Upward

liuyang long and xuxin

me and liuyanglong

me and xuxin

They have that cartoon, you know, called "Up."  Its about that old man and little boy who float off to South America in a house held up by helium balloons.  Its time for me to move up again.  And I feel little sad about it.

I have lived in China now for about two months.  I've moved only once; I moved from the Hostel to the family I have been staying with.  Their names?  I think I already introduced them: 刘杨龙 and 徐欣。They are my friends now and I will miss them.  I will miss them because when you are in a foreign place, a place where the culture is a little weird, the language is hard, and the food is just strange, then you grasp on to your friends.  They have been there for me here in China--cooking me dinner, teaching me new words, and laughing at my pronunciation.  I taught them how to play California Speed, and they taught me how to play Chinese Chess.  I taught them how to make hamburgers,and they taught me how to make Ramen Noddles....Chinese style.  I taught them about real cowboys, and they taught me how to say jokes in Chinese.  I showed them that Americans can be courteous and open, and they showed me that Chinese people can be the kindest people in the world.  So I will miss them, and move upward.  The world is full of people like this, the whole----GIANT-----world.

Next stop:  Shanghai.

The Wall

I remember when I was a kid I thought Jared was pretty cool because they called him "The Wall" when he played goalie in soccer.  Nothing got through.  I was always too scared to be goalie--I'd rather be doing the kicking at the goalie rather than be the goalie being kicked at.  Well, China has a wall like that.  Yes, the famous one: The Great Wall of China.  I think when you see these pictures you might think, "wow, that looks a lot a like the other pictures of the Great Wall that I have seen," and you are probably right.  When you get there and start climbing up the hill towards the wall you get pretty excited.  Then, when you reach the final stair, step onto the wall itself, and look into the distant, winding, stone wall that stretches across the endless mountains, you suddenly realize: this is far cooler than I thought it would be! Sure, the pictures are the same, the wall is the same, and the old grey stones are the same, But the mystical feeling of the place is very unexpected.  It took me by suprise like the spirit does sometimes when I am talking about some random gospel topic.  We were lucky because the section of the wall we went to was not crowded at all.  It was like American style crowded, which is to say a few people here and there.  This allowed me to think about the wall and what it means.  When I think too much, things go down hill, as the following will demonstrate quite thoroughly.

I think that it is important to understand the "personalities" of each country in order to know how best to improve relationships and lessen international tension.  When I say "personality," what I really mean is the history and culture of a country that heavily influences the way that country sees and acts towards the rest of the world.  I think there a lot of American's who are afraid of China, and rightfully so.  China has a military that is one of the largest and best equipt in the World.  Add to that an American ambivalence towards China's internal and international policy, and you find the root of what it means to fear: the unknown.

The cool Blurry One

the countryside

door1

door2

lord of the rings style fire signal

China calls itself the "middle kingdom."  That's what 中国means.  They don't call themselves "China."  That is a foreign name to their idea of what China is--the oldest culture in the world.  They see themselves as being in the center of a vast world of nations that, if history is any indicator, have a desire to invade, use, and abuse.  That is why they built the Great Wall in the first place: they wanted to keep the invaders out.  You might have read a little of China's recent history in my last post.  Do you know what the Opium War is?  The Chinese do.  It was when every colonial power in the world descended upon China in order to take advantage of the rich resources that the land and people had to offer.  The Japanese were particularly brutal in their conquest of China before WWII. They used the eastern part of the "Middle Kingdom" as a jumping board to all of South-east Asia and the Pacific.  When the US military, led by the often bold and sometimes severely egocentric General MacArthur, moved north of the 38th Parallel in pursuit of the North Korean Army, the Chinese got nervous.  Here they come again.  We don't know how many Chinese moved over the Yalu river, but to the Americans they seemed numberless.  It was the Korean War.   But the Chinese recovered.  They are strong now, very strong.  They have rebuilt their wall--this time stronger than ever.  They're motto is "Stability, and they intend to keep it."

So there is your history lesson for the day haha.  I find all of this intensely fascinating--and I know there are at least a few of you that are falling asleep at this point.  Moving on.

The guy in this picture was a cool guy.  He was standing outside a maze of underground tunnels dug during the Japanese occupation of China in the 1940's.  He was all dressed up like a soldier and I just couldn't help but get a picture with him.  He let me wear his hat and hold his spear and gun.  He was just about the coolest chap I have ever met.

me with the cool guy

Right after we went through the tunnels and met the old soldier, we went to eat next door at the local diner....I'm going to call it that.  There was no menu.  We each paid Y40 and they just brought out what they had.  The shrimp as whole: eyes, antennas and all.   They actually tasted like scorpions, just a little fishier.  You can see from the pictures the other dishes.  It was a good, but a strange meal that I will not soon forget.  I will miss China when I'm gone.

the food 2

the food

what__

Finally, I have included a video of the view outside my window.  The last few days I have woken up to the sound of sludge hammers and an excavator starting sometimes before 6 am.  They didn't care that there are 500,000 people trying to sleep--they had a building to tear down.  So about 30 guys ran around in their shorts and tank tops while one guy pounded at the building with his excavator hammer.  When they got the building down, the group of men got to work breaking up the bricks with hand held picks and jack hammers.  Some of the men had to be over 70.  It was all very strange and slightly humorous to me.  Its hard to question their methods though.  After all, they did build one of the seven wonders of the world--a wall that stretches across an entire continent.

Love to all

一直

How do you rectify Chinese history, Western history, and the gospel of Jesus Christ?  I apologise for opening with such a heavy question, but have you ever pondered on this thought?  China claims to have the oldest continuous culture in the world.  I don't think I know enough about Chinese history yet to answer this question; I have only learned enough to ask it.

In Xian we went to an old Islamic Mosque, one of the oldest and largest in China--and in the world for that matter.  When I was there, questions raced through my mind  faster than I could catch them.  We went to some other religious centers as well: a Catholic cathedral and a Buddhist tower.  Of all these beautiful structures, all wrought with dramatic world history and steeped in religious folk lore, one sign grabbed my attention and held it like a vice.  It was a sign hung over the waiting shelter leading to the worship center in the Mosque.  It simply said, "一直。”  What does it mean?  It is pronounced like a "long e" sound and then the way that Jackson pronounces Jared's name: "Jer" or "zhir."  Well, we have our English equivalents.  We have, the "straight and now path," or "unwavering," and the "way."  These all imply commitment and devotion on a road leading to salvation.  I have never seen a more beautiful way of expressing this thought than that sign hung on over the arch.  Literally it means "one straight," or more perfectly, "straight."

I am grateful to understand the true way.  Now, straight.

muslim guy

buddhist wild goose pagota

another Muslim guy

catholic cathedral

cathedral through the fence

catholic church

cool pic Muslim guy

mosque

two Chinese Muslims

Now on to lighter matters.  I'm sure you have heard that the Chinese like white skin.  I was not surprised, then, to see all the women who think they are pretty carrying umbrellas on the sunny days.  I was surprised, however, when I saw the commercials for the cream that makes you white...its like a fake tan...but not.  The commercial says in Chinese, "Your skin will get visibly whiter!  See this woman's skin?  She used 'Skin White' and now she is visibly whiter!  Amazing!"  I couldn't help but laugh.  Really!?  The lady in the family I live with spend about 30 minutes each morning putting on sun block, applying, rubbing it in, and making sure she doesn't forget a spot.  In 80 years all Americans will be dying of skin cancer.  Chinese women will still look 45.

My Chinese is improving quickly.  I wish I had the guts or motivation to just go outside and talk to people all day...like a missionary.  But I quickly run out of things to say to people--and I get a little embarrassed.  I still try everyday though.  Last night I bought some socks on the side of the road.  There were lots of Chinese people around and my Chinese was perfect.  My favorite thing about speaking in Chinese is the people walking by who stop dead in their tracks, turn around, and just stare at you like you are from Mars.  It happens every time if you speak good Chinese.  So I was asking the lady about the socks and how much they were per pair and what colors she had etc.  There was a good 10 people just staring at me blocking traffic.  The lady next to me, also trying to buy sock, said in Chinese, "Who is this foreigner?  His Chinese is better than mine!" lol.  I laughed and said thank you.  I may not be able to give a discourse on political succession or anthropology, but I can buy some socks!

Finally, I may include some pictures from the Beijing Museum of Chinese History.  If you think you know Chinese history, you probably do...from your American perspective.  Here is glimpse into the way the Chinese see their recent history.  It may surprise you and bring words to your mind such as, "propaganda," and "re-writing history" which all might be true.  Remember though that we have our own propaganda and unique way of writing history.

preface

Chinese revolution victory

Mao ze dong group

mao ze dong tian'anmen

opium war

very important picture

Rejuvenation

So from China I bid you farewell once again.  May these words find you on the straight and narrow, or in Chinese:  一直

I Want To Fix Everything

There are days when I think China is awesome.  Today is one of those days.  Interestingly it is not the days that the food is especially good or when the subway is less crowded (it doesn't matter the day, you will never get a seat!), the best days and moments in China are when you have a connection through communication with another human being--a moment of understanding.  I had this moment with Shi in the park.  Now I want to tell you about my new Chinese family.

room on the train

When we got back from Xian on the train, it was 8am.  I didn't get much sleep because I kept watching the country side roll by.  Even at night I can't help but keep my eyes open as we travel.  There is sooo much to see.  From the train station we got on a bus and headed into the heart of Beijing.  We were not going back to the hostel; we were splitting up now headed for a month of staying with a Chinese family.  I was handed a paper that had one line describing who my new family was.  It was in Chinese...and now I know what it means when they say things like, "get lost in translation."  I read the sentence like this:  "Mother and Father over 80 years old, both retired.  Two bedrooms and one living room."  I imagined a very old grandpa and grandma, in a very small apartment...maybe I would share a room.  I didn't know.  Did they have a bathroom?

I was the first one to get dropped off from the bus.  It was funny because we drove through a sort of ghetto area on one side and a set of somewhat newer apartment buildings on the other.  The bus driver didn't know where we were going so he kept moving from one side of the street to the other as we got closer to the address.  If we were on the nice side of the street my classmates would cheer for me.  If we moved to the other side of the street (ghetto apartments) they would all laugh and boo.  It was a fun game.  We finally came to a stop on the ghetto side and they all laughed and laughed.  There were big bars on the windows and and I questioned the integrity of the buildings themselves.  Luckily my new "Mom" came out and welcomed me to their home.  It was on the "nice" side of the street.  I cheered secretly in my head.  

Oh yeah, and about that "lost in translation" part.  I almost translated the sentence correctly.  There were a few small errors.  My new family was not over 80, they were born after 1980--also, they were not retired, they work in what china views as "white collar" jobs...which, give me some credit, has a few characters in common with "retired."  This was a big surprise for me!   My new parents are 26 years old!  In case you forgot, I'm 28!

So life has changed a bit, mostly for the better.  I live in this little apartment in the twin bridges district.  In Chinese it is 双桥区。You can copy those characters into Google maps and get my location within about a half mile.  I don't know my real address.  It is one of the apartment buildings about half a mile south of the free-way.  There are 22 floors.  There are two little bedrooms, a very small kitchen, and a 10 by 15 living room.  600 sq ft in all.  The bathroom is fun.  There is a shower head--maybe you can see it in the picture--but there is no shower base.  The shower is almost directly over the toilet and the water goes everywhere.  I'm starting to get used to it though.  You plug in the water heater if you want more heat.  Otherwise it stays unplugged.  Smart idea to save some money!

bathroom 1 

bathroom 2

This brings me to my wanting to fix everything.  Everything in China is broken.  The shower heads and faucets are plugged, the door handles are falling apart, the appliances are always questionable, and the fences are falling down.  All the infrastructure needs help unless it is an important building downtown.  There are bare wires hanging down from power lines just above head level, and all the doors in China squeak.  Everything is broken.  For instance, there is a giant super market right by my new house.  It is bigger than Wal-Mart by twice and sells to more people then 10 Wal-marts combined.  The front entrance has a big metal ramp and it is not secured well.  It is sooo noisy.  It squeaks and clanks and screeches all the time and hurts my ears!  This is an easy fix.  Secure the ramp to the building with few lag bolts and waaala.  Fixed. So I bought a needle and I clean out every shower that I use.  I use my Leatherman (thank goodness I brought the Leatherman!) to take the screen off faucets and clean them out.  I usually double the water pressure.  I can't help it.  China needs fixing!  Now who's with me?  

My new family, the ones born after 1980, are great.  The are a couple who have been together since they were 16.  They don't have any kids and are not married but are engaged.  They both work all day--the guy works advertising for a magazine.  The girl works in translation for a Spanish expatriate.  They leave about 8:30am and come back around 6:30pm.  They don't have a car and are somewhat poor.  I think in US standards they are quite poor.  In Beijing I think they might be middle class.  I actually really like them and I can't say the same for my classmates families.  My friend, Meng Kaiwen, really doesn't like his new family at all.  After dinner they tell him to, 请你去房子里休息一下。This means they tell him to go to his room and rest a little.  So he'll say, 我不想去我的房子里。我想出去。"I don't want to go to my room, he says, I want to go out."  But they don't budge.  They make him go to the room.  He's trading families now.  He can't have mine.  Sorry Kaiwen :)

bedroom

my spaghetti

kitchen

Tonight I made Spaghetti for my family.  I think they liked it, but they didn't eat any meat balls.  I don't know why.  Also, they didn't really like the green beans.  The eat green beans here all the time, but they are never from a can--and they taste very Chinese.  The girl said to me in Chinese, "you should put more salt in."  I just laughed and ate the beans myself.  Oh and by the way, it is much easier to eat Spaghetti with Chop Sticks than with a fork.  You might not believe me, but Chop Sticks are awesome once you get the hang of it.  They are like everything in one.  I'm getting quite good at using them actually.  I didn't even drop a noodle.

My new "brother"--that's what I'll call him--his name is Liu Yang Long.  It is pronounced "Leo Yang (a as in ahhh) Long (o as in Coin).  After dinner he told me a joke.  He doesn't speak English at all.  He tried to tell me the joke last night but I was completely lost.  It was something about a 老头 which is a word for an old guy kind of like Dad...lol...I kid.

This is the joke:  "This 老头 (pronounced Lao toe) was from the country.  He went to go buy a car at the Volkswagen dealership.  The first car he saw was the Sanata 2000.  He thought the "2000" was the price--so he tried to give the salesman 2000 元 for the car.  The Salesman, seeing that the 老头 was a little backward said, 'I have a better deal for you.  You can go to the Mercedes Benz dealership over there and buy 4 'Benz 500's' for the same price!"   The 老头was very happy and away he went."

Yes.  That is the joke.  Its actually kind of funny if you think about an old Chinese guy from the country.  Anyway, it wasn't the joke that made my day in China good.  It was the fact that I understood it!  Me and this Chinese guy sat around our Spaghetti laughing almost to tears because at first I couldn't get it, and then when I finally did it was so funny--and we communicated.  Language and communication are more than words. They are ways to connect to another person--an understanding between people and cultures.  I'm grateful for the good days.  They make all the other ones worth while.  And by the way, my Chinese family needs no fixing.

me on a bike in Xian

Love to all.  Keep the Faith.

It's A Big World After All

The Forbidden City 

Beijing Western skyline

There are so many things that I want to share right now.  My head is exploding with new information and I can hardly keep up.  I want to say thank you for all of your kind words.  I feel like sometimes I am seeing China for many eyes.  I am aware of it, and I look deep.

I was going to start this post with the following title: "When in China..."  You can fill in the rest.  I've started to do things the way I think the Chinese do things and it is fantastic!  I bought a bike.  I thought I was going to die, but I didn't.  The funny thing is that with all the 16 million people riding and driving the streets of Beijing, I feel safer riding a bike in down-town Beijing than I do riding down HWY 89 from Paulden to Chino.  I really do!  There are a thousand other bikes and scooters all around all the time.  There are unspoken rules about who can go and who can't.  There is no established "right of way" -- Everyone just knows.

rickshaw lady

One rule is that you can't second guess yourself.  You communicate telepathically with the other drivers and then make your move.  Ok that is not true, but it is the closest thing to telepathy that I have ever seen.  The problem comes when you get nervous about the double length bus a few inches from your left hand and the three scooters with 4 people each on your right--oh and the rickshaw driver dead ahead coming your way.  If you second guess then everything starts getting a little nutty and I start thinking about selling my bike to the next Chinese man I see for a 100% discount.  I've only done that a couple of times.  I don't do it any more.

Beijing countryside

A couple of days ago I walked from Tian'anmen Square back to GaoBeiDain.  I thought it was a good idea.  I wanted to see Beijing.  I've been to New York after all--surely I could walk across Beijing.  Remind me not to do that again!  Beijing is not New York and my feet were painfully sore the next morning.  I was only elicited once for..."50 cents" one time.  Well...that's what I thought she said.  She didn't say that.  I forgot they don't say "cents" in China.  When I realized what was really going on I said, "NONONONONONONo" and ran.  lol.

 China is an illusion.  Public transportation in Beijing is like an overcrowded portal...yeah stick with me. You never go on the streets so you only get glimpses of the areas around a Subway station.  Its like being transported to a new city each stop.  In your mind it isn't very far; it might be a 30 min Subway ride.  That is why I wanted to walk through the city: I wanted to see Beijing as one fluid and connected city.  Now, Tian'anmen is in the center of Beijing while Gaobeijing is on the east side.  It took me 3  and 1/2 hours to walk across half the southern city.  I was walking quite fast--maybe 4 miles an hour.  The skyscrapers never stopped.  Yes, as I said before, my feet hurt.

What I loved was walking down the alleys and in between the apartment complexes. At the bottom of each complex is a small city on its own with stores and shops and workers. I found an old dirt path in the middle of Beijing about 8 feet wide lined with more than 50 little shops.  There were no foreigners--it was next to the train track and quite dirty.  The smell of raw fish and fresh chicken parts roasting on open fires was think in the air.  There were more than a few strange glances my way.  I am used to it.

Then came Friday.  My feet, by the end of the day, were crying for Beijing's long flat roadways. First, however, I need to tell you about the train. We got on the train at 4:30 PM in Beijing headed for Xian.  The train stop was literally the largest most crowded place I have ever been in my life.  We were standing in a GIANT room, bigger I think than any airport terminal I've been too, and there were around 5-10 thousand people trying to get tickets.  There were literally thousands and thousands and thousands of people in a hundred lines.  Every walkway, every corner, every small bench, was occupied with a hundred people here and a thousand there.  The bridge over the road that led to the station was body to body packed with hundreds of families and their luggage lining the sides.  Some people slept on the ground or on their luggage.  Others pushed on through to the lines and tried to buy tickets.  We almost didn't make the train.  It must have been a funny sight to see 20 Americans literally running through all that mess with 3 months worth of luggage trying to catch the last train to Xian.  We made it.  

train hallway

Our little room in box car 10 had four beds.  the room was about 6 by 6.  I shared a room with Dr. Beede, Dr. Chen, and Sai Rui. Although the room was tiny, I promptly fell asleep and woke up the next morning as the train pulled into the station in ShanXi province.  I'd been transported once again.  This time it was a 13 hour ride.

We got off the train, ate 1st dinner (that's what I call Chinese breakfast), and rode a bus for two hours to Hua Shan.  It is the highest mountain peak in all of ShanXi and it is actually quite tall.  Xian is not far about sea level and the South Peak is over 8,000 feet high.  What really threw me off is that the mountain range looked somewhat similar to the Wasatch Front except that it ran from east to west.  Being a rocky mountain boy myself, I felt very disoriented.  It was like someone turned the world sideways.

like the rockies 

beautiful mountains

cool pic

house on the mountain

There are 8 major peaks at Hua Shan.  You can take the mountain tram to the north peak, the lowest peak, or the "Heavenly Ladder."  I took the ladder.  I still haven't figured out why I did that.  The only thing I can figure on is that people do stupid things---and I'm a person too!  You'll see from the pictures that this isn't like your nearest Saddle Horn.  The south peak, only four of us made it up that far, is like standing on top of China.  I made it to the top.  I always will.  My hips and knees hurt and I'm wondering if that means I'm getting old.

The beginning of Hua Shan

A video of Hua Shan

The top of China

Me and a waterfall I found

Some stairs

Me on the South Peak

The meaning of Shan

China is a wild place.  I don't know how I feel about it.  There are days I feel at home on my bike riding along Chao Yang Ave dodging the buses and venders, then stoping by the street shop to buy a spicy bread roll for dinner. Other days I feel like I am on Mars and that Chinese people and culture are so strange that I will never understand.  Either way, for those of you who have ever wondered about China and worry that its a small world after all, fear not: Walt Disney had it wrong all along.

Love to All, especially today to my little kiddos and my beautiful, perfect wife.