Beijing and Xi'an Spring Break Recap

My friend Whitney is visiting from America for Spring Break.  Here's a recap of our travels.

We left Tianjin last Sunday with the two most important things - passport and cash - and not much of an itinerary.  Within the first few hours of our trip we had traveled by taxi, subway, and bullet train. The hostel we booked turned out to be AMAZING!  (If you're ever in Beijing, definitely stay at the 365 Inn!)  We grabbed hot pot for dinner and met up with our other travel companion who was coming from Wuxi, China. 

After we ate our fill of hot pot, we ventured off to see Beijing.  We went to the Temple of Heaven and then did some bargaining at the Pearl Market.  I always enjoy people more than places, so I loved interacting with the saleswomen at the Pearl Market (although they can be a bit pushy) and the people at the Temple park.  As per usual, I fell in love with a little boy at the Pearl Market and a little old man at the park.

People, even strangers, are what make an experience worthwhile.  The cool sights and scenery are just an added bonus.

 

 That night we ate at a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant down an alley - lamb on a stick (yang rou chuan) and friend rice.   We befriended the shopkeepers along the way and the owners of the restaurant. People are really fascinated by the very white, blonde, clearly non-Asian speaking Mandarin and are usually happy to chat.  I've really missed talking with strangers these past nine months as I've been learning the basics of the language of these people I love, and it was so refreshing to stop and talk with someone I've never met, and someone who isn't like me. That's when I realized something.

Chinese is REALLY HARD, but the agony of learning it is so worthwhile when you can have a conversation with strangers in a language besides your own.  What an AMAZING experience! Never stop learning new things!

Day 2 was the day we had set aside to go to the Great Wall.  I had heard about this section of the Wall where you can take a ski lift up to the top and then toboggan sled down to the bottom.  Um...yes, please.  We consulted with the the people at the hostel and got a vague idea of where we were going.  We woke up early and headed out, praying we would at some point reach our destination.  We got to the bus station without much of a problem, just missing the first bus.  Once we got there we were a little nervous by the fact that there were NO other foreigners there.  Uhhhhhhh.......where are all of the other tourists? This lady followed us around offering to take us to the Wall (nope...no way, lady) while we tried to figure out which bus and stop we wanted. No one in line spoke English.  No one.  I tried to communicate in Chinese where we were trying to go, and a few guys in line assured us that we were in the right line, but it's still kind of scary getting on a bus and not being totally sure where you're going or where you're supposed to stop.  We eventually got dropped off at the right stop, grabbed a taxi, and made our way to the Wall.  OH MY WORD.  The scenery was gorgeous.  Mountains everywhere, a clear sky, and no sounds of the city.  

Once we got to the bottom of the mountain (by toboggan sled), we bought a few souvenirs with our mad bargaining skills and then decided it was time to head back to the city.  We knew it would be hard to find a legitimate taxi in the middle of nowhere, so we decided we would hire an unmetered taxi to take us back to the bus station.  They quoted us a price that was way too much, and out of nowhere Chinese words I didn't even know I knew started coming out of my mouth.  The next thing we knew we had a pretty cheap taxi fare arranged.  I shook hands with the taxi driver and said something to the effect of, "We're friends, right?" to make sure he wasn't going to abduct us.  He turned out to be a really nice guy, and we talked about his family and Starbucks most of the way back to the bus stop.  

That night we made our way across town and found a REALLY good Mexican restaurant and a Starbucks.  Win-win.  Another night at our awesome hostel.  It was a REALLY good day!  

Day 3 was probably my favorite day in Beijing.  We went to Summer Palace.  Talk about natural and man-made beauty all mixed together.  The park goes on forever (we only saw a fraction of it), and every part is breathtaking. I wouldn't say I learned anything life-altering on day 3, but it was certainly a great day to sit by the water looking at a beautiful palace and reflecting on how thankful I am for this life I get to live.

Day 4 we headed off to Xi'an, which is known for the Terra-cotta Warriors.  We opted for the overnight train, which was actually a pretty fun experience.  We got to the train station after a VERY long night and were overwhelmed with people offering us tours and taxis, all of which were going to cost us a lot of money and who knows what else.  So we walked down the street a little and, unable to find a taxi, finally resorted to cramming three people and all of our luggage into the back of a tiny rickshaw.  Thankfully we were enclosed in the tiny box on the back of his bike, because he was squeezing between cars and buses and driving like a crazy person. 

Our room on the overnight train

We had scheduled a tour for our first day in Xi'an with a guy people from my school use a lot.  He was really wonderful.  He took us to a daoist temple and explained a little bit of the beliefs of daoism, which is the original Chinese religion and still largely practiced in China.  He also took us to see a place where people are living in caves, which was really interesting and extremely humbling.  Next was the Terra-cotta Warriors.  The park where the warriors are located was really beautiful.  Archaeologists are still working to piece together the warriors which were discovered in the 1970s.  They move them to another location in the museum, put the pieces together, and then move them back to their original place.  If a piece cannot be found, they just leave the soldier incomplete.  The soldiers were created to protect the first emperor of China in the afterlife.  During the tour, I kept thinking of 2 Corinthians 4:7 - "We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves." (NLT)  "But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us." (ESV)

I'm living in a society of broken people with no hope outside of burning money for their dead ancestors and building statues to protect themselves after they are dead, and that goes back thousands of years. Praise God for His Spirit and presence in this place that can offer real Hope.

After the Terra-cotta Warrior tour we went to the Wild Goose Pagoda for the light and fountain show.  It was really an overwhelming experience.  There were SO MANY people there.  I didn't expect it to be so crowded, considering they do it every night.  But, as with everything in China, the park was packed and we had to fight for a spot where we could actually see what was going on.  It was really beautiful, though, and I didn't even mind being squished in between thousands of my closest Chinese friends. 

The next day in Xi'an was pretty relaxed.  It was a rainy day, so we spent a majority of the day in the hostel drinking coffee and relaxing.  Before the rain came, though, we had a little time to see the Xi'an city wall and the Muslim food street. 

Possibly my favorite part of the whole trip (aside from the beauty of Summer Palace) was what happened after the rain started.  We were trying to get a taxi, as were the other million people out on the street.  A man came up and offered me a ride on the back of his motorcycle.  I told him that there were two people with me and we wouldn't all fit.  He rode by again and offered again, and again I told him that we needed to take three people.  A few minutes later he came back with his friend and he told us we could put two people on his friend's motorcycle, so off we rode in the rain.  It was freezing but it was SO much fun!  We rode on the right side of the street, and then on the wrong side of the street.  We squeezed between cars and rode on sidewalks.  We eventually made it back to our hostel, soaking wet but so thankful for such a fun day.

Rain doesn't have to ruin anything...  Unplanned adventures are often the most memorable.

The gym by the back gate

My roommate and I recently discovered a gym by the back gate of our apartment complex.  Apartment complex is a loose term....it's more like a small city.  Anyway, we found a gym.  We decided to go in and check it out, because it would be nice to have a gym so close to home, right? 

Well.

As we were standing at the entrance of the dark, creepy stairwell, we weren't sure if we were going to go through with it or not.  There was an elevator that wasn't working, so the stairs were the only option.  As per usual, there were no lights or windows in the stairwell, so we speed-walked to the top.  Along the way we saw pictures of gross body builders and gymnasts, so we figured we were on the right track.  We got to the top of the stairs and there was no entrance into the gym.  So we ventured out onto the balcony and saw an open door a little ways down.  Not the most convenient place for an entrance.  We walked into the lobby to find a pool table and a few men hanging out and smoking.  Smoking. In the gym.  That can't be good for the cardiovascular system.  I asked the guy at the desk if we could look around, and he said sure (I think).  Aside from the layer of cigarette smoke, the gym itself was small but seemed pretty normal.  There were weights, machines, yoga mats, etc.  There was also a studio for classes, although I have no idea what classes are offered.....

I guess we'll find out! :) We're going tonight for a free trial workout.  I'm sure I'll have more to blog about later.

So, I made a chicken pot pie

After a recent visit from a friend, I realized that I've been so wrapped up in my transition into life in China that I haven't been actively looking for ways to bless the people around me.  It's easy to try and show a stranger kindness, but I had been looking over the people in my community, trying to get them out of my way so I could see other opportunities to love on people.  This was a really harsh reality for me, realizing how selfish my heart has become during my fight to survive and adapt to my new...everything.  I started praying for the Father to change my heart and show me ways to serve my brothers and sisters in love.

There is one particular family that has been a.b.s.o.l.u.t.e.l.y amazing since I got here.  They have opened their home to me, fed me, given me a place to sit and cry, encouraged me, and loved me.  They have been such a blessing to me!  Normally I invite myself over for dinner/out for coffee, or somehow finagle an invite out of them.  I decided that this time I would bring dinner when I invited myself over.  We set a date and time, and I was pretty excited to spend some time with them!

Now, I'm not the most domestic person in the world.  I've caught multiple dish towels on fire while cooking, I've ruined instant mashed potatoes, and I've forgotten things in the oven more than once.

With that in mind, this was my pot pie making experience:

First of all, I'm still new enough to China that grocery shopping is an all day event and I usually come back with nothing on my shopping list, but lots of things I didn't know I needed until they called to me from the shelf (in Chinese).  It's actually not any different than my shopping trips in the States, now that I think about it.  ANYWAY, I decided to go shopping on Monday so I would have everything I needed and I wouldn't have to do it at the last minute.  On Tuesday I had some free time in the evening, so I went ahead and cut the veggies and laid out all of the things I would need the next afternoon.

To make a long story not-so-long, I was later than expected leaving school on Wednesday, didn't have any taxi money, phone died when I tried to send a frantic text to the friend whose sweet family was expecting dinner, and had to borrow money from my TA to get home. 

Fast forward a 30 minute taxi ride.

I got home about an hour later than anticipated, so I was a little frazzled. I turned on the dinosaur we call an oven to preheat and opened the fridge to grab my nice pre-cut veggies.  APPARENTLY you shouldn't cut potatoes the day before, because my once beautiful little white potato cubes were now a really gross brown color.  But I thought, "Jai you!" and decided to use them anyway and prayed no one would notice. Oven is preheating...chicken is cooking on the stove...time to roll out the dough for the crust.  I thought, "I'll save a step and roll the dough onto wax paper, then I can just flip it into the pan and save time!"  So I rolled not one but two crusts onto wax paper and began to mix the ingredients for the filling, brown potatoes and all.  The recipe I know in my head uses cups, but all of our measuring tools here are metric, but my phone was still dead and refusing to charge and my computer wasn't handy, so I didn't know how to convert c to ml.  Gah!  I checked the oven to see if it was heated, not that it matters because there isn't a real dial with degrees on it, but rather a dial with 1-8 and a needle thermometer inside that I don't really trust.  I thought 7 sounded good, so I put the dial there and went back to my crust. 

Ooooooh, the pie crust.  When I flipped it into the pan and tried to shake it free from the paper, I started to realize this might have been a bad idea.  When I shook the paper and then tried unsuccessfully to peel the crust off, I confirmed that it was a bad idea. So I scraped the dough off of the wax paper, threw the dough ball into the bottom of the pie pan, and smooshed it around the best I could.  Whatever.  It's on the bottom of the pan so it's not like anyone's going to see it.  The top crust, by some miracle, wasn't as stuck as the first so I was able to cover most of the top with it.  Then I used dough remnants to patch together the rest.  My students have made many a pie with play doh, and I've never seen anything this ugly.  At this point, I was already going to be late for dinner so I threw it into the oven, said a quick "please don't burn" prayer, and went about cleaning up.  A while later I decided maybe 7 was too hot, so I tried to turn it down to 5 1/2.  Why did I mess with the dial?  I don't know.  The gas turned off and wouldn't turn back on.  What a disaster.

Before I ran out the door with my mostly cooked pot pie, I grabbed a potato that was poking through the...ahem....less than perfect top crust and sure enough, it was still crunchy.  Of course. Perfect.  I grabbed some cookie dough from the freezer (that thankfully a really wonderful cook gave me for Christmas) and figured if the pot pie was a flop we could order McDonalds delivery and eat cookies while we waited. 

15 minutes late for dinner, I speed walked to their building.  I shouldn't be surprised that I dropped the cookie dough on the way there, but thankfully it was double wrapped.  I don't think I could eat even the most delicious cookie after it's touched the ground in China.  Finally made it to their building...elevator to the ninth floor....realized I was in the wrong building....facepalm....elevator back down to the first floor.....backtrack one building....elevator up to the ninth floor....

The story has a happy ending.  We all had a good laugh about my failed cooking experience, and the pot pie was surprisingly edible.  Some miracle must have happened on the way to their house, because the potatoes were done.  Their kids even asked for seconds!  Phewf!  Then we ate cookies, had more fun conversation, and all of the drama was totally worth it. :) 

Loneliness

There are times when China, with its 1.3 billion people surrounding me, is the loneliest place I've ever been. I know I'm not alone - I have a loving Savior who knows me and loves me and is with me.  But sometimes, like most of last week, living here is lonely. I had kind of a scary encounter with a man asking for money outside of Starbucks last weekend, and it reminded me of how painful loneliness can be.  I was having an issue with this man, and clearly I'm not from here nor do I speak the language, and no one stopped to help me.  In busy shopping area, person after person walked by and no one did a thing to help me.  I know there are lots of cultural things I don't understand about this situation, but I still can't wrap my head around why no one would help me.  Talk about feeling alone.  After that incident, I struggled internally for several days trying to understand myself and my situation better.  And this is what I've decided:  Although my heart is often overwhelmed, I am experiencing such tremendous growth and seeing the Lord in new and exciting ways, and I wouldn't trade this season of my life for anything.

I've heard and read some really great thoughts on loneliness lately that have encouraged me, so I thought I would share.


"Loneliness is a feeling. Don't confuse that with your position before Christ which is real...which is deeper than any feeling that you and I can ever have." -Rob Turner, "The Kingdom and Singleness"


The rest of these come from Elisabeth Elliot's book Passion and Purity (some of which are excerpts from other books).

"This loneliness itself, which seems a weight, will be far outweighed by glory."

"Pray that you may be an instrument of God's peace, that where there is loneliness you may bring joy."

"Let not our longing slay the appetite of our living."

"He has brought me this far, and already my joy is unspeakable."

If it looks like a chocolate chip...

Today on the bus ride home, I was talking to a friend who is also fairly new to China.  I told her that I have some guests coming to visit within the next few months, and she said, "Make sure you find out what their expectations are and tell them what they can actually expect it to be like."

So I started thinking...what should I tell my friend and my mom before they come visit?


1. Be careful what you step in.  Puddles in the sidewalk may be a variety of things ranging from rainwater to urine to spit to snot.

2. Don't wear flip flops or nice shoes.  See number 1.

3. Things in China take about twice as long as in the States.  Then double that because you're a foreigner.

4. "Ting bu dong."  If you're going to learn one phrase, learn that.

5.  Bicycle etiquette.   Stay to the right, pass on the left.  Bicycles going against traffic stay closest to the curb, as do pedestrians.  Car doors sometimes fly open and it hurts if you hit them.  There's a bell on your handlebars...use it.  Once you commit to crossing the street, go for it.  Do whatever the Chinese bicyclists do - they've been doing this longer than you and they aren't dead yet. 

6. Sweet potato chips.  Yes.

7.  The city bus can be a lot of fun, as long as you're willing to surrender your personal space at the door.

8. Restaurants with picture menus, while the food never really looks like the picture, are much safer than restaurants without pictures.

9. People will laugh at you.  It's okay... It helps if you assume they are laughing WITH you.

10. If it looks like a chocolate chip, it's probably a red bean.

Truth

I'm having kind of a rough week, so I don't have much to write.  I just have some thoughts from the Word to share:




And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’” Zechariah 13:9

Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. Isaiah 65:24

He rules by His might forever;
         His eyes keep watch on the nations;  Psalm 66:7


Bless our God, O peoples,
         And sound His praise abroad,
Who keeps us in life
         And does not allow our feet to slip.
For You have tried us, O God;
         You have refined us as silver is refined.

 We went through fire and through water,
         Yet You brought us out into a place of abundance.   Psalm 66:8-10, 12


Behold, the LORD'S hand is not so short That it cannot save; Nor is His ear so dull That it cannot hear.  Isaiah 59:1

Gingerbread Man Down

Here is one of the million reasons I love kindergarteners. 

We just started our Gingerbread Man unit, so they are obsessed with all things Gingerbread.  Today we were playing "Doggie, doggie, where's your bone?" with a little paper gingerbread man.  In case you don't know how the game works, one person hides an object behind their back and everyone else pretends to hide it behind theirs.  The person who is "it" has to try to guess who is hiding the object.  I handed the gingerbread man to one of my students, H, and he hid it behind his back.  We called the "it" person back into the room and the guessing commenced.  H was found out on the very first guess.  When he showed his hands, though, they were empty.  The other kids were all puzzled.  "Hey!  You have it!  Where is it?"  they all protested.  H laughed and reached behind his back, but after a few seconds he started to look a little distressed.  I walked around behind him to discover he was digging around in the back of his pants.  There was no gingerbread man in sight. 

"What are you doing?" I asked

Silence.

"H?" 

"Ummm.....well.....I thought it would be a better hiding place....but....maybe I should go to the bathroom and find him."

So, there you have it.  The best part was that he came back in a few minutes later, gingerbread man in hand.  "I found it!" he said proudly as he tried to hand it to me. 

Uh, no thanks.