So now I'm back in the good ol' USA... I got back last night, just in time to see some of the last few 4th of July fireworks from my window as I flew into Atlanta. The whole family (except for Eli and Mattie, who are in Germany these days) came to the airport to pick me up. I can't believe how BIG they've all gotten! Sophia was barely talking when I left... and now she puts complete sentences together!
At this point, I'm just glad to be home... but I'm sure I'll start missing China soon! One thing's for sure... I've got to go back one day!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Things don't always go as planned...
Well, I was planning to go home today... but that didn't exactly work out. When I got to the check-in counter, I realized that my passport wasn't in the wallet-thingy where I usually keep my important traveling documents. I searched through my backpack and other luggage, but no luck. I had a copy of my passport, but that didn't help me out at all. SO to make a long story short, I contacted the US embassy in Beijing, and they told me about the procedures I would have to go through to get a new passport and an exit visa from the Chinese government. (You need a visa to LEAVE China?! Who knew??) I won't go into detail, but it's a LOT of red tape, and it was going to take about 2 weeks. The first step was to report the loss at the police station, but when I got there, I was told I needed an official letter from my Chinese university, confirming that I was a student, and that I had indeed lost my passport. By the time I got back to campus, it was about noon, and all of the offices and classes take a break between 12 and 2 every day. I decided to use that time to check my room at the dorm and my baggage, in case I'd misplaced it while packing. I searched my room, but didn't find anything (except a sock and a missing tube of mascara). About 30 seconds after I started looking through my luggage, I FOUND IT! (prayer DOES work!) :) Where was it? In a handy side-pocket of the backpack I was originally planning to take as a carry-on. I had put the passport in there so that it would be "easily accessible" when I got to the airport. (It's always a pain to have to dig through your backpack each time!) I realized that that backpack was too big, so I stuffed it inside one of my checked bags, and forgot to transfer the passport to my other backpack. (It's so typical of me-- putting somewhere where "I'll remember where I put it", and then forgetting where it is.
The good news is that I don't have to wait around for a replacement passport, but the bad news is that I did miss my flight (I found the passport 2 hours AFTER my plane left), so I had to reschedule. Because the first part of my trip (Wuhan to Beijing) isn't actually a Continental Airlines plane, I won't know for sure until tomorrow morning at 6 AM (6 PM, Ga time). Today has been such an emotional roller-coaster. Sadness about leaving China and my friends here, excitement about coming home, panic, apathy, an overwhelming sense of relief (mixed with feeling incredibly stupid), and now I'm at relief and uncertainty.
Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. :) If all goes well, I'll be home by tomorrow (Friday) night! (Which is Saturday morning, China time.) I'm hoping to get back in time for the 4th of July... keep your fingers crossed!
My time here in China has been incredible... but traveling here and going back home have been hands-down some of my worst travel experiences ever.
But right now, I'm just trying to keep a positive/optimistic attitude... it makes the whole situation a little more bearable. Hopefully the next post will be from the States! :)
The good news is that I don't have to wait around for a replacement passport, but the bad news is that I did miss my flight (I found the passport 2 hours AFTER my plane left), so I had to reschedule. Because the first part of my trip (Wuhan to Beijing) isn't actually a Continental Airlines plane, I won't know for sure until tomorrow morning at 6 AM (6 PM, Ga time). Today has been such an emotional roller-coaster. Sadness about leaving China and my friends here, excitement about coming home, panic, apathy, an overwhelming sense of relief (mixed with feeling incredibly stupid), and now I'm at relief and uncertainty.
Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers. :) If all goes well, I'll be home by tomorrow (Friday) night! (Which is Saturday morning, China time.) I'm hoping to get back in time for the 4th of July... keep your fingers crossed!
My time here in China has been incredible... but traveling here and going back home have been hands-down some of my worst travel experiences ever.
But right now, I'm just trying to keep a positive/optimistic attitude... it makes the whole situation a little more bearable. Hopefully the next post will be from the States! :)
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Where did the time go?
Well I can finally check the Great Wall off of my list of "Things to See in China". It was incredible. That thing just keeps on going and going forever! And as you can see in the background of the picture, it's anything but straight! I got to see a lot of other interesting stuff while I was in Beijing... T'men Square, the Birds Nest and Water Cube, the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace... I'll put up some pictures and tell you more about it when I get a chance... but I'm leaving for home bright n' early tomorrow morning, so I need to get back to my packing! See you (well, some of you) SOON!!! :)
Thursday, June 25, 2009
one more week!
A week from now, I'll be sitting on a plane, on my way home! I'm incredibly excited about coming home... but at the same time, I'm really sad about leaving China and the friends I've made here. My semester here had gone by really fast. Too fast, almost. But on the other hand, this next week can't go by fast enough. Such mixed emotions!! I have my final exams today and tomorrow, and then I'm flying to Beijing with a Korean friend Friday evening. I've traveled around a lot since coming to China, but somehow, none of my plans for going to Beijing ever worked out. I was starting to think I'd end up leaving China without ever having seen the Great Wall, and that just seemed somewhat unacceptable. I mean, WHO comes to China without going to the Great Wall? So I decided to squeeze in one last trip between finals and before going home. I'll be back in Wuhan Tuesday afternoon, and then I'm leaving for home bright n' early Thursday morning! I absolutely can't wait to eat some good home-cooked American food again! :)
Friday, June 5, 2009
update!
This time, I have an excuse for my lack of updates over the past month or so: "for some reason", it has been impossible to access blogspot for the past month or so. (hmmmm...?) I've been enjoying myself, doing some traveling (a weekend in Shanghai, followed by a spontaneous trip to Hangzhou, Suzhou, and BACK to Shanghai the following weekend), and now I'm focusing on my last 3 weeks of classes and finals! I went to Shanghai two weekends ago (May 21-24) with my Korean friend and classmate, Park Gyeong Eun. We met up with another Korean friend of hers (named Hanna) in Shanghai. Neither of these girls speaks much English, but we all study Chinese, so we relied on Chinese to communicate all weekend. It was kind of exciting to realize that my Chinese is now good enough to plan a trip, buy train tickets, and carry on (simple) conversations! Being forced to speak Chinese all weekend definitely helped my vocabulary a lot! (I carried around my little Chinese-English dictionary all weekend, and the Korean girls had little Korean-English dictionaries, so if we ever had trouble saying something, we'd break out the dictionaries... that earned us a few funny looks from passer-byes!) It was only my second time to Shanghai, but it was amazing how easy it was to find my way around the city this time! I honestly think I'm a lot better at finding my way around Shanghai than I am at finding my way around Wuhan! That's mostly thanks to the subway system in Shanghai. It's really fast and convenient, and all of the maps are both in English and Chinese (although by now, the English is a nice touch, but I think I could survive without it. :) ) On Sunday morning, we attended a service Shanghai Community Ch-rch. 
At first, I was impressed and encouraged that the Chri-tians in Shanghai are free to meet so openly for worship. But once the sermon started, it was clear that this ch-rch lacks g-dly guidance. The pastor preached in Chinese, and those of us who didn't understand the Chinese so well were given headphones, and we could listen to a translator, who translated (or at least, tried to) everything the preacher was saying. She (yeah, she) preached on baptism, because they were celebrating Pentecost that Sunday. I'd never heard of this practice before, but this ch-rch only allows people to be baptized on Pentecost Sunday. The whole premise of the sermon was that "they might allow you to be baptized as soon as you believe the Gosp-l in other countries, but that's not how we do it in China." I found myself taking a lot of notes during the sermon, but most of them were about things she said that I wanted to compare with what the Bi-le ACTUALLY says. Pr-y that G-d would send a g-dly man to lead that ch-rch! China has become more religiously free over the past decade or so, but the government still has control over a lot of the aspects of the ch-rch, including what is said from the pulpit. Our little international ch-rch on campus is also experiencing some difficulties. We were recently informed that we are no longer allowed to use the room in the basement to meet for Sunday services! Our pastor already had a meeting with the police and with some of the people in charge of our university, and they told him they would hold another meeting with him to make a final decision, but they haven't called him, and when he tries to contact them, they don't answer the phone. It seems more like a problem from within the university than from the police. Please pr-y that G-d would give us wisdom, and that this issue will be resolved quickly! This past weekend (May 28-30), we had Thursday and Friday off for the Dragon Boat festival, so some friends (Mei, a Thai girl who was adopted by Belgian parents and Celine, a Chinese girl who grew up in France) and I decided to travel. We made last-minute plans to go to Hangzhou and Suzhou for the weekend! They're both actually pretty big cities, but they have the feel of a small town. From Hangzhou, we visited Moganshan (Mogan Mountain) which is about an hour away from the city. In the early 1900's a lot of Americans and Europeans had built summer homes there, and now a lot of the foreigners who live in Shanghai (also very close to Moganshan) and the well-to-do Chinese like to go there for vacations. We spent an afternoon walking around there, and it was absolutely beautiful!
We took a bus back to Hangzhou from the mountain, and at the bus station, we found a bus leaving for Suzhou about 10 minutes later! Perfect timing! I absolutely LOVED Suzhou. It's called "The Venice of the East", because it has lots and lots of little canals throughout the city. It was so beautiful! 
We rented bikes and rode around the city for a few hours, exploring little alleyways, where all of the locals live, and taking pictures. (We even took a few pictures WHILE riding bikes... and somehow, none of us got hurt!):) 
(Pardon the blurriness... I was on my bike! ;)
It turned out that there wasn't a direct train from Suzhou back to Wuhan, so we had to take a train to Shanghai first (only 30 minutes on the fast train!), and then we took a train from Shanghai back to Wuhan. We only had 2 hours in Shanghai, and neither of the other two girls had been to Shanghai before, so we asked a taxi driver to drive us past the Bund and then to the famous Nanjing Road, where we stopped for a quick dinner at SUBWAY! (We don't have that in Wuhan... it was HEAVENLY!!!)
Then we had to run to the real Subway to catch a ride to the train station to catch our train back to Wuhan. We were in a sleeping car for the ride home, so we arrived in Wuhan Sunday morning with a lot more energy than you would expect after visiting 3 cities in 3 days! But it was a good thing we weren't tired--we had to go to class as soon as we got back to campus, because the university had us make up our Thursday classes on Sunday! (I guess they can't handle more than 3 days in a weekend!)
_________________________________________________________________________
RECENT PICTURES!
Shanghai with the Koreans (click here)
Hangzhou, Suzhou, and 2 hours in Shanghai! (click here)
At first, I was impressed and encouraged that the Chri-tians in Shanghai are free to meet so openly for worship. But once the sermon started, it was clear that this ch-rch lacks g-dly guidance. The pastor preached in Chinese, and those of us who didn't understand the Chinese so well were given headphones, and we could listen to a translator, who translated (or at least, tried to) everything the preacher was saying. She (yeah, she) preached on baptism, because they were celebrating Pentecost that Sunday. I'd never heard of this practice before, but this ch-rch only allows people to be baptized on Pentecost Sunday. The whole premise of the sermon was that "they might allow you to be baptized as soon as you believe the Gosp-l in other countries, but that's not how we do it in China." I found myself taking a lot of notes during the sermon, but most of them were about things she said that I wanted to compare with what the Bi-le ACTUALLY says. Pr-y that G-d would send a g-dly man to lead that ch-rch! China has become more religiously free over the past decade or so, but the government still has control over a lot of the aspects of the ch-rch, including what is said from the pulpit. Our little international ch-rch on campus is also experiencing some difficulties. We were recently informed that we are no longer allowed to use the room in the basement to meet for Sunday services! Our pastor already had a meeting with the police and with some of the people in charge of our university, and they told him they would hold another meeting with him to make a final decision, but they haven't called him, and when he tries to contact them, they don't answer the phone. It seems more like a problem from within the university than from the police. Please pr-y that G-d would give us wisdom, and that this issue will be resolved quickly! This past weekend (May 28-30), we had Thursday and Friday off for the Dragon Boat festival, so some friends (Mei, a Thai girl who was adopted by Belgian parents and Celine, a Chinese girl who grew up in France) and I decided to travel. We made last-minute plans to go to Hangzhou and Suzhou for the weekend! They're both actually pretty big cities, but they have the feel of a small town. From Hangzhou, we visited Moganshan (Mogan Mountain) which is about an hour away from the city. In the early 1900's a lot of Americans and Europeans had built summer homes there, and now a lot of the foreigners who live in Shanghai (also very close to Moganshan) and the well-to-do Chinese like to go there for vacations. We spent an afternoon walking around there, and it was absolutely beautiful!
We took a bus back to Hangzhou from the mountain, and at the bus station, we found a bus leaving for Suzhou about 10 minutes later! Perfect timing! I absolutely LOVED Suzhou. It's called "The Venice of the East", because it has lots and lots of little canals throughout the city. It was so beautiful! 
We rented bikes and rode around the city for a few hours, exploring little alleyways, where all of the locals live, and taking pictures. (We even took a few pictures WHILE riding bikes... and somehow, none of us got hurt!):) 
(Pardon the blurriness... I was on my bike! ;)
Then we had to run to the real Subway to catch a ride to the train station to catch our train back to Wuhan. We were in a sleeping car for the ride home, so we arrived in Wuhan Sunday morning with a lot more energy than you would expect after visiting 3 cities in 3 days! But it was a good thing we weren't tired--we had to go to class as soon as we got back to campus, because the university had us make up our Thursday classes on Sunday! (I guess they can't handle more than 3 days in a weekend!)_________________________________________________________________________
RECENT PICTURES!
Shanghai with the Koreans (click here)
Hangzhou, Suzhou, and 2 hours in Shanghai! (click here)
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Guilin and Yangshuo-pictures!
What a trip! :) I got back almost a week ago, but since I got back, I've been busy catching up for those 3 days I missed... and I've just been too lazy to post pictures. ;)
Here's the group of girls I traveled with (from left to right):
Hadeel from Sudan, me, Areen from Palestine, Luiza from Algeria, and Rahma from Tanzania. (And I probably butchered the spellings of those names!)
The girls loved hearing me even TRY to pronounce their names throughout the trip... haha. I only knew Luiza before the trip... the other girls are all friends of hers, and they all go to a different university here in Wuhan. I met them at the train station before leaving for Guilin... I was afraid that we wouldn't have much in common, and that the trip would be awkward... but we got to know each other pretty quickly (15 hours on the train helped! ;), and we got along great! (I'm starting to realize that I have surprising amounts of things in common with people whose backgrounds are totally different from mine!)
At least this girl was nice enough to ASK for a picture. :)
Here's the filthy train we took from Wuhan to Guilin...
Here's what 15 hours on a train without sleeper seats will do to you!
Here's what 15 hours on a train without sleeper seats will do to you!
Here's the group of girls I traveled with (from left to right):
Hadeel from Sudan, me, Areen from Palestine, Luiza from Algeria, and Rahma from Tanzania. (And I probably butchered the spellings of those names!)
The girls loved hearing me even TRY to pronounce their names throughout the trip... haha. I only knew Luiza before the trip... the other girls are all friends of hers, and they all go to a different university here in Wuhan. I met them at the train station before leaving for Guilin... I was afraid that we wouldn't have much in common, and that the trip would be awkward... but we got to know each other pretty quickly (15 hours on the train helped! ;), and we got along great! (I'm starting to realize that I have surprising amounts of things in common with people whose backgrounds are totally different from mine!)Being a foreigner in China automatically makes you attractive and "popular"... and the fact that our group was so diverse only added to the attention we got. (We started joking that WE were the main attraction, not the caves and such.) Most people just took pictures of us without asking... anytime we were posing to take a picture, random Chinese people would get out their cameras and take a shot. But we didn't have to be posing... they took pictures of us just walking by, eating, etc, etc, etc. One couple even started walking with us while a friend took a picture of them! It was really annoying after a while... I don't mind attention, ;) but it never ends here!
At least this girl was nice enough to ASK for a picture. :)As I mentioned in my earlier post, we got up bright 'n' early on Monday to take some bamboo rafts down the Li River. It was beautiful! (More pictures are in my albums--see links below.)
I'm just so glad I have opportunities like this... :)
Here are links to my pictures:
Guilin and Yangshuo, part 1
Guilin and Yangshuo, part 2
I'm just so glad I have opportunities like this... :)
Here are links to my pictures:
Guilin and Yangshuo, part 1
Guilin and Yangshuo, part 2
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
lovely :)
Well, the long train ride was most definitely worth it. We spent Sunday and this morning (Monday) in Guilin, then grabbed a bus up to Yangshuo. Both cities are really beautiful, but I think Yangshuo is my favorite of the two. We're going on a boat ride down the Li river tomorrow morning (leaving bright n' early at 6 AM!!), and then heading back to Guilin in the evening, so we can see a few more things there and then catch a 7 AM train back to Wuhan on Wednesday morning. This train is supposed to take 16 hours, but at least we got beds this time around! I'll be posting some pictures and stories when I get back.
I'm skipping 3 days of classes for this trip, but I think I'm actually learning/practicing more Chinese than I would on a regular day in class. I'm getting to the point where I can carry on a conversation of some sort, so I've been chatting with the shopkeepers and such. :) It's definitely a much more enjoyable way to learn the language that sitting in class is!
I'm really loving Yanshuo... it's a smaller city, but it has a lot to offer... actually, I'm enjoying it so much that I'm starting to consider moving here and taking a teaching job at a language school we saw! (After I graduate, of course-no worries!) ;)
I'm skipping 3 days of classes for this trip, but I think I'm actually learning/practicing more Chinese than I would on a regular day in class. I'm getting to the point where I can carry on a conversation of some sort, so I've been chatting with the shopkeepers and such. :) It's definitely a much more enjoyable way to learn the language that sitting in class is!
I'm really loving Yanshuo... it's a smaller city, but it has a lot to offer... actually, I'm enjoying it so much that I'm starting to consider moving here and taking a teaching job at a language school we saw! (After I graduate, of course-no worries!) ;)
Sunday, May 3, 2009
on the road again...
I'm in Guilin! Yesterday afternoon at 3PM, I got on a train with my travel buddy Luiza and 3 of her friends. (I hadn't met them before, but they're nice girls! One's from Tanzania, another is from Sudan, and the other is.... I think from Algeria, like Luiza. I'll have to ask again... I'm still working on learning how to pronouce their names!) We were told the train would take about 12 hours... but we didn't arrive in Guilin until about 5:30 AM!!!! (That's about 14 and a half hours!!!!) And when we booked our tickets, the bed spots were all already taken... so we were in "regular" seats all night! It was definitely not the most pleasant trip. (I was even checking online for plane tickets this morning, because I would much rather spend some extra money than ride back the way we came... but there's only one, and it's over 700 RMB, so I guess I'll stick with the train... hopefully we'll get bed spots for the way back!)
I've been on trains in Europe plenty of times but Chinese trains are a different animal completely. They're incredibly dirty, the people are loud, and they have no qualms about ignoring the "no smoking" signs. And the train was really crowded for the first part of the trip. The seats were all filled, and there were people standing in the aisles for hours on end... here, you can buy a train ticket to stand in the train if you want to save money. There was an empty seat next to me, so some of the "standers" took turns sitting in that seat for a while.
But I'm gonna quit whining now... my friend Becca is in Ghana right now, and she just spent 10 days traveling around Africa on busses and sleeping in bus stops... so she's probably laughing as she reads this. ;)
Being a foreigner here automatically draws attention... but when you're traveling in a group, you attrat even MORE attention. And in Chinese culture, it's not considered rude to stare at people, read over their shoulders, etc. So people on the train were kneeling on their seats, looking over the backs of their seats, etc, watching us play cards, eat ramen noodles (I've never enjoyed ramen noodles as much in my entire life!), read, talk, etc. I honestly can't wait to be home where it's not weird to be a white girl! (Actually, I spent about 75% of the ride wishing I was at home in my soft bed!)
But that's over with now... and I'll never have to do it again, until Wednesday, when we head back to Wuhan... after that, I'm avoiding Chinese trains at all costs!
We got to our hostel around 6 AM... as the rest of the city was waking up. So we checked in and tried to get some sleep. I slept off and on, waking up about ever hour (it was so loud outside our window!) until about 10, then I got up and took a shower, and read the Word had a nice Western breakfast in the lobby for a while. :) And now I'm taking advantage of the hostel's computers and internet while my traveling buddies are getting up and getting ready for the day. We're going to spend today in Guilin, and then head to nearby Yangshuo tomorrow morning... supposedly, this area is one of the most beautiful parts of China, so I can't wait to see it for myself! :)
let's hope the train ride was worth it... ;)
I've been on trains in Europe plenty of times but Chinese trains are a different animal completely. They're incredibly dirty, the people are loud, and they have no qualms about ignoring the "no smoking" signs. And the train was really crowded for the first part of the trip. The seats were all filled, and there were people standing in the aisles for hours on end... here, you can buy a train ticket to stand in the train if you want to save money. There was an empty seat next to me, so some of the "standers" took turns sitting in that seat for a while.
But I'm gonna quit whining now... my friend Becca is in Ghana right now, and she just spent 10 days traveling around Africa on busses and sleeping in bus stops... so she's probably laughing as she reads this. ;)
Being a foreigner here automatically draws attention... but when you're traveling in a group, you attrat even MORE attention. And in Chinese culture, it's not considered rude to stare at people, read over their shoulders, etc. So people on the train were kneeling on their seats, looking over the backs of their seats, etc, watching us play cards, eat ramen noodles (I've never enjoyed ramen noodles as much in my entire life!), read, talk, etc. I honestly can't wait to be home where it's not weird to be a white girl! (Actually, I spent about 75% of the ride wishing I was at home in my soft bed!)
But that's over with now... and I'll never have to do it again, until Wednesday, when we head back to Wuhan... after that, I'm avoiding Chinese trains at all costs!
We got to our hostel around 6 AM... as the rest of the city was waking up. So we checked in and tried to get some sleep. I slept off and on, waking up about ever hour (it was so loud outside our window!) until about 10, then I got up and took a shower, and read the Word had a nice Western breakfast in the lobby for a while. :) And now I'm taking advantage of the hostel's computers and internet while my traveling buddies are getting up and getting ready for the day. We're going to spend today in Guilin, and then head to nearby Yangshuo tomorrow morning... supposedly, this area is one of the most beautiful parts of China, so I can't wait to see it for myself! :)
let's hope the train ride was worth it... ;)
Friday, May 1, 2009
Wuhan School for the Blind
If you read my Happy Easter post, you might remember that I mentioned visiting the Wuhan School for the Blind. It was a couple of weeks ago, but I never really got around to putting up the pictures...
The kids were really excited to welcome us!
We told them the Easter story, and then some of the Chinese helpers translated for us...
We taught them "This Train" and had them dance around like a "train"... they loved it.
Click here if you want to see some more pictures...
The kids were really excited to welcome us!
We told them the Easter story, and then some of the Chinese helpers translated for us...
We taught them "This Train" and had them dance around like a "train"... they loved it.The kids were anywhere from about 8 to 18 years old. And most, if not all of the students live at the school. I was amazed at how much energy and confidence some of these kids have! I expected them all to be shy, quiet, and reserved, and to stay in one place. That was the case for a few of the kids, but a lot of them were running around (literally-running!) like any other kids. And they rarely ran into other people- they have incredible hearing. One of the little boys was even doing cartwheels all over the place! And when it was time to go into another building to start our program, they were the ones showing us how to get there!
After our "program" was over, we fed the kids some cake and juice (they loved it!) and sat around talking to them for a while... I got a chance to practice my Chinese! It was a lot of fun, and it's near to our university, so I'm hoping to get a chance to go back! There's also a school for deaf kids down the road from there... Who knows, maybe I'll get to go there too! :)
After our "program" was over, we fed the kids some cake and juice (they loved it!) and sat around talking to them for a while... I got a chance to practice my Chinese! It was a lot of fun, and it's near to our university, so I'm hoping to get a chance to go back! There's also a school for deaf kids down the road from there... Who knows, maybe I'll get to go there too! :)
Click here if you want to see some more pictures...
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
new pictures!
I've posted some new pictures on facebook! If you don't use facebook, you can just click on the link below to get to the pictures. :) Most of them are from an afternoon I spent walking around at an Agricultural university in Wuhan...
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2010131&id=1121670006&l=a97adb7fe3
enjoy!
Monday, April 27, 2009
family in need
Yesterday, a woman from my ch--ch here had a baby boy. The baby is healthy, and the mother is recovering nicely, but there were a few complications during the delivery, and they were forced to do a C-section, and the baby is in an incubator. The problem is, the couple had set aside money for the hospital expenses related to the delivery, but the money they set aside was for a natural birth... and the C-section and incubator are costing a lot more than they had bargained for. Also, the mother is going to have to stay in the hospital for about a week to recover from her C-section, and that wasn't in the budget either. So we (the ch--ch) have been getting money together to help them pay the bills, and a group of us went to visit them in the hospital today. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see the baby--not even the mother has had a chance to see him! Also, she told us today that she's still in a lot of pain from the operation, and can't even move enough to get into the wheelchair. Please keep them in your pr-yers, that the Father would provide the money they need, and that the mother would have a speedy recovery!
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Halfway done? Already?!
I just realized that my semester in China is exactly halfway over. I've been here for 70 days, and I'm going home in 70 more. When I first got here, I wanted nothing more than to fast-forward to this point, so that I'd be closer to going home. Now, I'm really sad that my time here is going by so quickly! Not that I don't miss home... I'll be sad to leave China, but I AM looking forward to seeing everyone back home again! And occasionally, there are days where I would like nothing more than to be back at home with my family, playing board games or running around in the backyard with my little sisters and the camera. But there's still SO much I want to do/see/experience while I'm here... I'm hoping that the next 70 days go by MUCH more slowly than the first 70 did! But they say time flies when you're having fun... and I'm definitely having fun. :)
Sunday, April 19, 2009
There's a party in Heaven today!!!!
I'm on a roll! Usually I go a few weeks between updates, but this is my second update in the past 12 hours! This is just some news that can't wait:
One of my Chinese friends came to faith today! :)
About a week and a half ago, she told me that she was interested in the Bi-le and that a mutual friend of ours had taught her some truths from it, but that she still had a lot of questions. I invited her to join us for our Easter service last week, and her English is good, but she had a hard time understanding the speakers' accents and some of the old-fashioned words in the hymns. Still, she enjoyed it and came back for more this week! After the service and our weekly lunch, a group of us went to a cafe nearby to talk some more. (The cafe was a nice surprise! I'd walked past it a few times, but I had never stopped to check it out. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but after you walk in the door and go up a flight of stairs, you're suddenly in a cozy little cafe that doubles as a Chri--ian book store. I'll definitely be back.) It was a group of six of us: a Korean girl, a Hungarian guy, a Chinese girl who believes, me, my friend, and a Chinese guy who was also looking for some answers. Everyone else in the group spoke Chinese pretty well, so most of the conversation was in Chinese. I didn't always understand all of the conversation, but I could pick out some key words, and they stopped every once in a while to translate and ask my opinion. For some reason, the Chinese guy was under the impression that I had the best understanding of the Word because I'm American (what?! ok...), so there were a few times where he would open it up to a verse, show it to me, and ask me what it meant. I don't usually like to be put on the spot like that, and there were a few times where I looked at the verse and just couldn't think of anything good to say, or the verse just didn't seem relevant, but we have a faithful Father, and He gave me the words. (There were times when I was a little surprised impressed at what was coming out of my mouth... they were 100% His words, not mine!) Some of the questions he asked were pretty hard. At one point, he opened it to Matt. 5:31-32, where Je-us forbids divorce except for in cases of unfaithfulness and declares that marrying a divorced woman is adultery. He said, "There are many Chri--ians in America, and they are supposed to follow G-d's law. So why are there so many divorced Chri--ians in America?" (hmmm... what do you even say to that?) I explained to him that we have a problem with nominal "Chri--iannity" in America, and that adultery is a sin, just like any other sin, and that although Chri--ians try to obey G-d's law, we still struggle with sin, and we won't be perfect until the Father returns to make all things right. (Again, I can't take credit for that. That would be plagiarism... or something like that.) After about 2 hours of talking, reading verses, and translating everything back and forth, the four others left, but my friend (we'll call her Jill) still had some questions, so we stayed to talk some more. Her English isn't perfect, but we were able to communicate pretty well. (Plus, she had a handy-dandy little translator that came in handy when we came across a word that I couldn't say in Chinese and she couldn't understand in English.) She had a lot of questions about sin, Judas, the Trinity, eternity, etc. The H. Spirit was definitely with me, showing me were to take her in the Bi-le to show her the answers to her questions. (The other Chinese girl had left her Chinese-English Bi-le there for us, and that came in really handy--I could look up a verse and have "Jill" read it in Chinese.) A lot of the verses I took her to were verses that I'd learned in song-form as a kid. Just goes to show that those "silly" little songs we learn in Sunday School are really important!
She eventually told me that she really admired Je-us and wanted to be like him, but so far, she had been trying to do it in her own strength. And she had pr-yed to G-d before to tell him she was happy, to ask him to protect her family, or to ask for his help with something, but now she was ready to face her sin and to ask for His forgiveness and His help to become more like Chr-st. So I told her to tell Je-us exactly what she had just told me, and we pr-yed together right there! Then I hugged her and told her that the Bible says that they have a party in Heaven every time there's a new "sheep". :) It was so exciting to see er genuinely understand the Go-pel for the first time! We sat and talked for a little while after that, about how Chri--ians aren't perfect, but that the H. Spirit comes to live in us and to help us become more Chri-tlike, and how the Go-pel and our inability to be perfect in our own strength frees us from the pressure of having to be perfectionists, not only morally, but also in our school work, etc. (Chinese students tend to put themselves under a tremendous amount of pressure.) NOT that we shouldn't strive for perfection, but that we should do our best to the glory of G-d, and that He loves us and forgives us even when we fail. From the things that she said, I'm confident that she really does understand the Go-pel. It's such a blessing to be the one G-d used for His will in her life! I feel unworthy. And the conversation was a blessing to me as well. Not only did I get to see the Kingdom get a little bit bigger, but I also was reminded again of G-d's incredible love for us, and the endless grace He as for us.
As we always said in Philly...
"Glory!" :)
One of my Chinese friends came to faith today! :)
About a week and a half ago, she told me that she was interested in the Bi-le and that a mutual friend of ours had taught her some truths from it, but that she still had a lot of questions. I invited her to join us for our Easter service last week, and her English is good, but she had a hard time understanding the speakers' accents and some of the old-fashioned words in the hymns. Still, she enjoyed it and came back for more this week! After the service and our weekly lunch, a group of us went to a cafe nearby to talk some more. (The cafe was a nice surprise! I'd walked past it a few times, but I had never stopped to check it out. It doesn't look like much from the outside, but after you walk in the door and go up a flight of stairs, you're suddenly in a cozy little cafe that doubles as a Chri--ian book store. I'll definitely be back.) It was a group of six of us: a Korean girl, a Hungarian guy, a Chinese girl who believes, me, my friend, and a Chinese guy who was also looking for some answers. Everyone else in the group spoke Chinese pretty well, so most of the conversation was in Chinese. I didn't always understand all of the conversation, but I could pick out some key words, and they stopped every once in a while to translate and ask my opinion. For some reason, the Chinese guy was under the impression that I had the best understanding of the Word because I'm American (what?! ok...), so there were a few times where he would open it up to a verse, show it to me, and ask me what it meant. I don't usually like to be put on the spot like that, and there were a few times where I looked at the verse and just couldn't think of anything good to say, or the verse just didn't seem relevant, but we have a faithful Father, and He gave me the words. (There were times when I was a little surprised impressed at what was coming out of my mouth... they were 100% His words, not mine!) Some of the questions he asked were pretty hard. At one point, he opened it to Matt. 5:31-32, where Je-us forbids divorce except for in cases of unfaithfulness and declares that marrying a divorced woman is adultery. He said, "There are many Chri--ians in America, and they are supposed to follow G-d's law. So why are there so many divorced Chri--ians in America?" (hmmm... what do you even say to that?) I explained to him that we have a problem with nominal "Chri--iannity" in America, and that adultery is a sin, just like any other sin, and that although Chri--ians try to obey G-d's law, we still struggle with sin, and we won't be perfect until the Father returns to make all things right. (Again, I can't take credit for that. That would be plagiarism... or something like that.) After about 2 hours of talking, reading verses, and translating everything back and forth, the four others left, but my friend (we'll call her Jill) still had some questions, so we stayed to talk some more. Her English isn't perfect, but we were able to communicate pretty well. (Plus, she had a handy-dandy little translator that came in handy when we came across a word that I couldn't say in Chinese and she couldn't understand in English.) She had a lot of questions about sin, Judas, the Trinity, eternity, etc. The H. Spirit was definitely with me, showing me were to take her in the Bi-le to show her the answers to her questions. (The other Chinese girl had left her Chinese-English Bi-le there for us, and that came in really handy--I could look up a verse and have "Jill" read it in Chinese.) A lot of the verses I took her to were verses that I'd learned in song-form as a kid. Just goes to show that those "silly" little songs we learn in Sunday School are really important!
She eventually told me that she really admired Je-us and wanted to be like him, but so far, she had been trying to do it in her own strength. And she had pr-yed to G-d before to tell him she was happy, to ask him to protect her family, or to ask for his help with something, but now she was ready to face her sin and to ask for His forgiveness and His help to become more like Chr-st. So I told her to tell Je-us exactly what she had just told me, and we pr-yed together right there! Then I hugged her and told her that the Bible says that they have a party in Heaven every time there's a new "sheep". :) It was so exciting to see er genuinely understand the Go-pel for the first time! We sat and talked for a little while after that, about how Chri--ians aren't perfect, but that the H. Spirit comes to live in us and to help us become more Chri-tlike, and how the Go-pel and our inability to be perfect in our own strength frees us from the pressure of having to be perfectionists, not only morally, but also in our school work, etc. (Chinese students tend to put themselves under a tremendous amount of pressure.) NOT that we shouldn't strive for perfection, but that we should do our best to the glory of G-d, and that He loves us and forgives us even when we fail. From the things that she said, I'm confident that she really does understand the Go-pel. It's such a blessing to be the one G-d used for His will in her life! I feel unworthy. And the conversation was a blessing to me as well. Not only did I get to see the Kingdom get a little bit bigger, but I also was reminded again of G-d's incredible love for us, and the endless grace He as for us.
As we always said in Philly...
"Glory!" :)
Shanghai!
Ok, I FINALLY got around to uploading some (well, a lot) of the pictures I took in Shanghai a few weekends ago. It was a really fun weekend!
We got up early Saturday morning to catch our flight to Shanghai. After we arrived and got settled into the hostel, we headed downtown. As soon as we got off the Subway, we spotted Madame Tussauds, so we HAD to check it out. SO much fun!
For more Madame Tussauds pictures, click here.
That night, we strolled around downtown for a while, (it was raining all night, but that didn't stop us!) We ended at a "German" restaurant/bar. The food was good, but the atmosphere was definitely... memorable. Most of the other patrons were either middle-aged white guys with young Chinese ladies or 12 to 15-year olds with their parents, excited to be out "late". (It was only about 9 or 10.) The music was provided by a Chinese band playing classic rock. (Or at least... attempting to.) And the employees were all wearing Dirndls. I asked our waitress to take a picture with me:
We woke up Sunday morning to beautiul sunshine and perfect springtime temperatures. I enjoyed a nice "American" breakfast (including toast, scrambled eggs, and cereal) on the roof of the hostel, and then we spent the whole day strolling around the city. First, we went to a park near our hostel and strolled around, looking at the flowers and such.
The weather was perfect, and the grass was really nice and soft, so we sat/layed on the grass for a little while, until a security guard came and blew a whistle at us to shoo us away. :( But it was fun while it lasted!
(This is my friend/travel buddy Luiza, from Algeria!)
(This is my friend/travel buddy Luiza, from Algeria!)
We spent the rest of the day strolling around different areas of Shanghai. Luiza has been to Shanghai, so she knew her way around, which was nice. She even showed me where the Dunkin' Donuts was, so I got to have a real donut and a nice big cup of Dunkin' Donuts coffee, which I have been craving ever since I arrived in China!
That evening, we went to the Bund and walked around for a while...
...and then we went to the other side of the Huangpu River and enjoyed the view from across the river.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter!
He is Risen! :)
We definitely serve a faithful Father. I just got back from a 3-hour Easter service that wasn't anything like any service I've ever been to back home. As some of you know, I found a ch-rch family here about a week and a half after I came to Wuhan. It was a real blessing! I had asked some of my friends/relatives to pr-y that I would find at least ONE Believing friend here... and G-d went above and beyond my expectations by sending me a whole CH-RCH! (I've told this story a few times already, so if you've heard this already, you can go ahead and skip to the next paragraph. ;) ) Anyway, the church was started a few years ago by a group of about six men from Fiji. They got together every Sunday to study the Bi-le and to pr-y together. Other people started hearing about this and joining in, and soon the bedroom in the dorm that they were meeting in was too small for everyone to fit. So they asked the university for permission to use a bigger room. Normally, that wouldn't happen in China, but eventually, the university provided a room for them to meet in. After a while, they outgrew that room too, and had to move to a bigger room. They (we) currently meet in a room in the basement of our international students' dorm, and even that room is starting to get a little small! The members are students from all over the world: Fiji, Lesotho, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Korea, Poland, Russia, Ecuador... and some random Islands in the South Pacific that I can't really remember. And we have a few locals as well, but it's a little risky for them to join us. There's a HUGE variety of denominations, ages (we even have a family with 2 kids!), and backgrounds, but (as cheesy as this sounds) we all have Je-us in common.
Our Easter service today was nothing like any service I've ever been to back home. For one thing, it lasted THREE HOURS. (But strangely, I never got bored!) For another thing, we had a group of Chri-tians from Beijing (well, most of them are originally from Tonga, they live in Beijing) here this weekend, so they helped lead the service and they added their own "touch".
(Communion)
We definitely serve a faithful Father. I just got back from a 3-hour Easter service that wasn't anything like any service I've ever been to back home. As some of you know, I found a ch-rch family here about a week and a half after I came to Wuhan. It was a real blessing! I had asked some of my friends/relatives to pr-y that I would find at least ONE Believing friend here... and G-d went above and beyond my expectations by sending me a whole CH-RCH! (I've told this story a few times already, so if you've heard this already, you can go ahead and skip to the next paragraph. ;) ) Anyway, the church was started a few years ago by a group of about six men from Fiji. They got together every Sunday to study the Bi-le and to pr-y together. Other people started hearing about this and joining in, and soon the bedroom in the dorm that they were meeting in was too small for everyone to fit. So they asked the university for permission to use a bigger room. Normally, that wouldn't happen in China, but eventually, the university provided a room for them to meet in. After a while, they outgrew that room too, and had to move to a bigger room. They (we) currently meet in a room in the basement of our international students' dorm, and even that room is starting to get a little small! The members are students from all over the world: Fiji, Lesotho, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Korea, Poland, Russia, Ecuador... and some random Islands in the South Pacific that I can't really remember. And we have a few locals as well, but it's a little risky for them to join us. There's a HUGE variety of denominations, ages (we even have a family with 2 kids!), and backgrounds, but (as cheesy as this sounds) we all have Je-us in common.
Our Easter service today was nothing like any service I've ever been to back home. For one thing, it lasted THREE HOURS. (But strangely, I never got bored!) For another thing, we had a group of Chri-tians from Beijing (well, most of them are originally from Tonga, they live in Beijing) here this weekend, so they helped lead the service and they added their own "touch".
(Communion)
A lot of the Tongans (men included) were wearing these really interesting straw skirt-thingies around their waists. And the visiting "Reverend Benjamin" used liturgy from the Tongan hymnal to lead Communion.
After church, we had lunch together. Usually, some of the women cook some rice, a sauce with chicken and vegetables, and potato salad for lunch, but this Sunday, the church from Beijing provided lunch: KFC. I felt right at home! (Until some people started using chopsticks for their fried chicken!)
And for dessert, we had German Schwarzwälder Kirsch Torte! (It wasn't completely authentic-- the Chinese tend to overuse whipped cream, and the cake part is usually really spongy, but as far as Chinese cakes go, it was pretty good!)
Last night, we went to a school for blind children. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences since coming to China. But this post is getting really long, so I'll save that for another post.
After church, we had lunch together. Usually, some of the women cook some rice, a sauce with chicken and vegetables, and potato salad for lunch, but this Sunday, the church from Beijing provided lunch: KFC. I felt right at home! (Until some people started using chopsticks for their fried chicken!)
And for dessert, we had German Schwarzwälder Kirsch Torte! (It wasn't completely authentic-- the Chinese tend to overuse whipped cream, and the cake part is usually really spongy, but as far as Chinese cakes go, it was pretty good!)
Last night, we went to a school for blind children. It was definitely one of my favorite experiences since coming to China. But this post is getting really long, so I'll save that for another post.
Friday, April 3, 2009
GOING TO SHANGHAI!!!!!
As of about 15 minutes ago, I'll be spending my weekend in Shanghai! :)
We don't have classes on Monday, in honor of 清明節... (Qīng Míng Jié - it's a Chinese festival celebrated by cleaning and decorating the graves of family members that have died.) Thanks to... well, thanks to the fact that this is China, and not America, I didn't even KNOW about this long weekend until yesterday, so I didn't exactly have a lot of time to plan my weekend.
Actually, the planning didn't start until after class this afternoon. I texted my friend Luiza, asking her what she was planning to do over the long weekend, and we ended up deciding that we wanted to go to Shanghai. Tomorrow morning. So we got online and found some cheap flights, leaving tomorrow morning, and coming back Monday morning! (elong.net is a great place to get domestic flights in China if you ever need them! It's only going to cost about $100 USD to fly out and back!)
There's only one problem with this plan: I'm basically all out of clean clothes, and we don't have dryers here, so there's no way I can get my clothes washed and dried by tomorrow. But I'm going to Shanghai, clean clothes or not, so wish me luck, I'll post some pictures and tell you all about Shanghai when I get back! :)
(only 89 more days in China... gotta make the most of them!)
Oh the joys of being young and spontaneous... :)
We don't have classes on Monday, in honor of 清明節... (Qīng Míng Jié - it's a Chinese festival celebrated by cleaning and decorating the graves of family members that have died.) Thanks to... well, thanks to the fact that this is China, and not America, I didn't even KNOW about this long weekend until yesterday, so I didn't exactly have a lot of time to plan my weekend.
Actually, the planning didn't start until after class this afternoon. I texted my friend Luiza, asking her what she was planning to do over the long weekend, and we ended up deciding that we wanted to go to Shanghai. Tomorrow morning. So we got online and found some cheap flights, leaving tomorrow morning, and coming back Monday morning! (elong.net is a great place to get domestic flights in China if you ever need them! It's only going to cost about $100 USD to fly out and back!)
There's only one problem with this plan: I'm basically all out of clean clothes, and we don't have dryers here, so there's no way I can get my clothes washed and dried by tomorrow. But I'm going to Shanghai, clean clothes or not, so wish me luck, I'll post some pictures and tell you all about Shanghai when I get back! :)
(only 89 more days in China... gotta make the most of them!)
Oh the joys of being young and spontaneous... :)
Sunday, March 29, 2009
pictures!
Hey everyone!
Here are some new pictures from the past month or so.
(If that link doesn't work, copy and paste http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008558&id=1121670006&l=e0625cb9f3 into your browser.)
I'm really enjoying the pretty springtime weather! :)
Here are some new pictures from the past month or so.
(If that link doesn't work, copy and paste http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008558&id=1121670006&l=e0625cb9f3 into your browser.)
I'm really enjoying the pretty springtime weather! :)
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
41 days down, 100 more to go!
It's hard to believe how quickly my semester here is going by. I'm about a third the way done! (29%, to be exact!) ;) I'm starting to realize that I won't be here for long, and that my time here will be over before I know it. So I'll have to make the most of the next 100 days! I haven't had a chance to travel outside of Wuhan yet, and I'm starting to get a little restless. I really want to travel around China some while I'm here! I have plans to go to Beijing over our break in May, but other than that, I have nothing planned. I've heard Shanghai is really interesting, and that's right after Beijing on my "List of Places to Visit while in China". Also on the list are:
The weather has gotten much warmer recently (except for today-it was cold and rainy again!), and as a result, a lot of the trees on campus have started blooming. It's so beautiful! :)
- Beijing
- Shanghai
- Xi'an
- Guilin
- Chinese countryside (don't care where, I just want to see what China is like outside of the big cities!)
The weather has gotten much warmer recently (except for today-it was cold and rainy again!), and as a result, a lot of the trees on campus have started blooming. It's so beautiful! :)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
a long-overdue update...
I haven't been very good about updating regularly, but here's a link to some pictures I took recently:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007415&id=1121670006&l=8a245d6597
I went to a pagoda that had been built in the 1200s. It was really interesting from a cultural perspective, but from a spiritual perspective, it was a little unsettling... it was beautiful, but it was a blatant reminder that a lot of people are really sincere about something that isn't true. It really makes you think...
Hope you enjoy the pictures, I promise I'll write a real update as soon as I find the time!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2007415&id=1121670006&l=8a245d6597
I went to a pagoda that had been built in the 1200s. It was really interesting from a cultural perspective, but from a spiritual perspective, it was a little unsettling... it was beautiful, but it was a blatant reminder that a lot of people are really sincere about something that isn't true. It really makes you think...
Hope you enjoy the pictures, I promise I'll write a real update as soon as I find the time!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
time flies!
Well, I've officially been here for a month now... time is flying by! At first, I was hoping that the time would fly by really fast, but now I'm kinda bummed that I'm already done with one of my 4 and a half months! I only have 113 more days!
I had a really busy weekend, and I haven't had time to write about it all... I have some great new pictures to post too! I'll get those up here as soon as I find a free moment.
But to summarize my weekend: Friday afternoon, I went to a buddhist pagoda near campus with 2 other guys from Ga Southern and a Chinese girl. It was really interesting. Saturday, I spent most of the day on a bus to/from Hankou or in Hankou (part of Wuhan) at a language center, talking to a possible employer (if it works out with my schedule, I'll be teaching English to little Chinese kids!) :) Sunday was Womens' Day in China, and there were lots of great sales, so I had some fun shopping after the Sunday morning service (Oh, I still need to tell you guys about that... great story!).
I'll give you all a more worthwile update as soon as I can!
Oh, quick story:
Yesterday, as I was crossing te street, a boy pushing a pineapple cart next to me almost collided with a car. The car slammed on the brakes and came to a stop literally inches from the cart. The boy then turned to me and asked me if I would like to buy a pineapple. We were still in the middle of the street. (I guess he mistook my look of shock at his almost-accident for a look of hunger.)
Whenever I start to feel like China isnt' all THAT strange, something like that happens, and I remember that I'm in China. And China is weird. But it's a good weird, for the most part. :)
I had a really busy weekend, and I haven't had time to write about it all... I have some great new pictures to post too! I'll get those up here as soon as I find a free moment.
But to summarize my weekend: Friday afternoon, I went to a buddhist pagoda near campus with 2 other guys from Ga Southern and a Chinese girl. It was really interesting. Saturday, I spent most of the day on a bus to/from Hankou or in Hankou (part of Wuhan) at a language center, talking to a possible employer (if it works out with my schedule, I'll be teaching English to little Chinese kids!) :) Sunday was Womens' Day in China, and there were lots of great sales, so I had some fun shopping after the Sunday morning service (Oh, I still need to tell you guys about that... great story!).
I'll give you all a more worthwile update as soon as I can!
Oh, quick story:
Yesterday, as I was crossing te street, a boy pushing a pineapple cart next to me almost collided with a car. The car slammed on the brakes and came to a stop literally inches from the cart. The boy then turned to me and asked me if I would like to buy a pineapple. We were still in the middle of the street. (I guess he mistook my look of shock at his almost-accident for a look of hunger.)
Whenever I start to feel like China isnt' all THAT strange, something like that happens, and I remember that I'm in China. And China is weird. But it's a good weird, for the most part. :)
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Hey, white girl!
Today as I was walking down a busy street, a street vendor called out to me (in English), "Hello! How are you? I like you! You are my friend!"
The Chinese are still getting used to seeing non-Asians walking around here... and it's not considered rude to stare here, so people stare at anyone who isn't Asian. And some of these people will shout "Hello!" at foreigners (usually after he/she has already passed by, because it takes a few seconds for them to muster the courage). And in many cases, that is all of the English they know.
A few days ago, I was walking down the street, and I walked past a group of teenagers who were all huddled around something. One of the guys on the outside of the group noticed me, and he proceeded to excitedly point me out to his friends... so the whole group (about 8 of them) turned around to watch me walk by. I just kinda smiled and waved at them... it's not like everyone can say they've been waved at by a white person! ;)
There's a sense of understanding among all of us "lao wai" (foreigners) here. Many lao wai (including me) will smile and say hello whenever they encounter a fellow foreigner, regardless of whether or not we actually know each other. It's kinda comforting. :)
The Chinese are still getting used to seeing non-Asians walking around here... and it's not considered rude to stare here, so people stare at anyone who isn't Asian. And some of these people will shout "Hello!" at foreigners (usually after he/she has already passed by, because it takes a few seconds for them to muster the courage). And in many cases, that is all of the English they know.
A few days ago, I was walking down the street, and I walked past a group of teenagers who were all huddled around something. One of the guys on the outside of the group noticed me, and he proceeded to excitedly point me out to his friends... so the whole group (about 8 of them) turned around to watch me walk by. I just kinda smiled and waved at them... it's not like everyone can say they've been waved at by a white person! ;)
There's a sense of understanding among all of us "lao wai" (foreigners) here. Many lao wai (including me) will smile and say hello whenever they encounter a fellow foreigner, regardless of whether or not we actually know each other. It's kinda comforting. :)
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Well, it's still raining...
Supposedly, it snowed this morning.
But I was asleep. Go figure.
But the sun came out for a few minutes today! I even saw the sky! It made my day. :)
Yesterday, I decided I needed a little springtime in my life, so I bought a few flowers at a little flower shop I found... and when I got back to the dorm, I realized that I didn't have a vase, so I had to get creative...
That's a Chinese Gatorade bottle!
Supposedly, it snowed this morning.
But I was asleep. Go figure.
But the sun came out for a few minutes today! I even saw the sky! It made my day. :)
Yesterday, I decided I needed a little springtime in my life, so I bought a few flowers at a little flower shop I found... and when I got back to the dorm, I realized that I didn't have a vase, so I had to get creative...
That's a Chinese Gatorade bottle!Friday, February 27, 2009
sunshine? what's that?
I've been meaning to write an update for the past week or so, but I never feel like I have enough time to write about EVERYTHING that has been happening since I got here... so instead of long, detailed reports, I'll just write a few short blurbs here and there when I have time.
It was sunny on my first two days here, but then it turned cold and rainy, and it has stayed that way ever since. But other than the weather, I'm really liking Wuhan. The food here isn't as scary as I expected it to be... and you can usually get a good meal for under 15 RMB! (Which is about $2.00!) My chopstick skills are still lacking somewhat, but they are rapidly improving! I can even eat rice with chopsticks now! (Well, kinda...) Here's one of my favorite dishes:
饺子 ("jiao zi"- Chinese dumplings!)
Lunch for less than 50 cents!
Wuhan is a huge and very busy city. Crossing the street is exciting, to say the least. I'm amazed that I haven't seen any accidents yet. I saw a guy come about 3 inches from getting hit by a bus today...
The big, busy road is right outside of one or the entrances to the campus... but compared to the rest of the city, the campus is really peaceful and clean. There's a little traffic at times, but it's nothing like the traffic outside of campus. I haven't seen the sky since about a week ago, but at least we have trees! lots and lots of them. :)
It was sunny on my first two days here, but then it turned cold and rainy, and it has stayed that way ever since. But other than the weather, I'm really liking Wuhan. The food here isn't as scary as I expected it to be... and you can usually get a good meal for under 15 RMB! (Which is about $2.00!) My chopstick skills are still lacking somewhat, but they are rapidly improving! I can even eat rice with chopsticks now! (Well, kinda...) Here's one of my favorite dishes:
饺子 ("jiao zi"- Chinese dumplings!)
Lunch for less than 50 cents!
Wuhan is a huge and very busy city. Crossing the street is exciting, to say the least. I'm amazed that I haven't seen any accidents yet. I saw a guy come about 3 inches from getting hit by a bus today...
The big, busy road is right outside of one or the entrances to the campus... but compared to the rest of the city, the campus is really peaceful and clean. There's a little traffic at times, but it's nothing like the traffic outside of campus. I haven't seen the sky since about a week ago, but at least we have trees! lots and lots of them. :)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
settling in...
Well, it's been about a week since I got here, and what a week it has been!
Traveling to China was long and tiring, but not overly stressful. I flew out of Atlanta at about 7:50 AM Monday morning, had layovers in Newark and Beijing, and arrived in Wuhan at about 7:30 Tuesday night (which was 6:30 AM in Atlanta). I arrived in Wuhan about 2 hours earlier than expected, because my connecting flight from Beijing to Wuhan had been canceled, and I ended up taking an earlier flight. I wanted to contact the International Students' office at Huazhong Normal University (also known as Central China Normal University or CCNU) to let them know I was early, but I didn't know how to use the payphones, didn't have a phone card for the payphones (which conveniently didn't take change), and once I finally was able borrow a phone card and figured out how to use the pay phones (thanks to some friendly airport security guards who spoke very little english), there wasn't an answer at the other end, because everyone had already gone home for the night. (And I found out later that the number I had was no longer in use, because the office had gotten a new phone number a few months ago.) I ended up wandering around the airport, hoping to hear my name or to see someone holding a sign with my name on it, for about 3 - 4 hours. The security guards eventually took me to an information desk, where some friendly Chinese women (who spoke good english!) tried to help me contact someone to pick me up from the airport and take me the university. (Thankfully, I was too exhausted after all those hours of traveling to get really upset or frustrated about it...) I was considering taking a taxi to the university, but I realised that even if I could make my way to the campus, I would have no idea how to get to the international students' dorm once I got there! I decided to go back down to the baggage claim/arrival area just one more time, in hopes of finding my ride. (I had been saying pr-yers in my head over and over again ever since I got to the airport, and at this point, I was starting to worry that I would end up having to spend the night at the airport...) I looked around for a while, and was about to head back upstairs, when I finally heard someone ask, "Excuse me, can you tell me your name?" I told the man my name and asked if he was from CCNU. He was. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a total stranger before in my entire life. It was such a relief! He was relieved as well, because he and his wife had been looking for me at the airport for over an hour! They had arrived to pick me up at around 9:15 PM, and they saw that my flight from Beijing had been cancelled, so they had been worried that I was still stuck in Beijing! They had even called ahead to tell the people at the dorm not to prepare a room for me, because I wasn't going to be coming in that night.
They took me to the campus and helped me check-in to my room at the dorm. The international students' dorm is definitely the nicest dorm on campus, and the rooms are actually pretty nice, even for American standards. My only complaint is that the mattress on my bed is really hard! It feels like I'm sleeping on styrofoam! But I'm slowly getting used to it...
My first reaction to China wasn't exactly positive. It all seemed really dirty and polluted and confusing, and I was wondering WHY IN THE WORLD I had agreed to come here for such a long time. I didn't really like the food, and I had a really hard time getting around with my limited Chinese, especially since not many people speak English here, and sometimes their English is even harder to understand than their Chinese. Basically, I had a bad case of culture shock. The jet lag didn't help either. There's a 13-hour time difference between home and here, so I didn't get much sleep the first two nights, because the nighttime felt like daytime to me, even though I was way behind on sleep. But I've gotten into an almost-normal sleeping pattern, and I'm getting used to the Chinese food (and even found some dishes that I really like!), and I'm slowly getting over the culture shock, and I'm really starting to like it here! Some other students from Ga Southern are here, and they've been here since September (they came for a whole academic year instead of just a semester), and they have been a HUGE help. They showed me around the campus and the city a little bit, and even showed me where to find the American fast-food places around here, in case I just need to eat some American food. :) There's a McDonald's, a KFC, a Dairy Queen, a STARBUCKS, a Papa John's, and a Pizza Hut all within walking distance of the campus, so I definitely won't starve! :)
I've actually been eating more fast food than I'd really like to, because those are the only places I really know how to order! Most of those places either have employees that speak english or nice little picture menus, so I can just point at what I want if I'm not with someone who speaks Chinese well enough to order. So far, I've only ordered my own Chinese food twice. And both times, it was "jiǎozi" (Chinese dumplings)... because I don't know the names of any of the other dishes! The dumplings are these little bite-sized noodle-type things that are filled with a mixture of meat, vegetables, and soup. And they're really easy to eat with chopsticks. :)
Classes started this Monday, so I'm already halfway done with a week of classes! I have a feeling that my time here is going to go by really quickly... it sure has so far! Check back in a few days/weeks... I'll be updating with pictures, stories, and general observations about China... but right now, it's bedtime for Annie! I have class tomorrow at 8 AM!
Traveling to China was long and tiring, but not overly stressful. I flew out of Atlanta at about 7:50 AM Monday morning, had layovers in Newark and Beijing, and arrived in Wuhan at about 7:30 Tuesday night (which was 6:30 AM in Atlanta). I arrived in Wuhan about 2 hours earlier than expected, because my connecting flight from Beijing to Wuhan had been canceled, and I ended up taking an earlier flight. I wanted to contact the International Students' office at Huazhong Normal University (also known as Central China Normal University or CCNU) to let them know I was early, but I didn't know how to use the payphones, didn't have a phone card for the payphones (which conveniently didn't take change), and once I finally was able borrow a phone card and figured out how to use the pay phones (thanks to some friendly airport security guards who spoke very little english), there wasn't an answer at the other end, because everyone had already gone home for the night. (And I found out later that the number I had was no longer in use, because the office had gotten a new phone number a few months ago.) I ended up wandering around the airport, hoping to hear my name or to see someone holding a sign with my name on it, for about 3 - 4 hours. The security guards eventually took me to an information desk, where some friendly Chinese women (who spoke good english!) tried to help me contact someone to pick me up from the airport and take me the university. (Thankfully, I was too exhausted after all those hours of traveling to get really upset or frustrated about it...) I was considering taking a taxi to the university, but I realised that even if I could make my way to the campus, I would have no idea how to get to the international students' dorm once I got there! I decided to go back down to the baggage claim/arrival area just one more time, in hopes of finding my ride. (I had been saying pr-yers in my head over and over again ever since I got to the airport, and at this point, I was starting to worry that I would end up having to spend the night at the airport...) I looked around for a while, and was about to head back upstairs, when I finally heard someone ask, "Excuse me, can you tell me your name?" I told the man my name and asked if he was from CCNU. He was. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see a total stranger before in my entire life. It was such a relief! He was relieved as well, because he and his wife had been looking for me at the airport for over an hour! They had arrived to pick me up at around 9:15 PM, and they saw that my flight from Beijing had been cancelled, so they had been worried that I was still stuck in Beijing! They had even called ahead to tell the people at the dorm not to prepare a room for me, because I wasn't going to be coming in that night.
They took me to the campus and helped me check-in to my room at the dorm. The international students' dorm is definitely the nicest dorm on campus, and the rooms are actually pretty nice, even for American standards. My only complaint is that the mattress on my bed is really hard! It feels like I'm sleeping on styrofoam! But I'm slowly getting used to it...
My first reaction to China wasn't exactly positive. It all seemed really dirty and polluted and confusing, and I was wondering WHY IN THE WORLD I had agreed to come here for such a long time. I didn't really like the food, and I had a really hard time getting around with my limited Chinese, especially since not many people speak English here, and sometimes their English is even harder to understand than their Chinese. Basically, I had a bad case of culture shock. The jet lag didn't help either. There's a 13-hour time difference between home and here, so I didn't get much sleep the first two nights, because the nighttime felt like daytime to me, even though I was way behind on sleep. But I've gotten into an almost-normal sleeping pattern, and I'm getting used to the Chinese food (and even found some dishes that I really like!), and I'm slowly getting over the culture shock, and I'm really starting to like it here! Some other students from Ga Southern are here, and they've been here since September (they came for a whole academic year instead of just a semester), and they have been a HUGE help. They showed me around the campus and the city a little bit, and even showed me where to find the American fast-food places around here, in case I just need to eat some American food. :) There's a McDonald's, a KFC, a Dairy Queen, a STARBUCKS, a Papa John's, and a Pizza Hut all within walking distance of the campus, so I definitely won't starve! :)
I've actually been eating more fast food than I'd really like to, because those are the only places I really know how to order! Most of those places either have employees that speak english or nice little picture menus, so I can just point at what I want if I'm not with someone who speaks Chinese well enough to order. So far, I've only ordered my own Chinese food twice. And both times, it was "jiǎozi" (Chinese dumplings)... because I don't know the names of any of the other dishes! The dumplings are these little bite-sized noodle-type things that are filled with a mixture of meat, vegetables, and soup. And they're really easy to eat with chopsticks. :)
Classes started this Monday, so I'm already halfway done with a week of classes! I have a feeling that my time here is going to go by really quickly... it sure has so far! Check back in a few days/weeks... I'll be updating with pictures, stories, and general observations about China... but right now, it's bedtime for Annie! I have class tomorrow at 8 AM!
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