One in Him

Happy Easter everyone!  I know I'm horribly horribly behind on blogging, but I'll try and get caught up before the next long weekend, which is this weekend.  Shanghai baby!  And Hangzhou too, but most people outside of China haven't heard of that, so it sort of takes away from the emphasis of the statement.  Also, Myks and I waited to long to get our tickets, so we literally spent 45 minutes at the ticket place trying every possible combination of cities and such.  We're going to Tianjin (Beijing's next door little brother) and going to Shanghai, then on to Hangzhou and then to Suzhou for a couple hours on the last day to get a cheaper train back to Beijing than we could have gotten from Hangzhou.

My Easter was so totally different than any other that I've had before, yet it was awesome because the reason for celebrating was exactly the same- the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who in taking the sin of the world granted those who profess His name and believe that He is Lord

Matteo Ricci was one of the first ever (if not the first ever) missionary to China in the 1600's and he helped China make some science/tech cultural advances as well.  I went to mass at the church he started with three friends from my program + one visiting dad.  The church itself is beautiful.  When Mykhanh and I got there, the service before hadn't ended, and people were packed into the courtyard outside watching on screens because the sanctuary was full.  It was so peaceful to just be there.  The service was in English and I knew many of the hymns and the basic service structure from my own background.  I like how much scripture reading is incorporated into the Catholic service, especially the Psalms that are sung.  Since only Catholics are allowed to take the Eucharist, I just stayed in the pew and prayed while everyone else went up.  It reminded me of the Gathering in the sweetest, not homesick sort of way.  Travel weekends have interrupted a lot of my church going type stuff here.  I knew it would be like this, that I was filled to bursting last semester to be poured out this semester.  I haven't really found a Christian community outside of my friends in the program (for whom I am very grateful!), and its been okay.  The fellowship there is is with God Himself.  Bible and journal time is my favorite.  Email has been the most helpful tool.  Opening a message full of love and encouragement and God stories never fails to brighten my day, and I appreciate everyone who has sorted through my rambling thoughts and written beautiful and wise responses to my messages.

For lunch we decided to get Beijing roast duck because a few of us had never had it, its basically a requirement for being in Beijing, and its a special occasion sort of thing.  It was so delicious!  I think the best part of the meal was that there were several different cooking styles, sauces etc. available for the duck so Mykhanh and Jean, the girls with the most Chinese were talking with the fuwuyuan for a good five minutes trying to figure it out.  Bryce (low level Chinese compatriot) and I made mostly unhelpful suggestions and what we ended up getting was awesome, so it worked out.  We also had qiezi (eggplant), these spicy cucumbers that I didn't like, preserved eggs and rice.  The duck we ended up getting came with these super thing wrapper things and plumb sauce.  So good.

I came home and did work/hung out all afternoon.  I bought myself a little bag of Jelly Bellys at the grocery store the other day because its a family Easter tradition and I figured it would be the day for the one time splurge purchase.  No regrets.  And Chinese Jelly Bellys have a green tea flavor that is super delish.  It brought me so much joy to have something that is so much a part of my Easters past to enjoy on this Easter too.

My time is starting to fly so fast.  We leave for long travel (Tibet) in a little under three weeks, and in between is the four day weekend and an overnight trip to the Great Wall.  After Tibet its about five days til the end of the program.  Summer plans still aren't nailed down, which I really want to happen before I leave for Shanghai.  Wow.  Putting me and Shanghai in the same sentence is pretty crazy!  That's it.  I've looked forward to study abroad since my childhood and its been so awesome.  I've had disappointments and bad days, but overall, I'm living the dream right now.  I have fewer commitments than I've had in years, and one of the points of studying abroad is to have fun and travel and be immersed in another culture, all things I love.  And this too shall pass.  I will be forever changed in ways I don't even know yet, but it will only be a memory after May.  I'm so thankful to have had this experience.

Other assorted news: Last night I went with three of my Seattle friends to see a Chinese movie, Beijing to Seattle and it was really fun!  There were English subtitles and it was interesting to see how some of the translations didn't necessarily line up.  We got super excited seeing the skyline and Tillamook products in a fridge shot, but most of the movie was shot in Vancouver anyways.  Oh well.  We also had dinner at a Mexican Vietnamese restaurant.  I had a noodle bowl and it was super tasty.  Then we went to salsa dancing but it was pretty lame this time so we left and ended up at the Cafe, the little on campus hang out which turned into a dance party.  And a group of other foreign students who were unashamedly standing watching us dance.  At least they finally joined, it was pretty awkward to just have them watch.

Also, Marzipan Ritter Sport bars might be the best thing ever invented.  And Josh Garrels is my new musical obsession.  People have been telling me that I would like him for over a year and then five free albums on Noisetrade later I'm in love...  More pictures in the Xi'an post, I promise...

So About the Study Part...

It's not what usually gets talked about, but schoolwork is a significant part of the study abroad experience.  My program, Contemporary Issues in China is fairly intense.  We have Chinese class throughout the semester and Area Studies courses, which are held in intensive blocks one at a time.  Right now I'm in "China in International Relations," already having finished "Chinese Literature" and the intro course, "Understanding China."  I have loved my classes here.  It has been so fascinating to learn about some subjects that I've never learned before, and to attempt to understand China.  I think what I know most certainly is that I will never know or understand everything there is to know about the most populated and most ancient country in the world.  While a lot of my schoolwork looks like it would at Hope, with lots of reading, writing, and learning characters, the study abroad experience does provide some more unique opportunities including cool field trips and fun activities.  My final block class, "Ethnic Minorities in China" means that we get to spend two weeks in Tibet!

Last week for IR we went to the Old Summer Palace, where the emperors would live until the place burned down.  I've been here before, but it was so cool to learn more of the history with my professor along, and chuckle at all of the attention that 15 waiguoren in a group attract anywhere that we go.  I love that this was class for the day!

Listening to fascinating history while perched on giant rocks with my friends? I'll take it!

Old Summer Palace ruins

For Chinese last week we went to a market and had to find items (we only had the word in Chinese), pick out a gift for someone else in our class, and talk to random people.  It was a much needed break from sitting in a classroom.  We're at the point in the semester where people are staring to get tired and the novelty of being in China has definitely worn off in many ways.  Usually my class starts at 9, but we were told that today we had a mandatory meeting at 8 to talk about our long travel trips.  Our program director starts talking to us about shopping for hiking clothes and I can't help but notice how distracted he is.  He says, "You need to make sure you have good hiking shoes, but we can worry about that later, today we're cancelling classes and everyone's going out into the city!"  Deciding in our still-tiredness that this was probably true we went downstairs to find all of the teachers and RA's holding signs to different locations in the city.  This was Crazy Day!  A day meant to be totally fun and give us a break.  I went with two IES teachers, one of our RA's and seven other students to Fragrant Hills Park, a large hill that we climbed on the outskirts of Beijing.  I am a Pacific Northwest girl and the constant being in the city/not being outside in nature has been getting to me.  God gave me exactly what I needed today.  Everyone was so happy to have classes cancelled, and it was a beautiful hike, even when the smog got the best of the view.  We then went to a restaurant that some kids in the group knew for lunch and it was one of the top meals I've had in China.  We ordered several veggie dishes, chicken, shrimp, and of course rice.  We were literally silent because everyone was so focused on eating and savoring the food.  It was incredible.  It's these experiences outside of the classroom that I will always remember.

Getting ready to go out for Crazy Day!

The view from the top is ALWAYS worth it!

Beijing, Beijing smog. The hills on the left are the retreat center for the Communist Party.

Remnants of an awesome meal!

Unexpected & Beautiful: Chengdu

This past weekend was a long travel weekend, so we had Friday off of classes.  On Thursday night, I flew with two of my friends to the city of Chengdu (成都) in the Sichuan Province of western China.  We originally decided to go there because it is the only place in the world where you can hold a panda, and there are other awesome sights as well.  It turns out that holding a panda is $300 US dollars per person.  Our flights cost less than that.  Needless to say, I decided not to do what I had gone to Chengdu to do, however, it was the other unexpected things that made the weekend so awesome!

My favorite moment of the weekend was one that was totally unexpected, not usually considered at all desirable, but absolutely spontaneously hilarious.  Three friends and I were riding back from the Sichuan Opera when our car broke down.  Straight up stalled out in the middle of the road.  Out we got to push.  If the sight of four laowai pushing a van down the street wasn't enough, a bus pulls up beside us and stops at the intersection.  There were probably about 30 Chinese people on board who were all staring at us, some of them literally, with mouths wide open.  We could not stop laughing.  They all looked so confused, and the absurdity and adrenaline rush of the situation made everything that much funnier.  Then the bus is sitting there waiting for the light while we just roll on past.  I will never forget that, totally unexpected or planned, yet hilarious nonetheless.  Marytha has a super infectious laugh, we were still trying to believe what was actually happening, I will never forget the moment. 

--Three things I appreciate about flying in China: free food, free checked bags and you don't have to take off your shoes to go through security.  Meet Marytha and Alyssa!  We had a great weekend together, and its not the first time Alyssa and I have been flight buddies!  We talked about pandas when we met in the Seattle airport and who would have known that the conversation would have been prophetic (so to speak)?

--We got in the car to go on our day tour of the Leshan Buddha (the largest Buddha in the world) and the pandas to find some kids from IES Shanghai and one couple.  What are the chances of that?  They were a fun group to spend the day with.  The Buddha was pretty magnificent, and the pandas were oh so fun to watch even though I was bummed about not holding one.  They're just super lazy and they kind of just roll around eating.  I could have watched them for hours.

 
--One of my friends at Hope, Yijun, is from Chengdu.  I got to meet her parents and they treated us to a delicious dinner with true Chinese hospitality!  It felt like being at home with family, they were so kind!  It was a very unique experience that I wasn't expecting to have, but it might even have been why I came to Chengdu.  I'm so thankful that everything worked out.

--Wandering random shopping streets with no goal or time frame in mind.  Sichuan is known for SPICE.  The one spicy dish I ate I also managed to get in my eye.  (When you eat noodles with chopsticks, you slurp.  Its just what you do.  And then the tentacle noodle of death splashes la into your eye.  Needless to say, I'm still a spice wimp.

--Something that I LOVED about Chengdu was how many green trees there were (Beijing basically has none right now).  We also checked out a monastery that had some beautiful gardens away from the city.  It was interesting to observe some Buddhist religious practices and I definitely want to learn more about Buddhism as it is a belief system that has greatly influenced Chinese culture.
--On Sunday, Marytha and I were going to go to a nearby mountain but train tickets were sold out by the time we got there.  We decided to explore some parks in Chengdu and had an absolutely awesome day!  We paddled a canoe (a midst many greetings of "Hallo!" from our fellow Chinese mariners), danced with Chinese people (including to "Gangam Style"), and rode this suspended bike ride at the part of the park that had a mini amusement park.  It was so glorious to be in such beautiful creation and to enjoy it with many Chinese people as well.  Some sort of white puffy pollen was floating in the air, like snow, which only made everything feel more like a fairy tale!  We even managed to run into Alyssa and her friend without planning to at all.   
Chengdu was an absolutely beautiful city, and I'm so glad that I made the choice to go, even though I didn't hold a panda, train tickets were sold out, the car broke down... it was still an awesome weekend, with the best memories in the unexpected & beautiful.  Next stop is Xi'an!

Please pray for summer discernment right now, options are on the table I just have to make some decisions!

Fruit Shopping and Life Thoughts

Random adventures of the day (some of these happened yesterday, when I started writing this post):

I'm going to Xi'an with my friends Mykhanh, Marytha, and Colin two weekends from now.  Us ladies, (with Colin's money and passport,) headed to the ticket office with our handy dandy travel vocabulary books and all of our train choices written down.  I'm proud of us.  Tickets are booked baby!  Between the three of us (really that means the other two) we got the tickets we wanted, with beds (we're doing overnight trains and getting sleeper beds) near each other.  Can't wait for the adventures in store!

We learned in class today about shopping words and getting fruit from a fruit stand, and part of our homework was to go find a fruit stand and get the prices on a few different items.  There's a fruit stand literally 10 feet away from the gate to my apartment building, and since I walk by it everyday (and stopped a few times to get things) I've wanted to get to know the people who run it at least to the limited extent that I can.  I felt bad for asking how much all the things were, so I bought a satsuma (which come individually wrapped, nope I don't get it either, though it does give you a place to put the peel) to make up for my duo shao qian-ing.  (Ing added by me).  I also decided to walk down the opposite side of the street that I do.  Its so good to change perspective!  This was the smallest change to my normal routine, yet it was awesome to go exploring somewhere I see everyday but I've never really been to.

So then today, we went and with our teacher and practiced "shopping" at little stores near campus.  We had to ask about different things and how much they cost if they had them etc.  In this adventure, I ate dragonfruit, two different types of jinbing (fried dough with stuff in it), peach candy, some sort of flower tea that I'm not totally sure what it is, and I have an apple that is supposed to taste like an apple sitting in my bag.  Then Irene and I split a yam from a street vendor when we were walking to the bus.

A huge part of my experience thus far has involved not only learning about China but learning about others and myself.  It has come from me realizing that things are not always what I assumed they were, from seeing with new eyes and having new perspectives.  In my program, we all come from different schools and backgrounds, from the Ivy Leagues to big state schools to small private schools (go Hope!) and everything in between.  Family background and geography is different.  Some of my classmates went to private boarding high schools.  Yet, we all chose to come to China.  Even if you come here to mess around, you still have to do work, cuz heck, you're learning Chinese!  For whatever reason, something about this unfathomably populated, puzzle language, polluted, historic, undefinable country intrigued us.  That's something we have in common, and something that I think sets this crew apart.  We're in it together.

But I digress.  I didn't expect that all of these people would become my China family, and I love them so much.  My view of community was defined by the Hope community, which is an incredibly stellar community.  But Hope is a very this-is-the-way-we-do-things place.  And I think that many of those cultural values and habits are a good thing, and I love many of the traditions that we have.  I could not have asked for a better place to spend "the best four years of my life."  But its only one way.  Community can look like laughter and conversation on a smokey night at the cafe (and there's no LJ's coffee to be the beverage of choice), it can look like loading up a train and going somewhere for the weekend, it can look like the frantic, laughter filled, chopstick shoveling, character cramming lunches, in building relationships in spite of a language pledge.  Its in sharing this incredibly unique experience- seeking adventure, and learning lots.

And yet, God is still God, no matter what, no matter where, no matter who.  The biggest culture shock has been that I'm not in an environment like the one that I've had for the past two and half years from school to camp and Kenya.  That not everyone is like me.  And He loves them just as He loves me.  And I love them too (not that I didn't think these things, I'm just realizing it in a very beautiful way!).  And because of that I see myself differently too.  And in that, I'm learning more about who I am, what I think is right and wrong, what I believe, and where I'm going to fit into the world.  My worldview is being seriously redefined as I have to make decisions for myself, out of the context of a community to make them for me or tell me what I should or shouldn't be doing.  And in the midst of all of this I have never been more certain of who God is, because He's the only thing that doesn't change.

Cheesecake, Pandas, and Men's Apparel

Lets see.  I feel like I have lots of random updates to make.

Last week I got to visit an orphanage!  The biggest downside was that it took me over three hours to get there, however, I loved every minute of getting to be with the kids.  All of the kids at this place have special/medical needs of some kind, and may be transferred back to another orphanage after they've received some sort of surgery or treatment, or ideally, adopted.  I loved to be with them for the short time that I had there, to play with them, smile at them and love on them.  I'm realizing how much compassion and caring are part of who I am, and how much joy I'm filled with when I use the gifts God has given me!

Not this weekend as in tomorrow but the weekend after that is our first long travel weekend!  My friend Alyssa and I met in the Seattle airport, sat near each other on our 12 hour flight, and in this time had a discussion about our enjoyment and appreciation of panda bears.  In our first days at IES we discovered that there exists such a place where you can hold, yes as in your arms, a baby panda.  After lots of scheming and planning, we (along with our friend Marytha) will be heading to the city of Chengdu in Sichuan province to hold pandas (and do lots of other cool stuff).  I am really, really excited.  I just love to travel more than just about anything.  Can't even explain it.  Besides seeing the pandas, we're planning to see the world's largest Buddha, maybe do some more hiking and visit the sights around the city.  I'm hoping to meet up with one of my Hope classmate's family as she is from Chengdu.  It will also be our first time flying domestically in China!

Since holding a panda will probably be on the list of coolest things I have ever done, I just can't let the travel vibe die out right?  Tickets aren't booked yet, but the following weekend is going to be Xi'an, where the terra cotta warriors are.  Time for another China train adventure!  And maybe this time I'll actually take some pictures of that...

Tonight I checked out a small group through the international church I have been going to.  I didn't really know what to expect, I just chose the group on the list that was closest to me!  Countries in the room were: the Ukraine, UK, Guyana, Barbados, India, China, and the USA (including three of us from Washington... say what?).  Most of the people were older adults besides two guys who were also students, yet community in Christ is community in Christ.  We talked about Romans and prayed for each other.  I got to encourage one of the women, and that encouraged me!  It was so good to be in an atmosphere so familiar and away from campus for a few hours.  AND THEN WE HAD CHEESECAKE.  Yes, the hostess made homemade cheesecake and it was delicious!  I feel like I found a piece of what I've been looking for this whole time, and my travels will conflict with the group a lot, I would definitely go again.

A super cool God story from tonight: the Bible that I have here with me is super awesome and in Chinese and English, yet its pretty big and heavy (because of the multiple languages).  Therefore its just not practical to travel with, and its in King James too.  I was planning to head across town to the Foreign Language bookstore at some point and look for a little Bible.  However, we were gathered around the table and our host says, hey, by the way, we have this stack of Bibles we just don't use anymore.  Right on top, sat this adorable TINY  little bright blue Bible, that I quickly made mine!  THANKS JESUS!!!!!!

Oh and I went shopping on Wednesday, and I am not built like a Chinese person.  I bought two shirts.  At H&M.  From the guys section.  Yep.  Not my most successful venture, though they are super soft and will probably hold up better than girls shirts anyways.  Shopping in China can be done at markets or at a mall.  Markets are super cheap and malls are expensive, there's really no middle ground, not to mention I do not have the coloring or proportions to pull of a lot of the clothes.  I wish I could have a Goodwill or Target here!  H&M's prices were at least the same as at home so I don't really feel like I'm overpaying too much.  I might start liking scarves even more than I did before this trip.

Anyways, this is whats been up recently.  Thanks for reading!

Brrrrr, its cold in here!

I know this is a long one, but last weekend I went on my first travel weekend out of Beijing!  15 other students from my program and I went up North to the city of Harbin, which is closer to the Russian border than to Beijing!  We took an all night train Friday night and arrived bright and early on Saturday morning and OH MY GRACIOUS IT WAS SO COLD (negative temperatures Fahrenheit) .  I unwisely didn’t put on all my underlayers on the train, so I was shaking as soon as we got off!  One thing about traveling with 15 other people is that you end up waiting around for each other, and we were all on different parts of the train.  I was still groggy from sleeping, and we were trying to find each other to get cabs together to our hostel and I was under dressed, but fortunately this was the most unpleasant time of the trip for me.

I went into the bathroom to change at the hostel and left my backpack and such right outside the door, to come out of the stall to see an unfamiliar woman digging through my stuff, like had my wallet open and was thumbing through everything.  Chinese utterly failed me.  ”What are you doing?  That’s my stuff!  You can’t do that!”  I then yelled for my friend who can speak Chinese and she thankfully came in right away.  It turns out I had left my pile of stuff in the place where guests leave things that they want to give away (there was no sign explaining this that I saw), and the staffer had been seeing what was up with it.  I then felt really bad for overreacting and we both apologized profusely to each other.  The sight of an unfamiliar person going through your wallet is a lot more unnerving than you would think!  However, the day only got better from there.

We split up into groups, and I and seven others went to Snow and Ice World, the largest snow and ice park in the world.  Its most famous lit up at night, but we decided to save some money and see it in the day.  I was not at all disappointed.  There were so many ice sculptures and we basically had the park to ourselves because it was daytime.  There were ice slides, tubing, ice biking (exactly what it sounds like) and a Chinese thing where you basically sit on a chair that’s mounted on a sled and push yourself around on the ice with poles.  Running around doing things and taking pictures with the ice sculptures helped us stay warm too!  

Ice hallway

All bundled up with the ice temple!  Note the KFC in the background 

Incense and ice Buddha
We headed back to the main shopping street in Harbin and walked around the shops and had some lunch.  I really wanted Russian food but the only place we could find was way too expensive and people needed food so we had Chinese fast food, which is pretty tasty though available in Beijing.  No complaints though.  The Russian influence was really clear in this part of town, for it definitely felt very European to me.  Buildings weren’t skyscrapers which was a nice change from Beijing!  We then went to St. Sophia’s Cathedral, which was gorgeous!  My favorite part was the flock of birds that kept flying around the top and then landing back on the roof, over and over again.  It was captivating!  It was really neat to see a testament to God’s work in China over the years and the beautiful way that He made those birds to fly around.  There's something about being starved of seeing nature that makes me appreciate it a lot more.  Matthew 6 comes to mind.

We went to see another park’s sculptures all lit up, and the student rate was really cheap (like 1/5 normal price).  Highlights include admiring the craftsmanship of the sculptures, falling off of a sculpture (because I'm just that coordinated), and the wonderful meal that we ate afterwards.  We had a girl who is nearly fluent in Chinese order for us and I had the best eggplant I have ever had in my life, along with some Helongqiang province dishes.  The eggplant was cooked in some sort of savory soy sauce thing… I will never forget that meal.  It was a great group of people and the restaurant gave us a private room with a giant round table with the lazy susan so we can all take from each dish.  Everyone just grabs with their chopsticks.  It really creates a sense of community that I absolutely love, everyone sharing rather than just having their own plate.  We talked, laughed and ate some awesome food before heading back to the hostel for a chill night of talking and hanging out.

The next morning my friend Mykhanh wanted to go to Catholic church and I said I would go with her.  There were three churches on the same corner!  The first one was an Eastern Orthodox church which we basically just walked in and out of.  Then we went to the Catholic church and ended up going to mass in Korean… why not right?  It was the first service that we found and they welcomed us warmly, not that we could understand a word.  Then we went to the second half of a protestant service in English.  It was such a fun morning and God delighted us with an adventure seeking Him!  It was time to head to the train station and go home after one last walk down the main street for our favorite street snacks, but it was a great weekend!
I love the thrill that comes from seeking and finding adventure.  I love that God is who He is no matter where I am, and I’m learning more and more about walking in Him wherever I go.  I love that I am so free here, to just buy a train ticket with 15 friends and go explore somewhere, to laugh and enjoy and slide down ice slides and expand my view of the world just a little bit more.