Dawn of a glorious day

It is a wonderful Sunday. The temperature is supposed to be in the mid-60s throughout next week, until it will abruptly plummet back into the 30s. So we are enjoying it while we can!

Tomorrow we begin teaching again. Most of the students have not returned from their break. The campus is still fairly empty. So we are speculating about what the campus will look like later today, when supposedly 50,000 students will return at once. That's like the size of a small city migrating en masse. It should be fun to watch!

This morning we met in our team leader's apartment downstairs for a time of fellowship. Just like what usually happens when we try to meet together in His name, there is always some distraction. It is most often in the form of soldiers drilling or music blaring on the loudspeakers outside. Today it is just the music.

It seems to me that they put on a scratchy record entitled, "Best Communist Hits of 1952" and keep replaying it over and over. And there's no hiding from it, not even in your bedroom with your own music playing. The video I've added is just a snippet of the music from my window on the 5th floor, and that's when it was playing more quietly. The same song has been playing for the past four hours. Enjoy!

When we wandered into the neighborhoods to eat dumplings for lunch, we passed a shop that had been cleared out. The same song was playing from the shop. Inside there was a gigantic black-and-white portrait of an old woman hanging on the back wall. Huge black bows and bunting hung everywhere. Incense was burning, and people sat by the door in the narrow alley. They looked like they were mourning. I think we had stumbled upon a funeral or something. So now I still have no idea why that music was playing everywhere we went. You couldn't escape from it.

After lunch Rachael and I put on our rollerblades to skate around campus, because we desperately needed to exercise in this wonderful weather. With Rachael I was a little bit more adventuresome. So we skated out of the back gate past the smiling guards, and into the alleys. There is a relatively smooth, open street right behind the campus that is also well shaded. So we skated up and down that for a long time.

Although the streets weren't crowded yet, there were still plenty of pedestrians. One man pedaling his bicycle cart nearly crashed into a tree watching us skate. Then we ventured more into the other alleys. For the most part, I was just trying not to skate into the trash or off the street, so I wasn't paying any attention to people. Once and a while, though, I looked up to see little children laughing and elderly people staring in shock at us. All the while, we skated to that mystery music, like our own soundtrack.

Tomorrow I begin teaching again! I think I'm ready! Will you please keep us in your thoughts? I want the next five months to really count for Him.

P.S. A student said they saw my team and me on CCTV (China's national state-run television channel) "celebrating the New Year." That is like being on CNN, but in a country with 1.3 billion people. I'll be signing autographs later. ;)

Back in the 'Chang

(Pictures: A gigantic portrait of the King and Queen of Thailand, who are very much revered in that country; one of the many Buddhist temples, or wats, in Chiang Mai; Buddhist monks are almost as prevalent as tourists on the streets of Thailand).


I'm typing this after sweeping up plaster in our apartment. We were gone to Thailand for only two weeks, but I guess Chinese apartments like to fall apart on you whether you're there or not. Plaster likes to fall from the kitchen ceiling and the living room wall.

Ah, it's nice to be back in China. Or is it? I can't decide yet. But perhaps I'll fill you in some more on my travels to Thailand.

There's not a whole lot to say, but our organization's conference in Chiang Mai was pretty restful and refreshing. We had some more teacher training, but we probably had even more time for fellowship. It was so amazing to be back with so many believers, all lifting their voices and thoughts to the Father. There were also challenging speakers, and they just reiterated what the Father says in the Word, but still stuff I need to hear. And we heard more about all the amazing work happening for Him around Asia!

Chiang Mai was a beautiful city nestled in the mountains. The weather was consistently sunny and warm, with a temperature around 85 degrees. There were tons of little markets to browse around, and lots of fresh, tasty food to eat. I felt healthier than I've felt since coming to Asia.

And Thailand is the best model of tourism I've ever seen. Most of the Thais speak some English, and everyone was so friendly, helpful, and hospitable. The city was fairly clean, and there were probably more foreigners than Thais. That meant I could relax. I wasn't exotic in Thailand, like I am in the middle of China.

But Chiang Mai also certainly had a dark side that permeated the place. There are dozens of old and new temples, and Buddhist monks were everywhere. Most every restaurant and home also had little wats, where the Thais placed incense and food sacrifices every morning. They prayed to countless gods without any expectation or hope for answers.

Prostitution was also prevalent, much like the rest of Thailand. There were plenty of creepy old Western men with young Thai girlfriends. When you walked by them, the men and women all had haunted looks on their faces.

Anyway, we finally returned to Nanchang yesterday, after three flights. It sort of felt like we were returning home. Everything was so much dirtier and chaotic from the moment we stepped off the plane. Motorbike alarms were going off, fireworks were blasting on the streets, and taxi horns were blaring incessantly.

Mr. Li from the foreign affairs office of our university was there to greet us and take us back to the campus. We piled into the van, and we immediately all felt car sick as he and everybody else on the streets barreled down the road. At one point, I saw a big bump in the road that looked like a pointed mountain. We didn't slow down. Instead, we flew about 10 feet in the air. Jodi smashed her head on the ceiling, and I was surprised there were any wheels left on the car.

We were exhausted, but we headed to dinner at one of our favorite little hole-in-the-wall restaurants. We were sitting and eating practically inside the open door-way. We tried chatting, but gave up when huge fireworks were being set off for 15 minutes from the rooftop right there.

Then this afternoon, three of us ventured downtown to the bank and post office. I tried to mail some postcards to supporters I had bought in Thailand. I thought I could just buy a simple postcard stamp for 20 of them. But, of course, nothing is that simple in China! How could I have forgotten? :) The woman at the desk took out a variety of stamps. Each postcard required four to six gigantic stamps. And, like usual, I had to roll tons of gloppy glue on the back of each stamp and meticulously place them on the tiny postcards. Somewhere under all those stamps are postcards, I assure you, although you may not be able to read anything I've written...

Oh, China. I've missed you.

To stay or not to stay...

We are now in our fourth day of conference. We've had a million great sessions and speakers, and there's so much to process.

One of the big things on my heart right now is if I'll return to China in the fall with a different program in this awesome organization. Can you lift me up as I have to make a decision soon?

I know that I want my life to bring Him glory, and the best way right now seems to be to continue teaching and serving with this organization that has strategically made that goal its goal too.

I'll let you know if I learn anything else...

P.S. I'll write more about Thailand when I return to Nanchang later this week. The internet costs money here, so I can't blog forever.

Toes and Teeth

It is the last day of my time in Thailand before our conference starts tomorrow. A few people on my team and some of my friends went on an all day "trek," which I also really wanted to go on. But that is out of the question with my toe. They left early this morning and will be gone all day riding elephants, walking through the jungle, visiting several hilltribe villages--like the long-neck Karean people-- and swimming around a waterfall. Meanwhile, I'm just slowly shuffling around our hostel.

Oh, I'm not as sad as I sound. I'm a little disappointed, but I'm sure I'll be able to do it next time. It's another reason to return to teach in China next year with this organization! :)

So far I've just been sitting in the warmth by the pool. I also went out on the street to peer in a few cute shops. Then Lily, from another team, and I, went and got our teeth cleaned for only $16. Now my teeth are sparkling just in time for lunch with some of my friends.

Last night we celebrated Joelle's birthday at a really nice restaurant outside. There were huge tropical trees forming a sort of canopy over us, and huge flowers were everywhere. In the middle, a man and woman in traditional Thai clothes quietly played traditional Thai music. I've never been somewhere so exotic.

Ok, so despite the amazing weather, wonderful food, friendly people, abundance of fresh fruit, and pretty scenery, I'm ready for conference to start. And then I'm ready to go back to Nanchang, where I'm more useful.

Have a great day wherever you are!

Siam: The Land of the "King and I"

Hello, avid blog readers.

This little stint in Thailand is getting really long, but I'm not complaining too much. Our conference starts Wednesday, which I'm looking forward to.

Not much else is happening. Yesterday we got massages by the city wall, and walked around a gigantic Sunday market. We've also been swimming in a great pool, surrounded by exotic trees and birds. It's all a little surreal after being in a dreary, polluted Chinese city for the past four months.

Tomorrow I was supposed to go ride elephants with my friends, but I took a side trip to a hospital by myself today. It was a planned side trip, though. I went to the hospital, where they directed me to the emergency room. They operated on my ingrown toenail, without much communication. They certainly removed much more of my toenail than necessary, so I'm in quite a bit of pain right now. That just means I won't be able to walk around and do anything exciting for the next couple of days.

When I was there at the hospital, I thought about the first time I had an ingrown toenail out by myself. That was when I was in Texas with ABT when I was 15. Now I'm 22, and I had it taken care of in Thailand. It's sort of a strange life I lead!

That's all for now.

Thailand continued...

Well, folks, there's not much else to report from Chiang Mai, Thailand. It is still beautiful and warm here, but I think we're having a difficult time relaxing. It seems a little too nice and wonderful here.

The past couple of days we have been eating really good Thai food. They have some Western food here, but I don't think I like it anymore. I've been wanting a hamburger forever and I finally ate one last night, but it wasn't as great as I anticipated. So I'm just sticking to Thai and Chinese food now. Who would have ever thought that this Midwesterner would prefer Asian food?

The hostel we are staying at is pretty nice and small. It only costs about 10 dollars a night (everything in Thailand is inexpensive), and the Thai people who run it are very friendly. There's a swimming pool here, too, although it's absolutely freezing. They also have fresh fruit you can buy along the road. I ate the juiciest, most amazing pineapple slices yesterday...

There's a lot of stuff to look at here. There's a Buddhist wat (temple) everywhere you look. There are tons of Buddhist monks walking around in their orange robes, and most every house, hostel, etc. has a miniature wat, where they offer little food sacrifices every morning.

Thailand is also a kingdom and they love and revere their king. You can find pictures of him in every little restaurant or shop. His image is also on the currency, so you have to treat the currency with a lot of respect, too. You can't toss the money on the counter or wad it up in your pocket.

Those are just a few tiny observations from Siam. I haven't been sleeping well because of all the dogs barking and exotic birds chirping, so I'm pretty tired. That's probably why this blog entry sounds all scatterbrained... Have a wonderful weekend!

Greetings from Thailand

This is just a quick blog update from Chiang Mai in northern Thailand!

Yesterday, Jodi, Rachael, and I took 3 plane trips to get to Chiang Mai. From Nanchang we flew on Hainan Airlines to Guangzhou, China. I would say half of the people on that plane had never flown before. There were lots of passengers taking pictures of the plane and the woman sitting next to me didn't know you had to put on a seat-belt. I had to show her how.

We arrived in Guangzhou and then flew the long way to Bangkok with Thai Air on the nicest airplane I've ever been on. We arrived at Bangkok's newest airport. That airport was the one which was shut down last November because of all the protests. Then we flew on a gigantic double decker plane for the short 50 minute flight to Chiang Mai.

We arrived late--at about 9:30 p.m. because our last flight was about an hour and a half late. So our airport pick-up person from our hostel was nowhere to be found. And somewhere along the way, we realized we didn't have the address to this hostel. A taxi truck drove all around the small city trying to find this place. Thankfully we got there fine.

Chiang Mai is in far northern Thailand and is surrounded by mountains, jungle, and tropical villages. It is like out of a movie. There are a surprising amount of Westerners here, and many of them are either very ritzy looking or they look like rugged adventurers or like they are on the run from the law... It's a very exciting place.

Today we have just been resting, but we did walk around the city a bit and check in with our organization to let them know we are here. The actual conference doesn't start until Jan. 28th.

Everything is going well, I suppose. It is very warm here and it's great to feel sunshine and we have already eaten some very good Thai food. I'm glad I've had help easing into it from eating authentic Chinese food for the past four months.

There's not much else to report for now, but everyone's alive and well!