Water, Water Everywhere

This summer I have had several adventures involving water. It all started when my friend Sarah was visiting me. Her last day here, all of the water in our apartment went out (the toilet water and the tap water). Here (I don't know if this is a China thing or a my apartment complex thing, but in general here) the tap water and the toilet water are separate, so if one goes out the other one does not normally go out, but that day both were out. I texted one of my friends, who also lives in my building, and asked her if she had water. She also did not have water, so I knew that it was a whole building problem not just me. My friend and I went out for the day, so it really was no big deal that we did not have water.

For several days before that day, it had been threatening to rain, but it had not yet rained, so my friend and I assumed that we were safe to be out and about. It was her last night in China, so she wanted to go to Trash Mountain. (This is actually a mountain made out of trash. However, the trash has been covered, and now it is a beautiful park. Also, mountain is a bit generous of a term for this mound of former trash). Anyways, as we were climbing the “mountain,” the sky started to rumble, and the wind began to pick up. I asked my friend if we should turn back, but she wanted to go to the top. The previous day it we had turned back because we thought it would rain, and it never did, so we did not want to waste her last night in China. As we got closer and closer to the top, the sky got darker and darker. When we got to top, we looked around for a bit, but we knew that we did not have a lot of time to get back down before the rain would come.

On the way back down the mountain, we planned to try to get a taxi home so that we would not have to walk home in the rain. Unfortunately, part way down the mountain big drops of water began to fall from the sky. Once we got wet, it was over – no taxi would take us then. We began walking faster and faster hoping to make it home before the storm really hit, but it was too late. Our clothing completely soaked through, the wind roaring through the trees, and the streets beginning to flood, we took refuge in a W.C. (Water Closet  - British word for a restroom). Already inside were a Chinese family with two young children and a middle-aged woman. As we waited a young boy on a bike and a man in his late twenties also joined us.

Once the rain had let up, we began the trek home. As we were walking home, we discovered that the road that we had to cross to get home was completely flooded and that we would have to walk through flooded, sewage-filled streets to get home. We hesitated at first and looked for alternate routes, but it seemed like that was our only option. We did whatever we could to stay on non-flooded sidewalks, including holding on to the side of a food vender truck as we shimmed along the curb, but walking through flooded streets was simply unavoidable. 

 (This is a picture that my friend took on our walk home from Trash Mountain)

We got home only semi-damp, praying that our water was working again, but sadly it was not. So we had walked through dirty rainwater, and we could not shower. And all of my friends whom I would normally call if I needed a shower were either out of town or also without water. The solution was purell and baby wipes.

Thankfully, the next morning the tap water was back on and we were able to shower and to wash our shoes. However, the toilet water remained off for 12 more days!

The next water adventure happened when we ran out of water. In China, we have a water meter under our sink. When we have used up all of the water that we have paid for, the water goes out. Then you go to the store; put money on your water card, and then you go home and put the water card in the meter under your sink. This is similar to the electricity; you can read about my adventures with electricity here.

When our water ran out, I tried to put the water card in the meter, but it did not read it. I had thought that my roommate had said that it was full, but I figured that maybe I was mistaken. The next morning I took the card to get it filled. That evening when I went to pick it up, the lady told me that the card was not our card. It is 15-307's card. Apparently, my roommate had gone and filled our water card, but when they gave it back to her, they gave her the wrong one.

So we had no water, and we had to buy a new card. However, we could not buy a new card until the next day, and the next day I had to go to school because I was teaching at the summer English camp that my school was having. Thankfully, I called my ayi, and she bought a new card for us.

So the next day, when we came home from school, ayi had taken care of everything. Soon after we got home, we got a knock on the door. It was the women from the apartment above us, telling us that neither the 21^st nor the 22^nd floor had water. She said a bunch of other things that I did not understand, but I think the main point of her coming down was to find out if we had water. Our water pressure wasn’t great (as it often is not – it’s hard to pump water up the 20^th floor), but we did indeed have water.

Summer in Tianjin seems to be filled with water adventures. There’s also the tree that fell over in the storm last night and the day two summers ago when we had to cancel summer school because of rain and flooding, but I don’t have time to tell them here. All in all, these adventures, though they can be frustrating and uncomfortable at times, make for good stories. Plus the rain brings beautiful blue skies. 

(Here's the tree that fell over in the storm last night)

(The day after the storm sky)

Spring Trip 2014 - Gansu and Qinghai

Friday - Day 1

The first day was just traveling. Aside from a delayed flight, everything went off without a hitch.

Saturday - Day 2

We got up early to go do our service project, but before we left, we had to go get Niu Ro Mian (spicy beef noodles) for breakfast. My stomach didn't know what to do with mixture of spice and coffee.

We drove out of town to a farm area where we met some children with special needs. The plan was to do different stations with the children, but by the end the stations are sort of melded into one group. We did a skit, sang songs, made a paper chain, and ate lunch with the children.

When we got back to town, we met up with a Chinese high school soccer team, and the student enjoyed playing soccer with them. I think that this was probably one of the highlights of the trip for the students. After playing soccer, we went to a market for street food.

Sunday - Day 3

Lanzhou is known for having the yellow river, so we took some speed boats out on the river. Another thing that Lanzhou is known for is Niu Ro Mian, so for lunch we had Niu Ro Mian again. After lunch we headed to a park in Lanzhou that has cable cars up the mountain. Once on top of the mountain, we did a zipline and an alpine slide. Last year, the hike down the mountain was one of my favorite parts of the trip, but I think that the reason why it was so fun was because the pathway was under construction, so it was rather treacherous. It was bonding experience for those of us who went. However, this year the construction was complete, so the “hike” was just walking down a bunch of stairs, leading to several days of walking like an old lady and sore calves. Next year, I think we’ll take the cable car down the mountain.

Monday – Day 4

On Monday, we traveled to XiaHe, a small Tibetan town. Once we got to XiaHe, we were able to hike around the Labrong Monastery, which is the second largest Buddhist monastery in the world. Our tour guide explained to us different aspects of the monastery and Buddhism. Plus the landscape was beautiful. Seeing all the beautiful landscapes, I am further convinced that there is a creator of this universe (Romans 1:20). 

Honestly, I would love to go back to XiaHe on my own, and just to enjoy some time outside of the city and to be alone with God in nature.

Tuesday – Day 5

We went outside the “city” of XiaHe to the prairies where we enjoyed some Tibetan snacks and rode horses. I almost didn’t ride a horse because last year I found it rather terrifying. However, my horse this year was much more calm, and I am so glad that I did it.

Another highlight was using a countryside toilet. To be honest, it wasn’t too bad, and it certainly was not the worst toilet on the trip. The fabric door had a rip in it, so I felt a little exposed, but it did not smell like other toilets that we had to use at various gas stations on the trip. 

Later that evening, we met with some Chinese high school students and had an English corner, which turned into a Chinese corner instead. I think the students had fun playing games with each other.

Wednesday – Day 6

This day was the beginning of our misadventures. This was my first time leading this trip, and on Wednesday, we went to a new city that we had never been to before. This addition had been added to the trip because another teacher who had been there before suggested it.

We drove for several hours on bumpy roads, but I would say that the landscape was worth it. Pictures cannot do justice to the beauty that we saw. As we were driving, we were going higher and higher into the mountains, reaching almost 12,000 feet above sea level, which is twice as high as Denver. At one point, we stopped at the top of the mountain to see the view, stretch our legs, and use the restroom - just below this cliff was our toilet.

Our plan was to stop at a park on the way to our next destination. The ETA was 11 am, which would give us several hours in the park before we continued on our journey, but we did not arrive until around 4pm. We did get to see a small part of the park, but honestly by that time, most people were just tired and hungry.

When we got the hostel, we enjoyed pizza and hanging out in the common room. I am so proud of our students they had such good attitudes about the trip, which was important because we needed these positive attitudes for the next day.

Thursday – Day 7

The plan was to go to Qinghai lake, the largest lake in China, eat lunch, play Frisbee by the lake, and be back in time for dinner at a street market. We drove to the lake, and we stopped for Frisbee and lunch by the lake, but we did this in the parking lot instead of going into the lake area because the plan was to continue to another part of the lake to get out and look around. What started as a 7-hour trip turned into a 12-hour trip. We ended driving around the entire lake, which was a little over 400 miles. We did get out of the vans and have the opportunity to bike beside the lake, but once again we got there so late that everyone was just tired and hungry and ready to go “home.”

However, this bus ride was a blast. We played Mafia, solved the world’s problems, discussed theology and religion, sang songs, and generally had positive attitudes.

Since this was the last night, the plan was to let the students stay up late, but by the time we got back, most of the students were so exhausted that they just went to bed.

Friday – Day 8

We slept in, which was beautiful. Then we met for devos where we talked about looking ahead to being seniors.

After the students packed up, we got on the busses and head to lunch. Unfortunately, we were trying to go to lunch near a mosque, and Muslims have their worship service on Fridays around lunchtime. All the cars stopped in the middle of the road so that people could go to the Muslim service.

So we got out of the vans and split into groups to get lunch. During lunch, we talked about our takeaways from the trip; everyone said patience, which was good because it took us about a half an hour to find our vans after lunch. On top of that, the school children were heading back to school, and they mobbed us foreigners. It was rather overwhelming. At this time, the Muslim service was also getting out and there was just this sea of white hats flowing from the mosque. It was hard to believe that all those men could fit into one building. 

After wadding through the sea of humanity, we got on the vans, headed to the airport, got on the plane, and made it safely to Beijing.

Thanks to the brilliance of one of our leaders, we ordered Avocado tree (the Chinese version of Chipotle), and we had it delivered to the airport so that we could get on the road and get home asap. Unfortunately, we needed to learn another lesson in patience. The bus to take us home was not supposed to drive in Beijing from 5-8 pm, so we had to wait in the parking lot of the airport until 8 pm before we could go home.

The bus ride was once again filled with Mafia and good conversations, and we made it home around 11 pm.

Takeaways

If I am going to ask my students to talk about takeaways from the trip, then I should also reflect on them as well.

1)   I built good relationships with both the students and with the other leaders on the trip, and I look forward to continuing to build them.

2)   Patience.

3)   I need to be flexible in the best-laid plans of mice and men. I worked hard to make sure this trip was well organized, and things still didn’t always go the way I planned. At that point, the options are to get frustrated or to make the most of the time given. I think that as a whole, we made the most of our time.

4)   I think even before this trip that the Father has been teaching me about surrender. All other belief systems are about man searching for god, but Christianity is about God pursuing man. My faith is not about what I can do to earn his favor; it is about being “alive together with Christ” (Ephesians 2:5).

The Great Bike Saga (Part III)

If you are interested in reading about parts I and II of the great bike saga, you may read them here and here.

Today, the plan was simple: ride my bike to E-mart to see Captain American 2, and then ride it to dinner for a friend’s birthday. While I did get to do both of these things, there was quite a bit of trouble along the way.

On the way to E-mart, I was switching gears and my pedals locked up. I pulled my bike onto the sidewalk to find that my chain had come off and had gotten caught. After several minutes of pulling on the chain, getting my fingers caught on the chain, pushing on the pedals, almost having my bike fall over, I got the chain back in place and was on my way.

After going to the bathroom to wash my very dirty hands, I arrived at the movie theater as the movie was supposed to be starting. Thankfully my friend had bought my ticket, and we sat in our seats just as they were turning off the lights. The movie was excellent, and I am looking forward to future Marvel movies.

When the movie was over, my friend had a headache, so I tried to give her some ibuprofen, but the little packet that I had would not open. We tried to go to the stationary store to use a pair of scissors, but it was closed. Therefore, we went into main E-mart grocery store so we could use a pair of their scissors in order to open the packet.

With the medicine working its magic, we headed to the restaurant for dinner. Now, as we were leaving E-mart, I know that I put my bike chain in my basket on top of my purse. I purposefully put it there because I don’t want my purse to get stolen. In order to steal my purse someone would have to open my basket, pick up my chain, which is fairly heavy, and take my purse without me noticing. I don’t know that my bike chain is all that heavy, but it makes me feel better when it is on top of my purse. Well, either this plan worked really well or something else happened because when we got to the restaurant, my bike chain was gone. I don’t remember anyone being close enough to us to steal it, and I don’t know how it could have fallen out (I think I would have heard something), but it was nowhere to be found.  To top it off my bike tire was completely flat. There was a place not too far from the restaurant where I could take my bike, but some of my friends were already there, so I figured I could take my bike to a bike repairman after dinner.

I knew that I should have gone before dinner, but I didn’t. Dinner took longer than I had planned, so by the time dinner was done, the bike repairman had packed up for the night. So my plan was to ride my bike, very slowly, home and hope to find a bike repairman along the way. I figured that I would probably need a new tire, but if I could at least get air in it, I could get it home. I stopped at a gas station (in the US, they usually have air), but no luck. Then I stopped at a car tire place, but they did not have the right part for a bike. As I continued to ride, I questioned whether my bike would make it home. Then I remember that a family from my school lived near where I was. I don’t know them well, but I called someone for their number. Then I called them to ask if they either had a bike pump or would let me stash my bike at their place, so I could take a taxi home. We tried the first option, but then I realized that my tire had come out of it’s tube, and the newly inflated tube looked like it would burst, so I opted for the second option. I locked up my bike in the stairwell of their apartment with the intention of coming back to get it another day.

The next part should have been easy. I was going to take a taxi home. I walked to the corner and wait and waited for a taxi. As I was waiting, the wind picked up. Dust was blowing in my eyes, and there were no taxis to be found. The dust was bothering my eyes, so I put on my sunglasses to try to protect them while I waited. They didn’t really help, and it was just harder to see since sunglasses are not meant to be worn at 8 o’clock at night. After a while, I decided to walk back to the apartment complex and ask the guard to call a taxi for me. I’ve never had a guard do this for me before, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.

When I asked the guard, he told me he couldn’t call a taxi and that I should walk. It is not that far of a walk home, but I’m not sure that it would be the safest walk home. Instead I walked to another intersection, and I waited some more.  The wind was still blowing pretty heavily, raindrops were beginning to fall, lighting was striking, and everyone and their brother wanted a taxi. Finally, by a miracle of heaven, after a total of over 40 minutes of waiting, I got a taxi.

In all of this, I can see the Father’s hand. What if I had tried to ride my bike home in the wind and the rain? With or without a flat tire, it would have been difficult. Also, He put people in my life who were able to help me. I’m not sure how I will get my bike home, but that is a problem for another day.

2013 in Review

When I think back on this year, it has been a time of growth. There wasn't huge, life-changing things this year (unlike the two years prior), but there have been all these little areas where I have been challenged and grown. When I think ahead to the future, I hope that these little challenges continue to grow me.

Here are my resolutions from last year.

1.     I want to continue to improve my Chinese. I would like to finish book two of Chinese Made Easier by the end of the year. I have been told that this book is difficult, so I might be over-reaching. Nevertheless, I will make it my goal.

Well, I did finish book two, and I am set to start book three when school resumes. I still feel like my Chinese isn’t great though.

2.     I will actually work on editing my honors project this year.

I have been working on my honors project this break, and I am actually pretty happy with how it is turning out. I think that I could finish it to my satisfaction this break. I have resolved that this book will not be a classic. I just don’t think that I have it in me to write a literary masterpiece, but I have also resolved that it can be a good book, a well-written book, even if it never wins a Pulitzer.

3.     I will actually write in my prayer journal and spend more time in the Word.

     

I have gotten better at being more consistent at this though I am still not where I would like to be.

4.     I want to read more for fun. I would like to read at least one young adult book, one classic (or adult book), and one Christian non-fiction book every quarter. That would mean I would like to read 15 new books this next year. My rule for myself will be that a book for school will only count if it is my first time reading it.

Book I’ve Read

Young Adult Books

1.     The Book Thief – Excellent. Best book of the year. (Though this is in the Young Adult book category, I think that it could easily be put into the Literary Fiction category.)

2.     An Abundance of Katherines – Pretty good, but has some PG-13 elements.

3.     Winter Girls – Good. The end seemed a bit extreme, but still a good book.

4.     Catalyst – Same as Winter Girls. Good. The end seemed a bit extreme, but still a good book.

5.     Not My Home – An interesting look at 1800s Tianjin, China and international living.

6.     A Breath of Eyre – Good, but a bit over the top and also has some PG-13 elements.

7.     Sold – Very interesting. Quick read. Handled a difficult topic well.  Would highly recommend.

Non-Fiction

1.     Soul Suffer – Interesting. Not particularly well written. The movie tells the story well.

2.     Crazy Love – Good and thought provoking.

3.     The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness – Very good. Short, but makes you think.

Adult Book/ Classics

1.     Of Mice and Men – Good. Lots of language. Good points for discussion though.

2.     The Handmaid’s Tale – Good.  Adult Elements. Not sure how to react to it.

3.     Pearl of China – A very interesting look at Pearl S. Buck. Not particularly well written, but a gripping story.

I did not reach my goal, but I am happy with the books I have read this year. I think there might be one more in there somewhere that I have forgotten about, but that’s ok. If I could count the books that I began reading this past year, this list would probably double.

Resolutions for 2014

1.     I want to continue to improve my Chinese. I would like to finish book three of Chinese Made Easier by the end of the year.

2.     I would like to finish editing my honors project.

3.     I write in my prayer journal and spend more time in the Word.

4.     I want to read more for fun. I would like to read at least one young adult book, one classic (or adult book), and one Christian non-fiction book every quarter. That would mean I would like to read 15 new books this next year. My rule for myself will be that a book for school will only count if it is my first time reading it.

5.     I will blog more. At least one blog a month.

On Being A Foreigner (Part II): Shopping and [Mis]Communicating

One time last spring, I came home from school on the early bus because I had some shopping that I needed to do. Since I was going out already, my roommate asked me to pick up some spring roll wrappers because we were planning on having spring rolls for dinner, and she wasn’t sure if we had enough wrappers.

Before picking up the wrappers, I went to the buy some other items that I needed at Fomax (a grocery store in my apartment complex). One of the things I needed to pick up was 36 chocolate bars as prizes for spring trip. They didn’t have enough, so I asked the lady if they had more in the back, and she went to get me more. While I was waiting, a man standing in line looked at all the chocolate bars that I had in my basket, and he told that if I ate all of those chocolate bars that I would get fat. I explained to him that they were not for me; they were for my students, but he still seemed concerned that I would get fat.

After purchasing my chocolate bars, I went to the small Korean store that was supposed to have the wrappers that I wanted. My roommate had told me where to find them, but they were not where they were supposed to be. I did not know what they were called, so I looked them up on my ipod and asked the clerk where they were. He told me that they did not have them and that I needed to go to a Chinese grocery store for them. So I went back to Fomax and asked one of the workers where the spring roll wrappers were. However, she showed me spring rolls. When I explained to her that I wanted make spring rolls, she said that they did not have the wrappers, but she told me their name. Then I went back to the Korean store and I told them what I was looking for, but they still seemed confused. They searched and searched and finally they pulled out wrappers, but they were the dough kind. I wanted the kind that was made out of rice paper. I explained to the man that they were in a green package and they should be right here (and I pointed to where they should be). After saying this over and over again, we had a eureka moment, and he knew what I was talking about; he explained to me that those were Vietnamese spring roll wrappers. He looked for them, but he said they didn’t have any, but he went to another Korean store next door to see if they had them.

I don’t remember how long this whole ordeal took, but it seemed to take a long time. While I was waiting for the man to pick up the spring rolls from another store, I picked up some crackers; I wanted to buy something else because I felt bad that he had gone to all this trouble for me. When the man finally came back, he said that the other store did not have them. At this point, I was just ready to go home, so I left. However, as I was walking down the street, I realized that in my flustered and frustrated state, I had not paid for my crackers, so I went back to the Korean store and paid for them.

I went to two more stores looking for the wrappers, but they did not have them/I was too worn out to try to communicate with them what I wanted. Giving up, I went home.

It turns out that we had more than enough spring roll wrappers, so my hunt had been in vain. As irony of ironies would have it, later that week my roommates and I went to the store, and we found spring roll wrappers at the one store that I did not go to that day.

Though the day was frustrating, it did turn into a rather amusing story, and I learned the art of [mis]communication.

Christmas Repost

Last Christmas, I posted a blog post for Christmas. Today, I am in the same situation as last year. Thousands of miles away from my family, and this year my roommates are gone. Once again from 6 pm Christmas Eve (oops, I'm running a bit late) to sometime Christmas night, I have somewhere to be, people to hang out with, games to play, and amazing food to eat. However, this year my thoughts about Christmas being away from family are much different. I am much more content. Last year when I made this blog post, I felt like everyone got caught up on the fact that I was admitting that I felt depressed and lonely, but they missed the main point of the post. Therefore, I am posting it again.

It becomes so easy for us at Christmas time to do what we always do: spend time with family, eat yummy food, exchange gifts, read the Christmas story, and sing carols. These are not bad things, but I want Christmas to be more than just a tradition that we always do. I want to let the story of Christmas to penetrate my heart. One carol, "Joy to the World," has done just that. Check out the third verse: 

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

The words to this verse struck me because it explains that Christmas is about bringing all of creation in to right relationship with the Father.  We minimize it by making it merely about the birth of Jesus. It seems to me that we, as modern day believers, do a good job of saying that Christmas is all about the birth of our Savior, but do we really act like it is. Do our hearts truly acknowledge it? How I can better show that Christmas is about the redemption of mankind? In fact the entire bible is about the redemption of mankind. The following video does a good job of telling a more complete Christmas story. However, I still believe that it is lacking because it ends at the manger. The manger is not the end. Rather it is still part of the rising action. The cross and the resurrection are the climax, the turning point in the story. We are still waiting for the final resolution. For this reason, we still sing "Come thou long expected Jesus." 

 While I love the skit guys video, this one tells the end of the story.

On Being a Foreigner (Part One): Donating to the Community

Over the next week or so, I am planning on writing a series of blog posts with various funny things that have happened to me as I have been living in China.  I have entitled this series “On Being a Foreigner.”

Part One: Donating to the Community

I have had three bikes since moving to China. I did not get my first one until almost a year after I had come to China. My first bike was, well, special to say least. It was in pretty bad shape. Someone who had left had given it to me for free, so I could not complain though the brakes made nails on a chalkboard sound like the New York Symphony. Needless to say, the brakes did not work well, and I often had to use my feet to stop it. Because it was in such bad shape, I did not take it outside my apartment complex very often. Well one day, one of the brakes fell off. I had every intention of getting it repaired, but then the seat of the bike was stolen. You can read about the details of that ordeal here. That was the last straw. I unlocked the bike and donated it to the community. Usually if a bike is left unlocked, it only takes a few hours before it is taken. However, my seat-less bike with the break dangling off lasted about a week before anyone deemed it worthy of being stolen; I mean before anyone accepted my donation.

Not too long after that incident, my roommate decided that she wanted to buy a new bike, so she gave me her bike. This bike was in better shape than the previous one though it still had some quirks. This bike I christened my rocket ship bike because it made the sound of a rocket taking off. However, it did not ever reach that warp speed that rocket ships are supposed to. So there I was the obvious foreigner with a bike that made sure that the whole world would stop and stare at me as I rode past. I think that something was wrong with one of the tires, but I never really figured it out. One day, my roommate and I had plans to go to the White Market (this is a market with a white gate, hence the name), and we planned to bike. Nevertheless, about 5 minutes into our ride, I could tell that my bike was not going to make it. So we decided to leave our bikes and take the bus instead. That was the second bike that I donated a bike to the community, though I was relieved to part with it.

I bought my final bike last spring from a family who was leaving. This time I waited for a bike that was good quality, and I have not had any misadventures with this bike, except for the time when I ran into another lady on the bike as I was trying to weave through traffic. However, there was no damage to either of us or to our bikes. Therefore, this bike is here to stay.

SIDENOTE: Whenever I talk about riding my bike, I always feel the need to mention that I do wear a helmet, making it even more obvious that I am a foreigner. One simply cannot look cool or blend in when wearing a helmet. Mom, that red helmet is for you. I may be thousands of miles away, but I still feel guilty if I ride my bike without it. You raised me well.