The 12 Days (After) Christmas in China...

Christmas Eve & Christmas were very strange this year since we spent it teaching our classes.  Not that teaching was bad, just different on Christmas Day.  As I mentioned in an earlier post, they do not celebrate Christmas in China other than giving each other an apple on Christmas Eve that symbolizes Peace & Happiness for the coming year.

So, since things are a little backwards and weird this year, I will share with you "The 12 Days (After) Christmas!"  This was written by a cute little young couple that are newly married and living here for one year on a scholarship student assignment.  They sang it for us at our White Elephant Party this year and received a standing ovation!

(See my explanation/clarification notes at the end of the song...)

The 12 Days of Christmas (in China)

Lyrics by Jarek and Kaylee Buss

On the first day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

Air you can see and not breathe

On the second day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe

On the third day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

Three baby butts

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe

On the fourth day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

Four panda suits

Three baby butts

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe

On the fifth day of Christmas a student said to me,

MY NAME IS AIR

Four panda suits

Three baby butts

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe

On the sixth day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

Six singing trucks

PLEASE CALL ME DOLPHIN

Four panda suits

Three baby butts

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe

On the seventh day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

Seven cars a-honking

Six singing trucks

MY NAME IS EARTH

Four panda suits

Three baby butts

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe

On the eighth day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

*HHHHHKKKKKK*

Seven cars a-honking

Six singing trucks

APPLE IS MY NAME

Four panda suits

Three baby butts

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe

On the ninth day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

Nine ladies dancing

*HHHHHKKKKKK*

Seven cars a-honking

Six singing trucks

I CAN’T SAY MY NAME

Four panda suits

Three baby butts

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe

On the tenth day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

Ten hours to download

Nine ladies dancing

*HHHHHKKKKKK*

Seven cars a-honking

Six singing trucks

CALL ME T-REX

Four panda suits

Three baby butts

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe

On the eleventh day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

Eleven squatty potties

Ten hours to download

Nine ladies dancing

*HHHHHKKKKKK*

Seven cars a-honking

Six singing trucks

HIS NAME’S BAD BOY…? (Seriously?)

Four panda suits

Three baby butts

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe

On the Twelfth day of Christmas dear China gave to me,

A billion people staring

Eleven squatty potties

Ten hours to download

Nine ladies dancing

*HHHHHKKKKKK*

Seven cars a-honking

Six singing trucks

PLEASE CHANGE YOUR NAME!!!!

Four panda suits

Three baby butts

Two rock hard beds

And air you can see and not breathe!

My explanation.... 

1st Day - The air quality in China is nothing to laugh about!!!  It is BAAAAD!!!

2nd Day - I have not slept on ONE soft bed in China...not ONE!!

3rd Day - I LOVE the little baby butts!  Everywhere you go the little children have wide open crotch pants and while walking behind them all you see is 2 little bum cheeks!  Seriously, so cute...but that also means that with cute bums comes lots of wet spots and other spots on the pavement that you really try to avoid. 

4th Day - You can pretty much buy anything made to look like a panda (purses, shirts, vests, hats, etc.)

5th Day - Chinese students choose their own English name and sometimes they are just plain weird and we have NO idea where they came up with the name.  

6th Day - Singing trucks are everywhere...garbage trucks play "It's a Small World" and the street cleaner trucks play "Jingle Bells" 24/7.  

7th Day - no explanation needed...1.4 billion people, 80 million cars and far less parking spots available.  

8th Day - a common sound heard all the time, everywhere on the streets is a perfected hacking/clearing of the throat with a solid and swift spit to the pavement.  

9th Day - at night you can see gatherings of women in public squares in front of schools, shopping centers, etc. dancing together for socialization and exercise.  

10th Day - internet....bad....download....not....good.....

11th Day - western toilets...nope!  Squatters...yup!  I'm getting quite proficient but still despise it.  

12th Day - wherever we go, we are an oddity and attract attention.  We do our best to not embarrass ourselves or you.  ;)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!  Or as we say here in China, "Sheng Dan Kuai Le!!!!"

Final Exams, AQI & Frozen Toes

Xi’an, China  - December 22, 2013

Well, I can hardly believe that it is almost Christmas!  We have been in China for 4 months!  Time is flying by and before you know it, we will be back in the USofA for a wee visit during the Chinese New Year Holiday!  It is good this is only a year assignment with a break in the middle, because I obviously need to build up my ability to be away from our children and grandchildren for extended periods of time!  It definitely is not easy.

This week will be like any other….teaching.  They don’t celebrate Christmas here in China, at least not the way we do. Traditionally, for Christmas (if they know anything about it at all) they will give each other apples.  As one of my students explained to me, “The apple is all about the heart and when we exchange apples, it means we wish you love and peace.”

We will teach all week without a break for Christmas Eve or Christmas, and I wouldn't have it any other way.  I LOVE these students!  They are some of the greatest and most beautiful people to walk the earth.  Seriously, they have such pure and gentle hearts. 

This past week I gave my final exams.  I sat down with 3 students for 10 minutes at a time to just listen to them discuss a topic, determined by me.  A week prior, I gave them a list of 14 topics that I might ask about, but they could not know which topic or who they would be paired with.  I wanted absolute vulnerable speaking so I could get the best sense of their speaking level.  It is hard to assess a student when they memorize or read their presentation.  This was an amazing experience!  As I asked them questions, I always ended with the same 2 questions:     

 1.  Tell me about an experience or memory you have as a child.                                               2.  If you could only use one word to describe yourself, what would it be?

I was blown away at the stories I heard… some funny, some sad, many uplifting.  It was a chance for me to really see who they are for a small moment and feel of the great love that God has for them.  It really was amazing.  I can’t even begin to describe the feelings I had and how many times I was on the verge of tears.  I love teaching!

Now, a few more things about China:

TREE BEATINGS

Towards the middle of October, it was not uncommon to walk along the road or through the campus and see older women with long sticks, beating the branches on trees.  At first I thought it quite odd until I realized what it was all about.  Of course, why wait for the leaves to fall naturally from the tree when you can beat the leaves out with a stick!  It is so much easier to rake all the leaves from one tree at the same time, right?

WEATHER and OPEN WINDOWS

The weather has of course gotten quite chilly.  We have been hovering around the low 20’s for the past several weeks.  At first I thought this was a welcome relief to the intense heat we had upon arrival in August, but after a few days, I was longing for the heat again!  Our classrooms have one small heater along the wall, which is in no way adequate to heat an entire classroom paved with cold tiles.  Many of the students huddle around the heater and hold onto the pipes for warmth during the 10 min break we have during our 2 hour class period.  The strange phenomenon is that even though the students are freezing, they all feel it necessary to open the windows and allow the fresh (not so fresh…see my next heading for AQI) air inside the classroom.  It is back to the same window routine but reversed.  Now I close it and they open it, I close it and they open it.  This was reversed during the hot periods when I would open the window for some air flow (because there is no A/C) and they would close it.  A student finally explained to me that you must “fight a cold with the cold” and hence the reason they open the window for cold air to flow in.  I guess they must also fight the heat with heat.  I’m still trying to figure out the logic.  By the end of the day, I’m frozen from my head to my toes.  Needless to say, I’m buying some warm boots and long underwear as soon as I get to the states where there are sizes to fit me!

AIR QUALITY INDEX (AQI)

You may have seen on world news that we are having some of the worst air pollution in history right now.  My phone has an app that I check daily to see how bad/good our AQI is and for the past week it has been reading 500, which is absolutely hazardous to your health.  However, my phone app tops out at 500, so we checked online instead and found that we are currently dealing with 650+ here in Xi’an.  It looks like we are walking through fog, that is how bad it is.  Just for some context, an AQI above 100 is generally considered unhealthy — over 300, and we’re talking about a serious hazard to health (i.e. it can be lethal).  Many people wear face-masks out and about.  China, burns a lot of coal and is the largest consumer of coal in the world. Most of China’s coal is burned to produce electricity, and for industrial uses such as making steel. So, we are trying to keep safe and not breathe too deep, if that is possible.

MY CHRISTMAS PRESENT

During our training we were told that NO ONE in China has a dryer.  That was challenge enough for me!  We dealt with no dryer for a few months until I realized that Jordan's clothes were getting saggier and saggier.  With no dryer heat to shrink cottons back to shape, he was looking a bit droopy.  So, we did our research, found a cute little Chinese gal that speaks English to help us and ordered a dryer from Beijing.  The shipping was a ridiculous amount 8 RMB ($1.32) and the dryer itself was a whopping 1600 RMB ($263).  Best present EVER!!!!  My laundry has never looked better (at least in China) and Jordan is no longer a sagger-bagger!  Woo hoo!

May this week find you all enjoying the magic of Christmas and the peace it brings.  We love you all so much and miss you at this time of year.  Merry Christmas!!

 

      

Food, food, food!

Jordan is turning Chinese! 

Weds night dinner at Village Cafe

Teachers, their children and friends

Sheraton Thanksgiving Feast

Best dessert of the night!

Thanksgiving Times Two...

12.1.13 – Xi’an Update

It is time for another update.  Especially since it is/was Thanksgiving time and I need to let you all know what I’m grateful for!  I am SO grateful for (in no particular order):

…All of you and the incredible individuals you are.  You all make me so happy!

...Wonderful children that are living amazing lives!

…Beautiful grandchildren that are healthy and happy and being raised by loving parents.

…Good health and strength over here in China (we need it!).

…Jordan.  He is amazing and I love him dearly!

…Real Chinese food!  It is SO yummy!  Nothing like the US Chinese food.

…Good friends and family everywhere! 

…This beautiful world.  I’m in awe of it most every day of my life.

…The gospel and the joy it brings to my life. 

…Our opportunity to be on the first of MANY missions to come. 

…A 2” piece of foam on our bed so we can have a little comfort at night. 

…The rain because it clears the horrible pollution out of the air here in Xi’an for at least a day!

…Tender mercies that come daily in various forms. 

I could go on for hours…. Just know that I am so grateful for my life and the opportunity that I have to be alive every day and enjoy every minute.

Life continues to march on here in Xi’an.  We are finding the weeks fly by at the speed of lightening!  I guess because we are so busy, time is just gone and we find ourselves at the end of another week and then the end of another month.  Pretty soon we will find ourselves at the end of another year!  Crazy how fast it goes!

FIRECRACKERS

Have I mentioned how many firecrackers are always going off in China?  It seems that every other hour or so, firecrackers are being set off to announce or celebrate something.  The sound of pop-pop-pop constantly fills the air here.  They LOVE their firecrackers!  The tradition of lighting them off says that the loud noise scares away evil spirits so there will be success in whatever area of life they are celebrating.  Seriously, they are sounding off all the time!

SPICY FOOD

Anyone who knows me and knows me well, knows I have never liked nor been able to handle spicy food.  Well, something drastic has changed in my life… I LOVE SPICY FOOD!  “What?  How can that be?  You were such a whimp before!”  I know… I can hardly believe it myself.  Spicy food is so good!  I can finally taste the flavor of spicy food and it doesn’t just burn, burn, burn.  The red peppers added to most everything here have such a good flavor.  I’m completely baffled by this new phenomenon!

MORNING TRUMPET

Every morning at precisely 0650, a trumpet plays in the distance, awakening all the students from a restful slumber.  Can’t you just hear it now?  I’m usually almost ready for the day by the time it goes off each morning and I look forward to hearing it faintly through an open window.

MASSAGE 

We found the BEST massage (neck, back, arms & feet) place here!  It only costs 20 RMB ($3.20) for one hour!  It is amazing and a weekly ritual for me now.  I took Jordan once and here are his comments:  “First, they put your feet in boiling hot water to soak which must be equal to Chinese water torture, then they start the physical abuse by trying to manipulate your torso into positions it shouldn't be in and pushing on some areas so hard that you feel your entire body go numb, after this they begin to shave your feet and trim your toenails with a scalpel that could scare feathers off a turkey!”  Ok, so he didn't actually say it like that, more like, “first the water torture, then the physical abuse and then the knife.”  But my way is so much more descriptive!  Anyway, to all that I say, “And what’s not to LOVE!”  It will continue to be a weekly ritual for me. 

MOVIES

Movies are interesting here.  We have yet to go see an actual movie in a theater, mostly because we have no idea where to find them and the one that we did find was not showing any US flicks.  We have however, been able to find several movies at little vendor stands along the streets.  It is like reaching into a goody-bag and not knowing what you will get when you open your hand.  Our favorite by far is when you can definitely tell that someone has been sitting in the back of a theater recording the movie.  Definite signs of “in-movie-theater-pirating” are: 

1.       The sound quality is so bad you have to learn to read lips or use earplugs when it all of a sudden goes LOUD.

2.      The beginning of the film seems to be in black & white but it is actually kinda greenish in color.  The color gradually gets better and worse.

3.      There are no beginning or ending credits.

4.      Occasionally the lens cap goes on but you can still hear the movie.  When the threat of discovery is gone, the lens cap comes back off.

5.      And our all-time favorite is:  You can watch people get up from their seats, go out to the bathroom (or for popcorn maybe) and then several minutes later you can watch their shadow return to their seat.  One lady had an up-doo (men, that is a hairdo that is on top of the head) as tall as the Eiffel Tower and it was very comical in shadow form. 

THANKSGIVING

Our Thanksgiving was a wee bit unconventional, but nonetheless enjoyable after a long day of teaching on Weds and Thurs.  We started a day early on Weds evening with a Foreign Teacher Faculty dinner that I organized at a nearby café.  We had 28 people in attendance.  The café actually prepared a real Thanksgiving Dinner for us with turkey, dressing, small potatoes (not mashed but still excellent) and a wee amount of gravy and cranberries.  Although a little more gravy and cranberries would have been awesome, it was a great dinner for only 88 RMB ($14.50)

On Thursday night we had a Branch Thanksgiving Dinner at the Sheraton Hotel Buffet.  A little pricier than Weds night but equally as good for 99 RMB ($16.50).  The Sheraton caters to foreigners and on Thursday night, they rolled out the red carpet.  Not only did they have a giant roasted turkey with dressing and gravy, they had a large pork leg and MANY other foods including: sushi, tacos, salads, fruits, cheeses, regular Chinese favorites and the BEST dessert bar in town!   

So, as you can tell, we have not lost our sense of humor or wonder.  We enjoy every day as if it were our first here and see the time passing VERY quickly.  Although we miss you all like CRAZY, we are content knowing that we are here doing a positive work that will change lives, hopefully for the better.  

Love you all SO much and hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful. We missed being with you and hope you could feel our love across the miles, WISHING YOU THE BEST THANKSGIVING EVER!!

Singles, Scooters & AQI

November 11, 2013

Happy "Singles Day"!!  You may be asking yourself, "What the heck is Singles Day?"  Here is a brief explanation from USA Today:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2012/11/11/singles-day-chinas-online-shopping-holiday/1697299/

"Singles Day was begun by Chinese college students in the 1990s as a version of Valentine's Day for people without romantic partners. The timing was based on the date Nov. 11, or "11.11" — four singles. Unattached young people would treat each other to dinner or give gifts to woo that special someone and end their single status. That gift-giving helped to turn it into a major shopping event as sellers of everything from jewelry to TVs to cars saw a marketing opportunity and launched Singles Day sales.  It is China's answer to Cyber Monday in the United States — the day after Thanksgiving weekend, when online Christmas shopping begins and merchants have their busiest sales day."

Now for an update:

We are still loving China!  The greatest part of this entire experience is working with the university students and trying to make a small difference, some how, some way.  Every day we have opportunities to teach good, wholesome principles within our lessons on English.  It is amazing how much you can weave into English instruction!  The students are kind and happy despite their difficult circumstances.  I recently did a lesson focused around problem solving that opened my eyes to the real life students live, outside of class time.  I first reminded them that they were attending a fabulous university, but even great schools have a few things that could be better.  We listed those things on the board.  They were then required to form groups of 5-6 and become a business that would work innovatively to solve one of these problems.  It was difficult to get them to stop thinking like students and start thinking like a business, outside the box, wanting to grow their business.  A few of them finally caught the vision of seeing endless possibilities to solve problems, while others never could get past the fact that the school doesn't have any money to make changes, therefore, no changes can really be made.  It was a great activity and got them using their problem solving language skills, which was my goal, so despite the actual outcome of whether they solved the problem or not, they used English.  Hooray!  I thought you may be interested in some of the problems they face on a daily basis:

1.      Dorms are small with 6 to a room.  No space to store the things they need.  Nowhere to  study.  

2.      No Air Conditioning in dorm rooms.  No ceiling fans. 

3.      No hot water in dorm buildings.  They must use large thermos jugs to go and retrieve hot  water from a hot water house, carry it back and sometimes up 6 flights of stairs with no  elevator.

4.      No private showers.  There is just one large shower room like we used to have for PE. 

5.      No wifi and poor internet.

6.      Electricity is turned off from 11:30 PM – 6:00 AM.  Hairdryers are never allowed. 

7.      Only one set of washer/dryer facilities per building of MANY students. 

The list could go on and on.  Suffice it to say, I have nothing to complain about….ever again. 

AIR QUALITY

You may have heard on the news about how bad our air quality has been of late.  Yup… it is BAD!  I have an AQI (air quality index) app on my phone that I check regularly, as if it will protect me somehow.  I see how bad it is and then hop on the bus and head out to school to teach.  I suppose I should be wearing a mask around but it just doesn't seem realistic to do so.  So, I will hope and pray that my lungs keep working! 

CHINESE

Our Chinese is coming along nicely.  We have Chinese class twice a week (Mon & Thurs afternoon) for 2 hours each class.  By the time we leave class our heads are about to explode!  It is seriously crazy awesome!  We come home and put up post it notes all over the apartment to try and learn the words and phrases taught that day.  Then we do our best to repeat and practice them with each other as often as possible!  It is really fun and we are enjoying learning the language SO much.  We get a slight feel of how our students must feel because our teacher refuses to use any English in class.  We get scolded if we use any English.  She is tough!  She will say words in Chinese and we must write the Chinese character and pinyin (their words in our roman alphabet) plus the tone of each syllable.  The four different tones are quite difficult to detect and master, as is the pronunciation of letters and combinations of letters.  But, we will NEVER give up!  We love it!!!

CREATIVE PIZZA DELIVERY

A couple of weeks ago, we had pizza party for our little Branch here at our apartment.  Jordan was in charge of getting the pizzas. The closest pizza place is Pizza Hut and is about a 30 minute walk from here.  He took one of our members, a 23 yr old named Joel from Argentina and who speaks pretty fluent Chinese with him to place the order to be picked up later that day.  When it was time to go get the pizzas, they walked out to the main road and found a scooter guy who was waiting to give someone a ride.  At this point I must tell you that there are scooter dudes waiting at the exit of every subway, ready to give any paying customer a ride to wherever they want to go in the city.  None of them are legal or authorized to do so, but no matter, they do it anyway.  So, dad and Joel hop on one scooter together (yes, now there are 3 grown men on one scooter), with two on the seat and one on the small luggage bar.  They ride to Pizza Hut, ask the scooter dude to wait, they then pick up 6 large pizzas, everyone jumps back on the scooter and in no time, they are dodging cars and trucks while holding 3 large pizza boxes off each side of the scooter.  My only regret is that I don’t have a picture.  There is always next time!

WEATHER

The weather here has begun to turn cold.  I finally had to put my skirts and sandals away and start wearing real clothes.  Our students are always concerned that we do not wear enough clothing to keep us warm.  While it was still hot, I would open the windows for a breeze (no AC in the classrooms remember?) and they would close the windows.  Now that it is cold, I close the windows and they open them!  They all wear big coats to class and then open the windows.  I just can’t figure it out.  I wouldn't be so opposed to them opening the windows if the air quality were better.  One day, the air quality was so bad outside that when the windows were open, the thick smoggy air rolled into the classroom and it was foggy’ish in class.  That is when I put my foot down and said, no more outside air in here today! 

Take care and know that we love and miss you all like crazy!!!!!!!

 再见  Zàijiàn 

   

Loving Life in Xi'an!

Life is GOOD!!!  We are absolutely LOVING this experience we are having!!  We seriously couldn't have chosen a more awesome experience to begin our life as missionaries.  I think the hard part will be comparing everything to this first one!  We are reminded daily how amazing it is to be here doing what we are doing at this time in our lives.  It is such a blessing that we are able to do this while we are fairly young.  I’m not sure how some of the older couples that are closer to 65 keep up sometimes because it is a pretty crazy schedule and has a high demand of physical-ness to go along with it.  

Here are some of the physical aspects of China:

1   

     --Everywhere you go, you get there by walking.  Our closest store is about a 15 min walk.  We walk EVERYWHERE…to the bank, to the store, to the fruit and vegetable markets, to the subway (about 20 min walk), to the bus (about 15 min walk), to explore the city… You get the idea!  We walk, walk, and walk!  And, whatever you buy at the store must be lugged home.  We typically each take a backpack to the store with us and then load it up and heft it home.  I tell ya, we are building muscles in strange ways!

      --Getting to school each day requires running down 2 flights of stairs carrying our heavy briefcases (laptop, projector, cords, speakers, teaching supplies, etc.) and then hauling them up the bus stairs and down the aisle, only to repeat this step backwards to get home.  My arms are getting quite strong I think!  Plus, once we get to school, we go up, up, up to get to our classrooms (someday I will count the number of steps), carrying all our gear.  There are no elevators anywhere in the universities, at school or in the dorms that are 6 and 7 stories high.  Everyone must take the stairs!  We are definitely getting good exercise!

INTERNET

The good news is that WE HAVE CONSISTENT INTERNET!!!!!!  Well, as consistent as it gets in China.  We finally have our own internet that is secure so we aren't sharing with 7000 other people here.  It has changed significantly in that we can access the internet pretty regular.  We still have times where everything shuts down for a while and then it will come back on… we just have to be patient and wait it out.  We are getting pretty good at being patient!!!

COST OF LIVING

The cost of living here is quite cheap.  The other night we went out to dinner and afterward, stopped and got Jordan a haircut (I didn’t have the extra room or luggage weight to bring my hair buzzers) and here was our total:  20 yuan for dinner (we had yummy Muslim noodles) and 10 yuan for the haircut, for a total of 30 yuan ($4.92).  We about broke the bank that night! It is almost cheaper to go out to eat than to try and get ingredients to make meals here.  But, I still try to cook pretty regular because it gets old eating out every night. 

WATER

Water is an issue here.  We must only drink bottled water.  Even the locals refuse to drink the water.  For dish washing we add bleach to the wash and rinse water.  So far so good.  We must wash all fruits and vegetables with either bleach or a special food detergent before eating it.  Again, so far so good.  Brushing teeth requires some fancy bottle swishing and rinsing.  Next time you stoop down and get water from the faucet to rinse your mouth, say a little prayer of thanks for the simpleness you enjoy!!  

TAXIS

We had our first bothersome taxi ride.  We had gone about 20 min across town by taxi to meet some friends for dinner.  It only cost 20 yuan ($3.20) to get there.  When it was time to return home we caught a black taxi (most taxis here are green and yellow) and at first we were surprised at how clean and new it seemed.  Very quickly we realized it wasn't all good.  The meter started cranking up very quickly and the driver was going about 10 miles an hour.  At one point he pulled over and searched around and around inside the front seats to recover his cell phone which he had lost, all the while the meter is cranking up.  I started to get a little worried that he might be “taking us for a ride” so turned on my phone GPS and started tracking our progress toward home.  It was apparent he either had no idea where he was going or he was trying to get everything he could from us.  I started spitting out words I was looking up on Google translate to try and get him to turn where I knew he should turn.  He would act annoyed and ignore me.  We got more vocal and demanding and he started to respond, maybe realizing we were on to his game.  Finally, after 45 min and a 60 yuan fee (3 times what we paid to get there), we got close enough to home that we had him pull over and let us out.  We certainly learned our lesson…. Never take black taxis!!  We now know black taxis are privately owned and they pretty much do whatever they want, especially with dumb foreigners.  Whatever…fool me once….that is it!!  We understand it could have been way worse than what we experienced so we are grateful someone was looking out for us!

TUK-TUKS

Pretty much, our favorite mode of transportation if we can get one is a TUK-TUK.  They are motorcycles with a little cab attached to them (the same thing they have in Thailand).  They are generally falling apart and we wonder if we will ever even make it home.  The top speed for a tuk-tuk is probably 15 mph.  But, they are easier to catch than a taxi here in Xi’an, so many times we either walk or hail a tuk-tuk. They are referred to by the locals as “killer cabs” but that hasn't dissuaded us yet.  Believe it or not, they charge more than the taxis do but they are also more likely to stop and pick up foreigners than taxi drivers.  For some reason, taxis don’t like to stop for us foreigners!  A little frustrating!!  The other night I was out with a group of women and taxis were passing us right and left and stopping just after us for locals.  We tried to remain positive about that little obvious prejudice!  A tuk-tuk finally stopped but after smelling his breath and realizing he had probably had way too much to drink, we went back to trying for a taxi.  After about 30 minutes we finally got one to stop.  Oh the joys of city life! 

Well, time to get to bed.  It is late and morning comes early!!  Life is good.... 

Silk Road Tour - October 1-6, 2013

NW area of China Xinjiang Province is famous for grapes and raisins of every color.

This little girl is so cute!

Ancient Cities

Love the babies!

Ancient cities

Remains of ancient temple

Chinglish for "staff only"

Had to ride the camels with 700 other people!

Chinglish for "slippery when wet"

Terracotta Warriors

Amazing colors painted on every warrior

The Archer - one of my favorite

Travel is sometimes overrated!

10.13.13 - Xi’an, China

Here is what has been happening in this neck of the woods:

TRAVEL

On Tuesday, October 1st, we left on a 5 day trip to NW China.  The tour was organized by a man named Marvin Wu who plans several trips a year for all the BYU Teachers in China.  This particular trip was called the “Silk Road Tour” because the area we visited was part of the long Silk Road.  The Silk Road, or Silk Route, is a series of trade and cultural transmission routes that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting the West and East by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time.

There were 53 BYU teachers on the trip from all over China.  We all flew from our home cities and met in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang province.  The people living in this region, Uyghurs, are a Turkic ethnic group living in Eastern and Central Asia and look completely different from the people in our city,  mostly Han Chinese.  The Han Chinese are an ethnic group native to East Asia. They constitute approximately 92% of the population of China, 98% of the population of Taiwan, 74% of the population of Singapore, 24.5% of the population of Malaysia, and about 20% of the entire global human population, making them the largest ethnic group in the world.  There are 56 different minority groups in China!  Crazy huh?   

From Urumqi we traveled by bus (an extremely unpleasant experience given it was a 100 degrees outside and the A/C was broken the entire time) to see traditional villages of the Uyghur people, ancient cities and customs, a myriad of grape vineyards and raisins galore, as well as many cave and cliff dwellings.  Very interesting, but with no relief from the heat and bus, it was hard to completely relax and enjoy.  We basically went from hot bus to hot village to hot hotel (no hotels have A/C either and the beds are like a board..seriously) to hot bus to hot village to hot hotel with one night being even worse as we boarded a sleeper train around midnight, crammed 4 adults in a 6x6 room with 4 bunks and no windows or air flow…. Well, you get the idea.  We were pretty much ready to go home after the second day!  Oh well, it was an experience and one we will keep fresh in our memory to prevent us from booking another travel trip in China without very careful consideration.  The best part of the trip was interacting with the great friends we have made through this BYU program and then finally flying back to our personal home city of Xi’an on Saturday and spending two days seeing the sites here.  The city wall, the Muslim market and the Terracotta Warriors.  Many on the trip agreed it was the best part…we should have saved our time, money and patience and just met up with everyone here for the last couple of days.  Live and learn. 

FACILITY UPDATE

Kitchen -- We have purchased several new appliances that have made life so much better.  New toaster oven, rice cooker, crock-pot and vacuum.  Funny how small things make such a difference!  We also found some “liquid nails” glue and secured some warped boards down in the kitchen a couple of weeks ago.  Dad noticed they are coming up again so will have to do some more work.  Our tiny fridge is a little troublesome in that we don’t have enough room to keep much in it.  I have resorted to cranking down the A/C in our bedroom and putting watermelon and over sized veggies on a small desk next to the bed until more room becomes available in the real fridge. I call our bedroom the 2^nd fridge! 

Bathroom -- Our bathroom is better because we found some white caulk and redid all the nasty black moldy caulk that was a hundred years old.  We put duct tape around all the exposed hoses (there is no such thing as a goose neck for plumbing here which prevents the nasty sewer smell from coming back out of the drain), and I have several air fresheners and candles in the bathroom to combat the smell.  We also no longer have a wiggly and leaky toilet thanks to the inch thick and inch high caulk the handy man squoze (not a real word but I like it!) around the bottom of said toilet. 

Bedroom -- Our bed is no better and we are still trying to decide if we want to find and invest in a good bed for while we are here.  I think someone sold China a “bill of goods” when they introduced mattresses to the country because the only part of the mattress they have is the BOX SPRINGS!  They sleep on the BOX SPRINGS!!!  What in the world???  I keep wondering why on earth anyone would think that is even acceptable!  I do admit that after sleeping on several BOX SPRINGS on our trip, in twin beds and no A/C, I was SO happy to get back to our bed and our cushy 2” piece of foam that felt like heaven on earth!  Perspective…it’s all perspective!

SHOPPING

Since we have such a small fridge, we do shopping on a pretty regular basis.  We have little ma & pa fruit and vegetable stands everywhere, a medium sized supermarket within a 15 min walk, a Walmart (don't get too excited..it is still China with mostly Chinese stuff) just a short 30 min quick-paced walk away, and yet one more larger Costco type store that is a pretty good hike for us to get to but we use it as exercise, generally on Saturday mornings.  That is the good thing about shopping here, because we must each carry a backpack and several other totes to and from the store, it gives us a great workout!  Sometimes the backpacks are so heavy we can barely get them home and the tote bags are quite laden as well.  Our arms are a foot longer each, but no big deal. 

TRANSPORTATION

For the first couple of weeks Jordan was pretty intent on getting a scooter.  However, after being here for almost 2 months now, we have decided it is more hassle to have a scooter than not.  There is a high risk of scooters being stolen here so if it isn't completely locked down, and even sometimes when it is, it can disappear in a heartbeat.  Plus the fact that we are loving all the exercise from walking, walking and walking.  Someone wore a pedometer on our Silk Road Trip and reported at the end that we walked over 47 miles during the week.  We put serious miles on our feet and shoes here in Xi’an, as is evidenced by my favorite pair of flip-flops that were new when we left and now look like they are a year old. 

This past week was definitely a harder one but we are still staying focused and remaining positive.  We miss you all and appreciate your support to us as we continue forward on this ever changing journey that will shape us and refine us.  

Pictures to follow....

 

 

GOOD NEWS vs. BAD NEWS

We have a bathroom.

It’s so small you can reach the exhaust fan from the shower OR the toilet.

We have a bathroom exhaust fan in a missing portion of the window.

The exhaust fan tends to draw up a nasty sewer smell from the drain.

We have a washing machine.

It is broken.

We will most likely get another washing machine.

With no dryer, our clothes will be a little crunchy.

IF our new/used washing machine works…

We can wash 2 days’ worth of clothes at a time (very small).

 We have a bed.

The 2 inch piece of foam on top of the box spring may not cut it.

We have air conditioning.

With only two units (bedroom and living room) it feels like Hell’s Kitchen when cooking.

We have blue sky.

You can only see it after HUGE storms, which happen infrequently.

We are still alive after one full month in Xi’an!!

No bad news on that one…it’s ALL good!

Live life to the fullest!!!  We are!!!!!