Here's Something Unexpected: Rural China!

So this last weekend I took a trip to Lizhuang, a rural town in Sichuan province. It was right along the Yangtze River. I was surprised by many things in this trip:

1) How much it reminded me of my hometown, Snohomish! Now I don't think I'm homesick quite yet :] but if I was, this would have made me miss everything about home. This little town has a river that runs right along it and has just a few main streets. (For those if you from Snohomish who are reading this, it seemed that I could almost map out where 1st and 2nd street, as well as where all the lettered avenues would be in Lizhuang) Craziness. Here's some pictures. Tell me if you know what I mean. Of course the houses were more primordial than the many antique stores I'm used to seeing, but just the layout and geography of the town was very similar to that in Snohomish.


2) I think I always knew this all along but it's still good to be reminded that, no matter where you go in the world, children are the same everywhere! I don't think that many foreigners come to this town, so we were all instantly celebrities. I keep saying this and I'll say it again...I still don't understand why I'm so interesting! But many of the children (ages 6-10) had a great time showing my sister and I around town and testing our Chinese language speaking ability! It was a lot of fun! We also taught them how to play "Red Light, Green Light" or "Hong Deng, Lu Deng." There are some universal things that all children possess. Like sticks, puddles, and rocks being the greatest play-things any boy could find. And girls all being obsessed with their roller skates and being able to hang upside down on monkey bars (I know that was totally me when I was in elementary school!!!).


3) Curfews?? So a few classmates and I went to play some pool with some of the local high school-aged kids. They were very excited to hang out with us and tell u about what kind of English songs they liked to listen to. I, likewise, was interested to learn more about them. It just so happened to be one of the boy's 16th birthday. They invited us to go to a karaoke hall (pretty much one of the only things to do in this town on a Saturday night) with them to celebrate. All the karaoke rooms were full, so I suggested that we go back to my hotel and maybe find a place in the lobby or dining hall to celebrate and eat the cake that they had with them. By this time it was around 9:15 pm. On the way back, we were met by a police officer who told us that it was all time to go home. I think this because the kids we were with were minors, but we were all disappointed to have to go home "early." As a side note, they gave us their birthday as a "friendship cake" which I reluctantly took. I mean, it wasn't my birthday and I didn't want to take this cake from them which was probably a greater expenditure for them than it would be for any of us. But they insisted and I couldn't refuse a friendship cake, after all. To complicate matters, I had a tough time convincing my other classmates that the cake was not 'poison' and that the children did not get it from some shady place. To top it off, unfortunately, many of them had some intestinal troubles the following day for which my cake was blamed. I still think that the strange rural dishes containing pork, stuffed eggplant, and other mystery food was the culprit. (I got a little sick myself, but I did not end up partaking of any of the said 'poison' cake due to the high velocity by which my classmates ended up inhaling that which they were so afraid of eating...and using chopsticks nonetheless :] ) But anyways, that whole experience was interesting and a bit unexpected. But what I meant to say before going on that cake tangent was that I thought it was strange that they considered anytime past 9 pm "late." Just a different culture I guess. It makes me wonder what goes on after 9:00 that made officials in Lizhuang implement that type of curfew. Then again...maybe I don't want to know...The cute small town feel may be a bit deceiving.

4) The most random thing ever! So we're riding on our bus on the way to Lizhuang when we stop at a dinosaur museum! This was a BIG thing. The town (whose name my memory fails me at the moment) was centered around this museum. It was dinosaur EVERYTHING!!! But we had fun walking around and posing like dinosaurs the whole time. I thought it would be lame, but turned out being very fun and quite cool. Here's some pictures :p




5) And last, but not least, was our hotel. It was formerly a Buddhist temple so the layout was quite interesting. I stayed on the 4th floor, but I had to climb a mountain of stairs to get to my room. Our bathrooms were the best (or worst??) part. If you just look at the pictures, you'll see what I mean... :)


All in all it was a great experience and I feel like I learned a lot about Chinese rural culture. I would like to go back some day. Here are just some more pictures of farm life! Enjoy!





Bible Verse of the Day:
Galatians 5:16 "So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature."

Chinese Word of the Day:

Cheng ji 成绩 "Achievement; Accomplishment"

Ka la OK!

That means "Karaoke" to all you non-chinese speaking folk! China has some different customs than we do in America. Instead of going out to a movie on a Friday night, many Chinese people go to KTV or Karaoke hall. You get your own private room with a screen and a menu bar to chose any karaoke song you could possibly think of! You can also be served drinks and snacks. Since I LOVE to sing, I think this is my favorite thing about China yet (or at least one of my favorite things)! I think we should have these in the U.S.! It's pretty cheap too! Just over 3 U.S. dollars for like 4 hours!


Another thing that Chinese people don't do is celebrate Halloween. And rightly so, it is a bit confusing. Trying to explain what Halloween is, where it came from, why people dress up, and what the heck is "trick-or-treat!" ?? I had a bit of a hard time myself. They know enough about the commercial aspect of it, so we saw many pumpkins, spider webs, and random spooky things around, however, no one really knew why. For our Halloween, my classmates and I had a little party in our dorms. We had bobbing for apples, cake, and played that toilet paper mummy game. Halloween in China was an interesting experience!

So I'm not gonna lie, honestly this week I was a little bummed out. A lot of my classmates planned a weekend trip to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors. Somehow I missed the memo that you had to find bus tickets/book a hotel on your own so now it's too late. It would've been cool to go, but oh well. Hopefully they comeback with some pretty sweet pictures. This weekend is pretty busy for me and I don't know if I actually have any extra money to have gone anyways...It just kinda sucked hearing everyone talk about it and get all excited for the trip when I am sitting right next to them and can't go. But whatever, I am in China, it's not like I'm not going to have anymore opportunities to see some sweet things, and I feel very privileged to have already done what I did, and seen what I saw!

I don't really want to bring this up, but I feel like I have to...the election. So, I wasn't an avid Obama supporter. Not because of his race or that some think he's a terrorist or whatever dumb things people say. Only because McCain's beliefs are more in line with my own, and that he has a good number of years under his belt which gives him more insight into certain issues. And no matter how many times people tell me, "separation of church and state, Sarah" I still ask this question: "but don't your religious beliefs help form your moral beliefs, and don't you use you moral beliefs to make decisions for our country?" I sure hope people use their moral judgment to pass laws! People can say whatever they want, but in my opinion, there is no way that you can completely separate church and state. You can take down monuments of the 10 commandments, and outlaw prayer in schools, and even take two little words out of the Pledge of Allegiance, but that won't change people's basis of moral judgment. But anyways, (getting off that tangent) I have no choice but to support the new leader of my country. I will support Obama and I hope that he guides our country through the necessary reformations that we need. He talked about change. I hope that the change that comes is good and that, for once, this politician actually walks the talk. That's all I have to say.

Bible Verse of the Day:
Matthew 6:34 "Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

Chinese Word of the Day:

Ren wei 认为 "to think, consider"

Monkey Madness!

So this past week and a half or so has been quite interesting! I traveled to several new places and saw some crazy, unexpected things. Let me tell you about it...

Two Sundays I got a chance to go to one of the two legal Protestant Christian churches located in Chengdu. Crystal discovered the church after some random guy (now our new friend Michael) walked up to her when she was eating at a restaurant, asked her if she was a Christian and wanted to go to church. Michael then connected us with a New Zealand middle-aged couple who had lived in China for about 3 years. They met us at the North Gate-end of campus where we rode our bikes to the church about 20 minutes away. The church was a very traditional-style sermon and congregation. We started out with hymns, then a prayer, along with a message- all in Chinese! I wasn't able to understand most of it mainly because of the Sichuan dialect, but Michael helped me follow along in his Chinese-English Bible, which he later gave to me. We learned about Giving in 2 Corinthians 8. It was a very good experience.



This past weekend my classmates and I took a short trip to Leshan (Happy Mountain) and Emei Mountain. Leshan was has the largest stone-carved sitting Buddah in the world. It is about 71 meters high and would be 88 (a lucky number in Chinese) meters if it were standing. It was carved about 1,200 years ago and took 90 years to complete. The people at that time it was built suffered from terrible flooding every year that resulted in many deaths and destroyed crops. The giant Buddha was built to protect and watch over the people of the river which it sat above. I wonder if it worked...?

The next day we went to Emei Mountain and bused/hiked/cable car-ed to the summit, called Jin Ding or "Golden Peak." There was a giant golden statue of a buddah with several heads on an elephant with eight heads. The cost to build said idol: 40 million yuen (Chinese dollars)! There were also several temples and viewing areas at the top of the mountain. It was quite foggy, but nonetheless still very breathtaking and very high up!


But the best part about the WHOLE weekend was what we did after Emei Mountain....the MONKEYS!!!! We took a 7 km hike into the depths of the forest where we encountered creatures unlike any I could ever expect. They were greedy, fat, hungry, addicted to people food- yet the cutest animals alive! They knew we were coming too. We were greeted with tiny hands rummaging through our pockets looking for food and snatching at any shiny thing they saw. We were also greeted by men who offered to put monkeys on our heads and take pictures. I was hesitant at first, but after watching Crystal and my other classmates do it, it seemed just barely safe enough- so I reluctantly followed suit. I only live once I suppose...why not put a monkey on my head?? :D



Bible Verse of the Day:
2 Corinthians 8:9 "You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ; rich as he was, made himself poor for your sake, in order to make you rich by means of his poverty."

Chinese Word of the Day:

Hou 猴 "Monkey"

Earthquakes, English Corner, and Eating Out

Much has happened since Tibet, so I figure now is the time to get you all up-to-date...

At Sichuan University there is a weekly event called English corner. Chinese and English-speaking students gather outside the gymnasium at the flagpole, and it gives Chinese students an opportunity to practice their English. Last Friday was the first time I attended and I will have you know that it was quite an interesting experience! But nonetheless I still had fun. I was unable to persuade any of my classmates to come, so I went by myself. I must admit that initially I thought I would have a hard time finding people to talk to. However, that changed after the first ten seconds when some 20 people crowded around me and started asking me different questions. I kid you not here are some actual questions I was asked:

"Do you know about Area 51? So what about the aliens?"

"How do you spay or neuter a cat?"

"Has the U.S. economy affected you in any way?"

"Is your hair real?"

So as you can probably infer, I was a bit overwhelmed. I found many of these questions quite amusing and it was strange feeling like a celebrity just because I can speak English. I talked for 4 hours in what felt like an hour and a half. Chinese people are very friendly and have a great yearning for knowledge about Western life and culture. Needless to say that I made an exponential number of new Chinese friends. I think I'm going back next week.... :)

On Saturday I went with my classmates to the epicenter of the deadly earthquake that occurred on May 12 of this year. It was pretty devastating to see all the ruble and garbage still around. However, I was glad to see that the Chinese government has done a lot to help these people who were so greatly affected by this tragedy. They had planted some beautiful gardens along the road. Also, no one was homeless! The government had built tens of thousands of temporary housing units so everyone could live in a giant community (convenience stores and all) until houses were rebuilt. One thing that struck me was the high level of moral that existed amongst them. Although many of them had lost everything- including loved ones, they seemed generally happy with their lives at hand.
We had the opportunity to visit a high school and middle school and interact a little bit with the students there. Many of them were victims of the earthquake and much of the ruin of their old school was still around. We set up different stations and our class split up to help lead each one. We had basketball, frisbee, capture the flag, friendship bracelet-making, and a song station. I, of course, helped teach them English songs which included: "You Are My Sunshine," "Jingle Bells," "A Hard Day's Night," "We Will Rock You," and "Hit Me Baby One More Time." We had tons of fun! Afterwards, many of the students came up wanting my autograph and picture! It was kinda funny. The kids in China are great though! They are just like every other kid around the world. It was cool to get to hang out with them.

On Sunday I got to spend the day with my host family. I went to a little Tibetan area of Chengdu and tried some of the many snacks they had to offer. I got to visit a place where they made silk. It was pretty cool! They had the actual silk worms and everything. It is the believed that the craft of silk making goes back as far as 6000 B.C. That is a pretty long time. I wonder how anyone thought to use a worm to make fabric?? After little Tibet we visited a coffee house and then a tea house. I enjoyed it very much. Then we went back to their house for dinner. We had yak! :p It was made in the crockpot and was very tender and delicious! Better than regular beef. But yeah, my family is really cool. They are from Kang Ding and Jiu Long which is in western China. My host father and his sister and parents all live in the same apartment complex. Family in China seems tighter than in America (which would suck if you got unlucky in-laws :) They had a niece who was two-years-old and really cute. They also had a nephew who was 5 and had more energy than anyone knew how to handle. I had a really good time.


Bible Verse of the Day:
Romans 5:3-4 "Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope."

Chinese Word of the Day:

Xingfen 兴奋 "Excited"

Life in Tibet

All I can say is wow! Tibet is unlike any place I have ever been (or probably will ever go) in my entire life! This past week I have experienced so much! We spent a few days in Lhasa, then spent a day each in Gyantse and Shigatse. The last day and a half we went back to Lhasa for one more round of shopping and then to fly back to Chengdu. Here are some of the things I discovered about Tibet while I was there:

Buddhism is overwhelmingly prevalent there and is much apart of the daily lives of the people who live in Tibet. While there, we visited about 5 monasteries. Unfortunately, I either wasn't allowed to take pictures in them or had to pay to take pictures so I don't have many photos of the inside, but I took some pretty amazing one's from the outside. Buddhism has many Gods and people offer a variety of things from money to corn to pens to combs to these idols' alters. In the monasteries were also many tombs and pictures of past monks and the scriptures they left behind. It was very fascinating. Every morning people got up early with their prayer wheels and walked clockwise around the monasteries and religious monuments (bad-luck if you walk counter-clockwise) and spun these prayer cylinders things and chanted mantras (prayers). They were very diligent about this and it makes me wonder what Christianity would be like if we had the same diligence...

Another thing I found interesting about Tibet were the people who begged. There were so many. I feel like I am in a moral dilemma. I know that these people are genuinely poor. In America it is easy enough to look past it because we have enough government programs to help people and plus the fact that you never really know where your money is going. It is easy to joke around when you are eating a huge dinner or going on a shopping spree to say things like "Eat up! There are hungry people in China" or "I am not going to buy such-and-such a brand because it is made in a sweat shop." But when there are people begging right in front of you when you are deciding whether or not to buy a jacket that you may or may not need, it really puts you in a bad spot. A woman came up to me with a baby on her back and said "money" and made a gesture towards the baby and then towards her mouth. I was just about to purchase a jacket and I was afraid to pull money out of my pocket. She followed me for about 10 minutes so I finally gave her 5 yuen. Now I don't think that that was a mistake in and of itself but I should've been more discrete. Immediately 5 or 6 other women with babies appeared out of nowhere asking for money! I was so overwhelmed! But just at that moment Crystal and my friend Justin came to my rescue and bailed me out. This incident made me feel bad for a long time and I asked my friends what they thought. They said that its not bad to feel bad, but that it really isn't you're fault. There are people at the bottom in every society and there is nothing you can do about it. I guess that made me feel a little better, but I just wish there was more I could do. I am praying for them now.

Another surprising thing about Lhasa was the enormous police and military presence there. There has been a lot of political unrest recently (the most recent being the March 10th riots. You can read more about it here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23780660/#storyContinued ), so I guess it wasn't unwarranted. I have just never experienced living in a place where the common people are so tightly monitored and armed forces are in such close proximity to people. I walked by dozens of troops with guns who were literally 2 feet from me passing by in the opposite direction. This was one unexpected thing I could not have expected. It was quite scary and quite surreal.

But onto better things...my last night in Lhasa I met two Tibetan girls who randomly came up to us because they wanted to practice their English. This was a bit unexpected, but I thought it was a good opportunity. We took them to dinner and learned a lot about their culture. One of the girl's uncles was a monk in a monastery who had been there for over 30 years! She also taught me how to write my name in Tibetan...it is such a hard language. They have an alphabet of about 30 letters, but they are WAY different than ours. My Tibetan name is now Dolma...or something like that :) I guess it means beautiful and is a popular name. They also helped me barter for things in the square. It is a lot of fun and I don't let myself get ripped off anymore! I think I have most of my Christmas shopping done now, so that was also a plus!

All in all Tibet was an awesome experience. I hope one day that I can go back. It had some awesome sights and it was cool being able to experience a culture so much different from my own!
Bible Verse of the Day:
Proverbs 11:9 "With his mouth the godless destroys his neighbor, but through knowledge the righteous escape."


Chinese Word of the Day:

Zoulu 走路 "to walk; go on foot"

Bikes, Pandas, and New Friends,,,

So much has happened since I last blogged, so I think it's time I play a little bit of catch up. I have undergone some new developments-some unexpected- but its hasn't been all bad (for a change)...

I bought a new bike! Its green! Both mine and Crystal's bikes got "misplaced" at the same time so now we have new and improved ones. We also discovered that we can barter in Chinese better than we thought. I am open to names for my new bike...just let me know!

I was surprised by a trip to the Chengdu Panda Reserve! Oh my goodness, they are the cutest animals EVER! Here are just a few pics:


There were about 250 pandas at the reserve and about 1600 left in the wild. The reason being, pandas can only mate once a year and the females have only a 3 day window to breed. If the same were true for humans I'm sure we'd be endangered too ;-) No pressure though, men.

Another new development is my host family!!! They are really nice. The father is the director for this sport's arena. They have a 14-year-old daughter who is only one day older than Austin, my little brother. She's a bit taller though ;-) They know a little English, but aren't fluent, so this will be an opportunity for both of us to get plenty of practice speaking a new language. I don't have any pictures yet, but I will post them as soon as I take some.

I am also making quite a few Chinese friends. Yesterday two of them texted me randomly at the same time and asked if I wanted to go out with them. So, I turned it into a group outing. We went shopping and I returned home having only spent 100 yuen (about $15) on 3 new outfits, and some much-needed new undergarments ;-) It was amazing. The only downside was that because the store was so cheap, I was not allowed to try on any of the clothes before I bought them. I got to try them on after I paid, and if I didn't like them I could only exchange and not get my money back...but I was lucky so everything turned out ok.

My new classes are going great. I am really enjoying my language class. I think it is right at the level I need to be at. Our teacher is pretty young and hip. I would guess that she just graduated. We're going to all hang out one weekend (counting that there are only 3 people in my class). My Chinese Politics professor is a genius. He knows literally everything about Chinese history, culture, and government AND America's. It pretty crazy. He also teaches the American culture class at Sichuan University. It is one of the most popular courses amongst the Chinese students. I was wondering: what is it about Americans that is so interesting? So I am going to sit in on his class this next week. I'm pumped. My Culture & Society prof is really funny. He likes to teach us more than what we are supposed to be learning in class. He tried teaching us calligraphy and Taichi. We go off on some sweet tangents and he says that he's going to put all the other professors out of a job :) But speaking of Taichi, it is WAY harder than you'd think. Its like a mix of dance, yoga, and kung-fu. Very difficult. But our master is the cutest old man ever. He seems a bit frail, but I think he could kick even the biggest guy in our group's butt. Here's a picture:


So anyways, that's about all I have for now. Next week we are going to Tibet, so I'm sure I will have some fascinating things to write about when I get back! But until then...Zai Jian!!!

Bible Verse of the Day:

Hebrews 10:23 "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."


Chinese Word of the Day:

Huan Ying 欢迎 "Welcome"

Somethings are just Unexpected...

Because this is my 5th year studying Chinese, I came here thinking that I may not know it all, but I had a pretty good idea what to expect. I told myself that I was above culture shock. Well...here are some things I didn't quite predict:


CHINESE DRIVERS!!!! Now take what the stereotype is in America and throw that out the window. Asians in America are awesome drivers compared to Chengdu (and everywhere else in China I assume)! There are no speed limit signs to be found! Do you think pedestrians have the right of way? Ok maybe you knew they didn't...but what about in the crosswalk when the sign says "walk"? Apparently not then either. It is dangerous business traversing the streets in China! It is expected that you push your way through traffic and cut people off...in fact, if you didn't you would never get to where you want to go! So I just hail a taxi, get in, and close my eyes and hope that the taxi driver's been driving long enough to know what he's doing. To my dear friend Cassi: I will never criticize your driving again! ;-)

FOOD! Um...I know why Asian people are so thin. I ate nothing but rice and noodles for 4 days straight. And although chopsticks are becoming easier, I have not yet mastered the art of "nazhe kuaizi" <--holding chopsticks. Also, I do not know how so many people could eat so much spicy food all the time! Sichuan is known for it spicy food. I think I'm just a wimp. I can understand getting used to the taste of spicy food, but when the spiciness *uh hmmm "leaves you"* that is just as bad as eating it. And I don't know how anyone could get used to that! Enough said.

CHINESE COLLEGE STUDENTS vs American college students. During the day they are aways in a hurry! They eat in about 1 min flat and it is not uncommon to see some of them running to class. <:-) But one of the cool things about them is how they act at night. At least in Chengdu, people are up all night just walking and talking and sitting outside their homes. It was after 11:00 and there were still couples taking late night strolls all over the place. It is also cool how many of them will go out of their way to talk to you because they want to practice their English, or want to help you with your Chinese. That is something you don't see in America- people going out of their way to help strangers. People just say, "This is America, learn to speak ENGLISH!!!" But that is definitely not the case in China. Another thing that I think is neat is how attuned Chinese college students are to the U.S. and Western music, style, and culture. They listen and watch all the music and movies we do. Can we say the same thing about their culture? Here are some random pictures that I never got around to posting from my travels that I think you might find interesting. Me and Crystal outside the van/bus/cart thing we drove around in when we toured the countryside before our cruise to Chongching. And below left is a far off Buddhist temple I though looked neat. Below right just looked like a funny sign. It was posted by a high railing...I think we get the point?

Want to know how they build bridges in China (probably other places too, but this was the first time I'd seen this)?

Papa Youtz- our prof who helped us get to Chengdu where Sichuan University is located. And then here is Lexi in traditional Chinese river garb...or something.

That's all for now. I'll post more later.

Bible Verse of the Day

John 14:16-17 "And I will ask the Father and he will give me...the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him because it neither sees Him or knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you."

Chinese Word of the Day

Mai dongxi 买东西 "shopping"