures with them. This was hilarious and a bit awkward but it made us feel like celebrities so we were okay with it (see pictures below). =P The track and field events themselves were pretty exciting as well considering the Bird’s Nest was so packed that people were sitting in the aisles. An American won gold in one of the wheel chair races and when he received his medal the group of eight of us sang “The Star Spangled Banner” as loud as we could. This of course brought more attention to us but hey, it was the Paralympics!

Both of our trips to the Great Wall were amazing as well. The first time the 46 of us took a two hour bus ride that brought us up into the mountains into a small rural farming town where we hiked the 1,100 steps it took to get up to the wall itself. It was quite a climb in the warm 80 degree weather but the best part about it was that we were the only group there. And unfortunately words can’t really describe the “Great Wall experience.” The pictures below help, but just like any epic landmark you really have to see it for yourself. The second trip to the Great Wall was to a spot that was a large tourist attraction and therefore there were thousands of people (primarily Chinese) who were on the wall. Instead of having to hike up steps to get there, some brilliant engineers put in a gondola that takes up the mountain and drops you off basically on the wall. While this experience wasn’t as peaceful or secluded as the rural version, it offered a different perspective which was neat. However, I must mention that I had the scariest moment yet on the trip when I got separated from our group for about an hour because I was easily distracted taking pictures with the nice SLR camera a generous friend let me borrow for the trip. On most tours I typically can keep a healthy distance behind the group in order to try and take some cool shots, but this time I lingered a little too far back for a little too long and found myself looking at a sea of Chinese people in front of me and behind me without a white person in site. It didn’t help that our group had separated into smaller pods and were planning on reconvening at a distant location which I vaguely heard the directions for how to get to it (the wall splits into a few different sections so there are multiple routes down). In the end, after I scanned the wall for familiar faces for about 15 minutes I chose one of the routes, got down to the village where I thought we were supposed to meet, didn’t see anyone down there for over five minutes, was starting to panic a bit and pray a lot, and then thankfully had our Chinese tour guide come up from behind and tap me on the shoulder and tell me most of the others had headed back to the bus and I was the 5th to last person back. This experience reminded of another valuable lesson/rule about traveling which I am usually pretty good at – always stick with at least one other person especially when you’re on the Great Wall of China where no one speaks English and the hotel is over an hour bus ride away!

Besides going to all of these historical venues, we also went to the “Pearl Market” which is one of the largest knock-off markets in China. It’s basically a seven-story mall that has almost any knock-off brand of clothes, electronics, toys, luggage, shoes, etc. that a person would want. Plus it’s a place where you can bargain as hard as you want! For instance, I bought a classy looking stainless steel digital watch there where the lady originally asked 600 yuan (around $90) and bargained it down to 90 yuan or (about $13). (The exchange rate here is 6.8yuan/$1.) The vendors of course start with ridiculous prices especially with white Americans, but typically you can get the item you want for ¼ of the price or less. Besides watches, a lot of people from our group bought luggage, sunglasses, shoes, clothes, backpacks, and purses. I also picked up a pair of knock-off Nike turf shoes which a number of the guys purchased so we can play some pickup soccer games at the University. Three of us were able to buy our shoes together for 60 yuan each when she initially asked for 300 yuan per pair. It took about 25 minutes for the vendor to go that low but we saved a good deal of money and enjoyed ourselves in the process. One overwhelming thing about the market, however, is that since we are white tourists the vendors were constantly trying to get our business and even went to the extremes of grabbing our arms or trying to put items such as wallets or other merchandise into our hands to get us to buy it. This got a little uncomfortable at times but over all the bargaining game has been a lot of fun and most people got some great deals.

Finally, this past Sunday the 32 of us who are studying at Southwest University for the next 10 weeks flew to Chongqing and moved into the dorms. There were two options for living quarters. Either my roommate and I could live in a dorm with most of our group from SPU (26 students) or we could live in the International (Foreign Exchange Student) Dorm where there are people studying from all over the world including the 23 students from St. John’s University in Minnesota, and students from Bangladesh, Bosnia, Uzbekistan, Chad, Somalia, etc. to name a few. My roommate Kyle Foster and I chose to live in the International Dorm in order to get more of a cultural experience. And, while a part of me wishes that we were closer to our fellow classmates from SPU (the other dorm is about a 5 minute walk), I have already made some friends from Minnesota and many of the countries listed above. I should also say that the weather is hot and humid here. It was around 90-95 degrees the last few days but thankfully my time in New Orleans prepped me well for the heat! Also, it is supposed to cool down in the next 2 weeks and become similar to a Seattle Fall with a little less rain which sounds marvelous.

Finally I’ll just mention my schedule and briefly describe our classes. I have a Chinese business and economics class for about 3 hours on Mondays from 8:50a.m.-12pm. Our first day of it was quite long and the teacher is a small Chinese lady who is a bit hard to understand, but thankfully she uses powerpoint and we have 10 minute breaks every 40 minutes or so to stretch and move around. On Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:50am-10:20am we have a Chinese history and culture class with this short, plump Chinese man who is probably in his early 40’s. His English is pretty solid and he is good at asking “Do you understand?” after he asks questions. He is also hilarious and quite animated so we are looking forward to the class. Lastly, on Tuesdays from 10:30am-12pm and Wednesdays and Fridays from 8:50am-10:20am we have an Intro to Chinese Mandarin class that is taught by a younger Chinese woman probably in her late 20’s who speaks the best English of the three professors and has taught Mandarin to English speaking students before. This should be difficult because the Chinese language is so foreign, but I am looking forward to it especially after two and half weeks of feeling helpless in public knowing little more than “Ni Hao” (Greetings/Hello), “Xie Xie” (Thank You), and “Bu Yao Xie Xie” (I don’t want it thanks).

Alright that’s it for now. Sorry for such a long post, I would have liked post earlier but we’ve just had a horrible time with the internet here and we’ve been so busy I haven’t had the time to write. I will update soon with more details about the living arrangement, classes, etc., and a summary of some of my early observations of the vast cultural differences here.

Kyle

PS – I recently added to my exotic food list by eating Peking Duck, Squid, and Quail eggs in the last few days. The duck skin was probably my favorite dish because it tastes like bacon and you dip it in sugar. The Squid was rather chewy but pretty tasty and the Quail eggs weren’t too different than chicken eggs. Who knows what will be next!

(One thing I should mention is that all of the houses next to our hotel was where hundreds of families lived and they didn't even have plumbing in their house so they had to go to the public restrooms for the bathroom and showers which smelled terrible and were obviously inconvenient. Learning this was a bit humbling and made me grateful for our goofy setup.)

Beijing Pictures!

2008-09-23T08:36:00.000-07:00

This was one of my favorite pictures that was taken. It looks better when its bigger but you get the idea.

As you can see, this version of the wall was packed. Imagine getting lost in the tidal wave of people. Scary!

Here's a picture of about a third of the group that I took.

Our group atop the rural version of the Great Wall.

I was sitting on the top step here. The terrain was a little sketchy I must admit but we suffered no injuries.

It was a bit bright yet foggy when we were on the wall. This picture is from the top of the structure you can see two pictures above this.

The gondola we took at the "urban version of the wall." We were quite high.

If you look close enough you can see the Olympic Torch at the top of our hands. We stole this picture idea from some happy looking Chinese people.

The Olympic Torch at night on top of the Birds Nest

These girls had actually stared at us from afar with the intent to come and take pictures but were too embarassed to ask and started walking away. Therefore, we thought we'd brighten up there day so we ran up to them and asked if they would take pictures with us. They giggled a lot and loved it.

I was hoping to see this event but had to settle for a comical picture.

Inside the birds nest.

The Water Cube at night.

A wheel chair race.

Lining up for men's 200m. A few of these athletes had only one leg and therefore used those crazy looking metal/aluminum legs. They were quick!

The Temple of Heaven

The Chinese Acrobats - if you look closely you can see that two of the performers jumped off that platform onto the board which propelled the airborn performer up onto the top of the human tower. Pretty legit.

Spinning plates while doing crazy stunts.

Strength and flexibility aren't an issue for these guys.

The ceiling in one of the temples.

A statue inside of one of the temples. This was interesting because while I was taking pictures, other people were bowing before this "goddess" and praying to it or worshipping it.

The Chinese like their lions and other mythical looking creatures.

Shanghai Recap

2008-09-15T07:05:00.000-07:00

(Another shot from the top of Lantau peak in Hong Kong.)

Hello from Beijing!

Wow how fast the time goes. While a part of me feels like I’ve been here for a month, I also feel the time flying by and so I’m doing my best to soak up as much as I can each day.

We arrived in Beijing yesterday around 3:45pm and have unfortunately found that our new hotel is quite a downgrade from the last one… The rooms are about half the size, quite dirty, have harder beds, and literally don’t have a bathtub or shower stall but instead there is a straight up shower head in the middle of the wall with a drain a few inches away from the toilet (see pictures). But before complaining too much I must admit that I had the absolute best Chinese food I’ve ever tasted for dinner last night. The Kung Pao Chicken and Sweet and Sour Pork and pretty much everything else was phenomenal. Plus, the night life in Beijing is much more lively and inviting and the streets are much cleaner than Shanghai. So there are pluses and minuses to both.

Anyways, let me do a little reflecting on Shanghai since we just arrived in Beijing yesterday and haven’t done too much here yet. First of all, I have to mention that we rode this bullet express train from the airport to a more central location in the city (to give you some perspective of Shanghai’s size, we were told it is 20% larger than the state of Delaware!) that literally went 430 km/hr (see picture) or what we calculated to be 258 mph. This was quite a rush, and thankfully “the patch” that I have been using for flying hadn’t worn off yet so I had no motion sickness issues.

As I mentioned briefly in the last post, our group of 46 people went on a walking tour throughout the city to check out the sites and one of the famous shopping markets of Shanghai. (I have still yet to really pick up any souvenirs because most of it is just trinkets that I don’t need. However, if anyone has something you’d like me to look for shoot me an email and I’ll keep my eyes open for it.) This was a fun though tiring excursion and I regretted wearing my Reef sandals at about mile 3 of what was probably 6-7 miles of walking.

The “Pearl Tower” dinner ended up being pretty legit. It was a very similar experience to eating at the Space Needle, though I think it was a bit taller with a larger slowly rotating restaurant at the top. It was here that I had my second exotic food of the trip – escargot (a.k.a. snail). This was rather chewy and was thankfully stuffed with pesto which made it taste decent (a third exotic dish was the bbq goose I had a few nights ago! I wasn’t a fan.). Also, in order to get to the Pearl Tower and back we had to go underwater on a small trolley type “experience” called “The Bund.” It turned out being this really trippy five minute ride that had a light show going on outside the trolley in the tunnel (see pictures).

The next day was our “Shanghai company visit day” so we went to one of the largest semi-conductor manufacturers in the country called “Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation” or SMIC (really original huh?). There were two expatriates from the States who worked there and told us about the company, how they do business, and why they’ve decided to invest their lives and the lives of their families in working in Shanghai, China instead of the US. This was an interesting visit though it didn’t convince me to want to work in Shanghai. After this lecture we went to an upscale shopping mall for lunch where a group of us ate some good Thai food. Then in the afternoon we visited Microsoft – specifically the China Research and Development group which was also rather interesting and informative especially learning about how the company is combating piracy issues which are so prevalent today.

Saturday was our free day in Shanghai. Some groups went on a shopping extravaganza and visited the 101st floor of the “Bottlecap Building” which is the second largest building in the world, other groups went to the Chinese Communist Propaganda Museum, and myself and another large group went to the Wild Animal Park which is similar to the zoo but larger and according to the locals much better. And, while this park was epic for reasons I’ll mention shortly, it was also an incredible adventure getting there. The group of eight students that I went with ended up asking the hotel receptionists to write down the name of the zoo and the necessary buses we needed to get on to get there for us in Chinese characters on a piece of paper. Once we had that we walked 15 minutes to a bus station where we asked the locals as best we could what time the bus was coming. After about 10 minutes of trying to communicate with our English to Mandarin dictionaries, the bus we needed happened to pull up to the station and we all got on. And unfortunately words can’t really explain the absolute chaos that defines the public bus system here. All I can say is there is “always room for one more” so you end up getting about 60 or more people on a bus sitting or standing up against each other as the bus weaves through the sea of taxis, mopeds, and pedal bikes throughout the city. You also pay while you’re on the bus by giving a lady the right amount of money in exchange for a bus pass. We had absolutely no idea how this worked and it took us about 10 minutes to actually pay for all of us. Furthermore, we showed a few locals where we were going and all of a sudden we had nearly 10 of them on the overcrowded bus yelling all at once at each other trying to help us find the best way to get there. Eventually (it was about a half an hour bus ride) one of them who knew broken English and was getting off at the stop where we needed to transfer at ended up getting off with us and explaining to the next driver where we were headed. This second bus ride was over an hour and took us through some very poor parts of the city which was a cultural experience in itself. We finally got there and the entire 1.5+ hours cost us less than $1.50!

The Wild Animal Park itself turned out to be awesome. Needless to say we saw all sorts of animals. The panda’s and the ligers (a crossbreed between a lion and tiger which there are only 8 in the world) were incredible. The highlights were feeding these animals called “lemurs” who would grab chunks of banana out of ones hand or off ones head and climbing atop a full-sized elephant (see pictures)!

The ride back on the bus was very long due to rush hour traffic and I learned a very valuable lesson about traveling in foreign countries through this experience which is to always make sure you have emptied your bladder before getting on a bus during rush hour traffic. By about 45 minutes into our ride I was in pain and the bumpy roads and constant stops didn’t help. By around an hour and fifteen minutes in I was seriously considering either peeing in the water bottle in my hand or getting off the bus alone at a random stop in Shanghai to find a bathroom. My hopes got up when we finally reached the transfer bus. I spied a gas station and was starting to walk over when all of a sudden our connector bus arrived and the 9 of us piled on. I almost cried. It took another 35 minutes or so for us to get into a part of the city I recognized. As soon as we reached a spot where I knew we could get back, I told the group I was going to hoof it from there and thankfully 2 other guys got off with me. I frantically looked around for a bathroom on the street but when there was none in site I jogged over to a corner in the alley and took care of business as nonchalantly as possible for over a minute. Quite the experience!

That night a group of 9 of us ate at a traditional Chinese restaurant in the city. The beauty of food here is that you can eat well for around US$5. After dinner we went back to the hotel hung out for awhile and packed for Beijing.

Alright that’s all for now. I’ll update from Beijing in a few days after I’ve seen the Chinese Acrobats, the Great Wall, Forbidden City, and Paralympics.

Kyle

The Shanghai Sights

2008-09-15T06:21:00.000-07:00

A typical Shanghai intersection... well... when the bikes and mopeds were actually curteous enough to stop for red lights!

The beautiful bathroom at the Astor House Hotel in Shanghai. Marbel counter tops, glass shower stalls, etc.

Our bathroom in Beijing... As you can see there is absolutely no "shower stall" or bathtub. Just a freakin' shower head coming out of the wall. I took a shower this morning and had to change outside the bathroom because the water was 2 inches high everywhere! The price of engaging the culture I guess...

Our adventuresome experience on the Chinese metro.

I was a little stunned before eating the escargo.

Ligers, tigers, and bears oh my!

Eating with the ladies in Beijing - the best Chinese we've had yet!

This was a picture taken from inside the Bund. Pretty trippy eh?

There's Dr. LaBrie as he just got on the Bund trolley car.

Here were some cool looking masks being sold in the market.

This was a pleasant site to see though it looked a little out of place amidst the Chinese culture.

These little creatures were completely out of cages and were always looking for a snack in convenient places.

I never thought I'd ride an elephant. This was awesome!

Here's the pool hall where it cost about $1.50 to play for an hour.

Here's a picture of a few friends from the group walking through Shanghai on the famous Nanjing Road after dinner and pool.

Here's a picture of Shanghai at night with the Pearl Tower in the middle right.

Hong Kong Recap and Shanghai Intro

2008-09-11T01:19:00.000-07:00

I don’t even know how to start to explain my experiences in Hong Kong but I’ll do my best to capture some of the most interesting parts. We arrived in the city at 11pm local time and weren’t to our hotel (the YMCA which over here is an actual hotel) until about 12:15a.m. After settling in, Andrew Aldrich and my roommate Kyle Foster and I went out on the street and walked around for about 45 minutes. Since we are Caucasian, and obviously tourists, we were immediately solicited by probably a dozen different people for “massages,” “suits” and of course “copywatches” or “rolex watches.” The locals’ favorite lines were “hello rolex?” and “hey buddy a suit for you?” This is something we have experienced everywhere we go night or day and we have learned very quickly to avoid making eye contact and to say “no thank you” or nothing at all even when the person continues to walk with us down the street. While we were out, Andrew bought some sketchy looking meat on a stick for less than a US dollar and we all had our first taste of authentic Chinese street vendor food. It turned out being really spicy but pretty tasty. After walking around for another twenty minutes or so we made our way back to the hotel where we crashed after 16 hours of traveling. Thankfully it was 1:30am so the jetlag wasn’t too bad though it took a few nights to get used to.

The next morning we went on a guided tour to some of the local gems around the city. We first stopped at a temple which was apparently a shrine where the Chinese people visit twice a year to pray to the “gods.” Their first visit is early in the calendar year where they “pray for luck” for the year. Then, they visit later in the year to thank the “gods” for blessing them that year. The temple was super smoky and I guess it is always that way due to the excessive amount of incense they burn as offerings. There was also a part of the temple where people would bring pieces of paper with food, water, and even a house on them because in their culture they believe that their ancestors are in the “spirit world” and need everything that someone would need on earth. Needless to say I disagreed with their theology but was fascinated to hear their beliefs. After we visited the temple, the 47 of us piled back onto our tour bus and took off to “the peak” which is a large shopping and dining area on top of one of the highest areas in Hong Kong that overlooks the city. To get to the top we took the “Peak Tram” which has been running for over a hundred years and goes quite fast up a very steep grade. At the top we walked around and took pictures. It was here that we all learned the importance of being on time to the group’s designated meeting place. One student named Ryan Scott ended up being 5 minutes late and so the bus simply left without him! He was therefore all alone on top of a mountain on a different island than the one where our hotel was located and was forced to navigate his way back to the hotel all on his own. No mercy! (We also ate at one of the nicest restaurants on the peak our last night in Hong Kong – I ate perhaps the best fillet mignon I have ever tasted!)

After taking in the view on the peak, our group headed the “Jumbo Floating Restaurant” which I believe is the largest floating restaurant in the world. Here we had a traditional Chinese meal where the waiters bring out multiple appetizers and then family style Chinese dishes. The food was delicious and the restaurant itself was beautiful. After lunch we went on a half hour boat tour of the fishing boats that were anchored in the harbor. We learned that fishing is dying out in Hong Kong because it is such hard work and few young people want to do it. It was here that I saw two beautiful Mastercraft wakeboarding boats so of course I had to snap a picture or two!

After this tour we headed to Stanley market which was similar to Pike place but with more nock off clothing and trinkets. Nothing really caught my eye but it was fun to walk around and watch people barter. On our way back to the hotel I learned about another pretty interesting belief the Chinese people hold. It turns out they are obsessed with dragons and believe they are the most powerful creature in the world. They believe in the dragon so much that there were huge condo buildings on the hillside overlooking the water (which would cost 2 million or more per unit) where there was a large square hole in upper middle part of the complex that was left open so that the dragon which “lives in the hillside” can fly through it and down to the water to quench its thirst. The people believe that if they take care of the dragon then the dragon will bring water to their land (more shoddy theology in my book but interesting nonetheless).

The next day (Sunday) was a free day for the group. About half of the group went to the island of Macau which is the Hong Kong equivalent of Las Vegas with casinos, clubs, and bars which wasn’t really what I was looking for. Another group of 6-10 people went to the Hong Kong Disneyland. And, while this sounded like fun, I didn’t feel like dishing out US$50 just to get in. Therefore, a group of 9 of us headed to the island of Lantau and climbed the second tallest mountain in Hong Kong!

It took us two separate boat rides and a half an hour bus ride to get there. It was an epic climb in the humid 85 degree weather and we were rewarded with a beautiful panoramic view from the peak of Lantau’s various bays and the surrounding islands.

While the ascent took about 2 ½ hours, the descent was only about an hour and at the bottom we were able to see what I believe is the largest Buddha statue in the world! This was awesome. From there, we had a 40 minute bus ride back to the MTR which is the public railway in Hong Kong that takes you virtually everywhere. It goes underwater too!

The next two days were jammed packed with lectures and company visits at Hong Kong Baptist University (where one of our professors had connections because he had taught there for 4 years back in the 80’s). Here we learned all about Hong Kong and mainland China – especially about the economy and the legal system. We also visited the U.S. Consulate, a Coca Cola plant, the Hong Kong Science Park, a jewelry maker warehouse and an insurance firm. Some of this stuff was interesting but on the whole it was much more fun to explore the city and try not to get too lost.

Then on Wednesday morning at 7am we left the YMCA and headed to the airport to fly to Shanghai. I ate a Popeye’s breakfast at the airport which had great southern fast food and reminded of New Orleans (I miss you guys!). I also of course got a few pictures.

While Hong Kong is heavily influenced by the West, Shanghai so far has been quite different and feels much more foreign. One of the biggest differences is the transportation and traffic here. There are millions of people with bikes and mopeds and they completely disregard the traffic lights which makes walking in big groups across an intersection an adventure every time.

Yesterday I had the most exotic meal yet – bullfrog meat. It was quite boney but actually really good and tasted just like chicken. Today we went on a walking tour of the city. 47 American’s walking through town definitely drew a lot of attention and the street sellers flocked to us trying to sell fake Rolexes and other cheap items. In an hour and a half we are heading to the “Pearl Tower” which is Shanghai’s equivalent of the space needle. I’m pretty excited and will definitely post pictures from the top when I get a chance.

Alright that’s all for now though there are a dozen other stories I could tell. I’ll try to write more this weekend. I hope all is well back in the States!

Kyle

Alright so these pictures are kind of in random order but you get the idea. (I'll eventually use flicker or some program where I can put more and larger pictures.)

Here is a picture from the top of Lantau peak. you can see the trail snake most of the way down the mountain.

Here is a picture in Shanghai of the "Pearl Tower" Space Needle

Popeye's at the airport! Yum yum.

Dr. Labrie and myself immitating the coca cola mouse

A picture from the Peak tower in Hong Kong

The Jumbo restaurant from a boat.

Fish drying on a fisherman's boat

The "Peak tram" started operation in 1888

The mountain we climbed.

The giant Buddha!

The "Peak Tower" view at night.

Andrew and I on the Peak Tower in our business casual attire.

The temple - those cone things are made of one long strand of insense that is always burning!

An altar for the "good luck" gods

Greetings from Hong Kong!

2008-09-08T07:03:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family!

I am currently sitting in a Starbucks coffee shop (so much for engaging the culture...) right outside the hotel we are staying at in the heart of Hong Kong. And, while I have so much I could say I unfortunately have about five minutes left on this free wi-fi so I will have to save my rambling blogs for a little while later.

Stay tuned!

Kyle