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!

A never-ending circus

(Picture of us making dumplings and having a grand old time for the photographers).

(A few of the journalists for whom the school staged the festivities, in which we were the main attraction).

(Wearing the clothes they brought for us and posing for the camera people. Most of the clothing didn't fit over our big American hips).


There is a disclaimer to this blog entry: my teammates and I didn't see this coming.

Our team leader, Joelle, is away in Thailand. The rest of us, six in all, are still here. So we were told that we would be celebrating the Chinese New Year this morning by eating dumplings in Joelle's apartment and decorating her apartment with eight to ten school officials. Oh, okay, we thought. It's not the most interesting way to spend our morning, but we'll survive.

We got up early and cleaned Joelle's apartment. Then the FAO office people from our university came with the "officials." The eight to ten "officials" were actually eight to ten members of the media-- journalists, photographers, and TV cameramen. We were a little shocked, but decided to go with the flow, like we do pretty much everyday. We didn't mind if a few of these people were taking pictures, etc. of us while we made dumplings. It was like Chinese Martha Stewart Celebrates the Lunar New Year in the Far East.

For two hours they positioned us to take pictures and film us making dumplings and smiling for what seemed forever. Oh, and we did all these things while dressed in special traditional Chinese clothes they happened to bring for us. Then they filmed Jodi rearranging my silk shirt. Then they filmed us putting traditional papercuttings on the windows. Then they filmed us putting red banners around the door frame. Then they filmed us singing. Then they filmed me dancing. It went on and on like this all morning.

They finally left once the dumplings were boiled. So we sat down as a team to eat these dumplings, wondering what had just happened and how it had happened.

And the media, whom we thought must be local, turned out halfway to be true. A local TV crew and newspaper reporter were there, but so were national media outlets--like Xinhua News Agency (the equivalent to the AP in America) and China Radio International (the equivalent to the BBC). Thrown into this mix was also a man who was the district mayor or something.

I have come to the conclusion that most everything in China is just a show, and I'm more convinced of this every day. So I apologize to the Chinese people who may perhaps see our faces on television or some random billboard somewhere. We certainly aren't celebrities or particularly glamorous looking people. We just happen to be friendly foreigners in a place most foreigners don't go, so it's a great PR opportunity for some officials here.

Oh, well! I guess that was my 15 minutes of fame. And I hope your weekend is slightly less exciting than ours!

The only people on earth

Spring Festival holiday--China's biggest holiday-- is fully under way it seems. I was reading today on BBC that China's Spring Festival holiday is "the largest mass migration of people in the world." Literally hundreds of millions of people are en route somewhere or another, on their way home.

Some of my teammates and I have witnessed our campus emptying out before our eyes. Supposedly the tiny old campus we live on is home to 20,000 people. I still find that hard to believe--maybe because they cram 8 students into a small dorm room. Anyway, probably 19,964 of those people have left. I went on a long walk today and there were maybe three shops still open in the whole network of back alleys we like to wander through and visit. Only stray dogs and a few middle-aged people at makeshift card tables have stuck around. It's a strange world.

Despite the fact that all of our students, acquaintances, and friendly neighborhood vendors have packed up and gone home, it's not as lonely as I thought it might be. We aren't letting any dust settle under our feet or on our heads, or whatever that saying is. For example, I've been roller blading in my slick new skates, which is fun, but not as fun as I once remembered. :) Maybe it's because I'm not roller blading with my little sister or playing street hockey with the rowdy kids in our neighborhood in Kansas.

A couple of times I've even sat down to study some Chinese or write a lesson plan, but I usually just end up getting frustrated with both. I am still tempted to want to be perfect at things, so it's hard for me to keep trying things that I'm not very talented in or don't naturally enjoy--like learning Chinese or writing lessons.

Since the majority of restaurants are closed, my remaining teammates and I have been cooking dinner together and eating like a little family for the past three or four nights. We did find a restaurant in the vicinity for lunch yesterday, though. It was pretty crowded with people, since it seemed to be the only restaurant open for a mile in every direction.

When we were done eating, Aaron jumped up to pay for the meal, but Jodi wanted to pay. So the Chinese thing to do is fight about who will have the honor of paying for the meal. Aaron and Jodi did a superb job at this, which drew the attention and admiration of all the restaurant guests. Aaron tried to pay, but Shannon held him back, while Jodi ran to the little counter. There was a lot of commotion, and it warmed my heart to see how well our team has adapted to this culture. :)

Just as a side note--I know that I write about eating in restaurants a lot. I would like you to know we aren't eating at expensive or even mildly expensive restaurants. These aren't Outback Steakhouses. These are places that are dirty and greasy and very cheap. Usually we don't even sit in real chairs. Often times we sit on little stools the size of pegs, and the wind is usually gusting in through the open doors--if there's even a door for wind to blow through. Smoke from the kitchen fills the place, and the meal often only costs about $1 per person, or less. But these are the best places to get filling food and live like the locals...

Anyway, the weather has been slowly getting more pleasant here. Tomorrow it's supposed to be around 60 degrees by mid-afternoon. I'll probably go for another walk and don my roller blades. But that's after our mini Chinese New Year celebration tomorrow morning. Several university officials, plus supposedly the "county governor," are coming to our apartments to eat dumplings. And apparently I'll have to perform a dance, of course. Ah, yes, of course. We are getting up early to clean, and we're not sure when to expect them. We were told the festivities officially begin at 10 a.m., but then they said that means they'll probably get here at 9:30. Oh, China! I can't live with you and I can't live without you!

The pictures are freshly uploaded from yesterday, when Lily and Marie from the Changchun team visited us. The first couple pictures are of us enjoying "dessert" at a swanky department store as a special occasion. Although the dessert was disappointing, the company and atmosphere were nice. The last picture I took of my teammates with Lily and Marie, who are loads of fun to be with.